mud

mud pottery, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

Every morning at six am the children and I sit down and watch Mr Rodgers. It is the closest thing I have to a meditation practice. One day last week Mr Rodgers went to visit a potter, and she went out to collect her own clay and then mixed it with volcanic ash with her foot. She formed her pot, smoothed it with her great grandmother's smoothing stone, painted the pot, and then fired it in her yard with a wood fire. Later she carved the pot.

Ella is determined to find her own clay and bake a pot now. At school they have been making pinch pots, and she can't wait to be old enough to use the pottery wheel.