Category: Blog

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Win Free Goodies!

You know what’s neat?

When two business women have an idea and then it happens, I just love that!

My friend Erica is the owner & founder of the amazing Eteaket – the very finest place in Edinburgh (online too!) for high quality loose leaf tea with integrity. She and I had a conversation one day about wanting to give some fun things away to celebrate summer and after about 5 minutes of conversation we came up with the “Tea for Two Giveaway”.

Included in the giveaway are 2 of my favorite “Waveware Mugs”, 4 delicious loose leaf summer teas (shown in the photo, you can drink them hot or cold) and enough bleach-free teabags to last the entire summer.

If you want a chance to win, click here to enter the giveaway. One entry per person, but if you’re on Facebook or Instagram you can get an extra entry by sharing our giveaway posts in your stories.

The giveaway ends at 5pm (BST) on Saturday, July 27th and is open to pottery & tea lovers all over the world. Erica and I will share the cost of sending the booty to you when you win.

Good luck!!

~Avesha

 

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Plastic free, can you dig it? 😉

July 1st starts the 6th year of the #plasticfree challenge which has been spearheaded by the wonderful Marine Conservation Society here in Scotland 🌊 🦀 Want to join me???

The purpose of the challenge is to bring awareness to our plastic use and help us make some kind of effort to reduce our use of plastics or even #goplasticfree if we are feeling especially courageous.


In our house, being entirely plastic free isn’t realistic quite yet, but we have made some “microsteps” by recycling and reusing as much as possible. We use metal straws & cloth shopping bags and we have a keep-cup each for our beloved take out coffees. There is SO much more we could be doing though, this is where the Plastic Free challenge will help.

What is one small step you could take to make (and keep making) a difference to the plastic waste crisis?


Please share your ideas with me in the comments to help us all find a way to help the Oceans 🌊❤

To sign up to the #plasticfree challenge go to www.mcsuk.org/news/join_plastic_challenge

Also, remember back in May when we were talking about how helping others works really well as a  microstep you can take to help your own mental & emotional health?

Well, being a part of the #plasticfree challenge and taking a microstep toward helping marine life by reducing the plastic waste threatening them can REALLY help us feel like we are making a positive difference… which makes us feel good 🌞 Win, win!

❤

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It’s ‘Just a Card Day’, woo hoo!!! (okay, but what is that?)

Have you been to any sweet local shops, or galleries, or grocers run by independent business people in your community?

What did you think?

Did it feel special and a little like you were connected into something bigger than yourself? Did you feel like a part of your community?

Those feelings are a large part of what is at the core of the Justacard campaign which began 2 years ago when Sarah Hamilton,  a printmaker in South London decided to do something to help keep independent shops open and thriving in her community.

(That’s her there  👇 Click on her photo to see Sarah’s beautiful prints)

Justacard has since become a global movement of independent shops and makers and artists of all kinds who believe in it’s purpose and mission. When you purchase something, anything, even ‘just a card’ from a local gallery or shop you make a difference to an independent business owner.

“If everyone who’d complimented our beautiful gallery had bought ‘just a card’ we would still be open”

When I first heard about this campaign a year ago the first thing I did was get this bumper sticker for my car (that’s a Courtney Murphy Ceramics mug, isn’t it pretty?) and am so thankful I did!

People asking about the sticker has started many small but important conversations about how essential it is to shop small, local, independent and in your community, if you can.

So, today, June 17th is ‘Justacard Day’ and makers all over the globe are shouting from the rooftops about this beautiful, meaningful campaign that is already making a difference to how the general purchasing public spends their money.

Big things are in store for the Justacard campaign too, have a look at their website to see all of the fancy actors and famous people taking part in getting this message out to the world.

Now, when you see the Justacard logo in a photo or in a shop or car window you’ll know what it means and you’ll feel like a superhero when you buy that card, or mug, or book, or jewellry, or sticker, or journal, or painting, or toilet paper, or shoes, or whatever it is you’re looking for… because you know, whatever you need can be found in an independent shop.

Really, it can ❤

 

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It’s always about the ocean, amiright?

Did you know today is World Environment Day? 🌎 It’s a day dedicated by the United Nations for us to slow down, educate ourselves and do something to help the environment.

For me, these days are about the oceans….it’s always about the oceans here, amiright? 😉 Who could blame me? They provide so much for us but are becoming crippled by trash and plastic waste. We need to do something to reverse this damage and days like today are inspirations to do so.

Days like this are also wonderful opportunities to implement Mental Health Awareness Month Top Tip #3, remember that one?  It’s about how doing something for someone else can help our own emotional and mental health and that “someone” includes the Earth and all the animals living on it with us.

So, some super simple things you can do to help today and every day are:

1) Always bring an extra bag to the beach for your trash and take away the rubbish you see left by others.

2) Donate to a reputable, charity supporting the Oceans and educating people about how to help. Five bucks a month makes a big difference if you can swing it. The Marine Conservation Society is AMAZING ❤🦀

3) Make your buying power say something by not purchasing plastics or by purchasing items that support reputable charities.

In case you didn’t know already, 100% of the profit from my “In love with the Sea” ornaments goes to the incredible work of the Marine Conservation Society 🌞 You get something pretty and are helping the environment at the same time. Win, win! 

❤Until later 

 

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Weeee’re Baaaaack!

It’s unbelievably cold outside this morning as I write this, even the sand at the beach had a light coat of frost on it… I wish I had thought to get a photo of it to show you.  Ah, well, next time!

Some of you who have been a part of the pottery family for a while may have been wondering where Spiral Tide Pottery has been over the last few years… I closed the pottery back in 2016 when my previous studio was sold back to the council. Everything was packed away in the shed in our back garden for years, calling to me, but I was doing my best to ignore it because I couldn’t see a way to make it work. I couldn’t find an obvious solution so I ignored that part of myself screaming for expression… until my eye began to twitch and I became a not very nice person. I was trying so hard to be my best but I was so unhappy. 

My wonderful, sainted, ever-so-patient Wife came up with a brilliant solution last spring and after a month of  construction on the shed that was holding onto all the pottery equipment…Voila! I have a working studio that I adore.  As of May 31st 2018 we’re back in business and I’m a nice person again, holla-lujiah!

One of the things the last few years without clay has taught me is to always – ALWAYS – do my very best to honor my creative spirit. It’s a constant companion and something that won’t be silenced. At the risk of sounding totally dramatic… I’ve learned that clay is something almost as important for my well-being as oxygen.

Because I tend to want to learn from my mistakes (and because I worry), I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what happens the next time I need a plan B for the studio and how to keep my hands in clay no matter what.

Even if I can’t see a way to fire the work I know now that I still need to be getting my hands dirty and making pots. The kicker of that lesson though, is that I already knew it… waaaay back in 1995 when I was getting ready to graduate from high school and didn’t have a clue what I wanted to do with my life, my Mom asked me “can you live a happy life without art, without making pots?”. My immediate answer was no and that led me to apply to art school, but 19 years later I had forgotten all of that. I had forgotten that I deserved to have my soul alight and I’d forgotten that the best way to be my best self is to get lost in my creativity as much as possible.

So, I urge you to have a think about the things that make your heart sing, the talents and special gifts that you can’t live happily without and then make damned sure you find a way to keep them alive for you in your daily life no matter what.

You’re so worth it.

Don’t forget that you deserve to have your soul lit up on a daily basis, k?