Day 57.... Waiting.

It took me 55 days before I got around to making  the mold for my special pot!

It seems like everyday is just a time for waiting. We wait for our paychecks so we can pay our bills, buy some food, go on vacation.  We wait for pottery to dry before we can fire it. We have hopes that tomorrow, next week, next fall, things will get done on the house, we will call or visit old friends, we will pay off our bills or we can fire a pot.

It is hard to relax. It is hard to just rest in today.

So I got the mold done, now I am waiting for it to dry before I can cast the piece in clay. Designs jump into my mind when I try to sit and relax and be still.  Colors, vines, shapes pop into my head.  How to cast that special piece... how to decorate it... what colors should I use.  It is a work in progress and we will see what comes out in the end.

In the meantime, I plan for sales trips, try to keep in touch with my friends and help strangers with pottery questions.



Steve Earp's Rabbit

 And this is what we all do.  I came across a potters blog the other day. I was wandering on the web looking for gigs. There is a high end heritage craft fair about an hour from my home. I ran across a redware potter on their site who has a blog too. So I checked it out and there was Steve Earp. I admire his work, and then I realized I met him at a show last year and we exchanged pottery pieces. I chose a bell shaped piece with a giant rabbit on the top. I like rabbits.
http://thisdayinpotteryhistory.wordpress.com/

It seems he is a kindred spirit and shares my love of history and life of the craftsmen. I am so fortunate to meet other craftspeople. Especially craftspeople who have given up a lot of stuff to follow the difficult path of the self employed craftsmen!





In 1927, my grampa Frank, had been born and working in Brooklyn NY growing plants.  His families greenhouse was doing well, and they came to Torringford to buy a vacation home. It was not this house, but up the street in the Burrville section.  He saw this lovely old brick farm house and barns on a quiet dirt road. The soil was good old farm soil, enriched with horse, chicken and cow poop over the past 100 years. There were sunny fields and a high water table. He bought the property and dug at least 3 wells I know of to water his new greenhouse plants.



Some Albrechts in Brooklyn NY 1925ish



He wanted to go out on his own. To start a business, to be his own boss. I don't know much of his early years, but his business grew and he was able to expand and in 1960, bought his first new car, the blue Rambler.



East Knoll 1945ish... Grampa's 1st Greenhouse on Albrecht Rd





He had bought the property, set up and ran a business everyday and waited.



And that is what we all continue to do. In the meantime, I plan to share the gift I have of meeting new, interesting people. Visit Steve Earps' blog! Read about him and his pots. Support the craftsmen here in the USA. We put our hearts and souls into our work and we are very interesting people!

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