I'm Not Sure We Can Sell These

I know I can make more, but pulling these bowls out of the kiln was like falling in love. I just want to hang on to them for a while. I may enlarge a print of one of these to hang in the studio for the days we need inspiration.

Totally Offensive!

We made these at the request of some friends following a hilarious conversation. The response has been overwhelming! We have had orders pour in - some asked for PG 13 versions and others gave suggestions for other saying for non-morning people. I have to get to work and throw mugs and stamp sayings! If you want some, too, please contact us through our Etsy shop and we'll add you to the queue.

Better Photos

Well, finally we took pictures of our new necklaces. I have a huge stash of handmade, ceramic pendants and now I feel like I know what I want to do with them. We have offered them for sale loose with little interest so we decided to string some and see how it goes.

We have been making pendants for a long time, but we finish them, smile, and say, "Now what?!" We have sold them loose, but not very well. I think customers must have the same it's-lovely-but-what-do-I-do-with-it response.

We have tried stinging them on ribbon or leather or silk cord. They seem at home, but undone. After a visit to a great bead shop, I felt inspired and sat down to take on the challenge. This is my result.

Aside from the photo being bad, I am pleased and I think it will help people visualize what can be done with earthy ceramic pendants. The beading was tedious but satisfying. I used the Fibonacci number sequence to decide the bead pattern, starting with the number 5.

The Fibonacci number sequence is a string of numbers in which the sum of the last two numbers determines the next. In other words (or numbers) it goes like this: 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, and so on. It is a soothing sequence that appears often in nature. The most notable example is the spiral of the nautilus.

There are lots of fun scientific articles out there regarding the Fibonacci numbers in nature, the golder ratio, and the Pheidian spiral. While you may not like looking at the algebra, it is nice to the the sequence applied to images and to understand why certain compositions are comforting and others are jarring. Check out Spira Solaris Archyta-Miribilis, Souls of Distortion, and this blog post on Values Australia which charts art, beauty, and more using Fibonacci numbers.

A New Line?

This bowl came out of the last kiln load and as we unloaded I heard Alex behind me saying, "Oh, HELL yes!" I'm seeing this as a whole new line of work. I have never wanted to be too matchy, but I really love this look. I know in order to be more marketable as a functional potter, we need to have some standard lines and this on I think I can live with for a while. What do you think?

Big Changes

Last night, the dragonfly dishes came out of the glaze firing. We are very pleased with the results! The matte brown glaze spread a little and turned purple and blue. The result is a much more organic look and feel which is what we were hoping for.

The rest of the pieces in the firing were all worth getting weak kneed over, too! More photos of it all to come!

Dragonfly Dishes

We were up late with a marathon glazing session last night. We had a big dinnerware order to complete with no real instructions for decoration. It was one of those well-you-know-what-I-like jobs.

So, after staring at the pasta bowls and plates for what seemed like an eternity, this is what we came up with!

It felt right when it was all done, so I am sure the recipient will be pleased. The colors will be jade green and matte brown that has cobalt and eggplant accents like this piece below. The kiln is firing now and it is going to be hard to be patient for the results.

Progress!

Today, while Alex was out of the house, I used the power tools! I broke out the circular saw, the jig saw, and the chain saw! When he got home, the floor of the treehouse was done.

The tree comes up through the floor in two places.

Here you can see the triangular shape of the floor from the top side.

Now that we are up in the tree, I can see loads of patterns on the bark. I hear the little guy who makes these holes every morning. I never manage to catch sight of him, but at our bird feeder we get downy woodpeckers, yellow bellied sapsuckers, and red headed woodpeckers so I'm assuming they are all pecking away out here.

How Potters Procrastinate

There is so much to do right now to get ready for summer shows, but instead of sitting at the wheel, we have been climbing up and down trees. Yes, after a short conversation on a Sunday morning and a trip to the lumber yard, we are building a tree house!

We are building in a mature apple tree. We started to build a series of small platforms, but we decided instead to build a large, triangular platform with the point in the enter of the tree and two stilt legs about 10 feet out in the yard.

We spend a lot of time figuring out angles and discussing the next step. Gran'daddy has been a big help and I suspect he's having a lot of fun.

We've got three planks of decking up so the boys have to try it out. They said they'll come back up when we have the walls up!