Jars and things

 Here we are it's November and I can hardly believe all that has happened this year.
Instead of talking about all the things that have happened I will just tell you that we are open by appointment these days.
Call us, email or even call us from the end of the driveway and, if no one is here we are happy to have you come down.
Calling the day or night before is really great, but we understand that time does get away.
Meanwhile, mask, hand wash and be oh, so safe.

Ms. B at her best 

Really sweet

I'm a little fancy

This one was all kinds of toasty goodness 

sometimes there are things you want to keep

Celebration of Seagrove Potters - This weekend!

Some pottery from Ms. B.
This weekend- celebration of Seagrove, Luck's building, Seagrove NC
See you there!

we are open

making a trip our way?
Check hours or let us know.
We are open today!
Cookies anyone?

Celebration of Seagrove Potters 2018

Whynot Pottery and Acacia Tiles 

The Celebration of Seagrove Potters 

November 16th-18th 

Saturday & Sunday Potters Market 

Friday Gala Auction and Preview Party.

An indoor pottery show featuring Seagrove pottery from over 100 ceramic artists that live and work within the Seagrove N.C. area. The event includes a Friday night Gala preview party, with early buying opportunities, catered reception, live music, meet the artist, and auction of collaborative pieces.

Pottery sales continue Saturday and Sunday, with demonstrations, children’s hand-on activities, food trucks, beer garden and silent auction.

This is the weekend

for you to come to the area to visit pottery shops there will be over 50 shops with kiln openings, studio tours, demonstrations, and special events.

 If you participate in the Card Stamp program you will be entered to win a $150 gift certificate to use at one participating shop. Just pick up a card at the first pottery you stop in, get it stamped and then carry it to the other shops for more stamps. You can leave this at a participating shop at the end of the day and they will turn them into the group for the drawing. 

If you have any questions or need some input into planning your trip let us know, we are always happy to help.  The big question is always, will there be cookies?

I think so!

Spring is in the air and it's going to be a beautiful weekend.

cheers!

The brain and the madness of it all.

When I am working on glazing I have had times that I can not stop a thought. The thoughts of what if I try this or what if I do that. I know you know what I mean, you have to. The other day as I was glazing the last kiln before our show this weekend I needed blinders to keep me in focus. I kept telling my brain don't look over there, stop thinking about the next thing and think about the task at hand.
My brain did not want to listen.
Look, you have room for 3 small tiles that you can do this test on, just do it.
And, so I did.
I grabbed up the 3 small tiles above and drew on them, I then used a black pottery pencil to follow the lines. I then tried one with a glaze on top, it covered too much. I tried the other 2 just as I would my tiles with the black wax on them. I then waxed them and applied a background glaze. I juggled some space in the kiln and in they went. I think there should always be something in the kiln that you want to see, something to get excited about. I was curious to look at these small tiles.
My reaction is that I like them and now cannot wait to put this to the test on some other pieces.
BUT, we have a show this weekend and I have to sit on this until it is over.
Instead we are packing up the booth, packing boxes of pottery and shifting work to the store/gallery for Mark to have plenty of work to sell here.
Those new ideas will have to wait.
Last weekend a long time customer and his wife came in to pick up something for her birthday. She had been  in a few weeks back to ask about tiles, they had built a new house and were planning how to display their pottery. I told her to measure the space, cut out some craft paper and tape it up to see what the size is that they would like to have.
She did just that and it made it easy to pick out the work. Later that night I got this great picture of the tiles enjoying the company of another potter's owl lamp. Fun, I like it. I cropped the picture in order to remove a picture of them.
Also on saturday the backsplash was picked up and taken away to be installed. When I get pictures I hope to share.

Cheers!
M

Next weekend we will celebrate

Mark and I will be set up at the local show at the Luck's Cannery in Seagrove NC
Dates: November 17-19th
Opens Friday night: 6-9
Saturday: 9--5
Sunday: 10-4

Mark will have our shop open for regular hours on Friday and Saturday.
Not a crowd person, go out to the shops, many of them will be open.

