Learning Something New. And Learning

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I have been feeling a bit messed up for the past few days but I think I have all my brain chemicals back in balance today!  Yay for that.


I didn't make any pots today at all.  I've been trying to learn something new and I'll let ya know how it's going in a day or so. (Still things to do).    Has nothing to do with clay by the way.


So, tomorrow I plan to make some pots.  I am very excited about the Thrown Together Fall Sale which is Oct. 2nd in Charlotte.


So just to keep it interesting (maybe) I'll recall something that happened this weekend.


A lady came in the shop looking for a gift for a couple.  Now this person comes in once or twice a year and she has several of my pots.  Well, she went on about how she wanted to get the couple something useful.  She told me how she had some of my baking dishes and how much she loved them.  All the pots she has are my salt glazed pots.  She asked if I had any bakers with owls drawn in them. No I didn't.  No bakers at all really.  Okay so she went on about the useful thing for a while and I just felt like she was saying that my new (not so new anymore) work wasn't useful.   This got my defenses up because I do want my pots to be used but I do know that now that I've started decorating more (overkill sometimes) that my pots seem like objects to put on a shelf.  Which is fine.  I do have my worries and hangups about all this coming from my past background and voices in my head. (stupid voices).  I do want to be a functional potter but I've got to face it I've moved into a different arena.  I'm not making plain salt glazed stoneware anymore.  I'm actually really happy that I'm not doing that because for once I'm happy with where I am and what I'm making.


Anyhow back to the lady.  She had to have something with an owl on it.  I had a great serving bowl with an owl,  $94.  She said, can they put it in the dishwasher?  I said sure if they want to put a $94 dollar bowl in the dishwasher. (stupid defensive voice).  I showed her a couple more things and thankfully Sarah came in and saw I was a bit worked up and took over with her.  While I went into to the studio I saw an oval vase that Sarah had put flowers in that morning.  Low and behold it had an owl on it!  I took it to show them and the lady loved it and bought it right away.


I don't think she caught on to my defensive part coming up or my frustration with not being able to find her what she wanted.  Really this isn't about the lady at all it's about me reacting to how I feel like she perceived my work, as decorative, expensive objects.


I have worried that I've lost some of my local customers by changing my work and up-ing my prices because of all the labour involved.  I have lost some.  But really I have to say that this has been my best year ever that I've been making pots.  No, I've not made more money than ever but I am happy with my work and I've gotten some good recognition and positive feedback from folks in the field.  I feel great about that.  This other stuff is prone to come up and that's okay.  I can't do the same thing forever.  I've got to grow and I feel like I am so that's good right?  I'm happy the customer left happy too, it's important to me to have a connection with people buying my pots.  I do need to learn to talk more about what I'm doing now and hopefully bring some folks along with me.


Hey, I don't think I've written anything that long in a while.  If I keep that up, Jim will have some competition!! Ha.


Something for Monday

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Hey Folks.  Hard to know where to start here as I've not had a post for a few days.

The Home Sale went okay.  I really appreciate those folks who came out and bought pots.  I had hoped for a bigger turnout but it was pretty slow after the morning rush.  So I have plenty of pots left which is okay as I have several more shows/events coming up.  I didn't have to rush back out to the wheel today for sure though.

I really hope to get some pots in the Etsy shop this week too.  I'll keep ya posted on that.

I want to make some amber pots for the Thrown Together show on Oct. 2nd.  I think I'll shoot for a few bigger jugs and maybe another large platter.  I enjoyed seeing the pot above in the showroom over the weekend and feel like I'd like to have some more.

I am waaaay behind on reading blogs.  I just open my Reader and get overwhelmed.  There is just so much out there.

Well, thanks for checking in. I'll try and write a more uplifting or at least interesting post later on.

