Monday, July 11, 2016

It's getting to be a lot like

 July out there.
The blueberries are coming in, tomatoes,squash, peaches and all the good things that come with summer.
I am behind by 3 years on a summer garden instead I help my local growers out by buying from them.

On the pottery front. We are working on taking pictures of the new work that is coming from Ms. B. We have tried twice to set up something in the studio and shoot after the sun goes down. The good thing about rebuilding our work space after July 8th 2008 when we had a fire was adding more light in with more windows. The bad thing about all those windows is the reflections they add.
We set up a spot and waited until the sun went down to shoot.
While Mark was using his camera I had my point and shoot.
 We did get some random shoots that were okay, but we are not getting what we really want. We think it comes down to the lens on his camera and are now doing some research on what we could switch to as well as a different back ground. I like the black, but the camera and color off the all black is not working with many of the glazes.
We have always know that we would rather make pots than shoot them. We also know that if you really want a good shoot you hire a professional.  We have done that in the past and it is probably time to take that step again. What we would like is to set up an online store and with that we need a set up that would work all the time for us to shoot and post.
The challenge of selling work in the digital age.

 This glaze on the honey pot is one that has been around and now back again for us. When we were firing in the big gas kiln we could no longer get this to come out for us. In Ms. B it is happy as happy can be. We are slowly putting it on mugs, juice cups and honey pots. Next up is some larger work such as lamps.

Below- yes, that is us with one of our first goats in our makeshift milking contraption that Mark built.
I had a small herd of milk goats that we were raising, but this city girl never learn how to milk a goat. I was up there keeping her from kicking while Mark worked the milking.
I recently found this picture in a box of pictures that Mark's mom had.
A real walk back in time for us, I always wonder where my life would have gone if I had continuing the life of a goat herder. I was making goat cheese in 70's and could not give it away. We loved it, but anytime I tried to share it was a different story. The goats, my girls, are for another day.
Today, it is back to the clay pit.



14 comments:

cookingwithgas said...

note that hot footwear from back in the day!

Michèle Hastings said...

Your blueberries are delicious, thank you for sharing!
I noticed the footwear right away, mid-70's is my guess :-)

Do you have a soft box to hang over your photo shoot? Adorama sells a very affordable one: http://www.adorama.com/fpsb24243.html. It makes a big difference in your photos. There is alway going to be photoshop tweaking in the end.

If you don't have a lot of space for a long roll of gray paper, a gradated background works well. The just scratch easily.

cookingwithgas said...

thanks MH- come and pick more if you like.
I will look that up to see if it could be an answer. Thanks!

Dennis Allen said...

Gardens are like swimming pools, it's great when your neighbor has one !
When I want a pretty good picture, I dig out my digital SLR and put a polarizing filter on it. It really helps control the reflections.

Gary's third pottery blog said...

Just wonderful pots, esp. like the greenish ones! :)

Anna said...

those top two are lovely. Goat's cheese is so popular now it would sell well.. ah the vagaries of fashion...

Laurie said...

I get the best photos when I use natural light. I took some today on a table on the porch, & wonder if you might set up a table on your porch. Just a thought. Not sure if pots would be the same as what I'm shooting. As you know, I love that photo of you two milking a goat! I'm sure it'd been fun to know you back then! Not that it's not fun now :o).

cookingwithgas said...

We have done some wild and crazy things. No one that we knew here had goats back then. I still want some, then I remember the work it takes.
I guess I'm lazy now.
We were just a couple of kids!

cookingwithgas said...

Thanks for the tips Dennis.

smartcat said...

Oh the memories. We had two Nubians for a while back in the late seventies....long before my pottery days.
The caterpillars ate my blueberries! (WAH! :( )
Loving the pots!










Melissa Rohrer said...

The pots look great- I cannot pick a favorite!

Suburban Correspondent said...

The pottery is all so beautiful. My neighbor has a wheel and kiln, and I buy a coffee mug for Larry every year at Christmas (can't afford much else). So I've ended up with a lovely collection. I need to post pictures of them some time.

Lori Buff said...

The glaze that has returned looks great. Isn’t it funny how they will act differently in different kilns?

cookingwithgas said...

Thanks all!
Come get some berries, there are still plenty.
Yes, I want to see those mugs!
And, yes, each kiln is different.