The latest in pottery

 We have been firing every two to three weeks. Our goal is to try to get orders back to a 4-6 week delivery time. Now that our shop is open 4 days a week, we will need to make pots to restock the shelves as well.

I had an order for a Bull piggy bank. They buyer didn't want white with black spots so we settled on this combination. I am really pleased with the results. They raise cattle so this is going to be sitting in their kitchen. 

This glaze is so hard to photograph. I thought it would be easier outside but I still got the reflection of the trees and sky. We have a dulling spray for photographing shiny glazes. I think I will give that a try to get some better photos before he is off to his new home.

I hadn't made coasters in a long time. A friend of a collector contacted us and ordered a set to give her as a gift. Once I am in the rhythm of making these, I like to make a bunch. The bottoms are covered with cork to protect furniture. I hope to get more in the next firing. They are great for filling up space. They can be stacked on top of each other since the glaze is only on the interior.

 

The weather has been so nice here in Seagrove, that it's been difficult to stay inside and work. The gardens are constantly calling us!

Windows, Paints, and Inks

 I did a thing! I lettered the full length glass door to our pottery studio/gallery. I had been wanting to try this for almost a year. A few weeks ago I ordered the Posca paint pens that I needed to do the job. They are water based paints and easily clean off with Windex. We had a paper "masks required" sign that I printed from the health department that was taped to the door. This looks much better. We are currently open by appointment only. I added that to the window as well, but the glare in the photo makes it hard to see.

I bought the Posca pens in black, red, and white, not knowing which would work best on the door. The black didn't stand out very well, so I went with the white. Originally I thought white snowflakes and black letters.

I then went on to experiment with the black pen in my art journal. I really like how they flow on paper. This is over a sparkly ink background.

I've been experimenting with new iridescent spray inks over a stencil. They were fun to use and I think I can make some neat backgrounds for greeting cards.

I will leave you with a big piggy bank from our firing this week. I have had a lot of orders for the copper red and shino combination. I cross my fingers every time they get fired. There are so many things that can go wrong with the red. It may turn out pink, it may "crawl" all over, and many times the glaze drips down the legs and adheres to the kiln shelf. When it runs, Jeff can usually save it with his amazing Dremel tool skills. Thankfully each one came out of the kiln looking great!

 

Hey Jude...

 "Jude" came out of the kiln yesterday and is boxed and heading to his new home.

Whenever I order corks I always wonder what color they will be. Typically they are light, but occasionally I am sent a bag of a darker color. They are a natural product so I am at the mercy of the supplier. My recent shipment was the darker cork and I actually think that "Jude" looks good with his darker snout. It goes well with his rustic look!

I panicked last week when I placed an order for corks. I order 100 at a time and the website said they didn't have 100 in stock. Thankfully, I got the last 75. That, along with what I had on hand, should hold me over for a couple of months. Last year cork prices rose significantly due to a bad year of cork harvesting. I am hoping that they don't become hard to acquire. Pigs are big business here at 505 E. Main!

The Reluctant Potter

I have really struggled with clay during the pandemic. I am not really sure why but I have been drawn to working with paper, paint, and ink. That being said, I have been making pigs. Lots of pigs. The orders are still coming in. There have been a couple orders that excited me. Requests that made me think a little outside the box.

A woman that lives on the coast of North Carolina contacted me and asked if I could do a piggy bank with salt glaze. Since we don't have a salt kiln, I suggested a pig made with STARwork's East Fork clay and finished with a sprayed ash glaze. I sent her examples of mugs and bowls, she loved the look and placed her order. I ended up making three and firing two last week. She decided she wanted both of them!

I had one piggy bank that wasn't spoken for when we fired the gas kiln last week. I decided to give him a dip in the matte black glaze.

I really like this glaze and I am curious to see if it becomes popular with the piggy bank buying public.

The other fun order I had was to make a salt pig to look like the buyers pug dog!

The shino glaze got lots of reduction in this firing and the caramel color is perfect. I also dipped the opening in temnoku to mimic the shading on her dog's face. He is now on his way to Australia. I hope that she loves it as much as I do!

Our gallery is still closed during the pandemic. We probably won't even think about opening until July. Even then it's iffy. There is a studio tour in Seagrove the weekend of July 11th. We plan to participate but will set up our pots outside, on tables, and under our canopy. We will require masks. If there is rain, we will probably cancel. If numbers continue to climb, who knows if this tour will even happen. I am really concerned about this event moving forward. It's not worth risking our health for a few extra bucks.

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all the Moms out there! My sweet girl Danielle sent me this box filled with lot's of comforting goodies...

Today we won't be having our usual family gathering for a chicken barbecue. Instead, Jeff and I will cook and deliver meals to his 92 year old mother and his sister's mother-in-law, who is in her 80's. Yesterday I even baked a cake, which is rare for me. I much prefer baking breads and pizza, but I came across this recipe a couple of years ago and thought it might be a good time to try it.