Showroom Preview

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I'm getting all set up for my Home Sale which is this Saturday from 10 am till 4pm.  Here is a video from today showing the state of the showroom at this point.  I'll get all the pots set up and looking nice before the sale starts.  You'll see there is a lot of pottery here so if you are around the area please come by.  All first quality work will be 15% off Saturday only.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqEJiTNtDTA

Address for the sale is 757 Wallace Grove Road, Shelby NC 28150.

Juror's Award

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I found out this morning that the bowl below was chosen as the winner of the Juror's Award of the 3rd Annual Lillstreet International exhibition.  The show closed yesterday.  The juror was Steven Young Lee, the resident artist director at the Archie Bray in Montana.

I've never won anything like this before so I'm pretty excited and very honored. Plus I'll be getting some $$!!  Sweet!

Visiting Tom

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Earlier this week I got to spend some time at Tom Gray's pottery in Seagrove.  Tom and I both have a passion for pizza.  Tom out did himself by grilling us up a pizza for supper.





Boy was it delicious!!!

Tom has 9 or so of these beautiful New Hampshire Red chickens.  I'd never held a chicken before.  Tom surprised me with his lighting like skill of snatching a chicken up by the feet and handing me the bird.

Loads of Great Pots.

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I went to the Mint Museum Pottery Invitational show today.  I was officially there as an assistant to my pal Ronan Peterson.  It was an amazing show with 40 of the best potters in the State. (I'd like to be invited soon, hint hint (if anyone is reading this that has any pull)).

I didn't take too many pics but here are a few.

Kyle Carpenter had a huge display of his salt fired work.



Here's a partial shot of Ronan's booth.



And Blaine Avery's turtles



I bought a Shawn Ireland mug, which I am having tea out of right now.

My good friend Amy Sanders was there for the first time this year too.  She's been out of the pottery show circuit  for a while after having her second child but you sure couldn't tell it because she had a booth full of her signature work.  She's certainly back in full force now.

It was great to catch up and chat with most of the potters there that I knew and I also saw several of my friends from Clayworks.

It's been a crazy week and I've more to blog about but it's gonna have to wait b/c Sarah and Karma are ready to go for a walk.

From Within...Opening

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The opening for our exhibition From Within to the Surface was well attended Tuesday night at the Randolph Arts Guild.  Thanks to everyone who came out and for the staff there who put on a great reception.  I had a great visit with Tom Gray (he kept me well fed) and I also got to catch up with Meredith Haywood from Whynot Pottery.  Joseph Sand also came out which I really appreciated and it was good to chat with him about his successful pottery sale.

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Announcement Friday

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I've sort of fallen behind on announcing some things here, so I'm gonna try and catch up all at once.

My Fall Home Sale is Sept. 18th from 10 am till 4 pm here at the Pottery.  To receive a notice be sure to sign up for my mailing list over in the right side bar.  I'm going to have lots of new work including the money boxes and tall footed bowls.  All first quality work will be 15% off that day only at the studio.

If you haven't heard, my pal Michael Kline is having an online sale today! Click HERE for more and get over there and buy some pots!

Thanks to everyone who participated in my contest for the pottery group name.  We are now officially know as Thrown Together and will be having our Fall Sale on Oct. 2, 2010 at Amy Sander's home in Charlotte, NC.  More details to follow but put it on your calendars now.  Hopefully we'll have a blogspot and FB page soon.  Our guests this fall will be Kyle Carpenter and Allison McGowan.

Ayumi Horie is still taking votes for your favorite pot in action photo over at her website.  To see the images click HERE and you could help me win by voting for my photo!!! (see image below, vote for me!!!)



The opening reception for the  exhibition From Within to the Surface is Sept. 7th at the Randolph Arts Guild in Asheboro, NC from 5:30 till 7:30. I will be there so please come out if you are in the area.




And don't forget The Clay and Blogs Online Gallery is up and running.  Click the image below to check it out.  I have a Chicken Money Box for sale.  You could be the first to have one!!!




