Sunday, November 23, 2008

Well, I have officially sold something on Etsy now even if it was to my sister Joy. She's also commissioning me to make her some things for her guest bathroom and I can't wait to get started! I also have another alchemy request for a large bowl so things are slowly happening on Etsy which is encouraging. Also, I will be doing another sale in the Orlando area the week before Christmas. Me and one of my studio mates Whitney will be at the Homegrown for the Holidays Artisan Market in Thorton Park (a trendy downtown area of Orlando). So needless to say, I'm pretty busy in the studio right now working on those things and testing a yellow slip color and experimenting with other colors of underglaze just to see how they look.

Here's my first "sold" Etsy item:



Voila! I think it's my best teapot so far!

Thursday, November 13, 2008

If you're in the Orlando area this weekend, me and a few studio mates are having a home sale on Friday evening from 5-8pm and during the day on Saturday from 12 until 5.

Come check it out at the home of Hank Schubert:

3214 Inverness Ct.
Orlando, Fl 32806

Hope to see you there!

Monday, November 10, 2008

Well, directly after I posted my disappointing entry this morning I decided that before I go to the studio I should decide what pots I wanted to bring to the sale this weekend, pack them up and drop them by Hank's house (where the sale will be). This got me thinking that it would be really nice if I had some business cards or postcards or something to give out to people who like my work. So I designed my very first postcards, here's the print samples below:


I'm pretty happy with them especially for being my first go at designing postcards. My only concern at this point is whether the pitcher in the top picture will be cut off a bit at the top! I really hope not. I didn't realize it until after I bought them and came back tonight to try and post their pictures on here that I read and realized that somewhere between the green and red lines is where the axe will fall. Everything in the red will for sure be kept and the green is the "fade out zone" or something like that. Oh well, they still show good images of my work and communicate how to get a hold of me. I'm also thinking for next time, to just write my name on the front rather than my pottery (that I hope to have one days name). These are more geared toward a retail market whereas just something with my name could be both retail and gallery.

I think these maybe point me squarely in the direction of crafter/designer vs. artist and I'm still not really sure where in there I do fall or want to fall. I think that's why my artist statement is giving me so much trouble- I'm not sure of all that stuff yet.



Oh, and in other news, I have gotten over my recent rejection and decided that I should subject myself to more of that at least once a week. That will be my goal for the rest of the year-- to find some gallery, store, online shop every week to try and get my work accepted into. Rejection is good for the soul (or something like that). Keeps us grounded....although most of the time I think I'd rather still be dreaming!

Well, I have received my first official rejection as a ceramic artist! Does that mean I have arrived?

I don't actually think it was because of the quality of work but rather because of my lack of sale (thus feedback from customers) on Etsy. Either that or they are just currently filled up in that category because I refuse to believe it was quality of work because I can see that, even with the faults of my work, it's every bit as good if not better than some of the people on that site. At least that's what I've chosen to tell myself....

Somehow I'm not feeling so motivated to get to the studio today. Not just rejection but also the fact that I am out of decorating slip and it's still on order from Bennett's and will be another week so the only thing I really have to do in the studio is glaze. I don't think I'm alone in saying that is my most unfavorite part of the process.

Regardless of all of this, I think I will head off to the studio today and perhaps throw myself a few nice caseroles. Something that requires lots of pieces and time so I can put off the decorating until my slip comes!

Sunday, November 9, 2008

So I had a pretty busy morning today photographing some sets of pieces for my new banner on Etsy and to apply to sell my work on Trunkt. We'll just have to see how that goes but hopefully I will be selected to sell from their site (which really just links buyers back to Etsy). I suppose as long as I'm getting my work out there it doesn't really matter to me where they decide to purchase my work from.

Two shots of my cup designs- mugs and juice glasses- I also make taller tumbler type glasses but haven't gotten any of those out of the kiln in awhile.
A few different bowls- again with my favorite that blushed orange!
This pitcher just came out of the kiln yesterday- have to say I am really pleased with how it came out! If only there wasn't a baby crack on the bottom....

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Yesterday at the studio, I brought my new camera so I could get a few good shots of some of my in-progress pieces. I'm very excited about my new camera (a Nikon D60) that my wonderful hubby bought me as a present for officially starting to sell my work. It will also come in handy for keeping my portfolio up to date.

This pitcher was one of my favs from yesterday:
I'm very happy with how the above little flower turned out! It will look just lovely pooling glaze!
Below, is a close up to explain my process a bit. See the fine line running through the red underglaze line? That is a shallow cut from an exacto knife. Then I fill it in with the red slip and when it's all stiffened up quite a bit, I use a metal rib to scrape away the excess and I am left with a red incised line (like the bottom picture).



Here's another pitcher that I made yesterday along with a full shot of the above finished:


These dots in the sides are something that is new to this recent batch of pots made within the past two weeks or so. None have come out of the firing yet so I'm pretty anxious to see what they look like. I really hope they bleed down a bit in the firing. Although I have done dots from a slip trailer these are actually made from pressing the end of a paint brush into the wet clay and then filling the inside with underglaze. One thing I love about doing these dots is that I throw thin enough so you can see the clay pushing through on the inside as well!

Here's the decorating of my first batter bowl:

Those first two are pre-scraping and the last one is the finished (ready to be fired) batter bowl. I love, love what is happening under the handle on the back with the green only inside the handle and the leaves wrapping into the inside!

I also decorated ten teacups/mugs yesterday but I didn't get pictures of those. When I left they we all too wet to scrape still so that will probably be the first thing I do next time I get into the studio! I'm pretty excited also because this Saturday is the first wood firing of Jack's new kiln. Can't wait to see how all their pieces turn out! Too bad my patterns would be totally obliterated by the firing. One of these days I may make some things especially for the wood kiln. I do love the atmosphere a wood kiln creates!