encouraging reflection

some tools you use as a potter are like any other
tool . . . utilatarian, simple, though useful,
bland even . . .

but i have a few tools that are part of my kit
that are collected and then made into something
far from their original use . . .

the buttons above are from all over the place

antique shops, online,
gifts from friends who know i will use such things,
junk shops, my grandmothers old tins . . .
and that big black one in the middle from
an amazing store i ventured to while in paris last spring
( see photo below )

so i can best use them to stamp into the clay,
and still not impact on them returning one day possibly
to be a button for original use on a garment,
i craft a handle through the shank of the buttons
with old, new, collected beads . . .

and what appears is a tool, useful and beautiful !

i have a wonderful book on the autobiographical writings
of vanessa bell, virginia woolf's sister,
called sketches in pen and ink
and the following passage written by
vanessa bell's daughter about the room in which her
mother wrote has always struck me as a
as a beautiful way to describe
what i am rambling-ly trying to here . . .

"But the room, though discernibly worn,
smoothed and brushed clean was comfortable enough.
Everything in it had been placed where it was
for a double purpose,
both useful and aesthetic.
Beauty and peace hung suspended,
encouraging reflection."

above Ultramod, 14 Rue Monsigny, 75002 Paris, France.