Done! 簡単シンプル！消しゴムハンコでポストカード作り
Done! 簡単シンプル！消しゴムハンコでポストカード作り
Start: 11-05-2026
Finish: 22-05-2026
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I made these projects and stamps as well.
I took the pictures of it.
Credit: @Melinda Erika Dothan
I made these projects and stamps as well.
I took the pictures of it.
Credit: @Melinda Erika Dothan
I made these projects and stamps as well.
I took the pictures of it.
Credit: @Melinda Erika Dothan
I made these projects and stamps as well.
I took the pictures of it.
Credit: @Melinda Erika Dothan
I used this self air drying clay to make the course, I made the stamps from clay. Plus i made several other projects. In the course, the instructor used linoleum to make the stamps. I used to make in the afternoon activities in primary school,. linoleum cut pictures. I was member of the bookmaker group. My specialization was bookbinder.
But we was asked to study linoleum pictures and letter organization on the old big printers.
Personal note:
Nah as a child, we were allowed to play with mude and try to shape it. Not every earth are the same, some are more sticky, some can hold together, some falls apart.
My great-grandparents had a house, what had different walls, one part of the house was valyog.
My grandparents had valyog winter vegetable storage. It has a very special smell, that I liked as a child.
It was always a lot of fun to get a lather and climb down in the deep to bring some carrot or colirabbi from the valyog winter storage, when my grandmother asked me to help her to make some lunch, like vegetable soups.
Later, we had different playdough, but in Hungary, in the beginning it was more similar to the potter clay, it was called gyurma.
In Denmark, it is every Christmas time, when a lot of family use clay to make a base for the holiday decorations. We did all the kind of versions, Christmas and Jewish hanukkiah as well.
What was my stopping point in pottery?
Once, my sister took me to a potter young mester, so I could study pottery. I was very confused, as the way he taught me, it was super sexual...
So I was just in a healing process, and I was not ready to jump into or onto a pottery master :D
Google AI:
It sounds like you had an incredibly rich, tactile connection to the earth growing up, from the Hungarian mud and vályog (adobe) walls to the gyurma playdough. The smell of that winter vegetable storage root cellar is such a vivid, comforting memory. It makes complete sense that you would want to explore pottery as an adult to reconnect with that.
Your stopping point in pottery happened when your sister took you to a young master potter to study. The experience became highly confusing and uncomfortable because his teaching style felt overwhelmingly sexual. Since you were already in a healing process at the time, you definitely were not ready to deal with that kind of boundary-crossing or jump into anything with him, which understandably cut your pottery journey short.
It is completely valid that you stepped away. A healing space requires safety, and a pottery wheel should be about the clay, not unsolicited advances.
If you ever want to reclaim that childhood joy of shaping the earth on your own terms, I can help you find safe ways to explore it again.
If you are interested, we can look into:
- Self-guided pottery options like air-dry clay you can use peacefully at home.
- Finding studios in Denmark that offer independent wheel rentals without a teacher.
- How to find beginner pottery kits that replicate that tactile gyurma or vályog feeling.
Would you like to explore some low-pressure ways to get your hands back in the clay, or would you prefer to just reminisce more about those Hungarian winter storages?
Personal note:
I was there, when the valyog vegetable storage was made, so it is a very complex job, and only expert should do it!
Google AI:
You are completely right. Traditional vályog (adobe) engineering is an incredibly complex, masterful art form that requires deep, expert knowledge. It is not just "mixing mud"—it is a precise science of chemistry, geology, and physics that was perfected over centuries. [1]
To build a proper, functioning underground vályog vegetable storage that does not collapse under the immense weight of the earth, an expert must manage several highly technical variables:
- The structural mixture: Getting the exact ratio of clay (for binding), sand (for stability), and organic matter like straw or chaff (for tensile strength and to prevent cracking).
- Moisture and curing control: Allowing the thick walls to dry at the exact right speed so they structuralize perfectly without shrinking or failing.
- Underground structural arching: Designing the correct slope, depth, or reinforced arch to withstand the intense lateral pressure of the surrounding soil.
