my computer bites the big one

i took a ton of pictures today. probably at least 200 maybe more before the battery died on my camera. so i'm sitting here uploading all sorts of pictures to my facebook page and my flickr page and all the sudden my computer shuts off my browser. grrrr.... some kind of security feature. guess i really had the data flying. so now i have to figure out where the downloads left off and pick and choose the pictures again. i've said it before, i'll say it again. can't i just make pots!??!!

some good news today though! i got the number for a lady who has a daycare in her house from a friend. i gave her a call today and she's going to be watching all 3 kiddos all day on thursdays! more studio time for me! yeah! plus my husband takes the kids for one full day on the weekends so that's 2 full days for me to make pots! no computers. no cameras. just clay. woo-hoo!  now lets just hope kylie cooperates and doesn't have a complete and total meltdown.

if it works out and i decide i want more time she can take them for a 2nd day, but not sure if i'll do that or not.  my kiln is only so big and the spinny thing in the electric meter spins like the tazmanian devil when i've got my kiln going. the electric company probably thinks i'm growing pot or something.

so now i'm off to re-upload my pictures. check 'em out and let me know what you think!

anybody interested in a mug swap?

for those potters out there, i just signed up for this mug swap on facebook. i've never done a mug swap before but it sounds like fun! 


http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=130407816987445

new work

in a bit of a rush so just a few quick shots...

this was started out as a yarn bowl but it dried out too much for me to cut into it so it's just a bowl now :)  I think i finally got my firing schedule figure out, at least until i can get my hands on a kiln controller. my matts turned out great!

this is an order for soup mugs and plates. i think i made these probably 3 different times. glazes messed up the first time, 2nd time my husband dropped a tool on one of the bowls and i didn't see the crack till it was glaze fired. i guess 3rd time's the charm, these turned out fantastic! 

this is an idea i had for a wall hanging. they're all separate pieces, i'm trying to decide if i should mount them in a frame or leave them be. i kind of like them as they are but can't make up my mind.

  

here's my fish platter. didn't turn out exactly how i was hoping but i think it still looks nice. i'm loving the blue glaze on the background.

new mugs, forgot to rotate the one pic there, oops!
 i can't get these next pictures lined up right. just some misc things...more planters and a tooth bank. my tooth box and a few other things also turned out good, just haven't taken pictures yet.

and finally the death of a good friend. not really but i sure did love these shoes! i think i got them when i was pregnant w/ gracie, over 7 yrs ago! they've been glued together more times that i can count, but now the cork footbed is coming apart. i was walking in them this AM and one just fell off my foot, turned around and this is what i found... SOB!!

whatchamacallits

just a few quick shots of some new greenware. lots of it is in the kiln already so you'll have to wait to see the finished work.

i'm rather proud of this one. it's a whiskey flask/shotglass set. wheel thrown and hand built. hope it survives the fire. this is the first set like this i've made, will make a few improvements on the next one but i'm pretty pleased w/ the 1st attempt.







these are my new mugs. some of them anyway. i've got about 20 of them, some are better than others but i'm liking where these are going. have i showed you this picture yet?? can't remember. they're in the kiln though...

 
here's a big bowl i made but darn it! it almost flew off the wheel head when i was trimming. tore a huge chunk out of the rim of it but i was determined to save it and i did! i evened out the chunk, cut a matching piece from the other side and added the handles. i'm rather pleased w/ this one too. the handles are pulled and each end is split so it attaches inside and outside of the bowl. i jsut hope there are no unseen cracks. and what the heck do i call it now?? bowl? basket? whatchamacallit?

here's my flower vase/swamp vase/ whatever they are. i have no idea what to call these things. seeing all the parts together in the bin reminded me of a bed of sea anemones (i think). most of them are in thrown bowls, one is in a slab bowl. i think i like the slab one the best. although the altered thrown bowls are ok too.  next time i'll leave the tubes simpler for the thrown bowls i think.  one bowl also has a split rim, man those things are fragile! must be more careful w/ them next time.



i've had a few sales on etsy lately and i'm pretty excited about that. i've been working the shop though, relisting like crazy. takes a little time but i think it's paying off. still trying to build my inventory, but man! photography. computer stuff.  i wish i could just make pots! 

so gracie has a friend over tonight, kylie and cooper are both zonked out in their beds. i really should go down to my studio, but considering i have to get up at 4am on mondays i'm kind of pooped! plus kylie was a bit of a screaming meanie today. well. more than a bit actually, but she's so darn cute! so... i already got some good studio time in today, the kiln is cooling, so unless the girls come bug me i'm off to bed myself. 'night!

cameras, peeing in public, pottery, and evil eyes

i've been a busy girl this last week, hadn't had a chance to write about it till now. my camera died the other day so we went out today to get a new one. can't wait to try it out, i think i'll be able to improve on my pictures of my work. while we were out we decided to take the kids to the children's museum and the carousel. between the 2 we walked around for a bit an let the kids play on the rocks, it's all clustered right there together. the kids were running around and i hear Cooper say "Mom....... pee!" I turn around and the boy has his shorts around his knees, hiney shining, and he's getting ready to pee in the bushes! That boy is something else.

a few days ago my friend's daughter came over to watch the kids for a bit in exchange for me teaching her how to use the wheel. it went well, but it's weird trying to teach someone something that you basically taught yourself to do. i know i do things different than the accepted norm. my hand positions are weird, i do things w/ my left hand that i know i should be doing w/ my right. but i can't help it, that's just how it works for me. she's a bright girl though and prefers for me to show her a little and let her figure it out on her own. she's not looking for a career in pottery, she just wants to learn a little and make a few pots and she'll be happy. she made a little miniature goblet/vase looking thing that she was happy with so it's drying now and i'll put it in the kiln w/ my stuff when i fire next time.  i hope she likes doing it and wants to keep it up. i could use the baby sitter and it was nice not being in my studio all by my lonesome.

