Everything old is new again

Everything old is new again.  Recently while I was cleaning my upstairs to install our carpet I opened up a box of pottery that was shoved into a closet.  I hadn't looked at it for a few years but was surprise at what I found.

Sometimes those things that don't get you very excited at the time can be favorites later.  These three pieces were some of the pieces I found. They have been listed in my online shop.

Tonight I am going the the Annual Litaker show at Mint Hill Arts Reception tonight.  It will be interesting to see if either of my two pieces have been selected.  I will be sure to post about it.

This week I have been hard at work making new pieces for a online retailer that has ordered from me 4 times this year.  I wasn't expecting to be in the studio in December but the weather has been great so it's not been bad.

 A few days ago I sent out an order to The Promenade Gallery in Barea, KY.  They needed inventory ASAP so I worked with them and was able to pull out of my inventory some really nice pieces.

You can find my pottery in a number of gift shop and galleries, on my online Etsy shop or if you are local, give me a call and set up an appointment to pick up your handmade items. 704-408-7996

Remember:  Handmade is the best kind of gift.  It makes the buyer, artist and recipient happy.

Christmas gifts and back in the studio

Yesterday I dropped of two pieces at Mint Hill Arts for the annual Littaker show.  I am not going to show pictures yet since I plan on posting photos after the reception on December 11th.  Cross your fingers, perhaps I will win a prize.

Lately I have spent alot of time listing items in my online shop.  As of right now there are 150 items available for purchase.  Many are one of a kind, so don't delay if there is something you really like.

One of my favorite new items this year is my nesting bowls.  The set below is one such set.  There is also a set that has pour spouts.  

The earring holders make great gifts for college students. 

This morning I also got another order for a new gallery, so looks like I may be getting back in the studio this week.  Usually I can slow down at the beginning of December since pieces can't be finished before the holidays at this point.  

New Purple Pottery

Here they are.  The last kiln load had these fun items that have the purple glaze.  They can now be found in my Etsy shop just in time for the Holidays.

There is a small selection of the decorative bowls, yarn bowls and brie bakers in other popular colors there as well.

Another fun item I listed yesterday was this long dish.  I pictured it as a candy dish but it could be used in many different ways.

Small Business Saturday is in a few days.  I would very much love it if you decide to support my small business and gift a gift filled with love.  Pottery can last a lifetime and be part of many happy memories.

New Items listed in my Etsy shop

It's that time of year again.  Time to start picking out gifts for your friends and family.  I have started adding many more items to my online shop.

Some of the more popular items are yarn bowls.  I have added a few and today I glazed some more that will be added in a few days.  They are all different so if you see what you like, be sure to grab it before it's gone.

Some other great gifts are berry bowls, gravy boats, olive oil bottles and brie bakers.  Be sure to check out my Etsy shop to see over 100 items available now and shipped all over the USA.

Coming soon - I will have a bunch of items with a beautiful purple glaze and a lovely dark blue that will be coming out of the kiln this week.  Be sure to check out my facebook page for updates.  Also, be sure to turn on all notifications so that you receive all my posts.

I am also on Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest.

Etsy Sale announcement and Carolina Pottery Festival

The last few months have been busy with shows and orders for galleries but now I have a breather.  Unless I get an order this week I may be done starting new pieces.  I will most likely do another glaze load for Etsy from the many bisqued pieces sitting in my studio.

My last show is Saturday in Shelby, NC at the Legrand Center.  The Carolina Pottery Festival will be there from 10-4.  This is a great show to find handmade gifts for friends and family.

,After the show, any smaller pieces left will then be added to my online store just in time for the holidays.

Right now I have an Early bird special going.  Use coupon Code Earlybird2015 for 20% off until November 21st.  I will also honor this special at the Carolina Pottery Festival if you mention this post.

Have a great day.

New Space

Recently my sons moved out and I have my house back.  We have been working the last few months painting, putting in carpet, decorating bathrooms, and throwing away 10 years of crap.

The most exciting move is that my photography room/ shipping room /etsy pottery overflow room has been moved closer to the stairs and is much more organized, even though it's a bit smaller.

You can see in the photos three views of the room.  The top view shows my light box with props

The photo to the right shows some of the overflow pieces (many pieces are in my dining room showroom).  The pieces sitting on the table have either expired on Etsy and need to be relisted or for some reason were overlooked at some point and need to be added.

The last photo shows my desk with the weighing machine, computer and more overflow shelving. What you can't see are the many boxes and paper in the closet hidden away. (yipee)  Also, the bubble wrap is stored under the desk.  The shelves are partly empty right now but in the next few weeks I will start adding more pieces to my shop right up until Christmas.

