Planter Vases

My friend Jon is great at giving me ideas for new products to try, he's very creative. The last show we did together in Philly he suggested that I make these hollow stakes that are unglazed at the tip and decorated at the top. The idea is that you stick them into a potted plant, fill them up with water which slowly seeps out of the unglazed part and keeps your plant watered. Great idea. As soon as I was back in my studio I thought I'd give it a shot. The first batch really didn't work out. For one thing, they are way to small to keep a plant watered. The water would last about a day. Second, the top layer of glaze ran all the way down the interior sealing the inside of the tube. That totally defeats the point of the object. So I'm left with a few of these weird stakes that I'm not really sure what to do with. My best idea is to use them as mini flower vases to spruce up some potted plants. Sadly I don't have any potted plants in my house since my kitty is partial to eating them up. This looks like another "mom gift", she loves my rejects and can always find something to do with them!
On the plus side, I tried a new stain on top and really like how the unglazed surface came out. That may be showing up in my real work soon....not sure if I will give these plant stakes another go or not.

Happy Memorial Day!

Yesterday we had a few friends over for a BBQ in our backyard. I made all the food which was a little exhausting but well worth the effort. The menu consisted of egg salad and crackers to start with, I used freshly grated horseradish in the salad for a little bit of kick. Rosemary studded burgers with homemade brioche rolls, marinated chicken kabobs with roasted peppers and for dessert I made s'mores treats with homemade graham crackers, and my cardamom marshmallows. Yum! I also picked a bunch of mint from the garden and M made us fresh mojitos. Let summer begin!

It's me again...

Well, hello there. It's been awhile. I do apologize for my absence but it's been a crazy crazy month. That's not entirely true, it's been a crazy crazy year so far. I haven't written on this blog because to be honest, I was feeling a little down and beaten by the world and I don't want to spread the negativity. But, things are turning around, I can feel it.
Just to fill you in a little this year so far I have had my mother's illness (which you know about from other posts), came home to be snowed in for 2 weeks, my kiln needed repair, my clay supplier stopped selling my clay body, my husbands car was smashed with a brick through both front and side window, my car was totaled while parked outside my house at 8:30 in the morning (we just got a Honda Element to replace it), my mother had to have cancer removed from her lip, twice, and my father whom I haven't spoken to in 2 years went in for open heart surgery and still didn't call me. Don't worry, I'm over it.
Like I said, I feel a change in the universe. The second half of 2010 is going to be soooo much better. I'm working on getting my buisness together, shows are going to pick up, I found a new clay body that I like (it's actually an old friend but I'm making it work with my way of decorating now) and summer is coming. I love summer. It means long evenings sipping wine on the porch, BBQ's with friends and fresh veggies from the farmers market in my kitchen. I just changed my display a little (you can see it in the pic above, but please note that that was a very rainy show so it's not the best set up) and can't wait to get my hands in a little more of this white cone 6 clay body. I've started doing yoga and strength training to help clear my mind and keep my body healthy. I'm a firm beliver in not letting life get to you. Just pick yourself up, dust yourself off and try something else. There is always a solution, you just have to think outside of the box, or in this case...wait for the storm to pass. Here's to more sunny days ahead:)
p.s. Sorry about the grainy iphone pics.

The Mafia is Looking for an Intern

If you or someone you know lives in the Baltimore area and would like a change to work with some super crafty folks for college credit please pass this along!

The Mafia is looking for another intern! This could be you (if you're in college and fabulously crafty)! Please send Carlybird an email with your resume and cover letter at carlygoss -at- yahoo -dot- com if you'd like to spend the summer semester working with the craftiest kids in Baltimore and get real, live college credit for it! Check out the tasks you'd be responsible for below.

The Charm City Craft Mafia seeks an ambitious student to join us as Mafia Intern! The two main responsibilities of this internship are to assist our members with studio work and, most importantly, to help us prepare for our spring 2010 craft show, Pile of Craft! The intern will work along side the Mafia communicating with vendors, performing organizational tasks and marketing, contacting sponsors, as well as carrying out day-of-show tasks including setting up tables, decorating, assisting vendors, making food runs, etc. This internship is a wonderful opportunity for an artist who is interested in community building, hosting events, and the indie craft community. You must be motivated, flexible and fun. You will see the inner workings of the Mafia and what it takes to put on the best indie craft show in Baltimore. You will have the chance to work with a group of 14 zany and talented artists whose work includes painting, drawing, sculpture, weaving, bookbinding, ceramics and much more. This opportunity begins as soon as possible and can last through the summer and even beyond, if we find the right candidate. Other tasks may include assistance with other art and craft shows, studio maintenance, etc.

