Black Friday at Barrel Oak Winery

I was invited to attend the Barrel Oak Black Friday event on Friday, November 26, 2010. The event begins at 11 and will go through the afternoon and into the evening. The hours are not set as yet, but will be forthcoming.

This is my first time participating in this event, and I am looking forward to being at Barrel Oak Winery, and sharing in this festive day.

Hope to see you there!

Here is the link to Barrel Oak Winery to learn more about the event: www.barreloak.com.

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Being Humbled...

Being a humble person is something most of us aspire to, being humbled is good for the soul. Well, I am not sure if I am a humble person, but I have definitely been humbled a time or two in my life. Pottery offers a whole new arena in which to be humbled. Both by people who pass your work by, and by those who are almost groupies!

I had both experiences in the space of a few days last week and it was an interesting pendulum ride indeed! First the bad humbling....I spent 2 days at an Expo show and really did just awful. I felt bad for the amount of time I invested, and my family invested by supporting me and being there. But it was a learning experience, and I certainly learned the lesson. This show was not artisan oriented and although the demographics were perfect, people came out with other items in mind. I literally had 100 or more people stop, look very carefully at all my pieces, ask a few questions, and yes offer compliments, only to move on with a "I will have to keep this in mind for a gift" for so and so.

On the other end of the humbled spectrum, I happen to wander into a beautiful gallery is a lovely little town in the vicinity of my studio, and after the owner had looked at my website, she inquired if I might let her handle a few pieces. It was like a breath of fresh air had lifted my weary sails.

I had been quite discouraged, but thankfully this lovely gallery owner showed some interest and my spirits were lifted.

When I returned home the positive vibes continued, my email box had 4 invitations to attend events where I hope to be well received.

So, you just never know. I just keep plugging on, and am enjoying the interesting ride. It reminds me of that line from the children's movie Nemo..."just keep swimmin', just keep swimming'". And I do.

To help me along as I navigate through the cloudy waters of potteryville, I posted the fish platter along with this post. It was the first time I attempted this particular platter. It was originally done for a tennis friend of my husband who is from NYC and wanted it for a bagel/brunch server.

It was fun to make, and I will have another go at it later this summer.

May...

Welcome to May. I am having a SLOW awakening to the realization that I have several big shows coming up. I am also in the process of looking into adding a few new venues. So all this adds up to needing to get into the studio and get to it.

Unfortunately, this time every year I get bogged down in "transplantationitis". Not sure about your neck of the woods, but here there are LOTS of perennials that need to be divided and replanted during these few late weeks of April, and the early weeks of May.

Sunday, I spent about 12 hours doing just this, digging, dividing, digging, planting. After 20 years in my home, I have finally learned what works and what doesn't, from a perennial perspective.

I am a flower nut! But I also love a defined border. I have LOTS of both, and am pleased with the results, even if they have taken almost 2 decades.

Now that my annual planting frenzy is in a lull, I am waiting for the Irises to finish blooming so I can dig, divide, and transplant them, I am FINALLY going to get back to the studio.

I receive posts from several on-line pottery journals. One actually sends cool videos from other potters. One recent video showed how to make a sunflower from the wheel. This picture with this post is my interpretation. It was fun, not too quick a project, but I am pleased with the results.

Going back to make MORE!!

A New Year, a beginning....

Well, what can I say, the last few months have been a roller coaster of shows, work, more work and more shows. The last show I did was in a quaint, very upscale town not far from my home. It was a juried show, and I had applied last year but was not accepted. I was accepted this year and was lucky enough to participate. It had such a wonderful write up by a number of artisans, I was really looking forward to being there.

Unfortunately, it was one of those Decembers when the snow came much too early! The day of the show we had almost 7 inches. I got there, got everything inside, set up and waited it out. All the artisans collectively decided at 3 pm to pack things in and hit the road. The show was supposed to go for another 2 hours, but the traffic had trailed off at 2pm, so we thought it was safe to call it a day.

For those of you who are craft show people, you KNOW what it means to pack out of a show in 7 inches of snow!!! YIKES!!! I was happy I only lost a few things in the process and didn't break any bones!

The holidays were very quiet. Fortunately, a wonderful friend was brave enough to clear my stock for me. She used the pieces for Christmas presents for family, friends, and teachers. I could not have been more pleased to help wrap it all up and send it home with her. Now my decks are clear, I don't have to worry about stock I may or may not have. I can start completely fresh. And I have to say that is an exciting prospect for me. It is like I have a clean slate, or a fresh canvas on which to create.

