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!

Flowers, Birds, and an Elephant

I recently made a lovely custom butter dish using inspiration from a photo provided by my client.

Here's another custom piece, an elephant teapot (thrown on the wheel then altered).

A new assortment of flower mugs for the colorful Breckenridge shop, Magical Scraps:

I'm starting on a new set of mugs that will feature endangered whooping cranes. Yesterday I sat on the couch with my puppy to sketch some shapes.

 

And now to leave you with something silly....

On Saturday, in Frisco, there was an event called "Mardi Paws." A Mardi Gras mini parade for dogs! I had a good laugh seeing that many owners coordinated their outfits to match the pups.

 

Snowy Valentine's Day

Vlad wishes everyone a Happy Valentine's Day! 

The snow is at least as high as his bench

I've been busy making work, glazing, shipping, dealing with bills, etc. Time's been flying by. It's mid-February already?!? 

I have two photos of new work to share: one piece that's drying slowly in the studio and the mugs I packed up and shipped out earlier this week. Then I have to get back to firing my kiln and finish glazing a very cool butter dish...

Custom elephant teapot

Travel safely, dear snowflake mugs

And now my favorite: Photos sent to me from happy customers. Thank you!! I love these very much. Keep 'em coming!

Vlad says MUAH!

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 ~

A Fresh Kilnload of Pottery

Happy Friday the 13th!

I have information for the pottery class I'm teaching in the Arts District in Breckenridge. Class begins September 18 and will run 6 weeks, and then we'll have another session after that (November-December). Class starts next week, so find out more detail here and sign up for fun with clay!

At long last, a dry day is here. We've had so much rain this month and my heart goes out to all the Coloradans struggling with massive flooding. Up high in the mountains, I'm enjoying a somewhat-brightly-lit living room as a welcome change from the usual overcast gloominess. During the last sunny day we had (last week?), I rushed outside to sun-bake a few pieces that I couldn't tell if they were totally dry or not.

Here are a few items from the firing, including a beautiful set of 8 pasta dishes, about 8-1/4" wide, 1-3/4" deep. I think they look really fabulous. I want to invite over some friends and serve some colorful Italian deliciousness in them! Ah, but instead I'm going to make arrangements to drop them off with my clients in Breckenridge.

I also made a cute name plate that somehow turned out a lovely moss green instead of blue. It looks really cool and I hope Samuel will love it!

Name plate, $25

The other items from the firing have already been posted in my Etsy store.  Below is my second custom set of kitty food dishes. It makes me happy to see people buying them in bulk. There are a lot of happy kitties out there, snacking from their new fish bone dishes.

Kitty dishes, $14 each or 4 for $52

Here we have a tire mug.

"Where did that idea come from?" you may ask. I seem to enjoy over-complicating things, and thankfully that can be a good thing at times. In this case, Piers simply asked me to make "a couple of mugs" for the guys who fixed his truck. Immediately I thought, "What if I made tire mugs?" -- not really considering how long it takes to draw and carve tire treads all around a mug. The tread pattern is based on his Cooper Discoverer STT tires, which are pretty gnarly. I love how it turned out, and the guys at the shop are pretty happy with their mugs!

Tire mug, $45

I've steadily been making hearts ever since Jesse died. They're for joyful hearts, broken hearts, and everyone in between. For my Etsy shop, I decided to make a proper heart set. I'd probably use these hearts for serving appetizers, but other people might prefer them stacked up to brighten up a space, or used individually to store jewelery and other items. I should start asking people what they do with their hearts... If you have one at home, I'd love a photo, please!

Heart trio, $22

Here's my latest teapot, destined for the Apothecary in Frisco. They keep selling my teapots, so I keep making new ones! I love the design of this one and I think I might do a few more in the same style, but with different colors.

Teapot set, $95

I absolutely adore working with clay! I have so many ideas, and finally I have time to create the work. Now I'm off to do some glazing for a firing coming up on Sunday, and my studio is full of plates waiting to be trimmed.

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.