Our story

They say that living with and using handmade things can be somewhat like having a conversation with the maker- and although we might not know each other (Hi, I’m Tracy), if we were sitting down over some coffee or tea, this is what I would want to share: 

The wheel for making pottery whips around fast- so quickly, in fact, that as I was first learning to throw on the wheel it seemed almost dizzying.

Unless the clay is centered perfectly on the wheel, it is unstable and wobbly. As a result, it becomes comically impossible to make anything useful. The only way forward is to begin the whole process by centering the clay- which seems simple enough- but is actually a challenging skill to learn. In fact, it is difficult enough I thought many times over it would be easier to just scrap the whole “wheel throwing” thing and hand-build items using a rolling pin and table.  

But that crazy spinning wheel is also useful. The added rotation means I can keep my hands still and the spinning will allow me to make changes to the clay almost effortlessly. The centrifugal force helps raise and make the piece. It’s worth the fight to learn how to center the clay. Even so, it takes time, and practice, failure and lots of messy, splattered walls.  

But now that I’ve centered hundreds and hundreds of times, it has become second nature.  

The key to so much is the centering.  

These are the things that played through my mind as I learned to center, learned to make simple cylinders, learned to shape clay into something useful that you might want to use in your own home, with your own family.

And this is what I might say – if I was brave and bold- if we were sitting at my table over some nice cozy drink visiting:

My hope and my prayer for you is that you will find time and place each day to be centered. That even though the circumstances you are in might feel unsettling and dizzying- seemingly spinning out of control, that that you will remain centered, and as such, be raised up and made more beautiful not only in spite of your circumstances but even because of them. That the centering of your heart becomes effortless over time- so what seemed nearly impossible to begin with becomes second nature.