Nice Balance

On Saturday, I had the perfect balance of customers coming in and alone time so I could get work done.  It was wonderful.  The only negative thing that I can say about my day on Saturday was that I forgot half of the things that I normally pack for eating and drinking, so I was kind of hungry.  Well, I also couldn't keep up with my running partner earlier that morning.  That was kind of annoying but I should have expected it - he's about 20 years younger than I am and I had completed a leg workout before we went running.  So I'm claiming the points for being willing to run under those circumstances and moving on.  See?  This is me not dwelling on the fact that I got my butt kicked.  (How am I doing so far?)  Once I recovered from the trying to not collapse from heat and exhaustion, I enjoyed some pretty nice endorphins the rest of the morning.

Back to the pottery - there was more than one person who stopped in who said they were just visiting Shelby.  I've mentioned this before, but I think it's worth repeating.  Shelby is a place that people come to explore and visit for the day.  How cool is that?  One customer told me that Shelby seemed exactly like what she imagined a friendly small southern town should be. She noted that everyone that she passed on the street smiled and said hello to her. AWESOME!  They had come that morning especially to go to Lee Furniture and were delighted with the town that they discovered. I think those folks will be back and I hope that they drop in the studio again.  I enjoy meeting these visitors so much!

I also had a visit from a new co-worker and her family.  Actually, she had stopped in earlier in the week when I was not there.  Her remark to me the next day after that visit was that she loved it and it seemed like such a happy place.  A happy place!  Perfect. She bought a couple of Allen's pieces.  One for a gift and one for her office at work.  It will make me very happy to see that wall sconce with the face every day when I pass her office.

In my happy place this week, I actually made some things again.  It felt so good.  Thursday after work I threw twelve soup bowls.  I've gotten another commission for soup bowls.  Ten this time. I'll make twelve to be sure that I get ten that are good.  Allen called the extras "insurance pieces."  I was tired from the week and kind of didn't feel like starting on that large a project.  Once I got going, it was OK.

Those twelve bowls got trimmed and handles attached on Friday afternoon.  On Friday I wondered at the wisdom of making twelve bowls at once at the end of a full work week.  It took significantly longer to attach all those handles than it did to make the bowls.

I also threw six mugs on Friday.  I delivered mugs to Hannah's Coffee House Friday and noticed that they seemed just a little bit smaller than I wanted.  The focus of these new mugs was to get more out of the pound and a half of clay that I am using.  Right now, they feel big.  It will be interesting to see how big they are after firing.

The mugs got handles and "Hannah's Coffee House" inscribed on them on Saturday.

In the background of this picture, there are three pitchers. I managed to not take a picture of the pitchers before I left Saturday afternoon.  (Say that five times fast - picture of the pitchers.) Don't know how I did that.  I had them all lined up on the table together and had my phone in my hand.  Oh well.  I made the pitchers start to finish on Saturday.  This can be done on a hot, sunny day when I'm at the studio for an extended period of time.  I'll try to get a picture of them for you later.