Wow.

I need new business cards...

...and I need to go listen to some Joan Jett.

I'm back.

I've been the worst blogger ever. It's really not my fault. The husband has been on spring break and that makes it damn near impossible to get any work done. I have managed to get work made in the studio, but any extra computer work has been really hard to fit in.

The first few days he was off he was up in Buffalo for a teacher's union conference. And my few days alone with Dudley were very productive and lots of fun.

This cupcake sugar shaker is just one of the cutest things ever. I was going through old pictures and found these shakers I made over 2 years ago. I thought they kind of looked like cupcakes, so I just went a step further and made them REALLY look like cupcakes. S & P shakers didn't seem quite right, but sugar or cinnamon and sugar seems just perfect.

I've also been cranking out the mugs and other smaller items so I can restock a few of my shops and also start to stock pile for my 1 summer show and then for the fall. Of course, I've still been working on the bigger stuff...

This guy is REALLY fat. I think I'm going to tuck him away for my show at the end of May.

Other than work, we rearranged the ENTIRE living room area. It's a big open space and SO hard to work with. We've been wanting to get a new TV and knew we were getting something big and we'd have to rearrange the whole damn room. I know, why a new TV when you don't have cable or anything? Well, that doesn't mean we don't love movies. And we do LOVE movies. We decided on an LED HDTV...uses less power and has no mercury (2 really great things) and the picture is fan-freakin-tastic. It's like looking through a window and watching everything happening in real life. AMAZING. Well worth the extra cash. We really aren't into the whole consumerism thing...but I can't praise this TV enough.

Well, enough about that. I have a huge amount of work on the shelves waiting to be fired. I really want to pack this kiln solid. I've been having a great time with the standing and throwing and my hip/back issues have been lessening. One more batch of work to carve and that's it. I'm aiming for a Thursday bisque. Then it's going to be glazing, glazing, glazing...

Springtime.

In honor of all those lovely flowers starting to open up in my yard, all my vases have been marked 25% OFF! Click here to see.

Happy Spring!

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.