![\"Tracy](\"https:\/\/www.uncommongoods.com\/blog\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/loading-kiln.jpg\")
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Tracy Shea remembers her first time. As a sophomore at Ohio\u2019s Mentor High School she took a ceramics course and was instantly hooked. \u201cFrom the minute I touched clay, it\u2019s always been something I wanted to do,\u201d she recalls.<\/p>\n
She scored a partial scholarship to the Cleveland Institute of the Arts, but ended up accepting a full-ride to a different college. \u201cMy parents refused to pay for an art education,\u201d she explains. \u201cThey were like, \u2018You\u2019ll never make it as an artist.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Fast forward three decades and the Garrettsville, Ohio mom of two spends her days making her popular Pedestal Jewelry Holder<\/a>. The lace-imprinted ceramic stand \u2014 fitted with 50 holes to hang earrings \u2014 was born from a desire to display heirloom pieces passed down to her from her aunt. Eyeing her collection \u201cdrove me to think, people have stuff that they don\u2019t necessarily want to throw in a drawer,\u201d she says. \u201cPeople collect stuff for a reason \u2014 there are emotional ties. So this is a special place to put things that are really special.\u201d She puts her process \u2014 and her life as an artist \u2014 on display.<\/p>\n Tracy Shea’s Pedestal Jewelry Holder<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n Have you been working in the art world since high school?<\/strong> How did you come up with the idea for the jewelry holder?<\/strong> The lace design is such a nice touch. Do you use a special fabric?<\/strong> So imprinting the clay with the lace is step one. What\u2019s next?<\/strong> What\u2019s your favorite part of the process?<\/strong> What\u2019s your studio like?<\/strong> How do you get inspiration for your work?<\/strong>![\"Pedestal](\"https:\/\/www.uncommongoods.com\/blog\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/tracysheajewelryholder.jpg\")
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\nI\u2019ve always, always, always been an artist, my entire life. But I tried to do what I was supposed to do and got jobs in the real world. I worked for a steel company and then a mail order catalog company. I ended up quitting that job to stay home with my daughter and then I picked up pottery again. I started teaching kids. We had a lot of home school people in the area and somebody asked me, \u201cAre you interested in teaching ceramics?\u201d So that\u2019s really how I got started in it professionally. When I started the home school thing, I got a vendor license, starting doing shows and opened my Etsy shop. That\u2019s how that sort of evolved.<\/p>\n
\nPrimarily, I make tableware and I was making things on pedestals. I was interested in sort of elegant, taller serving pieces. The jewelry holder really started as an ice cream dish. And when I was making it, I was kind of looking at it going, \u201cAm I really going to sell this? Is it really practical?\u201d And from doing shows and art galleries and stuff I realized jewelry is a huge category. For some reason it just dawned on me one day, you know what, this is a great way for me to sort of get into this category. So it sort of evolved that way. I started out with something that was the basic form and then went into, what\u2019s going to make this a more useful, more special item than just something to eat out of. I wanted it to be something that you leave out all the time.<\/p>\n
\nI\u2019ve made more than 5,000 of these and I\u2019m still using the same doily \u2014 a handmade cotton doily that right now is getting a little haggard-looking, but it\u2019s still working.<\/p>\n![\"Making](\"https:\/\/www.uncommongoods.com\/blog\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/pressingdoily_resized.jpg\")
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\nIt\u2019s done in stages because the clay has to change and evolve as the process goes along. So I have this flat thing that I\u2019ve made in the mold, but it has to sit in the mold until it hardens up enough to hold its own shape. And then I cut all the holes, which is a crazy process when you consider cutting 50 holes in something 5,000 times. All these little plugs come out when I cut the holes. I literally have five-gallon buckets of those little plugs. So I do that, then it has to harden so it\u2019s stiff enough to put the pedestal on it, but wet enough that the pedestal will stick to the bottom. At that point, I take it and put it on the potter\u2019s wheel and the pedestals are actually thrown right onto the bowl. Then it dries; it\u2019s fired the first time. Then you glaze it, and then you fire it again.<\/p>\n
\nMy favorite part of the whole thing is when my father comes over and boxes them all up for me. It\u2019s really cool because my dad just retired. He was this workaholic person that I virtually really didn\u2019t get to know until this part of my life.<\/p>\n![\"Tracy](\"https:\/\/www.uncommongoods.com\/blog\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Tracy_1.jpg\")
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\nAll this happens in my two-car garage, I evicted my cars. I grab my cup of coffee and walk out my kitchen door into the garage and that\u2019s where I work. The doors get opened up in the summer or I sit on my back patio and I\u2019ve got a potter\u2019s wheel out there.<\/p>\n
\nMost of the time it just evolves from living. I can be out walking and see something in nature and say, \u201cOh, I love that shape.\u201d Or it can come from function \u2014 cooking and going, \u201cWhich shape would this food look good on?\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Tracy](\"https:\/\/www.uncommongoods.com\/blog\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/pedestalinthemirror_resized.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Pedestal](\"https:\/\/www.uncommongoods.com\/blog\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/in_kiln.jpg\")
<\/a>![\"Pedestal](\"https:\/\/www.uncommongoods.com\/blog\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/blogcta-getthisgood.jpg\")
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