Teapots

Today I set out to make some teapots.  Two of them were new ideas and one a teapot I have made before.  I decided to take some photos of the process.  I am posting a few but I skipped some of the basic steps.

First I cut out a piece of newspaper with the shape of my form.  Then I roll out slabs, cut the shapes out using my pattern, then stamp the slabs.

After the slabs dry for a bit with the fans running I bevel the edges and score.  Next I shape the form using a piece of foam.  The two pieces are put together and place on the pedestal I made while the slabs were drying.  A lid is made, a handle is pulled and applied.

My whimsical spouts are made by pulling a "handle" and placing in on a board in the shape I would like the spout to be and let it dry a bit in the sun.  Next I cut the spout down the middle, scoop out the insides, score, slip and put back together.  This allows me to make any shape spout I like.

Both the teapots below are a new design.  I think I like the taller one best but I think that they actually look good next to each other.

It feels good to get some work done today.  It seemed like I didn't get much done last week.  Last Sunday our water was out all day.  Tuesday afternoon I had a PR meeting for the Clay Matters Festival.  Thursday I had to shampoo my carpets and a dentist appt.  Friday I had to shop and make a cheesecake for a card party on Saturday night.  This week looks clear but I can never tell.  I things go well perhaps I will glaze the following week.

New Pastry cutouts

Yesterday I worked on the long fruit bowls.  When I was in Asheville a few weeks ago, I stopped into a kitchen store and bought these pastry cutters that made birds, flowers, leaves and bee's.  So I decided to try these pastry cutters out and made this bowl.  There are bee's and flowers on the other side  It will be interesting to see how the glazing turns out.  This piece took 3 times as long as the usual and I would guess that the glazing will as well.  So far I like the effect with the raised design.

Today I started glazing but ran out of wax resist so was only able to do half the load.  Luckily by tomorrow I should have some more thanks to Mike from Carolina Clay who is nice enough to deliver it to me tonight on his way home.  Today I got all the special orders done and tomorrow I will just do enough other pieces to fill the kiln.  In a few weeks I will start glazing for the Carolina Claymatters Festival.  I need to kick it up a notch and finish more pieces.

For the last week I have been working on my newsletter.  I suppose that I have started it a little early since I won't send it until the end of the month but had some time a decided to get it done.  If you would like to receive my Fall and Spring Newsletters plus a few in between if there is special news, please sign up on the right hand side of the page.  I promise, only a few per year.  You will not receive them all the time like some.  Sometimes there may even be a surprise for you.

Slip trailing and loading the kiln plus video

My back is finally feeling well enough to work for a few hours each day.  The back specialist said that I had muscle spasms.  While I am happy that it wasn't something worse, I can't imagine anything hurting much worse.  By last Wednesday I could hardly move.  Slowly I have gotten better with medication and icing.

Yesterday I did some slip trail beading then I loaded the kiln.  Today I worked on trays and small wall hangings.

While I was laid up I worked on a video of our local pottery guild's semi-annual festival.  I had taken the video clips last spring and just never had the energy or time to work on putting it all together. It is actually good that I got it done.  It's less than 2 months until the festival and I need to get going on the online promotion.

First Place Win

Friday evening I went to the Summer Art Explosion award reception at Falling Rivers Gallery.  I had received first prize in the 3D division.  This was exciting because it was my first win.  A few years ago I received an honorable mention at the Mint Hill Arts Juried show.  Since then I have not entered into any shows, mainly because I never hold anything back for shows and the timing never works out that I have something available that is worthy.  This time I purposely made 5 items for the show and took up 3.

I did something to my back this week.  Probably lifting boxes full of pottery at the show last weekend.  Every morning I wake up and can't roll over, but as the day moves along I get better.  So I have been working through the pain.  But today I woke up at 4am and could not deal with the pain.  In 45 minutes I will be at the Chiropractor and hope that he can make an adjustment that will fix it.  I really can't take many days off since I have 3 shows this fall and only have 2 boxes of pottery glazed.

Lidded jar

Today I made a couple pedestal pieces.  The piece to the left was initially supposed to be from an inspiration piece, but I didn't look at the photo and had already cut out the lid before I checked to see what I was supposed to be doing.  I will try again next week and make the decanter I was meaning to make.  

The piece on the right is a funeral urn for a customer in Canada that wanted a special urn for a beloved pet.  I hope she is happy with how it turned out.  I made three just like this, but only the one has a name on it.

