what's happening now?
January '12
Plans for the new year?
Big bowls. BIG bowls. Really big bowls. Pink
bowls, cream bowls, blue bowls. Big ones. And lots and lots
and lots of mugs. More mugs with bugs, more black glow mugs, more
everyday mugs. I'll do more with that cockroach amber glaze, and I'm experimenting with a satin clear glaze.
Etsy sales are going
well - Please visit and "like" my shop and items, and remember to leave
positive feedback after a purchase for new shoppers to read. You
know, things they may not be able to tell from pictures - the feel of
the vessel, the colors in ambient light, that kind of thing. If
you have pictures of things in use, please forward them to me - I like
to post them on our Facebook page. It helps shoppers to see examples of how pots look in home settings.
I've accepted some invitations for Spring shows. I'll be doing
Arts of Tolland again - it was a very good success last year. And
new this year I've applied to be a regular crafter at the summer
Ellington Farmers Market on Saturday mornings. How cool is
that? I have some other show applications I'll be looking over as
well.
For me? I snuck in a new sink which is now drying very
slowly. I also do tiles whenever I have extra reclaimed
clay. The problem lately is that over time I've come to throw
more efficiently, so I have less reclaimed clay. I think a month
of big bowls will help take care of that.
December '11
'twas The Night Before Christmas & Return of the Roach!
Bugs are back on the menu! You can find them on Etsy here, OR you can come to our first last-minute Christmas sale on December 23rd and 24th. Enjoy!
My goals for the very last week of this season: Finish weaving
the hurricane Irene fired pots, drink a lot of eggnog.
November '11
Artists Open Studios!
This is the big event!
Now that I've been potting and in business for five years, one of the
things I enjoy at shows is hearing from returning customers about pots
they've bought in the past. One of my favorite stories this
weekend was about the recent power outage (much of the state lost power
for over a week). My customer told me that when everything was
dark, the only thing with light in the house was her pot that glowed in
the dark. She said it cheered her up a little every time she saw
it. :)
Above is an action shot of a pot in use just a couple hours after it
was bought. I think the pot looks good, but I'm thinking dinner
looks pretty damn good too!
October '11
Finishing
I don't like taking time off the wheel, but now is the time to
get more of this stuff out to YOU. In the next weeks I'll be
putting a lot of inventory on etsy
(including MUGS), and like the cockroach above, I'll be doing some
non-clay finishing like weaving the tops of the Irene barrel fired
pots, some more little glow planters, and anything that needs antennae
or legs...
To satisfy the clay-beast, I plan to do just little bit of throwing in
class, and this week I'm firing up some saggers to start doing some
micro-environment firings in the new pit.
Glazing
I spend about two weeks glazing. A full clay cycle - from
wet clay to final hole-bowl - takes about four months. My kiln is
ten cubic feet and I pack it very tightly. This ends up saving me
time and money in the long run, but also makes for that long four month
wait as I make all those pots. For the new-to-clay, your pots
typically get fired twice, first in a bisque firing, and then in a
final glaze firing. The purpose of the bisque firing is to make
the pot texture suitable for glazing. Each (tight) bisque loads
gives me *two* glaze loads. So in the next week and a half I will
be glazing a million pots and loading and unloading two glaze
firings. That's a lot of glazing. :) In the cycles
that have a glow-glaze, that adds one MORE firing, and another half of
a week. In the end, barring disaster, that dusty mess in the
picture above will turn into beautiful white, turquoise and pink pots.
Yes... This is what is usually looks like during glazing
week. It gets too messy even for me, so while all this is firing,
I'll spend a couple days cleaning and re-ordering the room.
Still, the sight of all that crisp bisque-ware and powdery glaze makes
me want to just get in there and get to work.
September '11
Expanding
I love Fall: When the weather breaks I find myself
refreshed and renewed with both physical and creative energy. I
also love rocks. So this week I enjoyed the beautiful weather and
rocks from a nearby quarry and built this new fire pit to sawdust fire
pots. Interestingly I also made it the right size to fit a
standard grill rack... :) For anyone wondering, sawdust
firing is completely non-toxic, so while I may die from other causes,
there won't be any residual toxins from the pot firing to contaminate
my hot dogs on grilling days. What's to become of my former
sawdust barrel? Well... I am thinking of occasionally doing good
old fashioned contaminated pit firing with it - complete with
chartreuse smoke and green flames. There will be no marshmallow
roasting there.
