There was I...Digging this 'ole...

The most modest planting can turn up the most interesting finds here at Autumn Cottage. Placing a small clematis just now on the trellis at the back of the garage, this is what I turned up out of the hole...

Its a fragment of a saucer, I think - Victorian, and decorated with either sponge or stick printing. I have found other pieces here at other times, but never one as large as this - about 2 inches (5 cm) across the rim.

Here is where I found it...

The arrow marks the spot where I dug the hole - as you can see, the trellis lines up with the (front of the) old Victorian loo - where there was originally a hedge, we believe...so the earth here holds all sorts of discarded treasures that would have been tossed over the hedge when they were broken.

I've always thought that it would be interesting to use the pattern as a motif for all sorts of crafts - I feel a papier mache bowl coming on sometime soon - decorated in red and blue :-)

Comments

[Margaret Lambert]

I love your idea of using that motif in other ways, as one of Autumn Cottage's chops or monograms. Jelly jar labels, note cards, gift bags...it's endless. And what fun to keep finding bits of treasure!

[BrittArnhild]

Very interesting, and what a lovely piece.

When we visited Cecilia Samartin in California two weeks ago, I commented on the beautiful framed mirror which hung in her kitchen. Cecilia told me that the frame was made by her British mother in law, plaster and all sorts of broken English bone china, and even a few pieces of odd earrings and necklaces :-)

[Jamie]

Love! Both pictures!

[Maria M.]

I love finding such items burried. It gives me a sweat and conspiratorial smile, like I, only in the world and no one else, can share something over time. it is like connecting with someone else in a timeless horizon. I have a lot of such findings and I treasure each one of them! I even try to imagine the person behind tat little "treasure" and concentrate my thought on him/her for a while.
In my garden, I also burry and never throw the fragments of broken pottery. I usually engrave something on the fragments, a little message to the unknown recipient, to pass that smile to someone else in the years to come.
I liked the idea of incorporating the pattern of the fragment in your life. It seems that you also feel the need to pass or re-create the "message".
Thank you for sharing.