so i thought i'd try my hand a blogging again. lets see how long i keep it up 'eh?

i've never put a lot of thought into pulling handles. it hasn't come as naturally to me as most other things in clay. so for a while now i've been loading up my extruder and have been extruding my handles. but no matter how i position them, or shape them, or whatever i'm just not happy with my handles. so tonight after i got the kids to bed i went out and pulled lots of handles. way more handles than i had mugs for. i did it very grudgingly at first. i didn't like it at all. i've still got a way to go but i'm starting to get the hang of it now. not to say i started to enjoy it, but i will say that my new handles are some of my favorites i've made so far. and they fit my cups much better than the extruded handles.

now meet my new studio companion! he's a bullmastiff and only 3 weeks old right now. i can't wait to get him home! i think i'm going to name him huxley after the evil character in Elmo in Grouchland. yeah, yeah, i know, but Kylie my 2yo is obsessed w/ that movie and mandy patinkin cracks me up in it. plus i like the name. isn't he cute!!

 i tried the rescue route, i really did. i found a really nice dogue de bordeoux that was raised w/ young kids and needed a home, but somebody got an application in before me. i'm a backup incase it doesn't work out but i've been told his new home is a good fit for him. my problem with the rescue mastiff type dogs i've seen is that i have 3 young children. i want a BIG dog. big dogs can do a lot of damage in a short amount of time and i just can't take the risk that one of these dogs could hurt one of my kids. most that i've seen are so damaged and it's heart wrenching, but i just can't take the risk. i know one could come along, but for reasons i'd rather not post here i'd like to have a dog sooner rather than later. so i went the puppy route which is definitely fun but oh so much work. but this way i can train him properly from the start and he'll be used to the kids from the get go. plus he's being raised w/ young kids which is a big plus in my book.

anyway, hopefully i'll be back soon lol. i don't get a lot of studio time because of my youngest. she's a special needs kid and we've been having some problems with her. but i'm hoping to keep you updated on my progress in the studio. i'm getting ready to start working on some new ideas and take some of my work in a different direction and i'm quite excited about it. so stay tuned!

Worst Blogger EVER!!!

Yup. that's me. the worst blogger ever. i've been so busy lately i just can't seem to find the time to actually type out all those blog entries i write every day in my head. i probably write 3-4 a day i swear, just never get around to actually putting them down.

So lets see, i've been quite productive lately and have managed to have 2 shows in the last month. can i just say i'm addicted to actually selling some pots!?! I've been scouring the festival sites for shows in the area and have about 10 possibilities for the next few months. of course there's no way i'll have all the inventory but i definitely want to get out there and meet some people and sell more pots. it's so much fun! and this coming from a confirmed anti-socialite lol. i've been hiding in my little cave for so long it's a major shock to actually get out there, but i've had so much encouraging words from so many people my confidence has definitely gotten a boost.

I must tell you about the disaster at my first show though. i got a booth at the county fair. it's literally right up the street and i can see the fairgrounds from my house. i decided on the spur of the moment to sign up for a 4 day show. WHAT?!? but yes, that's me, jump right in with both feet. so i quickly found a cheepie pop-up tent, built a nice looking display out of shuttered bi-fold doors, and i was ready to go. my set-up looked great. so bright and cheery. nobody could have guessed i built it out of scraps lying around the garage. i had the corners weighted with 5 gallon buckets of water, what could go wrong? wind. duh, i'm in montana. of course there's going to be wind. and lots of it. a gust of wind came out of nowhere, blew in the walls of my tent, buckling the framing and toppling one of my shelves to the ground. the crash was heard through out the fairgrounds. people appeared out of nowhere and held down the tent. we saved all the intact pots and moved everything under an awning where things were much more protected. i probably lost over $500 worth of work. mostly stuff that just came out of the kiln that morning, and most of my anemone vases as i've taken to calling them now. ouch! but i learned a valuable lesson. STURDY SHELVING!!

i did sell a whole lot of stuff and have since gotten a few orders from locals who met me there. i mainly went there to get my name out, and ended up selling way more than i ever thought i would in my little town.

so i built a new set up, returned the piece-o-crap tent and bought a better one. i made some weights using 4"PVC filled w/ concrete. i decided to try it out in Livingston, MT. a city KNOWN for being windy lol. (both feet again). i'm happy to report that the worst wind barely shook my tent. i had people commenting on how sturdy it was and  how good it looked. no pic sorry, but it looked very similar to the picture above.

and i sold lots more stuff! now i'm addicted. so i'll be at the Bozeman farmers market this weekend. i went there about a month ago just to scout it out and it was hopping. everybody kept saying how slow it was though, i guess there was a big festival going on that weekend that i didn't know about. wonder how busy it'll be this weekend?

and here's a few pics of my more recent work, some of which you may have seen. well, this is the most recent work i've actually photographed. i need to get a permanent photo setup if i ever hope to keep up with the photography. can't stand breaking out everything and fiddling with it till i get it right. the vase at the right was entered into the county fair and won a blue ribbon and $5! lol. looks much better in person, it's hard to see all the detail in the picture.

And of course i haven't been reading the blogs i usually follow so i have no idea what's going on out there. i promise to try and be better now! so check back and see if i keep my word. ;)

Christmas in July Sale!

Many members of the Etsy Mud Team have joined together for a Christmas in July sale. For a list of participating shops click here.  Now's the time to buy some great pottery at a great price! I've got some ornaments in the works, they should be up by this weekend. I'm also offering free domestic shipping on orders totaling $50. International shipping will also be discounted. so Check it out!!

Fired up the kiln last night for another glaze load! Thats probably the 2nd glaze fire since you've heard from me. I've been really busy lately. Lots of new work to show you. I decided to get a sitter for all day on thursdays so my sanity has been restored lately and i'm getting lots of work done. I'd love to do a 2nd day but i have to get selling more pots first! Kylie does well at the sitters house and i've got a full day all alone. I've got 50 items in my etsy shop and probably just as much more work to photo and list. so today my husband is taking the kids and i'm headed to the studio again. I'll write more later, i'm on the tiny little keyboard on my phone and the buttons are really small!

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!!