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.

They're back.

Well, one is back...more on the way. I've been slacking on the tripod bowls. I hadn't made any in months and months. Then one of my galleries requested a few and of course, I had to make more than a few. So here's one in yellow.I've always been fond of this design. I do get a bit frustrated that they warp a bit. But, I've just come to accept that the fussiness of my porcelain and the fact that they are on 3 feet just means it's going to happen. I could let these dry all the way, lightly covered, a slow as possible, never standing them up on their feet until they are out of the bisque and they will still warp. Some more than others of course, but those are the few that end up on the seconds shelf. And don't worry, if the price for the up to par bowls is too steep, some of those seconds will end up in my sale section.

I'm still working like a madwoman in the studio. One more big load of work before my big 3-0 birthday weekend. I thought I was getting caught up and then *boom* more orders. Of course, who's complaining, but boy am I tired.

The kitchen is coming along. The walls are painted...after 2 colors and the floor has been ripped up. We decided on Pergo as an inexpensive fix that still looks nice. I didn't really want to spend all that much. I mean, we DID do a lot to the room 4 years ago when we bought the house...new appliances, hardware on the cabinets, the floating "peninsula", and yes, I did paint the walls only 4 years ago as well. BUT, I work at home and the only time I leave the house during the day is to go to the gym or to go food shopping...I need a change of scenery! So anyway, the floor is next...once this next load of work is in the bisque!!

Back to reality.

Well, sorta. After a long break from work...I'm back! Camping was fun and Mexico was wonderful. Super hot, of course, but we had a great time and the wedding was so very nice.It was a lot nicer out than it looks in the photos. Fortunately the sun wasn't blaring down on us during the ceremony...we fair skinned folk just can't handle it. We went through A LOT of sunscreen.

Now it's back to work. I shipped out all my orders placed while I was gone and went through WAY too many messages. I wasn't able to check my email or Etsy for over a week and it was sooooo weird. I'll be back in the studio, making work, tomorrow. For now, here's some links to some blog press!

First, a nice mention in fookadesigns blog. Be sure to check out Shannon's Etsy shop. She's a wonderful designer!

Second is a mention in the fantastic blog Design Crisis. A post with all things yellow. I've been slowly working on getting our bedroom all yellow, black and white...oh and gray of course...I LOVE yellow and gray.

So thanks to everyone who has featured my work. My little square dishes are becoming famous! They're sitting in the studio blushing...they're so modest.

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.

Feeling grey.

Today I posted a few of my 1 lb. vases, this time made from grey porcelain. What do I do with all those carved and "contaminated" bits of fine white porcelain and black slip? Recycle them and make grey porcelain, of course. Now, I use colored porcelain on a regular basis with my sculptural work (which someday I'll go into on here) but it's rather expensive to make. If I made a vase out of bright orange porcelain I'd have to charge quite a bit and I don't think your average customer would understand the price. But consider the fact that my orange stain is $30/lb. and you also need WAY more stain in a clay body than in a glaze. Anyway, my grey is practically free when you think about it that way. And I must say that it is quite lovely. It does wonderful things with the glazes and it's always nice to change things up every once in a while. I've never been a fan of working with dark clay bodies but I think that bias is from working with the rough, groggy stoneware I had to use in college before learning to make my own clay...ugh, memories of finding sponge bits and sticky band-aids in the community buckets! So here are a few of my new vases. I particularly love the yellow over the grey which turns slightly green and the cobalt, which makes a lovely, super rich, navy blue. Not quite as graphic as the other work, but just as beautiful in their own way.