wound down

The last week of my work year, Dec 9-15, was so busy that this week I've done not much more than sit, knit, wrap packages, and breathe.  I have not baked a single holiday treat.  Oh well.

I am so pleased and grateful for my holiday sales.  I had three sets of staff gifts and so many friends (and their husbands!) came to me for gifts.  I'm so grateful.

I'm looking forward to a tiny bit of travel, a lot of knitting, some crane folding, and champagne for the rest of the year.  Keeping the holidays simple, minimal, sincere.

Merry Christmas, y'all.

CASH MOB

 

You've heard of flash mobs, and cash mobs might also be on your radar, but today's Memphis Cash Mob is going to be BIG!  About 20 women who are a part of my Creative Collective group (an all-female, all creative entrepreneurial incubator and cheerleading group of sorts) are setting out their wares at Literacy Mid South, 902 South Cooper, in Memphis TODAY from 2-4.  Shannon Dixon, one of our members, created this organization to strengthen small businesses and foster community in Memphis.  This event will be short and sweet (much like Shannon), and 10% of all proceeds go back to Literacy Mid South, which services adults and children and trains tutors to help our community become more literate.  If you're in town, this is my last big sale of the season. 

good morning

December has come and I feel as if I am simultaneously gearing up for my last big burst and winding down, ready to wrap everything up for the year.  I am still working and throwing and glazing and shipping every day until Dec. 15 (actually, I'll stop throwing by Wednesday of this week to focus on the finishing work), then I'll turn my focus to my family and tucking my business things to bed for 2012.  

 

I have one last sale event coming up next Sunday, December 9, at Literacy MidSouth from 2-4 pm.  Late this summer I created a group for creative female entrepreneurs in the Memphis area to explore some of our business and personal issues and learn how to grow, reshape, expand our businesses by learning from each others' experiences.  It is more virtual than real-time, although we do meet.  I struggled through growing my business- especially with taxes and licensing- mostly by myself.  When several women asked me to informally mentor them as they grew into their businesses, I thought about other "hive" organizations like these in other areas.  Since its inception, the group has taken on a life of its own and I've taken my hands off the reins.  This event, a "cash mob" is one that one of our members created to showcase independent retailers in Memphis, and this one is for our group.   I'm super excited about it, and about the group.  I think the group may be the best thing I've done this year.

These ornaments, by the way, are available locally and I have a few online in the shop.  They're simple unglazed porcelain.  I'll have some at the cash mob and at the Trolley Stop Market.

I hope to be back in this space more in 2013, at least once more this year.  Happy holiday season, friends.

anatomy study

I picked these bees up from the "bee graveyard" in front of my hive after watching the golden colored bees (on the left) trying to get into the hive (it's robbing season) and being battled down by my darker ladies (to the right).  I'm still working in my daily sketchbook and from time to time go and get the dead bees (their adult lifespan is 30-60+ days, and if you notice dead bees with tattered wings, they've flown themselves to death) to better understand and render them in my drawings and on my pottery.  I was amazed by the huge orange pollen baskets on the top bee.  They're almost florescent.   My bees are Russian hybrid bees, and it's interesting how their abdomen seems to be a completely different shape than these golden (Italian?) bees.

Last week I went to trim some bowls that I'd planned to turn into berry bowls, but they were too dry.  They became bee bowls instead, with a bright aqua interior.  I have plans to make more bee mugs before Christmas, too.

papatya

 

Three weeks ago today one of my closest friends died.  It was sudden, tragic, unforseen, preventable.  There has been so much blame and sorrow and support and anguish and for the first time I'm really understanding that you can't just get up and move on.  I've always known that death and loss is something you get used to, over time, but not over.

After she died, I began making these origami-esque cranes out of porcelain.  I gave two to her mother and sister, one to her mother in law.  I kept one.  I folded dozens out of paper the first week after her death, and will fold more.  We've all heard the story of the thousand cranes and how they represent hopes for peace.  My cranes give me a bit of hope- hope to make more, hope to make them better, hope to make them a memorial somehow, but I don't yet know how.  I don't believe that I will ever sell these- they're too close, especially right now. 

_____

Mourning aside, I still have 3 more holiday sales between Thanksgiving and December 9.  I am still working and am trying to make time to update my etsy shop and restock my local vendors.  My husband had a large birthday party last weekend and my son's 9th birthday is Monday.  Life marches on.  I'm going to be pretty quiet here, perfunctory at best, but I'll post notices of the events and work I'll have for them as they come.

Thanks for reading.

Preview

All of my work is finished- ready to be dusted off and priced.  Debi and I will be ready with pottery and wooly Sweaterlove goods Friday from 5:30-9, Saturday 10-5:30.
719 Dickinson St, Memphis TN, 38107. 

SALE!

 

Sale!

719 Dickinson St, Memphis TN 38107

Nov 2 (5:30-9), Nov 3 (10-5:30)

Bridgman Pottery and Sweaterlove (recycled/upcycled wool accessories for you and your home)

bridgmanpottery@yahoo.com

Friday

Good morning.  This is what I'm tackling today.  Lots of last-minute glazing for the Whitton Farms Fall Festival (details here and here), and for my studio sale the first weekend in November.  I think I'm not sending out postcards this year, but email me if you're local and need my address.

Fall is beautiful and my bees are hurry-scurrying to get it all done.  They're bringing in the last of the season's nectar and their pollen baskets are loaded down.  I'm working just like the bees- firing 2-3 times a week- in both kilns.  Ally is working on my handbuilding projects- she makes all of the little trays and saucers for me to draw and print on.  I haven't done any outside shows in years, so I don't know if I'm making too much or too little to cover the slate I've signed up for.  I guess we'll see.

Have a lovely weekend.  Our son's godfather has just returned from 10 months in Afghanistan and we're anticipating seeing him again soon- potentially this weekend.  We're overjoyed.

good morning

it really is fall, y'all!  I've been working really hard on getting my work ready for my slate of fall sales.  I am so grateful that I found an assistant (with the help of several friends- networking is just the best way to fill needs, isn't it?) to help me with my production.  She's been busy rolling slabs and setting up molds for my platters and trays and helping me glaze.  Still, I wish there were three of each of us to crank the work out.

