Oh you beautiful blog...

My mug and pitcher were featured in a most lovely blog today, I Dreamed I Saw, with several of my clay friends...

Check it out!

Journey's in Clay 2009.

I survived another gallery opening! And it was a successful one too, sold 6 of the 11 pieces.



Journeys in Clay 2009-Contemporary Ceramics.

May 30-July 18

GCCA Mountain Top Gallery, Windham, NY. Hours: Friday & Saturday 11AM-6PM; Sunday & Monday 10AM-5PM; Tuesday-Thursday:11AM-5PM. 518-734-3104, or visit www.greenearts.org.

You can see the nice little blurb in the Arts Newspaper right here...name misspellings and all.

p.s. The pitcher isn't in the show...I'll be posting it in my shop this weekend!

Sick.

Well, it's all finally caught up with me. I'm sick. I could feel it in my body a little on Friday. Yesterday morning I could feel it a little more. I went to the gym thinking that maybe I just needed an energy boost...wrong. We went to hang out with some friends last night and by the time we got home I knew it was inevitable. I slept horribly and finally got out of bed at noon. It looks like that glaze firing won't be unloaded until Tuesday...evening probably. I am REALLY not happy about this but, I realize that if I don't rest now, it will only prolong being sick and I can't afford to miss more work days. I need to make, fill, fire, glaze and fire another kiln within the next 10 days. I do it all the time but it will be really hard to do when I'm sick.

I did finally post this decanter in my Etsy shop.I don't know why it took me so long to post it. It's my bedroom colors. Black, gray, white and yellow. Yummy.

Pink loveliness.

Okay. I know I say it a lot, but this piece is so lovely. When I took it out of the kiln my heart was melting. I think I may need to make myself a mug version of this pitcher. And as someone who spent the first 25 years of her life hating the color pink, I've certainly had a change of heart. I guess it's the context that makes the difference and paired with black and white, almost any color can shine.

I've mentioned previously of my love/hate relationship with mugs. In the beginning I thought that I had to make them. Everyone loves mugs. They are an inexpensive, useful yet handmade and special gift for others and a present you can buy yourself and not feel so guilty. And for the ceramics collector, the are another relatively inexpensive way to purchase work by your favorite artist. BUT, they are a lot of work. At least the way I work. Throwing them exactly the same size, painting them, CARVING them(I don't think people appreciate how long that takes), pulling the handles, attaching the handles, firing, glazing, firing again... At first I kept them simple in form, simple carving. But they were still taking time and I felt bad charging a lot and definitely lost money on them. Now, I think I've found some peace...

I'm not going to worry about matching perfectly. They are all the same style. I'm using the same amount of clay for each so they are all similar in height, but not exact. And if someone really wants a matching set, I'll make sure they are the same height, but not exact in shape. They're more interesting that way anyway. And I don't feel bad charging more because more work, more consideration of form and definitely more love goes into these. There are still a few left in the shop from the last batch and I'm working on more.

Speaking of Pitchers.

Here's a new one...I know I said this glaze was too dark...but there's something about it I really like. It doesn't work on everything, but I knew it would look great on this pitcher, so I made a small batch. I figured I'd keep a bit on hand for when I made a piece that need it. The color on this one is so striking...much more in person than in my photo. I just posted it in my Etsy shop along with a green chick. The very first chick bowl with my new and improved green.

It's about 90º today and sooooooo humid. I went to buy some plants this morning and almost died in the greenhouse. At least I had the place pretty much to myself (because no one else was dumb enough to go there in this heat) and had free range over all the plants. I wanted to plant some flowers but when I came home it started to rain...and thunder. The studio is super cool thanks to the cement floors and small windows, so I did manage to get quite a bit of work done. Now I'm in an allergy medicine haze and too tired to do anything. Guess I'll spend the afternoon making garden tags...

Front page.

Yay! I clicked on Etsy just now to print up an invoice and what did I see?

This beautiful treasury is from Anne at webbpottery. The title was "Hot Jugs"...I love that. It's a nice mix of styles and finishes and included some of my favorites- work by Jenni Brant and Annie Chrietzberg.

Anyway, I went to Bailey's early yesterday and straightened out the cone mistake. I fired her up and now she's back down to 300º. I'll be unloading the kiln later this afternoon and posting some new work in my shop.

Studio Pottery.

Well, I guess everything I make is studio pottery. But I say that because this one really reminds me of all that wonderful mid-century studio pottery. The decoration is more varied and I played with the color a bit more than usual. I love how the green changes depending on it's application over the white or the gray porcelain. I'm really enjoying the white slip over the gray. I'm thinking I may not use the gray with black anymore, just white. It gives the work a softer, earthier feeling while still being very modern and clean.

And remember these?

My planters are finished! They all came out beautifully. Tomorrow they'll get packed up and ready to be shipped off to their new retail location.