Garden Markers!

These babies will be available at Artfest tomorrow! I've been using the blackboard stakes in my garden and they are super cute. Write with chalk and change your message, use a china marker to make it more permanent! Both are made from terracotta and will last many seasons. Only available through shows right now:)

Boordy Vineyards Artfest

This weekend I'll be at the Boordy Vineyards Artfest! Come drink some wine and buy some pots! It looks like it will be a great day for outdoor shopping. Saturday June 4th 11am-8pm. Hope to see you there!

Hi there!

Remember me??? I know it's been awhile since I've posted here but I'm hoping to get back into it now that school is over, I'm sure your curious as to what I've been working on in my newly renovated studio! The truth is I've been a little frustrated in the studio lately. I started working with the porcelain clay, which I really liked in the forms of mugs and cups but when it came to plates I found that much of the details in my painted surfaces got lost. I tried a stoneware thinking that maybe a little bit of grog and a buff background would help retain the brush strokes but sadly, no luck there either. I just really like the terracotta surfaces. I'm now on a quest to find a new red clay body that I can work with and in the meantime, I've been going through my stash of Stan's Red in order to have work for the Spring Shows. If anyone out there has a nice red claybody that they like working with, I'm open to suggestions! Thanks:)

More Studio Shots

Here are a couple more shots of my studio space starting with my painting table. This table came with our house and was originally an old door. Someone added some legs and it became a table! I just painted it to match the green color I painted the door. These baskets hold my stamps and decorating tools.
Here is where my little kiln lives! I was pretty much sold on this house when I saw that the basement had a small "kiln room" attached. It's the perfect size for my kiln and I love that it's separated from the rest of the basement so I don't have to worry about the cats (or eventually a child) getting too close to a hot kiln.
This is our studio sink. My husband and I share it which is why it's covered in screen printing ink. I didn't bother to paint that wall!
Here is my finished work storage, which I'm so happy to have added to the studio. I can't believe that I had such a crappy system before. Now I have everything separated by what it is (mugs, bowls, espresso cups...) so I can see what I'm low on at a glance. The bottom TWO SHELVES are filled with "seconds". Yikes!
This baby is my brand new work table. Bought from Ikea, it is supposed to be a kitchen island which makes it really sturdy. I have two boards clamped to the surface of the table. One is covered in canvas and one in smooth slab mats for hand building. I have another set as well so I can switch out boards when I switch out clay colors (white to red) and not get everything mixed up.

Today was my first real day of work in the studio and it was great! There is still a period of getting used to where everything is now but once I get into the flow I'll have so much more space to create! Hope you enjoy looking and PLEASE go check out my etsy sale and help me clear out those 2 shelves!! Everything is being sold at rock bottom prices:)

"After"

Hooray! It's finally back to working order. Here is a mini tour of my newly organized studio space. Don't mind the dark lighting, it's really not that dark when your down there but it is a basement and it only photographs so well:)
This is my throwing area. The table is new and I love how there are shelves on one side and space for me to stand on the other. It's super sturdy so I can wedge and throw slabs with no problem!

Here is my packaging area. I hung some tension rods from the staircase to hold my wrapping supplies and it makes it soooo much easier!

This is my glaze table and dry material storage. Through the door is the kiln room. I wound up keeping my old metal chair and giving it new life with a can of spray paint. I'm still hoping for a more cushy chair to use in other areas of my studio.

Here is my in progress work storage and a wedging table. Michael gave me a little radio (above the scale) that I can plug my ipod in and listen to my music:)

I have a few more detail shots that I plan to share later. Of course there are still plenty of little things to be done but I'm just so happy to have everything back in working order. Tomorrow will be my first regular day back to work since the Holidays!

"Before " Studio tour

I'm getting ready to post a photo tour of my newly re-organized and expanded studio space but first I wanted to be reminded of what it looked like before. This is a great shot because I think it was actually "clean" when I took this photo! Yikes!

STUDIO SALE!

Well, I've been super busy this last week clearing out the basement, painting and re-arranging my studio space. I have lots of new shelves and a new kitchen island from IKEA to use as my work table. I love it! I haven't been back to work yet but I did start listing some sale items in my etsy shop. I have boxes of old work that has piled up over the years....pots that didn't sell the fist time around, pots that are from an old clay body, pots that have small imperfections, pots that were testers or prototypes and pots that I just don't like that much! I'm weeding through them and posting the ones that are still totally functional for a big discount in my shop. If you see something you like be sure to grab it since there won't be another one! I'll be sure to post pics of my studio space when it's all set up.

Back from the Holiday!

