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.

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...

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.

A Star Was Born.

That's the title of this wonderful treasury by brownbunnybyiris. I've already sold one of those gondola dishes. And I'm loving that pillow from Sun2Create.

I feel like crap today. I started feeling bad yesterday morning and after I got back from the gym it was full on crappiness. So, it delayed the kiln a little bit. I wanted to get it in last night, looks like it's gonna be tonight. AND, I have a BAD cut on my left thumb and a nail on my right hand that is breaking off where it is still attached to the skin...OUCH. Good thing I don't have to touch clay...

Restless.

The kiln is on and it's a *sort of* day off for me. I'm going to have soooo much to glaze. The kiln is PACKED. I went on a rampage this past week and made about 60 pieces...not including 24 tiny tripods and 18 square dishes. It's going to take FOREVER to cool. I probably won't be able to fit it all in once it's glazed, but at least I'll have a jump start on the next load.

I was kindly featured in two treasuries.

Both the bowl (which is really dark pink, not red) and the chicken (last one in cobalt...ever!) are still available and ON SALE or ON SUPER SALE in my shop.

Now I'm off to Lowe's to check out some colors for my kitchen. Right now it's yellow with orange trim and white cabinets (very 70's) and a horrible floor that needs to be replaced. I still love the colors, it was the first room I painted when we moved in...the second day we were in. The room was a pale robin's egg blue that totally offended me and HAD TO GO immediately. It's been 4 years since I painted and I'm just feeling I need a change. I've pretty much settled on a lovely retro aqua. I just need to find one that's not too crazy bright but not too boring. Since I've started collecting my Franciscan starburst plates, I've also been collecting mid-century pots with aqua interiors like these from McCoy. So I'm really looking for that color. Now it's just picking an accent color for the trim. I could do white, but my cabinets are white and right now the trim around them is orange. White on white might be fine. It's really that or maybe red. I have a lot of red in the kitchen- a starburst clock, my kitchenaid mixer, food processor and pots and pans. And red and aqua are lovely together. Decisions, decisions. Then it's picking out the floor...Ahhh!

1500°??

WOW. So I guess it's been a while since I've posted. I've been majorly busy in the studio. I'm actually in a bit of a sour mood at the moment. I was firing a ▲10 glaze kiln this afternoon and I was shocked to hear from Jon that the kiln was off after only 4 hours! I immediately thought "what now?!" but then I remembered that I just opened a new box of cones. Aha! ▲010. Someone gave me the wrong box. I checked my invoice to make sure, and it definitely says ▲10. So that was a total waste of energy. Tomorrow it's back to Bailey's to get my proper cones and then I get to start all over again. I'm a bit disappointed as I had a lot of new vases I was pretty excited about seeing. Now I'm going to have to wait 2 extra days.

I did have work included in two treasuries that made Etsy's front page on Sunday and Monday.

Both yellow pieces. Hmm.

Oh, and I also spent Saturday night putting up some decals that I ordered from Elephannie....I know, a very exciting Saturday night, but Jon's band was playing and I felt like staying in. I had been wanting to do something with the space over my tub for a while now. Our bathroom is HUGE. More than twice the size of my undergrad studio space. In a normal house it would probably be a small bedroom. This photo shows about 1/6 of it.

Anyway, doesn't it look fab?! Our house was built in 1970 and then left unfinished for a few years. The previous owners bought it from the people who built it and finished it themselves. The couple were both artists and that made for some creative touches to the house. I'm particularly fond of the black tub, sink and toilet (right of the tub). Everyone who comes over comments on them. The black and white tiles are also very 70's. We had to re-do the shower stall (left of the tub) and opted to keep the tiles the same...although the original was all white and we added more black. Anyway, I'm totally addicted to these decals now. They were so easy to use and when I'm tired of them I can just peel them off and get something new.

Hearts.

