Busy, Busy, Busy

On Friday, I wondered out loud whose big, stupid idea it was to have a sale at my house.  I was tired and cranky and had lots to do to get ready.  On Saturday, it was all worth it.  The food was cooked, the house was clean, the pottery was set up, and I got to enjoy the day.  Wonderful!

A BIG thanks to everyone who made the trip out to the wilds of the greater Boiling Springs area to come look at pottery.  It was great to see you all and I am truly touched that you bought my pieces to give as Christmas gifts.  That might sound silly to you, but I am amazed and honored that people buy my pottery in the first place.  Something I made you like enough to buy?  And then you buy my pieces to give away to people you love.  Just wow.  That is a HUGE compliment.  

So that was this weekend.  LAST weekend I worked in the studio more than I had in a long time.  (And my lower back let me know that it was not at all used to all that stooping over the wheel.)  I had promised to do some things for Christmas presents and realized that it was December already and I'd better get started.  I won't go into detail or show pictures until after the holidays, but I'm excited about some of the new things that I've tried.  I am happy to say that everything that I promised to make is well under way and as long as there are no mishaps (exploding kiln or badly misbehaving glazes), I should be able to deliver on those promises.  I'm still keeping my fingers crossed though just to be safe.  

Christmas Sale

Susan Jones Pottery

Christmas Sale

Saturday, Dec 8, 2012

10 am to 4 pm

At the Jones's house:

1961 Maple Springs Church Rd, 

Shelby, NC 28152

(Contact us if you need directions)

I Call a Mall Success!

Yesterday was a really great day! 

It turns out that the mall was a really great location.  I was worried that the pottery-loving crowd would be down this year since the location had to be changed, but that didn't seem to be the case.  There were LOTS of people there, and all of the comments that I heard about the location were positive.  Since the potters were spread out, it didn't feel as crowded.  Everything was all on one level so we didn't have to worry about folks tripping.  It was much easier for those in wheel chairs to move around and see everything.  The temperature seemed to be more comfortable--not cold in the morning and hot by afternoon as is usually the case.

I saw a number of good friends yesterday--many that I'd not seen in a while.  It's always good to catch up.  Thanks for coming to visit Claire, Lilly, Joyce, Beverly, Cindy, Millie, Jeanie, Jordan (social networking at its best!), Amy, David, Athena, Michelle, Violet, and I'm sure that I'm leaving some out.

Here are some more pictures that I took right before we opened for business.  

This is the area where my booth was set up.  We were inside an empty store between the Hallmark and Bath and Body Works.  

In addition to the groups of potters in the other two empty stores (the old Walden Books location and Belk's Juniors department), there were booths set up in the hallway stretching from Kay Jewelers...

...all the way to Belk's.  

I'm all set up for the pottery show tomorrow.  Thanks to Mom and Dad for coming to help me with the set up.  It is not particularly fun, but many hands make the work go faster.  Sometimes many hands make the potter a little crazy.  I'm grateful that they are willing to put up with me.  We got finished in just about two hours which makes me wonder what I've forgotten to do.  I guess I'll figure that out in the morning.

I'd share a picture, but things aren't quite picture ready yet.  My booth is in an empty store right across the way from Chick-fil-a.  I'm in good company right next to Robert Martin and across from Ron Philbeck.  (I really hope that I am too busy tomorrow to get to talk to them much.)  Anyway, where my booth is located I had to leave room for the gate to close for the night.  Once it is opened up in the morning, I can spread out a little bit more and then finish getting all set up and ready for customers.

If you are in the area, I hope that you will come see us at the mall tomorrow.  This show is always a lot of fun.

Pottery Show Moved

For the past 11 years, the Carolina Pottery Festival has been held at the Cleveland County Fairgrounds.  This year, we have had to move.  There was an outbreak of E.coli at the fairgrounds earlier this fall that has not yet been resolved, so the decision was made to move the festival to be sure that no one is exposed.  

The 12th annual Carolina Pottery Festival will be held on Saturday, Nov 10 at the Cleveland Mall in Shelby. Kudos to the Board of Directors for making this difficult decision and for finding another location that would suit our needs.  

Potters will be set up in public spaces and several empty stores on the Belk's side of the mall.  Due to the open setting, there will be no admission charged for entrance to this year's festival.  The money raised from admissions normally makes up a significant portion of the operating budget for the next year.  The loss of this money could impact next year's festival, so if you attend, I hope that you will consider making a donation.  

Tradition Turners Pottery Festival

I will be at West Lincoln Middle School tomorrow (Saturday, Oct 13).  The show opens at 9 am and will be over around 2 pm.  I decided to do a minimal booth this year and left my tall shelves at home.  There's still plenty to look at if you decide to come to the show.  

I found myself looking at everything all set up and feeling pretty good about it all.  I know this sounds out of character for me.  Normally I am more disappointed in pieces as they are fired than I am excited by them, but looking at everything together (which I only do when setting up for a show), its not so bad.  It also doesn't hurt my ego any when other potters come up and tell me how nice my work is.  I don't believe them, but it is nice for them to say.  

At least I left the gym tonight feeling good about things.  Tomorrow if I don't sell much, it will be a different story.  

Raku Experiment

Remember these little guys from a few weeks ago?  I decided to raku fire all of them.  Really I didn't have much to do with the actual firing.  I put wax on them (to keep the glaze off the parts that I wanted to be naked.) and then Allen then took them to Gaston College and glazed them and fired for me.  

When they'd been fired, I ran them through the dish washer to clean all the soot off of them. 

And then followed that by a little shoe polish on the black parts and some future wax on the whole thing to give it a nice shine.  I am delighted with the outcome!  

I gave the shoe polish/future wax treatment to the other raku piece I had from last year.  Now Allen's finger marks are shiny.