Hunkering down in the studio with my whimsical friends…
Making and claying around.
Are you a lover of clay?
I love all sorts of clay.
Low fire, high fire, oven fire, raku.
Collecting it, admiring it.
Sculpting with it.
What an amazing thing that clay, wouldn’t you say?
Little friends line up.
I look to them for sparkles of inspiration and such.
Hope they behave 😉
Or rather, maybe it’s more fun if they misbehave??
Mooshing and smooshing and squishing clay about…
Bringing little things to life.
When I was a little girl I watched a show on PBS I think?
Where a woman, I think in South America, would go out into the hills outside of her village and collect this really red clay.
She would then take it to her studio and make all sorts of fabulous things.
I was in 2nd grade.
We lived in the middle of nowhere.
Like really, the middle of nowhere.
It was the desert in a very old mining area up in the hills.
There were all dirt roads, a great discovery made by my dad, this place.
(which has since become quite populated)
I was always up to some mad shenanigans.
You know, hanging out on the roof in full costume, wig included.
Or, picnicing alone in a tree by a scary mine.
Anyhow, point is…
I saw a hill that had some very red dirt, much like the PBS show I had watched.
So, I took a bucket and collected a bunch of dirt.
My dad hollering, Vanesssssssa, what are you doing up there?
And me saying, ohhh nothing…. 🙂
After I collected a bunch of clay I chopped up little leaves and weeds, and mixed them with the clay.
Then I sculpted some little pots and bowls, and put them on bricks in the hot sun to dry.
It actually worked.
I was so thrilled.
My hands were stained terracotta red.
Of course, they were not fired so they fell apart over time out in the weather.
But what I think is that, that day was the day I became a true clay lover.
I would love to build my own brick kiln in the back.
Wouldn’t that be fun?
Isn’t it funny, how you can pinpoint a time in your life that made you a lover of one of your fave arts & crafts?
What’s one for you?
Love, V
Vanessa:
What a great story. I love stories about “beginnings.”
I’m a collage artist. I remember exactly when I became obsessed with cutting and composing and pasting. It was in 1st grade. We had to make a poetry folder and a piece of art to go along with each poem. I wrote a poem about the color yellow. I remember gathering up all of my mom’s magazines and cutting out anything I could find that was yellow. I glued them onto the page next to my poem. That was the exact time I fell in love with collage. I still have that collage!
xoxo
Kim
Gerushia’s New World
Playing in clay is so much fun. I have done a bit here and there and hope to do some more some day. I have a small stash of clay in the studio calling out to become gargoyles. Gargolyles?! I know, crazy. They have been on my mind for a couple years now… -lol-
Have a great day.
Always, Queenie
Yes, for me it was taking small pieces of fabric and designing clothes for my dolls. I went on to eventually work in the apparel world. Love clay and all forms of creativity. Your clay adventures do delight me. Yes, you must make a kiln in the back yard.
What a wonderful story!! And I adore that owl at the beginning of your post!
My dad had his own air-condition refrigeration service for years….. He had a garage seperate from the house and i remember going in his garage when he wasn’t around and he had a ‘parts’ box that had every part you could imagine in there…. mostly just scrap stuff… and i would get a screw driver and sit on the floor and start taking things apart….. screw driver then wrench… then whatever…. i loved taking things apart (never mind putting them together) nobody showed me how to use a screwdriver etc… i just figured it out… Then my dad would come in and yell MOM! Come get your kid out of my garage… Teehee!!!! But i have a love to this day of figuring things out on my own… I don’t want to take classes or go to school to learn a certain way to do things i want to fumble thru it… find my own way….right or wrong…. i see that in my crafts today…. i have ideas and i have to figure out ways to make it happen…..
I really would like to play with clay more… and i intend to if there are ever enough hours in a day and enough years in my life…… Hugs! deb
I remember sharpening crayons outside on the front porch stoop. It was summer, and it was hot out, needless to say the sun was melting my colors together. I got into trouble a lot that summer. I was about 8. After that summer I was never aloud to sharpen my crayons outside again! They melted to the concrete and no amount of scrubbing would take it off. I still love crayons today and love melting them.
Love your blog.
I love the story and the photos!
Hey, Queenie, I hope you see this. Your idea of gargoyles reminded me of Misty’s dragons. Have your seen her work? http://artgeckostudio.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-dragon-i-just-finished.html
I hope Miss V doesn’t mind me sharing the link! Her work is also really good! 🙂
Hello There, Dearest Dear Miss Vanessa!
How fun to read about your making things with the red clay you found! Very ingenious!
