More New Stuff!

Don't forget the sale this weekend! Check out my previous post or Swan Creek Potters' web site for more info.

Here's some more new stuff:

Bracelets - some assembled, and some parts waiting to be assembled. $28 each.

Gingerbread ornaments. I made 20. $5 each

Plank earrings in test colors. Left to right - Forest, Grape, Jade, and Grape with Forest.

Except for the Grape with Forest, I have several pairs of each color. $20/pair

This is a commissioned salad bowl - 13.5" dia, 9"deep.

Snowflake bowl - $26

Footed peeking Santa platter - $26

Footed peeking snowman platter - $26

Yarn bowls are $30 each. New colors:

Forest

Grape

Jade

It's getting to be that time!

First, I have a sale this weekend with the Swan Creek Potters:

Saturday, November 19th 9am-4pm

Sunday, November 20th 1-4pm

5727 Weckerly Rd, Whitehouse.

It's cold, so we'll be inside.

Check out Swan Creek Potters web site for details.

Next, I've been invited to be a vendor at the Old West End Tours de Noel on December 4th. I'll be in the Gift Boutique in the Park Lane Luxury Apartments at 142 23rd Street, from 12 -7pm. Check out the Women of the Old West End's web site for details

Here is a preview of what I've got going. Have more in the kiln, I'm hoping to have pics later this week or over the weekend.

Snowmen Salt & Peppers ($30/set)

Sets = Blue & Purple (sold), Dark & Light Yellow, Blue & Orange Stripes

Detail of the yellow pair

Santa hat Salt & Peppers (3 pairs, $30/pair)

Shawl pins come with wood pick ($18/ea)

Top row: Peacock square with leaf texture, Antique Blue round with Leaf, Redwood Square with leaf texture

Middle row: Redwood & Oatmeal round, Green round with blue speckle

Bottom Row: Antique Blue square with leaf texture, Redwood & Oatmeal oval

Snowman earrings - $22 (2 pair - 1 with twig arms [shown], 1 without)

Plank Earrings - $20/pair (silver or 14k gold French hooks)

This isn't for sale, but some of you have heard me talk about it. My nephew has a thing for pi, pie, and boxes, so for his birthday I combined them:

I'm rather pleased with myself

Mixing plaster is not my favorite thing to do. The humidity, temp of the water, how much plaster I add, how fast I mix, if it's lumpy..... there's just too many things that need to be juuuuuuuuuust right Goldilocks, for the batch to be perfect. It's pretty much a crap shoot every time.

I'll know in about an hour, but I think I just mixed the 2 best batches of plaster I've ever made. Why is that a good thing? Because I had a fun idea for some platters with designs carved in them, and I want to be able to make multiples.

So I made the platters just how I want them, made some boxes that are the same size, and voilà! Platter molds in 2 sizes.

(ok, that shot is a bit of a tease. You can't see the design on the platter, because the mold is made upside down. HA! You'll have to tune back in to see the results.)

So there you have it. I'm rather pleased with myself.

Fall has arrived

A bit of a rough month here. Without going into details, we unexpectedly lost our 2 beloved dogs within 6 days of each other, so I'm a bit behind.

In happier news, I dropped off a load of pots at Angelwood Gallery last week, in anticipation of Grand Rapid's annual Apple Butter Fest, which is next Sunday (October 9th) .

Early last month I did a wood fired kiln with the Swan Creek Potters, and here's my loot - 21 pairs of Salt & Pepper shakers:

Acorns ($30/pair)

I made 5 pairs, 1 pair is at Angelwood Gallery

Elephants with recycled cone tusks ($35/pair)

I made 3 pairs, 1 pair is at Angelwood Gallery. And yes, they have cute butts.

Sheep ($35/pair)

I made 1 pair.

Pumpkins ($30/pair)

I made 4 pairs, 1 pair is at Angelwood Gallery

Top left pair is on hold for someone.