Okay that's all I can think of for now.  Thanks for checking in and remember to sign up for my mailing list over in the right side bar and also go and vote for my Pot in Action HERE!!!

Scratching Away

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Busy day here finishing up drawing on pots and getting a bisque loaded.  This pot didn't make it in the kiln this time.  I have one more of these 15" dishes to decorate and I hope to get these along with some larger platters in the next load.



Check in later for some announcements and such.


Off to mow the lawn.

From Within to the Surface

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The exhibition From Within to the Surface opens today at the Randolph Arts Guild in Asheboro, NC.


Featuring new works by Ron Philbeck, Jennifer Mecca, Julie Wiggins, Amy Sanders, Greg Scott and Adrienne Dellinger.

Opening reception Sept. 7th.  5:30pm until 7:30 pm.  I'll be at the reception. If you are in the area I hope you'll come out.

Maximum Capacity

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Things in the studio are getting out of hand.  Well, it's really been out of hand for at least a week but now it's pretty much gone over board.  There is not a clean, clear surface in sight.  The floor is a mess. The racks are full of pots, pots awaiting handles and feet and such are under plastic and part of the last firing is sitting on top of the kiln.



So I see no reason to make any pots today.  I need to finish up some things and get pots drawn on.  Okay that's the plan anyhow.


Here are a couple favorites from the last firing.



And here's a pic of me with Juliette Lewis from Saturday night's concert!!


Thoughts on Names

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Well, it was really fun getting all the suggestions from everyone about the name for the clay group.  I've read on a couple other blogs that folks have trouble with this too so that makes me feel better.

I thought I"d throw out a few names that the group has come up with and see what ya'll think of them.  Please comment.

Kudzu and Kaolin

Clay Dept.

Thrown Together

Dirt Merchants (unfortunately there's a hip hop band with this name)

Ring of Fire

Cups and Dishes

Kaolin and Klay

Kaolin Krew

Clay Crew

That's all I can remember at the moment.  Do you like any of those

Finishing Up on Friday

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I'm going to say it's been a good and productive week.  I do feel the pressure of fall coming on with shows and exhibitions on the horizon.  I'm looking forward t getting some pots out there in the world.  The summer has been fairly slow as far as sales go.  I am thankful of the orders I've had from galleries and some sales on Etsy.  I do want to get my online shop stocked up for my customers who live far away.

Here's the output for today, some small bowls, mugs, tall footed bowls that will be chickens, and a few bigger tall footed dishes.



I found out this week that I had two cups selected for the 2nd Annual National Cup show hosted by Barrett Clay Works in Poughkeepsie, NY.


I'll have some pics of new pots out of the kiln up tomorrow. Hope ya'll have a good evening.

And the Winner is...

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This was tough.  There were many good entries, although none of them will probably be used by the group.   For some reason all 4 of us can't seem to agree on one name that suits us.

So it came down to me to choose from all the entries and this is how I did it.  I went through all the comments and wrote down the ones I liked best.  Some were well thought out, some had just a word I liked and some were just plain silly.  I gave each contributor of those a number.  I then pulled a number from that batch to select the winner.  I hope that's fair enough.

So the winner is Liz Paley!!!  Congratulations Liz.

Here is what Liz wrote,


"With all the mishima, laundry lines, and seams, maybe

Slip Line Potters (ceramics/potteries/whatever)
Fine Line Potters (ceramics/potteries/whatever)

or some other line idiom: draw the line; over the line; between the lines; head of the line; top of the line; cross the line; on the line; spin a line; line in the sand/mud; toe the line; thin line; drop a line; out of the lines; firing/fired line; line of fire; clean line; thin line; but please, not “end of the line.” "
I liked Liz's thoughts on using the word Line and I esp. liked Slip Line and Fine Line and Thin Line.

Thanks everyone for contributing.  It was cool to get so many comments and read what you all wrote.  Maybe we'll do it again soon.