Newness.

Well, the new batch of work is finally finished. I had some distractions...Valentine's day cake making (it's kind of weird censoring plastic boobs), feeling crappy a couple of days, kiln issues, glaze materials back ordered...

But, I finally have some new things in my Etsy shop. I finished a bunch of special orders and a several orders for some galleries and shops. I've also managed to tuck a few things away for a gallery show at the end of April.I just added this guy today. And I'm one sale away from 1111 sales...make a wish!

I have a ton of new things to post. As I mentioned before, I'm moving away from simple forms and I'm moving toward making more complex pieces and more animal related things. I realized I was wasting time making multiples of bowls and vases and it left me with little time to make more complicated things. Soooo, you may see bowls and vases BUT, they will be a bit more involved. And, I'm playing with reducing the custom orders I take. I'm planning on making more one of a kind pieces or small runs and let that be that. I often get requests like can you make this shorter or wider or a different color. Sometimes it's hard to explain to customers that their idea just won't look good, or that I only make my chick bowls in green, yellow and orange for a reason...it's starting to drive me a litte crazy...

Anyway, be on the lookout for more animals and a few "normal" bowls that just happend to make it into this last batch of work.


++Oh! And I totally forgot to mention that the awesome Ashley Akers did a sweet little post on her blog about my work! Thank you Ashley! You can go check it out right here. I've mentioned her work before. I'm a big fan. Be sure to check out her Etsy shop as well!

One more.

Heartstrings...which you can see here. A thank you to Monarchdancer, for featuring my sculptural bird dish with pink...which is also part of my Valentine's Special through Saturday.

Another treasury, another piece.

This little vase made it into a treasury on Etsy today.

Wrapped in Morning Dew Silk. Lovely name. No Dew here in New York's lovely Hudson Valley. Just piles and piles of slushy snow. There are still spots in the yard that are well over 1 ft of snow and I hear our almost 50 degree heat spell is on it's way out. Anyway, a warm thank you to lilysoffering for including me in this collection. You can check it out for real here. You can check out my vase right here. And being that everyone I know is either pregnant or has just given birth, I am particularly fond of littlesaplingtoys. Go check them out.

I've still been working nonstop in the studio. I fired one bisque and I'm finishing work for one more, which I plan on firing Thursday night. So...new work should be out and finished by Sunday. Although, most of it is off to St. Louis, some to Boston, some custom orders and a bunch is being tucked away for a gallery show at the end of April. I'm hoping to have some left to post in my shop. And speaking of my shop, my 10% off Valentine's Day special is still going on. 10% off any thing with red, pink or purple.

Okay, time for the gym...

Finished.

Everyone really seemed to like these, even before they even saw them finished. So, here is a finished set.Both sets are already sold and I don't have any more. I AM making more...I'm starting today after I write this. I'm still going to make just the solo owls because I prefer making them a little larger. People have also asked about different colors and I have pretty much decided that I will ONLY be making these with green. That color seems to suit them best. I'll also be making more owl vases. I have tons of requests for those as well. Again, as for color? Only blue interiors...Just give me some time. My last couple of kilns have been filled with orders for galleries and shops that carry my work and some special orders from Etsy. I didn't have a lot of time to play around with all the ideas I have drawn out in my sketchbook. I've been toying with the idea of really cutting out most of my "normal" work...like bowls and more simple vases. That will free up some time and some space in the kiln.

ALSO, I'm running a little Valentine's Day special in my Etsy shop. I've marked down everything with red, pink or purple, 10% off. Click here to see! And look at the new addition to the shop...can we say swans?

Finger cramp.

I'm quite happy with the amount of work I've produced in the past week. I had to "restock" all my tiny tripods, mod squares and gondolas. I've managed to make 60 tripods and about 25 each of the others...not too bad. I've also made a few special Valentine love bird sets. They have hearts instead of regular round eyes. I didn't match the carvings cause that's not what I wanted, but I plan on matching the eye colors. I'm only making a few sets. I don't really do seasonal things (the snowflakes don't count either cause I love snowflakes) and Valentine's Day stuff can be rather sickening, but I thought these would be sweet to make. You can also see some owls peaking out at the top.

I'm really loving the owls. I cut a strip of aluminum flashing that I use for mold making and made an owl cutter. I really, really like them. I decided that I would make the birds all year round since they go with all my other bird work.

I also made some swans. I had made the press mold for these a couple of months ago. I had only made one swan with it though. It went to Craftacular with me and sold immediately. So, I finally made some more. The bowl is press molded from a thin slab of porcelain and the necks are each hand rolled so no two are alike. I made quite a few fish bowls in between....not to mention, a bunch of custom orders, lots of vases, several owl pitchers, some owl cream and sugar sets----that's right, sets! Just wait until you see the sugar bowls!!

