This is a pot that only a mother could love. Actually, tolerate is probably the more fitting emotion to suggest. I don't like to admit it, but I made this pot years ago. I moved to Cambridge, MA after graduate school at the University of Illinois with hopes of beginning a wonderful career in landscape architecture. I immediately found a job and almost as immediately, lost it as the New England economy tanked. I was laid off along with many other landscape architects and architects, most of whom were far more qualified than I was as we all scrambled to find work. One thing I did before losing my job was I enrolled in a pottery class at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education (that ended up taking me on an interesting path, but that's another story). This pot is an unfortunate product from my time in that pottery studio. It's dumpy, and the glaze which formed globs along the base is not very attractive. I think this pot captures the angst I felt as I negotiated the transition from a poverty stricken graduate student to a poverty stricken, unemployed, young adult living in a Boston Globe-classified-listing-apartment with two crazies (and oh boy, is that another story!).
I abandoned the pot at my parent's house long ago, but it made it's way back to me when my mother brought it with her during a visit last year. As only a mother would, she held on to this for the many intervening years.
I put that dumpy, ugly pot to use in my studio. I have a collection of hand tools that had become a real challenge to keep organized. I quickly realized that this pot was not the ideal solution- the circular shape made it difficult to get tools back in place.
Then, I saw my solution at a favored thrift store. This is a handmade stationery organizer that was priced at $1.00. I thought this could be the answer to my hand tool organizing needs and claimed it. As soon as I had it in my hands, a woman came up to me and said "I wanted that!" I smiled at her and said "Whoops! I did, too!" I was slowly making my way over to the check out area when the same woman came up to me and asked me if I would give the organizer to her if I decided that I didn't want it. I smiled again and nodded but then decided it was time to leave. She had that look in her eyes that made me think she just might wrestle me for this $1.00 item. Being more that a foot taller than her, I was not nervous, but I suspected she would fight dirty.
Turned on its' side, this organizer is perfect for many of my tools. The hand tools are in view, are easily accessed, and I have room for some of the larger and more bulky tools.
My poor, dumpy, ugly pot- I don't know what to do with it yet.
I put that dumpy, ugly pot to use in my studio. I have a collection of hand tools that had become a real challenge to keep organized. I quickly realized that this pot was not the ideal solution- the circular shape made it difficult to get tools back in place.
Then, I saw my solution at a favored thrift store. This is a handmade stationery organizer that was priced at $1.00. I thought this could be the answer to my hand tool organizing needs and claimed it. As soon as I had it in my hands, a woman came up to me and said "I wanted that!" I smiled at her and said "Whoops! I did, too!" I was slowly making my way over to the check out area when the same woman came up to me and asked me if I would give the organizer to her if I decided that I didn't want it. I smiled again and nodded but then decided it was time to leave. She had that look in her eyes that made me think she just might wrestle me for this $1.00 item. Being more that a foot taller than her, I was not nervous, but I suspected she would fight dirty.
Turned on its' side, this organizer is perfect for many of my tools. The hand tools are in view, are easily accessed, and I have room for some of the larger and more bulky tools. My poor, dumpy, ugly pot- I don't know what to do with it yet.
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