Happy Halloween!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMnk7lh9M3o

So if I could figure out how to put the actual video here I would, however, it is worth the click it takes to get to it.

Happy Halloween to all those who lived with this video in the original. Ahhh the memories...and some very, very impressive dancing. GO PRISONERS GO!

bowls, bowls, bowls and one lovely tea light

Medium sized bowls waiting to be trimmed.



Bowls as far as the eye can see.



Small bowls freshly trimmed.



Frost tea light with dragonfly stamp. Many more of these to come. The photo does not do them justice, they are BEAUTIFUL!

the big order

Just a quick post to tell you that when it rains, it pours. The Kicking Horse Mountain Resort mug order came in. I think I have until Dec. 10th however, so first to focus on is the craft faire which is in just 3 weeks. Oh and just to let you know that I had a BIG battle with Frost porcelain today. It completely kicked my ass. I am going to try some tips that I have recently been given. On a plus note, it makes beautiful jewelry. Perhaps that is what I will be doing with it...

random bits

I have been busy lately trying to get the studio ready for the opening as well as actually create pots. I fired a bisque load last night with a huge sigh of relief. Once the cycle is going it feels pretty good, throw, clean-up, bisque, wax, glaze, fire, decals on, fire, start process over again. I am very excited about what is going to be coming out of my studio. So in lieu of actual finished pots, here are other photos. The one above is of the lovely hand-built teapot by Katrina Chaytor. I apologize for the colours in the photo, it really is much more vibrant and beautiful but with the combination of dull, rainy weather and not using a flash, this is what I got.



Risa wanted me to take a photo of the water jug that I made just for her. She loves it and always remembers to put it on the table as I often forget.



This is the plate that Matt and I collaborated on. My form and decal making skills, his woodblock print from his drawing. It won an award. Again poor photography.



Seems to be a run on bad lighting today. Here is the studio wall all dolled up in turquoise, or rather, Island Fantasy as it is called by the paint company.



Here is a much more accurate representation of the colour of the wall. These shelves are used in the gallery and then schlepped to the craft faire to do double duty as display stands. Space is at a premium in my little studio. I actually really enjoy having limitations put upon me, I seem to find a way to function at my best then. Small space = really organized clean looking space.

another great day in the studio

Lovely, uniform mugs.



More lovely uniform mugs of a different shape.



The view from above. I had a GREAT DAY!

my new shelves

Note the very cool turquoise chairs that I found at the thrift shop!
Try not to note the fact that I still don't have trim around the window.



Shelves full of stuff that I would like to see disappear.
I had a lovely hammer session this morning, so invigorating!



Display shelves for the craft fairs and markets cunningly
used as extra shelving in the gallery.



A mini view of the large turquoise wrapping/cash station.
A couple more weeks and the gallery should be finished.
I have my sign and am just waiting to add trim before I put it up outside.

Pollyanna rides again!

Those who know me (and are probably the only ones reading this) would characterize me as a glass half-full kind of girl. Those who know me really well, know that what comes along with this fabulous almost constant sense of well-being is the really crappy times when it is not well at all. Kind of like a roller coaster but mostly the wonderful highs. Perhaps I am particularly unsuited to the lows because I am so used to the highs. Anyway (and I do mean the word in its proper usage: in any event, any way you look at it, etc) I have been having a bit of a low lately. This always seems to focus itself on my view of myself as an artist. Questions like 'what were you thinking quiting teaching for ceramics?' seem to echo in my head. After a bad day or no days in a row in the studio I become quite disheartened and convinced that I will not be making a living playing with clay. You know, those kind of days where everything you do kind of sucks (mostly the art). I am having one of those kind of couple of weeks. I do know they will pass, and I do know that I will view things differently again, but the during really sucks...and then something happens that turns it all around. Something like receiving a phone message from a show sponsor who tells you that someone in Louisville Kentucky is trying to track you down so that she can buy one of your pieces that she saw when she was on holiday in Canada this summer. Not just any old piece, but one of the two pieces that had been selected to tour in a ceramics show with Les Manning, Katrina Chaytor and Ian Johnson. Then you start to reflect on how great that really all is. You write an email to this lovely woman and direct her to your Etsy site where the piece she wants is still for sale. Then you smile and post to your blog.

Frost Update

Major s-cracks across the bottom of each vessel. I am going to keep them to continue with the process and see what else happens. I think I dried them too quickly and I didn't have them in the damp cupboard at all. I will throw more next week and dry very slowly. Today I am throwing water pitchers and making some large altered serving dishes. Same tomorrow and then off to Edmonton to see the Weakerthans with my girls. I love road trips!

I LOVE FROST! (porcelain)

Many months ago (maybe even a year) I had purchased two boxes of Laguna's Frost cone 6 porcelain. I fire to cone 6 and have used porcelaneous stonewares and a porcelain clay body for many years. I wanted to try something that would be very translucent, something I had been told that Frost was. Then after purchasing the clay, I spoke with many people, ALL of whom told me that Frost was horrible to work with. It was hard to throw, it cracked, it didn't like attachments...etc.. So I was was afraid of my new clay. Today I decided that really it is only clay and how bad can it be? So far, not bad at all. It is beautiful and white and creamy textured. I love it. It was not difficult to throw relatively small uniform, thin-walled vessels. I am not pushing my luck with trying attachments yet. The vessels I threw this afternoon have been stamped with my dragonfly and if all goes well, will become beautiful luminous candle lanterns. I will post photos IF they survive drying without cracking and IF they survive the firing and IF they are as translucent as they are supposed to be. I am very excited.

The new studio space

Oh so organized in a very, very tiny space.


The view from the gallery to the studio.


Another view from the gallery.