Merry Christmas To All And To All A Goodnight

I may have survived my second Christmas shopping season at A Griffin Pottery Associates.  I'm pretty pooped.  Pooped but rather satisfied I think.  Being open in Uptown Shelby on Dec 22 and Dec 23 is a pretty wonderful thing for me and for Jeff.  Our former students are home for the holidays by then and they are shopping.  They stop in to see us. Sometimes it is a surprise to find us and sometimes they know we are there and come to see us on purpose.  Either way, it's wonderful. 

Since I spent extra time in the studio this week, I made some pots when I wasn't selling pots.  Both the selling and the making are fun. 

The biggest "project" was this rectangular baker.  

I started by throwing the sides.  This started out round.  After it dried enough that I wouldn't totally destroy it, I cut it off the bat and pushed in the sides to make something more rectangular.

Turned it over and scored the bottom.

Stuck it on a slab and then worked on the joint.

Handles on the ends and now it is wrapped in plastic drying slowly while I enjoy a couple of days away from pottery. 

I also made this small round casserole.  Those handles might be a bit big, but I would rather have too big handles then too small handles.  I hate a wimpy handle.

I am almost completely out of mugs at my place and at Buffalo Creek Gallery.  I made 12 more this week.  This is 8 of them - before they got handles attached. 

I am also almost out of soup bowls...at least until I get these finished. 

The last thing that I finished up yesterday afternoon was this pitcher.

Oh, Honey!

I managed to get a glaze fire done last week.  I unloaded yesterday and was really pleased for the most part. 

Two of the three honey pots turned out very nice!

The third one didn't make it in this firing.

Big blue platter. Oh yay!

Leaf platter in one of my favorite glaze combinations.

This piece is larger than the blue one above.

Casserole with lid.

Same casserole from the side.

Some cups.

I like the red and green and was a little disappointed with the blue and tan.  It's not bad, but those 2 glazes do not play as well together as some other things do.  I keep forgetting that.

Some mugs.

These will go to Buffalo Creek Gallery for sure.  I have several bowls and things glazed this way there.

This is try #2 at making a ladle to go with the soup tureen.

The first try has survived so far, but I'm not happy with the shape of the bowl or how the handle feels.  Fingers crossed that this one will be better.  Also, yes.  Having this thing hang off the shelf like this scares me to death.

I will head back to the studio this afternoon. If you are going to the Shelby Christmas Parade, stop in and see me.  There will be a vendor set up in my parking lot selling funnel cakes and cotton candy. Be sure that you get a snack!  If you are IN the Shelby Christmas Parade, wave as you go by the studio.  I'm looking forward to a festive and fun afternoon.  

I made a few mugs this past weekend.  Added a few things to make the handles a little more special. 

Then I moved on to a few honey pots.  I'd never made a honey pot before. 

Speaking of things I'd never made before...

I had a customer ask me to make a soup tureen.  I've never done one of those either.  They are generally BIG - bigger than what I normally can crank out. 

Rather than struggle with trying to center 8 pounds of clay at once, I centered half of it first.  

Then I added the other half and centered it.  

The first attempt did not survive.  This is round 2.  I left enough clay on the rim to make a gallery for the lid.

An inside view.

The lid took three tries before I had something that would work.

On to handles.  This one is for the ladle.  Yes, the ladle.

One for the lid and two for the sides of the bowl.

With the handles attached.

I will reserve judgement on the ladle until later.  I am not optimistic.

The bowl and lid all assembled.

The whole thing weighs a ton.  If it survives, I'll share the finished product in a few weeks.

Small Business Saturday

I spent the better part of today cleaning up, putting out Christmas decorations, and putting out extra pottery in preparation for Small Business Saturday tomorrow.  I hope that we will be busy! 

The kiln god almost didn't get a hat this year.  Then, after I summoned the courage to climb the ladder that high, it appeared that he might have to wear his Santa hat "rakishly askew".  Turns out, he wasn't feeling all that jaunty after all.  

On a serious note, I do hope that you will show some love to the small businesses in your area tomorrow (in particular) and going into Christmas (in general).  Your patronage makes a difference to us.  I know that it isn't always possible, but shopping small matters.  

Stocking the Shelves

I spent all day last Saturday glazing things so that I could fire a glaze fire over the weekend.  The bowls in the picture below were a special order.  It is hard for me to glaze this way - all splashy and random.  Bowls are a special challenge to make sure that everything gets covered but nothing gets too much glaze.  

As I struggled to like what I was doing, I decided that I needed to do before and after pictures.  All in all, they ended up not too bad.  My customer liked them which is really what is important.  I would like a little more of the blue showing.  The blue went on first and ended up getting covered up by the red and cream colors.

My customer wanted eight bowls, so the other four are in the gallery at A Griffin Pottery now.  I always make more than I need just in case something doesn't work right.  Allen called them "insurance pieces".  

Don't forget your furry friends this holiday season.  How about a new food dish?  There are four dishes this size at A Griffin Pottery.  Our dog Lady enjoys her Purina One every day in a hand made dish.  She swears that the dry dog food seems just a little bit more special when served to her in a nice bowl. 

The shelves in the gallery at A Griffin Pottery are full.   I also took a number of new pieces to Buffalo Creek Gallery.  I hope that you will Shop Small and Shop Local this holiday season!

Coming Soon

This Was Different

For those of you who read this blog regularly, an quick update.  I am now the owner of a new vehicle and I am out of fun sized Snicker bars.  I have mixed feelings about both of those things.  I am glad to have the shopping over, but sad to have a car payment again.  I also feel sad to have abandoned my old car.  Yes, I do know that is nuts.  As for the candy, I love Snickers, but I am happy to not have the temptation.  I need to eat fewer Snickers and more apples.

