a little walk

I have put the clay away this past week, trying to get ready for Christmas.  I did wire a few things together (some fish and driftwood ornaments/wall hangings) last Saturday at the market- sorry, did not take pictures.  Still have a few mugs, a couple of berry bowls, one bluebird ornament, honey pots, vases, planters (mostly for small succulents), wall hangings and a few wall pockets and other items at the market for this Saturday.  When they are not there right in front of me it's hard to name them all.

This morning, I headed to the woods for a walk.  Here were a few of the sights along the way. Click on the pics to enlarge.

No snow, but a little ice.

 I often see holly trees in the woods.  I don't know if they are indigenous in this area or if  the birds gifted the woods from plants people have purchased.  Below: some succulents at the base of a tree.  This is the only place I have noticed succulents growing in the woods.

Merry Christmas!

Local Artist Show 2018

Here we go.  Getting ready for this show which starts tomorrow (Friday) 5-9pm and continues Saturday 9:30am to 4:00pm. (Not 2 weeks from tomorrow, which I somehow got stuck in my head until just recently.)  So, there's been a lot of sawing and sanding and putting togethering this week.  You would almost think I had a wood shop instead of pottery.  As I am still in the midst of preparations (boxes, tags, display, packing...) this is going to be a very brief look at some of the things I will bring to the Local Artist Show 2018.

 The rocks in these "cairns" are wheel thrown, some altered after throwing for more variation.

Some knob hangers for necklaces.

Below:  Flower children, or maybe I will call them moon flowers.

And I have a few small planters with succulents. Middle one has a loop in back for hanging. 

I do not have as many ornaments as I would have liked, but there are a couple of bluebirds, and chickadees, and a few oak leaves made.  

Also have the usual- some mugs, honey jars, berry bowls...etc.

Stop by if you are in the area.  There's lots of good stuff made by, um, local artists.

time factor

I just listed a few things on Etsy today.  I tend to put this off because of the time consuming process of photographing, loading, editing, figuring out the shipping costs, descriptions....etc.  And every time I list something I hear the same thing going round in my head- if you were more of a production potter instead of this one of a kind stuff you do you could use the same listing over and over.  Maybe one of these days.  I don't think I'll ever truly get the hang of it.  I was thinking of that today when I got a notice that one of my pieces was entered in a treasury list .  I have never made a treasury myself.  At first because I didn't quite understand what it was all about, but also, I can't quite figure out where the time comes from, knowing I would torture myself with making decisions about what to include.  I do admire what others come up with, though, and greatly appreciate when someone includes one of my items in their treasury.

Speaking of time...I was asked by someone at the market if I keep on producing even when sales are slow.  I guess my walking around and socializing made it apparent I wasn't reaching any kind of sales quota.   Well yes, I do, except for that unplanned month and a half off because of my wrist injury.  Then, when the wrist was better I concentrated most of my efforts on Empty Bowls.

 And now, I am waiting, waiting, waiting, for things to dry so I can fire. Here's some planters-in-waiting.  The saucers for underneath these are still too wet to trim.   

I'm not sure about making more of these. It's more time consuming (sorry about the t-word again) putting these together than I remembered.  I'm thinking of making some wheel-thrown only planters. 

Large mugs. Also drying.  Last summer when I had the request for a large 20- 24 ounce mug I made several, probably 10 or 12 because that's what I do when something is new to me to figure out the size and shape needed.  Well they all sold pretty quickly.  I had no idea people were that interested in over-sized mugs. I think of them as "Dan Mugs" since that is the name of the guy who made the request.  These are in the stage of drying where I feel safe leaving the plastic off, but am keeping them covered with a lightweight cotton cloth. The cloth obviously allows more drying, but still seems to slow it down somewhat.  It absorbs moisture, keeping a damp environment around the mugs even while evaporation is going on. The cloth thing is a tip from another potter, by the way.  I never think of these things myself. 

I do have dry ordinary sized mugs.  They are waiting by the kiln for these other ones to catch up.  Oh, and I want to get test tiles made before the next firing.  Better hurry up...



ginkgo leaves

I'm down to the last of these planters and I just had a request to make a couple more of these with the ginkgo leaves impressed. Saturday I had another shopper looking for anything ginkgo for Mother's day at the market, too. 
Notice Billy, the cat, in the background to the right of the spray bottle.  She's keeping and eye on Red, who also wants to be on the work table. However, she considers two to be a crowd where Red is concerned.

I throw the bottoms of these planters on the wheel. When they dry to the leather-hard stage I add the slab collars. I toss these slabs at an angle onto a canvas covered board rather than roll them out, to get the organic look I want.  Normally I glaze these in gunmetal-see the planter on the left.  I'm thinking the weathered bronze green on this test tile might be good on these too.  If you're wondering why the ginkgo leaves are yellow when it is clearly spring, not fall, it's because they have been in my freezer.  Sometimes I stockpile a few leaves in the freezer to use in the winter months. I picked these up from under a neighbor's tree last fall.

 R--E--D just ate my last ginkgo leaf!  There is nothing subtle about this cat. Hope he doesn't throw up anywhere that involves upholstery.  Tomorrow I need to mail some honey pots and I know there's a ginkgo tree near the post office so I will re-supply.
 

Yesterday I bought these spoons from one of the other vendors at the farmer's market .  A couple of customers had asked if I had small wood spoons to use in my salt pigs and I noticed George Corbitt had some large mixing spoons out on his table along with the  wonderful boxes  he makes, so...

I'm very pleased with them and already sold two to customers who previously purchased my salt pigs.

always a learning experience

A few more pots from the last firing-

I wanted a little more of the wood ash glaze feathering in this shallow bowl.  I remember now that last time I used this combination I brushed a little clear glaze over the wood ash glaze to make it run a little more. 

One of those learning experiences. While I was working on these utensil holders I started to think that I'd rather be doing this slip and stencil with tiles.  I might like the one that's second from the left, but overall just don't think tree stencils worked well with this form. I think some of these will find customers with just the right kitchen for them, though.

I've come to appreciate succulents.  Give them a good watering once a month and leave them alone.  I made this planter so it would fit on one of my windowsills. It's a little under 4" square. I didn't bother with a drain plate because after thoroughly watering a plant I let it sit in a sink until its done dripping. 

A little birdy.  Haven't made any of these for a couple of years.  This is wheel thrown with enough clay left at the bottom to pull a tail (ha).  This is the black engobe by itself with no glaze.  I like the pebbly surface of the unglazed engobe for nonfunctional things.  The hole at the bottom is large enough for a dowel rod in case someone wants their bird hovering in the garden.  One of these has been known to hang out in our garden.  I would like to hand build some birds one of these days.  I did this once before to make realistic looking birds.