fridays are turning out to be my all-day-uninterrupted-studio-days and i got a lot done yesterday. i got the kinks out of my french butter dishes and i'm very excited about them now.  figured out how to get the lids to fit perfectly every time. also made a bunch of new flower vases. actually more of a swamp vase i think, but i'm not really sure. i'll have to look it up to see exactly what it is i made lol.

that's all for now. there's more going on here, but for the life of me i can't think of what it is right now. and my husband is giving me the evil eye so i better get off the computer. i'll get some pictures of my new work and show off it and my new camera in my next post.  :)

studio progress and an etsy treasury

just found myself in a very nice etsy treasury, wish i could get a picture of it on here but can't figure it out. here's the link if you'd like to see for yourself.
http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4c0c9cc038f76d919c296380/olive

 i've been a busy girl this weekend. my husband came home and took pity on me, so saturday i had the whole day to myself to tinker around in my studio.  i didn't even have to cook lunch for everybody! of course a fried weenie sandwich isn't the healthiest thing in the world but that's the extent of my husband's cooking abilities lol. i also had a few sales this weekend which is always a confidence booster so i'm feeling better about things the last few days.

so here's some pictures of some of the stuff i've made in the last few days. i've also got about 20 mugs sitting out there in a bin just waiting for handles.

here's a pic of my new improved tooth box design. this one was made on the wheel then carved and sculpted after it dried a bit. i think it looks much nicer than my previous ones, and there's plenty of room for the tooth fairy to fit the $$ in there. i also gave a try on a larger tooth bank. had an inquiry about one so i thought i'd give it a try. turned out pretty good i think!

 here's a custom wedding platter i made for a wedding gift for a friend. notice the date? talk about waiting till the last minute! of course i let it dry too quickly and it cracked in the middle but oh well. besides, after i made it i seemed to remember something almost exactly like it on etsy, though couldn't find it when i looked for it.  i'm not one to directly rip off someone's ideas so i suppose it's just as well. i've got a few ideas for improvements though so i'm excited to get to work on another, more original piece.

 i had some extra scraps from handles so i twisted them up and made some kiln fillers. uh, pendants i mean. i don't know, they just look like christmas ornaments to me. i also made a ton more from scrap slab bits, forgot to get pictures of those though. lots of pendants, earrings, and bracelet parts. i'm trying to make the most of each firing so filling every little gap lol.

here's my drying rack, not full but it's a start.

now kylie has decided to climb all over me so i better go before she turns into the screaming meanie. it's been a good day today so far (except that fit when she first woke up, she's not a morning person at all!) don't want to push it! think i'll try to take her out to my studio and see how that goes. keep your fingers crossed for me!

why does it take so long for you to get things done?!?

i ask myself that all the time. i know the answer of course, but not many other people do. 

some days i just don't know what to do.  i find my studio is just calling to me and it's hard to concentrate on much else. That could be a good thing, only my youngest child is quite the challenge lately.  I've written about her before but i do try to keep this blog mostly about clay. but kylie is having a direct impact on my work and my sanity in general. she's 18mos old and only has a handful of words. i can handle that, my son has apraxia and has been in various therapies 1/2 his life. but he was easy compared to kylie. she has undiagnosed medical problems, nothing life threatening thank goodness. but after going through so many tests it's possible she may have the same 'unknown' problem as a kid in boston. i'm talking about her being case #2. but that doesn't really impact our daily lives like her sensory problems. the kid screams 1/2 the day. the smallest thing sets her off for hours. often i get nervous trying to take her anywhere. she doesn't want to be held. she doesn't want to be put down. she throws herself on the floor and thrashes. i worry about her hurting herself when she's like this so i put her in her crib and let her scream it out. i've recently set up a little tent in her room where she can go for some quiet time. i've bought her a pressure vest to see if it will help. i'm setting up a therapy swing in her room. i've tried brushing, deep pressure, joint compressions. nothing really makes a difference. she goes to OT (occupational therapy) every other week, and i'm trying to get it upped to weekly visits. her OT is stumped. her speech therapist is stumped. nobody knows what's going on with this little girl. we've been to the genetics hosp in helena and they haven't been any help at all, of course they're mostly looking at her medical issues. she's as smart as can be and understands just about everythign we tell her, i guess since she's not mentally impared it's not their area. our doc is supposedly trying to find somebody we can see aobut all this but i haven't heard back from her yet. some days i jsut don't know what to do. if it wasn't for my studio i think i'd be a stark raving lunatic.

i know there are other parents out there in the same boat, some have it much worse than i do. but it's still hard some days. this is one of those days i think. she's finally cried herself out in her crib and i'm pretty sure she's asleep. i'm honestly afraid to look, don't want to disturb the quiet. hopefully she'll wake up and be the happy little munchkin we all love. but if it's the Screaming Meanie as i've come to think of her when she's having a fit i'll still love her too. 

so now i'm going down to my studio for my own 'therapy'. i've been staying up pretty late the last few nights, it seems to be the only time i can get anything done. if things go as planned i'll be bisque firing a load this weekend. i've got soup bowls, mugs, a gorgeous custom wedding platter, couple of planters, that teapot i made a few weeks back, and something that was supposed to be a yarn bowl but i let it dry out too much so it's just a bowl lol. maybe i'll post some pictures if i have the time.

etsy treasury

made an etsy treasury w/ nothing but mud, check it out! it's my 1st one!
http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list_west.php?room_id=100181

also, incase nobody noticed i have a facebook fan page now, the link should be over on the right. :)

not a whole lot going on the last few days clay wise but i'll be back to work tomorrow...