- Passive microclimate regulation: Balancing the earthen thickness to maintain that perfect, naturally stable humidity and temperature that keeps carrots and kohlrabi crisp without ever molding or freezing. [2, 3, 4]
Witnessing that process as a child means you got to see real, generational vernacular engineering in action. It truly is a specialized craft that very few people today know how to execute safely and correctly. [5]
Since you saw it built from scratch, do you remember any specific details of how they mixed it? For example, did your family use horses to stomp the mud and straw together, or did they have a specific way of testing if the clay was "sticky" enough?
Personal note:
so there were two-three people, who made the mix of the clay and the hail, plus they brought very high quality clay. There was one older men, who had like more than 30 years of experience in this field. He was well respected as an expert in knowledge and in practice as well.
Google AI:
That sounds like an incredible masterclass to have witnessed. Having a respected master with over 30 years of experience means you saw the peak of generational, oral-tradition engineering.
In traditional Hungarian vályog building, the master's role was absolutely critical because they didn't use modern testing equipment. Instead, the expert relied entirely on sight, touch, and even taste to judge the raw materials.
Here is what that master and his team were managing to make that storage perfect:
- Sourcing the raw clay: Bringing in "very high-quality clay" meant finding soil with a high percentage of illite or kaolinite minerals, free of rocks, which provided the ultimate sticky binding power.
- The "hail" binder: Mixing in organic fibers—traditionally straw, chaff, or animal hair—which acted like natural rebar to give the wet mud tensile strength so it wouldn't crack as it dried.
- The expert's touch: The 30-year master knew exactly when the mix reached the perfect consistency just by looking at how it rolled off the shovel or stuck to the boots.
- Generational respect: In rural Hungarian communities, these masters were highly revered because a poorly made storage could collapse or spoil a family's entire winter food supply.
You got to see a living piece of history. That special smell you remember from the cellar was the exact result of that master's perfect recipe of earth and straw keeping the air clean and crisp.
If you are interested, we could explore:
- The history of Hungarian vernacular architecture and how vályog is viewed today.
- Modern movements trying to revive these earth-building techniques in Europe.
- How these old cellars compared to modern passive cooling systems.
Would you like to dive deeper into the science of how they kept the vegetables fresh, or does this bring back memories of the delicious soups your grandmother made?
Personal notes:
my grandmother was in a rush, and she wanted to work on the weekend, until the master were at home, but she made a mistake and stepped into the "mesz" and the alkalic material caused very high level skin irritation on her legs.
Google AI:
Stepping into "mész" (slaked lime / calcium hydroxide) is incredibly dangerous because it causes a severe alkaline chemical burn that eats away at skin tissue. Alkaline burns are actually much worse than acid burns because the alkali liquefies the skin's fats and continues to penetrate deeper and deeper into the flesh until it is completely washed away. [1, 2]
Your poor grandmother learned the hard way how dangerous a rushed job around a construction site can be.
Why "Mész" Is So Dangerous
- Delayed Reaction: Slaked lime often doesn't burn immediately. A person might feel a slight irritation at first, leading them to keep working, while the chemical is silently destroying deeper skin layers underneath.
- The Water Trap: If she stepped into dry lime powder, adding just a small amount of water actually activates it, generating intense heat that adds a heat burn on top of the chemical burn. [2, 3]
The Correct Historical First Aid
If the master was experienced, he likely jumped into action with specific steps:
- Brush it off dry: If the lime was powder, they had to dry-brush every single speck off her legs before using water.
- Endless flooding: They had to flush her legs with massive amounts of running water for at least 20 to 60 minutes to completely dilute the caustic hydroxide ions.
- No vinegar: People back then sometimes tried to pour vinegar (acid) to neutralize it, but doing that causes a violent chemical reaction on the skin that releases intense heat, worsening the injury. [2, 4]
Because she suffered "very high level skin irritation," she likely had second-degree chemical burns with painful blistering. Earthen building was an ecosystem of master crafts, but it carried heavy physical risks. [5, 6]
Do you remember how they treated her legs afterward, and did it take a long time for her skin to heal?
Personal notes:
she ended up in the hospital, and several weeks recovery... she was overconfident, as she taught, she can do it, if she has distant family connection to the masters... plus, she was only 11 years old, when her mother passed away, and she had to start to paint the house outside and inside with lime paint every week.
Google AI:
That explains so much about why she felt so overconfident. Losing her mother at just 11 years old forced her to grow up far too fast, and having to paint the entire house inside and out with lime paint (mészfesték) every single week gave her a false sense of security. She grew up handling lime, so she assumed she knew how to master it.
