Restocking Salida

Work, work, work. (That's a good thing.)

I've actually managed to take a couple of photos of my progress, although there's tons more. I always seem to be behind on taking photographs and then I "promise" to do better... At least this time I have a follow-up from April's post of lost pieces: at the end of this post you'll see the shorter ribbon vase I only previously showed as greenware.

Sugar bowls & creamers, plus regular bowls & a new ribbon vase.

Way cool casserole dishes. I glazed the one on the left already and I love it!

On Monday, I drove down to Salida to visit my dear friend Nikki's gallery, Eye Candy Art & Treasure. Nikki displays vintage pinup images amid the jewelry, painting, photography, pottery, etc. (hence the name Eye Candy). Some of my dear friends display their art here as well.

 How much fun to enjoy a hot day. It snowed last week in the mountains.

I brought some new work to display. There's a lot of bisqueware lounging around my living room that I should probably glaze...

I love my new bowls. They're soooo much fun to make. Nikki chastised me for not bringing more! I'll glaze more soon and then Piers can bring them down. He's volunteered because he'll get a chance to soak at the hot springs on the way home...

 

One Pitcher, Two Handles...

One day in February I dropped by the gallery in Fairplay and chatted with a lovely couple from Georgia. They bought one of my favorite pieces, a tall pitcher (24") with a beautiful aspen handle carved by Piers.

A philodendron vine meanders out of sight

I directed the couple to a local shipping store, confident that the shippers would safely pack and ship the piece to Georgia. Unfortunately, the machine that creates a foam form to cradle the art was not working that day and they used bubble wrap and peanuts instead. Sadly, the pitcher arrived in two pieces.

The customer emailed us photos of the broken handle and Piers began work on a new one.

It must have taken a lot of force to snap the aspen!

Lonely handle piece...

I packed and mailed the new handle this week. The new handle is even lovelier than the last and I can't wait to hear feedback from my customers. Oh yes, and I'm eager to see photos, too!

The new handle is a little thicker than the original. Click for a larger image.

The darker stain offers a striking contrast with the incised metal.

Not enough photos!

I've been sending a lot of cool pieces out the door without taking any photos. Here are a few unglazed shapes:

I can track down a couple of these tomorrow; here are some nice photos I have now:

Mini leafy cups & saucers

These require an extra firing so they weren't ready when I packed up all the other pieces.

Who wants to make espresso?

Here's a new planter for our lemon tree. His roots were poking out of two of the four holes in the bottom of his plastic planter and we had to use heavy-duty cutters to free him! There are no holes underneath my planter; instead, they lead out to the built-in tray so I'll know if any roots start to emerge.

He's getting big already, and tough -- a thorn drew my blood this morning! Now how long before we see some lemons??

I'm back!

For the past four months, I've been off the radar. This has been my charge, Ella: part horse, part puppy.

Great Pyrenees + Bernese Mountain Dog = Great Bernese

Kind, caring, loving, and a general joy to be around. But thank goodness she's back with her real family. Large puppy, very large lesson in patience. Ommmmmmmmmm.

In February, my cousin visited from Brooklyn for my birthday. I picked out birthday stargazers, which we arranged spectacularly in my double-vase:

Since Ella left on Monday, I'm forging ahead with my ceramics. Here are a few examples of colors and shapes for mugs for an upcoming commission. I'm thinking the black with a stripe of blue will look excellent! This particular black has a bit of light blue where it pools - see inside the second mug from the left? I don't love this blue-green where it's thick; I prefer the underlying blue color as opposed to the mossy opaque green.

These are going to Coyote Creek this afternoon. I hope the sunny weather brings lots of shoppers!

Pots On Location

One of my very favorite movies is Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulin, or just "Amélie" for short. One of the many wonderful conspiracies Amélie cooks up is borrowing her father's garden gnome and arranging for an airline attendant friend to cart the gnome around the world with her, photographing the gnome in front of famous monuments and mailing the photos as postcards back to Amélie's father. I love the expression on his face as he receives the postcards! Recently, I've received some nice photos and updates from happy clay-purchasers, letting me know how their new pots are faring.

This jade plant has a new home, in my large columbine planter. Apparently, the photo was taken the day the jade moved in, and since then it has really been thriving.

 
Here are my flour-sugar-coffee canisters.  The photos came with a note: "In their natural habitat." Delightful!

I rediscovered these next photos while scrolling through the ol' cellular. The first is from a visit home to my family in May. My mom still uses the mug I gave her several years ago, and its chocolatey brown color does look fabulous accompanying a soy cappuccino. I love the moment the coffee is served, complete with cinnamon sprinkled atop the foam. Yum!

Lilies of the valley and an iris, both from mom's garden.

This is my boss hard at work, with the "It ain't easy..." mug I gave him in August. It's fashioned after a plastic to-go mug that says "It ain't easy being a princess" and for some reason my boss adores the ugly thing! I tried to steer clear of any foofy princess designs, so my version is a large coffee cup-sized beer stein. It took me quite a while to come up with that idea, but I think it works great.

Send me photos if you have 'em!

Goblets

In September I traveled to Istanbul, Turkey, and in October I visited family in the Midwest. I love trekking around the country and the globe, but it means I've been out of the studio a lot! It's looking dubious that I'll be all that productive this month, with holidays just around the corner, but maybe I can get back into my routine of getting up at 6 am to start my day in the studio.

I did get to finish a few items, including 2 sets of goblets:

A commission for wine goblets

Matching goblets for the new gallery in Salida

Time to get back to work!