Getting Organized!

Besides from getting a great glaze load with lots of tests out of the kiln this week, I'm also really proud of getting all my design patterns FINALLY organized into binders. At first glance, this might not seem monumental, but it is going to save me so much time finding things and I've had the binders, sleeves and dividers sitting on my workbench for at least 6 months. Every time I decorate, I'm digging through a messy pile of transparent patterns trying to find the one I'm looking for. Now I can spend more energy on new designs and getting work made instead of searching for lost patterns. Yay!

What once was lost...

I have been pretty good about sticking with my 15 minutes of organizing each day I'm in the studio. I'm starting to get past the surface clutter and move deeper into the abyss. It's amazing what I unlodged from hiding places in only about 20 minutes of studio purging and organizing this afternoon. The highlights:
• A whole batch of berry bowls thrown, wrapped in plastic, and then lost in the back of my wet rack. These must have been abandoned last summer in the third trimester of my pregnancy. Totally dried out...so sad!
• My little metal decorating turntable which I have been looking for since I got back in the studio this year!
• A plastic tub filled with cut out hearts carefully wrapped in between layers of fabric and plastic. These were an abandoned valentine's day project from TWO years ago. Also totally dried out.
• A stash of sketches, including these super cute oval plate designs that I never made. These were a treat to discover. I don't even remember when I drew these, but I think now that I've found them again they will soon find their way onto the next batch of plates! I love the one on the far right with the ruffly leaf and crisscross flower/pod design.

Spring Studio Clean Out Super SALE!

I am cleaning house, or rather, studio! It's time for all those imperfect but-still-lovely seconds, older pieces and mismatched pots to find new homes. I need to clean off my shelves to make room for new work and new ideas. I usually only do this once a year, if that, so make sure to visit my etsy shop and get them at sweet prices while they last. Whatever is left will be available in my studio on the First Thursday in April (April 7 from 5-9 pm, Northrup King Building, studio #394). My studio mates will be clearing work out too! Part of the impetus for this purging is a renewed commitment to getting things in order. I'm taking Alyson Stanfield's online Get Organized class this month and hope to make some headway taming my habit of piles of paper everywhere and email overwhelm. With the chaos my two little guys create in my life I need to do anything I can to keep things simplified and organized. I've already listed some sale items in the shop, and will keep posting throughout the month.

Foot Fetish

It's not what you're thinking. I've gotten obsessed with footed vessels in the studio this week. It started with a new mold for a hand built serving platter that I decided to put a low thrown foot on, and now it has grown into cake stands, tall footed candy dishes, and I'm even attempting a giant "flower" shaped bowl form that will sit on a tall thrown foot. I'm having a lot of fun with them and will be interested to see where it goes. I'm really enjoying combining hand built forms with thrown forms—surprisingly a new direction for me. My work has always been mainly wheelthrown with a secondary line of hand built slab trays, but rarely have the two met in the same piece. I better stop making and start decorating or I'm going to overwhelm myself with pots waiting to be finished.

Top Ten Pitfalls of the Pregnant Potter - Part 1

I've come across other articles and blog entries about parenting and pottery, how to balance family and work, the challenges of finding studio time with young kids, etc. But, I don't know if I've actually seen anyone address the reality of pregnancy while making pottery. It seems like maybe it's time. So, here is a partial list of the unexpected challenges pregnancy brings to the studio.

1. Not being able to reach the bottom level of the kiln anymore because your stomach is in the way and having to go begging artists down the hall for help.

2. Sticking your stomach into the side of a large bowl or platter while throwing it. I guess this could be a benefit if you go for the "mark of the artist" in your work. In my case, it just ruins the peice.

3. Crushing the rim of a freshly thrown pot with your newly burgeoning bosom. Again, could be a new decorative technique.

4. Can't get your elbow to your hipbone to brace yourself when trying to center a large lump of clay. I know it's back there somewhere!

5. Can't lift a box of clay. My doctor recommended not lifting more than 25#. You've got to be kidding me! Again, the embarrassing need to go soliciting help.

And, I'm just in my fourth month...it only gets better! I'll post the rest of the list later on in my pregnancy. Of course, by then maybe I'll be in that "serene" segment of my pregnancy with a "peaceful sense of wellbeing" and "radiant glow" (never happened with my first kid!) and won't feel like complaining anymore. Or, maybe I'll come up with the other 5 points in the middle of July when I'm standing outside in the heat and humidity doing art fairs in my 7th month. If you have personal experience, please feel free to add your comments if you feel I've missed anything important!