I remember a time from when I was little that I think just sealed the deal on my love for making collages. My mother always had a big stack of ladies magazines that she would be done with, but hadn’t bothered to throw away yet. She was sick a lot when I was little and I had to play very quietly by myself many times. So, I remember one warm spring Saturday afternoon, she was in bed and I got out some safe scissors and glue and magazines and I made my own version of a catalog, sitting quietly at the kitchen table. I cut out things from the magazines that I thought people would like to buy and I made layers of paper and cut little doors so that you had to open the doors to look at the things to buy. I wrote the descriptions on the pages and wrote down what I thought were reasonable prices to pay for these things (you can just imagine that some of these things were completely off!). I was very proud of my project and kept it for a long time. I think I just loved making collages of all kinds after that! Now, I do digital ones as often as I do cut-and-paste ones!
Your clay creations are so cool, Miss Vanessa!
Wishing you a lovely day!
Betty
I dont mind at all Sherrill, oh my the dragon!!!! WOWIE!
Blog: http://www.aFancifulTwist.com
Website: http://www.VanessaValencia.com
In a message dated 4/2/2014 9:52:51 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time,
Is that a tiny house you are sculpting!? I love the sweet story of the lady sculpting with red clay. Artists are artists, no matter where they’re found or what they call themselves.
totally!! 😉 3
Blog: http://www.aFancifulTwist.com
Website: http://www.VanessaValencia.com
In a message dated 4/3/2014 10:57:31 A.M. US Mountain Standard Time,
Yes, a tiny lil house 😉
Blog: http://www.aFancifulTwist.com
Website: http://www.VanessaValencia.com
In a message dated 4/3/2014 10:57:31 A.M. US Mountain Standard Time,
I need a second life to do all the crafts I would like to do! There just isn’t enough time in one life time to do it all!
And I would want a life of creativity where I wouldn’t have to do any house work, but have someone else do it all for me!
You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one…
Yup! that’s ME!
I always wanted to have a kiln, as it was my fourth grade teacher who had one in the classroom, who encouraged all of the children in the class room to be creative and work with clay. But there were never any high school classes which taught how to work in clay, just regular old artwork. I would have had to go to an art institute to learn more and I know my parents weren’t about ready to fork over $10,000 for me to go to the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles just to learn how to play with clay! Alas! Oh, well…life goes onward.
I adore what you create, so I am content to have some of your magical creations!
XO
Miss Teresa
My favorite book as a child, long ago, was the Secret Garden. I have always loved flowers, so my creative endeavor started with painting flowers on china. Lovely tea roses, pansies, poppies, daisies, and I adored painting strawberries and blackberries.
I’m such a mess though…I could never part with any of them except for a few pieces that I gave to my mother 😉
Dixie, I would LOVE to see them!! 😉
Blog: http://www.aFancifulTwist.com
Website: http://www.VanessaValencia.com
In a message dated 4/3/2014 3:45:49 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time,
Interesting. Were I live we can dig for a grey clay. This was used to make roof covers and bricks once.
Ooooo, how neat! I have not seen much red clay around here except for
that red hill about 2.5 hours from where I live now… but it was so
interesting. I love grey clay! 🙂
Blog: http://www.aFancifulTwist.com
Website: http://www.VanessaValencia.com
In a message dated 4/4/2014 3:15:39 A.M. US Mountain Standard Time,
Hi Vanessa love your site and studio – my passion is lace, tulle, sequins and glitter. When I was small my mother would take me to the ballet and the gowns just fascinated me and I realised I could collect lots of sequins from the floor as they had fallen off the ballet dresses ,I I would bring these home and make things. I now have my own antique lace shop called Sheelin Lace and I make ballerina dolls.
OH!! A woman after my own heart!!!!! 😉 What a wonderful
tale!
Blog: http://www.aFancifulTwist.com
Website: http://www.VanessaValencia.com
In a message dated 4/6/2014 12:40:29 A.M. US Mountain Standard Time,
Dear V,
I just discovered your blog. Love it. Your stories really take us to where you are in time. Makes me want to explore where I was when a little girl growing up.
I lived with my Nanny and Paw Paw. We had a dear lease in the Texas hill country. We went there often. When it was too hot to sleep inside the cabin, we would pull the mattress out and sleep in the open under the stars. It was magical.
I would roam the area and sing to my hearts content. It too had red dirt. And an Indian burial ground where I would spend hours playing. Also sheds with room after room of old rusty stuff that I would meddle in. Oh, how I would love to go back there and visit. I’m now 62 years old. Thank you so much for bringing back these memories.
Susan Little