The Fountain of Youth

You can spend a lifetime chasing your dreams and building your skills. Each passing year brings knowledge and a greater familiarity with your craft. Your hands learn the motions. Your feet know each peddle and step. Mixtures and solutions are written over and over in your mind so many times that you’ll never forget them. Each day you create new thoughts and ideas to make your work better or different. That accumulation is one of the most beautiful parts of life. Each time you put on your Carhartts, still covered in yesterday’s work, you’ve grown stronger, smarter, and more capable. The seasoning of each passing year, with all the mistakes and successes you’ve seen, can only add to who you are. Always wear your dirty work vest with pride.

“There is a fountain of youth: it is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life and the lives of people you love. When you learn to tap this source, you will truly have defeated age.” -Sophia Loren

take a look at the El Paso Utility Vest worn above 

How to Reclaim Red Clay

 

As you may well know, Carhartt women are known for being innovative. So when it comes to craftiness, don’t be wasteful and think green. For those pottery lovers who want to be resourceful and re-use scrap clay, take a look at this tutorial Victoria from Pewabic Pottery is demonstrating above.

How to Reclaim Clay: (in other words, how to recycle dry clay bits back into a workable material)
1. Soak dry bits, chunks, failed projects of clay in water.
2. Soak for a few hours or days, depending on dryness of clay. Stir mixture with your hand.
3. Scoop out rehydrated clay onto plaster block.
4. Make sure clay is even thickness on the plaster block to allow for even water absorbtion.
5. Once clay is no longer tacky scrape it off the plaster block into a medium size pile.
6. Wedge it. Rock clay back and forth in kneading motion until air bubbles are compressed and clay feels pliable.

Victoria’s workwear: Carhartt Women’s Short-Sleeve Signature Tee & Slim Fit Nyona Jean

Victoria Shaheen of Pewabic Pottery

Passing down knowledge of the arts and creativity seems like the ultimate gift. As mothers, sisters, and friends we can help multiply ingenuity and imagination. Just ask Victoria. She molded her first lump of clay at the age of six. Her mom was an artist who wanted to share the passion she had for her favorite medium. Alongside her mother, Victoria saw several women who broke down barriers and set prime examples for the female art force, such as Mary Chase Perry Stratton, Maija Grotell, and Beatrice Wood.

Mary Chase Perry Stratton founded Pewabic Pottery in 1903, deviating so far from the path that patriarchal society laid before her. Instead of solely tending to matters of home and family, she broadened her mind with art and business. To Mary, pottery was more than a hobby. It was her life, her bread and butter, her ambition and aspiration. She left behind a legacy of distinct work and work ethics. If we all could be so lucky and determined to leave behind some goodness for those who follow in our footsteps, the world would be much better for it.

To Victoria, Mary Stratton “is watching over all the female artists in Detroit. If you’re walking down Woodward, feeling down on your luck, or tired form working twice as hard for half the pay merely because of your gender, look up! Chances are you will see a Pewabic facade or design somewhere on one of those buildings. Maybe she didn’t literally pave the road but she literally finished the buildings!”

Victoria aims to one day run a studio of her own with friends, hopefully traveling and doing workshops along the way. Her advice to aspiring artists is simple. Don’t take yourself so seriously. Art can still be fun to make, analyze, and critique. While Victoria sees Mary Stratton as the ceramics Rosie the Riveter of the Midwest, she hopes to be more like Shirley Temple. By integrating a bit of her background in New Jersey, she hopes to make viewers feel that playfulness of a child at the beach.

That being said let each day take you a step closer to fulfilling your dreams. Find your voice and don’t be afraid to make it heard. That’s the way to leave behind a legacy of triumph and create an appetite for achievement in generations to come.

See more of Victoria Shaheen’s work here. 
Also take a look at her work wear: Sandstone Sherpa Lined Vest, Clarksburg Sweatshirt, Jasper Jeans, Soft Hands Glove, & Carbondale Safety Glasses. 

DIY: Slab Constructed Bowl

 

Victoria from Pewabic Pottery has some advice when making a slab constructed bowl. Basically, that’s making a bowl off of a bowl mold. It’s a great craft to do with kids or on your own for fun and relaxation. Here we go:

1. Pound a ball of clay into a square shape about 3/4” thick.
2. Throw the slab at an angle to further lengthening and thinning.
3. Use light pressure with a rolling pin to smooth out any unevenness in your slab.
4. Pick up your slab with flat hands and drape over a plaster hump mold. (plaster bowl shape)
5. Gently push down slab to conform to shape of mold.
6. Smooth out with metal or plastic rib. If tools are not accessible a sponge with work also.
7. With knife, a needle tool, or something sharp cut off excess clay around lip of bowl.
8. Continue to smooth out the exterior of the form until your clay has released from mold.
9. Once clay has hardened up and begun to release from the plaster mold, gently pry off the bowl.
10. Allow to stiffen up and decorate with colored slips, underglazes, or stamps.

Victoria is wearing the Carhartt Women’s Clarksburg Sweatshirt. It is slightly fitted with triple stitched seams and perfect for a day in the studio. 

Nicole from Pewabic Pottery in Detroit

Pewabic Pottery in Detroit was founded in 1903 by Mary Chase Perry Stratton. Her ceramics were nationally renowned, landing her a spot in the Michigan’s Women Hall of Fame. Mary went on to win several awards and established the ceramics department at the University of Michigan. The touch she had on Michigan and the arts and crafts community will always be remembered. The shop is still operating to this day and is now a National Historic Landmark. Nicole, pictured above, works as a ceramicist for Pewabic creating commissioned work and their trademark Pewabic blue pieces.

shop this look: Women’s Quarter Zip Sweatshirt, Double Front Work Dungarees, and Duck Nail Apron