Wood firing out at the farm...

No time for blogging these past few days. Jeff and I were back and forth between Seagrove and Carthage, firing with Prissy (Ouida) Newell in her big wood kiln.

Jeff fired overnight on Sunday after loading all day. The two of us took the night shift from 11:00 pm Monday till 5:30 am Tuesday. We slept a few hours at Prissy's then got up and helped with the last shift. The kiln was done and getting "clammed up" around 8:00 pm Tuesday.

Can you see one of my pigs getting roasted in there? He is on the shelf to the left. He should be nice and toasty, being right behind the firebox.

Prissy's barn/kiln shed is AMAZING! It's HUGE! The kiln is on the opposite end of these windows. On this end she has room to host workshops and during the festival that she is hosting next weekend, some artists will set up their booths inside.

antique wood stove detail

When Prissy isn't making pots, she is an antique dealer, auctioneer, and builder... hence lots of cool things to look at in her kiln shed. This chandelier is just one of many, hanging from the beams. Jeff has dubbed it the Steampunk Kiln Shed.

Jeff, side stoking

We are going to unload this big kiln during the Clay on Fire Art Festival this Saturday, June 8th. Festival goers will have the opportunity to buy warm pots, fresh from the kiln. There will be quite a few potters from Seagrove and surrounding areas, along with other craft vendors, as well.  Raku firing, pottery demos, and live music, are all part of the fun. I have all the info in the right side bar of the blog, in the events section. If you aren't too far away, come out to Carthage for the day. Heck, if you are far away, it will be worth the trip!

CCM Pottery Festival

Our last outdoor show of the year is behind us. I am happy to report that it was a good one. The Carolina Claymatters Pottery Festival, was well organized, in a nice setting, and brought out a good crowd that was there to buy pottery. The fact that we had a BEAUTIFUL fall day didn't hurt us either. 

The festival started at 10 am and ended at 4 pm... perfect hours. Our booth set up consisted of the EZ-up tent, two covered tables, and our abstracta unit. Easily set up and broken down. I didn't get any photos of our booth or the festival in general because we were too busy wrapping pots! 

The show is open to members of Carolina Claymatters, which we joined about two years ago. We wish we could attend more meetings and hope to in the future.  All who participate in the festival agrees to volunteer to help in some way. It could be as simple as picking up balloons on your way in on the morning of the show, to cleaning up any trash left in the park at the end of the day.  There are of course a core group that does big time volunteer work to organize this show, and to them I send a great big thank you for a job well done! 

Jeff and I enjoyed being involved with the NH Potters Guild (and still are from afar!) and hope that we can forge some new pottery friendships with members of this guild and so far everyone we have met has been warm and welcoming.

My wood fired ovals made their debut at the show yesterday! Jeff helped me get the wads ground off the lids before we left. They got lots of oohs and aahs, but did not sell. I was sort of glad because I think I want to spend a little more time with them.

Remember all those sponge holders I was making last week? I fired half of them and we unloaded the kiln on Friday night before the festival. I sold all but three.  They covered our booth fee, gas, and then some... glad I listened to Jeff.

recovering...

Jeff and I have survived another outdoor show. I wanted to post some photos sooner, but I woke up with a stomach bug on Monday and spent the day napping on the sofa. Tuesday, I took things slow.

We had great weather for Festival in the Park, bright sunny days and not too warm. 

 Our booth location was shady and we backed up to the trees, which meant we could store boxes and stock behind us without anyone seeing the clutter. Our booth walls are set up so we have space to exit from the rear and reach shelving that we have for extra stock. The booth to our left was a no show, so it was nice to have the extra space when setting up and breaking down.

When we were in NH in August, our host Lou, gave us four empty oxygen cylinders (he is a respiratory therapist). Jeff filled them with sand and screwed an eye bolt into the top. A great alternative to the cement blocks we were using. They blend in with the tent and tuck in out of the way.

Freedom Park in Charlotte is beautiful. The booths are set up along a walkway that goes around the small lake.

 The crowds were thick everyday. Sometimes it was hard to even walk around. Jeff forewarned me that the last time he did this show people were not buying on Friday night. He was right... we had one sale.

 Sales were slow on Saturday and I was starting to get really irritated with the festival goers questions. I lost count of how many people asked, "Did you make this stuff?", or the best one... "What do you call this?". If we got a dollar for every "nice work" or ""nice booth" comment we would have needed suitcase to take our money home in.

 As you can see in the photo above, our neighbor was a "make a candle" guy, and next to him was face painting. Unfortunately, on our side of the lake they mixed these types of vendors in with the craftsmen. The candle guy's booth was busy all weekend with kids waiting in line to make a candle in a jar or wine glass. We also had the kettle corn guy a few booths down. Sometimes the line snaked all the way down to us. Jeff has a friend in NH who is a glass artist and a few years ago he bought a kettle corn set up and started doing fairs. He said when he opens up for the day everyone says "Yay, the kettle corn guy is here!". In all his years selling his glass art, no one ever said "Yay, the glass guy is here!".
The food vendors make way more money than the artists.

Thankfully, Sunday redeemed itself. Many of the people who visited on Saturday, returned and bought something. We actually came home with money in our pocket. The next show we do will be an easier, one day show and we will be using a simple booth set up with covered tables and my abstracta unit. I sometimes question whether a fancy booth makes a difference in sales or not. I would like to know other artists thoughts on this.

A well deserved treat after a tiring weekend... good sake, Asian dumplings and spring rolls

... and now it's time to get back to work.