Simple pots

It is neat to pack up pots that I have made these days as I am unable to really make any with my big belly:) 

I asked a friend to stop by and let our little ones play together while she packed up my tubs for the carft fair this weekend. Who does that?? It was so kind of her to take time to help me and I am humbled by her gift of time. 

Not much walking on the pathways (that we adore) these days but we will be back out there soon enough.

My solo show is November 21st and 22nd at the HUB on Koksilah Road. Hubby is packing the show and setting up as much as possible and we will be open 10-5 both days. I have decided to reduce the prices for this season as I am taking some time away from my tiny pottery studio while I care for our new infants and my amazing "babybuilding" body. This way I can start fresh when I am able to get back down there once the little ones are all napping  together enough!! 

The HUB is found where Bench Road and Koksilah Road meet. There will be plenty of large "pottery show" signs again this year so we should be easy to find and the building is only a few minutes south of Duncan. 

The New Plan

After trying to have another baby for the last few years, since realizing that our first was such an amazing little person, we are finally pregnant. I spent the first three months very sick to my stomach and with a powerful case of narcolepsy. 

The studio had slowed down to a crawl as I fell asleep at the lunch table, while patting totty's back for his nap, stirring soup, knitting and of course immediately after dinner if I was magically able to make or eat a meal. Now I am back to a bit more of my old pottery self. 

(not my car, haha)

I have let a small stack of custom orders pile up and really get stale before I threw them and it was such a delight to finally glaze and fire a whole batch yesterday. It was our 12 year wedding anniversary and hubby spent several hours on his bike in the glorious weather with his pals and then spent the afternoon with tot so I could finish the orders and load the kiln. We are so lucky to be still negotiating well and happily married despite the statistics (technically i am gen X and he is gen Y so the numbers for wedded bliss are pretty dismal for our cohort). 

A lot of time has been spent training other volounteers to take over all the jobs that I have been doing at the HUB Studio for the last year. When we opened to doors, it was just Franziska and I and there was a lot to do with class registrations, accounting, website, forms and actually teaching. I have tried to seek out people who are really happy doing certain chores that suit them in some way. We have a clay reclaiming voloutneer who is happy for the heavy work in exchange for free access to the studio, she is also perfectly wary of the dangers of clay dust and wears a mask to protect herself.

We found someone that used to do all the books for her own business and was more than happy to take over the money flow and tracking from my rather rudimentary system. I trust her completely with every penny and at our first deadline meeting when we all had to have our receipts in and she would write the cheques, she was prepared and things went smoothly. I have also found someone who will plan and coordinate all the open studio volounteers, someone to do the website and promotions and have a team to keep the glazes in order (don't get me started on the complexities of a glaze committee in a community setting :(

As for the new plan, I am at the Farmers' Market on Saturdays, 9-2. I am doing Arts on the Avenue in Ladysmith next Sunday 10-4. I will be at Christmas Chaos in November here in Duncan and will likely have my Solo Show at the HUB as the Rec Room is just a perfect space to hold a pottery show. I moved the show around a bit over the last few years and I think that if I set the date and print out 

 and hand out post card invites early on so folks can plan to attend it should be okay even though it's out of town a few minutes. We shall see. Of course, hubby will have to do ALL the work for my show as I can barely lift much now and we are just halfway through so I will need to make the plan with him first. 

**on a random miserable note, some asshat stole my handmade chiminea from my front steps, i made it years ago and fired it in the tozan kiln costing over $100 plus an entire night of loading wood into the kiln, i coil built it and then beat it round and built the stand and flange, needless to say i am still very mad that it's gone**

Photos and thoughts in the studio(s)

It has been such a beautiul winter here on Vancouver Island. We have been having the most lovely warm days and strangely frosty nights. I have been trying to balance out my two teaching evenings at the Clay HUB Collective Studio in Cowichan Station and my own precious studio. 

I have started to make travel mugs after we found some very challenging and clever ones while travelling last summer. Racer Dave bought one and has been using it and I started making testers as I sorted out the order for the steps. They are really tricky so I have been putting them away wrapped so they dry unbelievable slowly. There are clays that are thrown, slabbed, pulled and cut so the slow drying time helps the clay cooperate. I have also found a couple of sources of corks for the cleaning hole and some different hole cutters. 

I have also been at the HUB { www.theclayhubcollective.weebly.com } doing the reclaiming, shelf washinf, laundry, kiln work, grand opening (and all the follow up) and really enoying it. I am definately motivated by a little checkmark on my list or a little gold star beside my chores. It is such a wonderful place for folks to share clay and time. I hosted a training and clean up day last sunday for people who would like to become studio volounteer monitors.

January Tidy Up

Cleaning up the studio.

Wipe under the wedging table wiped each ware board, getting rid of the saggy ones.

Washed the thowing batts and shelves underneath.

I take all the bits and pieces out and try to purge what isn't needed and wash the rest.

I took every tool out of the drawers and washed and dried them.

I load the kiln with everything I can and then clear each shelf and scrub.

I wash and rewash all the little nooks and crannies.

Then on to another project.

Solo Show Number Ten

10th Annual Solo Pottery Show

November 29th, 2014

@ the Mercury Theatre 

331 Brae Road, Duncan, BC

10 am to 6 pm

** to find us: take Trunk Road into downtown Duncan, turn right onto Brae Road right across from Lordco, before the carwash :) ** 

THERE WILL BE A LOT OF SIGNS UP ON THE DAY!!

