UGH.

Yeah, so things have been quite a bit crazy around the studio, around the house, around my life....

So writing this blog has been WAY low on my list of priorities.
I have huge amounts of work to make and just not enough time or will...

Jon was out on a US tour for 32 days playing drums for 2 different bands. A long time to be left alone at home at the studio. I actually enjoyed in very much. Worked a ton, hung out with friends, enjoyed some time hiking and a bit of swimming in our local hidden waters....I really do love living in the Hudson Valley.

But, then the shop orders, gallery and museum orders started popping up one after the other...and let's not forget about the gallery shows I have coming up this fall. At least half of that work has already been made....
AND, the holidays are coming. Which mean I need to bust ass to have my Etsy shop stocked and ready to go...early. Last year I was getting holiday orders as early as the beginning of September!!

Jon's left me again for a few days. Which is what I need right now. Home alone again. Time to get some real work done, without any distractions. I really wish I just lived in the woods...Could take a break and walk and re-group when I'm having a disastrous day.... But he'll be home on Sunday to record with another band. Which means I guess I'll have then to work in the studio as well. I have A LOT to accomplish before next Friday. INCLUDING firing 2 kilns. UGHHHHH.

Grrrrrrr.

After MANY slow hours, I decided to shut my kiln off at 1647°. I think my elements are kaput. The thermocouples are all working, the relays are all working...it just doesn't seem to have enough juice to get up to cone 10. So......there goes my day. Now I have to wait for the damn thing to cool (which is going to take forever because it's so packed), unload all 50+ pieces, change the elements, reload, re-fire, and then wait for it to cool AGAIN. Grrrrrr. The plan was to unload tomorrow and reload with greenware. Guess that's not happening. I was just finishing up a few more things for that bisque load, including these egg cups....did I mention I've been making a series of egg cups???????I think this came to me, in part, from working on my piece for the small favors show. I had been working on some larger (large for me) animal pieces, some of them don't really have a function...meaning; vase, pitcher, teapot....they are just sculptural. That is fine, of course, but I do like to at least hint at a function. So, I thought I'd work on some small (even smaller than usual) animals....more sculptural and all with the same function. I have been wanting to make egg cups for a while now, but seeing as they are not so popular in the US, I wasn't sure anyone would be interested in them...but I've decided I don't care.

BUT, then my kiln crapped out on me. SOOOOO, if you are waiting on work from me or waiting to see what's new in the studio....I'm sorry to say, you are going to have to wait a little longer. I HATE when this stuff happens....

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...

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!

A whale of time.

I guess he's not really a fish. The tail isn't spread flat like a whale's...

Cute, huh? Made on the wheel in a couple of parts and altered. I have a whole menagerie starting in the studio.

My tray made it to the front page of Etsy this morning. Yay. It's still available right here.I made this little guy out of some felt I had laying around. Dudley likes him.

More animals to come...

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!

Gondolas?

That's what I'm calling them.

I made these 3 before I decided to use this mold for my new fish dish. I really like the shape and they look quite elegant. These may be the only dishes I make like this.

I still need to do some last minute things before I finish loading and start firing the kiln. It's full of mugs, creamers and vases. My hand is killing me.

I also have a pile of pieces I made for earrings. I guess I should get them finished. Oh, and I need to string up some more ornaments. Soooo many ornaments!

Smells like fish.

All I seem to do is make birds and fish. And I have absolutley no reason for this.

Last week it was fish.

And I really, really like him.

I also posted my first snowflake. I was told that it is NOT too early. We are supposed to get our first frost tonight. I guess that counts.

I packed up 9 boxes of work to ship out tomorrow morning. I usually have 2-3. I can smell the holidays brewing......

Fly away.

Well, I've still been super busy in the studio. I'm just about to fill another bisque and I'm feeling quite productive. I've been working on this "bird dish" design for a while. I kept drawing and re-drawing it until I realized I was just drawing the same thing and any technical problems would have to be solved in the making. I wanted to make them with my gray porcelain and also make them thicker so they are more substantial and more sculptural...as if they are carved out of stone. And, I used white slip on top. I'm still not sure how I want to glaze them so I made 6 to experiment with. I also made 75 (and I'm hoping for another 25 today) tiny tripods, most of them orders. And, a pair of fish bowls...

I guess that's it for me. I need to pack and ship and get my butt in the studio and make a few more things. I wanted to fire this kiln today, but I wasn't feeling so hot for the past couple of days, so I'm aiming for tomorrow. Hopefully unloading a glaze firing on Saturday...again, I was aiming for Friday, but it looks like I'm a day behind....hopefully not two!!!

I'm out.

Here fishy, fishy.

I had wanted to post about this bowl over the weekend, but mug mania (don't worry, there will be photos) in the studio prevented me from having any free time. I was thinking of making a fish bowl for a while. I had thought I would make in on the wheel, but I am so happy with how this one came out. It was made with one slab of porcelain. It is very thin and SO light. With the exception of the green interior, every bit of this guy has been carved, even the edges. Another piece that I just want to hold all day. His tale slumped a bit in the kiln and I think it helps to give him some movement. Perfect for candy or displayed on a low table.

And, oh yes, there will be more of these guys.