Oh, and as I mentioned before, I made myself take 2 weeks off from clay over the holidays. That didn't mean no creating. I did a lot of drawing and designing, a lot of knitting and sewing and A LOT of paper folding. This little guy took 300 pieces? to make. I can't remember. And once all the pieces were made it took a long time to put together. Thank goodness I have a good paper cutter, these are made with half squares.

I've been doing origami since I was about 10 or 11. I recieved a very good book when I was a kid that had actual photos instead of illustrations. It really helped me understand the folding a lot better than a bunch of dotted lines, dashes and arrows. Now I can read them all, but that book was the best. I got into 3-D origami around 4 years ago. I got a little obsessed and made 10 of these swans for the centerpieces at out wedding reception.

I made porcelain bases with built in vases in the middle to go up through the swans. Then I made TONS of origami lilies to fill them. Each swan was made of 297 (I think that was the number!) pieces of either red or white vellum. Yup, I'm crazy. This was the only pic I could find from the reception that even showed one of them! Terrible, huh? Keep in mind, we were married on the Empire State building and had the reception at our house a month later. No professional photos.

Anyway, more work tomorrow...made out of clay. Maybe I'll grab a shot of the cute sugar jars...

Oh! I've also been posting a bunch of sale stuff in my Etsy shop to clean up the studio shelves a bit. Some work is on SUPER SALE so go check it out!

I ♥ hearts.

So after some annoying kiln issues, I've finally posted some new work in the shop. After MANY hours of the kiln slowly rising, I shut it off at about 2000 degrees. So frustrating. It turns out I had a break in the bottom element. I'm sure it never would have gotten to temperature. Thankfully Bailey's called on Friday to tell me the back ordered elements were in. I changed them all, excluding the bottom one that I changed last month. Then, I re-loaded and she rose up like a champ. Cone 10 in a little over 7 hours!! Note to self: CHANGE THE ELEMENTS MORE OFTEN!!!

And the fruits of my labor....

Tiny porcelain hearts. Made with vintage lace, pressed into the ultra thin porcelain and painted with black slip. When the lace is lifted, it leaves not only the imprint of the lace, but the white of the porcelain beneath. These are tiny, 1 3/4 inch wide, and come on a 12 inch length of red satin ribbon. I'm selling them in sets of 4. That way you can give some, keep some, use them to decorate the house or use them as gift tags! I've left the backs blank so you could write or paint on them. Love them.

I also LOVE this vase. I've just been holding in my hands, it feels so nice. I made several small 1 pound vases (I call them that because they are thrown with 1 lb. of clay....duh!). I'm particularly in love with this one's shape and that cool, pale blue. I'm now officially out of this glaze and won't be making more, so get it while you can! So cute.

February.

I can't believe it's February already. January went fast and that's fine by me. I used to love the winter, but now....not so much. December and January, fine, snow all you want. But February, March, I can't stand the wet, icy, melty snow, muddy everything weather.

And, the gray light. I HATE the gray light.

Well, enough of my venting. I've been trying to "think spring" in the studio. Making more chick bowls and I did finally get around to making some little Valentine's Day hearts. They'll be out of the kiln tomorrow. A little on the late side, but I'll still probably post them in my shop.

I did manage to take Dudley to down the road to Kingston Point Park the other day. It wasn't too terribly cold and I think we both needed to get out of the studio. It was rather soothing to watch the ice flow down the Hudson River. Dudley didn't understand why he couldn't go swimming. He did manage to get covered in mud. It's nice when our rolls are reversed. :)

(The icy inlet. The sounds from the cracking ice were pretty amazing)

Working.

I've been working like crazy the past few days and have slacked off a bit in the online world. Finally posted some more work in my shop. I posted a few 3 tripod sets. I thought I'd offer them this way because they are a bit off model from my others. I made these 12 just before I decided on a standard size for these little cuties. I'm also offering them at 3 for $25, so they are a pretty sweet deal. I think they'd be great for Valentine's day. Give one to a special someone with a super delicious dark chocolate truffle in it or maybe a pair of earrings or special ring.

(Oh, how I love my wedding rings)

I've also posted this little bird bowl. I've since worked out all the bugs in this design, but this one was the first, so it has a few issues. I still couldn't bear to smash it, it really came out quite lovely. So, it's a bit rocky on it's 4 little feet and the beak is more brown than I would like it to be. It will still look lovely displayed or used to hold some sweets. And it feels so nice when you hold in your hands.

Tomorrow is going to be a finishing day. I made about 15 vases that all need to be carved tomorrow.....boy, am I gonna have a sore hand.