It's an Italian Lemon Pound Cake. I hope it's good... I will let you know! The lemon cream cheese frosting made way too much. It's pooling around the cake and I didn't even use it all. If I make it again I will cut the frosting recipe in half. It also could have come out of the oven a few minutes early. I checked it 10 minutes before the low end of the baking time and it was already done.

It may not look like it, but I am still making work. It's been all about the pigs here. I have been swamped with orders. We are very thankful for online sales.

North Carolina has entered phase I for re-opening the state. I think it's too early. The county we live in has had an ever-increasing rate of covid-19 cases. We have made the decision to remain closed until we feel it's safer for us and our customers. At this point in time, we can barely attain enough hand sanitizer or disinfecting wipes for our own trips to the grocery store, never mind providing them to customers. We are happy to provide curb-side pick up if you need a special gift, and we are open 24/7 on Etsy.

PS - I have temporarily deactivated my Facebook account. I need a break. If I saw the "Plandemic" conspiracy post one more time I was going to go nuts. You can still find me on Instagram. So far it's still a happy place. :-)

How did it get to be February already?

Piggy bank orders have slowed down a little in the last few weeks, but I was happy to get an order for a large bull pig bank. I always have fun making these and while I was at it I made a smaller one too.
My back has been bothering me lately, mostly late in the day when making piggy banks. I have been thinking that my work table is a little too low. It's a standard height, long cafeteria table which isn't the same height as the bench I worked on when we were in the log cabin. Last week I decided to buy bed risers to give it an extra 3" in height.

I found a set on Amazon for $7.99. They are neon green and are supposed to glow in the dark! The black ones were a few dollars more, but for the studio I really didn't care about the color. I haven't been out at night yet to see if they really do glow. I like the new height but haven't yet determined if it will help my back. It's the left side that starts to ache and since I am left handed, I think it may also be an "overuse" issue. Time will tell.

I have enjoyed the warm weather we have been having. It's great to walk each day without a coat, hat, and gloves. The downside is that many of the trees are blooming early, which probably means we won't have that big splash of color when we get closer to real Spring.

I usually walk on the streets around town, but occasionally head to the local park. They have a walking track that gets rather boring. There is also a nature trail loop that includes a good hill. I like to do that at least once during my laps, for a better cardio workout and to increase endurance. When I first started I had to take a break half way up the hill. Now I can do it without stopping... YAY for progress!

Pottery

Yes, I still make pots! This little piggy bank came out of the kiln this week. I just love how the glaze has some nice purple blush in all the right places. It's already boxed and ready to head to it's new home in Illinois.

There's a new pig in town

Sometimes customers have the best ideas! I usually combine this aqua glaze with shino. The two together are one of my favorite combinations. A customer requested a piggy bank in aqua and white. I wasn't sure I was going to like it. When it came out of the kiln I LOVED it! It's really rockin' some fabulous drips.

This is the larger size pig. I have a few regular size banks, that aren't orders, in the current making cycle. I am definitely going to do a couple in this combination.

Hello December!

Here we are in the first week of December and yesterday we woke up to this...

There was about 2" of snow and then freezing rain all day. We heard tree branched cracking all day. Some of our shrubs and bushes are leaning over. I hope my camellias aren't damaged. The fan on our heat pump was encased in ice started making a thumping sound. Jeff shut it off, de-iced the fan and covered the unit. We are fortunate to also have electric baseboard heat as a back up. We knew the heat pump would ice up again quickly. It's a new unit and we didn't want to take any chances in damaging the motor.
There was a lull in the storm overnight but more freezing rain was predicted for the early morning. We woke up to snow instead.

I will take snow over freezing rain any day... but I truly prefer the sunshine.

It's holiday crunch time for us. While I would have loved to spend a snow day snuggled up on the sofa with a book, it just wasn't in the cards. Jeff and I spent the day glazing pots, while the electricity flickered on and off. I have about 37 more piggy banks and salt pigs to fire and ship out in time for Christmas. Online sales have been great, but holiday deadlines make it somewhat stressful. I have spent many nights dreaming about pigs!

The Lion King?

I make a lot of piggy banks. Most are special orders and I have to make what is requested. Don't get me wrong, I love making piggy banks with kids names. It keeps me in touch with what all the cool parents are naming their kids these days. Once in awhile I can break away from the orders and make something different.

This time it was a Lion Bank.

He is my take on a Chinese guardian lion, with a friendlier face.

I am really happy with how the shino glaze and wood ash worked for this form.

I have been hanging on to him for a bit. Eventually I will list him for sale on Etsy. In the mean time I will study him.

All In A Days Work...

There hasn't been anything too exciting happening around here. Jeff and I have been busy with the usual production.

Sinks and pigs are continuing their popularity into 2018.