I am really excited to tell you about my dear friend Debi, who will be showing with me in November at my Studio Sale.  She makes the most darling pins and accessories out of upcycled wool sweaters that she rescues from thrift stores, felts, deconstructs, and refashions.  I am SO excited that Sweaterlove will be showing with me.  She'll also be at the Whitton Farms event on October 21.  I really have a hard time not buying every new thing she makes.  This red mum usually lives on my winter coat- it is the exact same shade of red and I feel like a floral little red riding hood when I wear it.

Today I'm buying pumpkins and pansies, making these and some tortilla soup, starting our first fire of the season, and doing a little ornament glazing.  Hope you have a lovely weekend.

sept 24

I'm moving slowly this morning, going through photos I took last night of a candle-lit sendoff a group of friends held for one of our mutual friends who passed away last week.  It was beautiful and sad and lovely.  I wanted to share one photo with you.  I'll be back later this week with regular pottery news. 

calendar of events

Hiya.  Popping in to share my fall/holiday event schedule now that it's hammered out. 

Weds and Thurs Oct 17-18 Episcopal Bookshop Holiday Open House
Sunday October 21 1-7pm- Whitton Farms Fall Festival.  More info here (sorry it's on FB only right now)
Friday and Saturday Nov 2-3 Pre-holiday studio sale
Sunday Nov 25 Tsunami Holiday Market
Saturday Dec 1 (3-8 pm) Trolley Stop Market Holiday Market
Sunday Dec 9- Surprise event, details TBA

I'll share more details as I have them and hope to keep my etsy shop stocked.  That's all for now- back to the making!

good morning

I have been making like crazy over here.  Getting ready for holiday sales- the first one I'm prepping for is herein early October.  I'll have little vases, crosses, and a few small gifty-type things.  Another event on Oct 21, Home Sale (finally!) Nov 2-3, then in Dec two events on the 2nd or 3rd and the 9th.  Plus one or two other things happening here and there.

This little bowl is one I made and decorated with kiku mon stamps that I carved after a friend spotted an old Williams-Sonoma crock at an estate sale and tucked away for me.  I bought the piece, brought it home, admired it, then started playing with the design.  I'm not yet an expert on stamping evenly (this is straight cobalt and water), but I'm pleased with it and will keep trying.  I've got another little stamped project up my sleeves, and am still working with inlay.  Around Oct 1 I'll roll out a little collaborative project my friend Sarah Jackson devised.  Can you guess what it is?  And I have one more product that's coming back as soon as I can get enough of them made to meet demand.   Y'all, finally, finally, I feel like I'm almost back on my game.

It's Saturday morning- blessedly cool and overcast here.  My family had the kick-off cub scout camping night a few blocks away and they're both sacked out in their bedrooms, sleeping it off.  While they were gone I had a nice girly supper with some wine and cut out a blouse in my new Nani Iro fabric.  Today I'd like to work on it a bit more and then finish trimming the pots I made earlier this week.  We're screening in our front porch, so I'll help out with that, too, once it gets going.

Have a nice weekend- I'll see you next week.

progress

I just opened up the kiln to pull out some orders I've been  working through and almost forgot that the test pieces with my new inlay were in this firing.  I did some with plain cobalt and water, which turned out fine, just blue, nothing new, and then four pieces in cobalt with frit, which ran beautifully.  I'm so so happy with this.  So much so that this one is mine.  This is also a) my new stoneware- super white, super fine, so much like porcelain in appearance but not as big a pain to work with, and b) the largest piece I've thrown in a good long time- about 14" in diameter.

This week has been full- my new assistant began working with me, taking care of packing orders, wedging clay, and making my hand-built platters.  I've been working through a large pile of orders, making, trimming, cleaning up, glazing.  I can't believe it's Thursday already. 

Have a great end to your week and weekend.  See you next week.

this week

I heard about a big vegetarian Indian dinner in town and it's all I can think about.  Specifically spicy creamy palak paneer with its cubes of crisped salty cheese.

I spent all day one day drawing these blue zinnias on bowls and little custard-style cups.  I like them a lot. I'm keeping this one, but this morning I put the rest of them in my shop
.
I've been doing a lot more production-style throwing over the past few weeks and realizing, especially after two large orders on top of another mountainous order,  that I can't really do everything in my studio by myself.  So I asked around about getting help and have some really good options.  I'm excited.

After I got my new running shoes, I found my desire to fun fall flat.  I'm still doing my routine, I just don't want to.  This happens EVERY time I buy new shoes.  Oddest thing.  I wait and wait and wait to get the shoes and then the great running deflation occurs.  Strange, no?  Pressing through it.

I think that's all I have to say today.  Have a nice weekend, y'all.

gratitude

Hi.  Things have been crazy at my house for the past few weeks, in both good and bad ways.  We seem to be in a lull, so I'm going to be grateful and tell you some of the GOOD that's been happening. 

Second week of school completed.  3rd grade teacher is just adorable.  We're excited to go to school every day, and someone has shown respect and gratitude towards his first and second grade teachers every time he's seen them.  That makes me really happy.

I brought home 400 lbs of new stoneware yesterday.  Met my sweet aunt half-way from Nashville because I couldn't get away from home for an entire weekend or fit a trip during the school day.  While on this trip, all of the ladies in my family went here and wandered around the gardens for hours and hours.  I really wished that I'd remembered my real camera, made do with my phone camera, and came away really wanting a rugosa rose that produced giant, tasty, vitamin-packed hips.  While I was gone, my boys stayed home and worked on projects and cleaned the house (!).

I learned how to use my pressure canner and have 20+ jars of tomato soup, 20+ jars of marinara sauce, 15+ jars of regular quartered tomatoes, and this evening my sister in law came over and we finished my box of tomatoes and put up 17 jars of salsa.  I may or may not have given her the canning bug.  I still want to make this.  And she cleaned up my kitchen (I'm on a roll here)!

