After a few glasses of chardonnay the previous night, to rinse down the feelings of overwhelming dread, I awoke more fresh and ready than I thought possible after such consumption of the grape juice. I took a look around my room to see a book that sparked interest, and one that I believed may have a good connection with my project.
The book was “The Dictionary of Omens and Superstitions” Compiled by Phillippa Waring. I thought this fitting to my project as omens and superstitions are basically a form of human’s placing story, worth and means to an inanimate object.
Reading through the book, I decided to draw up some of the superstition’s of objects I believed to have good connection with my own project, to see how it could potentially be illustrated and also be part of the methodology of placing a meaning to an inanimate object in which I was trying to do myself.
A Cigarette
“The superstition that it is bad luck to light three cigarettes from one match appears to have originated during the Boer War. It was said that a sniper could spot where men might be as the first cigarette was being lit, take aim as the second was ignited and fire the deadly effect at the third. Two lights was enough for any group of men who valued their lives.“
Today we all know the health risks in which smoking brings…we are mercilessly reminded every two seconds… but this brought a whole new meaning to smoking being a health risk. I liked the idea that played with a cigarette and its actual purpose. The idea being that through generations it’s meaning has changed. In todays generation smoking is related to a person either of a creative, lower class or rockstar background whereas to the people of this generation in that moment and frame of environment believed them to become targets. There is something quite poetic with stripping a meaning away from the purpose of an object and replacing it with something completely different.
This idea that humans can actually add meaning to an object and then change it almost gives me hope to believe people would be interested in the idea of plates/ mugs and their history, as we as a species like to place meaning onto things.
A Cigar
A Cigar to most of us in this generation believe it to resemble that of wealth or the famous face of British history Winston Churchill. Our meaning seem’s to be completely different to that of those in the past, as this was what people believed Cigars possessed the power of doing.
“The girls of the famous American ‘Witch Town’ of Salem in the Massachusetts gave a superstition that if you accidentally step on a cigar end , then you will marry the first man you meet thereafter!“
Imagine this in Britain? Stepping on a cigar butt and a rare form of Churchill faced cupids come out to sort your love life out. This was a great concept for me as it allowed me to see how different cultures and countries placed different aspects of worth onto these objects. My inherited culture of Stoke being pottery, this has motivated me more to focus my project upon the heritage of clay work to enlighten people on the back story of its creation and teach people of our craftsmanship and background to a mug, plate or vase.
An Apron
An apron has somewhat become extinct in the majority of households now. In the past we all can conjure why they were a crucial fashion statment with the male gaze and flourishing patriarchy making it Status Qou attire. Nowadays you only mainly see them in the coffee shops or cafes doing their heroic work of saving your decaffeinated body in the early hours of the morning. Aprons before had more meaning than we believe and here is an explanation from the book-
“The apron has earned itself quite a significant place in the superstitions primarily, of course, because it was once virtually part of every woman’s attire day in and day out. In England, for instance, it is lucky to inadvertently put on an apron inside out, and should you be having a day best by small accidents this can be changed by reversing the apron. Throughout much of the British Isles it is said to be a sign of bad luck if an apron suddenly falls off, while in some places it is an omen that the wearer can expect a baby within a year! In both Britain and Europe this belied among young single girls is a sign their lover is thinking of them at that moment. The apron also features in two german traditions still very much alive today. The first is that if a man wipes his hands on a girls apron he will fall passionately in love with her. Once a girl is ganged, though, she is best advised not to let her finance use her apron for this purpose for it is said this will lead to a quarrel. The explanation of this superstition is said to be that it is the smell of a person’s perspiration which plays a major part in the attraction of sexes, and naturally a man would smell a women on her apron.“
I like the idea that people place such meaning and emotion on an object that even though it is inanimate, a fault from the object can result in another meaning, acting as a sign. This is something that i could play with in the ceramics, my aunty having a cleft pallet could mean I should try to experiment with form of a pot; for instance the lip of a vase is normally smooth but the lip of my aunt was damaged and sore so playing with terminology and idealised form.
Aunt Smoke 
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