Claymatters Holiday Party

Saturday I went to the Carolina Clay Matters Guild holiday party.  I had a great time catching up with everyone. They always have a gift exchange and I went away with this beautiful vase made by Linda Dalton. Then later I won this Dolan tool during the raffle.  If you are interested in the guild, check out the website. HERE.

Yesterday I threw yarn bowls using Speckled Brownstone clay.  Today I will make the cutouts.  This week I need to make gift items for Valentines Day.  I also need to get some supplies since I plan on testing some new glazes next week.

Fun Pitchers

Today I assembled two pitchers that were started yesterday.  I like the one on the left the best.  I also finished trimming the cracker trays I threw a few days ago.  With the rainy days it's been taking longer to finish items.

Next week I need to take some items to a few galleries in town.  Inventories are low due to the holidays and I haven't been out since November.

Pedestal Bowl

Today I finished this pedestal bowl.  I rolled out the slab a few days ago and finally got around to throwing the pedestal part of the piece.  I went out yesterday to throw it plus the cracker trays and found that the clay was way too cold to work with, so I brought it into the house to warm up.  There are a few tweaks with the design but I am pretty happy with this piece.

Another piece looked great but broke when I went to take a photo.  I have decided that I need to roll the slabs a little thicker.

Slab roller has arrived

This week I finally received my Christmas gift.  A table top slab roller.  Yippee.  Yesterday I rolled out and stamped some slabs to make a few items.  One item completely got messed up but the rest looked alright.  The vase was the hardest because it wanted to flop and I hope the seams are going to stay.  The teapot was time consuming but not too bad.  The handle and spouts were the trouble spots.

I have all kinds of ideas that I want to try so the next few weeks will be experimental.  Check back for progress.

Be sure to check out my Facebook page and "like" it if you want to be updated on what's happening.  I try to have different content on the blog and Facebook page.

Berry Bowls

Back in the studio and throwing for the first time in a month.  After my week at the Folk School I decided to take some time off to re energize.  I was also waiting for my new slab roller, which hasn't arrived yet, to get going on some exciting new items.

Alas, I needed to get back in the studio to make some of my better sellers. This year I have decided that I need to focus more on my surface designs, so today I messed around with my berry bowls and tried out some new ideas around the rims.  Tomorrow I need to make some cracker trays, since I am all out and a customer wants one of the full round trays.

Hope everyone had a great holiday season and have a happy new year.

Dinner platter order complete

A few months back I got a request to make 6 plates.  What made this an interesting order was that the customer wanted man platters for dining outside.  He wanted to be able to load up his plate and not to have to go back to get more.  These plates are 13 inches and will hold a large steak and all the sides easily.

This week I have been busy shipping out online orders.  It has been pretty exciting to get orders almost daily.  Most times I was shipping between 4-10 boxes.  Of course this is the week that they are doing bodywork on our truck, which coincidentally was ruined when I backed into a car in the post office parking lot last month.  So, my sons had to take turns driving me to the post office every afternoon.   Hopefully I will get the truck back soon.

Yesterday I went to the supply store and ordered a slab roller.  I am really excited to start making some new work.  In the next few days I will probably draw out some ideas to try once I get the slab roller.  My plan is to also revamp my glaze colors as well.  The glazes I use right now do not show texture well and slab work is shown off best with other types of glazes.

John C. Campbell Folk School

I spent last week at the John C. Campbell Folk School taking the Textured gifts of clay class.  Sylvia Coppola was our instructor and she did a great job showing us many ideas for hand built projects.  From teapots, to owl bells, mugs, vases and even toad houses.

The photo to the left was one of the items I made using the ideas learned but using my own patterns.  In a few months I plan on having some new glazes and I can't wait to glaze this pot.

The photo on the right is of the whole class with Sylvia and our last glaze load. Everyone had a great time and came away with some wonderful pieces.

My mom was my roommate and she took the copper enameling class.  We had a great time in the evenings watching the many programs they had including dancing, singing, and a performance by the Brasstown Ringers.  It was Christmas week so everything was Christmas related.

To see more photos of the week, check out my Facebook page.