In the last few weeks I have listed some of my new work on my online shop.  I hope to continue to add items when I have extra pieces.  I am starting to gear up for my fall shows and online holiday sales.  As always I am open to custom orders and if there is an item shown on my blog or Facebook page that you are interested in let me know and if it's still available it's yours.

Village Art & Craft Fair

A few days ago I got a call asking if I would like to the Village Art and Craft Fair in Asheville.  I had applied the last few years and did not get in, but they needed a fill in for a last minute cancellation.  So I said OK but then I had to figure out where to get enough product.  Now I suppose I could have just closed my Etsy shop and taken what I had, but then my display would be a mish, mosh of last years leftovers and a few new pieces.  So I decided to raid two of the consignment shops I recently put new work into and I glazed a load with the best bisqued pieces I had available.  Altogether I think I have good enough pieces for a show of this caliber.  Too bad my 5 very favorite pieces are out at competitions.  Tomorrow morning I will unload the kiln, clean up, price and pack in boxes, then load the truck.  My friend Lynda will be helping me out and we will be staying in our cabin near Bat Cave, NC.  I couldn't afford this show if I had to pay hotel costs as well.

Monday I really need to get into serious work mode.  Hopefully I will sell out this weekend. LOL. Then I will need to refill the gift shops plus get ready for the 4-5 shows I will do this fall.  I also have a few orders to fill in the next few weeks.

Spring (summer really) Cleaning

Well, as you can see I can be very messy.  This is my photography studio and shipping room.  I had not cleaned it for quite awhile and my son had also cleaned out his closet and dumped the computer parts right in the middle of it all.  I kept stubbing my toe But what really made me decide to clean is that the shelves in the closet are where I put some of the overflow from my showroom of items listed online and I needed to bring the items back from my studio sale.   I was stepping on packing materials and the desk was a jumble of stuff that mostly didn't even belong in that room.

Before (up)  After (right)

I don't think that the pictures actually capture how bad it was, but now I feel refreshed and ready for sales.

Bisque load going, glazing tomorrow.

Before (left), After (below)

London Trip

A few weeks ago we got back from a trip to London.  This was our 25th Anniversary trip and we had a great time.  To see more photo of the trip, check out my cabin blog.


One item of interest to my fellow potters is that the Victoria and Albert Museum has 11 rooms on the top floor jam packed full of ceramics. The room in the photo was very sparse compared to the following rooms.  Some were floor to ceiling and almost stacked on each other there was so much.  In the next few weeks I make some pieces using photos of pieces from the museum as inspiration.

Vases

I started out the week going uptown to Carolina Clay for some more clay. Then Tuesday I made plates, Wednesday wall hangings (below) and today the three pieces to the left.  The piece in the middle is a prototype and I can see where I need to tweak it a bit. Two inches of the bottom went into the pedestal and threw off the proportions.  I think that the belly needs to be higher up, the pedestal smaller and the neck smaller.

Yesterday I worked on the wall hangings below.  The two on the bottom will have some kind of wire handle to look like baskets.

I still need to make some plates that can hang on the wall.  Tomorrow is slab built platters.  There will be another week of slab built items, then a week of throwing.  I have found that its hard to switch back and forth due to space issues.  Some time next week I will bisque and probably glaze the following week.  Mainly because I have a order for plates that I need to finish.

Today I sent my application in for the Made in the South Show in Charlotte and (new for this year) Macon GA.  Looks like I will be in four shows this year.  Carolina Claymatters Pottery Festival (Charlotte), Carolina Pottery Festival (Shelby), Made in the South Shows (Concord & Macon, GA)  I applied for Adalaya in Huntington Beach, but was wait listed.

I am looking for balance in my life.  Art shows can take over if you let them and I was neglecting my health, family and home.  For a few years I would do around 15 shows, most in the Fall.  My new plan is to workout Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays with lighter work schedule those days.  Then there's the cabin on some weekends and I would like to go there during the Fall leaf season.  In the past, I filled up October with shows and missed out on the best time to go to the mountains.  Then there are my friends and family time.  I got to the point that I didn't see anyone all week because I needed to hit a deadline. Now I try to find time to go to lunch or shopping.

I don't know how the new work will sell yet and so it's hard to know how much to make this summer but I am making things I love and hope others will feel the same.