Turtles ($35/pair)

I made 3 pairs, 1 pair is at Angelwood Gallery

Wooly Mammoths with recycled cone tusks ($35/pair)

I made 2 pairs, 1 pair is at Angelwood Gallery. And yes, they have cute hairy butts too.

Pinecones ($35/pair)

I made 2 pairs, 1 is at Angelwood Gallery.

NEXT UP: after Apple Butter Fest, I'm doing the annual holiday sale with the Swan Creek Potters November 18-20th (I think), and the newest sale, I've been invited to be a vendor at the Women of the Old West End's Tours de Noel sale at the Park Inn Luxury Apartments on 23rd street. More details to come.

Fall is coming

And I made pine cones!

These are for the wood fire – we load a week from tomorrow.

Grrrrrrranimals!

I'm getting ready for a wood fired kiln in a couple weeks with the Swan Creek Potters.

And I think I'm going to make all salt & pepper shakers for it. Probably mostly animals, but other fallish stuff too. Fran and I shared a box of clay, which is different texture from what I normally use, so it's a bit of an adjustment. You can't tell here, but the clay is actually a buff color, and apparently bisq fires darker. And then in the wood kiln it will get the flashes of color from the ash and flames and all that goodness.

Anyway, here is a very small sample of what I'm making. The ones on the left are going to be wooly mammoth types, and will have red recycled cone tusks. Acorns in the middle, and a turtle on the right. The other turtle is scared. heh.

Other critters are in the works. Stand by.

Another batch

Soap and/or lotion pumps

Footed large & small leaf platters

Bracelets

Got a few more images done:

Olive trays. The olives are clay too, and don't come with the tray.

Footed square platters. They are @ 12-3/4" across. The brown one sold, the blue one is at Angelwood Gallery.

Mixing/serving bowls. These are about 10-1/2" diameter by 7" deep. Brown one sold.

Sheep bank. A rubber plug in his belly holds the change in.

Sometimes I have reasons

Sometimes I have reasons for the things I make. Sometimes, I just..... don't. Sometimes, often times, as I'm sitting here pinching out the base form I just start giggling, because an idea hit me out of the blue.

A few months ago I was talking with some friends about how this part of Ohio, being between 2 certain colleges, goes a bit.... crazy... every fall. That's where these S&P shakers came from. I have one pair of the footballs left, and Angelwood Gallery has a pair. The buckeyes are gone but I have a couple pairs in the works.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!! Imagine the look on your family & friends faces when they ask for the salt and you hand them a blood shot eyeball. Heh. The brown pair are at Angelwood Gallery; I have the rest.

Antipasto anyone?

I was trying to think of a way to recycle the pile of fired pyrometric cones I have, and saw a commercial for baby elephant (Lucas) born recently at the Zoo. (He's really freaking cute. Click his name to see a video of him.) Anyway, that's where these came from. This particular pair was snatched up before they were finished by a friend who apparently has a thing for elephants.

And yes, they have butts.

Magic 8 balls. I don't know. Never had one when I was a kid.

Lady bugs, inspired by a friend.

I was watching movies with Brian and these popped into my head.

Calico & orange kitty for a friend.

Kitties that need a home.

I have a few more sets still need to shoot. Not sure how I missed them this round, but... did.

Check out the Sherwood Inn Pottery fan page on FaceBook to see more detail pics.

For my entertainment

I've been making a lot of silly salt & pepper shakers lately. Partly because they're good for filling up small spaces in my kiln, partly because they make me giggle while I'm making them, and partly because I can work on them in the living room (as opposed to in my studio) and hang out with my boys.

Been getting ready for the 10th Annual Swan Creek Potters Summer Sale in a couple weeks. I haven't been doing the show for 10 years, but that's when Maggie started it all. These elephant s&p shakers would have been at the Swan Creek sale, but were claimed before they were even fired. I'll take a more formal pic later, but here they are waiting for the epoxy holding on the [pyrometric cone] tusks to dry.

And I'll have more pics of other silliness in a few days.