Giveaway!

Right now I am offering a giveaway through the ILash Girls blog. You can win 2 of my "Simple" dishes just by leaving a comment. How easy is that? You should hop on over there for a chance to win......well, what are you waiting for? Go! (click here)

Taking a leap.

This post isn't really about the pendants I have posted above but I don't have any pictures to go along with this topic so instead I'm sharing the pictures I took yesterday. I'm trying to clean up the pics for Clayworks but I lost the light yesterday when a storm rolled in and blocked out the sun so I'll try again today.
This post is really about the god things that can happen when you take a risk and follow your heart. Most of you know that this spring I quit my job teaching elementary school. I just felt that there was more out there for me and I really needed time to work in my studio. I've been really stressed this summer wondering what I was going to do to make ends meet, if my pottery was really going to support me and pay my share of the bills.(By the way I just have to add that Michael has been so supportive and never doubts me one bit...all this stress is self induced) My studio is really bare at the moment and I have lots of work to catch up on but a few great opportunities have come my way, I will share them as they get closer but for now are still secret:) It still takes a LOT of pots to make a living and since I really have trouble charging what I should for them it's a slow process of bringing in money. So how does any of this relate to the good that comes from following your heart? I just accepted a job offer from Towson University to teach a couple of their Art Education classes. Having student teachers is something I have always loved doing and I think I'm pretty good at so this will be a really neat opportunity. It's only 2 days a week so I will still have plenty of studio time but will also have a paycheck coming in. Not to mention I've always wanted to teach at the college level. It's funny how things sort of fall into place when you just give yourself up to fate. This might not be a long term thing but for now it's helping my stress and opening a new avenue for me. I really do love teaching I just couldn't do it full time, 1 hour away anymore. Towson is only 15 minutes from my house so no more highway commute!! So from now on you can call me.....Professor. Just kidding!

Another day of jet lag.

I still haven's fully recovered from the red eye flight + time difference. Michael and I successfully slept in until noon today. By the time coffee was made I found myself asking him if he was hungry for lunch or dinner. He never answered so I settled for waffles with nutella along side of fruit and yogurt. I really need to get to the market to restock on fruit and veggies. The farmers markets of Seattle had me wanting to get back in my kitchen. I was so bummed that I couldn't take any of the fresh produce with me! Here are some pics from Pike's Place Market, just 5 blocks from our hotel!

I'm Back!

Ok, we got back Monday morning but having been on a plane since 11 the night before I wasn't much in the mood for blogging. Today I had to drive to PA to pick up the kitties and then back again to work on updating my resume...don't ask, we'll talk later. Seattle was fantastic!! I loved it there and would move in a second, well if my mom came too (Michael is a given, he has to come!). Over the next few days I'll share some pictures with you so you can see what an awesome place Seattle is too. Here is a picture of the view from our hotel room, we stayed on the 37th floor of the Westin, fancy right??? Thank you Hotels.com for making our 4 star hotel budget friendly. That's about all for tonight though, it's after 12 and I can barely see my keyboard anymore. Time for a little TV and bed. See you tomorrow!

Vacation time!

Things will be quiet here as I am taking a summer vacation! Check back later in August as I will return with some new pots I am just about to unload from the kiln and I also have quite a few surprises in store but you''ll have to wait a little longer for more info. Until then, enjoy the last month of summer and see you in a few weeks!

Necklace Designs

Here are some photos I have been taking for an upcoming show this fall. I'm still trying to work out some necklace designs and here are a few of the designs I have come up with so far. Once I get enough for the show I will list the extra in my etsy shop, just in time for the holidays!

Mugs?

Sorry to be absent the last few days but I have been playing in the dirt outside my house for a change! I ripped out the forest of weeds in the backyard and in their place planted some really pretty flowers, a butterfly bush and lots and lots of herb plants. I know I'm kinda late in the season for such a big overhaul but everything I planted is supposed to be hearty and come back next summer. Now my backyard is petty but I am covered in bug bites! So my itchy self decided to take a break today and work on some stuff inside. It helps that it's been raining all day. I took some pictures of some new pots and some stuff for Michael to list in his shop. Here are some mugs I made using my new molding technique, not sure I like the hand built handles. Thrown doesn't look right but these look too.... amateur-ish? I'll have to play around a little more. Handles are my least favorite thing to make. I have never felt really good at it so I guess that's why. Oh well, here you go anyway!

Back in town...again.

