I finally had something for my own kitchen in the load that came out of the kiln last Monday. I have been promising Paul and myself that I’d make some plates for our kitchen for over a year now. So, along with a few vases, a platter and some various sized bowls, five plates made it into the firing. Rather than matching them, I decided to just do whatever glaze felt right for each plate. We had company for dinner last night and the table looked fun and festive with the variety of colors and patterns.

I think I’ll try to put one or two plates into each future firing. I’ll put my favorites in the kitchen and once I have six or eight, I’ll move on to bowls. It is fun to contribute to my own kitchen while filling orders for other people and creating inventory for upcoming sales.

Last year ended with a bang - or more like a bomb went off in the studio! Preparing for the shows and getting ready for the holidays just about buried the work table, floors and desk. So, instead of making ceramics over the holiday break, I cleaned.

Paul helped me install new wire rack shelving in the closet and I organized all of the tools, jars and buckets of glaze, underglaze colors - pretty much everything that was on the shelves and work table was moved into the closet. Then we put fresh, clean canvas on the work table and the room was ready to go. Now the work table is ready for use and the shelves are clear and ready for more work.

Outside was an entirely different problem - snow. This is the snow from Christmas week and I just shoveled the path back to the kiln yesterday. Yeah, this snow fell over two weeks ago! It hasn’t been very warm and it’s melting off slowly. The kiln was pretty well buried and I got a good workout clearing it all out.

The snow that’s still on the roof of the kiln house can stay there until next weekend when I’m ready to load and fire. Hopefully by then, more of it will have melted off.

I haven’t mentioned yet that I sprained my wrist in a skiing accident on January 2nd… so the year is getting off to a slow start. I am happy to report that I was able to get a lot of glazing done this weekend and expect to be back at the wheel in a couple of weeks.

I love to read the blogs of other artists. Today, I was excited to learn that Vicki from Keeta Collection featured one of my spoonrests in her blog. Never one to pass up a fun new blog, I learned that the Keeta Collection is a fun mix of tote purses, diaper bags, handbags and more. I love bags and hers are adorable!! Pop on over there and browse for something special.