nearly a month ago, i was browsing in the delightfully curated cedar and hyde shop in downtown boulder. i was completely charmed by a collection of whimsical, stoneware vases, each with three little feet, displayed there. they came in different sizes and resembled women in the waddly stage of pregnancy when everything is protruding and feels surprising and unbalanced. each zaftig piece was unique, as is each child-bearing mother. the vases were textured in a way that held the glaze in various degrees of intensity. they had a soft, organic, earthy feel and i spent a good while comparing the bulges, patterns and characters of each vessel.
a few days later, i was scrolling through my newly acquired instagram (yes - i am a VERY late adapter!) and i saw the vases in a post deftly titled, “little mamas.” their perfect name made me love them even more… and better still, i knew their creator, laura morningstar.
laura was one of the first people i met when we moved to boulder because her husband, kevin, was building our house. she was, and is, a successful realtor. it was so exciting to discover this other, super-creative side to laura. i am meeting more and more women who start exploring and pursuing innovative ideas when their children get a bit older and are more independent. somehow these mamas now have the energy and bandwidth to think beyond ear wax and mac n’ cheese and the results are truly inspiring.
last week, laura generously took me to the pottery lab where she makes the little mamas, to share her process. she starts with a rolled out slab of clay and uses roofing tiles as pattern makers. the texture is then pressed into the clay, the edges are scored and the imprinted rectangle is rolled into a cyclinder. from there, the three little feet are formed and narrow triangles are cut out and pressed together to make the opening of the vase smaller. laura’s final step before firing is to use a long wand with a ball at the end to push out the bellies of the little mamas. some have more than one belly.
laura, a self-described perfectionist, has found her clay work liberating and cathartic. the imperfections of the little mamas are what make them so wonderful… the seams, the lopsidedness, the unexpected glaze results and the hand touch. these are not the impeccably exercised, gluten-free, lulu lemon wearing bouldery mamas from school pick up… laura’s little mamas are the ones you want to cuddle up with on the sofa, under a big quilt, while chocolate chip cookies are baking. laura’s little mamas are engaging and curvaceous and comforting.
