Here at seatree, we believe that community is vastly important. One of the ways this works is with time exchanges – we have some help in the pottery, always on a time exchange basis. Share and share alike. Gwen helps with glazing and in exchange with help her with DIY. Karen, pictured above, helps with all aspects of making and glazing and in exchange gets the same amount of time back to make her own pottery, which she shares out, keeps or uses to raise money for charities. Then there’s Emily and James who help with all aspects of making and business in exchange for the same time back to make and sell their own pottery. It’s a wonderful thing and we all get what we need from it. Maybe try some time exchanges in your life or business?

Every now and then, I make a batch of wee things – hearts, tiny ones like these to go into tiny glass jars, hearts with words on, small pieces of clay with just one word on to go in  a jar of beach treasures. I find it very therapeutic. I have a pottery friend, Pauline, who cries out in alarm when she sees them, how one earth do you have the patience? But, in reality, it is calming, not stressful. It allows me to focus and not to have to think too big, to just create with my hands and to let muscle memory do its thing. It pulls me back in from the bigger picture of design and lists and kiln schedules..

What is your go-to calming exercise?

We are taking part in March Meet the Maker – worth a follow if you do social media. Today’s daily prompt was ‘numbers’.  Certainly, these are important in running a creative business – pricing, ordering, accounts, measuring clay, weighing glazes, deciding how much of any item to make. But we both agree that they are important only if they stay in the background. What is more important is that we make what we love. That we connect with others in what we do. That we build relationships with our community and with our customers. This picture is going to someone tomorrow, ordered as a gift, with a story about why it was just right for the recipient. They are the things that matter more than the numbers.