I've been running all summer (with two weeks off for an injury), hanging out at 14 minute miles, feeling down about it.  The temps broke and I got back to a 12 minute mile.  Last Sunday was really nice, and I hit 10 for the first time since I was 25.  Today?  9.  Stunned. I'm not doing great distances- I try to keep my time to 30-45 minutes, which puts me at 4 miles, tops, but I'm pretty happy with my progress. 

Finally, today I hosted a group of creative professional women for a meet and greet.  We've been talking online for almost a month, figuring out how we could support one another to be more creative, more proactive, more balanced in pursuing our art/craft/creative consulting as a profession, and getting help with concrete issues like liability insurance, licenses, taxes- all the fun stuff.  I think everyone had a ball, and I realized that I've been standing at the precipice of the next step for me, wondering if I'll jump or not, and I'm almost ready to do it.  I'm very grateful for the insight and inspiration coming from that room.

I hope your week is wonderful and I'll see y'all later on.

hello

 

I didn't mean to be gone for quite so long.  School started on Monday.  We spent last week eking out the last bits of summer we could, along with registering for classes, buying school supplies, finding the uniform clothes, figuring out the lunchbox, and and and.  The first three days have been good- and no-homework days mean we go directly from school to the pool.  As sad as we were about school beginning so early, I do love having my "work days" back.  

The weekend before last, I finished painting my studio.  SO pleased with that space.  I still need to finish painting the trim, but I'll finish that up soon and give y'all the grand tour.  The light, bright color helps so much.  

I've begun my annual tomato binge.  I turned a box of tomatoes into 9 quarts of quartered tomatoes in juice.  A second batch became 8 quarts and 13 pints of soup.  Box #2 became 13 pints of thick spaghetti sauce (I learned to use my pressure canner for the soup and sauce).  This weekend I'm picking up box #3 to become salsa and jarred roasted tomatoes (hotwater bath and pressure canned, respectively).  This morning I went down to the canning pantry and straightened everything up, counted my jars to be sure I won't need to buy more (salsa in half-pints, jarred roasted in half-pints and pints).  It feels good to see summer's harvest ready to feed us for the rest of the year.  Once it gets cooler, I'll start making and pressure canning stocks, and I may try my hand at putting up corn and green beans (but I have certain crunch expectations, so I may not do that).

Early this afternoon I listed the first of my modern blue and white pieces in the shop, then threw almost two dozen ramekins that I'll decorate with the blue zinnias.  I'm excited about working again.

Have a great rest of your week, y'all, and thanks for reading.

july

is flying by.  just flying.  school begins for us in another 2 weeks.  I showed y'all this in its raw, unfired state.  Here it is finished:

I really love it.  But I'll love it more once I put the suggestions of a lovely group of ladies in place.  I asked the twitter potters for advice and got a boat-load.  An order of chemicals later, I'm well on my way to mixing my own glazes, which really scares my pants off.  I'm starting by adding different chemicals to my commercial glazes, but in the next week or so I'm going to take the plunge and actually make some.

Also this week I finished my first big batch of chicken cups:

Several of them are available locally at the Trolley Stop Market and the rest are in my shop.  Speaking of chickens, it's been so hot this week that I installed a misting/cooling system in my chicken yard and the girls are fascinated with it.  They went from miserable, open-beak panting to amazed wonder in minutes. 

Next week I hope to get word that my new stoneware clay is in at my supplier in Nashville so that I can really start throwing again.  Right now all I have left to work with is porcelain, which is nice, but not everything needs to be porcelain. It is lovely, but it handles differently and I don't yet have the knack for throwing large pieces.  I have 200 lbs of different porcelain bodies in the studio right now, so that's what I'll be using until my new ultra-white stoneware comes in.

That's all I have  tonight.  It's late and I'm beat. 
Be well.

this week (a list)

lunch and junking out with a girlfriend I don't see often enough
glazing/experienting/firing
reorganizing the basement (fun times)
harvesting tomatoes and cukes from the school garden
salvaging pecked/bug eaten veggies from the school garden for the chickens
Jeni's splendid ice cream salty caramel ice cream
big dramatic haircut and donation to locks of love
running
all of the rain we could possibly want, all at once
figs figs figs
Fahrenheit 451
and tomorrow, an ornamental vegetable gardening lecture, plus book club.

have a nice weekend

busy week(s)

Last week and this week were quite busy.  (too much busy is in our lives, certainly in my life.  have you read this?  Food for thought).  BUT my little kiln is up and running, thanks to Mike, who finished the electrical part of the job after I replaced the elements and discovered that my rip-roaring case of "Lady Hands" pretty much ruled out a career as an electrician.  Could not make the crimper crimp.  Last night I ran a full (small) glaze load in air-conditioned comfort and have a full bisque load (full of chicken cups, by the way!) ready to go maybe on Saturday evening.  I still try to fire in the evenings, not at peak hours, because it's been so terribly hot, and my utility bill will be through the roof because of a leak in the basement and watering my garden in addition to the constant air conditioning.  But I'm grateful for it all, grateful for the means with which to pay for it, and grateful for the promise of solar cells that will plug into the grid and eventually offset my electrical use- in another few years.

Last weekend we went to a few estate sales- some so-so, some exorbitant, and one MARVELOUS.  I bought 10 interior shutters to shield my west-facing studio and south-facing bedrooms from the punishing sun for a song, but more exciting, I found a lovely transferware platter that made me put down everything else I'd been carrying.  It is quite large, unmarked, blue and white, and decorated with birds and flowering branches.  I just fell in love with it.  It's price made me wince a bit, but it was a case of knowing I'd never see another again.  When I pulled out my checkbook and only had my business checks in it, I realized that I could adapt the images to use in my own work, which, as you can see above, I happily and immediately did.

I'm a long-time blue and white china nerd.  My dream is to replicate "flow blue", so we'll just see how that goes.  I'm looking around for bees on transferware, too, though they're rare.  I'll bisque this piece and one other this weekend and see how the flow-y experimentation goes.

Happy weekend, friends.  I hope you're able to stay cool.

and it clicked

I'm excited about pottery again.  I realized that I'm going to have to stop using big bessie kiln for the summer (I'm looking at a week plus of 100+ days, and firing her requires 10+ hours of no AC) and fire more frequently with my little kiln, which was stripped of elements last night and half-replaced.  I was so proud to do it myself (with significant coaching from my friend Mike, the ceramics engineer), but my back gave out before I could finish.  Also, hello, sweaty.

