I am so happy to share the first-ever reader submission on Your Clay Project! And not just because the featured project is ADORABLE, but also because of who made it.
Have you ever been in a flood? And by “flood” I don’t mean a couple inches of burst pipe water in the basement. I mean, the basement is full of THE RIVER and by the way so is the living room, and all it’s foul-smelling, bacteria-infested, dead-fish-floating, mixture-of-river-chemicals-sewage-and-oh-my-god-the-stench-will-never-leave-my-nose FLOOD.
Well, I’ve been through that kind of flood, twice. And let me tell you, clean-up from this type of ordeal is quite simply overwhelming, physically and emotionally. And in 2008, when it was Day One of clean-up, who was there to help?
TO THE RESCUE!
A guy named Howard. A great guy, a motorcycle buddy. The kind of guy who would do anything for a friend.
Including haul a muck-filled mattress out of a muck-filled house, and squish it, end over disgusting end, out to the curb.
Including fearlessly climb over the pile of debris into our tiny former office and scoop out how many shovels full of slimey ruined books and other wretched, stinking debris.
Including so many more gross, God-awful clean-up tasks, that you could never ask anyone to do, but they just step in and do them because they’re your friend.
Anyway, short version: I love Howard, he is a dear and treasured friend.
And he was 8 years old when he fashioned this little owl figure in elementary school art class! It features sturdy, chunky wings, button eyes with a hypnotic starburst pattern, and a charismatic beak that protrudes out and down, giving it a personality much bigger than its 3 x 3 x 5 inch size.
The year was 1968 and when the owl was complete, Howard gave it to his dear grandmother – who must have immediately mailed off a picture of it to iconic TV producers Sid & Marty Krofft, because I’m pretty sure they used little Howard’s project as the inspiration for the Witchiepoo character on “HR Pufnstuf” (a show that was not LSD-induced in the slightest, so please do not spread those rumors).
Well at the very least, Grandma kept it and cherished it and dusted around it for decades, until she passed away in 1991. At that point Howard lost track of it. Then about seven years later, the little owl re-surfaced – Howard found it at the home of his uncle in 1998, after the uncle’s passing.
So it seems that our cute, wise little friend has a way of turning up when it’s unexpected. Just like Howard, who turned up on Holcomb Street ready and willing to haul the muck out of our flooded house. I’m so glad that Howard and his little owl have been reunited!
Have a clay project you’d like to share? Just email me a few photos and the story behind your piece at submissions@yahoo.com.
I’m linking to the What’s It Wednesday Party over at Ivy and Elephants, and also to Vintage Thingy Thursday at ColoradoLady! Click through for tons of inspirational projects, and of course wonderful vintage thingies!