Today I was packing the kiln with some work and then I realized that the plates that I was packing were the ones that my nephew George had made. I had forgotten in the chaos of the last few weeks that I had wrote a blog about him and his brother Benjy, so this weeks Blogette is a celebration of messy play and why its so important to get down and dirty!
Today I feel blessed. I have spent a good few hours in the studio with my lovely nephews. Vicky and Chris my sister and brother in law have come to visit us from there home in France.
I said to Georgie would you like to do messy play with uncle Trev in the studio? ‘Yayyyyhhay he cried ‘Messey Plaaaaaay’. Not really Understanding with what I had in mind. I explained to my sister in law what the plan was. she didn’t seem overly keen. ‘will he get dirty?’ she said. ‘will it stain his clothes?’. ‘oh don’t worry’ I assured her. I intended to paint him in colored slip and press his hands and feet into some plates I had made earlier on the potters wheel.
He absolutely loved it. We painted his hands and the first thing he tried to do was lick his fingers. I’m not sure cobalt oxide is good for 3 year olds! I started to doubt whether this was such a good idea after all. I reassured myself that slip is just basically watered down mud, and I think I have probably consumed a bit while being a child – it didn’t do me any harm, so maybe this wasn’t such a bad idea after all.
Vicky and I agreed and drew a line, deciding that maybe dipping his feet into blue slip was not such a good plan. In my minds eye all I could hear was the opening credits to the TV program Casualty. I didn’t fancy a trip to A&E, not with precious cherubs.
Both 3 year old Georgie and 6 month old Benjy squealed with delight of the cool silky slip on their fingers and the squelch of damp clay underneath their tiny hands. They are so cute and I wanted to preserve this time and make something lovely for their Ginny Rain-dear (Vicky’s Mum Lorraine) and Gandad Carly (Chris’s Dad Charley). Avia Hacky (that is Catalan for for Grandmother Jacky) she died last year of cancer, and is sadly missed by all the family. I thought that if one was to start the day eating your breakfast off a plate painted with tiny blue hands it might raise your spirits and put you in good stead for another day ahead.
I look forward to getting these plates fired and glazed, then hope to get them to their new home in France to be used and enjoyed by all the family.