I've been throwing a bit again this week and pulled out some new supplies I bought this spring before everything went haywire.  Here's one piece I just finished working on:

The blue is underglaze carbon paper, for lack of a better term.  I drew these zinnias (based on Walter Anderson's zinnias) last summer and made tissue paper templates.  I have high hopes for these- if I draw directly on the paper, the lines are incredibly fine.  If I draw through the templates, they're a little blotchy, thick and thin.  I think I like it.

Earlier this week I played around with more blue and white- I think it's a direction I'll pursue.  All of my wedding dishes were blue and white, and I've collected different blue and whites over time.  I'll be back to show you the results in a few weeks.

high summer

This week has gone by fast- we had guests.  My friend Angela and her husband Devin came through on their way to Albuquerque.  We enjoyed their visit and are glad they arrived safely. We stayed in and relaxed with many pool visits, fresh summer drinks, and a pedi treat, a small break on their long journey.

Our summer is heating up.  Every morning I go out to water- turn on the hoses on the front of back yard gardens and let the water drip into the garden beds.  They dry out so fast.  My plum tomatoes are ready- a few coming in every day.   The air is on almost all the time, and I watch the extended forecast for days/nights that it's cool enough to fire the big kiln (we have to turn off the air for the highest/longest firing cycle.  I try to time it for the hours we're asleep so that we don't wake up to a hot, humid house).  I can run the little kiln while the air is on, so perhaps it's time to get started on replacing those elements?  Hmm.

My boy finished two weeks of tennis camp, so for the next two weeks we have few plans but reading and self-entertainment in the mornings while I try to squeeze in a few hours worth of work, followed by pool time in the afternoons.  Things seem to be looking up with pottery-finally.  The kiln is full of test pieces in the new stoneware that I hope will work to replace my old favorite stoneware.  I also have two bags of dry glazes to mix and test in my basement glazing dungeon.  I'm looking forward to a smooth period of making and restocking after such a rocky spring.

Summer's here- I hope you'll enjoy yours.

journey

This morning I spent some time outside in the golden light with my coffee, watching my birds (big and little chickens and tiny songbirds) and bees in the back yard, wondering at the sprouting seeds and life what exactly it is that I'm supposed to be doing.  And I came inside and began drawing on plates and cups- bees and chickens- exactly what I'd been watching outside.  I am doing exactly what I'm supposed to be doing.

Twice this year I've gotten really nice notes from friends thanking me for what I'm doing- honesty in my process and struggles with figuring out my work and keeping on with it.  I feel like I've done a huge amount of growth in the first half of this year because I have struggled mightily.  I have a professional friend who is working like gangbusters, producing and producing and really cranking it out.  And I remember a few years ago when I was doing that and I marvel at it now, because really, that's not sustainable for me.  I think that I'm finally coming to the point where I'm ok with the lull in my professional journey.  I still feel bad that I haven't restocked my stores or filled some individual orders because of my trials with the clay and glaze and kilns (really, I feel really bad about it, but not bad enough to keep beating my head against the brick wall that's presented itself squarely in my path).   So I'm working on throwing better, drawing every day, still experimenting on finding that right clay and glaze fit, and realizing tactile leaps forward will come with time, and progress isn't necessarily measured by your output.

Speaking of journeys, I want to thank all of you who helped me with this project.  My friend Angela is coming through early next week on her way to her medical relocation to New Mexico.  Thank you, thank you, thank you for helping me help her.  This project has been immensely satisfying to me, and I'm so grateful that my work could provide so much financial assistance.  I am still making these cups and hope that their sale will continue to provide some small measure of assistance as Angela and Devin start fresh in NM.

It is Friday and I am going to a specialty nursery later this morning to buy succulents to fill my growing klompen wall outside my back door.  I hope you have something fun planned, too.

As always, thanks for reading and being on this journey with me.

honey

This past week I spent more time worrying about my bees than doing anything else.  The city mosquito truck came by and I noticed some bees on their backs, little legs flailing, inside the hive.  I called Vector Control and had my house taken off the spray route, and plan to cover the hive the next time they come spraying.  We already knew that the spray was bad for bumble bees and butterflies, and the supervisor I spoke with was very responsive and concerned about my hive, which I appreciated.  Then, later that day, when I went into the hive to really do a full check (something I do every couple of weeks, and I'd noticed some problems I needed to take care of), I let one of the frames of honey, quite large and weighing almost 10 lbs, get too warm and it collapsed/fell into the hive.  What a mess.  I salvaged about a quart, cleaned up as best I could, and let the bees clean up the rest.   It wrecked my day.  But, I learned what NOT to do next time I go in, and I learned how to manually extract honey and render wax with a top bar hive.  Not the best day I'd ever had, but the results, well, they were sweet.  And my bee mentor came over the next day and helped me do a frame-by-frame inspection to check for mosquito-spray damage and melissa-inflicted damage.  Not much of either.

I also spent a lot of time grinding down my kiln shelves and had to stop before I was ready because an hour + of using the grinder aggravated my tendinitis. Gary ground more for me, but I've realized that I will need to finish the rest in stages, mix the kiln wash and grind/coat several shelves in each firing I do for the rest of the summer.  I hope that new thicker kiln wash will save some of the porcelain-sticking issues I'd been having this spring.

This week will be a busy one.  Two friends are in from out of town, I'm ready to work again, and I've been bit with the purging/reorganizing bug.  Tennis camp (this week and next week) begins in the morning, and I'm ready to get rolling.

Hope yours is a good one.  Night, friends.

I hadn't realized

That it's been almost a month since I posted here.  Before we left for our vacation, I was almost ready to stop pottery.  Ordered more glazes and realized that all of my kiln shelves needed to be ground off and re-coated with kiln wash.  One kiln, the littlest of my two, needs to have all of its elements replaced.  So I gave myself permission to stop before I made myself insane, ordered my new parts, asked a friend to help me with the electrical stuff when we returned, packed our bags, and left.

