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!

Koi Fish in my Coffee

I love all my commissions! I'm really tickled with the cool ideas people come up with. Do you see anything you wish I could alter just a bit? Ask me, and I will gladly let you know how I am able to execute your idea.

Here's a perfect example. Do you remember the koi pieces at my booth in Alma Fest? They inspired these custom items:

Koi "mugs" $25 each, large platter $55

The large platter will be used for displaying fruit. The tumblers are actually large coffee mugs without handles. I drew my favorite koi fish in a much smaller size and set them swimming around the outside of each mug. The matte white glaze I use would probably get stained by coffee after a while, so the inside of each mug is brown instead of white. I love the results!

More customization: new stamps for the Apothecary in Frisco. I think these mugs turned out nicely:

Now onto wedding gifts. I love making custom pieces for weddings! (Yes, that's a hint. Do you have a wedding to attend in the next month or two? Let's come up with a great idea!)

Here's the disclaimer: if you buy a wedding gift from me, I will have it completed and shipped to you before your deadline. But if I'm making a gift for the happy couple..... Then I will most certainly be so late that I overshoot the "acceptable" one-year grace period after the wedding date. (Hopefully my gifts are worth the wait!)

This gift is for my cousin's wedding last year. The planter will display an orchid - I hope it thrives happily in its new home.

I sold a couple of my items on Etsy to someone local last week. For her transaction, I simply removed the listings and hand delivered the items, but now I have a much better solution.

If you are a local and wish to buy something on Etsy, please enter the coupon code: LOCAL and the shipping will be waived.

Then you will have an opportunity to leave me a note. Let me know your phone number and where you live. If it's somewhere I'm already headed, I'll drop it off; otherwise we can meet in Alma.

Here are items I've added today. Visit my Etsy site to see more.

Animals, Bicycles, and Pots in Happy Homes

This is a picture I received from my client in Missouri - she originally sent me photos and asked me to make a vase for this particular table. That was quite a challenge! I'm very excited that it turned out well.

This client really likes her new food dish - but I'm not sure how content she is that the bowl is EMPTY.

Here's some of my latest work, just glazed, ready for the kiln:

These are my latest drawings - road bikes & moose. Here they are out of the kiln (my photos don't do the bikes justice - the finished look is really sharp, like the moose):

Commission for an early September wedding, $35 each.

They like biking & drinking beer, so these oversized coffee mug "steins" celebrate both.

Same "stein" concept for the moose. These are on their way to Winter Park. $35 each.

Next up, I've thrown some small blue bowls (the ones I sold at Alma Fest, $12 each) and green mugs ($18 each) that I'll post on Etsy. At the back is a teapot for the Apothecary which I absolutely LOVE - after I add the spout this afternoon, I'll take a photo to share.

Finally, here's a look at me working in my studio, trimming a bowl for the double yarn bowl I showed in the last post. (Don't worry, I'll post pics after I finish glazing it.)

Hooray, an energetic, snuffly visit from my favorite li'l guy!!

Exciting New Pottery - Also, I'm Teaching Again!

Things started out this week with a bang! Actually it was a loud, unexpected SMASH.

Stupid Monday. This used to be a nice, large pitcher.

I usually have more success with my work! I guess accidents like this keep me humble.

This post is filled entirely with commissions, so I'm including some pricing in case you want to commission something of your own! Also, I've put a couple more pieces on Etsy, so check out what's new.

Onto the photos:

 Chips-n-salsa platter, $52

Separate pieces fit easily in the dishwasher.

Happy bear! For an upcoming baby boy (the nursery colors are green and brown):

Lots of room inside. $60

This large vase is much more interesting in person. I should have captured the glaze colors better. I made it for a specific table, and I hope the client likes it!! (Fingers crossed.)

10.5" wide, 7.5" tall

 Children's name stands, $25 each:

Hi, Vlad!

I made a custom planter for Hub in Breckenridge. It's a "full-service technology boutique." That just means it's hip enough to rock a custom logo planter.

I really like the size and shape, and have two more in progress (they're going to two different people). They're about 7" wide, 6" tall, $38 each.

I just finished building a custom double-yarn basket. There's a lot going on here and it's very cheerful! I had such fun coming up with the design with my client: the birds keep yarn from escaping out of the J shape, and the purpose of the third J (closest to the camera) is so that a large skein will lay across the basket and nose right up to the J. Also, on the far end where the bowl folds over, you can just make out two holes for knitting needles. I have spacers in each of the J's and I'm crossing my fingers they don't WARP during the firings.

$72

On Tuesday, I threw a teapot body and lid for the Apothecary in Frisco. I ran out of shelf space so they were perched precariously..... and suddenly....

Flattened on impact!!

All I could think was, "at least it wasn't a finished teapot." Grrr.

This is a teapot I have NOT smashed. How 'bout a round of applause for my restraint? The concept is water + serenity + peacefulness, with Asian influence. Can you see the wavy line across the body of the teapot, just under the handle? At this stage I'm considering using my blue glaze from that line up to the rim, and on the lid, omitting both handles. I'm trying to gently capture the idea of water lapping. (Any input from my client??)

Teapots range from $60-$500+, depending on complexity/customization/scale.