The intern MUST be available to work the evening of June 25th and all day on June 26^th 2010. Please do not apply if you cannot make yourself available on both of those days.

Send Carly an email now to apply! Resume and cover letter! Do it!

Looking forward to getting crafty with you!

KC Teabowl National

Hey everyone, I just wanted to shout from the rooftops that my teabowl was accepted into the KC National Teabowl Exhibit juried by Pete Pinnell. Amazing! Here is my little teabowl that will be traveling across the country for it's debut. Sadly I won't be able to attend the opening (unless fedex can ship me also) but if you are in the area please stop in and let me know how everything looks.

Drool worthy.

Just popping in to share this drool worthy photo of an amazing kitchen display of pots. I totally need this:)
Via Style Files.

Come see me this weekend in Richmond!

I'll have brand new pots fresh from the kiln at the Spring Bada Bing this weekend. If your in the Richmond area stop by to check it out and say hello!

Spring break comes to an end.

Well we did it, we finally finished our upstairs room. Since our basement is used as our studio we have a major storage issue in our little house and up until last week this room was the dumping ground for all of our show displays, boxes of comics for M and just about anything else we didn't know what to do with. After 5 years the piles were just plain embarrassing so for this year's spring break I asked M to help me refinish the room into something we could use for storage, office space and guest quarters. I started the painting a couple of weeks ago when M was out of town for a show and this week he helped me rip up the old nasty blue speckled carpet (you know that 70's style muddled carpeting, yuck) and paint the floors (I know, I know painting wood floors is a "no-no" but they were already half painted and now I have a usable room so I really don't care). After many hours of hard work, several trips to Lowes, Target and Ikea, we are finally almost finished. There are still a few more things that need to be taken to goodwill or the dump and a mountain of recycling to be dealt with once my car is back from the shop (don't ask) but once that is taken care of as well as some picture hanging and minor decorating touches, we will be DONE! Hello new office space (not the dining room table as it had been previously), guest room, drawing studio (not for me) and sewing area (for me), I am sooooo happy to welcome you to our home:)

Terrasig Tests

Good morning! I wanted to share some dishes that I tested my terrasig on last week. I like the way they came out and how they reacted nicely with my glaze. I am able to print easily on the surface and there are a few more texture possibilities since the sig is so much thinner than the slip I was using. It also seems to work nicely with the underglaze. I still need to do a little more testing but so far I am liking it. If nothing else I really like the red sig on the bottoms of pots to give a smoother texture without glaze. Today I have lots of decorating to do and hopefully a kiln to unload. I might take a break this weekend to paint our upstairs and if I get a chance I will share some pics of the process since I think it will be a major change (it is soon to be our office/guest room) for that space!

New Platters

Just a quick post today as I am super busy rushing to the bank, post office, supply store, grocery store and vet for cat food (Mex is on a special diet) all before 7 when I have a Mafia meeting to attend. But I did want to post the finished platters from the last post so you could see how they turned out. I'm pretty happy with them and am liking the new layers I am working with. I started using some new colors for some of my images. What do you think? The long tray would be great for tapas or bread and the shorter tray is just begging for some freshly steamed green beans or spring asparagus! Yum.... pots always make me hungry:)

Still here!

Hi guys, sorry I dropped off the blogging world for a week or so! It was my 30th birthday last week and we were super busy doing a bit of celebrating... dinner out , friends over for dinner and then a birthday bash on Saturday which was so lovely because it was in the 70's all day! We spent the day cleaning up the house and outside areas. Our outdoor furniture didn't make it through the snow this year so we had to replace it. I'm trying to do everything on the cheap side since being away for a month also resulted in no income for a month. I'm still getting orders ready and pushed through the kiln but man, is it taking a while to get back on my feet! I have quite a few shows coming up, gallery work and orders to fill and I am still trying to get some new designs out in between all the production. Sometimes your brain just needs to be creative and free for a day. Here is a new platter form I have been working on. It's all painted and waiting for me to unload it from the kiln today. I can't wait to see it finished! I'll share some pics as soon as it's done:)
Oh, and here is a picture of M and I at the beach last year...it just popped up on my facebook and I had to share it because I can't wait for summer again!

Ready for spring already!

That's it. I'm soooo ready. I'm done with the cold dampness that has been hanging over us for the last couple of days. I can see some bulbs starting to poke out of the dirt and I can barely contain myself from shouting "go little bulb, go!". I have been stocking my shop with some garden markers to celebrate the season and to encourage a little more green growth to free itself from the frosty ground. Hope you enjoy!

Apply Now!