 I love the shells.  Brought back entirely too many of them.  

 Found what might be my favorite ever sun hat.  Wore it at every opportunity.  Freckled anyway, despite the sunscreen and the shade.

And- is it a cliche to come back inspired by the colors and shapes of the sea?  These looked so pearly white, translucent almost like baby toes (they are all smaller than a nickel or a dime), but on closer reflection, they're varying shades of cream (a divine reminder to be satisfied with my creamy clay bodies?).  The shells left me dreaming of organic, imperfect shapes and washy cream and grey glazes in see-through thin porcelains.  I'm almost ready to work again.  First, the grinding and re-coating of all of my kiln shelves, a bit of re-wiring.  Those are things I can do accompanied by a young man who doesn't start camps until next week.

I had planned to have a home sale next weekend- but it isn't going to happen.  There will be some small pop-up (in my house) sale this summer, but all of the firing and glaze mishaps mean that I have no inventory, and what I have needs to go to my local shops who have been waiting so patiently for me to solve my problems.  Stay tuned.

results

I unloaded the glaze firing that included my Mississippi River clay inlay experiment.  thrilled with 2:3.  Inlay is better than brushing it on as a slip.

One of my baby chickens is a cockerel.  Confirmed by my own chicken experience (the tail feathers are curving downward), experience of other friends who have been equally unhappily surprised when their pullets turned out to be not so, and, possibly most damning, by a farmer friend who saw a photo and asked how "that baby rooster is doing".  Looking for a new home for it.  (also looking for a new home for my old volvo sedan, um, if you're interested).

One more week of school.  A week of decompression after that, then a week at the beach.  So so looking forward to that, and even more so now that I know that there is an excellent grocery store in the town.  Not having to worry about packing groceries for a week is a blessing.

Alrighty.  See y'all later.

April

 

 good morning.

Y'all, I feel like April just almost did me in.  It was truly the month in which I could not, did not, keep up.  Didn't keep up with my daily drawings (I stopped mid-month).  Didn't keep up with pottery (tried to, but).  Didn't keep up with friends.  Retreated and got frustrated and angry and had to have a big fat time out.  Last week we had a large discussion around the dinner table about taking ownership of your decisions and their outcomes and just making the best of what you're left with in the aftermath of your decisions, good or bad.  No whining, no blaming, just taking what's in front of you and making the best you/life/decision you can with what you have.  Ownership.   So I'm moving on from April because it's the second week of May.  No more dwelling on failed pots or plans or anything else that happened that I can't do anything about.  Moving on.  I'm able to move forward in part because of the support and encouragement of so many of y'all- two emails over the weekend, in particular, were especially encouraging when I was ready to just throw in the towel.  So thank you, especially, Richard and Gail.  And you countless other friends who have been thinking good thoughts and sending me well wishes and saying nice things when I whine in public forums.  It means a lot.

I did have a long long chat this morning with the technician at Standard Ceramics company, one of the largest clay manufacturers in the country and the maker of most of the clay bodies I use, including my favorite that suddenly seemed to go haywire on me.  Julie was wonderful.  She is sending me a new clay to test and is testing my old favorite with the glazes that had been giving me the most problems.  I can't even tell you how grateful I am that she took my questions seriously and is helping me to find solutions to either making my old clay and glazes work or finding a new go-to clay body.  

Today it is raining and I am glazing and firing a little load of herb markers and those pieces I made with Mississippi river clay inlay.  

Hope your week is off to a good start.

searching

Earlier this year (late 2011, actually), I abandoned my standard clay body because it would no longer behave- any turquoise glaze or underglaze sheared right off in sharp glassy shards.  Disappointing for me, hazardous to anyone who used the pieces.  At first, I thought the problem was the glaze, but after seeing this happen with multiple glazes (and then with certain colors of underglaze), I realized it was a problem with the clay.  Sad, because this ultra-white, smooth, easy to throw, easy to hand-build clay body was one I'd been using for 10 years.  I switched back to one that I knew had some problems (have to baby it as it dries or oops, that mug handle will pop right off *just* before it is bone dry), but oh, those problems.  So I've tried 2 new stonewares, one of which didn't play well with glaze (see my crazing post) and another which is fine, really, except that it isn't white.  See the cup above.  Not white, more of a french vanilla.  And I'm coming to the realization that well, it's just what it is.  Even the porcelains I've tried aren't strictly white.  (the whiter pieces above are porcelain, and they're fine, but a bit speckled with something that doesn't show up unless it's coated in clear glaze).  I've forgotten how to throw large pieces (such as plates and serving bowls) with porcelain and will need to re-learn.  Porcelain also has to dry very very slowly to keep its form and not crack. 

So, unless I can bite the bullet and order new clay bodies from afar (and either drive to get them or pay several hundred dollars for shipping), it seems that french vanilla is my new white.  There is some white-glazed french vanilla stoneware in the kiln, cooling. Test stoneware #1 showed through the white glaze (it looked dirty, not like a thin glaze, just like a dirty cup).  I am in mourning for my ultra-white stoneware, but like any loss, I'm learning to move forward with the new reality.  And the reality is that very few people will care if the base clay is ultra white or french vanilla, and the ones who do care will let me know, quite vocally.  And I'm becoming ok with the fact that it's out of my hands, that pottery is alchemy, and that I'm just not in control of very much.  And with that, I'm going to head to the studio to throw more and re-learn how to make larger forms in porcelain and figure out how to fill my dinner and breakfast ware orders that a few sweet folks have been waiting quite patiently for.

