Wee Little Piggies

 

My sister asked me to make her a salt pig and she wanted a tiny one. Of course you can't make just one!

I am loving these wee little pigs! Not only do they take up less room on your counter, they are adorable too. I am going to start offering this size as an option to the larger salt pigs. The large ones have been selling like crazy on Etsy. I have been making more salt pigs than piggy banks during the pandemic. I imagine it's because people are spending more time in the kitchen. The other plus for the wee little pigs is that I can tuck them around Jeff's vessel sinks in the kiln. They are a good little kiln filler.

My sister chose the matte black and he looks great on her granite counter top. Something tells me that I might be making a lot of these in the coming months.

Be well and remember the three W's........... Wear a mask, Wash your hands, Wait 6' apart.

Have A Beautiful Weekend

For many years we have spent the first week of August at the base of Mt. Sunapee in Newbury, NH, at the League of NH Craftsmen's Fair. While there, we always missed prime vegetable and flower garden time here at home. Last year we took a break, stayed home, and enjoyed our garden. This year, since we are in the midst of a pandemic, we get to participate in the fair AND stay home and enjoy our garden. 

Life has certainly changed since March. 

The fair started this morning and runs for nine days. Take a look at the fine craftsmen that are participating. Click through the site and watch some demos and take a tour through the Art, Craft, and Design exhibition (it's always fantastic!).

https://nhcrafts.org/virtual-craftsmens-fair/

Piedmont Craftsmen Virtual Show - July 25, 2020

Potters are good at being creative, especially during a pandemic. In person shows and exhibitions have been cancelled through the end of the year. We don't do many shows but do enjoy the one or two we do each year. We are juried members of Piedmont Craftsmen and we will participate in their first online show happening on Saturday. The show is on a really cool format where you can actually video chat with the artists during the show! We hope to see you there.

Here are the details:

Piedmont Craftsmen is excited to present our first ever Virtual Fair on Saturday, July 25 from 4:00 to 7:00 pm EDT!

Join us and more than 30 of our Exhibiting Member Artists taking part in this live virtual event. Shoppers and visitors will be able to interact with each Craft Artist face-to-face from their studios, through easily accessible chat rooms via our Virtual Fair platform.

To visit the Virtual Fair, all you need is a smart phone, tablet, or computer with an internet connection. Click on the link to pre-register: https://my.boothcentral.com/v/events/piedmont-craftsmen-virtual-summer-fair Enter your name and email address, and we’ll send you reminders as the event approaches. This event is free to attend.

The Happy Place!

I am starting an online watercolor class this weekend! It's another course on the Teachables platform, with The Happy Ever Crafter. I really enjoyed the modern calligraphy course so when I learned about this one decided to sign up. I had a few watercolors missing from my collection so I went online and ordered them along with a few other items I needed. Shipping has been absolutely crazy lately. This order originated in Kernersville, NC, then went to USPS in Greensboro, NC, where it sat for 5 days! Finally, it arrived in Seagrove seven days later. I was getting worried that I wasn't going to get my paint in time for the start of the class.

Last week I experimented with creating watercolor backgrounds using plastic wrap.

It was a fun process with some interesting results.

I doodled over this background with a combination of colored pencil and water color pencils. Not sure about the end result. It has grown on my over time, but there are elements I am not happy with.

Part of the problem is that I am not crazy about my watercolor pencils. They are from Arteza, not the best quality. My regular colored pencils are Prismacolor professional series. I love them and have had them for 20+ years. What I do need is a blending pencil. Once I get one I will try this technique again using only the Prismacolor pencils.

I am off the spend the rest of the day glazing piggy banks and salt pigs. We have a kiln that needs to be fired!

Putting Pen and Paint to Paper

Throughout these months of isolation paper, paint, and ink have become my new best friends. I have created a lot of note cards over the last four months. My lettering still needs practice. Layouts are the hardest thing to master! There are a few obvious mistakes in the cards in the photo, but they are fine to send to family and friends. I need to purchase some good card stock, for now I am using some flimsy stuff that I have on hand. It's fine for practice work. At this point I prefer to spend my money on pens, something that I have always had a weakness for... now I have a good excuse to buy them!