Applications are open for Charm City Craft Mafia's Pile of Craft 2010!!!
CLICK HERE TO APPLY
Pile Of Craft is our annual juried Spring craft fair, featuring handmade and original items from 40+ talented artists from all over the country. Apparel, ceramics, handbags, jewelry, fine art, scuplture, homegoods and more - made by hand, sold by the artists themselves!
Want to be a vendor? You can APPLY HERE. Applications to Pile Of Craft 2010 are open until April 2 at midnight, and we will be announcing the accepted vendors by April 9th.

Good luck!!

Keping one for myself...

It's not very often that I keep a pot for myself that hasn't been somehow damaged in the process or has an ugly glaze. Most of the pots in my kitchen are pretty ugly and I'm actually a little ashamed when I pull them out for guest. There is always the "this one isn't my best work" disclaimer to go with the mug of coffee. Recently I have started a really nice collection of other potters work as I travel to shows and workshops, some of which I reach for everyday and some have special homes on a high shelf where the cat *hopefully* won't knock them over. These beauties are making my own collection look even worse! So this round of pots I'm keeping one. And not because it's ugly or glazed wrong or a little too wonky. I just like this pot and it now has a home in my kitchen.... happy birthday to me:)

New work is out!

Finally today I pulled out my first batch of pots this year! I can't believe it's been this long since I had new work out. I'm in the process of getting them listed on etsy so be sure to check in this week and see the new pots.

A lesson in photographing jewelry

What I had intended to be an hour or so of photographing the pendants I got back from Clayworks yesterday turned into an entire day of frustration, a giant headache and oh yeah, no new listings in the shop to show for it. I'm kind of a perfectionist especially when it comes to my work which is why a few snapshots just will not do. There should be a dynamic photo for catching your eye plus enough descriptive shots to show the entire piece to someone who can't pick it up and try it on. I have pretty much figured out my formula for photographing my pots and can do that in just an hour or so depending on the amount of work that needs to be listed. Easy. Jewelry, not so much. I'm sure it doesn't help that for most of my shoot today I had left my overhead lights on and couldn't figure out why my sunlit photos had this yellowish cast over them. Duh. I finally built myself a modified white box with a dark gray backdrop and a sheet of picture glass on the bottom to try and simulate that professional looking reflection that you see in fancy catalogs. I tried some with props (pretty much everything in my house that is not nailed down), some without and some hanging. Here are my favorite from about 150 pictures I took today. Let me know what you think, I would love some feedback!

Spring sneak peek!

I finally got my thermocouples in today, yay! That means tomorrow I will be taking my kiln apart to try and replace the old ones. Then maybe I can get some of this new work through and listed in the shop. This is just a teaser but you can see some of my new designs for garden markers. I have both the kind that sticks right in the dirt and some that will hang from a wire. All of them are designed for you to write on. Can you tell I'm ready for spring???
Don't forget to check out my post on the Lillyella blog today. I highlighted some of my favorite ceramic soup bowls on etsy.

February is a bust.

I thought that February would be a little more productive than January but alas...not so much. As soon as I got going on my huge back order of work my kiln gave out on me. I am 99% sure it is the thermocouples which I have on order and hopefully will get here before the next snow storm hits. As of right now my bisque shelf is filled to the brim with work waiting to be fired and I'm going to have a mountain of glazing to do soon.

I did however give myself permission to try out this scoop I saw illustrated in the new issue of Clay Times magazine. The one they made was thrown but I used my hand building techniques to create my own version. I have been wanting to make a scoop for a while now and am pretty excited to have a prototype. I have also been working on some garden markers for spring! I'm ready for it to be here already!! Hopefully I will have pictures of the new designs soon.

Snow Days

Well we are officially snowed in out here on the east coast. It's deep, cold and still coming down!! I made it back home on Thursday just in time to be blanketed in 30 inches of snow. Luckily I work in my basement so I have still been getting some work done. I decided to take the day yesterday and clean up the studio. It's been a while and when I left I wasn't expecting to be gone for very long and I was in a panic so I left a few things out that I would normally clean up right away. So yesterday in the hopes of clearing my head, and some space for new work, I spent the better part of the day locked down in the basement clearing out boxes and dusting off my work space. I always work better when everything is in it's place. Here are some shots of my little corner of the world, nothing fancy but all nice and clean, waiting for me to create!

Coming home.

Thanks for all the well wishes, prayers and general good vibes sent over this past month, they were all very much appreciated! My mom is doing much better now and is home recovering. I should be able to come back home and to the studio this weekend so if I still owe you an e-mail or contact I will hopefully get caught up next week. I will also be starting on all those orders that have been piling up while I was away.....anyone want to be my intern/clay slave? I can cook for you:) I will sadly not be participating in this years ACC show (had to cancel) but already have a space reserved for next year and hopefully will have my mom there to help me! Be sure to check out my shop in the next few weeks as I restock with new work that I started at the start of the year including some mid-fire white ware.