I woke up this morning and went to check my Etsy, print out some invoices...shop a little. I decided to check my hearts. I've found this to be a great way to find gifts for *me* and for others. I figure if these people like my work, and I like my work, we probably have similar tastes and I might like what's for sale in their shop or things they might have purchased. Hearts are definitley one of my favorite features on Etsy. Anyway, I clicked to see 3500 hearts! I feel so warm and fuzzy inside.I also forgot to post this amazing treasury I was featured in. It's called "Modern and Masculine" and it might be on of my all time favorites. I'm glad Etsy decided that it's not spam to notify people when you put them in your treasury because I would have never seen this! Many thanks to decoratethediva!

Just working in the studio today, getting work piled up for the summer. I posted some new vases in my shop. I've been playing with layering the glaze over the colored slip in small amounts to add another layer of texture and more depth. I'm very happy with the results.

blah.

So I just realized it's been over a WEEK since I updated this thing! Bad. I've actually just been really busy. My bestest friend from college came up last weekend and we hiked and ate good food and just chilled out...I needed that. I did bust my ass and got a lot of work done. Fired 3 kilns, finished up all my orders and now it's time to do some playing. I have a stack of ideas to try and I'm pretty excited. I have a ton of gray porcelain waiting to be used and I'm thinking of using white slip...

Anyway, I made it to the front page the other day... is it so wrong that I want those Barbie earrings from margauxlange?

I was also included in this fab chicken list! I can't believe this didn't make it to the front page. I think it's so great. And I LOVE mincingmockingbird.

So anyway, I just unloaded a glaze firing this morning. Loads of tiny tripods, more chicks and more of my square dishes I've been working on. I'm very pleased with these little dishes. They fit tea lights, they would be great for sauces, salt and pepper, jewelry...very useful. I have them in 5 colors right now; green, pink, yellow, cobalt blue, and I just unloaded 4 in orange!

Spring fever.

I seem to get super spring fever this time of year. Not to just go outside and hike or sit in the sun with a book(although of course I love those too), but for manual labor...my gardens. It is another beautiful day out and I need to be in the studio. Of course I LOVE my lucky fortune of working at home in my studio everyday, but it is a rather solitary existence. When Jon gets home from a day of teaching kids he just wants silence...and all he hears is blah, blah, blah from me. At least I have Dudley to keep me company. But when I talk to him all day, he just looks at me like I'm nuts...and perhaps I am. Anyway, the kiln is almost ready to unload and then I'll have to start glazing. So maybe I can get an hour or so of outside time after all...yes, I think I will.

And look what made it onto the front page of Etsy this morning...

My three-bowl server! What a pretty list! And, look at that cup and saucer in that print with the bird. It's my Franciscan pattern! And, the color I want to paint the kitchen. Well, one project at a time, and we are still finishing the tiling in our shower stall. It's almost done! I can't even tell you how long we've been taking baths, it's a bit embarrassing.

I was also in this treasury, but I don't think it ever made the front page.Oh, I forgot to post that I was featured on this great blog One Part Whimsy. You can check out the post here. It's a blog by fellow Etsian, thefatcat.

Ok, enough out of me. I'm off to change into some outside clothes!

new work.

I unloaded a kiln Friday night. Like I mentioned before, it was mostly special orders. Not much left to post on Etsy or to keep as back stock. Whenever I think I'm getting ahead, I see a boost in sales and then *poof* no more work left. I thought January and February were the "get ahead"months!

Anyway, mug mania was brutal. I had several mug orders to fill. I haven't been making many mugs because they are rather labor intensive and I don't want to have to charge a ton for them. I recently started to only take special orders for them and then I sell off the extras from the special orders. And however many times I say to myself "never make more than 8 at a time" I never listen. I inevitably end up with at least a dozen mugs that all need to be carved at the exact same time, have handle put on at the exact same time...ugh! 8 is manageable, more than that is not. And here are some of the fruits of my labor. (and with my new orange again!)

I also have my new lavender glaze. I guess I'd say it's more of a periwinkle, but it really depends on the light. It definitely looks more blue in my photos. Maybe I will call it periwinkle. It looks so nice with just about all of my colors. Especially green and yellow. I only made up a small batch. So once it's gone, it's gone!

I also forgot to mention that I was on the front page again a couple of nights ago. And yes, more tiny tripods. This time in red! And of course, another great treasury of items that I'm happy to have been included with.