Hi everyone, I hope you all had a lovely holiday! Today is my "official" first day back to the studio after my holiday break but to be honest I'm seriously considering taking until the new year to fully get back into it. Michael has the week off from school and I'm really enjoying spending some time with him that doesn't involve working, traveling or visiting with family. For the new year I plan to clean out and reorganize the studio. My goal is to make enough space down there to bring on an intern next year. Plus, it's a dingy basement and now that I'm down there 24/7 I could stand to see it a little more cheery. We have a little money saved and I'm going to paint, get some new studio furniture (as of right now I work on a folding table and metal folding chair, yuck) and more storage. Any studio design suggestions from fellow potters working in smallish spaces?
Also, look forward to a HUGE sale in my shop as I clean out a bunch of pots to make room for my new digs:)

Great Gift Idea for the Hostess!

A great gift for your Hostess, breakfast for the next morning in a pretty ceramic bowl. I am restocking the shop this week so be sure to check it out! Lots of tumblers and juice cups:)

Shop is Empty!

Hey everyone, thanks for coming out to the BEST craft fair weekend! The shop is currently cleared out until I am able to unpack what's left from the shows and restock. Thanks for understanding:)

Great Gift Idea for Him!

It's so hard to find the guys in your life the perfect gift. Make it easy this year by getting him something he will definitely love, a handsome tumbler paired with his favorite beer!

A gift for the cook in your life.

Spoon rests make a great stocking stuffer or pair one with a lovely tea towel and wooden spoon for a completely unique gift! Come see me at Holiday Heap this weekend to pick one out for that special someone.

Gift Idea

Hi there! I'm gearing up for some super crafty shows this weekend and next. As part of my holiday display this year, I am posting some holiday gift ideas for creating the perfect gift using my handmade pottery as the center piece! I thought that I would share them here as well. I'll post more ideas throughout the month. Check my etsy shop to purchase the pottery or just send me a message if you don't see what your looking for. I have most of my inventory packed up to travel the Holiday Show circuit but will be happy to pull something for you:)
Cheers!
-Shawna

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Turkey day everyone! I'm so excited to be spending this holiday at HOME this year:) We always end up traveling for the holidays and while it's great to see the family, it's getting kind of exhausting. We always work so hard during the season, it's really nice to relax and not worry about fighting traffic! My mom is joining us for Turkey tomorrow and I'll be making all the fixin's! You can check out my post on Cranberry Sauce right here on the Lillyella blog. Hope you get some quality relaxation time as well, gobble gobble!

Craft as Economic Catalyst (Ignite Baltimore 6: Megan Auman)

Mugs are out!

I've finally started to unpack and photograph my work from Crafty Bastards. You can check it out in my etsy shop! Lots of new pieces are being unpacked so be sure to check back in the next couple of days to see what's new.

Spicy Sweet Potato Bisque with Smoky Bacon

It's been a while since I shared a recipe on this blog so I thought I would share this tasty soup I made last night. I based it on a soup special Michael and I had last weekend at Annabelle Lee's after Crafty Bastards. It was the perfect thing to eat after a long day of hard work. It's smoky, sweet, a little bit spicy and perfectly comforting on a crisp fall evening.

Spicy Sweet Potato Bisque with Smoky Bacon
makes 4 servings

8-12 oz. thick sliced apple wood smoked bacon, roughly chopped(I used a whole 12 oz. package of Trader Joe's brand but you could use less if you don't want that much bacon)
1 yellow onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 Tbs. dried sage
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
1/4-1/2 tsp. red Cayenne pepper (adjust depending on how spicy you like your food)
2 lbs. sweet potatoes peeled and roughly chopped
3 cups low sodium chicken stock plus 1 cup of water
1 Bay leaf
salt and pepper to taste

Saute the bacon in the bottom of a large, heavy bottomed stock pot. When the bacon has rendered some of it's fat, add the onion and continue to cook until the bacon is lightly browned and the onion is translucent. Add the garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes or until fragrant. Add the dried spices and stir to combine. Add the sweet potatoes, stock and water and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to medium and simmer until the potatoes are soft when pierced with a fork. Remove from heat and use an immersion blender* to puree the soup, leaving some of it chunky for a rustic feel. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
*If you don't own an immersion blender you can also puree in batches using a regular blender but be very careful of splattering....the soup is HOT!

This soup is really filling and delicious paired with a rustic rye bread for an easy supper. It's also pretty healthy aside from all the bacon:)

Plate 500!

Yay! I'm super excited that my plate was chosen for the 500th plate on the "Plate a Day" blog. You can check out the post here. Here is what the juror, Carol Epp had to say about my plate...

