Your Clay ProjectHome of wayward amateur pottery

I seriously do not understand how things like this end up being donated to the thrift store. I mean, I get that people die, and their families don’t want to keep their stuff. But didn’t anyone  look at this fanciful little lavender pony and fall in love?

I mean, what part of him failed to completely captivate the ogre who carried this box to the donation center? Was it his 4-inch height? His shiny lavender body?

His magenta mane?

His curly rolled tail, or the little indented “buttons” on his chest and rump?

Well, no matter – I for one am completely smitten. He might even be magic!

A rich, burnt-golden glaze gives this medallion the aura of an ancient artifact. A hole at the top calls out for a leather lacing to make a necklace. It’s about an inch wide and 3 inches long, with a slender cat etched in the middle. Downright hieroglyphic, don’t you think?

This small but distinctive wall pocket measures about 4 inches wide and 6 inches tall, with a pretty country-blue glaze and deep blue stripes. This piece has the name “Sharon” scratched in cursive on the back.

Someone with the unfortunate name of “TWATTY” made this really cool little pot, possibly on a wheel. The clay itself is colored purple, so the base glazed color is a deep purple. The all-over scroll design is in deep green. The piece stands 2-1/2 inches tall and is 3-1/2 inches wide at its widest point.

I am not entirely sure this one was kid-made (maybe an older kid…), but it’s definitely handmade. It’s dated 1-21-99. The fact that they actually etched their snicker-inducing name in the bottom took some serious balls.

Okay frankly, this piece gives me the heebie-jeebies.

But the cool thing about collecting something odd and folksy is that once you tell other people you’re collecting it, they will occasionally bring you a really unique piece they’ve found for you. My mother-in-law bought this for me at a flea market near Unionville, Missouri. I initially thought this might have been something like a pie-bird, but realized quickly that it had no vent holes in it.

After some further studying, I’ve determined it was probably intended to be a puppet head – but, the indentation in the bottom for the puppeteer’s finger isn’t deep enough to compensate for the weight of the actual head, so it ended up being a cast-off. My daughter points out that it could be used as a candle snuffer, and I agree – if only because it will scare the fire out.

This piece measures a little under 5 inches tall but has no identifying marks.