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handmade, or what i learned from being arthritic

updated tue 15 dec 09

 

Deborah Thuman on mon 14 dec 09


I've been making all our bread for roughly 37 years. I used to knead
by hand. Then I became arthritic and used a mixer. Now, I use a bread
machine. I still have better bread than I could buy in the store.

I used to sew and quilt entirely by hand. Then I became arthritic and
learned that it's fun to machine quilt and a machine pieced quilt top
was just as nice as a hand pieced one.

I learned to use a potters wheel - but I never got beyond the stage of
making pots that really suck. Then I pulled a hamstring using the
dreaded kick wheel. I hand build and my leg healed. Not all of us are
meant to throw.

I'm about to learn plaster molds so I can make tiles. Yes, I've done
tiles completely by hand. Then Jim made me a wooden mold and I pound
on the wood block with a rubber mallet to compress the clay. Now my
tiles don't warp or crack in the kiln. As a side effect, my stress
level is lowered. Why use a mold? So I can have both a hand made look
(the tile for the mold will be hand made) and have uniform tiles to
put on the wall. I want this tile installation to be handcrafted and
different from what anyone else has but not to look like a 5-yr-old
did it.

The point is, I use the tools I need to use to get the results I want
to get. If I didn't do that, I couldn't pay in the mud - and that
would be tragic.

Deb Thuman
http://debthumansblog.blogspot.com/
http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=3D5888059
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Deb-Thumans-Art-Page/167529715986