Some disappointment and some fun

Well, I had a booth at the Boardwalk Art Show in Virginia Beach the weekend before last.  I had such high hopes that there would be art buyers at this show since the standards were so high.  I was disappointed.  Everything I sold was truly functional (bowls, pitchers, butter dishes and platters) no teapots and only one vase.  Lots of compliments but I can't pay the bills on compliments.  I can say that Virginia Beach is a great place to visit and I hope to go back for a visit someday but I won't be doing the show again.

 My niece Savannah is visiting me and I have been showing her how to make a few slab built items.  She has made a salt and pepper set, a spoon rest, a bowl and a cup.

We have also visited the Charlotte Motor Speedway, Nascar Hall of Fame, downtown Charlotte and Concord Mills.  My sister and her husband race cars in Montana and Savannah helps in the pits.  I couldn't tell you what type cars they drive but they enjoy it.

We also went to the movie Maleficent.  I really enjoyed it.  There was quite a great message in it.  I think that Mom's will enjoy it even more than kids.  Doesn't show Dad's or men in the best light though so Dad's may not like it so much.

Just a reminder that I am on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest. 

Glazed pieces for the Boardwalk Art Show

Today I unloaded the kiln.  I had many pieces that I really liked and you can see the rest on my Facebook page.

The piece on the left was a new design.  It is a large vase and during drying it was against another piece and warped a bit, but I kind of like it.  The piece reminds me of a centipede.

The pitcher has the new green glaze.  I doubled the copper in the formula and I'm very happy with the hue.  Of course I didn't do a test of it  ahead of time and was very tense waiting for the firing to finish.  I have realized that I don't need to do three coats of glaze on textured areas as in covers the texture too well.

The platters design was a piece of wood trim I found at Michaels.  I just sprayed a coat of light blue in the middle then placed the trim over it and sprayed on the dark blue glaze.

Next week I head to Virginia Beach for the Boardwalk Art Show.  This will be a new show for me and will take a lot of effort.  First the wind and weather can be a challenge.  My hope is for mild weather but the forecast changes every time I look at it.  The second problem is that I am staying in a hotel right on the beach and this takes a huge chunk out of any profit I may have.  Load in will hopefully go well as I have signed up for the drive on program for set up but the challenge will be the tear down, where we will have to cart our wares a block or more to the truck.  The show looks promising for sales because there are around 300 booths and many potential customers.  The quality looks good as well as we can not have anything under $20 in our booth.  Everything has to be signed as well.

I am very excited about my helpers for this show.  My mom and my niece are coming from Montana to visit for two weeks.  It will be great to have company for the 6 hour drive and during the 4 day show.

After we get back from the show my niece Savannah wants to learn how to make pottery so I have started thinking of projects for her to make.