Cups.

I've been making a lot of cups lately. Mostly because when I have a huge list of other work that needs to be made, I end up procrastinating and making the pieces that have only lived as drawings upon my studio walls. This giraffe mug is one of those pieces. Thrown and altered and I'm totally in love with it. I'm firing a bisque today and this guy is in there. Along with this cutie...And, I had another lovely lady feature me on her blog. So thank you to Kimberly. You can check it out here. And you can check out her two Etsy shops as well- AvecJasmine and Shoda

Vote.

I was informed this morning that I got nominated for Poppytalk's "The Poppies" award for #1 Ceramics. Cool, huh? A pleasant surprise.

So, please go and vote for me! There is some serious competition from some of my favorite ceramics friends.

Featured.

Well, I got another lovely email informing me that one of my pieces was featured on a blog. So, thank you to April for featuring my mug on here lovely blog along with a bunch of my Etsy clay peeps. Check it out!Tomorrow morning I'm off to New Paltz to set up my show. I have 15 pieces to hang. 8 fish and 7 birds. I don't think I've ever made so many hanging things all at once. It should be interesting to see them all up.

Showtime.

You know you want to come...

Back to reality.

My mini camping vacation was fun. Super relaxing. No phones, no internet...perfection. I left the shop open and came back to a bunch of orders and emails, but everything was fine. I 've stayed out of the studio for the last couple of days and just packed and shipped and packed and shipped....then took photos and took more photos and posted work and posted more after that....then took stock of what I actually need to create in the next couple of weeks. I've been invited to do the Kohler One and Only show again this year, so I'll have to crank out some work for that as well. It's hard to be thinking of the holidays, but I know I'm not the only one. I've seen that "holiday" word popping up on a lot of artist's blogs lately. Yuck.Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on the outlook) I don't have much work in the studio right now. A bunch of mugs and some free form tripods. Nothing too unusual though. I do still have some of these cute bird silhouette vases. I made a bunch before the Pittsfield Art Show. The owl keeps popping up on the front page of Etsy.I guess it's off to do some more cleaning. I need to make some more clay and I've totally been procrastinating. The husband has a gig tonight and that's means I'll have some alone time in the to work. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE having a husband that's a teacher and who gets his summers off, but I can't seem to get a damn thing done around here...

The worst...

...blogger ever.

In hiding.

Okay. So this has been out of the kiln for several days and I'm just now sharing it. Every once in a while, I unload a kiln and get so excited by a new piece that I hide it in my studio. At times, I can be seen huddling in a corner, gently caressing it...I'm really not kidding. This bird pitcher is one of those pieces.

Today, I finally felt ready to part with it. You can find it right here.

I've been spending my evenings this week sketching. I have loads of new ideas and guess what??? They don't involve animals. Well, I guess they do, but of the bipedal form. And I don't mean Emus........

Birdlady of Alcatraz.

So here is the newest edition in the studio. It's actually in the kiln right now. I glazed the inside with yellow...I'm not really sure why, it just told me it wanted to be yellow... The weekend went by fast. I spent Saturday loading the bisque and doing some more straightening up in the studio. I'm still working on getting me wheel up just how I want it.

I did finally go through all my molds. I have a ton of plaster molds I made when I was working in, well, my old style...which I PROMISE I'll go into someday. Some were molds I took of things I made and some where molds I made from found objects. This little tray-bowl-dish piece was made from a mold of a Styrofoam tray that once held string beans. I had it at my desk for a while and I just kept touching it. I even made Jon hold it. It feels sooooo good.

Tomorrow it's the chiropractor, the gym, and some more organizing while the kiln is cooling...

Cute tray mania.