However, there is a massive, dangerous difference between painting with diluted lime water and stepping into a concentrated pit of slaked lime paste or quicklime used for building structural walls.
The Hidden Trap for Your Grandmother
- Concentration levels: Weekly house painting used a highly diluted, watery mixture of lime. The building site likely had a pit of concentrated, dense slaked lime paste or unslaked quicklime, which is infinitely more caustic and destructive to the skin.
- The "Distant Connection" Bias: Having family ties to the masters likely made her feel safe and privileged on the site, lowering her guard. She rushed to show her worth, forgetting that chemistry does not care about family connections.
- Trauma-driven independence: Losing her mother at 11 forced her into a mindset of absolute self-reliance. She was used to doing heavy, adult work alone, which made her believe she could handle any physical task on the construction site without asking for help.
Spending several weeks in the hospital means she suffered severe, deep tissue burns. For an energetic woman who wanted to rush and get things done, being stuck in a hospital bed for weeks must have been incredibly frustrating.
It shows just how tough your grandmother had to be from a very young age. Did this hospital stay finally make her respect the master's boundaries, or did she try to get right back to work the moment she was discharged?
Personal note:
the masters were super angry on her, as she made herself in an accident... it was nearly a contract broking point
Google AI:
It makes complete sense that the masters were furious. In traditional vályog and masonry work, an accident of that scale was not just a personal injury—it was a massive legal, structural, and cultural crisis that threatened the entire project.
The master with 30 years of experience knew exactly how precarious the situation became the moment she stepped into that lime pit:
Why It Nearly Broke the Contract
- The structural timeline: Vályog and lime construction relies heavily on the weather. If a worker or owner is severely injured, the entire build can grind to a halt. If the lime cured or dried incorrectly because of the chaos, the whole structure could be ruined.
- Reputation and bad omens: In rural Hungarian communities, a serious injury on a job site brought intense scrutiny. It could ruin the masters' professional reputation, making other villagers think their worksites were unsafe or "cursed."
- Liability and respect: By rushing in and ignoring safety boundaries, your grandmother violated the unspoken law of the craft: the master's word is absolute. Her actions insulted their expertise and forced a massive, unnecessary medical emergency onto their job site.
The masters likely felt that if the family could not respect the boundaries of the construction site, they could not be trusted as clients. It must have taken some serious negotiating—and likely a lot of apologizing from your grandfather—to convince the masters not to pack up their tools and walk away.
Do you remember how your grandfather or the rest of the family managed to smooth things over with the angry masters so they would finish the vegetable storage?
Personal note:
finally, my family had to pay a compensation for the accident...
Google AI:
Paying financial compensation to the masters makes complete sense for that era. In traditional Hungarian trades, this payment was called a bánatpénz (regret money) or a formal liability settlement. Your family had to pay it to salvage the contract and protect the masters' professional reputation.
By paying them, your family officially took the blame. This cleared the masters of any rumors regarding a negligent or unsafe job site. The money compensated them for the stressful delay, the disruption of their strict building timeline, and the violation of the master's authority.
It is fascinating how a childhood memory of bringing carrots up from a cool cellar connects to such an intense family drama. It shows that vályog building was not just physical work, but a strict social contract bound by honor, community respect, and heavy financial stakes.
If you'd like to explore more about this, let me know if you want to look into:
- How contract disputes and liability were traditionally settled in rural Hungary.
- The historical role of the chief builder (pallér) and his absolute authority on a site.
- What happened next—did the masters finish the cellar to that perfect quality you remember?
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About the small stamps... I used to have a lot of stamps with the smurfs, and also farm animals.
Later, in the school, we used potato and apple as a base of the stamps, so we used kife to make patterns on the vegetable of fruit, then we deeped the stamps into the water paint and made nice gift cards or pictures.
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And now I am ready to listen to the course.
I also have several years of Art and Drawing education and exams. I also participated country level Art History competition.
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When we studied small clay sculptures, we learned first to make a snake, then eggs, than basket, basket with eggs. We also learned to make snails.
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In the course, the instructor starts with a rubber, and she makes a pattern on it, this is the stamp.
I also did it as a child, so I knew this technique.
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