Handmade Gifts $30 and Under

The holidays are upon us! Try giving a handmade gift this year, it's easy and affordable.  Here's a round-up of items in my shop for $30 or under.  I'm even offering coupon codes during the month of December for the first time!  Use coupon code TURKEY20 until midnight tonight to receive 20% OFF your order of $30 and over!  I'll keep dropping the discount down until Christmas.  Check out my facebook page for the latest news.  I ship your order within 24 hours of purchase via USPS Priority mail.  For gifts I am happy to include a note to the recipient.

This handmade tile retails for $24.  It comes with a notch in the back for hanging.  I hang these with two drywall screws spaced about an inch a part for maximum stability.  I even include screws with your order!

These small versions of my square bowls were fun to make and are the perfect addition to a holiday appetizer table.  They make a great hostess gift!

My porcelain tea strainers are one of my most unique gifts and come with a small bowl to set the strainer in after steeping their tea.  If you know someone who loves loose tea this is the gift for them!

I only have two of these sweet ice cream dishes left, for $24 each.  They are the perfect size for a scoop of ice cream, and one my most popular forms.

I have two of these adorable small cups left!

I have several styles of this hand-formed jewelry tray.  Each tray has 5 little divots perfect for jewelry to settle in.

Check out my etsy store for more ideas!

Fresh Work

It's all flowers and bubble gum colors for spring. When I lined up all my work I wished I had finished it for Easter. I've never been very good at planning for holidays, I'm hoping I'll get better at it as time goes on. So here is the infamous tulip bowl, stage one. Some of the work I made this firing was more about the form, and less about the surface. I tried restraining myself, which of course backfired because I became less interested in the work. I did, however come up with some good basic ideas.

Every firing elicits a different reaction from me. In the past firings I have peeked in the kiln and prepared myself for disaster, only to be pleasantly surprised; fired a kiln load almost completely full of pots for the shard pile; and most recently had every emotion possible about my work until arriving in a satisfied place. My good friend Mandy told me as I was about to fire my first load of glazes I had mixed myself, you won't get the glazes exactly how you want them until about ten years from now. At the time I was a little discouraged, but of course hindsight is 20/20. I know that I probably still won't get the glazes exactly how I went them, but that feeling now relaxes me, and sometimes allows the "happy accidents" I wouldn't otherwise experience.



In my next firing you will see some more of these bubbly gummy colors, and my new forms playing dress-up with different embellishments. As I was loading up the kiln this morning with student work, and I remembered a critique where someone commented on my work, "You're going to hate this, but it's like venus flying trap playing dress-up" Now who could hate that?

Glazing Studio

Last week I switched over to my glazing studio. I am a "process person". To me this means that I like to be making, then glazing, then I decompress, and then I start over. I think that a lot of potters in some kind of cycle. For me sometimes it's hard to take days off because I feel a looming guilt that I should be working, but at the same time I feel that it's important for my mental sanity to do that once in a while. I'm sure that people around me appreciate it too. Since graduating from college and learning to balance teaching, working, and creating I have found that re-arranging and cleaning my studio in between my processes makes my working process more efficient. It helps me set a clear beginning and ending to each phase. Here is a shot of my glazing studio all ready to go.

You might be noticing my fabulous Shimpo banding wheel. Lucky for me my boyfriend knows the value of a good tool. This is an essential in my studio that I use in every part of the process. I also love my stacking porcelain trays I got in China for mixing stains in, but I still use my ice cube tray from the dollar store too! This glazing load is a little small for me, but I'm trying some new things and also testing some new colors.

There are also some new forms in this batch for me which I am excited to see. I decided to leave my tulip bowls simple and glaze them in a similar fashion...for now. I also made a new vase form that I took a little further in the decorating process which has led me to a new conclusion and direction. This "new" direction is really a continuation of my work. If you know me you might know that I love dressing up, or you might only see me in dusty clothes at Atlantic Pottery Supply
I restrained myself in decorating my bowls, which led me to feel a little detached from them. So, I am going to be working an a series of "dressed up" forms, inspired by tulips and lotuses, then embellished with sprigs, slip trailing, stamping and maybe some sgraffito. If I can't wear a dress to work everyday at least my pots can! Of course once I got through my technical difficulties and finished this post....my kiln is downfiring right now, and I'll soon have some results. Check back for more.

Still in Progress

Ok Chickens, it's been a busy week. First I decided to roll with the tulip bowls and am now obsessed with tulips. Similar to my recent strawberry craze, and maybe just as short-lived. Here although are some gorgeous gerber daisies from the Fresh Market, where they must just be selling fake flowers disquised as real flowers because these are still kicking after over a week. I am hoping to have a pottery sale sometime soon with friends, or perhaps just sell some f-in pottery. I went to the library and paid my fines. $14! That is pretty shameful, and instead of getting books I had already paid fines on in the past I checked out two books about the arts and crafts movements, and one specifically about William Morris. This proved to be a good choice. First I discovered jewelry that looks likes it would translate beautifully to the silhouette of a pot.

Then last night I sketched some notes on this funny paper a friend gave me as I had left my sketchbook at the studio. Lately I have been watching tv and sketching, strange? Maybe. I used to listen to npr, but hbo just has so much to offer. I am thinking about trying some sgraffito, carving through colored slip, sometime soon, and I think this is a good start.

Works in Progress

Today I continued a series that I have decided to call my tulip series. My boyfriend was sweet enough to buy me some beautiful tulips a few weeks ago, that I then did a water color photo of just before they wilted and fell apart. I love tulips because they remind me of when I was a kid and my mom would cut them for us to take to our teachers. I remember being young and going to school when school was still fun! She would always wrap the stems in a wet paper towel and then foil. After a few years it became seriously uncool to give teachers presents or even like them, but I remember when it was still ok, too. Here I have a new shape I am exploring, the sundae cup. You can view the first ones I made on my etsy page. I have made the new bowl lower and wider, and the stem taller. I am trying to avoid them looking like a goblet. For some reason I hate clay goblets. They make me cringe, something about a goblet just requires it to be made out of glass. For me. I don't care if people use my sundae cups as goblets. That is up to the user. I am also working on a different shape of bowl. It is made with slightly less clay then the one I have been making for the past year, and designed for a single serving. I made the bowl cup in slightly, and then cut the edge, in a lotus style, kind of like something I saw in China this summer. It really does look like a flower. I am covering it up in plastic for the evening, amd trying to decide if I stop myself, and excercise some "economy of design", or indulge myself and end up making something that might appeal to a smaller audience. It is really a question that is coming up for me now that I have more work available online. Who is my audience? Tulip lovers?