First of all, parked in a paved space with a motor coach at a state park filled with amenities is hardly the woods. And secondly, doing what I do with clay while sitting beside a campfire is so far removed from work that I should be ashamed for typing in the title of this post. OK. I’m over it, but Manipulating Clay in the Comfort of Resort Living is not the sort of title that gets anyone’s attention, right?
The Labor Day weekend has been glorious and restful and fun. I pulled out a ball of clay last evening just because it was a different stoneware than I have been using for the last year. Sure, I knew that ultimately it would become an flute or an ocarina, but I began the project with just the slightest idea of what I wanted and more in tune with what the clay was telling me it was capable of doing. The result is a piece that is a bit eclectic and full of discovery and exploration. The clay is a high fire stoneware and I am not terribly concerned about the survival of the musical parts if the piece actually turns out to be something worthy of decoration. That is quite a paradigm shift for me…so I’ll rationalize my title as something that the woods is doing that is working.
Tags: Cedars of Lebanon State Park, Ceramic Musical Instruments, ocarina, stoneware