We are back in Baltimore, again. This weekend we are not traveling (can you believe it!!) but we are having a BBQ to celebrate Michael's 30th birthday which we had to work during. In preparation I cleared out massive amounts of weeds from our back yard. We have these lovely garden plots in the yard but I have no idea what to put in them so they wind up just growing weeds and squirrel planted trees. I didn't have a yard growing up (we lived in a condo with a small garden that my mother is fabulous with) so I feel kinda lost when trying to landscape our lot. Hopefully this week I will be planting some things which I'm hoping will keep the weeds down. They can't grow if something is already there right? Anyway, if you are curious as to what I look like I thought would post this picture of me that Michael took with his iphone at the wedding we just attended. I rarely like pictures of me but this one was ok. I didn't even know he took it!

Off to PA...

Michael and I are off to a wedding in Pa this weekend and we are just working a little this morning before we have to hit the road! I'm kind of excited to wear my new dress this weekend as I splurged on a nice black cocktail dress for the many weddings we have ahead. This morning one of my tasks was to get the kiln unloaded and I wanted to share a few things that came out! It's kind of gray here today so the pictures are not quite as clear as I would like but what can you do? Can't control the weather:) I'm really excited about the petal bowls in larger sizes and the slow & steady cookie plates. They are all being listed in my etsy shop so stop by and check them out!

New stuff on etsy!

Finally I have posted a few new pots on etsy and there will be more to come! I have a shelf full of glazed work waiting to get turn in the kiln tonight so hopefully there will be some pretty new glazes coming out this week. Michael and I have a wedding to go to this weekend so sadly will not be at artscape this year:( I hope you can go anyway and check out all our awesome B-More peeps who will be there. Also, the car is now fixed and back in it's parking space, hopefully safe. It actually looks better than it did before it was hit...I think they washed it! Now I just need the check from the insurance company and all drama will be over. Phew!

Back and Inspired!

A crazy drum circle we ran into our first night in town.
Michael made fun of me for taking a picture of a street sign.
Here we are at the "scenic view" about 2 hours away from Asheville.

We are back in town from our trip to Asheville, North Carolina and we had a blast! Some highlights include....awesome food (our favorite was the Tupleo Honey Cafe), cute downtown with crazy good street music, The Big Crafty of course (we were 2 tents down from Mudstuffing and I came home with one of Keith's peep show mugs!) and a walk around the river arts district where we got to see just a few of the many many potters who live in Asheville. Wow, there are a lot. Today I was read to be back in the studio and spent some time mixing up glazes and sitting at the wheel, something I haven't done in a while since I've been pretty into handbuilding lately. It felt good to have the clay in my hands again and I can't wait to try out some new ideas that have been stewing in my head:)

BIG CRAFTY THIS SUNDAY!!

Hey everyone, come visit me at the Big Crafty in Asheville, NC this weekend. We'll be leaving real soon (in our rental Kia Sportage) to check out the town for the first time:) If your in the area make sure to stop by and check out our tent. It's Sunday from 12-6 at the Asheville Art Museum.If you can't make it don't worry, I'll be listing whatever I take back home next week in my etsy shop!

Wiped out.

Yesterday everything caught up with me and I wound up doing zero studio work and more or less sleeping on the couch all day. It actually made me feel better. Today I got up, called the car company, called for a rental car and got things moving on the whole car repair front. It took 3 trips to enterprise and many phone call from one branch to another to finally get us a car that will hopefully fit all of our stuff for the upcoming trip to North Carolina. Michael is thrilled with the "new car" and has taken it on his errands leaving me with his old Honda. It's his birthday so I'll let him have his fun. I have another bisque going right now so hopefully after this weekend I'll finally be able to put some new work in the etsy shop. Until then here is another pic from the last batch.

Back to reality.

We are back from NJ, we were in Ramsey for the Woodstock weekend, an event my brother helped organize. He had asked us to set up our booths for the show on Saturday and we gladly agreed since we don't really have any shows we normally do on 4th of July weekend. The concert was great and we had prime seats for the fireworks which was really nice. I felt a little disorganized since we couldn't fit all of our normal display into Michael's Honda, including the tent, and I felt like the set up was not up to our normal standards. I did get to hang out with my family for a day or so and see my niece and nephew. This morning it's back to reality. I have to take my car in to get an estimate of damage and hopefully a rental car. We need to get a car that's the same size as my Vibe and will fit all of our stuff since this time we're driving to Ashville for a show this weekend. I'm hoping to not have to argue with the insurance company (hers not mine) over this. This whole situation is costing me much needed time in the studio. Anyway, here are some pictures of a new sushi set I took out of the last firing. I think I really like the addition of the stain on some of the other pieces. I just wish I had a good recipe for a clear satin glaze that fires to cone 03. Anyone have a recipe they could share? Does such a glaze exist?

SMASH....

La la la...here I am just taking some pics of new pots when........
SMASH!......and there goes the weekend:( My car needs a makeover.