I have taken a true break from the studio. Some of it was wanted, some forced because of a health issue with one of my kids. But hopefully tomorrow will be my first full day back in the mud. I am looking forward to loosing myself in my music, some good sunlight, and the peace of creating.

By the way, apparently, we have a mountain lion on our little mountain. It has been spotted by 2 neighbors within 1/2 mile, and also a vet that lives close by also may have seen a deer that might have fallen victim to the lion. But we are not 100% sure on that one. Let me just tell you, I am definitely keeping track of all of my cats and they seem to want to be inside because of all the cold, so that has worked very well.

I will post some more pictures soon. I recently updated my website and added back in some more "spring time" pieces.

Well, I will be back blogging again soon. Thanks for stopping in and seeing what has been happening here.

Green

Well, I had some time to experiment with various green glaze combinations. I think I have hit on a nice combination. It was sort of by accident, but I am quite happy with my result. Let me know what you all think about it.

Life here at Big Dog Pots has been pretty shut down this week. My son and I came down with Swine Flu. Or the Piggy Plague as one of my nephew called it. Luckily we caught it very early and got right on medications within the first 12 hours of symptoms. Everyone in the family showed various symptoms, but my son's were the worse. He is coming along and getting slowly back into his regular routines.

So, I guess this is good news. Now I don't have to worry about going to all these shows and catching Swine Flu!

I have 3 shows in the next 2 weeks and am looking forward to a brisk show season. Hopefully, shoppers will be purchasing this year. Last year my traffic was pretty low, but this fall so far the pace has picked up.

I have decided to support a new organization that I have become aware of recently. It is the Reesie's Project. It is a wonderful group that supports families who need to give up their animals due to financial or health reasons. They also do outreach into the community with coat collections and distributions. Their website is www.reesies.org. Check in and see what they are all about.

Well, my car is packed and my pieces are ready for the show tomorrow at the Warrenton Boys and Girls club. Off we go!

Tick Tock Tick Tock...

Well, I must say, I did this to myself. I make pottery as a hobby. OK, it is really my only "job" other than mom and animal wrangler, but I am lucky, I don't have to make a living from my hobby. I go to various craft fairs and sell my pieces, mainly so I can make more :). My proceeds are donated to local charities that I like to support.

ANYWAY, last October I attended a local 2 day fair at the request of a friend. It was really an awful venue for me. So this year when they asked me to come back I asked if they had done anything to improve the traffic to the vendor area. They said they had come up with a lot of new ways to draw people in, and they did.

Basically, this is a lesson learned! Craft fairs that are tagged onto another event are not going to be a great venue for me. There are about 3-4,000 people who attend the event, but they are really there for the food, kids games, music and other activities. The way the facility is set up it is just not conducive for a good flow to the vendor area.

SO, I spent another 2 days in crafter wasteland and only made one sale at 7 pm on the second day.

Well, it wasn't a total loss. There were 2 other vendors there that gave me a lot of great advice and I have hooked into a couple other shows for next year that are very promising.

So, all in all, although I really didn't like the idea of being inside for such a beautiful weekend, it served its purpose. I learned to choose my venues wisely and to make the most of even the worst of shows!

Thanks to the hosts for this show. You all did all you could, and I know you did. I really appreciated all your efforts and all your hard work to try to get the traffic back to us. I guess you can lead the horse to water but......

Welcome Back!

No Mr. Kotter is not coming by to say hi. It has been too busy of a year. But summer is winding down, kids will be back in school, and I will be hitting the mud HARD.

I just updated my events schedule for the rest of the year, you can check out where I will be at www.bigdogpots.net.

I also decided I would give Etsy a try. Many people ask if I have a local shop, when I say "no", then they usually follow with "you need to be on Etsy".

SO, I took their advise and have expanded my "computering" and have just created an Etsy shop. You can check that out at www.bigdogpots.etsy.com.

Well, now on to "pot news".

Not sure if I mentioned that I started taking a class in the wheel in Feburary. More of a stop in a chat type thing. But I got to play with mud while it went AROUND in a circle. COOL!!

My teacher was patient, but didn't "get" what I was trying to do. Fortunately, people at my shows "get" it and the wheel items have been flying off the table.

SO, my wonderfully supportive husband of 24 year (and counting) decided I "needed" to get my own. So, I am now the proud owner of a Pacifica GT400. LOVE,LOVE,LOVE this wheel.

I have also expanded my handbuilding to include some new and interesting pieces, including unique communion plates and goblets.

I will post more pictures soon.