Hi All,
Just a note to say that I'm surviving the last few months of study quite well so far.... 3 more months and I'll be finished!
I was back-checking lots of my ethnographic pottery resources today, and also bimbling on youtube and found this video taken in India by UK based potter Jane Perryman, who happens to be a heroine of mine.
I love Indian water pots, and now I'm really worried that when I eventually make it to India in a few years, the number of potters will have decreased by a lot and thousands of years of craft tradition will have been lost. Sad thing is, it's happening here in the UK already....I know so many potters who simply can't make a living at it any more because people want plastic or mass-produced stuff from Ikea (Blegh).
It's why I'll likely never be able to be a full time potter either.
One more thing, ( asliceofthemoon will probably have notice this too) 10 years ago when my friend Elf was living in India all the chai sellers used clay cups. Now many use plastic or paper disposable ones. I always wanted to buy a few of these chai cups as souvenirs when I eventually made it to India, because to me they are beautiful even if they are just little clay disposable pots. Perhaps when I get there, they won't exist anymore :-(
Sooo lovely. A 4,000 year tradition of pottery drinking vessels might disappear. Also traditional skills that date back to the Harappan culture...I mean, that's a long long lineage of skill and expertise. Making pots is much harder than it seems, I couldn't believe how good a job of firing those pots in the video could be done with so little fuel, it's flippin' genius!
The government should start promoting these low-fired cups - they are still quite 'soft' so they biodegrade over time and don't cause waste or pollution. It would also keep lots of potter's jobs i.e. good for economy.
The world's mantra should be 'pots not plastic, pots not plastic, pots not plastic!
Come on folks, say iy with me!!!
POTS NOT PLASTIC!
In other news:
The British Institute at Ankara - I wrote to them to ask if I could come volunteer for them in the Autumn and they said YES!
Looks like I'll be headed straight to Turkey after Bulgarian archaeology trip. I'M SUPER EXCITED!
I discovered kajal eyeliner. So much better than eyeliner pencils and even better than my regular Barry M tipstick kohl stick. Liquid eyeliner and I are not on friendly terms after numerous *epic fails* ....I was on the look out for a replacement or upgrade of eyelining handy-ness. I tried gel pots, almost failing as badly as liquid application. Laura Mercier caviar Cakeliner works well but seriously? £18 plus having to buy 2 kinds of eyeliner brush at further two digit cost? No...not until I become a millionairre.
So. Blue Heaven kajal stick from my local asian store...£1.20. I thought I might as well try it because all the Indian Ladies I see here in Edinburgh always have goregously made-up eyes, maybe this was the secret :-P
This stuff is magic. It doesn't smudge, has no nasty chemicals, has cooling and soothing properties which means that for the last two days I didn't leave my computer with sore and tired eyes...it must be the kajal.
It's so easy to put on. No smudge, not hard like a pencil, perfect lines, even doesn't easily smudge off the inner rim (water-line) of the eye....where with Barry M etc. I had to re-apply there every 2-3 hours. The colour is a richer carbon-black too. All that for £1.20! I'm so very, very pleased.
I know I just used the word 'smudge' a bunch of times but I rather like the sound of it. It makes me think of fudge...or chocolate brownies, I know that should be 'squidge', but both words sound kinda yummy. Maybe I'm just hungry.
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