Well, after 2 trips to the Chiropractor this week and a diagnosis of a twisted pelvis and a bit of scoliosis {probably due to the muscles on my right side being WAY more overdeveloped than my left and pulling my spin over}...I'm rethinking the amount of throwing that I do. The past week has been going to the doctor, cleaning the studio, going to the doctor, reorganizing the studio... New shelves are going up, more lights have been hung, big heavy tables are being moved (don't worry, I have help!!) and I'm finally putting my wheel up so I can stand while throwing. The goal still is, throw less. Which is fine. I have already mentioned that I will not being making lots of bowls and small vases and other small pieces that just seem to suck away all my time and physical health. I've been committed to making more complex pieces. I've been throwing lots of parts and spending time cutting and "pasting" them back together.

But, making these cute trays was a nice, relaxing, no-body-stress activity. The blue one is already on it's way out with the mail today, but the green one was just posted in my shop. I have one more owl tray with a deep purple background that I really like...It's like he's hanging out at night. Unfortunately, the purple is SOOO hard to photograph and I don't have a good shot yet.

More work will be posted over the weekend. Wall pockets, other trays, and a new BIG fish bowl!

For the quails.

Here are my new quails. I've had this form in my mind for a while. I kept drawing it over and over until I finally went ahead and made it...well, them. A fat one and a skinny one.

I didn't quite know what kind of bird they were going to be until I made them. A quail seemed to work best and the feather variation worked well...not to mention their great little "headpiece" that I knew would work with the handle.
I've also been working on a little one-a-day project this month. I've been collecting black and white plates to hang in a grouping in our giganto bathroom. I just got this one a couple of weeks ago.
It's mid-century, made in Norway...and I LOVE it. It's little, about 3 inches in diameter. And it totally inspired me to make one little plate a day for the entire month of March. I have a little mold that I've been using. My only requirement is that they must have only one color glazed area...which must be an animal. Each one is signed and numbered on the back. I'll be posting them on my Flickr. Of course, the drying, firing, glazing, firing schedule is going to make it difficult to show a new one every day, but I will be making them daily. They are really just quick sketches to keep my mind fresh but committed to one shape. Maybe I'll do something else next month??

Well, that's it for me. I know it's been a while since my last posting. I've been making work, firing kilns, shipping out orders...same old routine. Also, I've been in the process of rearranging my studio and adding more lights and shelving...AHH! It's still a total mess in there. HOWEVER, I did unload a kiln this morning and I'll be posting new work in my shop over the next week! Lots of cute trays and new serving pieces.

Pretty penguin.

Here's a new one. I posted him on my Etsy shop today. You can find him here. I made a few of these in different shapes and sizes but, the rest are already spoken for. He's the baby of the bunch and the only one available right now.

My whale made it into 2 great treasuries today. The one above is all artists from the Hudson Valley...where I live. Click the pic to make it larger. You can find the actual treasury right here. A thank you to WrenWillow who was the curator on this one and go check out her shop. Her things are so cute!

And then there is this great treasury by SplishySplashCraft. You can check it out right here. Birds and fish...my favorite!

I'll be posting another new thing tomorrow...can we say rainbows??...

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.

Treasury loveliness.

How beautiful is this treasury? You can see it for real right here. Thanks to Nina of Kings & Queens who was nice enough to feature my love bird ornaments. You can still get them right here. And, if they sell out, I have 2 more sets available with red eyes, just ask and I'll post a special listing for you.

Sore hand.

Yesterday I was a carving machine. This morning I woke up with a sore forearm...I made a ton...well, a bunch...of owl creamers, a few "stump" jars to match and a pair of TALL owl vases. I plan on making at LEAST 2 more of the owl vases. I need 2 to send out to a couple of galleries and I'd like to have some back-ups and maybe one for my Etsy shop. I also made one of these guys!

And the menagerie grows... I'm going to make a few more penguins in different sizes. They look cute all sitting together.

I tried to take the day off today. It's still really hard to make my mind shut everything out. I plan on doing a bit of drawing later. I guess that football game is on now. I'm so happy we don't have TV. I didn't even realize the super bowl was going on until I was at the gym on Friday. I've never watched one in my life, why start now. Hmm. Anyway. I have a really good idea for a salt and pepper set and I'd like to try it out tomorrow. I just need to draw it out a few more times...

