Ms. B 2020

We had planned a firing for the small kiln a few weeks back and with everything that has come up we pushed it aside.
Last week pots were glazed.
 Thursday Mark fired.
Here are some pictures.

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We will continue to keep in touch as we move along.
Please stay safe, hold your family tight, from afar.
I am missing mine today.

customer choices

 We have a small gallery here that we have sold our work through since 1982. In the past few years sales here have slowed down in numbers. We still have walk in traffic but you need to be more creative in the days of the internet.
We started the blog, then blogs went the way of FB, instagram, and probably things I have no clue of.

We have folks that contact us to fill a space in their house. It helps us greatly to get a picture of the space to be filled.
As soon as I saw the pictures I thought of these soft, satin, green/blue glaze that we have been using for a few years.
A few back and forth pictures and we shipped off the one to the right, which turned out to be a perfect choice.
It is one of our greatest pleasure seeing our work out there being used.

We have a long time customer that sent me a great picture of 4 of our pots last month.
When I see something such as this I think it is so perfect to see how they have come in and pulled our work into a look for their home.
I love the large wall hanging that works so well with those pots.

And here is that mug made for a friend's husband who has a large hand and needed a bigger mug handle.
Perfect fit.
Feels good to make things work.
Cheers,
M

Last week it was

 HOT!
It was so hot that all you want to do is move from one building to the other. You need a lot of water to drink, and there is not enough water that you can put on a plant to make it happy.
The flowers I planted  have gone from grand to miniatures. I have these tiny flowers instead of the large ones I planted.

 Then today we only reached the 80's. Thank you!

Mark has been making many mugs, beer mugs, coffee mugs, mugs, mugs and more mugs. Just in case there is a run on mugs we are ready.

 The end of he day picture.
We still maintain the habit of cleaning up before we walk out for the evening. It is the ritual of putting it all to bed. It also makes for a nice beginning to come in and have a clean space to work.
I spent one day last week cleaning the gallery. Dusting and rearranging the pottery, fluffing things up a bit.
It makes me feel better...
I don't have a lot to say this week, I am just trying to work while I have a few weeks off. I am working on more tiles while Mark is working pots.

Stop in, it's cool inside, we have a/c in the store.
We don't want folks running out the door because they are too hot to think.
How are things going in you neck of the world, hot, cold, just right...

Ms. B rings in the last firing

 Thank you for following, reading, encouraging, and being a part of our clay family for yet another year.
As 2016 goes out we look forward to 2017.
We hope your holidays are merry and bright.
M&M

Comfort and Joy

 This is it!
 the last load in Ms. B for 2016.
Fingers crossed, results on Saturday.
Joy!
M

Blowing into spring

 Many, many, many folks will talk about the winter of 2014. This has been a winter for the record books with below average temperatures becoming the new normal, bone chilling cold and  a heck of a lot of snow. And, snow in places that don't usually see snow.
We have not had much snow or ice here, but our families have had their share plus enough to last another winter or two.

As we head into March we are use to seeing the Northerners head our way in hopes of finding some warmth and sunshine. This year we don't have much of either to share with them. It's cold. It does not matter where you are, it's cold.

I feel as if we are stuck in a winter limbo that will not let us go. I just heard that winter is planning to hang on through most of March, bringing even more weather precipitation with it. At least one if not two more storms. I hope not, but could be true.

  

 What does that mean for us?
It is harder to go out and work in the cold.
We are just not as winter savvy as some folks that we know. The studio has heat but not great heat. We can usually get by with our one wall heater. This year that one wall heater is cranked up.
Hot water helps as long as you keep plenty at hand. Layers under and over, wool socks, good shoes all help as well.

It is a good idea to keep as warm as possible to get the job done.
I took advantage of yesterday's heat wave to mask up and stand outside to clean up pots for a bisque firing. It was at least 40 degrees outside. That is better than the single digits that we have been having.
How do you stay warm in this cold?

Years ago we had visiting potters here from Denmark and Helsinki staying with us and working in our studio. It was February and the first day we went out to find our outside water frozen. We thawed it out, heated water, turned up the heat and all went to work.

 Later they complained at how cold our studio and house were. "Cold! But look where you live", I said. "Yes," they said, "but our houses and shops are well insulated and we have heat in our floor."

Heat in the floor.......what I would give for some heat in the floor.

I spent time yesterday moving pots from the last firing over to the shop just in case some of the brave travelers find their way out of the frozen north. We did see a few travelers the last two days making me hope that there are more who are ready for some southern sunshine.
Of course tonight we are under a winter weather advisory, ice.
Ice for Friday.
BUT- Saturday is full of promise.
60 degrees....
I think I am ready.