Obamacare, rabbitrabbitrabbit and broken pots...New Year part ONE!

OK, so the other day?  I was dreaming about a teapot with, I dunno how to put it, slashes down the side?  This cup is a stab at that idea....I had to figure out how to try to do the slashes in a particular way before going larger...and then this vase?  I was making I don't even remember, but I grabbed it and began squeezing it in, to narrow it, as you do, and it had all these spiral grooves and I was like HAHA leave it!  Just some funny serendipity or wabi sabi, un-selfconscious pottery, made simply and humbly, right?
MY POINT?  With those 2 items?  The last 2 I made in 2013...and will be fired in 2014!  The cup is part of a new idea...so, carrying forth clearly one year into the next...

In other news, it is thrilling that Obamacare is finally and completely law.  Its about fukkin' time.  I moved to Chicago when I was 22, no health insurance, and worked on a paint crew all summer, 50 feet up in the air on a 12 inch wide ledge.  New day, new ledge, new building, NObody to help my ass if I fell off.  We all have health, we all need this law.

I definately clear the deck on old years and move into new years, clean the house both literally and metaphorically...

 The wife tells me that in Sicily, where she once lived, they throw old broken furniture out the window and have bonfires (hilarious!)...the idea being to clear out the old...Finally, have you heard about the broken pots on New Year?  People in Denmark save old crockery all year to smash on New Year's.  Maybe they are getting rid of the spirit of the old year? I think it is hysterical, as a potter.

BUT, yesterday?  Spike the cat is in the kitchen wanting his breakfast and...smashes my favorite tile.  I have others like it, but this one is MINE.  3 pieces!  I like it so much I am saving it as it is, but dang, couldn't he have broken something I didn't like?

And speaking of rabbits, you say rabbit on the first day of the month for good luck...but why not the first day of the year, too? Happy new year to you, and check back tomorrow for more!



(pottery by Gary Rith)