Valerie from Purple Petunia was sweet enough to offer a giveaway here today! I found her Etsy shop right before Easter this past spring, and fell in love with the "bunny surprise mug". I had a surprise mug as a kid and I have vivid memories of drinking hot cocoa in it every winter and being so excited to see the crocodile (not as cute as a bunny!) at the bottom. So the bunny mug made its way to our house and the little one absolutely adores it!
Valerie was so excited to offer a giveaway, and she has her shop stocked full of wonderful little things for wee ones. Take a peek!
Here's a little more about Valerie and Purple Petunia...
How did you get started in pottery?
I took a community ed beginning ceramics class 14 years ago when I was very pregnant with my first child, Audrey. I had just graduated from college and was working part time at my undergraduate lab, waiting for my husband to finish his last semester, and for the first time in years found myself without deadlines. I made a handful of thick, low-rise bowls while reaching around my huge belly, and LOVED it. In my newly maternal state, I was already obsessed with the whole concept of creation and this making of permanent, useful beauty from mud fit right in. For the next 10 years, a pottery class was my on-again-off-again weekly "Mom's night out," and I made slow progress towards my current style, being drawn increasingly to small, finely tuned forms. Our move to a small university town in southcentral Pennsylvania coincided with my youngest daughter entering kindergarten, and I found a lucky arrangement with the university ceramics studio to fill some of those brief new alone hours. I opened an etsy shop in January 2007, and quickly veered towards filling it with pottery, happily building purple petunia for the next year and a half. My little girl's bone marrow transplant, the birth of a son, and his diagnosis with cancer when he was 5 months old stopped any crafty business efforts for awhile. To our great relief, we've avoided major medical crisis mode for the last year or so, and I've been able to slowly return to studio work. I love etsy because it allows me to just sell what I have when I have it, without the pressure of building and maintaining so much stock (though of course when the shop is as full as it is now it's quite satisfying!) I don't know that I'll ever be a full-time potter--my 5-year-plan is continually shifting--but I love being able to support the hobby without guilt!
What inspires your designs?
My aforementioned little girl, Marian Grace, spent 5 years of her life almost totally tube fed, and I started making pretty little dishes for her, wanting to make eating--when she was willing or able--as lovely an experience as it could be. A friend asked me to make her a surprise mug (I'd trade pottery for babysitting) like she remembered from her childhood, and I thought those might be enticing as well. You know: "Eat enough soup that you can see the bunny's head!" I wish I could report that little trick worked...but it took much more drastic medical intervention. Now, though, ten years old, healthy, and EATING, she loves to use our stacks of little bowls and cups. She is my crafty buddy, and as convinced as I am that handmade is always the right choice!
Surrounded by little girls, my first target demographic was pastel and sweet as sugar, and my niche style has evolved in this candy-colored direction, though I do love the classic reduction-look pottery and we usually eat on "grown up pottery." Inspiration? I love so much Waldorf-style crafted toys, with their fine workmanship, natural-sourced materials, and nature themes. I haven't been the same since seeing my first Magic Cabin catalog! A friend casually mentioned that she thought I'd like it, and I spent hours cutting-and-pasting images downloaded at painfully slow dial-up speeds before my first lovely catalog finally arrived. I have great crafty friends right now, and we love to get our nature craft on! (Our wool collections are getting embarrassing).
My grown-up sense of wonder is lit most in the lovely woods surrounding us in rural Pennsylvania. I imagine wee fairies and gnomes hiding everywhere along the trail as my son and I walk on the AT near our home, and love to spy out little crevices I imagine as prime spots. When I sculpt my little woodland animals and pop them in mugs and bowls, I think they'd rather be in these sylvan hiding spots, but try to provide them a good alternate where they can be both safe and admired :)
What is your favorite thing to make?
I love best to make and gift bowls. I love how useful pottery is. A bowl can be crazy beautiful, but it's never so full of itself that it isn't willing to serve. I think that's a perfect metaphor for life. My little boy is obsessed with trains, so we continually hear (via DVD or iPhone YouTube) Thomas the Tank Engine being praised as "a really useful engine!" I think that's a great lesson for him to learn, and it's something I'm reminded of every time I lift one of my bowls or mugs and it nests so nicely in my hands, the curve of its bell-shaped rim following that of my fingers: it is begging to be filled up with goodness and make something necessary a beautiful experience.
Valerie is generously offering the winner a choice of anything in her shop! Yay! Please leave a comment here (make sure your e-mail is included) telling us what you'd choose if you won. I'll pick a winner tomorrow night at 6 p.m. EST. Good luck and thanks Valerie!!!
She's also offering 10% any purchase from her Etsy shop until December 17th, with code: BLUEBIRD10