Thanks for reading.

local

I stumbled across this video earlier this week.  It's really stuck with me.  It is quiet, meditative, purposeful, inspiring.  I began thinking about the local impact of pottery-  in terms of my local economy (including but beyond my family), local influences (people, seasons, materials), and I was particularly struck by a scene of this potter digging clay to use in her decorations. 
Several years ago my family camped at a state park on the banks of the Mississippi river.  We spent a day on one of the sandbars and found deep, dark, iron-rich clay veins running throughout the sand.  We all marveled at how black and sticky it was, took note, and went home.  Later in the season we returned with small shovels and buckets to bring some of that clay home.  I made a few test bowls to see how this local clay would fire, closed up the bag and forgot about it.   Because I work with light clay bodies, switching between light and dark clays is problematic- all of your tools, wheel, bats, etc have to be thoroughly cleaned when switching between clays to prevent mixing that is either ugly (dark or light streaks showing up unexpectedly) or catastrophic (some clays have different rates of shrinkage and absorption- this means explosions in the kiln or bubbling glazes, or cracks, none of which makes this potter happy). 
Returning to the video, I thought about this stash of dark local clay in my studio, pulled out a small jar, and made some slip.  I'm experimenting with using this dark clay as an inlay.

I only decorated two tumblers that I'd made with this local slip- we'll see how it works.  Local is very important to me- I try my best to support local food and farmers, shop at local small businesses, but all of my supplies come from who-knows-where.  I'd love it if this works and I could add this to my regular work.

A second thing that stuck with me was the artist's statement that "we have enough things already in this world" and she is careful about what she makes.  Is everything that I make worthy of firing?  The energy expended by the kilns, the materials rendered from the earth?  The money I've spent on clay and glazes?  No.  So no more firing of warped bowls, pieces with design flaws or drawing bloopers.  Seconds happen (speaking of, that kilnload of ^7 cups didn't heal.  The chicken platter was better, but the cups were still crackled from too-thick glaze on bottom).  Most of my flawed pieces go into a smash bin for mosaic work, but I don't want to put time or energy into firing pieces that I know are flawed before they are fired.  Lots to think about. 

Have a nice weekend friends.  I'm returning to my quiet.

tuesday

New bee flight school on Sunday when it was warm and sunny.
Little kiln ticking away to ^7 to see if the glaze fit issues will resolve on cups and the chicken platter.
Big kiln waiting for a large bisque load.
Lots more cups drying and drawing in the studio.
Chilly day.  If it were March I'd start a fire in the wood stove.  
Enjoying the quiet.

some quiet

Thank you, sweet friends, for your kind comments on my last post.  They mean a great deal to me.
I'm going to take a few weeks "off" from the internet- after losing so much time to the flu and then the unpredictable chemistry of pottery, I feel like I have a great deal of work to do (and I do, several orders still outstanding, some custom dinner sets I have yet to finish or even begin) and I need to figure out where I want to go with my work.  I'll be popping in periodically with photos, and I hope to be able to have a body of work to put up for y'all, both locally and in my etsy store, at the end of my internet sabbatical.  So I'll leave you with my favorite piece that I finished from my recent surface decoration e-course.  I want more of these!

Have a lovely weekend.

snap, crackle, & STOP

Of Friday or Saturday I opened my kiln to a total disappointment.  I knew I was testing, but I'd hoped to have some pieces I could use, and I didn't count on it being so bad that it would bring me close to tears.  Most of this work had been previously fired, to a low-ish ^6 (that's in the high 2100 to low 2200 F range) and I had a lot of problems with glaze fit.  I glazed a bunch more work, including some porcelain that I hadn't tried in the little kiln, and fired it again to a hotter ^6 (that's pronounced Cone 6, by the way, and I took it to the 2260 F range).  Still, it was crackle city.  Can you see it in this cup?  The crackles in the bottom?  The ones that will trap the honey and the tea from your hot cuppa and grow bacteria?  I'm trying it again at ^7 (almost 2300F) later this week when my cones come in.

This is a platter I made just for me, and the entire thing is a fine map of crackles.  Both the cup and the platter are a new-to-me clay (the glaze is one I used and liked well enough to buy a gallon of).  I'm out of the clay and won't buy more of it.  I'd love to rescue both the dozen cups I made and the platter- the cups because they're pre-sold and the platter, because, well, I'd like to use it.  All told, this is two weeks' worth of work that is potentially lost.

I've moved on to another stoneware and ordered several more white and clear glazes to keep testing.  All this to say that I'm feeling perpetually behind.  Glad that I'm not signed up for any events or sales or markets.  But I have some custom dinner orders that I'm sitting on, and I'd like to get them out the door.

I would like to address one thing- so many of my customers were kind and understanding to the absolute utmost degree when I told them that their orders would be delayed further.  I had one negative experience out of the whole lot, which shook me pretty badly.  It was downright venomous, and I think it was due to a miscommunication that made me feel defensive and then downright shocked.  I try hard to accommodate all kinds of requests and try to send out my best work.  I think that *most* people who have handmade businesses try their very best to please their customers.  They all have feelings that are easily bruised by unfair, or, even if fair, harsh, criticism.  This just to say that we should all (me included) remember that we're dealing with people who have lives and families and feelings and we never know what's going on in their lives- illness, failed work, failed relationships.  I'm stepping off my soapbox, but I was accused of gross misrepresentation and unprofessionalism, and it hurt.   I'm mostly over it, but I wanted to address it for my own learning, as much as anyone else's.

I had a lovely Easter, and hope your Spring holidays were wonderful, as well.  See you again soon.

bees! and testing

I am very excited- yesterday afternoon I got a phone call from Rita Underhill of Peace Bee Farm that my bees were ready.  I was not!  There was a lot of hustle and bustle to get everything situated so that we could install the hive this morning.  This is the inside of my hive, the comb that they drew down on top bars at their farm, and some pieces that we had to trim (the white is brood that the bees will, um, recycle, and they'll re-use the wax, as well).  We forgot to smoke the box of agitated, truck-shaken bees before we opened it and I got popped for the first time in 6+ years, but she popped me through my clothes so it wasn't bad (obviously, I'm not allergic to bees).  I'm very excited to see their (and my) progress.

