From Inspiration to Decoration

I get a lot of questions about how I get my ideas and develop my ceramic designs. While I get a lot of my source material for the illustrations from vintage quilts and textiles, I am always looking for bits and pieces of inspiration everywhere. I like to take little visual treasures that strike me and reinterpret to be fresh and new while still speaking to the original material. I thought I'd share my creative process on a new plate design from inspiration to final fired art piece. A while back I picked up an old coffee table book on trees at the thrift store and loved some of the illustrations showing the tree bare and with full leaves.

I spend some time sketching to come up with a design that I'm happy with and then draw a final sketch at the scale I need for the piece I'm planning to put it on.

Then I make a pattern using a piece of clear vinyl shower curtain liner. This way I can see through the pattern to place it on the piece and can reuse it over and over without it wearing out.

Once I've transferred the design, I "stitch" it onto the plate while the clay is still leatherhard and add slip dots for texture. Each stitch and dot is applied individually, by hand. I don't use any kind of roller or transfer or stamp like many people assume.

After drying, I then paint on underglazes, bisque fire, stain and wash, glaze and fire again. My process is time intensive and has MANY steps to achieve the result I want.

The final plate after firing in my electric kiln. I'm calling this design "Winter into Spring". I think I may apply it to some tile designs and it's also making me feel inspired to create a four seasons series in the future.

Hope this helps show the work that goes into making a piece of my handmade pottery. It is a lot of work, but it is a labor of love and it's worth it when the first fired pot comes out of the kiln.

You can find them for sale here in my etsy shop!

Or, visit my studio for First Thursday in the Northrup King Building, studio 394 this upcoming Thursday, June 2 from 5-9 pm. Check out the new sculpure garden outside the building and enjoy a Root Beer Float courtesy of the building. Then come in and enjoy looking at some great art.

A New Addition, Coming Soon!

I'm trying to wrap up all the loose ends both at home and in the studio in preparation for the arrival of my second child in early September. I can't believe the summer flew by without any new blog posts. I guess I found out it was much harder to make pots, do art fairs and basically hold everything together while pregnant and with a 3 year old at home. Somehow I did it, but a lot of stuff fell through the cracks. I'll be out of the studio for the next few months on maternity leave. In the interim, my studio in the Northrup King Building will be open for building events (First Thursdays and Art Attack) thanks to my great studiomates and you can find my work there! I will try to stop by as I can, hopefully showing off my new little man. I will also have new tile work at the Minnesota Tile Festival in Minneapolis on September 18 (thanks to my amazing studio assistant)! My etsy shop will be closed temporarily, but I plan to start posting again in a few months in time for holiday shopping, and I hope to be back in the studio making new work by the end of the year. I will not be taking any new custom orders until January 2011. Feel free to contact me, but know that I may be slow getting back to you as we adjust to our new addition.

First Thursday & Ornament Super Sale-October 1!

Since I'm currently up to my neck in new 2009 ornaments in various states of production, I decided it's time to do a one-night-only super sale on some of my discontinued styles of globe ornaments before I start putting the new ornaments out in November. I generally don't mark these down since they're really time-consuming to make and decorate. The clearance globes will be priced at $18-$20 depending on style (normally $36-$38). This is a great reason to stop by my studio this Thursday night (October 1) from 5-9pm for First Thursday in the Northrup King Building. Enjoy a night out with great art throughout the building (also free parking and refreshments...what more could you ask for?)

Think Spring

Yes. I guess I am really tired of the long Minnesota Winter. No one prepared me for how much longer the winter would feel with a toddler, either. So I'm living in denial of the mountains of grey, dirty snow by making unapologetically springlike work in the studio. I've been playing with some new imagery including new flowers, strawberries and butterflies. Here is a series of canisters that are in process. Picture one is leatherhard work drying with stitching designs impressed. Picture two shows the canisters after they've been underglazed and bisque fired. They still have to be glazed and fired again. I'll post the finished product sometime next week.  I have been making lots of new work and it's really nice to be able to do some new stuff without the pressure of immediate show deadlines. 

If you're looking for a fun evening out, tonight is First Thursday in the Northrup King Building. Studios throughout the building will be open from 5-9pm. I have a ton of new work on display, including some valentine inspired work that would make the perfect gift for your sweetheart. 

Hope you'll stop by--I'm in studio #394!

Art on the Lake this weekend

Fired Bird Platter. This was shown in process in an earlier post.

I have been a crazy lady this past week trying to get everything ready for my first Art Fair of the summer this upcoming weekend. I wish I could find a way to get ready for shows without getting so stressed out. I have a kiln full of glazed pots firing right now, and am trying to remember everything I need to take with me. It always SEEMS like a good idea to apply to a lot of fairs, but when they arrive I always wonder why I am doing them--it's just really hard work plus takes so much time away from the studio. My husband built two new shelves for my booth (these construction projects are always agony during the process but always turn out great) and I made new backdrops and signs, so we did a test run last night setting everything up. I think it's going to look really nice! It was a challenge trying to focus on it with our crazy 17 month old running around getting into everything, but we managed to do it with only one pot broken in the process.

Stop by the studio on Thursday night from 5-9 for our monthly First Thursday event (www.threeninefour.com) and have first choice of pots fresh from the kiln (assuming I have a good firing). Or, come out to Excelsior Art on the Lake this weekend and stop by my booth #01. It 's a fun show, right on Lake Minnetonka. This year they're having live music as well as the usual good art and good food. http://www.excelsiorartonthelake.com/ for more info.