Come out and bring your Christmas shopping list.
M

A little bit of everything

 I had a call last week from a person who is a pottery buyer, someone who has bought work from a couple that we were friends with for many years.
As life does, they separated, divorced and in the past few years one of them past away. The other became ill in a way that no longer allows them to make pottery anymore.
  These long time friends developed their own line of work and that line of work was very successful for them.
The conversation turned to the fact that we shared a glaze combination, the one that they used to make their signature work. The work they were know for and worked so hard to develop. The person wanted to know if I would make that line for her, she had some, loved it and wanted to have more.
I tried to explain that even though we had the glaze recipes we used them differently and would they be interested in seeing our work?
But, she was in fact drinking out of one of their mugs right that minute and didn't I see what an honor it would be for me to carry on their work, honoring all that they did, carrying on their name. I explained  once again that most potters develop their own work and it usually does not mean copying the work of another. But, you would not be copying their work, you would be carrying it on, in their name, I would love to have some. I then went on to try to explain how it takes a number of years of mistakes to develope a new line of work. I think you could do it.

I tried to talk about the time it take when you are taking on something new, that it could take 3 years or more to come up with a new product. Well, you have the glaze recipes, a gas kiln, I think you should do it.
I politely declined and asked that they come and visit us in our shop to see the work that we do.
 I am sure it will never stack up to the work that these people want as they know what they want, they want to convince me how wonderful it would be for me to toss my own work away and then spend countless hours copying my friends work.

No.

 It is funny how something like this can stick in your brain and run around with all the thoughts of things you could have said. Then I realized that it did not make one difference what I said. They weren't interested in us. They did not know us at all. If they did they would have never made that call.

Here's one more.
 I had a sale on saturday and was handed a visa gift card. I tried running it 4 different ways. Each time it was declined the customer got more and more angry with me. By the end when I handed back the card and asked if she would like to use another card she said no, not very nicely, she said there is 50.00 on that card it should work. Her husband, hand on wallet, face red, said I can.....she looked at him, snatched her bag and stormed out leaving us holding the pot she had picked out.
I just looked at Mark and about that time one of the other people in the shop, as there were many, stepped over and said, "let it go, do not let that person ruin your day, she made that problem, not you."
It took me a moment to think that I needed to do just that I have other customers that were in the store to buy, chat and catch up with.
Later I did run the whole thing through my head and look at something on line. Now that CC processors want a zip code there is no way to verify the gift card, unless you have registered the card.
Yep, not my problem.
Whew, are the stars aligned in a strange pattern?

The Spring kiln Opening

 It was a beautiful day for a kiln opening last Saturday. We had a steady flow of customers all day and finally closed just after 5 pm. It felt like the weekends we use to have and we had a great time visiting with, talking with and sharing what we do with old and new customers.
Sunday was a wash out, it rained and that seem to put a bit of dampness on the day.
Yesterday we took the day off, it was much needed.

The spring flowers showed off for us and, as usual, I shared a few sedum with fellow gardeners. I am not a great gardener and less so these days due to the fact that the grass takes over and lately I just let it.

 I have become more fond of the flowers that come back on their own, finding cracks here or there, taking advantage of an empty space to toss me some unexpected flowers or lemon balm.
I would love to have some tomatoes show up somewhere.

Below is a picture from the shop back wall. I really enjoy using this piece to show pottery on. I wanted to use it in the house and just could not find a good place for it.

 My tools that I pack for the day I teach, pretty slack but it works.This is my my lazy potter's tip. I tried for awhile not taking any tools at all. I would grab a few from our tools at school, just enough to demo a pot here or there but I found I missed some of my ribs. And, my sponges on a stick.
We have put some wheels up off the floor which I like better for demo since I throw pots standing up.
Mark has headed out to the studio, I had better show up soon.
Stay safe the water out there could be dangerous.
It's wet.
M

It came and it went.

Getting ready for a show, any show, takes up some time.
I am not a big fan of hauling off heavy boxes of pottery anymore,but we did go set up for the once a year, all under the roof, indoor show at the old Luck's Bean cannery here in Seagrove that happened last week.
I had to teach last Thursday, which is set up day for the show, and that meant that Mark had to do a lot of the heavy lifting alone. We streamed lined the booth and had a plan in place before he left. I was able to come home a wee bit earlier and help with the moving of boxes of pots. We decided that this year we would have a plan in place with what pots we were taking and how many boxes to fill.
We took a good showing of tiles along with a good showing of pots, just enough to fill the space and little left as back up. It was the perfect plan for us. We were happy with the sales and didn't have a lot of pots to pack back home.
It seems likewe work all the time so the shop is full for the rest of the year.
Our thoughts are one more load in Ms. B in December, one more load in the electric kiln of tiles and possibly some thrown work as well.

