New Design Crock pots or Casserole dishes.

I have 2 Craft Fairs before Christmas. One on Dec 2,2008 at ReMax Alliance, and the other in Littleton at a MOPS group meeting.  So I have been throwing pots to get ready.  I figure I have at least 4 firings left before I show.  I have one loaded now with glazed pots and another ready to load.  Whew!

OK so I was thinking everyone has different price points so I started LARGE and went small and affordable.  We’ll see what sells.  I threw alot more affordable pieces an a few Larger ones.

   

I thought A few Large Family size pots might be nice gifts but than I threw alot more affordable size crock pots, similar style for say one or two instead of a family of 4-6.  My thinking is I wanted to show what I am capable of but also I don’t want to miss out on the affordable market.  We’ll see if my thinking works. 

   

I have round,oval, and square Casserole dishes each is a bit different with a different design,or stamp,etc.  So no piece is the same or exact.  Each will be an original piece or one of a kind!

First Time Ever on the Wheel… Guest

So today, a friend rang me up and wanted to throw on the wheel.  She thought it could be fun but might not be “artistic?”  She wanted a DEEP DISH pie plate.  Pretty big order for a first time!  However we got her done!

  Not bad for a first time!  Terri -Ann Stoeckle didn’t want to be in the picture but would allow her hands!  I think she maybe a Natural!  Hummmmmm maybe the next potter?  You never know!

Different colors in Glazes

  This is a purple Glaze with Cream inside and they combine to form the icy blue cascading on the side.  It a really nice Plum Purple on this dark brown clay.

 

I really like earth tones, I would reflect on that being my best choice but folks are DIFFERENT and like different colors. . . so I continue my search for different colors.

 

Thank you very much for supporting a LOCAL POTTER

ThanksGiving has a way of bringing home what really matters.  Several folks have supported me and my pottery in a time when the economy is uncertain and folks aren’t really spending.   Yet they choose to support me in my art, as a person, and in hard economic times.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH!

I am very Thank-full for their support on several levels.  Financially of course, their purchases are helping me to pay my bills, but much more than that.  Pottery can be a Humble craft.  Not usually a very fancy medium (mudd) and a long process to get the finished piece in the end.  So many things can go wrong in the process of making pottery, that well it too can be very humbling.  There is very little room for error in making functional work.

So the folks purchasing my pottery, are supporting my craft,something I make with my own hands, me as an artist, and each purchase gives me confidence in my abilities to create more.  For this, I am very Grateful.

Here are some of their emails, which have touched my heart!

“Mary

I will try to make it.. I think I want to order another platter as a xmas gift.  I just have to think how I would like the wording to be.  Your pieces were a big hit at our family dinner, and I enjoyed using every one

of them..

Thank you for rushing them for me..

Donna”

Thanks again Mary!  Everything is really beautiful.  My family liked them too.  It will be fun to give these gifts, rather than something “cheesy”! 
 
Have a good time at the MOPS group at Waterstone (Keri and I used to go to church there together, that’s how I know her). 
 
Have a nice Thanksgiving!
 
Leah

Hi Mary,

Have you visited any other artist’s studios? You might find you
aren’t so reticent after seeing places where other artist’s work. I
went on a studio tour last Spring in another town close to me and it
amazed me how some of the most wonderful work came from the most
humble studios. And the humble studio people seemed to be much
friendlier too. I saw studios in garages, barns, in trailers (where
the person lived) on enclosed front porches, under covered porches.
A couple of the famous ceramic artist’s had the most humble places of
all. It didn’t seem to make a difference to those visiting – as they
all truly seemed more interested in the art, talking with the
artists, and learning about the artist’s processes, than they did
about the surroundings.  I have been on your blog
several times and your work is wonderful.

Linda Starr
Blue Starr Gallery
http://www.bluestarrgallery.blogspot.com/

Hi there Mary,
 
Sorry for my absence….been ill.  The dish looks great; thank you for your willingness to create another beautiful piece.  I’d like to get it before Thanksgiving so we can use it!  If you don’t mind, please give me a holler when it’s complete: 

Hope you and your family are well.
 
Regards,
Becky Griffin

OMG Mary. That pot is awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Talk to ya soon.
 
Love it.
 
S

Sue Oldham
Bury Oldham Communications
Evergreen, Colorado

Check out NEW designs on Pottery

 3 Queso Pots

 

 

This time I went with all Flat Lids, with each lid a bit different than the other.    Staying with my goal of having a one of a kind piece.  I enjoy the challenge of a same shape but different “tweak” to it.  So the pots are similar with the same lip.  However the Lids now add interest and uniqueness.