This week, I had a group in on Saturday morning to try their hands at a little hand building.  Think "Paint and Sip" except replace "paint" with pottery and the sipping was coffee since we started at 9:30 am.  I thought about calling this a "Pot and Sip" class, but that doesn't sound quite right. I have to mention how grateful I am to Gail and Lisa for their assistance yesterday.  I would not have been able to do this without them.

These ladies made some really nice pieces!

The studio was definitely a Happy, Busy Place.

Eight potters working all at once and the studio is FULL.

(Angela is missing from this picture, so she must be behind the camera.)

Intense ornament creating.

This was a new experience for me.  Things went well I think, but I've made some mental notes on what to try different if I do this again.  I'll have slabs already rolled out for one thing.  There was a lot of waiting around while I got slabs ready for each person.  I might also reduce the number of choices for decorating pieces. Too many options can be overwhelming.  In a perfect world, I would also like to be a little less hands on with my help.  I want the participants to have a good time and to end up with something they are proud to have made.  I may have helped a little too much in a couple of cases yesterday.  Maybe next time, I can show everyone what to do and then let them do it more themselves. 

Big thanks to Gail and Lisa for bringing in their friends and to Anita, Renee, Angela, Dianne, and Patty for trusting me to teach them a little bit about pottery.  I enjoyed the experience!  

It JUST hit me that the last time a group picture was taken in that location was the last time that Allen was able to be there.  (Cue tears again)  Allen, I know this is not something that you ever did, but I hope you are proud of me for trying something new.  I'm going to put on my new hat now, drive to the studio, and check on the bisque fire that I loaded yesterday afternoon and on the pieces that were made in OUR Happy, Busy Place yesterday.  As always, I'll be missing you. 

Love, 

Susan

PS: I bought a CR-V...maybe there's an old van in my future too.

Post Festival Re-Cap

I'm moving kind of slow today.  I have lots to do.  Boxes to unpack.  Organizing and taking pots to two galleries.  It all needs to be done today.  Instead, I'm looking at new vehicles online and eating fun sized Snicker bars. 

I need to start with this picture so it will be the picture that you see when I share this on Facebook.

Robert Martin was one of Allen Griffin's best friends.  Whenever he introduced Robert to someone, he would say, "This is Robert Martin, my good friend and a fine American."  I'm sure there is an explanation for that that I am not privy to, but Jeff and I always found it amusing. Anyway, Robert is a good friend and I have no evidence to suggest that he is anything but a fine American.  

Robert is also on the board of directors for the pottery festival.  As we were working on set up on Friday, he came over to my booth space and said, "I have a hat for you if you would like to have it." When he described the hat, I knew EXACTLY what he was talking about.   Allen wore his hat all the time.  His had a green bill and green stitching.  What I didn't know was that Robert had gotten those hats made.  He thought that since I have kept the name of the studio, that I might like to have his hat. (Cue tears.)  I did ask him to please think carefully about that, but if he was sure, I would love to have the hat.  He brought it to me yesterday.  As long as I can get it to fit my tiny head, I plan to wear the heck out of that hat.  

The Carolina Pottery Festival was a success this year!  Set up seemed to go very well.  We had a BIG crowd.  I had a good day of sales.  Other potters that I spoke with also seemed happy with their day.  Even the guy who had a big, expensive piece get broken (accidents happen and everyone feels so bad) that afternoon was happy with his day. 

Let's back up a bit and talk about how this goes. 

The board of directors meets at the LeGrand Center as early on Friday morning as we are allowed to get in a mark off all the booth spaces and get things all set up for the potters to arrive for set up at 3pm.  This year, we could get in at 10 am.  Once we get done marking off spaces, we go get some barbecue for lunch and then head back over to get our own spaces set up so that we are free to check in and assist the other potters starting at 3pm. 

I am super lucky to have excellent help.  Sweet Heather comes in from California specifically the weekend of the pottery festival so she can help us. My friend flies from Los Angeles to come hang out with me.  She comes for two days of exhausting work. ON PURPOSE.  I do wonder what in the world I ever did to deserve the friends that I have.  (Cue tears again.)  This year, I also had Jeff's help both days.  He has had to miss the actual day of the festival for the last two years, so it was nice to have his assistance on Saturday this time.

This is a picture of my "elves" doing their thing.

I swear, I turned around and it looked like this in no time at all!

A few closer up shots of things.

Next to my booth, Gail and Lisa were set up.  Gail shared with Vicki Halloran last year and this was Lisa's first show!  I am so proud of them. 

Because I just can't avoid being silly.

Gail's daughter Sara was there helping.  Not long after they checked in Friday afternoon, she came and asked me if there were any extra trash bags because a "newspaper explosion" was occurring and it was freaking her out. After searching for a trash bag (without any luck), I checked out the problem.  My flopping down in the middle of it all sort of squashed everything down, but I promise you that the pile of paper completely filled the inside space of their booth.  It was roughly half the height of the tables. 

Newspaper angel...

...why not?

A little while later, I was checking in with some of the other potters.  Each board member has a number of booths they are the "contact person" for.  If those potters need anything, they can come to us and we try to help.  When I introduced myself and explained where they could find me if they needed me, one response was, "Oh.  You are over there with the laughing people."  Yes, sir! I may have been the one who caused the laughing.  He followed up with something like, "It was wonderful to hear.  It's so good to belly laugh like that."