Tag Archives: Wimbledon Artists Studios

A Man Walks into a Studio and . . .

Open Studios presents a fantastic opportunity to meet people and to chat about your work.  The trouble is that I am completely hopeless with names and faces so I am always being caught out when people drop into my studio assuming that I will know who they are because we had a long and fascinating conversation six months ago.  It is so embarrassing to stare blankly at people whilst you are frantically flicking thorough the files in you brain in search of recognition.

The lovely man who breezed into my space on Friday afternoon was nothing if not distinctive – very tall; soft, American accent; blonde hair scrunched into a pony tail; tanned, weathered face.  I was still wondering whether he had parked his horse at the door to the building whilst he was rummaging in his ‘saddle bag’.  With a flourish he fished out a plastic bag and declared that he had brought me a present.  I held out my hands and something brown and squashy was deposited!ashstead clay

After an awkward few seconds it transpired that during the previous Open Studios in November I had given him a small plastic bag and he had duly gone down to the ‘beck’ and also to a local clay pit to fill it with clay samples, bringing it back during this event so that I can incorporate into a vessel.  I love a good piece of found material

River Journey, Bridget Macklin, 2014
I love a good bit of local dirt!

to mix into a vessel so nothing could stem my excitement at this wondrous gift!  It turns out that this lovely man is a petroleum geologist called John, who I have now got completely in focus as the man of mud !  Thank you, John.  I can’t wait to get making!

Its a Kind of Magic . . .

My obsession with clay means that I need my hands – a lot.  About a year ago I noticed that I was encountering a lot of pain in my left hand.  This worried me.  In fact it worried me so much that I have been keeping it from my nearest and dearest.

I did, however, speak to my GP who basically said that it was arthritis, that this is particularly prevalent in women of a certain age and basically that it was tough. It would get worse as I got older.  I did not find this encouraging or helpful.  The pain comes and goes but it is there most of the time.  It affects my enjoyment of ceramics and it very much affects my ability to helm my sailing boat as well.

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Is it time for a tiller with a spade handle?
In fact I have been contemplating one of those tillers with a handle at the end so that I could alter my grip on the tiller.  It seemed that it was either that or give up racing.

 

Until today!

Today I visited the Grand Designs Live show at London’s ExCel centre.  We were there to find a few things such as bifold doors and ground source heat pumps for our wonderful Cornish home.

I had absolutely no idea that my worries about my hand were about to be resolved .

Whilst my dearly beloved partner was having yet another in depth conversation with some guy about the U values of different solar panels, I drifted off – literally as well as metaphorically.  I found myself gazing longingly at a shiny new Lexus and then I turned around . . . .

Watching me was a man with a weird machine.  “I can cure you,” he chanted with a cunning smile!  No it wasn’t really like that at all.  Never the less, the man from Eurotherapy was armed with a machine and I could feel myself being suckered into giving it a go. Two minutes later the pain in my hand was gone!

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After two minutes I was pain free!
Better – all the movement had returned – I could bend my thumb to touch the palm of my hand again (not possible now for about 6 months) and the swelling had been reduced.  Wow!  If this is what 2 minutes does, imagine the possibilities.   When the pad was removed I suddenly felt a strange popping inside my wrist.  The salesman explained that this was the uric acid crystals breaking down – already????  And yet, I really did not have, still do not have, any pain – 6 hours later.

 

I don’t think I am the kind of person who normally falls for gimmicks.  I have managed without copper bracelets and magnetic pressure thingies and acupuncture until today.  But this thing got me.  I am now the impoverished owner of the device.  My sailing days and, more importantly, my potting days feel safe (for the time being) from the grim reaper and, just to make me feel even better, the thing is tax deductible because I need my hands for my work!

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So if in the future I don’t hear you calling me it is either because:

a. I am in the studio in Wimbledon making things out of clay,

b. I have gone sailing,

c. I am strapped to a vibrating pad getting some part of my anatomy shaken to bits.

I shall keep you posted on how it goes because I suspect that I am not the only female ceramicist approaching that time of life when things begin to get stiff, sore and swollen!