Good news (I hope)

 My Facebook friends saw this photo and heard me proclaiming I'm going back into the studio in February.

I thank them for the congratulations.

First I'm working so that my hands won't cramp when holding tools. So I don't plan to throw, but will hand build things. I may have given away most of my tools, but I have a box sitting somewhere that's still got a few things. A sponge, a bucket, a stained apron from the red clays around here.

So this is an experiment to see if I can actually work with clay without pain. Believe me, cramps between digits, various ones for some strange reason, is not fun. I found I had to stop completely whatever I was trying to do. The last episode was eating in a restaurant trying to cut chicken. Knife in right hand, fork in left, and they both seized up. I asked my friend to cut it for me.

So my goal when I see an Occupational Therapist later this month, is to find more effective exercises than just squeezing the rubber ball. I have in the past seen an OT who gave me little foam sleeves to put on my tools for working in clay. They helped on the tools I used them on. They didn't help when I had cramps! The referral says I need some appliances to help. So we may have different goals for the session.

I'll let you know. 

My friend, Cathy gave me some clay, which I'm reconstituting and hope to work with a bit  in the next several weeks, before going to studio. 

Incidentally, they now limit how many people can be in the open studio at a time. I can only sign up for 2 spots, and maybe a third. I will also be wearing a mask to keep dust and mold as part of the clay process from bothering me.

This old lady isn't finished yet! Remember Beatrice Wood, who looked like this in 1985, and was still making pottery her whole life!

Wikipedia tells us this:

Beatrice Wood (March 3, 1893 – March 12, 1998) was an American artist and studio potter involved in the Avant Garde movement in the United States; she founded and edited The Blind Man and Rongwrong magazines in New York City with French artist Marcel Duchamp and writer Henri-Pierre Roché in 1917. She had earlier studied art and theater in Paris, and was working in New York as an actress. She later worked at sculpture and pottery. Wood was characterized as the "Mama of Dada".

She lived to be 105, and when asked about her longevity she said:

 "I owe it all to art books, chocolates, and young men." Wood was a lifelong vegetarian who abstained from alcohol and smoking.

I've got the books and chocolates...young men are welcome to apply!