June 12

It's June 12th and we are almost halfway through the month, how this happens I have no clue.
I am not teaching this summer, but enjoying some time putting that day to other uses.
Today I am heading out to wax pots for a small load of pots in the electric kiln.
I have been working on tile while Mark is restocking the beer size mugs that are great size for whatever you like to drink.
We are open, if we are here working, but we are planning to look at what it would be to only be open by appointment only or Wednesday- Saturday.
 I have seen a number of pottery shops around us close, go up for sale, or sale or rent. I am not sure what this means for us all in the long run.
We are trying to figure that out.
We don't plan to sell, or move, we are still here working away.
Add us to your stop if you are in Seagove.
Cheers,
M

Cooking Bunnies

These are some of the 3x6 tiles from the firing I just did.
And, it is the 1st of August- Rabbit-Rabbit.
M

Yes, we took the door down

No, it was not the best load.
But, it was not the worse load either.

There are still some bugs to work out in the loading.
We know what we did right and we know what we did wrong.
Continuing on....

Just the other

 day I walked in our small gallery and took some quick pictures of the inside.
This is our insides.
I posted this on FB along with a couple of more pictures of the inside and it just took off. We had over 60 shares on the pictures. It takes me by surprise what will take off and what will just sit there and not even get a second look.
It is all a puzzle to me this media/internet/marking/tools that we need to use these days to get our work out and noticed.

How's that working for us?
Good question.
I am not sure it is.

 I posted this one cut down to take out the family pictures.
It was a post called  shared space.
It did get some nice buzz, but not 60 shares.
This is where I look in the mornings as I am having my cup of coffee. It makes me think of those spaces in our houses that make us happy.
There is a vase out of the last kiln filled with flowers that were given to me a few years back out of my sister's garden. Hers are pink, mine come up white with a bit of pink. There is a small jug from Hannah from the visit she made to the sates. A few wee jugs from the Sandford Coles, a miniature scene of a kitchen and one of Tracey's houses.
Behind that is a floor cloth made by my sister Lee.
Happiness comes in many forms.

   To the right---I posted this on the same group that made the 60 shares  and before it went up I thought I hate all those price stickers. My next thought was let  it go. We forget how important it is to let people know our work is for sale.

What's up on the school front?
Let's just say all things come to an end.
I will be filling in some classes but do not have a class of my own.
It has been an interested time for me. I am still trying to digest it all.
I am giving the words, if not this, something else, a try.
Let's see what that does for me.

These guys come back every year. I always love to see them come up.
Spring is amazing.

Let's keep in touch. I hope that for some of us the written thought will still be important.
Cheers!
M

Tiles

 I am back at it playing with some tiles I had left over from a back splash I just finished.
The back splash turned out well, but as with all things there are extras. The back splash needed to be 6X3 inch tiles. I had made them in a white clay body and a clay body with some iron in it, not knowing which one I would end up using.
I am always telling students that clay body will make a difference to the glaze that you are working on. If you are looking at a glaze and you want it to come out with a certain color it is good to know what clay body is being used.
The tiles here are 2 different bodies with the giraffe glazed the same. The backgrounds were different but you can see how different the bodies turned out.

  I did the same thing with this praying mantis.
On the dark body the green is nice and warm. On the white body he is a very light green. Again, the back ground is a different glaze.
The flower below is also on the white clay body. I like the way it showed the bee and the detail of the legs. I have  been using a wax with some color in it and it allows me to place in more detail and have that detail show up.

 It is that time again- flowers in the yard.

I just finished with my last full time students. It was bittersweet saying our good-byes after spending two years with them. I hope that the time we spent together was a good one for them. It taught me so many things about myself. I learn that I was not  too old to take on a challenge.
 The first Summer I drove myself to the school to teach was three years ago.  I am still amazed at how those three years have turned out not only for me but for the program as well.
My plan right now is to teach one day a week through the end of the summer session. After that there are no guarantees that I will have a job, or stay on. In many ways I hope that they are in a place to hire someone who is younger and willing to move the program to another level.
It has been good for me to move outside my own comfort zone. In teaching I have found that I learned as I was teaching. I want to put some of those things into play.
The way I am working with tiles right now is one of those things.

After the summer it might be my time to go back to my own work while I have the chance.
Never stop.

I hope you are all well and ready for summer.
M 

Take a walk

 on the wild side.
It's been a week or two, maybe three since I have had any time to just sit down and write a word or two.

I am walking on the wild side.
The three days a week at school added into the days I am trying, trying, to get things done here add up to a walk on the wild side.
I toss myself in the car for the ride to school and toss myself into the car for the ride home always, always, feeling that something is undone, unfinished, to be continued, later, later, later. I forget where I need to start and when I end off.

 It will take a person much better, younger and wiser than me to wrap this all up.
Is it time to wrap it up and come home.
I would like that option.
The question is how to make it work.

Selling pottery for a living has become increasingly difficult. Truth here and now.
I don't think we can continue the path we stepped on so many years ago.
Something has to change.

What you ask?
I don't know would be my answer.
I. don't. know.

I just know that the bottom dollar speaks and it is talking very loud at me right now.
Even we can read the writing on the wall.
If the pottery can no long pay the bills then something else will have to do that for us.
We really can not afford to lose money doing this, who can?

I have decided it's time to tell the truth.
As painful as that is.
It is time to take a different action.
What?
I don't know.

There is much to think about.
M

a little here

 and a little there.
There are no groceries in the house, but I am getting some work done.

It seems as if there are just not enough days in my weeks right now. I am going to work on some tiles and just not think about it.
After all the sun is out today, and that, is a good thing.