It is spring at last (we even seem to be getting some spring-like weather) and I am getting fully into the spring cleaning zone. I recently cleared out my bathroom cupboards; a hoarder at heart, I found an array of ‘useful’ items like five old toothbrushes kept for scrubbing grout and approximately four million tiny plastic bottles for travel toiletries plus an alarming quantity (how did it all fit?!) of aged medications and dried up lipsticks (I’ve never managed to be a lipstick wearer but can’t stop buying the stuff).
A couple of trips to the charity shop and recycling centre later and my bathroom feels like a much more ordered and relaxing space.
The spring cleaning doesn’t stop at the house, I’m working my way through the studio too.
Ceramics is a process fraught with potential issues and porcelain is particularly tricky medium, requiring to be handled with extreme care and coddled and coaxed through every stage of making.
When something goes wrong, if it hasn’t yet been fired the pots can go straight back into the reclaim bucket and the clay is reused to make something new. If it has been fired and the flaw is extreme then I gather all my resolve and take the hammer to it. If however, the flaw is minor I try to find a new home for pieces which I don’t want to sell as ‘firsts’.
One avenue I have for finding new homes for my seconds is the fantastic Super Seconds Festival, an online event set up by Sophie Greenwood of Ink and Bear. During lockdown, with no live events at which makers could sell their seconds and old stock our piles of not-quite-perfects grew and grew!
Sophie set up this festival as an opportunity for makers like me to clear the decks and importantly, avoid sending too much to landfill. It also gives our wonderful customers a chance to purchase something beautiful at a bargain price. It was so successful it has continued ever since.
And the next one is happening this coming weekend! It will open at 10am on Saturday 11 May 2024 and I will keep my (virtual) sale doors open all week.
Tiny knit bowl, just one of the items that will be on sale this weekend!