New Glazes

Last week I did a glaze load with my new glazes.  I was happy with about half of the pieces.  The problem came with the green color.  For whatever reason it turned out the same as the dark blue.  The next time I glaze I am going to try a different green.  Most of the pieces were made with the speckled brownstone and half the plain brownstone.  I have decided that I am most happy with the plain brownstone.  I really like how the brown clay shows through the glaze where there is texture.  Individual photos are on the Facebook page.

Pitchers make me happy

Today is the first day of Spring and it's also National "Be Happy Day".  So I decided to make something that makes me happy.  I played around with three different forms.  The piece in the front was supposed to be a gravy boat but ended up more the size of a pitcher.  Next time I will make it about 1/2 the height and maybe make a tray for drips.  The middle sized pitcher is a good size for a water pitcher and the large one is really just for putting flowers in or for home decor.   I also made 2 appetizer trays.

Yesterday I loaded the bisque kiln and I will glaze either tomorrow or Saturday.  Both days are showing that they will be warm with no rain. When I spray the glaze outside the temperature needs to be comfortable or else my fingers freeze.  My hands are in water a bunch during glazing days.  Sunday we are back down to 50 with a chance of rain and I can work inside the studio with the heater on.

Back from vacation

Got back from vacation last night.  I was gone for just over a week with my mom, sister and her 2 kids (10 & 11).  We went to Tampa (Busch Gardens) and Orlando (SeaWorld, Aquatica and Universal Studios)  It was fun but exhausting.  Busch Gardens was my favorite, mainly because I had not been there before.

So I get home and have something like 400 emails. Most needed to be deleted because they were junk or I had read them while on vacation.  I spent time unsubscribing to a number of websites.  When you get them opened daily it doesn't seem like much and I always think I may need a coupon someday, but I don't shop very much so they just had to go.

While I was gone I also got notifications on a number of shows I was accepted into and I will update those on my show schedule page.  I will be doing the Boardwalk Art show in Virginia Beach in June and doing the Art in the Park in Blowing Rock in August, September and October.

This morning I made two vases then I did the slip trail beading and some dragonflies on pieces ready to go into the kiln for a bisque firing.  Then I loaded the kiln.  I am very excited about this batch. There were a number of elaborate pieces.  I can't wait to glaze in a couple of weeks.

New Art at Ciel Gallery

Today I dropped off inventory to a new gallery.  I am now a consignment artist at the Ciel Gallery in Charlotte, NC.  I am excited to have a place where I can display my "art pieces" in my hometown.   They are having their soft reopening on Friday after being a mostly mosaic gallery.  They will now have a number of new artists.  Sadly(or not) I will be on vacation so will be unable to attend the gallery crawl this month but I plan on going to the Grand Opening on April 4th from 6-10pm.

I also stopped by Ruby's Gift in NoDa to add a few small items to the inventory there.  They carry mostly small gift items.

When I get back from vacation I need to get moving and get my inventory up.  Hopefully the weather warms up.  It's so much easier to work when it's comfortable.