Well I was trying to take pictures of my new cups this morning when we hear a load booming noise. "Is that thunder?" Michael asked. "No, I don't think so." I replied, looking up at the bright blue sky through the open window. As I looked a little closer to investigate I noticed our next door neighbor running up to our door yelling and quite upset. We ran to see what was wrong when he informed us that a lady had just hit my car and drove off. His sister-in-law took off in her car in hot pursuit! He immediately called the police as Michael and I stood there kinda dumbfounded with "wait...what...?" looks on our faces. The police rolled up sirens blazing while we (by "we" I mean the neighbors who totally had our backs) gave them directions to where our one neighbor and her sister had cornered the car. They actually got the driver to come back. We have the greatest neighbors. She was preg-o, chain smoking, didn't have a license, claimed to have peed herself and well....isn't that enough? She claimed to have driven away because our neighbor yelled at her. Duh, you hit a car, of course he yelled at you. And she also said she didn't see my car....you mean the big red one parked in front of the house along with all the other cars parked on the street? Anyway, we filed a police report and called the insurance companies. Hopefully this will all get sorted out but in the meantime my poor car is not drivable. We are supposed to be leaving for a weekend trip to NJ and next weekend we have to go to NC. Our stuff doesn't fit in Michael's car so we either have to have my car fixed by Thursday or get a nice rental that will fit all of our work plus the tent. Ugggg. I don't even want to think about it. I hope your weekend is filled with less exciting fireworks....at least the kind that are pretty.

It worked!!

My glaze came out, YAY!!!! Here are some pictures from my most recent firing. The solid blue is my new formula. The bentonite worked and it went on super nice. The "simple" dish is an experiment with brushing a stain under the final coat of glaze. I like the way it turned out but I think my clear was a little too thin this time around and I didn't get that thick glassy surface I like so much. My next challenge will be how to combine the two surfaces. The new one is a little too matt for the interior of vessels but I'm trying it out layered over the gloss to get a semi-matt. The next load will be out hopefully tomorrow and with any luck I'll have some good pictures to share next week.

2 firings 2 days...

Well it's amazing what the addition of 1% bentonite will do for a glaze formula (especially when you were supposed to put it in to begin with!). I haven't fired yet but it already feels better. Much more like a glaze that will stick to the pot! I don't have pictures yet but hopefully I will soon. My little kiln is getting quite the workout this week as it's already taken 2 bisque firings and as soon as it's cool enough it will be glazing, hopefully twice before our show this weekend. I did want to give a little sneak peek at these awesome keys I bought from etsy a few weeks ago. I made molds of them and am trying to incorporate them into the jewelry I need to make for an upcoming show. My original idea was to totally cast them in porcelain but I don't want to fire my kiln that high just for some keys so I'm going to see if I can try to make it work with my red clay. We'll see. I'll keep you posted on how that's turning out!

Glaze testing this weekend

Yesterday I went to Clayworks and picked up a long list of new colorants and a few new ingredients to test some new glazes this weekend. I will be remixing the glaze that ran all over my kiln shelves so wish me luck! I'll be using the old shelves just in case :) Hopefully now that I have all the right ingredients it will turn out better.

Craving....

This morning I woke up with a craving for pancakes. Too lazy to go out I thought I would make some but I didn't have any eggs. I bought eggs at the farmer's market the last time I was there and they were so good we ate them all up and I'm holding out for more farm fresh rather than the regular market eggs. I needed a recipe for bread, preferable something I could put the fresh butter and pear,cardamom and sage jam that also came from the farmer's market all over. I wound up finding a recipe for drop biscuits that took about 20 minutes from start to finish including bake time. Sold! Michael and I savored the fresh, warm biscuits slathered with fresh butter and homemade jam. I no longer crave pancakes:)
Click here for the recipe.

Playing catch-up

Clay shavings from all the new pots:)
(above) Bowls drying, hand thrown slabs formed over thrown bisque molds. (below) Rows of new rectangular dip dishes and salt and pepper pots.

Well I hope you got out to check out Pile of Craft because it rocked! It also left me pretty out of stock for most things. Not that I'm complaining (at all) but it has caused me to be locked away in the studio for the last few days. Michael and I did make it out for about an hour last night to check out our new local farmer's market and get some ice cream. We will be making it a weekly trip since there was some seriously tasty looking food there that we didn't get to eat since we had dinner before going. I did buy some tasty looking beets and a couple of grass fed, all natural pork chops to throw on the grill later. Anyway, I thought I would take a break today while some slabs are drying to give you a little peek at what I'm working on. The studio is a mess so don't look too close:) I also figured out what went wrong with that glaze a few months ago...I just looked up the original recipe in my sketchbook and when I copied it down for the studio I left out an add-in ingredient. Doh! I will be remixing and retesting later on so I'll let you know if the results are any better.