Late yesterday I finished this round of salt pigs, piggy banks, and big piggy banks. I think when all was said and done there was around forty. It seemed like it took forever to get them completed. Our studio has been very humid and I did a lot of shuffling them around, covering, and uncovering to get them to, and keep them at, a workable state.

We are enjoying some warm Spring like temps and the daffodils are blooming. No matter how many years I live in North Carolina, flowers in February will continue to amaze me!

Good-Bye to January

Despite feeling like I got very little accomplished last month, I seem to finally be catching up on having a few piggy banks in stock and ready to go to new homes. I am slowly getting them photographed to add to my Etsy shop.

The "Bull bank" is one of my favorites.

Then again, I have a soft spot for anything glazed in shino!

I am happy to say good-bye to January and hello to February... we are getting closer to Spring every day.

First Firing 2018

We have been glazing pots for our first glaze firing of the new year. The weather has put us behind this month. We should have fired this kiln a week ago. With the extreme cold and the recent snow, it just didn't get done on time. The majority of this kiln load is orders. So far everyone has been understanding about the delay. 

When the temperature is barely above freezing during the day, and dips into the 20's at night, we have to be sure that our kiln is loaded, door bricked, and ready to fire in one day. Pots can't sit in the kiln overnight when it's that cold. After we load today and brick up the door, we will look at the weather forecast and decide whether to fire all night or start in the morning. If it's not too cold we can turn a burner on low for a few hours tonight to keep some heat in there until morning.

I always start glazing sponge holders first. I think of it as a warm up exercise. It helps me get into the groove of doing my least favorite job.

There are about thirty piggy banks and salt pigs in this firing. I hope I got all the names with the right color combinations! I will have a few extras to put in the Etsy shop. It's always good to have a few that are ready to ship. Ideally I would like to have at least a dozen on hand. That is my goal for the next month.

On the home front, I actually took out the down comforter for the bed. I have rarely used it since moving to North Carolina. I am not sure who is enjoying it more, us or Sophie cat!

The "Bully Bank"

I spent the eight weeks leading up to Christmas assembling piggy banks and making sure that I stamped names correctly, and then glazed them in the right combinations. Every so often I take on a challenge from a customer and do something new. This year the request was for a personalized "Bull" piggy bank. The buyer had a few requirements, but pretty much left the rest up to me.

I had a lot of fun making this one.

I was so happy with the results that I am going to add it to my repertoire.

The buyer was really happy with him as well. 

When I created him, I didn't know that there was a new movie coming out based on the children's classic book "The Story of Ferdinand", which I loved as a child. Maybe the "bull" piggy bank will be the best seller this year.

Green and Shino

We unloaded the gas kiln on Saturday and I was really happy with a couple of green and shino bowls. I haven't done as much in this glaze combination this year, since I have become infatuated with ash glaze. This combination is time consuming because I have to wax the rims and then carefully pour out the green, without getting any drips onto the sides of bowl. Occasionally I have gotten some drips and have had some success with scraping off the green over the shino. This go around I had one drip that was problematic. I scraped it a little thin. Jeff hit on the idea of spraying a light coating of the ash glaze over the shino and it successfully covered the thin spot.

I had a lot of piggy banks in this firing. Many were orders but there were also some extras to have in stock in my Etsy shop. It would be good to be able to be ahead, the holiday rush will be upon us in no time.

Seeing Stars

A couple of months ago I had an order for a personalized piggy bank with a couple of stars stamped on the side. I didn't have a star stamp, so I made one for the order figuring I may eventually use it again. Last week when I was finished making pigs for orders I decided to have some fun with the star stamp. Since the 4th of July holiday was just around the corner...

The star spangled, patriotic piggy bank came into being!

New Letter Stamps

I have been struggling with some of my letter stamps. I have 4 or 5 different sets. Some are rubber stamps, one interlocking set that is designed for clay, and another metal set that I believe are jeweler's stamps. My largest font are rubber stamps and they are not well made, making it difficult to line the letters up. They are also not very deep, which means I am often carving them out. The stamps that I use on the standard piggy banks is starting to show some wear, particularly the letter "A." Last month I searched the web for a deeper set of stamps, with a font that appealed to me. The only one I found was $66 dollars. The size was fine for the standard size piggy bank, but really too small for the large pigs. I decided I needed to think about it before plunking down the dough.

Lo and behold, last week on facebook, another potter posted a link to these "stone stamps". She was using them to letter dog bowls. I was able to order a set for under $5 and have them shipped to Walmart for free. I wasn't sure how easy they would be to work with, since there is no handle or guides on them... but for less than five bucks I was willing to take a chance.

I practiced on a salt pig and once I got the hang of it, moved on to orders. The size is great for the big piggy banks, and will work well for short names on the smaller banks. Lining them up was pretty easy. Now I wish they were available in a smaller font too!