I hope these pieces are dry enough to be added to a bisque tomorrow. The farthest-most tumbler is placed exactly where I had the tall pitcher that I accidentally knocked over. In retrospect, it was a really terrible idea to have it there...

The cute floral mugs are going to Magical Scraps.

The irony is, I like to tell my students that my only rule in the studio is to BE CAREFUL. Sigh. Speaking of teaching, I will be teaching a ceramics class this fall in the Arts District in Breckenridge, Wednesdays 6-8 pm. It will be mostly wheel throwing, but I will also happily cater to students who prefer hand building. Anyone interested in a private class sometime? That can be easily coordinated through the Arts District for $35/hr plus clay for a group of 1-3 students (normally we'll meet for 2 hours each session). If that's not your cup of tea, sign up for my Wednesday class!

There's plenty more I'm working on but details on greenware and bisqueware don't often photograph clearly. Stay tuned for more finished work! If you need anything, please email any time: art [at] wild-iris.com. Please write "Pottery" in the subject line so your correspondence doesn't accidentally get lost in my spam folder.

End of Summer

On Wednesday we spent the night at Cottonwood hot springs in an impromptu, relaxing getaway. We drove back the next morning and, turning off the highway toward our house, we were greeted by the most gorgeous aspens: breathtakingly vivid golds, oranges, reds, and even a few stubborn spring greens. It was the peak of the season; this morning everything is still quite lovely, but not the stunning show I saw yesterday. I took a different route home this morning and snapped some photos with my cell phone.

This is my favorite view on the way home. I look forward to it every day.

An old abandoned house; a mining structure from the 1800s back among the aspens.

Summer is nearly gone. It's been a tragic, difficult season but also gorgeous, sunny, and filled with ceramics. Here are some of the more interesting commissions I've had the pleasure to make.

First is Lydia, a beautiful baby who celebrated her birthday in August. I enjoy making work for people I meet because I can make the right glaze choices for their pieces. Lydia's mother was completely uninterested in anything easily breakable or overly girly, but she wanted Lydia to have something special out of clay.

I made Lydia a free-standing name display. Hopefully she'll enjoy looking at it until she's old enough to play with it in a carpeted room.

Next, I met a woman at Alma Fest, Cynthia, who really liked a vase I had with blue flowers, but preferred dark pink flowers instead. I totally agree with her, the dark pink is a great choice!

I ended up making her two vases and they turned out quite lovely. Now I need to make her a bowl but we're both stumped as to how to glaze it. Then a week or so ago I had the pleasure of seeing a dear friend, Janie, who always comes up with interesting clay ideas. She doesn't work with clay at all but loves buying pottery and has a constant supply of "What if you tried..." or "What if you were inspired by..." I love her enthusiasm. For this visit, among many other things she showed me photos of foxgloves, pointing out how beautiful the inside of the flowers look. She thought it would be beautiful to recreate the look with glaze. This summer I bought and planted 12 foxgloves at work, but never thought of this myself. I'm excited to see if this idea can translate into something great for the bowl for Cynthia, using the colors above plus yellow or tan. (Stay tuned!)

Janie also encouraged me to make more tiny pieces, which I did at Alma Fest (and sold them all, thanks Janie!). She collects cream & sugar pieces, so I made her a set with a leafy tray (keeping with my leafy espresso and tea set style). She bought a nice blue bowl, a couple of heart bowls, and a hummus & chip tray. The hummus tray was, of course, Janie's own suggestion, and it turned out great!

This is not intended for large tortilla chips; it's wonderful for pita chips or crackers. Also, I made the hummus bowl nestle perfectly but it is separate if you want to heat it in the microwave (I'm thinking something yummy and cheesy) and for quick washing. The bottom section fits easily in the dishwasher.

In Breckenridge I brought new work to Mary-Anne at Magical Scraps Boutique: flowery mugs and coordinating stacking bowls. 

The mugs take forever to glaze, so I have to re-think the color choices. But they look so cute!...  I also restocked the Backcountry Apothecary in Frisco with more work and have some to-go mugs drying in my studio right now. I enjoy finding inspiration from each of these unique stores to put custom Wild Iris pieces on their shelves. Magical Scraps is a beautiful, cheerful space I want to fill with color and flowers. The Apothecary has supplements, herbs, and teas, and serves as the entrance to the Naturopathic clinic with massage and acupuncture as well. I make drinking vessels for them, usually inspired by or referencing their artsy logo. I'll have photos to share later.

Finally, I made a beautiful pitcher to celebrate an upcoming September wedding. My client, a dear friend of my mother's, told me the shape she wanted and then described her daughter's personality to me (the daughter and I were really close friends through grade school but I haven't seen her in at least 15 years). Maybe I've been well-trained by all the Project Runway episodes I watch, because I had a great time coming up with the right design for the pitcher. The first one I made (below) didn't dry well and when I bisqued it the handle popped off! I'm so glad it did, though, because I'm much happier with the second one.

My idea of carving the roses came about when I found an old flyer from a show I did in 2007. This time I used a similar technique as I did for the work in that show, but I created a much more delicate effect. I love the roses and I love the satiny glaze (poured on for a subtle layered look). As I always do for wedding gifts, there's something written on the bottom to celebrate the happy couple.