And now I leave you with Dudley in the snow...eating a branch from our deceased Christmas tree. It's a little blurry. I took it from the porch.

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!

New ornaments.

Okay. I really shouldn't have...but I snuck these out of the top of the kiln. It's still cooling, ALMOST ready to unload, but not quite. I knew these wouldn't crack or anything because they are barely glazed. I must admit, they are soooooooo wonderful. I think I only have 18 in this load and I know I'm going to have to make a lot more.

You can find them here along with my snowflakes.

So tired.

Well, even with having Thanksgiving at out house this year, I still got a lot done in the studio. The kiln is PACKED full and just finished firing. I'm hoping it won't take too long to cool because I was hoping to do a glaze firing early Sunday. I wanted to have everything finished an unloaded by "Cyber Monday" (I hate that term) but we'll see...
I really want the work finished just so I can see these birdies all glazed up.

So, be on the lookout late Monday...but probably more like Tuesday for new stuff.

I'm also getting reeeally close to my 1,000th sale over at the old Etsy shop. And just like before, I'll be including a small gift with every order until I get to 1,000!

Tweet.

I posted my first pedestal bird! Isn't she pretty? This one was my first attempt. I had this form in my head for a few weeks now. It's always so nice to see work go from a sketch on a piece of paper to pulling it out of the kiln. These two were attempts 2 and 3. I was experimenting with a thicker base and different carving patterns. Unfortunately the one on the left has a little crack around the spot where I inserted the "candle hole"- which was a separate thrown piece. I'm sure you'll be seeing that one in the good old sale section. These 2 were in the same glaze firing. They are off to Massachusetts on Monday. I do have a similar green vase that will be posted eventually. I'm a little attached to it right now....that happens a lot. I'll hoard pieces I really like for weeks. Just living with them in the studio, soaking up their good vibes...deciding on whether or not I should just keep them all for myself. :)

Bad blogger.

I realize it has been 21 days since my last posting...wow. That's bad. And my only defense is that I've been working...a lot. Since it would take me forever to write what's been going on, let's do this in photos.

First came my birthday. And this the cake that my adoring husband made for me.

Then, we had some company and went to Storm King Art Center. I got to see my favorite Alexander Calder sculptures... and we revisited the spot where Jon proposed 4 years ago on my birthday. And I made A LOT of new work. After reaching my 900th sale on Etsy (now I'm at 925!) I did some math and figured out that in the past 2 years, I've sold over 2,200 pieces. Incredible. I don't think I ever imaged I could sell that much work in my lifetime, let alone in 2 years.

Other things to note==I sent a few boxes out to Sword + Fern who is now carrying a selection of my bowls, cups and a few other things. Also, One and Only: Gifts Made by Hand opened on October 26 at The John Michael Kohler Arts Center. I was invited to do it months ago, I just forgot to mention it. I got the cards last week and there are so many great artists participating. Go check it out! Then it was over the river to the Sheep and Wool festival.

These 2 are alpaca-llama mix. My favorite animals, next to one of these.

Still more working and more birds. I think I have a bird problem.I've been working so much the yard and gardens are not cleaned up at all. I'm not too happy about that. Dudley, however, is perfectly fine with all the sticks and leaves...his favorite. So now it's October 29th. I fired one bisque and a glaze last weekend. Another bisque this past weekend and a glaze yesterday. I'm waiting to unload the kiln again. Lots of snowflakes, lots of birds. Some special orders and some tiny tripods.

I just got back from the gym and I'm soooo tired. I was up until 3:30 am working. We donated my old car and when they came in the morning to pick it up I didn't even hear the tow truck...I was OUT. I guess that's it for now...

p.s. Dudley just farted on my lap. Gross.