Festival in the Clouds

This weekend it was time again for Festival in the Clouds in Alma. Sunshine, music, and pottery sales! Here's a tour of my setup....

My lovely booth mate, selling her cute concrete rhubarb leaf impressions

I should have gotten closeups on my appetizer trios!

Food and water bowls for pets

I like how the green glazes look together

Flower mugs

 

An eternal favorite - beer stein coffee mugs

I also had bike plates and stackable mugs - blue, pink, and white glazes

My friend brought a wildflower bouquet that divided nicely into two vases

See anything you'd like to own? Email me! I have a new address: iris [at] wildirisclay [dot] com. I also have a new website! There's still more work to do, but the essentials are up at wildirisclay.com. Let me know what you think of my new look. I always enjoy feedback.

Speaking of which, I've had a request to do more photos documenting pottery in progress. I will try to do that! Meanwhile, a quick before-and-after:

A couple of weeks ago, while doing a throwing demo, a sweet little girl named Zoe was glued to my side, watching closely while making requests: mug, bowl, jewelry holder, large vase. She also drew me inspiring shapes for more pieces she thought I should make later. What a great kid!

After glazing, here they are in my booth in Alma.

Happy Summer, everyone!

Catching up

Monday morning finds me in a good mood, enjoying a cup of coffee. I woke up to my weekly email from Step Forward with Katie - this week's theme is "Practice Makes Perfect," reminding me that I reinforce my habits and beliefs, for better or for worse. I prefer "for better." So today's post is filled with cheerfulness and pottery and I hope it sets you in a good mood, too.

Happy windswept puppy on the mountain behind our house

Today I have three packages of pottery to mail. Thank you for buying my work on Etsy! I have three reviews so far and they are phenomenal! I appreciate these kind people for taking the time to share their feedback.

Enjoying a final moment with a lovely serving platter before I pack it up

I'm on a tight schedule finishing pieces for the Fairplay Bazaar this coming Saturday. I'm impatiently drumming my fingers, waiting for my kiln to cool so I can enjoy the newly glazed work inside! And there's another kilnload of pottery to fire tomorrow.

How time flies! Taking a moment to remember the brief but beautiful autumn...

I have to teach two pottery classes this week since we rescheduled last week's too-close-to-Thanksgiving class. I can't wait to see my students again and soak up their dedication, curiosity, and enthusiasm. For our latest project we made mugs and I'm really impressed with the handles they pulled. Great job, ladies!

Brand new potters at work in the Breckenridge Arts District

Onto custom work. I looooove custom orders and the opportunity to really crank up my creativity. These are quick pics, unfortunately with a low-quality camera, but I have to share anyway because I love these pieces!

Yes! Another planter - happy swimming koi fish to inspire serenity and peacefulness

 

This is my interpretation of a request for a "girly" design - bouquet of lilies, roses, irises, tied in a pretty bow

Time to glaze some mugs. I have four ballet classes to teach tonight and time is running short!

Have a creative day ~

Etsy......

I have posted three items on Etsy. I'm deliberately moving forward with care, savoring each step.

It's overwhelmingly lovely to spend so much time in my studio and on my art and I'm really happy to say I am very busy working on commissions. Hooray! Thank you to everyone who placed an order at Alma Fest because I'm enjoying all of my projects. I'm planning to do my next glaze firing on Saturday (just in time for a baby shower on Sunday) and then I'll have my first round of finished orders to deliver. And I'll post pics here so you all can see the fun I've been having!

Please bookmark my Etsy site so you can purchase pottery any time, day or night! My plan is to add more items in the next few days and then I'll start making new items specifically for the site. First up, new mugs! Any other requests?

Festival in the Clouds

This weekend we had the most perfect weather for Alma's Festival in the Clouds. Instead of the usual Sunday afternoon rain/thunder/hail, there was only beautiful sunshine, a refreshing breeze, and fabulous music.

It was lovely meeting great new people and seeing familiar faces of people who've bought my pottery in the past. (Thank you for coming back for more!)

I forgot to take pictures of everything, but I think these photos capture the colors and shapes of my weekend. I sold most everything I brought, and the lovely pieces I still have will appear on Etsy in the next week or so.

There are no pictures of my cool mega mugs, glazed in bright blue. I'll have to make more of those, they were a big hit. The green mugs below went to a woman who quickly claimed them before they even arrived, when I described them as they cooled at home in the kiln. I hope she's already filled the vase with beautiful flowers and enjoyed a drink from one of her new great mugs.

These green stacking bowls had a lot of positive attention! I only actually sold one, though, so the rest will be for sale on Etsy shortly. $14 + shipping (or a little discount for buying several at once).

Piers requested some items to hold appetizers, and I'm glad he did. They were a big hit! He unloaded my kiln in the early afternoon and restocked my booth with pieces such as the one below, which sold within 10 minutes of hitting the table.

I love this blue one, too...

All the koi dishes were snatched up but the pitcher remains ($28), as do the blue bowl ($28) and big ol' platter ($48).

First to go: the two-koi plate. The three-koi deep platter is my fave.

More fun items displayed: kitty food dishes with fish bones and water dishes with "live" goldfish painted inside - all sold. I may make them in larger sizes next.

I nearly sold the om casserole, but for some reason I couldn't convince the guy that my bubble-wrapping skills were better than his friend's ability to break the dish driving down bumpy roads... Darn. Also I still have the sweet yellow tea cups ($9), so they'll go up on Etsy as well.

 

The guy on the left bought my orchid planter. Hopefully he'll remember to send me a picture of it when there is a plant inside! (On the right is my friend, Mark, demonstrating how it is FUN, not embarrassing, to pose with ceramics!)

I'm off to quite a busy week outside my studio, but I plan to jump in first thing Thursday and start working on new commissions. Thanks again to everyone who has put in an order!

More glazing!

I've already shared the new look of my green and lilac/blue glazes on the new clay. Here are more glaze results I'm happy with:

The sunshine (and my camera) lightens the glaze, but it's actually a deeper, darker blue than before.

More heart bowls! I'd call the color a deep raspberry, not as pink as it appears here.

Matte white with a leopard-looking koi fish.

I have a lot of work to glaze! A sampling of the bisqued pottery sitting around waiting for color: salad plates, bowls, tumblers, and lots of mega-sized mugs. The large bowl has two koi fish (like the plate above) and the pieces sitting within the bowl are kitty water dishes with goldfish swimming around inside.