wet clay in december?!

I'm up at the university firing the gas kiln. I had several students who waited until the last week to finish glazing their work so here I am firing them(the work, not the students.)

Here is an idea I've had in my head for awhile. Finally the other day I had a free half-hour and threw these and then today I altered the rims and cut the feet. I kinda like them, but you must be careful because altering can be a slippery slope and before you know it you're a vessel maker instead of a potter.


Closeup.


20 mugs...and I need to make more. I only have a dozen or so left!


I usually make pots in multiples but I decided to make the wet chuck for the bowls above into a pot. Crank the heat and you can handle it in two hours.

Well, that's all for now. Check out my etsy shop if you need some sweet woodfired pottery, there are still plenty of nice pieces there. Mugs have been popular so I may put a few more up later in the week.

Cheers!

online sale!

The online sale is up! Order by 12/17 in the US and it should be there by Xmas. Enjoy!

Cheers!

holiday sale teaser...

It's that time of the year. What time, you may ask? Time for the online holiday sale. It goes up tomorrow at 10am CST. It will be on my etsy shop.

Until then, here are 4 out of the 28 pieces that will be available.








Cheers!

last chance...sort of.

Today is the last day of the holiday sale...not the last day we'll be open but the last day for free cider and cookies. As per usual the second weekend is much slower than the first so I'll be spending a little time on the couch with miss Kaylee waiting for customers.

What a grouch.

Cheers!

success!

Our holiday sale was good, slightly better than last year so we're pleased. Lots of new faces this year, that's always a treat. Plenty of pots left though! We'll be doing it again next weekend and we'll be doing our first ever public kiln opening. I'm a bit nervous about that since it will be my glaze firing which has the potential to be pure disaster. It's sure to be exciting all the same. I'm still a little under the weather and exhausted so I'm off to bed. We'll be doing the online portion of our holiday sale the middle of this week so stay tuned!

Cheers!

preview

My apologies for the blurry photos...it's 26 degrees outside and for whatever reason my camera won't take a clear picture when it's real cold.

I spent a little time this week building tables and shelves for the showroom. I used to use my booth setup but I really dislike tearing it down every time I have a show and it didn't utilize this space effectively at all. The tables are built from framing lumber, 2x6's and 2x10's, cheaper than 1x stock of the same grade, go figure.


These shorter shelves are 2x10's as well.


When you're on a budget pallet stock can make nice shelves, and it's free!


A dedicated wrapping area, that's new.


I have a couple platters to hang and some last minute cleaning but otherwise we're ready to go!

I'll also be having an online sale for all my non-local customers on etsy next wednesday or thursday. And don't worry, you won't be getting the leftovers, I've saved some stellar pieces for you guys.

Cheers!

oh blither.

I'm sitting here in my office waiting for class to start and for the gas kiln to finish. We had a good thanksgiving, got to spend some quality time with the family-that's always nice. Unfortunately I've fallen ill and am still in a somewhat miserable state. What does that mean? Well, it means that I haven't gotten to do any prep for the home sale this weekend(sat. 10-6, sun, 12-6, book it) nor have I been able to fire the kiln...and I won't get to before the sale. That is fine though, we're having some heavy rains so it's probably for the best. My wife says that I work too much and that whenever we take a vacation by body finally catches up and gets sick. It's true, every time we take a vacation I get sick. I do get my 7-8 hours of sleep most nights, I have bouts of insomnia from time to time though. Aside from that I work from the time I get up to the time I go to bed, occasionally I'll take a sunday off but usually it's 7 days a week. Let this be a bit of a reality check for those of you wanting to make a living with art/craft. I've been hesitant to share this on the blog but after reading Michael Kline's the last few weeks I know that I'm not alone. I do have to say that it is a choice most times. Sometimes we put things off to the last minute or schedule or time unrealistically knowing full well we'll be pulling all-nighters. I currently have way more pots than I "need" at the moment, so I can take a little time to do other things in December. I also have no children to take care of, though I do have neglected wife and neglected property. Very little of that time is spent making pots, about 25+/- hours a week are devoted to teaching and related duties, with potting coming second to that. So what's the point of all this? I don't know. Even though I've been sick it has been nice to sit around with my wife and watch a little television and play with the dogs, I don't relax near enough. So perhaps I should pencil that in for the future, we'll see how that goes. I've always said that I'll rest when I'm dead but that may come sooner than I like if I don't rest now.

Cheers!