Sit with me!

Morning!

Today, I'd like to invite you all to sit with me. I've seen a few trending posts with the #walkwithme - this is my spin on it. I tend to sit on the ground when I create my pots out of cement, but mostly we're sitting today because I had a 350lb Samoan massaging all the calcified deposits in my muscles yesterday in a technique I just learned about called Kaomi Lomi - or Hawaiian Power Flow. The gist of it is to get the blood flowing freely from heart to limbs. Essentially a REALLY DEEP tissue massage. The only other time Ive experienced this type of sweet pain was in Chinatown, NYC. I was warned not to eat prior to the massage, otherwise I would throw up. I didn't believe them, but thankfully wasn't hungry, either. Low and behold, not 10 minutes after laying down on a card table in the back closet of the sketchiest place I have ever stepped foot in, the masseuse hit a spot on my upper back that made my stomach instantly flip and had it been filled, would have promptly exited. I don't know what it is about deep tissue manipulation pain, but its something I love. To me, it means tension and yuck being released from whatever was trapping them there in the first place. Anyways....totally off topic.

Back to sitting.

[Just a few of the crystal pots I am working on for a new line. And some sustainably harvested white sage from Rainbow, CA]

Here is my work space. I still haven't figured out the best organization, but its working for me so far. Maybe someday I'll upgrade to a real work bench, but for now, this works even though its increasingly getting harder and harder to stand up after hours on the cold ground.

(Side note. Do you ever re-read your post and say to yourself wtf, I used that word 1000 times? Anyone have a good substitute word for WORK? That last paragraph, lol.)

Before you start feeling too bad for me having to sit my ever aging ass on the concrete ...check out my view to the left!

I use recycled plastic for my molds. You can see here how the smaller cup creates the indent for the planting hole. That used to be Tom Yum Soup and a Lemonade Pitcher.

And it pops out to look something like this! Un-molding to see what the cement has done in terms of swirls and marbling is the most exciting part.

Not every piece comes out perfect, though. I'm still getting used to the SoCal weather and what it does to the chemical reactions in the cement mixture - something I didn't have to worry about in NYC!

So, I mix up small batches and color the cement to the piece I'm trying to patch up.

I tried to make a short GIF of the final consistency I am looking for, but I can't make it work this morning. I'm probably turning my fingertips into cement slowly by not wearing gloves, but I need to feel the textures and cracks and I haven't found a suitable sized glove yet. So, I work as quickly as I can and try to wash my hands free of all the cement before it dries. My hands have started to feel stiff in the mornings, and I can't tell if its the cement actually turning me into Medusa, or early onset of arthritis. Or maybe just carpal tunnel.

[I took this shot myself!!! With a timer on the cell camera, I held it between my chin and chest and hoped for the best. Besides my scarecrow hair, I think it came out pretty great. One and done, I didn't try that again, as that bowl of cement below me was still wet]

So, I hope this post made up for the disgustingness I felt compelled to post yesterday :)

Happy Monday!
Christie