You can teach old dogs new tricks.

 

We have made so many salt pig over the last 12 months. There are usually around 30 in each firing. I am still getting orders for piggy banks, but the salt pigs definitely out number them. When the piggy banks started selling faster than I could make them, Jeff took over the throwing part. I became the person that turned them into pigs and glazed them. He is waaaaaay faster then I am on the wheel. Then when the salt pigs came into being, he threw those too. A few weeks ago it was determined that there were so many orders for vessel sinks, that I needed to pitch in with the salt pig throwing. It took me a few tries to get the shape right and I felt like mine were just not going to look as nice as his. 

He kept telling me they were fine.

He was right. Once glazed, I could hardly determine which ones were mine or his.

I am still extremely slow, but I think they are starting to go a little more quickly. This is a good time for me to work on this, because like last March, our sales have let up a little this month. We are finally catching up on orders and hope to get our turn around time back to 4-6 weeks. I must say 99.9% of customers have had no problem waiting 8-10 weeks for their pigs.

We also have a new glaze in the studio! It's called denim blue. Jeff mixed it up for a sink customer that wanted a lighter blue. I think it will look great on a piggy bank. I am hoping to get one in the next firing so that I can photograph it and start offering this new color. Next on the list is a pink glaze. I get so many requests for pink piggy banks!

I will close with the exciting news that Jeff and I got our first Moderna vaccine last week. We can hardly wait for April 8th to get number two. I am preparing myself for some side effects and I will gladly taking them over getting the virus. Once we are fully vaccinated we will probably re-open the gallery at the end of April!

Stay healthy! Get vaccinated!

Upcycled Storage Box

 I love a "good" box or bag and have a hard time letting go of them. Two years ago I got a new smartphone and it came in a nice, sturdy box. I stashed it away thinking that one day I could put it to use.

Yesterday was that day.

I got out my gel plate and paints and printed a bunch papers. 

I used those prints to cover my smartphone box!

It's the perfect size for storing my Posca paint pens.

I couldn't entirely wrap the bottom of the box because the cover is a really snug fit. I like the bright blue so that worked out fine. The surface on the inside of the bottom was scarred so I cut print down to cover that up. I did the same to the underneath.

Now I am wishing we still had the box that Jeff's phone came in! 

The Winter Garden

 This is the first year that Jeff has planted a winter garden. We are really enjoying it. It's so nice to pick greens for a salad in the middle of February!

We purchased some row covers that make it super handy to access the veggies. A few weeks ago there was enough Napa cabbage and Korean radish for Jeff to make kimchi. We have been enjoying it with a variety of Asian inspired meals.

We have mixed Asian greens and bib lettuce. It's been giving us enough to make salads a couple of times a week. Occasionally I add some store bought baby spinach. We've also enjoyed swiss chard, kale, and lots of baby bok choy. Last summer Jeff purchased jars and special plastic lids for growing bean sprouts so we always have plenty to toss in salads and stir fry. 

The seed catalogs have been arriving since January and some seeds have been bought. Jeff is a really good seed saver so he has a lot of his own stash. 

After four chilly days of clouds and rain, I am looking forward to Spring.

Still Making Pots

 Anyone looking through my recent posts might think that I wasn't making pots anymore. Since the pandemic hit I have been making salt pigs and piggy banks. We have so many orders that there hasn't been time for much else. Despite me thinking that each pig is adorable and unique, my readers might get tired of seeing them!

Yesterday we loaded the gas kiln. It should have been done the day before but it was cold and very windy. Jeff needed to spray glaze on two sets of canisters and we do that outside. Perhaps someday we will have space inside for a spray booth. The weather yesterday was great. The wind had died down and while it was chilly, the sun was shining brightly.

The back stack was easy, and loaded quickly. 

Jeff played tetris with the bottom shelf of the front stack. He is really good at solving the puzzle.

The front stack was finished by late afternoon. I headed to the kitchen to get red beans started for dinner, so that we wouldn't be eating at 10:00 pm. I have a tendency to start them too late! Jeff took a break, then went out to brick up the door. We did a preheat until bed time, then started firing this morning. During the holiday season Jeff fired overnight. Without the Christmas deadline looming, we felt it was better to start fresh in the morning. 

As for dinner... I managed to get it done by 9:30!

A New Year, A New Start

 Since my "junk journal", that was bound with washi tape, was completed at the beginning of the month, it was time to create a new one. I decided this one would have a coptic stitch binding. I took me forever to put this one together. I worked on it in dribs and drabs for two weeks. 

The paper for the cover is gel printed using multiple layers of acrylic paint and a stencil. The signatures are mixed media paper. The mixed media paper is less expensive than watercolor paper and it should hold up to multiple layers of paints, ink, and pastels.

This is the fourth coptic stitch bound book that I have made and this one has the fewest mistakes! I had one row of stitching wrong but caught it before moving forward so I was able to pull it out and make the correction. I wanted to give it an embellishment so I dug through my bead box and found this little do-dad of beads and copper wire to tie on. I think I made it when I was practicing make swirls with wire. After looking through my box I am inspired to incorporate some raku fired beads or buttons into a future journal.

So here I am with lots of blank pages staring at me. Putting down the first marks are the hardest.