I expect that this room may end up just as messy as the previous room but I actually hope not.

Someday maybe this will all be in my studio so that I do not have to travel from garage through house to the upstairs in order to photograph new pieces, especially those that go to shows or galleries and are not Etsy pieces stored until sold.  I also have to carry boxes and shipping materials down to the garage when I have gallery orders with many pieces.

Gallery orders, Pain, and new shipping space

Lately I haven't had much to say because mostly I have been filling orders for galleries.  In the last month 9 more galleries have started to carry my pottery.  That's a good thing.

I am not sure if it's related but I have had severe headaches, neck tension and shoulder pain.  I have been going to physical therapy and hope the exercises can help.

On November 7th I will go to my last show this year.  The Carolina Pottery Festival is a great place to pick up some great North Carolina pottery.

In August my two sons moved out.  One across town and the other to college.  Next week I will finally get the upstairs new carpet.  We painted a few weeks ago.  I am most excited about moving and rearranging my Etsy shipping and photo studio.  Maybe there will be photos once it's finished.

I have been making mixing bowl sets lately.  They are fun because they have to be made exactly right to fit into each other.  There is satisfaction it having them turn out.

I will be back in the studio in the morning and working through the weekend. I am working on three orders this week that want their pieces ASAP.  My husband is having a guys golf weekend at our cabin so I am at home and don't have anything better to do.  Next week I will be dealing with the carpet installers and putting everything in it's place, while the pieces dry for bisque firing.

Vacation photos

Well, I just got back from vacation and while this is a pottery blog, I thought that you would like to see a few photos.  Of course, you can probably tell that we went to Niagara Falls.  We spent 1 1/2 days there, then we went to the Blue Mountain Ski Resort in Canada.  There we hiked up the ski hill, rode the gondola down, swam and kayaked in the Georgian Bay on the Great Lakes and golfed two days.  Doesn't sound like much but the main goal of these vacations is to get my husband to relax, so we laid around in our hammocks alot.

In the Studio

My wheel broke yesterday. The pedal only has one speed now (fast). My husband looked at it but couldn't fix it, so I will most likely need to order a new pedal.   It broke right after I threw the three pieces for this vase.  Thank goodness.  This is the first thrown large vase I have made in the last few years.  I was pretty happy with it.

Another piece I made this week was the coffee canister (below).  The spoon was made with a technique I saw on another potters blog (can't remember who) using a ping pong ball to press the shape into the scoop.   The other two pieces are a soap pump and cup for my spare bathroom.

I was very excited to be asked to make pieces for Our State Magazine.  The appetizer trays (shown below) and butter dishes are now available at the Our State Store online.  The catalog comes out this week and shows up in stores September 1st.

Today I unloaded the kiln with mostly pieces for 2 different wholesale orders.  I then scraped the bottoms and packed for shipping.  The rest of the pieces from this load and the last few loads were priced and packed up in crates for my next show Art in Autumn in Weaverville, September 19th.  I will most likely do one more glaze load before then but I didn't have any more room on my shelves to store them.

Also I would like to remind everyone that I am on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.  If you would like to join me there.

Vacation photos - Summer Clearance Sale - Other news.

I know it's been awhile since I've posted.  In mid July I went on a 2 1/2 week vacation (more at the bottom of this post) and since then I have been busy getting caught up.

Summer Clearance Sale going on now.  Once I got back I reduced prices on some of my older pieces in my Etsy shop.  Check out my Clearance section for great deals going on now.

Reminder that I will be teaching a handbuilding class at Ciel in September.  Sign up has started.

As soon as I got back I started on a few wholesale orders and I will be glazing them this week.    Then I will work some more on filling up my show inventory.  I was playing around with the stencil idea so much that all of a sudden I realized that I need more of my regular work ready for my shows starting mid September.

At the end of this week my youngest son goes off to Appalachian State University, starting his Sophmore year.  My oldest moved out a few weeks ago so I will be an empty nester all at once.  The plus is that I will be able to clean up and fix up my entire upstairs.  This will take alot of painting, replacing 3 doors and updating of fixtures.  Boys sure do wear a house out.

As I mentioned earlier, I went out west to visit my family.  I landed in Bozeman (where my Mom lives) I we headed directly to Island Park Idaho where my sister has a cabin.  We spent 4 days there with my sister, her husband and my niece and nephew.  We kayaked and played by the lake.  It was great fun.

Then my Mom and I headed on a journey.  We drove through southern Idaho stopping at waterfalls.  Then on to central Oregon shopping in small towns, stopping at the Lava Flows on our way to the Oregon Coast.

At the coast we shopped in glass shops, quilt shops and general tourist shops.  We saw the ocean, saw seals and lots of beautiful scenery.