Most of the tiles I made the last two firings found homes over the weekend. I'm working out a list for more, packing off a few and figuring out the ones I want for next year. These tiles have turned into a happy journey for me. One I hope to continue through next year.
We have a few leads on some possible wholesale that we will follow.
I am just teaching one day a week, that means more time for some creativity here at the studio.

  This week we will have one of our corporate meetings to talk about the coming year. It is something we have always tried to do. As a small two person business you still need to figure out  how to carry on through the following year.

I know we are all waiting to see how the election shakes out for us.
Fingers crossed.
M

Ms. B

Mark fired Ms. B again this past week and I finished up a glaze load of tiles.

We will be at Luck's Bean Cannery in Seagrove this coming up week-end, for the Celebration of Seagrove Potters.

Come on out for some Christmas shopping before the family comes next week for Turkey and all the fixings.

 See you there!
M&M

Salt Jars

This has become my new favorite pot in the kitchen. It is easy to use, easy to move around and I really like having a spoon for the salt.
I have plenty of these to choose from for our spring open house coming up in April.
We hope to see you there.
M

Happy....

thanksgiving!
Oh, right that was so last week...
Happy
Fall!
Been there, done that.
So last week again....
Happy December!
Will this do?
It has been a few hectic and crazy weeks between work, kiln, show and Mark getting his right eye done.

We unloading the pots, it was a really good firing, just in time to price them, box them, and take them to the show.
Between the unloading, boxing, pricing and the show I also worked 4 days that week.
The show was good, fun, quick, cold and now a distance memory.
On to the next thing, I took Mark in to have his right eye done, the left will come up in 2 weeks. He is so excited over being able to see again, new colors, distance, all those things we take for granted he is getting back. Not only can he see better already he will not have to wear glasses except for some readers. Just wait until he has the other one done. Then he will see that I am not really that spring chicken I lead him to think I am.
We were very lucky to be invited to eat Thanksgiving with friends, and bring back leftovers.
Those are the best friends.
I am not big on the turkey, but do love a good turkey sandwich.


 Coming up:
I head back down the highway on Monday.
We have but a short window to wrap up the semester. Then I get some real down time.
I am thinking sleep, lots and lots of sleep.

Here I am at the show. 
 

 Yep, cold....
Later,
M

Up to old tricks

 Yesterday was the last day we had to get the kiln loaded and fired in time for the show this weekend.

It was cold yesterday, with no wind, that made it easier to get it all loaded. We both added a extra layer or two. Mark checked the weather for today and did not like the forecast of wind and thunderstorms. With the no winds to continue overnight, Mark decided that this would be a good time to light up the kiln and pull an all nighter.
He just rolled in to bed as I rolled out . I am off to work this morning as he sleeps.

Here is the kiln load--------back

---------middle

front---------------------------------


















Tree---------

Unloading coming up in a few days.
M

Celebration of Seagrove Potters Booth pictures

This was the booth right after we set up.
 Overall I think it worked out really well.
It took me a bit of time to set this booth up and I am sure that most of that was that it was different from what we have had in the past.
It felt as if I had walked into the grocery store and they had moved all the aisles.
I loved the shelves that Mark built and the area for the tiles worked perfectly.
Back to it today.
M

Setting up a show

is like setting up a wedding.
Someone will be late.
Someone will break a nail.
Someone will have a bridezilla melt down.
There are so many behind things that are taken care of to make a show look and feel as if it is a place you want to be.
Today, Luck's bean Factory on Highway 705, in Seagrove NC will be transformed into a place of wonder.

We will be there with the other Seagrove Potters, we hope that some of you will join us.

The new part of the booth is packed and ready to go.
I will let you know how well it worked for us.
I really love the center frame that Mark built for my tiles.
 The top has under-counter lights, pretty cool.
I can't wait to try it out.
I think that it is going to work very well.
This will be the back of the booth with check out on the side. We have a generous 10x15 and that extra 5 feet is wonderful.

Off to finish packing.
See you there,
M