Laura Slocum and a Global Embrace

This past January, I opened my pottery shop on Etsy.com. Although I had been an artist and writer among other things, I had never been a merchant per se and I must admit to having had deer-in-the-headlamps syndrome at the beginning. Navigating my way around Etsy without a map or guidance wasn’t impossible, but until I understood what marketing really meant, it was slow going.

Then I discovered the joy of treasuries – both weaving them and appearing in them. Beyond their sheer marketing value, they allow sellers to connect with each other and they create a venue for an artistic and supportive community of sorts. It was in the treasury comments that I discovered Laura. She stood out like a hammered and throbbing Fred Flintstone thumb because she was such a prolific social butterfly and her comments were so hilariously funny. I was smitten. We started a warm friendship and I quickly came to hold Laura in well deserved high regard.

Fast forward the clock a few months to the beginning of June. I was browsing through the treasuries and finding my favorites when I stumbled upon a few somewhat cryptic treasuries dedicated to Laura that were created by and included Etsy sellers with whom I knew Laura to be friendly. They were “sending Laura love” and she was “in [their] thoughts and prayers.” I spent some time fruitlessly trying to understand what was going on; I could only guess. Then I found her announcement in her Etsy shop—Laura had just been diagnosed with ovarian cancer.

Virtual friendship is an odd thing. Although we are removed from each other by everything except a computer screen, one can still develop a close connection and affection nevertheless. I was suddenly feeling a hole in my heart.

I assumed she must have been overwhelmed and had little time for emails, but I sent her my heartfelt thoughts and prayers anyway. Then with her reply came the next surprise – she was at peace with it all. She will (I hope) forgive me for printing part of our email conversation:

“…I have always lived my life in that I take the best care of myself that I can. I exercise, I eat right, try to get enough rest...and if I ever got sick, so be it. I never wanted to be 'kicking' myself that I did something wrong. So, I'm at peace with it and accept that this is the path I'm taking. God has a plan - so it's really not up to me.”

Like a trooper, Laura went in for multiple surgeries, started a chemo regimen and then…well, you should have just seen what exploded on Etsy! Kim of slinkymalinkicat and Amy of ThePeachTree spearheaded a tidal wave of support for Laura in what they titled “EtsyProjectEmbrace” where sellers could donate sale proceeds from designated items to the American Cancer Society in honor of Laura’s new fight. (Click here to view the current EtsyProjectEmbrace selections.) Then Lynn, from UnaOdd, set up the ACS EtsyProjectEmbrace team so making and tracking donations is easy.

Laura sure has one formidable cheering squad. If an outpouring of love and support could cure a disease, Laura could skip the chemo. EtsyProjectEmbrace proves it, the world can be a beautiful place.

Here are some links for more information:
Laura’s blog

The ACS EtsyProjectEmbrace page

lauraslocumpainted, creativelytangled, and CreativelyTangled2 Laura’s three Etsy shops

Some blog posts written by her friends:
kathiroussel
sigmosaics
happyment
unaodd
polarity</A

Straight from the Horse’s Mouth

This past Sunday, friends of ours invited us to join them at their daughter’s equestrian competition. We gladly accepted the invitation as the girls had never been to one before and we thought they might enjoy watching the day’s events.

By way of introduction to the genre, my husband gave the girls a verbose “Horses 101” primer so that they could get a sense of what the whole thing was about. By the time he got to the point about safety around horses, they were only half tuned in. He was telling them how to always keep a safe, half-a-horse distance between themselves and the horse's rear. He explained, “Horses can be easily startled and they may do this—," and he picked up his leg to illustrate how they kick. But he never actually got to complete the lesson, because his lengthy oration was abruptly interrupted by communal shrieks and screams, a loud crash, and a crowd—20 feet away from us—fitfully clamoring to clear out. When the dust settled, we discovered that the commotion was caused when a startled horse fell on the woman who had been seated on her lawn chair just behind him. Miraculously, she was ok, though her lawn chair suffered a severe blow.

After that, the girls enthusiastically tuned in for the remainder of the lesson.

Breaking Rules and Sleeping Over

Sheva, our 10 year old, is such a good egg. As a toddler, she would exhibit pathos and intelligence beyond that which seemed appropriate for her age. I'll never forget how once--before she was even speaking yet--I was lying on the carpet exhausted from the day's strain and there was little toddling Sheva carrying over a pillow for me to place beneath my head. In Hebrew, to say: "that was touching," they say: "it pinched my heart." Sheva pinches our hearts daily.

As a principle, we are opposed to sleepovers, but when Sheva asked if we could reconsider our long standing rule, we quickly agreed. For a good egg, rules should be broken, no? The party was a huge success; the girls had a great time. Sheva asked me kindly not to orchestrate every move, and I definitely get extra parenting points for dutifully acquiescing. One thing she did request was to decorate cupcakes which you can see in these photos. That was a highlight, and I just want to say: "Long live the disposable tablecloth!" Or rather, "Short live the disposable tablecloth!"

Buttoning it up

There once was a seamstress,

Who lived near the Rhine.
She refinished a ceiling,

Made it look like washed pine.

She needed some buttons,

As odd as could be,

To add to her bags,

And gosh! she asked ME!

Fire Away!

Today I woke up to find that everything I had hoped would be bone dry by morning in fact was, so I just closed the lid on this next bisque load and fired up the kiln. There are a few shelves stacked beneath this one with more bowls and stakes and some bud vases, I think. Funny, I must have a version of kiln load amnesia…once I pack it, I forget what I’ve put in there.

Clay work is time consuming. I think what most people don’t realize is that drying the finished piece from its wet, plastic stage to sufficiently bone dry for bisque firing takes a long, loooong time. For smaller pieces like my tiny bowls, I can sit them in front of a fan to speed up the process with no ill effects, but for flat pieces and larger pieces especially, drying must take place slowly under plastic covering and over the course of several days to prevent warping. This is because the water content of the clay is evaporating and bringing the clay particles themselves closer to each other in the process. If a piece is exposed to air and dried rapidly, the clay particles align quicker on the top than they do on the bottom and this is what causes the warping. In some cases the warping only shows up after the bisque firing (surprise!), so I’ve learned to be very careful and patient during the drying stage.

Next, adding color glazes. Stay tuned!

One of the many benefits of being the first to finish getting ready...

...it leaves time to catch a few ants.

(No ants were harmed during the taking of this picture.)

Got a blender?

Strawberry Peach Smoothie
8 frozen strawberries
8 frozen peaches
1 cup skim milk
¾ cup orange/mango juice
¼ cup vanilla yogurt
1 T flax seeds (ok, that’s optional but GOOD for you!)

Throw everything in the blender and wait patiently. Go find the straws or something.

attempts to get a reluctant eater motivated