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.