It's that time of year again, the garden is put to bed for the rainy season, the wet wind starts to bite and the forests turn back to their rich green that can only happen on the islands. My show is a great event every year for several reasons; it's the only time I sell my seconds (the flawed pots that don't meet my strict standards), it's the only time that all my pots are together in one place, and it is a really great time to meet and chat with all my customers. 

My solo show is only one day this year due to the fact that all three venues I found to rent had already been rented out on the Sundays. Because of this, I have decided to extend the hours on the Saturday to 10 am to 6 pm so everyone can stop by early, on their lunch break or after work. 

The fall weather makes me want to curl up with a warm mug and a pretty little bowl of apple crisp. I am doing craft fairs each weekend, teaching both here and at the HUB managing what extra jobs I can at the HUB studio. The tot and i are outside everyday getting some fresh air.

 

I am also at the Waldorf School on November 22nd from 10 am to 3 pm, outside under the tent. www.sunrisewaldorf.org for more information :)

On December 6th, I will be at the Providence Farm Christmas Show from 9 am to 3 pm at the beautiful historic farm. 

Knit City

That's right! We are going to Knit City!!

Trial By Fire Pottery is packing up all the pots in the studio and taking them on the ferry to the big city for this amazing event on October 4th and 5th. 

I guess that means me. I am going to Vancouver for two reasons, Knit CIty of course and for a vacation with my sisters, three birth sisters and one that married my brother, yes, that means that I am one of 5 children. The youngest, tallest and least like the rest if you were trying to pick us out of a lineup. However, when you get us all together, you will see the gaps in our speech, the exact same grins and the joie-de-vivre that will mean that if you are at the coffee shop table beside ours-- you willl conclude it'd be best to laugh along or at least smile as you take your coffee to go:)

**dead sexy little mug** (sorry it's sold)

I have been making small batchs of knitting bowls, some plain and some a bit more extravagant, some with the swirly slot for your wool to easily pull from, the dedicated smooth round opening that means you're committed to the ball and the plain elegant ones without holes. They will be in my whole colour pallett and with my careful attention to detail that has brought back the repeat customers these last ten years.

**photo of a dinner set that i made as ordered for a repeat customer in whiterock**

I have made taller ones for those who like to place their knitting standing up with the ball tucked away  underneath, away from the evil gaze of the family pet, and lower wider bottomed ones for those that knit right out of the machine balled wool that feeds from the inside and needs room to lie down. 

**photo of jugs, special order sushi bowls and taller knitting bowls**

I was encouraged to join the event when I saw that there were two other artists from the Cowichan Valley going as well, and woudn't you know it; we all know each other! Small world of artisans here in the land of afordable homes and giant gardens full of food.

**photo of my DAILY (?!!?!) haul of volounteer (unplanted/free range) tomatoes, after i filled the freezer, dehydrated a zillion, made pizza sauce X10, made traditional italian "conserva" aka tomatoe paste X10 I also managed to trade them for a case of peaches, some children's books, goodwill and several hugs, honestly though now i am looking forward to having the plants die off**

Routine

     We are still not settled into our old routine. We were away for a week at the wedding of racer dave's best friend growing up. It was a super small, very emotional and pretty wedding. The bride actually hand made little gift bags for all the little kids that were going to attend with a bottle of water, crayons, a book about the wedding, a name tag and a tiny story book about 'mr bump'. It was very thoughtful and our little 19 month old was happy to nibble on the food, clap when everyone else clapped and run around in the cooling evening air. He also managed to convince the bartender to play a primitive form of catch where the little guy would chuck the soft (handmade from a sock) ball as far as he could and then run away laughing while the senior guy went to get it and chuck it back.

It just turned hot here which is pretty hard on the locals who enoy a monthly temperature spread of about five degrees the rest of the year. It hit 32 today and we had to go into town for an apointment and decided to walk with a friend. The tot was fine in his sun shielded chariot with the vented top and sides open while we chatted, sweated and walked the pathways and back roads of our little town.  The bike ride into town is always easy (downhill) and the ride home has half a dozen options for hard, really hard, medium and 'chill'. I decided to stick to the pathway and then take the chill hill home to be extra kind to myself in this heat.

The pottery studio has been a bit neglected for a few days as we have been taking in the first big bulk of our yard food. Daddy picked a gallon of black currents which i made into a crisp and three jars of syrup. I made some bbq sauce out of rhubarb today to go along with the baked pork loin. Tot and i picked a basket of peas that we shelled, blanched and froze this morning. 

Tonight was dave's night to have the tot and do the bath and bed routines while i worked in the studio so i decided to glaze some large jugs that I have bisqued before we went on vacation. They look good and have a little splash of extra colour that should melt in nicely in the fire. 

We have been making a lot of headway at the new community pottery centre here in Duncan. We had a fantastic fundraiser and have had several work bees to paint, clean up, hang the chalkboard, strip down the huge old wooden pillars, and plan our next steps. As it turns out, we have stored all of our donated wheels and kilns in a rat infested barn that may have been just the right opportunity to eat all the wiring out of them.......we shall see.

When race dave is in the lake swimming a couple of kilometres, tot and i have been packing up the canoe that i rebuilt for my 30th birthday and doing a peaceful mama and baby paddle around the lake. Race dave then gets out of the water and rides home while i pack the canoe back up to the car (he bought me portage wheels recently) and then tot and I tie it down and drive home. (he mostly tries to stay out of the way....sort of)