I think that I may have mentioned that I needed to find a new clay body.  My old body had been reformulated and the glazes I'd been using no longer fit the body.  There was shivering (where the glaze has shrunk more than the clay and will come off in razor sharp slivers and sometimes cause the piece to break), especially with blue glazes and underglazes, so I began testing new bodies.  My first body was a bust- too much crazing on the inside of cups- the body shrinks more than the glaze, causing the glaze to crack, which can lead to bacteria growth.  Yummy, bacteria with your tea!  No thanks.  I tested a porcelain which did fine with the glaze, but I wasn't happy with its color.  I tested a stoneware that was much warmer and showed through my white glaze, making the glaze look too thin (or maybe it was just too thin) and there were fit problems- crazing in the bottom of cups.  I'm on my second stoneware and porcelain to test with my next batch of pots.  All of this is to say that if you're waiting on pottery from me, this is why it's taking a while to deliver.  I don't want to ship out defective pots, and I appreciate everyone's patience.

Ok.  This weekend is Easter, tomorrow is Good Friday and the beginning of Passover.  If you celebrate, I hope that it is a meaningful time for you.  If not, enjoy this beautiful spring.  See you next week!

in the studio

Good morning!  Here is a rare peek into my studio.  I put in a massive amount of time last Friday with a friend who helped me clean it out and clean it up.  Pottery is dirty filthy dusty business, and after I was so sick with the flu and upper respiratory issues (I was a little afraid that I had pneumonia, so I had a full workup and chest x-rays done, which, thankfully, gave me a squeaky-clean baseline), I've been super-conscious of keeping my environment clean- clean food, clean yard and home, clean studio.  The biggest risk potters face is inhaling harmful clay dust- think coal miners and black lung.  I mix some of my glazes from powder and always wear a mask when I do that, but I have been less careful about keeping the dust down in the studio.  I have a shop vac with a HEPA filter, but I'm also being more vigilant about wiping everything down after working.
This is a large but awkward space- long and skinny with a stairwell in the middle.  One large window on the west end, and dark dark paneling (and plastic "woodwork" trim??!!) that I've started painting a nice light bright palest sky/Scandinavian  blue.  So far I've primed all of the woodwork and painted the alcove where my wheel is, (right where that rolling pin and scraper are hanging), the window wall, and almost to the end of the railing woodwork on the opposite side.  Miles to go, but it's a start.

I've also been playing catch-up production wise.  This week Natalie made herb markers (it's planting time!), fern platters, and templates for me, and I threw mugs, tumblers, and egg cups.  My center of gravity is off, somewhat, since I elevated my wheel on blocks.  I have to re-learn how to throw higher, but my back will thank me.

We also got baby chicks this week and I've been going a little crazy making chicken pottery.  It just makes me giggle every time I look at the pieces in production.  But fear not, I am not abandoning bees!  I'm just exploring my inner nature nerd a little more extensively.

Hope you all have a good weekend.  I'm taking a field trip to the bee yard with my bee mentor and attending a chicken party.  Wishing Saturday's activities could span 2 days instead of packing it all into one.

stretching

I haven't had a lot of production time over the past two weeks, but I feel so much better and I've kept up with my drawings and plannings and my coursework, and I am really really excited about some of the things that are happening.  This chicken cup is one exciting thing:  I really like using mishima- even though it's a bit time consuming, it's also immediate and really a lot faster process than drawing and bisque firing and then coloring and glazing and firing again.  I'm looking forward to making more of these, in red and in blue, and in drawings that aren't necessarily chickens. 





Though I am happily chicken-obsessed.  Admittedly.  Chickens, bees, pots, gardens, food- my passions.  I am bringing home three new chicks in the next few weeks- one has already been "adopted" and named by my dear friend and studio assistant, Natalie.  One little chickie will be Trudy, named after her mom.  I'm excited to have a little namesake.  Edna and Pearl are both named after Gary and my grand and great-grandmothers.  I like the old fashioned names.  Maybe there will even be some baby chick pieces that come out of our adventures in chick-raising again.

I let the girls out this morning, as I do most mornings that I'm puttering out in the garden.  They are so curious and come running towards me when they lose sight of me.  This is from this morning, when I did some light gardening and sprucing up with my coffee.  Mmm, toes.

Pearl is the bearded araucana chicken.  Edna is my star layer, a black-star chicken.

Happy Spring, friends.  Oh, and if you're chicken-obsessed like I am (or you love someone who is), these chicken tumblers will be in the shop when they're ready in another 2 or 3 weeks.

with a little luck

and some antibiotics I'll be back to rights in another day or two, pulling out of this flu turns into sinus and ear infection funk.  It's warm, it's spring break.  Kids are running in and out of my house and the house across the street.  I want fresh food, sunshine, fresh breezes coming through the windows, a ticking kiln, paletas, and to feel like myself again. 

I found these 8 four leaf clovers in my neighbor's yard.  Right now they're in a vase but I hope to put them on some happy mugs.  For now, though, they're just reminding me that luck is all around.

exploring mishima

I have been completely laid out with the flu this week, stuck in bed and asleep like I haven't been in I don't know when.  All plans for meals, appointments (like with the accountant, the acupuncturist, visiting friends, departing relatives, seeing my old man in his rehab home, birthdays, yoga class), pottery glazing and shipping were shelved.  All I managed to do was sleep, do some sketching, listen to podcasts, cough, keep up with the e-course through videos and posts, and cough.  Our cleaning goddess came this morning, so I carried myself and my sketchbook upstairs to make some templates and begin working with this week's lesson- the mishima technique.

Mishima is the process of filling incised lines with colored slip, clearing away the excess in one form or another, then firing and glazing the piece.  It is beautiful and delicate and a very immediate process- something I've very much wanted to learn.  I've tried it on my own before with mixed results, but as with everything, there are tips and tricks you learn when someone with experience teaches you, vs blundering through on your own.  I'm hopeful for these pieces, which I'll let dry and fire at the end of the course.

I made the drawings of the crimson clover while I was listening to Brooklyn Homesteader's webinar on urban beekeeping.  Crimson clover has long been one of my favorite wildflowers and I made several drawings of the plant based on antique botanical illustrations.  I took my favorite of the lot to make into templates for this course.

Next week, I plan to get back to work while my boy is on spring break- finish glazing and shipping orders that people are expecting  - my apologies for the delay- and working on some outside projects if the weather cooperates.

Have a nice weekend, everyone.