Coffee Table Bowl

This week has been surprisingly busy.  After the Seagrove show I started listing pieces for sale online.  The great thing is that I started selling more items so I glazed some more, then some more.  Today I unloaded the kiln again and have started listing more items on Etsy.

The only bummer was that while I was sanding the bottoms of the pieces, I dropped a brie baker onto two yarn bowls.  The brie baker didn't break but it broke two really nice yarn bowls.  This is a double bummer because I have had a hard time making these pieces fast enough.

This handled coffee table bowl was a special order by a customer at the Shelby show and it came out beautifully.  It took me three tries to get it to finished size of 16 inches.  I wasn't sure how much shrinkage was going to play a part in size.  This bowl started at 18 inches, then shrunk to 17 inches before it even went into the kiln.  It barely fit into my 7 cu ft kiln.

Next week I will be going to the John C. Campbell Folk School.  I will be taking a course from Sylvia Coppola.  My mom will be rooming with me and she will be taking copper enameling.  I am so looking forward to this, since we signed up 6 months ago, it seems like it will never get here.  Hopefully I will come home with all kinds of new ideas.

While I am gone, my son Tarick will be taking over my shipping duties.  This is a little scary for me to turn this over to him but I didn't want to shut down my online shop during the busiest season of the year.  When I get back I need to glaze one more load.  I have 2 more platters to finish for a dinnerware set I started a few months ago, plus I am sure that I will need more items to post online.

Liebster Blog award

Thank you KAB for nominating me for the Liebster blog award.  This is the first blog award I have ever received.

The Liebster Blog award is given to bloggers who have less then 200 followers.

Each blogger should post 11 facts random facts about themselves.

-Answer the questions the tagger has set for you, then create 11 new questions for the bloggers you pass the award on to.

-Choose 11 bloggers (less than 200 followers) to pass the award to and link them to your post.

-Go to their page and tell them about the award.

-No tag backs!

Random facts about me.

1. I have been married for 25 years.

2.For 15 years I was a hairdresser.

3. I grew up on a dairy farm.

4. I was a band geek in high school

5. I have two boys (18 & 22).

6. I read a lot.  When I have books I like sometimes a book a day.

7.I like pop music. Gangnam Style is my favorite right now.

8.My husband and I spend lots of time at our cabin near Asheville.

9.I love flowers

10.I am enthralled with waterfalls.  We try to hike to as many as possible.

11. I have always said that we would go to Europe by our 25th anniversary.  Didn't happen, but cross my fingers that it will happen before my 26th.  Italy is the goal.

KABbeading's Questions for me:

1. What was your favorite book as a teen?  Boy, so long ago and I read so many books. I remember reading the whole Little House on the Prairie series, but it may have been preteen.
2. What is your favorite drink? Strawberry Daiqari
3. What color do you look best in?  turquoise?
4. What is the one thing you hope to accomplish with your blog?  Giving an appreciation for the arts. 
5. Have you ever been to another country? mexico
6. What is your favorite Christmas Holiday song? O holy night
7. What is your favorite thing to blog about?When I have finished throwing a really interesting new piece.
8. What would you like me to blog about? fun events you attend
9. What do you do to relax? Read, go to our cabin to chill
10. If you could be a super-hero, who would you be? Super cleaning woman, all I would have to do is think clean and my house would be clean.
11. What is your favorite mode of transportation?  Plane - it means that I am going somewhere fun.

My nominations:

Meesh's Pottery

Sue Pariseau Pottery

Free Spirit Designs

Whistle Creek

Crazy Green Studios

Willow Tree Pottery

Food and Pottery

JBF Times

John Bauman

Kings Creek Pottery

Dirt Kicker Pottery

New Day Potterys questions for you.

1. Where did you grow up.

2. What is your favorite place to visit?

3. How many pottery mugs do you own that are not made by you?

4.What is your favorite book?

5. How many art shows do you participate in every year?

6.What is your favorite pizza?

7. What kind of music do you listen to most?

8. Beach or Mountains?

9.Favorite TV show?

10. Last movie you saw?

11.Favorite child hood memory?