I have made so many mugs that I just had to Branch out into something different.  Goblets are fun in that the cup can be the same but you can design the stem a bit different and as long as the height of each is similar, well I think they could make a set.

   

I also went with a large deep dish Pie Plate.   I was thinking for a nice apple pie or maybe even Quiche.  This plate can and wants to be “STUFFED”.

ROund Serving Platters

 

 

It’s rather funny sometimes because I feel I come FULL CIRCLE in pottery.  The basic Round shape, you get on the wheel, is a standard.  Everything else seems to come from the basics in pottery and maybe that is the joy and challenge?

I have been exploring shapes with  designs and have made a lot of “turkey platters”,mainly because of thanksgiving approaching.  But also to explore the oval shape.  I have also designed square and rectangular platters but my Favorite has always been the Round or circular platter.  That is the first platter I learned to throw and is a basic skill to have in pottery.

If you can throw a LARGE Round plate or platter, well I believe, than you can explore and alter that form to create more art.  So I guess I believe in the Basics and than exploring those . . .

Punked Pottery or Steampunk?

http://grpottersblog.blogspot.com/2008/08/post-punk-neo-rococo-pottery.html

Gary Edward Rith, often writes in his blog about PUNK.  And Kristian has a punk style tea pot.

http://kristiantheconqueror.deviantart.com/art/Steam-Punk-Tea-Set-86120278

Pottery Barn has a Steampunk style now as well. So what is this steam or punk or hummmmmm?

http://thesteampunkhome.blogspot.com/2008/07/pottery-barn-does-steampunk.html

The Steampunk Home By Sara

I believe that Steampunk is more than just brass and watch parts. It’s finding a way to combine the past and the future in an aesthetic pleasing yet still punkish way. It’s living a life that looks old-fashioned, yet speaks to the future. It’s taking the detritus of our modern technological society and remaking it into useful things. Join me as I search for items for my house that combine the scientific romanticism of the Victorians with our real present and imagined future.

I think the potterybarn calls this style actually Industiral Design…not really steampunk.

So I set out to come up with something that fit into to this NEW style of .

 Details I think are what will make this style of punk…so I am working on the details in my pottery piece.

   

HUmmm, well that was my thought anyways…..looks a bit different don’t you think?

 

 

What’s fresh in my studio?

 

   

Square or Rectangular is a recent theme in my Studio.  I had some interest in these Casserole dishes so I thought I would throw and alter a few More.

  Each is a bit different but could be considered a set with different sizes available.

Thanksgiving at the Savoy’s

Donna Savoy is a fabulous Cook,among other things, and she has a son following in her footsteps in School.  She emailed me an asked if I could make a Platter ,a few mugs,casserole dish,etc.  So you get an Idea of size for this Platter…well it should fit a Turkey nicely.

   

Than some mugs with the S for Savoy, total of 6!

   

There’s a baguette tray or appetiser tray and casserole if she wants those as well!

 

Mugs that turn into Bud Vases

I just have to Laugh sometimes.  I sat down tonight to throw Mugs.  I have a craft fair coming up Dec 3 and I don’t have alot of pottery.   Mugs are inexpensive and make great gifts for teachers,neighbor’s etc.  So I set out to make a bunch of mugs. 

Well I made 3 “belly” mugs and I was struggling with making anymore.  It’s not that I can’t make them, I just get so bored making the same shape.  Really more than one is very boring for me.  So I changed it up and made 4 Tall mugs.  Now making 4 the same size and shape is amazing since after one, I want to move onto something else.  However, I am trying to cope with making the same shapes and SETS of items.

Than, I starting playing with the Tall mug shapes and before I knew it I had throw 4 different vases.  Ha HA, I just have to laugh, since my goal was mugs and I ended up with 4 vases.  Go Figure.

Oh well, what is exciting for me is not the obviously different vase shape but the Subtle differences.  So 3 of the 4 vases are similar but tweaked just  a bit ,either in height,rim, or even stem.  Doesn’t matter to me which subtle difference it is, just that it is a bit different.  And if you can’t see the difference…AH all the better.  So my  goal, I think in developing my “STYLE” is the subtle differences of sets.

I have done this with the oval vases, so that each vase is still a one of a kind piece, not just the same piece produced.  It’s easy for me to make them Very different but the challenge for me is in the subtle, barely noticeable difference.

Well at least I learned something about myself tonight.  My style is beginning to appear a little bit at a time.  I can cope with sets, and matching pieces as long as I have the ability to tweak it in some way.  And if I can tweak it ever so subtlety…..well that is very cool to me!