Cheesy Goodness and The Gingerbread Men Saga

Doesn't this look like a big gooey, cheesy mess? It sure was, and was it ever delicious. I make pizza nearly every week. A few days ago I decided that I would give stromboli a try instead. It was actually easier to do than pizza because there isn't that neat trick of sliding the pie off the peel and onto a hot stone. The dough is rolled like a jelly roll and placed on a lightly greased cookie sheet. I never follow recipes exactly and for the stromboli I combined two. I stuck with my "go to" dough recipe, which you can find here:
pizza dough
and this Emeril Lagasse Stromboli recipe: stromboli
I switched the filling to what we like; pepperoni, sausage, sweet onion, red pepper, garlic. I also added a little bit of pizza sauce to the filling. Of course there was lots of mozzarella and parmesan cheese in there too.
Yummy! I can't wait until next week so I can make it again.

You may recall that a few weeks ago I decided to make ornaments once more. Don't ask me why, since the first bunch took FOREVER to sell. The last firing was mostly the slip trailed gingerbread men and I spent last night sanding and stringing them up. Cooling in the kiln right now is an assortment of animals, hearts, and stars. I was thinking I would have a good selection to take to the show next week. Wouldn't you know, someone came in the shop today and commented on how much she loved the gingerbread men, but it was too bad that I only had three because she needed twelve. I really made her day when I said I had a whole bunch more that I hadn't put out yet. Let me tell you, selling twelve in one fell swoop was a heck of a lot better than one at a time at $8. There is something about an $8 sale that makes me want to cry. A $96 sale feels much better.
and now I am back down to a handful of gingerbread men... I wonder if I have time to make a few more before the show???

Mugapalooza

We fired the kiln on Monday and needed it to be cooled and unloaded by 4:00 on Wednesday. Jeff and I both had mugs for the Randolph Arts Guild, Mugapalooza Exhibit. We don't really like to hurry the cooling but it all worked out and our mugs were delivered on time. The exhibition opens on November 4, 2014 at the Sara Smith Self Gallery, 123 Sunset Ave, Asheboro NC. It looks like there will be 20 something artists with 10 mugs each so the selection should be very interesting.

We had an order for one of Jeff's sugar jars, decorated and glazed like my water color mugs. Potters can't make just one of something, so there will be a few more in the gallery and to take to the next show.

The first batch of ornaments is out of the kiln. I like how the gingerbread men look without glaze. They seem a little more "cookie-like". I will add blue and red ribbons for hanging, and then we shall see how long they hang around! There are a few more to slip trail today. This second round has some new shapes to play with. A good customer gifted me with a nice assortment of cookie cutters.

I couldn't resist making the frowny face guy. I just might have to keep him!

Run, run, as fast you can...

You can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread man!

A couple of weeks ago Linda Starr wrote a blog post about making holiday ornaments. I left a comment saying that I had made some in the past but they never sold. I had given most of them away as gifts. 

When I was packing for the the last show I came across a bag with the leftover ornaments. I decided to bring them with me and guess what... I sold quite a few. So of course I came home and made more. The last bunch I glazed half of them and left the other half unglazed. I like the look of the unglazed better. The best part is that no glaze means one less step in the process! Tiny things are great because you can tuck them in around other stuff when firing, but they are a pain in the a$$ to clean up before the going into the bisque kiln. I will be taking these to the Celebration of Seagrove Potters show next month. 

Jeff and I had a visit from Crawford Horne, yesterday. He is the wood fire potter that curated the W. Virginia show that Jeff was invite to this past summer. Crawford had been to Scotland awhile back and visited a potter there name John Christie. He told us about a video on Christie's blog that we might enjoy. It's beautifully done. It's about 12 minutes long, and I think you will find it's time well spent.

count down to Christmas...

The holiday open house weekend is behind us. Sales weren't spectacular but we had some past customers come in for new pots and I am sure we acquired some new fans as well. The weather was so warm that it seemed almost silly to be serving hot chocolate, at least the chocolate chip cookies went over well!
If we were slightly disappointed with gallery sales, our Etsy sales and special orders certainly made up for it. We fired the kiln over the weekend, unloaded this morning, and shipped many of the pots out today...

I had set a goal to double my Etsy revenue this year and I exceeded that goal last month. I finally feel like I have the momentum going now. It seemed like a lot of work at first, but once you get it down it's much easier... way easier than packing up to go to a show. Since Jeff and I have separate shops, we have a lot of fun with healthy competition and cheering each other on. This is what people that don't have cable or satellite TV do for entertainment!

6 more sales and I will finally be at 100, maybe these new ornaments will help to get me there...

I can't believe it but...

it's true.

I am making Christmas ornaments this year. Jeff and I talked about this last year but didn't get around to it. Many years ago he made a press mold of an angel ornament he created in clay. I decided that these were something I could make while working my shifts at the Co-op. Yesterday I gave it a try but was having some trouble with getting the hands and nose coming out clean and crisp, and then there was the problem of cracking necks. After all, I hadn't used a press mold since my play dough days. When I got home Jeff gave me a lesson on the best way to get a good impression with a press mold... he said be sure to press it in really hard.

but probably not this hard...

 Yep, he broke the mold. I can still use the other half, but that one needs the wings attached separately which is a little more work.

Here are some in progress...

I will have to experiment with glazing. I might try using some Amaco velvet underglazes with my Temple White glaze over it. Jeff also mention trying just the underglaze and leaving the rest bare clay.
The one in the center is bisqued already, Jeff did that one this summer when we came across the mold. She is a footless angel (he forgot to add them) so she will be the first glaze test.

... I wonder if I have any cookie cutters in the kitchen? :o)