March

Hello, March!  75 degrees today in Memphis. I'll turn 37 later this month. I'm working in the studio this morning, eating my lunch outside while the chickens roam.  We'll get new chicks at the end of the month, and I need to set up a brooder.  Today will be my first full day in the studio in about 3 weeks.  I'm trying a new clay next week and using the last of my old standard clay that refuses to work well with any turquoise glazes.  I'm looking forward to all of it.

This week I began the Spring Surfacing e-Course Diana Fayt is teaching.  I'm not sure but I think the class *may* still be open for registration through March 4.  This is my work from yesterday:

They are self-footed platters that we'll use for different surface design techniques in the coming weeks.  Someone in the class has made a hexagonal platter- I could see using that for a series of bee platters.  I am going to try to not put bees on everything I make in this class, but I am, of course, going to stay true to my botanical leanings.  I'm going to make more of these today out of porcelain, just to play with.

My old man left the hospital this week.  I went to see him at his rehabilitation facility yesterday.  It was, without exception, the nicest place I've been in 3 weeks.  I am so grateful that he's improving, and grateful for the thoughts and prayers of my friends.

February has kicked my hiney.  I'm tired (but recovering) and looking forward to March.  I did keep up with my daily drawings last month and will scan and load them in a single mosaic file.  All but two are already up.  I used more color this month and immediately put a fast flowy chicken sketch to use decorating tumblers.  More of those later. 

Hope y'all have a good weekend.

bees

Good evening.  It's been another crazy week at my house.  Lots of time at the hospital helping to care for my sweet (to me, with very grouchy appearances) old man, who happily, is leaving the hospital tomorrow.  I am ever so grateful for his recovery.  Some fluish virus hit my little boy- he missed 3 days of school- egads! I also cought the virus, but its duration was much shorter for me.  Lots of packages (22 in one week could be a record, but I may have surpassed that in berry bowls) going out.  My postman was not amused by the pile of boxes sitting on the porch every day.  The weather was very warm and the magnolias and cherry trees have begun blooming.  Gary took this picture at a neighbor's house on Saturday- there are three of them- and I've rendered them into drawings to use on pots in the future.  Because of the illness that hit my house, I missed my surface design class in Atlanta, and I missed seeing friends from College and the pottery world.  I have been given a tremendous gift of another online pottery class that begins this week, and I am very much looking forward to dedicating an hour or so every day to exploring new techniques and enriching my work.
We had a 5 hour marathon pinewood derby tonight. It was long and late and even some of the Webelos ended up in tears of disappointment and exhaustion.  I had to go home halfway through the races.  Sitting under florescent lights for hours on end, even with my knitting, takes more dedication than I have.  An hour's respite in my quiet house was lovely.

I hope to have a normal work week this week, filling wholesale orders and making a batch of tall tumblers for some friends who have been waiting patiently for me to get to their requests.

Happy Sunday night, friends.

working, or trying to

This week has been chaotic.  Last weekend I did my day-long bee course (it was wonderful!) and began dealing with the aftermath of a dear friend's stroke, which ate up most of my working week.  My time's been spent more on care-giving than creating, and in the end, that's worth much much more than a kiln full of ware.  Pottery is important, but I know where my priorities should be, and that's with people.  That said, I did get a load glazed and fired and took some chances with a few pieces on making my own versions of my beloved English (and Chinese) blue and white china:

I have to say that I'm delighted with the results.  The chicken cup was green- raw, unfired.  I really like how the stain (a mix of mason stain and water) soaked into the interior of the cup and clung to the exterior in patches, as well as in the areas I drew into).  The hope cup and small platters (as well as the large bowl in the background) was bisqued, so the stain didn't permeate the whole surface.  I'm SO pleased with this, especially on the greenware.  I'm not ready to roll out these pieces, but I like them enough to continue working with this idea.

That fluffy-bootie chicken, by the way, is a drawing I did of Merigold, my buff orpington hen who passed away- suddenly and without illness- yesterday.  We had a very solemn chicken funeral yesterday after school.  My little boy insisted on laying her in the grave and covering her, fashioning a cross marker (Merigold was an Episcopal hen) out of sticks.  She was an old chicken and served us well. 

I am looking forward to a full day in the studio today, and getting ready to take a pottery class next week.
If you've ordered tumblers from me, I'm sending out the first ten this weekend.  The others are in progress and will go out the first week of March.

Have a peaceful weekend friends.  Love on those closest to you.

it must be seasonal.

I find myself obsessed with chickens.  I love to watch my chickens, I'm drawing my chickens, I'm (gasp) ordering more chickens.  This will be my girls' third year, and to keep our egg production up and happy, I need to replenish the laying stock. 
I think this interest is seasonal, because as enamored as I am with chickens, I haven't been this crazy about them since I first started with this little flock.  It must be a craving for spring.
I turned this little sketch I did this morning into a pattern to use on my pots- the middle and lower hens, anyway.  The top is a little too cardinal-like. I'm looking at special underglaze paper that works like carbon paper to see about simple reproductions- or maybe I'll explore decals.


In non-chicken news, I am throwing like crazy.  Making things for spring, filling orders for individuals and shops, and trying to stay on task.  I'm finally putting in my seed order (for things like herbs, cucumbers, peppers, and beans and flowers- I've given up on starting tomatoes myself) and thinking about where I'm going to put my bee hive.  We haven't had much of a winter around here, but I'm hungry for spring.

Have a nice weekend, everyone.

tumblers

This morning (after spending an hour working on my taxes) I was pleased and surprised and so so flattered to see one of these cups on SouleMama.  Because of the response, I've listed ten of these cups on etsy, with a 3-4 week delivery time.  These pictured have homes already.   After I straightened away today's tax prep, I hustled upstairs and threw 12 tumblers.  Tomorrow I'll paint and etch them.

It is a beautiful blue-skied day here today in Memphis, feeling cool and almost wintry again (to clarify, winter here is low 50s most days, cool enough to need some heat, but not cold enough to freeze anything).  I'm happy with my morning's work and am ready to get my boy from school, do a little more pottery-painting and drawing, and am thinking about roasting some cod with my frozen stash of cherry tomatoes and olives and purple onions for supper.

Have a lovely week, friends, and thanks as always for your support.