Next we stopped in Portland where we visited my cousin Darcy and went to the International Rose Test garden.  It was gorgeous.

After Portland we drove along the Columbia River Gorge and stopped at a few waterfalls, saw Mt. Hood and Mt. Saint Helens (side note-I was a kid in Montana when it blew and remember the days school was canceled because of air quality.  Of course we lived on a farm and still had to go out and work.)

Last we stopped in Northern Idaho to visit my cousin Lisa, then back to Bozeman for a few days where I watched my sister and her husband race cars.   Altogether a great time.

Busy in a hot studio

I haven't been very good about keeping up with my blog but I have been busy in a very hot studio.  Temps this month have been in the 90's.

Last week I finished an order for appetizer trays and mugs for a ladies golf tournament.  They will be given as gifts instead of the usual golf related merchandise.  I think this  was a great idea.

I also have been working on the order for Our State Store.  The ordered 30 custom appetizer trays and 30 butter dishes.  The order is not due until August but I am going on vacation back home to Montana for two weeks in July and in early August my son goes to App State with hopes of becoming a History Professor some day.  I will finish the order tomorrow morning when I glaze the third and last batch for the order.

A few weeks ago I taught the pitcher class at Ciel.  Today I unloaded the kiln and you can see the masterpieces shown above.  Upon request I will be teaching a butter dish class in September.  The date and time hasn't been determined yet but should be on the Ciel website soon.

This week I also got this vase out of the kiln.  I was pleased with how it turned out.

Southern Arts Society hosts the Earth and Fire Festival starting tomorrow night.  I have put some really nice items in the show which lasts until July 24th.

On July 9th - 30th five of my cups will be shown at the Drink Up Show sponsored by the Cleveland Arts Council.

Next Friday is the reception for the Collaboratus show at Ciel.  The piece Tina and I worked on (see last post) has come out of the kiln and looks great.  We decided to call it Midnight Flight.  I am really excited to see what collaborations the other artists have been working on.

Lastly I thought I would share a photo of my booth at the Brookgreen Garden Art show from earlier this month.

Ciel Collaboration and Pottery Classes

Today I had a great day.  I have really enjoyed my relationship with Ciel Gallery and today was another great moment.  The July show at Ciel is a collaboration show and I asked Tina Alberni to collaborate on a piece.  She is a phenomenal artist and she came over to my studio this morning and we designed and painted the piece.  The colors will be vibrant once they are fired with the clear glaze.  I can't wait to see it finished.  The reception is July 3rd.

The last few weeks I have been working on a new style of work using slips and stencils.  After going back to Michaels and getting more stencils and adding some colors to my selection I am so excited to see the pieces fired but I just couldn't wait to show them off.



The beer steins below were made for two reasons.  The first was for the Drink Up competition in July.  I will pick my favorite for that one.  The others would make great Father's Day gifts.

The two pitchers below were made using new stencils.  The one on the left will be bright periwinkle blue and turquoise.  The one on the right is tan with the pattern sponged with dark blue, light blue and purple, and two black birds.

If you would like to learn about using slips and stencils you can sign up for the wall vase or pitcher class coming up in June.   We will have a fun time creating and you will walk away with a piece of art.

I frequently show what I am doing in the studio on Facebook or Instagram @newdaypottery.  So please follow me there if you can.

Last week I sent these pieces to Our State Magazine for review and it sounds like they will be getting pieces for their Fall catalog.  I haven't heard how many but it sound like they will need them by August 10th.  I will give updates and let everyone know when they can be ordered.

Slips and Stencils

I've been glazing this week and finally got pictures of some of the pieces.  The new work with slips and stencils are shown here.  I am mostly happy even though I was guessing at what color the slips would be.  So sometimes they were quite different from what I was imagining.   I have now made test tiles so that in the future the colors should be right.  You can see more new pieces on my Facebook page.

Next Saturday I will be at the CCM Pottery Festival in Charlotte.  These pieces and many more will be on display.

Today I sent out my Spring Newsletter.  You can see it HERE.  If you would like to receive mail from me just follow the subscribe button.

Tonight I am going to the ASC Fundraiser at Ciel Gallery.  You can see my piece HERE. and make your bid or check out all categories to see the other pieces in the Auction.

In June I will be teaching two more classes at Ciel.  You can see the details for Hanging Wall Vases  or Pitchers .

New Kiln - New Orders - New Work

Last fall I got a new/used kiln.  It is a Bailey 10cu ft.  I was so busy in the fall then too lazy in the early winter that it took until about a month ago to get it hooked up to electricity.

