Joara Pottery Festival

Today I had a booth at the Joara Pottery Festival.  It was a warm, sunny day.  My booth was out in the pavilion, in the sun, but there was a nice breeze all day to cool it down.

I had to take a photo of the booth with my new register stand that my husband made a few weeks ago.  It has worked out well at the last few shows I have done.  Instead of using a table to hold the paper roll, it can be held on a shelf, leaving the top clean.  My mom had made the sign last year as a flag to fly on my tent, but it works really well attached to my stand.

There is only one more show left for the Spring.  The Piedmont Pottery Festival in Eden will be the last show until October.  Unless I hear of something promissing before then.  I am also thinking of having a clearance show at my studio possibly in September.  To get an invitation to the sale or get my newsletter, send me your email address to be included in my mailing list.  You can also sign up on Facebook to get updates on what I am doing in the studio.

In a few weeks I will be back in the studio, making new pieces for sale in the fall.  Check back for periodic updates on what is happening.

All Arts Market

This week I will be at two different shows.  First on Thursday & Friday evenings from 6-10pm, I will be at the All Arts Market NoDa Neighborhood Theatre.  I will be at booth #206. It looks like a fun & funky art show. See the website for more information.

On Saturday I will be at the Joara Pottery Festival in Morganton from 10-4.  I just decided to ad this show this past week. Check out this website for info.

I am sure that I will be very tired by Saturday evening, but I just had to check out these two shows.

Last Saturday was the Claymatters Barnsale.  We had some rain, but it didn't seem to slow anyone down.  Thanks to everyone that came out even with the bad weather. There is a photo of my booth on my facebook page.

Today I did some glazing.  I also fired the pieces to cone 6 just to see what would happen. 

Carolina Claymatters Spring Barn Sale

Tomorrow is our guilds semi-annual Barn Sale.  I enjoy this sale because I know so many of the potters and we get a chance to visit with each other. All week online it has said that it was supposed to rain every day this week, but it has only rained at night.  I am hoping that the weather holds out.  Check out the website or Facebook page to see what other potters are bringing to the sale.

The bud vase to the left makes a great teachers gift.  I will have a few on hand in different colors and sizes at the sale. 

The last few weeks I have been taking it easy, but I signed up for a few more shows, so on Monday I will probably be back in the studio.

New Vases & Pitchers

The last few weeks I have been taking it easy.  I felt that I had enough pieces made to last through the Spring show season.  A few glaze loads have been done and these tall pots came out of the last group.  I was hoping that at least one could be entered into the Summer Juried Competition at Mint Hill Arts.  Maybe I am too close to the pieces, because I can't say that any are worthy of a competition.  May 14th I will have a booth at the Claymatters Guild Barn Sale.  Some of these vases will be there for sale.  Then on May 19 & 20th from 6-10pm I will have a table set up at the NoDa All Arts Market.  These will be my last local shows until the fall.

British Slipware Workshop

Yesterday I spent the day in Shelby at the British Slipware Workshop.  Doug Fitch and Hannah McAndrew gave a great demonstration on tradional English Slipware.  Doug made large Pitchers using a blow torch to speed up the drying.  Then he decorated his pots with slip and fast, simple decorating.  Hannah made a variety of items, then used different colored slips to make more intricate designs on her pots. They colaborated on a puzzle jug.  Which you can see Hannah decorating (below).  The puzzle is how to drink out of the jug without spilling.  There are holes on the neck of the jug.  I plan on making a puzzle jug or mug later this week.

While I was having a great time learning great new techniques and having lunch & dinner with potter friends, my wonderful husband was making me a register table for my booth.  He finished building it today and I stained it black.  It looks fabulous. Tomorrow I will put on another coat.  Tomorrow I also need to glaze my order for Preston Flowers.  The order will go with me up to Sanford this weekend for delivery.

Start of Spring Show Season and Other Stuff

This week I have been throwing pots for an order from Preston Flowers.  I needed some more lobed pitchers and large bowls.  Monday I will probably do one last glaze load for Greensboro. Next weekend (April 15-17) is my first show of the year. This will be the third year for the NC Pottery Festival in Greensboro.  There will be some new pieces, including the vases pictured here.  Some new products that will be available are dessert cups & wine bottle rests. 

There has been a new page added  (Photo Archive) to the blog.  This page has some of my favorite pieces over the last 3 years.  I think that it  is interesting to see the changes over the years.

Be sure and check out the vase on the right side of the blog and see how to register to win it.  I have also sent out my Spring Newsletter.  See it here and send me an email (jabdelaziz at carolina dot rr dot com) if you want to receive it every Spring & Fall.

Holey Bowl

This week I have glazed a bit.  This bowl turned out the way I wanted it to.  I think that I will make a few more of these types of bowls.  The rest of my favorite pieces were posted on Facebook.  Be sure to check them out.

Lately I have been working quite a bit on the Carolina Claymatters Guild website.  I finally figured out how to add documents using Google Docs and it's made the site so much better.  I am happy that I am able to keep the site up-to-date.

Glazing. Glazing. Glazing.

Since it was a sunny day today, I decided to glaze.  I had to mix up 3 glazes, which I had run low on.  My last post stated that I need 2 glaze loads, well, I think it will be more like 4.  Today was the Dragonfly glaze day.  Tomorrow I will do Redwood & Moss.  The Sunrise glaze will have to wait for a Sunny and calm day because of the spraying of glaze.  Today was too windy and in the coming week, there is alot of rain forcast. 

I got the canister set in and hope it turns out.  There was also a nice teapot and some vases.

More Basket Weave

Today I made some more candy dishes and small vases.  This vase is very different from the usual.  I decided to try the basket weave again.  Later I will finish putting the candy dishes together, then start the kiln with a bisque load.  Next week I will do my final 2 glaze loads to get ready for my first show of the Spring.  Look for photos by the end of next week.

Sunday I went to the Mint Museum on a tour provided by the Carollina Claymatters Guild.  We had a good time and got alot of inspiration.  You can see the photos I took on the website.