Inspiration pieces

                        Today I worked on pieces inspired by workshops taken the past few months.  The pitcher above used the technique of making legs with a triangle shaped slab attached to the bottom. I tried this a few weeks ago on a few candy dishes and liked the look.  Alison did her demo on a bowl (left).  The cup was faceted, one of the techniques Bill Van Gilder showed.

 At the Potters Conference this weekend Martha Grover made a lidded box out of porcelain (above). I really enjoyed her style so I decided to give it a try.  See my attempt at a butter dish/lidded box below

I am not very adept at handbuilding, so this is always alot of work for me.  I hope it turns out.  The jar next to it is thrown in one pieces then cut to make a lidded jar.  I have seen this before but never attempted it.  Both Ronan Peterson and Bill Van Gilder had a version of this so decided it was time to try.  It turned out well. 

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Falling Rivers Gallery & Potters Conference

Thursday I set up my booth at the Falling Rivers Gallery in Albemarle.  The gallery is a cooperative sales venue of the Stanly Arts Guild and is staffed by vounteers who show and sell their creations.

Then I traveled on to Asheboro to attend the 25th Annual North Carolina Potters Conference.  This is the 4th year I have attended.  I really enjoyed the format this year.  They invited 3 master potters (Cynthia Bringle, John Glick, Jack Troy) who then in turn invited an up and coming potter (Ronan Peterson, Martha Grover, Jake Johnson)  This made for a very full weekend of non-stop ideas.  I do not know what  pieces to try first.

Today I had to attend to my children.  One was sick and the other is moving home for awhile.  But I will be in the studio tomorrow and I will be trying out all the ideas from this weekend and the workshop two weeks ago.  You will see more photos from the weekend compared to my attempts at making items.

In the next month I need to buckle down and throw new pieces.  In May I have two shows and right now I only have a few boxes of pots available for shows.  Most of the items I had available either went to the Falling Rivers Gallery or are now for sale on Etsy. 

Over the weekend a yarn bowl of mine was featured on Uniquely Yours' blog.  It's a fun blog that features items from Etsy.

My wine coaster was featured on the Its a Madcap Life Blog today.  This blog features art, culture and design.  All items featured are for sale on Etsy.

Yesterday I added two yarn bowls to my Etsy site.  Last week I had my first sale of the year and it was a yarn bowl, so I decided that perhaps I needed a few more.

Today I will finish glazing since it looks like it won't be raining.

Visit to the Cabin

This past weekend we went up to our cabin in Bat Cave, mainly to just check on it and chill.  Sunday morning my husband asked me "what do you want to do" and I said "Biltmore".  Check out my cabin blog to read about our cabin and our adventures in the Carolina Mountains.  This summer you should see more photos of nature, since I asked and got a camera for Christmas/Birthday from my mom.  Today the battery died after I took a few photos out front.  Forgot to charge the battery after my son's Regional wrestling tournment last weekend.

Back to pottery.  I will be going out to the studio in a few minutes to wax resist and I plan on glazing tomorrow morning.  Weather permitting.  I have to spray outside so can't do it if it's raining or very windy.

New glazes and casserole dishes

This last glaze load had some experiments.  My plan this year is to phase out all lines except the blue and brown dragonfly line.  I wanted to add some black and white to that line for a more cohesive look.  These are some of the pieces that I liked.  Would love some feed back.  The piece in the back is the cake plate/chip & dip.  I did some glaze tests on some egg separators and they turned out great.  In future glaze loads I plan on trying some on vases.

These pieces will most likely to going to the Falling Rivers Gallery in Albemarle.  I will be setting up the display next Thursday on my way to the North Carolina Potters Conference in Asheboro.

This is the first casserole out of the kiln. I decided to decorate the underside of the lid for a surprise.

Bill VanGilder and Silvie Gratanelli Workshop

Over the weekend I attended the Claymatters Winter Workshop.  The featured artists this year were Bill VanGilder and Silvie Granatelli.  In the photo to the left see a photo of Silvie and I and the piece I had to have.  To see the photo of Bill and the piece of his that I had to have, check out my Facebook page.  I learned so many new techniques that it will takes months for me to try them all.  So check back for photos of my pieces inspired by what I learned.  Also, check out the Claymatters website for a more detailed account and photos of the workshop. (ps. I am the webmaster of that site as well).

I will be glazing tomorrow, I hope.  Lately it seems that life has gotten in the way.  This year I decided to try to live life more and part of that is getting to the Y to work out most mornings.  This means that instead of working in the morning, I don't start until after lunch.  It seems like there are always things I have to attend to in the afternoon, children, groceries, appointments, etc.  So, hopefully by Wednesday there will be photos taken and posted.

Artist Co-op

Yesterday I finished my entry on the Artist co-op site.  It looks like it may have possibilities for promotion of my pottery.  I believe that the site may be new, since there are new people added every day. 

I have been fighting a cold the last few days, so I haven't been in the studio since last Thursday.  Winter finally arrived Saturday and it's been too cold to be out in my studio, especially as there is no time crunch right now.  The weather report shows 60 degrees on Friday so I will probably load the bisque tomorrow and glaze on Friday.  I will be trying out some new ideas in glazing then.  Hopefully I will post some of the items on my Etsy site and others will possibly be going to a new gallery I might be showing some of my work.

Wednesday is again my day to work at Ruby's in NoDa.  The day After Valentines Day, so I don't expect to be very busy.  I'll bet tomorrow see's a rush of men looking for last minute gifts.

Candy Dishes and a bird house

Today was a day of experimenting. The two candy dishes were inspired by a workshop a took from Allison McGowan in November.  She handbuilt her bowl and legs but I decided to throw the bowls and handbuild the legs. 

They were made by cutting out triangles and folding together one side then attaching at the curve on the bottom of the bowl.  You can see how different shaped triangles make different legs.  The bowl to the left also features a double rim with grooves spaced around.  I am not sure that everyone loves candy dishes as much as I do.  I have had many variations throughout the years.  Next I made a bird house for up at our cabin in Bat Cave, NC.  If I like how it turns out, I may make some for sale this spring.  The other two pieces are a wine chiller and utensil holder.  Just because I felt like it.

Be sure to check out my Etsy site for items that I have for sale.  Remember this is just a starting point.  I have lots of other pieces made that have not been placed on there yet.  So you can always send me a convo requesting an item.

Casserole Dishes

Today I made some casserole dishes.  This is the first time I have made lidded casserole dishes.  Years ago in a class I learned how to make lids for canisters and I have made a few over the years but never for casseroles.  I made each one a little different and we will see how they turn out.

For the next few weeks I will be throwing some new forms then I will start glazing.  I have been thinking of dropping a few lines (fiesta, twilight and sunrise) and adding some coordinating lines to what's remaining (dragonfly).  I am doing this for a few reasons.  First, my booth is a mis-mash of colors and I feel that I will not be accepted into any high end shows until this is fixed.  Second, the red glaze costs twice what other glazes cost and I can't raise my prices on everything enough to justify it.  I suppose this is why you see so few potters with red pots.  Of course it will take a while for me to deplete my inventory to make a complete changeover.  I also plan on adding items like cassserole dishes, wine chillers, sponge holders, etc.  There may even be a chance that I will start making dinnerware.