Yummy!

I've finally gotten around to making a new set of test tiles for the studio. I've been meaning to do this forever and it's going to be so nice to have a set that I can hang on the wall instead of digging through boxes looking for mismatched bits and pieces. These are the underglazes that I use for painting the colors on my illustrations. I've tried a lot of different products, but these are my favorites. They are Amaco Velvet underglazes fired to Cone 5. Some of the colors aren't as vibrant at this temperature, but I've found a nice color palette that fires bright and consistent. I apply them to bone dry greenware (I use Laguna Bmix5 clay), then bisque fire and cover with a clear glaze before firing to cone 5. The nice thing about the velvets is that they can be fired without a cover glaze, so I sometimes use them that way for detail on the bottom of pieces. I usually use them at the consistency they come out of the container, but occasionally thin them with water to get a little more of a watercolor look (they are translucent when thin, opaque when thick.) These just came out of the last firing and when I laid them all out they look so tempting, like an amazing box of candy. Next task is to make tiles for all of my glazes.

Loosening up

In between selling a house and buying a house, I've been kind of stalled out on making work for a few weeks. The last few days I've been back in the studio feeling pressure to make up for lost time and also feeling like it's hard to get focused again. So, in between stretches throwing pots, I've been taking breaks to do some sketching to loosen up the creative block in my head. As always, once I just start working, I suddenly start having ideas again. It feels good to get some work started and I'm hoping to have a productive month because I know I'll be consumed with house renovation in April and moving in May and then before I know it, summer shows will be here. 

A Little Bird Told me...

that studios will be open in the Northrup King Building this Thursday, Dec. 4 from 5-9 p.m. as well as Saturday, Dec. 6 from 12-5 p.m. Stop by my studio (#394) to do some holiday shopping in a pleasant, relaxed atmosphere away from the malls. I'll have a good selection of dishes, ornaments (including these sweet little birds) and some of my new tiles. Find lots of other great gift ideas throughout the building! We'll have snacks, cookies and hot tea.

Pumpkintime!

I think having a toddler is the best reminder to be in the moment. I tend to get stuck "in my head" worrying about everything I have to get done, worrying about whether my pottery is good enough, whether I will have enough work done for my shows, will I ever make any money or will I have to go back to a "real" job (although in this economy, what does that mean anyway?), etc. It's easy to forget to appreciate all the things that I should feel lucky about. I've got a healthy kid, a husband that puts up with my business/obsession, a cute (albeit tiny) house, and I get to go to the studio and do exactly what I really love. Eli constantly reminds me to be in the moment as he gets excited about the little things that happen every day. We recently went to the farm to pick pumpkins and he's been excited about it ever since. Every time he sees his pumpkin in the porch he yells "pumpkintime!" I'm going to try coming into the studio and everytime I look at my happy pots, yelling "potterytime!"

Last minute rush...

Today was crazy trying to get everything ready for our big studio event this weekend. Somehow everything always takes longer than I expect. I could hardly wait to get in so I could see how my last kiln load of work turned out. You just never know until you actually open the kiln. I was thrilled with the results and have lots of new work to put out! The kiln gods must have been happy because my glazes looked great and it seems like I've resolved some of the problems I've been having my firings. Here is a vase that came out today. I'm hoping to get photos of a bunch of the other pieces before they leave to find new homes.

Art-A-Whirl this weekend!

I've been working like a dog trying to get ready for Art-A-Whirl this upcoming weekend. This is a huge studio tour throughout NE Minneapolis. Something like 500+ artists participate and crowds of people come through over the course of three days. We've been redecorating our gallery area to freshen it up and really make our new work pop! We painted (we somehow managed to find the wonder color that seems to look good with anything), bought and put together new shelves, are working on new signage and will be busy this week cleaning, cleaning, cleaning. I pulled a load of work out of the kiln last week, have a bisque in now and will hopefully get one more load of glazed work fired before we open on Friday night. I'm really excited about some of my new pieces and can't wait to see them finished. I'll be debuting new designs and new glaze colors. My studiomates will have new work out too. If you're in the Minneapolis area, be sure to stop by the Northrup King Building during the event this weekend. Tons of great art, great food and a LOT of fun.