I’ve been potting like a mad woman these past few days. I am happy to report that my unintended extended break didn’t cause me to forget how to make pots! I have been invited to participate in a show in early December (Flagstaff’s First Friday Art Walk), plus was already signed up for the two-day sale in November. I have a fair amount of stuff in stock but need to make a lot more.

On the agenda for the next month: BIG stuff. Fruit bowls, mixing bowls, platters. Also a ton of spoon rests, a bunch of mugs - I’m going with the “mugs for men with big hands” theme, also some sushi sets and chicken roasters. I should have enough for a bisque firing next weekend.

Onward!

The days are getting shorter, which tells me that I’d better get it in gear and make some pots! I was accepted to a two-day juried show the weekend before Thanksgiving. I have a lot of pots for the sale but need to make more! I will spend this weekend throwing a lot of bowls, some pasta plates and maybe some mugs. Maybe I’ll make some spoon rests and wax burners, too.

Umm, yeah. I’m not going to talk about how long it’s been since I’ve posted here. TOO LONG, is all I’ll say.

I am happy to report that I’m finally back into the clay. Life is settling down a little bit, the home improvements are finished for now, and work is going to become less demanding in upcoming weeks.

The clay that I had in stock became pretty hard and stiff, so I decided to make some big bowls out of it, to get it used up. I made 6-pound bowls which end up holding about three quarts when finished. I left a lot of throwing marks in the bowls to try out some of the new shino glazes from Coyote. I think they’re going to come out nice.

I also have a lot of bisque on the shelf, ready to be glazed. The plan right now is to build up a large amount of bisque through September and early October, and do a lot of firings the latter half of October, and into November. That’s the plan.

Wow. It is hard to believe I haven’t updated this blog for three weeks. Alas, it has been that long since I have worked in the studio. Life has been busy. We’ve been doing a lot of home improvements, including installing ceramic floors in the kitchen and entryway, and hardwood floors in the living room and hallways. It was worth the time away from clay, just to have the beautiful new floors. And, of course, one job leads into another (painting, rugs, window blinds…), and in the end it’s like living in a new house. Nice!

Pictured here are a couple of small frog ice cream dishes that came out of the last firing in late June. All of that work is still sitting on the cart, with the exception of nine spoon rests that sold before I could get them listed on Etsy. I need to make a bunch more of those, they’re very popular. They make a unique, inexpensive gift. I think they’ll sell well at the holidays.

Thrown in just for fun, here are a couple of pics of the fruits of our labor for the past few weeks - new floors!

… the tiles are transformed.

The reds came out especially nice, and the shinos did too. I think I’ll be able to pick a few favorites out of these to add to my color palette.