Going Big Time

I am happy to announce that I am now able to accept credit card payments.

Thanks to my friend Athena Smith for sending me information on a couple of credit card APPs for the iPad.  I have set up an account with Square, downloaded the Square APP for both my iPad and my smart phone, and obtained the card reader.  All I need now is a customer with a credit card!

I would really love to try this out before the Carolina Pottery Festival in a couple weeks (eeek!  It's only 2 weeks away!) so that we can work on any possible problems.  I'm going to be kind of nervous until I've used it a time or two with no problems.

More Vases

Back in the summer, I made some vases that are very different from anything I've made before.  I saw pieces that were something similar in a gallery in San Antonio, TX and thought I should give it a try.  Two of them were fired in the reduction fire a few weeks ago, and I was tickled with how they came out.  

This weekend, I started working on some more.  I start with rolling out a slab, pressing a leaf into the clay, and cutting out the shape I need.  These vases have two sides.  Each side gets placed in an empty bucket to give it some curve as it dries to leather hard.  I've found that letting them sit overnight with a piece of plastic draped over the ends of the buckets works pretty well.  

Once the clay is dry enough, I take the slabs out of the buckets, stand them up, and join the edges.  The result is a tall, football shaped vase.  After the edges are joined, I attach a slab to the bottom.   When I'm sure that all the joints are sealed and smooth, it goes into the wet closet to dry for a few days.  

On the vase pictured here, I used a rubber leaf mold that we have in the studio.  I have also made some vases using leaves that I collected from the yard.  I'm still experimenting to see what works best.  

Leaf Me Alone

I managed to get the glaze fire done last week in time for us to have the pieces that we needed for the show in Lincoln County on Saturday.  To the right is my favorite of the things that were mine.  It is always exciting when something works out exactly like you plan.  That doesn't happen all that often for me.  The leaf on this tray is from one of the red bud trees in my yard.

Saturday's show was good.  I sold enough pottery to cover my expenses.  Although I really didn't make much money, my thinking is that if I make any at all, it is more than I would have if I'd stayed home.  It was only the second year of this particular show, and the crowd was better than last year.  I think they were buying more pottery too although I have no data to back that up.  Everyone is really nice, it is easy for me to get there, the timing is good for me, and the money raised from admission goes to help a school.  All this makes me agree to do it again next year.

I promised that I would share pictures of some of the new things that I've tried to make recently...and here they are.

On top is one of the nut bowls.  Ideally, the small bowl should be just wide enough at the top to kind of hang on the larger bowl.  This one didn't quite make it, but I think it will still work.

Below is one of the finished chip and dip sets.  Kind of cool looking I think.  I had two of these at the show on Saturday, and I still have two of them. Go figure.  I had sort of planned to make a few more, but I don't want to be stuck with a bunch of them if I'm the only person who thinks they are cool.

I will be going to the Appalachian Potters Market in December!

I got an email this morning informing me that I am IN the Appalachian Potters Market this year.  This is very cool and comes as quite a surprise to me.  I sent in an application just a few weeks ago because I'd heard that there were not as many potters on the waiting list this year.  I had no idea I'd actually make it in and thought that this way, at least I'd be on the mailing list with the possibility of getting in next year.  Turns out, I was first on the list and there was a cancellation this morning!  So on December 3, I will be at McDowell High School seeing pottery.  

In the studio last week, I was a little more productive than the week prior.  The clay tried to kick my butt, but I managed to make some cake pans on Thursday evening.  On Saturday, I trimmed the bottoms of the cake pans, ran to the vet to get some medicine for one of my horses, and loaded the kiln for a bisque fire.  This doesn't seem like all that much, but it is a significant improvement.  

Tradition Turners Pottery Festival is on Saturday and there are a couple of pieces need to be fired so that Ronnie and I have them to take with us.  This means that we needed to do a bisque fire over the weekend (DONE!) and follow that with a glaze fire the beginning of this week (HOPE to get done no later than Wednesday!).  I'm feeling some pressure about this.  Lucky for me, this week is Fall Break at CCC.  Even though I still need to work, I can be more flexible with my time so I can get the glazing done and the kiln loaded.  

In my next post, I should have some pictures to share again.