august 12th

something old


something new


something borrowed


something blue

see you at the end of August!

farmers market

Ominous skies to start. We had a brief but powerful downpour to start us off and then although it was chilly and windy, the rain stayed away.


John Jenkins entertained us. It was beautiful.


He has a CD for sale, you can order it from his website.


I sold a lot of the new mugs. I took a lot of orders for custom mugs. I am very pleased that all of my new work is being so well received. I really enjoy making it. Text and clay go very well together.


Thin, thin, thin, turquoise bowls. I need to find a way for this glaze to run less, any ideas?

my favorite ex-husband

This is a public service announcement. There is a fabulous little bookstore and cafe in Golden B.C., called Bacchus Books and Cafe. It is run by Caleb Moss and Niki Dusseault. Also know as my ex-husband and my children's stepmother.


They have books...


a beautiful interior, with lots of selection and witty banter...


and a fabulous cafe upstairs.

They also have a new website and a blog which is worth checking out!

*%&$#@&*

I really thought nothing of it. A normal firing, no alarms ringing, regular 8 1/2 hours. It was very not ok when I opened the lid. Hmmmm, that shelf is tilting at an alarming angle. Oh f___ all of the wedding place cards are in this firing. Ok, be calm, breath. There is nothing you can do, if they are wrecked, they are wrecked. You leave tomorrow, perhaps being a bit more ahead of the game would have been a good idea. No stop, bad self-talk is not helping. Breath...damn it, the kiln is still at 250 degrees, can't move the shelf yet to see the damage beneath. Go inside, pace, calm down, become philosophical about it all. It is what it is. Ok, down to 170, off comes the top shelf. Oh happy, happy day, ALL of the place cards made it.


Not so for the stuff of shelf #2. Everything must have tilted during the firing as the whole shelf spun around. Sadly it came down on my pyrometer/kiln controller thingy. It is very injured, I think it will need replacing. Amazingly enough, I only lost 4 bowls (and the controller, and it looks like some damaged posts/walls and possibly the elements).


It must have happened right when it reached cone. It is amazing to me how pliable it all is at that point. I have unloaded and set bits aside, closed the kiln lid and walked away until I return from holidays.

one more old love and some pots

Waxed and waiting for me to decide just exactly how they will be glazed. I am trying to clear my studio of as much ware as possible before I go on holidays. Only 3 more sleeps...


Beautiful lighting in the studio. They are now glazed and drying before they go into the kiln. Out for the farmers market on Wednesday then another kiln load of glaze firing before I go.


The beautiful and stylish Amy Mann. She has a very powerful voice with a range I like (which means I can sing her songs). She has a new album out and she is still fabulous. Thank you Amy for being done with Till Tuesday and the 80's.

3 new loves and one renewed

Calgary Folk Music Festival was everything I wanted it to be. Good friends, good music, good times. Here we are in the beer garden.


One of my new boyfriends. Formerly of Neutral Milk Hotel, now of A Hawk and A Hacksaw. He is adorable, kind and plays all instruments. I LOVE the accordion and the moustache.


My new girlfriend, Claire Jenkins. She plays with Claire Jenkins avec band. She is witty and funny and flamboyant and she has an AMAZING voice.


A renewed love interest, Wendy McNeil. She is feisty and plays the accordion and guitar. I have loved her for a while but she upped and moved to Europe. Thank goodness she came back.


Totally my number one new boyfriend. I just felt the connection between us despite the other 10,000 people watching him. Andrew Bird, whistler, violinist, xylophone. My own true love (after my fiance).

mother's little helper

Well, I didn't make it to the farmers market today. So we spent the rest of the day in the studio. This is one of my studio helpers. He slept.


Here is a close-up. He is looking irritated because I am disturbing his slumber.


This is the reason I was not at the farmers market. My hair appointment that started at 11am continued through to 2pm. A little too late to get to the market. So we returned to the studio for the day.


My other helper rolled out porcelain and learned how to make hand-built drinking vessels. She did not like the rolling part. She is looking forward to the decorating part. Off to the festival in the morning, see you on Monday.

back to work

Greenware trying desperately to please me by becoming dry enough for me to fire. I am running out of time to get this all finished. I am back in the studio today, loading the kiln, making vases and throwing some more water jugs. Tomorrow is the Farmer's Market and then on Thursday I am off to the Calgary Folk Music Festival.


Look look, I'm real! I started the process to get these signs in March. They have just been put up and I am thrilled. One on either side of the street on the same block as my studio. You can see the arrow is pointing directly at my very yellow house. Yay!

and it was good

I am back from my very relaxing weekend in Banff with my girlfriends. Here is a photo of me with my lovely new market bag from bespoke boutique. I love it, it held everything and is the most perfect turquoise colour. Note my hair, it will be very, very different in the next photo you see of me.


We drank a bit...


We laughed and smiled and told lots of stories. The sun was shining and it was very nice.


Some of us spoke with our hands while we told our stories. We drank some more at various Banff establishments. Oh, and we ate too.


All in all a delightful weekend.

wee break

So the bowls are trimmed,


the handles are on,


the tumblers are thrown,


and I am off to Banff with my girlfriends. See you on Tuesday.

greenware as far as the eye can see

Medium bowls waiting to be trimmed. I have been in my studio throwing pretty constantly. I feel like I need to make a lot because September will be here before I know it. That means classes starting and craft faires coming. I am doing two Christmas gift faires this year as well as my regular studio open house. I need a lot more work than I currently have. I also have a new show that I would like to be working on. It will all happen when it happens.


Freshly thrown coffee mugs waiting for handles (they will have to wait until tomorrow).


Different trimmed bowls drying on the shelves.


A very full damp cupboard also drying. I have all surfaces covered with green pots in various stages. Well, not entirely covered. I have room for about 16 more tiles on my table. I think I will go and throw some tumblers and fill up that wasted space...

a very busy day

The Farmers Market was amazing yesterday. Tons of vendors and a whole lot of shoppers. I had an epic day and I am throwing my fanny off today (if only it were that easy...). Above is a shot of the beautiful wood turnings of Suzette Dunphy from Mystical Turnings. It was sunny too!


Because I have nothing else to blog about I will tell you about the amazing movie I watched the other night. It is a musical called Across the Universe and it is fabulous! I highly recommend it and I LOVE musicals.

progress

My all time favorite glaze. The cups exactly as I imagined them. They are very thin and uniform. I am happy.


Ditto for the bowl. It measures 8 inches across and 3 1/2 tall. It is really light and delicate.


Less than stellar jugs in my mind. A bit thicker than I want them to be, but the colours are good.


My favorite from the firing. A very loose, very unpracticed line drawing of my laptop. I am going to spend my holiday time practicing line drawing and choosing what odd things I want to place on my pots.


Trimmed today, these are exactly what I am trying to head toward. They have very thin walls and I like the balance of the flared foot. I have learned that wanting exceptionally thin pots means that I will be doing a lot of trimming no matter how thin I throw them to start.