Monday, November 4
Nov. 5th, 2024 12:22 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gottawonderToday I am grateful for:
A pretty pleasant day weather wise. Above freezing and sunny.
I didn't have a chance to work with Wonder and Dandy today, and I kind of missed it.
I did go to pottery. I didn't get there until about 4 pm, leaving me with about two hours (I worked into the time between the afternoon class and the evening class, but I maybe shouldn't do that as a habit) to work.
I was able to trim and assemble the body of another tea pot, and it's looking good. That's literally all I had time to do.
I did see other people. One woman, who used to be the craft center president, has been very kind to me and my concerns about the "dictator" woman who is de facto taking over the pottery studio. She is willing to take my concerns (that I turned into a fairly rational email outlining my thoughts about how to be sane about the number of new members, the need for policies about what the role of the instructor actually is, and the limits of power for that person, how to train multiple people to fill roles in the studio so that we are never reliant only on the instructor, and so on).
She says we will have some kind of meeting about this, maybe a focus group to get an idea of what people think.
Truthfully, it's possible that most people using the studio don't care at all, because they don't really care about whether or not one person makes all the decisions, or that this isn't how a co-operative community should work.
I am just trying to avoid the situation that keeps happening in this group, of one crusty old woman taking over everything and making all the decisions and being angry at anyone who challenges her opinions or decisions, and giving favors to people who are her friends.
I interacted again with some of the newer members, who came in early (they are in the evening class, but showed up within the time of our afternoon class, which I COULD have been upset about and kicked them out, but I don't really care that much if it's only one or two people. I suspect though, that more and more people from that class are going to start coming early because THEIR class is over crowded. Sigh).
Once again, they were in awe of one or two things I showed them, like how to set the shape of a handle by draping the handle over something until firm, before trying to attach it to your mug or teapot body, and it will hold it's shape better on the piece. That is BASIC KNOWLEDGE, and they are obviously not getting any of that in their "beginner's class".
On the plus side, being limited to short studio sessions HAS forced me to come a little earlier, to be done early, and thus I can get groceries done earlier and be home in better time. I tend to be home by about 7:30 instead of 10:30, so I get to be with my Sweetie.
That never used to matter, since if my husband was working away from home, NO ONE was at home waiting for me, so who cared if I stayed late?
Maybe throwing at home can make up for the short sessions on Mondays.
Anyhow, I got groceries, and am as ever grateful for having the means to do so.
I came home, and we ate and watched some more "Scooby Doo, Mystery Incorporated".
I received a gift today, from a friend in Wyoming. I apprenticed for a winter with her and her partner who run a rock shop and do silversmithing. She does silversmith work too, and wanted to send me a lovely Labradorite pendant for some work that my husband and I did on her house a long, long time ago. It's a beautiful gesture.
My husband also picked up a set of Tarot cards from someone on Marketplace, I wanted them for the artwork, done by an artist that I love (Stephanie Law). They are called the Shadowscapes Tarot. I was very happy with the artwork, but the little book that came with them to explain the cards was a bit underwhelming, as the story and ideas built for the cards are half the fascination.
A pretty pleasant day weather wise. Above freezing and sunny.
I didn't have a chance to work with Wonder and Dandy today, and I kind of missed it.
I did go to pottery. I didn't get there until about 4 pm, leaving me with about two hours (I worked into the time between the afternoon class and the evening class, but I maybe shouldn't do that as a habit) to work.
I was able to trim and assemble the body of another tea pot, and it's looking good. That's literally all I had time to do.
I did see other people. One woman, who used to be the craft center president, has been very kind to me and my concerns about the "dictator" woman who is de facto taking over the pottery studio. She is willing to take my concerns (that I turned into a fairly rational email outlining my thoughts about how to be sane about the number of new members, the need for policies about what the role of the instructor actually is, and the limits of power for that person, how to train multiple people to fill roles in the studio so that we are never reliant only on the instructor, and so on).
She says we will have some kind of meeting about this, maybe a focus group to get an idea of what people think.
Truthfully, it's possible that most people using the studio don't care at all, because they don't really care about whether or not one person makes all the decisions, or that this isn't how a co-operative community should work.
I am just trying to avoid the situation that keeps happening in this group, of one crusty old woman taking over everything and making all the decisions and being angry at anyone who challenges her opinions or decisions, and giving favors to people who are her friends.
I interacted again with some of the newer members, who came in early (they are in the evening class, but showed up within the time of our afternoon class, which I COULD have been upset about and kicked them out, but I don't really care that much if it's only one or two people. I suspect though, that more and more people from that class are going to start coming early because THEIR class is over crowded. Sigh).
Once again, they were in awe of one or two things I showed them, like how to set the shape of a handle by draping the handle over something until firm, before trying to attach it to your mug or teapot body, and it will hold it's shape better on the piece. That is BASIC KNOWLEDGE, and they are obviously not getting any of that in their "beginner's class".
On the plus side, being limited to short studio sessions HAS forced me to come a little earlier, to be done early, and thus I can get groceries done earlier and be home in better time. I tend to be home by about 7:30 instead of 10:30, so I get to be with my Sweetie.
That never used to matter, since if my husband was working away from home, NO ONE was at home waiting for me, so who cared if I stayed late?
Maybe throwing at home can make up for the short sessions on Mondays.
Anyhow, I got groceries, and am as ever grateful for having the means to do so.
I came home, and we ate and watched some more "Scooby Doo, Mystery Incorporated".
I received a gift today, from a friend in Wyoming. I apprenticed for a winter with her and her partner who run a rock shop and do silversmithing. She does silversmith work too, and wanted to send me a lovely Labradorite pendant for some work that my husband and I did on her house a long, long time ago. It's a beautiful gesture.
My husband also picked up a set of Tarot cards from someone on Marketplace, I wanted them for the artwork, done by an artist that I love (Stephanie Law). They are called the Shadowscapes Tarot. I was very happy with the artwork, but the little book that came with them to explain the cards was a bit underwhelming, as the story and ideas built for the cards are half the fascination.