My biggest issue was electricians.  The first guy that came out never got back to me, so then about 3 weeks of waiting I called another guy.  His quote was higher than I wanted to pay.  So I called another guy for a quote.  He was even higher.  So I called the second guy and we decided that I would move my kiln closer to the fuse box to lower the price.  The price was good so I decided to go that route.  Well then I had to move my refrigerator to another wall.  This set off a bunch of rearranging in my studio and it's still not perfect because an old desk that I didn't need needs to go, but my son wants it for his apartment when he goes off to college this fall, so it's still in my way but I can see the light.

I number of things going on in the studio this week.  I received a new wholesale order for The Mind Gift Shop in Portland Maine.  Then I got a call from Our State Magazine.  They want to place two of my custom items in there online shop and catalog.  Today I made two butter dishes and two appetizer trays for a sample.  Once they give the OK I will make a large quantity ready for the August issue.

In a few weeks is the CCM Pottery Festival so I have been busy making pieces for the sale.  The bisque load shown in my new kiln is filled with new work and old favorites.  Next week I will glaze at least two loads for the show.  In these loads will include my first pieces done with the colored slips and I am excited to see them finished.

Oh and also my son helped me put out 5 yards of mulch in our flower beds around our house.  It took two afternoons. whew.

Pottery class update and new work

Today I unloaded the kiln and here are a few of my students pieces.  I can't wait for them to see how they turned out.

These 5 classes were my first time teaching and wow: so many lessons learned.  First add time because we never finished in the two hours allotted.  Three and a half was the average time.  Also, boy was I exhausted at the end of each class.

I will probably teach more classes in June or July using the slip technique mentioned below.

Other items in the kiln were the rest of the teapots I am considering for the Teapot exhibition in Florida next month.  The photo to the right are the teapots I have ready.  I put them on Facebook for voting this morning and the votes are all over the place and there is no clear winner so I am letting the head of the show decide.    The rest of the teapots will either go to Ciel gallery next month or to the CCM Pottery Festival on May 9th.

After going to the Susan Feagin workshop a few months ago I have been wanting to apply the techniques to my work.  I finally purchased a few Mason Stains and mixed up my slips.  (more on order)  I also went to Michaels and got a few more stencils.  My test piece came out of the kiln today and it gave me some pointers, like putting two coats of slip so that there are not paint brush marks.  Yesterday I made the pieces on the left and today I made three more pieces.  I hope they turn out because I am not testing.

A month or ago I made this vase and did not calculate the size, so it was too big for my kiln.  Another potter offered to fire it for me.  It's been bisqued and sometime this next week (when it's not raining) I need to go back to glaze it.  I really need to decide what colors I should do it.

At the end of this month there is a fundraiser and preview at Ciel Gallery that I need to pick a silent auction piece (might be one of the teapots)  If you would like to attend on April 30th let me know and I will send you the info.  RSVP by April 15th.   Next months show is Skewing the Masters.  More on that later.

Against my better judgement I have applied for a few shows this year.  I will update my calender as I am notified.

Teapot time

It was all about teapots today.  The weather the last few days has been glorious so I have had long days in the studio.

Last week I got an invitation to a teapot show in Florida next month.  They mentioned the pedestal teapots specifically so today I made 3 different pedestal teapots.  The one on the left was a new idea.  I thought it turned out pretty well.  I will pick the best one for the show.

I also got a pretty exiting phone call this afternoon.  My hummingbird teapot won 2nd place at the Best of Nature show at Falling Rivers Gallery.  This was quite a surprise since this show does not have a 3D division so I was going against all types of art.  The show runs for the next month with the reception on April 11th.

My favorite thing to make is teapots so it's always fun to have a reason to make them and today really was the best kind of day.

Last week was the first pottery class at Ciel.  It was alot of fun introducing everyone to making mugs with slabs.  I posted photos on my Facebook page.  If you are interested in taking a class, check out the previous post for details.

Pottery Classes and new work.

As I mentioned a while back, I will be teaching 4 handbuilding classes at Ciel Gallery Thursdays in March.

The first class "Mugs" has filled up but there is still time to sign up for "Shakers and Trays", "Vases" or "Teapots".  

We should have a fun time making our own creations since I will not be having everyone make exactly the same shapes.  Just teaching my techniques.

This week it is very cold here, so no work will be done in the studio.  Hopefully it will be better next week.

Last week I did three glaze loads.  These two vases are going to be entered into a couple different juried shows happening in the next month.  I usually paint the flowers yellow but this time I did them in red and I really liked how they turned out.

The bowls below were a custom order for an Etsy customer, there were a few orders in this batch and they all turned out great.

My dinnerware set was also included in last weeks batch.  I was wanting them finished for the Spades party we had at our house on Saturday.  It was so nice to finally get a set to match my new decor in my kitchen.