In the studio, everything is drying nicely. This week I will fit
in the very last item I need for this holiday season (small bowls with
holes) and then I can fire away and get to glazing it all.
On the sales front, I have started to list ESP items on Etsy.
So far I have some duplicates from the website, but now that I am back
on track after an ugly Spring computer crash, I'll be starting to
photograph and list the new inventory.
(Look for more chihuahua-art in future fire pit pots)
August '11
Christmas is Coming!
I know I've hit my groove when in late August I am already
planning my firing cycles based on what I need for the Christmas
season. The good news is that I'm pretty much set. I've
made two kinds of mugs for you: Classy glowy mugs in two glaze
styles, and an every day mug in a fun new design. Over the last
year I've had a few requests for orchid planters, and after some brain
fermenting time, I thought of a really unique ESP design that should
give your babies lots of drainage and aeration (above, in two
styles: one-piece and two-piece). I finished them
today. I also needed a very small watering pitcher for myself, so
I made a few extra. :)
July '11
Working, playing
Today I am doing prep work for a glow glaze. I should be firing by the end of the weekend. Many fun things...
I'm also getting geared up for our annual summer sawdust firing - Both
level classes at CSA will be participating so we'll have a very packed
barrel. As always I'll be finishing ideas I came up with MONTHS
ago. If I have time and energy I might pick up some material for
one more idea... We'll see.
Note: The sawdust firing was the best ever. We fired during
hurricane Irene (yes, I did it on purpose...) and the result was that
the strong winds and rain blew rust from the exterior of the barrel
into the firing and created those gorgeous golden browns in the picture
above. I'll be finishing these small decorative planters in the
next couple months with some woven vines and they'll be ready for the
holidays.
(yes, those are shredded bills used to start the fire).
June '11
Gardens, Gallery & Gifts June 4th & 5th
How're those birdbaths working for you? :)
It was fun to have you notice and like the new designs this
season. I'm firing the last birdbath today along with a lot of
smaller things I wasn't able to finish last month: More glass
jewelry, some cool new lizards and a bunch of stuff for me... No
worries! I experiment on myself and pick the winners to add to
production. I'll post some pictures soon.
I'm looking into shows for early Fall: I plan to stay
local. In the meantime, I'll start to plump up the website.
May '11
Mothers Day Sale May 7th
Celebrate the Arts Festival May 14th
Thanks
everyone, good show. Make sure you check out the Gardens, Gallery
& Gifts link above. It's a great show and I should have some
new things ready by then.
I
was able to fit three out of five birdbaths into this bisque.
Those things are BIG. But everything else went in, and it
will cut down my usual long lead time in the next cycle. For
this glaze firing I'll be trying out two new glazes and bringing back a
beautiful pink that I haven't used in a while. Everything is
cooling now: Mugs, bowls, birdbaths and a new wind chime design
I'm trying.
April '11
Gaining Speed
As
in any physical repetitive skill, the only way to gain speed is through
repetition. Since I've avoided throwing mugs for, oh, four
years, you can guess that I don't (didn't) quite have that speed. This in
turn made me avoid throwing mugs since I knew it would start as a slow
and tedious process. But... you can't work as a potter and not
make mugs. I get this since I myself LOVE using hand thrown mugs:
How could I expect you not to want to buy them?
So
guess what? Yep, I got faster and better at them, and you'll get
to have them.. ;) Tonight I'll finish trimming the last of
this batch and tomorrow I'll attach the last handles. Since it
*did* indeed start out slowly and tediously, I may not have them
finished for Mothers Day, but as you can see above there are a bunch of
good shows coming up this Spring and new inventory is on the way.
February '11
Welcome Back!
What uses twenty pounds (!) of clay and will look great this Spring in your garden?
I
try not to count my birdbaths before they're fired (or however that
saying goes), but I'm excited about these. When I run
out of room to dry them, I promise I will start making mugs for you.
I'm also experimenting with a new earthy black oxide & glass
jewelry design. These should be ready for our annual Spring
mother's day sale. I will also try to fit in more centerpiece
glow bowls - You cleaned me out this holiday season. (Yay you!)
I'll also be doing some local Spring shows and will keep you updated on those as they approach.
10 Blog
09 Blog
08 Blog
07 Blog
....
