December 08
Always Green...

Never throw anything away?  Besides drinking coffee, you can see what I'm up to this week.  For those of you without a scratch n' sniff monitor, those are ginger and lime scented... so good my dog ate the wax scraps before I could stop her.   I will be trying them out this week, but in those candles I have some reclaimed beeswax (my Dad was a beekeeper), and of course some recycled old candles (which gave the pretty pink color).   Though I should buy some coffee-scent for the next batch...

November 08
Artists Open Studios


Open Studio Barrel Firing

You drove in the snow!  It fun to see so many returning faces as well as to meet new ones (including the woman who owns a cockroach costume!) You made this sale our best yet.  (We think Lori will end up being our Customer of the Year...  She was *supposed* to demo the clay flutes (which she did, quite beautifully), but ended up doing all her Christmas shopping.)  

While this was going on, we had barrel firings cooking in the backyard, and we're really pleased with the results... I think sawdust fired pots will be a regular event here.  Take a look on the link above (under my photogenic cat).  

  
October 08
Annual Fall Pre-Holiday Sale

Wow... Thanks to all of you who stopped by!  Not only did you help make the sale a big success, I *really* enjoyed seeing you and helping you pick out pots.  (Though some of you didn't need my help at all - You KNOW what you like, lol...)  If you weren't able to make it, or if you can't stop thinking about one of the other pots you saw, remember that you can call me to stop by just about any day before 3 or 4.  

For our online friends, don't worry!  We've added some new fun things to the website, and I just took some more pictures this morning that will go up soon too.  


September 08
Classes are underway!  Fall 08 Wheel 1

hey... *I* like tortillas...


Wheel Class: $260
Apron on sale: $8
Watching you coat yourself with chocolate mud... Priceless.  :)


September 08
Wood Firing

Baby has a new mojito pitcher.  :)  

For you, it's the Year of the Box.  These earthy ones turned out great - lots of wood ash, reduction on the brown, and lots of shine from (we think) the sodium in this particular batch of wood.  The turquoise is a delicious combination of earthy and bright, reducing to pink.  There are some good crunchy platters too, for the ash & crust lovers.   Want to see the kiln and potters?

August 08
Big and Small



Big and Small... And Green!  As ESP is switching over to firing with green electricity, I can say that I've contributed even more to saving the planet by melting chips of glass from used wine bottles into pots!  Okay, my true intent was to fire the happy-vibes from the wine bottles into my pots, but that doesn't take away from the green-factor one bit.  :)  

Many of these little guys will be available at our October pre-holiday sale.   (I use them for tea lights and as jewelery keepers).  

Now those giant twelve-pound pitchers... are going to be wood-fired next month.  At least one will be my new mojito/sangria/iced tea pitcher which I plan to have filled and in use for that October sale...  

June 08
175 Pots Fired!!  (Almost!:)


There are about a dozen that aren't in the picture... yet!   One of the salt glazes didn't mature, so those pots will be re-fired.  A couple other pots were hit with an exploded cone pack in the wood chamber, so I'll make and fire some replacements.  AND... I've been given the thumbs up to make MORE of those awesome little boxes!  You can take a look at the naboragama kiln and some of the crazy alternative firings here. (The photos are in reverse chronological order).

What will we do with all these awesome pots, you ask?  We've decided to hold an early Fall sale here at ESP, so many of these as well much of our post-Christmas inventory will be up for grabs.  Keep your eyes out for the date!  

What's next?  The berry bowls you've been asking for!

April 08
Spring Semester!

Great wheel work, creative hand-building...  and not *too* much complaining.  ;)


February 08
Post Holidays!



What happens after Christmas and Valentine's Day?? I get to try out some new things, make some more of the items sold out, and make a few pots for me too. :)

As you can see, I decided to coat my studio with beautiful red clay (that looks a lot like hot chocolate when it's wet..) this month. I noticed at the Fall Open Studios Tour that a lot of you liked the warm earthy texture of this clay and were trying to buy things from my private collection... so I decided to share and make some things for YOU with it. In that bisque-load above, I have four carved teapots and a million handle-less tea mugs. One of you can get that platter on top, and somewhere buried in there is a creamer. I'll throw a sugar bowl in class this week. If those giant coil pots don't blow the whole load up, I'll finish everything with a beautiful Spanish red iron oxide - warm and simple. I'll of course let you know how it all turns out.

After I scrub the red out of my studio this week, I'll be anxious to get back to creamy white clay. On my (long) list, I'm going to try a new style of berry bowl, I'm going to stick some bugs on bowls, I have an idea for some interesting counter-top bottles, and so on...