"For # 500 I chose "Out of the way plate" by Pink Kiss. The aesthetic of this piece was quite compelling for me as it reminded me of a vintage prairie kitchen, where simplicity and family dinners coexist with hard work and the usefulness of objects, rather than excessive consumption. The statement, "because they were out of the way; no one would see them" printed on the plate opened a number of narratives in my mind. From heart racing love stories to an eerie "what's the building in there" sort of Tom Waits reference. The piece for me was so much more than a one liner. It was a conversation starter. I can picture the place it might hold on a dinner table between family members or close friends. Mealtime when stories are recounted and shared. This piece to me serves more than one function. It is a carrier for food, an instigator of daydreams, and a beautiful object to behold and cherish."

*blush* I'm really honored and blown away by Carol's amazing write up. I really try to achieve just that in my work and it's so great to hear that someone else gets my concept right on the money.

Crafty Bastards

Well everything turned out ok. The kiln was fine and my glaze firing came out just peachy so I had plenty of work for Crafty Bastards. The show was great and it totally made up for all the headaches before hand. M and I even decided to take yesterday off to go to the movies and eat sushi with friends. Today I will need to clean up the studio as in the mayhem of wet-vacing I threw some things out of the way and there is equipment piled on other equipment as well as glaze buckets strewn about the basement. Ugh, I just depressed myself. I did decide during the big soak that it's time to clean up/ rearrange my studio for real. I want to make it feel a little more light and open and less like the basement that I am in every day. Once I do that I think I'm gonna put a call out for an intern. I could use the help for a day or two a week and I think I could be benificial to an aspiring artist....maybe? Anyway, here are some shots of Crafty, they aren't very good but it was the best I could do in the heavy crowds! This was the one time the booth was empty and I had to act quick! I'm really starting to get my display down, just in time for the indoor shows to start. As soon as the sun shows itself again I will be listing some of the work that made it home with me in my shop.

Bad day..

I don't know where you are in the world but here in Md we are getting pounded with heavy rain. All day. I came home from class today to find my kiln room 4 inches under water. Luckily the kiln is on stilts and the electrical parts are up higher than the water can get to. Apparently the guy who installed it did know what he was doing. No damage but I did need to use the kiln tonight to fire work for a show on Saturday.

My original plan for the day was to come home from class, glaze my work and get it in the kiln by 3-ish. What actually happened was this... After scooping up two 5 gallon buckets by hand and getting no where I got out the wet-vac only to find it broken so (tick tick tick) off to Home Depot I go to buy a new one. Back in the studio I spent at least an hour (tick tick) sucking up 100 gallons of water from the kiln room floor. I could only afford the 6 gallon wet-vac and after heaving multiple 6 gallon containers of water into the utility sink I was actually happy I didn't get the larger size 'cause I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be able to lift it.

Once I got the water up I went around the basement to suck up any little leaks that pop up on our floor when it rains really hard (tick tick tick). I came back to the kiln room only to find that while I was gone another inch of water had crept back in. So I sucked that up. And it came back.

I thought it was coming through the door so I plugged that up the best I could with some old towels. Still coming through.

Then I saw it. The waterfall streaming down the stairs coming from one really large crack in the basement steps. Really it's amazing it took me so long to see this because it was shooting water in a steady 3 inch stream out of the step.

Frantically I raced around the house trying to find something to stop the water from coming in. Epoxy, water proof tape... anything! Everything I came across had to be applied to dry surface (hello, it's a leak?) and wouldn't work. I didn't want to drive back to Home Depot for fear that all 4 inches of water would creep back in while I was gone.

Then I had a brainstorm. I just needed something waterproof and moldable to shove in the crack. It only had to hold until the rain stops and we can properly fix the stairs. What I had that fit the bill was old modeling clay from college. I dug it out of my studio drawers (hey, sometimes it pays to be a pack rat), pulled off a hunk, rolled it into a coil and shoved it into the crack. The water stopped. I can't even believe that worked. I found every other major crack and jammed some it to them too. It's still holding.

I wet-vaced up the rest of the water and started glazing my work. Of course I realized that I was out of black liner glaze and had to run to the clay store to get more (tick tick tick). By now it's about 4:15 and the store closes at 5, since it's about 20 minutes away across town I hop in the car and take off. Of course since the weather is so bad there is an accident on the way and it takes me twice as long to get there but I do, just in time. I pick up my glaze and race back home to start my glazing.

It is now almost 6 by the time I get back home and in the studio. It takes me a few hours to glaze but I manage to get everything loaded by 9, which is exactly when it starts to monsoon again and other leaks start popping up. Bah! I am wet-vacing again! I hate the rain today!

Lessons learned:
1. If it's the weekend before a major show do NOT drink too much wine at a wedding on Saturday and decide that you can have Sunday off to laze out on the couch.
2. In a pinch, modeling clay will stop a leak.

I will let you know how the firing comes out.