Smiles all around

My neighbors Eric and Olivia came over today to pick up the pottery pieces they made recently. They spent a few hours a couple weeks ago making a number of pieces, then came back last week and glazed them.  They thanked me by giving me a candle and all their brothers and sisters made me special drawings.  I had a great time introducing them to the world of clay.  Yesterday I worked at Ruby's Gift in NoDa and added some new pieces to my shelves.  Today I packed up an order for Preston Flowers in Cary, NC.  They really cleaned out my inventory, so I need to get some more glazing done soon.  I am working on getting a showroom ready.  An announcement should be coming by the end of August. 

New glaze line

Saturday I unloaded the kiln and here are a few of my favorites.  I am trying a new glazing technique using stencils and more colors.  The large plate has a black rim and some of the other plates and bowls I did with out the black rim.   I like how the multiple colors allow me to display other glazes right next to each other, as you can see in this photo. You can see my atempt at making a yarn bowl.  I will probably make a few more of those.  To see more photos check out my Facebook page.   

Sunday I spent the day at our Carolina Claymatters Guilds summer workshop.  The presenter this year was Sam Chung.  He put on a great workshop and I hope to be able to incorporate some of his ideas into some of my pieces. 

Loading the kiln

Here is a photo of the top shelf of a loaded kiln.  Today I glazed some pots in a new design that I am playing around with.  The bowl on the left is one of the experiments.  I used a stencil and multiple colors.  They should be out of the kiln tomorrow afternoon.  My week has been busy.  Sunday I taught a blog class for 6 guild members. I look forward to seeing their finished blogs. Wednesday I went to a meeting for advertising of our guilds pottery festival.  We made some progress towards making this fall sale the best it's ever been.  Thursday two neighbor kid's came over to glaze a few pieces they made the week before.  Those pieces are in this kiln load and I can't wait to see how they turned out.  Sunday I go to a workshop where Sam Chung is presenting his work.  Then next week it's back to throwing again.

Mugs and Apples and Pears - Oh My

This week was the time to make a serious attempt at stocking up for Fall shows.  Today was mug day and I tried to make each one different.  These were my favorite ones.  I also went back to some old designs that are not great for packing in boxes but are fairly poplular.  The apple and pear is a design I haven't made for about 6 months but decided to bring back.  I would like to put them in the Mint Hill Arts "Food inspiration show" in October.  The yarn bowl on the left is an experiment.  I like the pedestals and almost stopped making them because they do not pack for shows easily.

Of course, I have made other items.  Yesterday I made brie bakers and I have also made a number of the Holey bowls.  I have tried a few times to make large platters and large handled bowls.  They are not working, I think because my clay is pretty hard.  I bought a large batch of clay a number of months ago and because sales were down from last year, I quit making anything for about a month.

I keep up with a number of pottery blogs and have noticed that I can not seem to post comments.  Hopefully this will fix itself. 

Facebook Contest

I am having another contest.  I will give away a brie set in any of the 5 glaze lines preferred to someone that "likes" my Facebook page.  The only condition is that I need to have 100 people liking my page by October 1st.  So if you want to win the set, first "like" New Day Pottery's Facebook page. (see button on right side of blog) Then "share" the post announcing the contest with your friends.  Thank you in advance for helping me reach this goal.