Yikes…Just sold!  Thank you much!

This year I have learned what sells for me in my local market.  This summer I plan on having things  that match last year’s pieces.  So hopefully I will begin to build a customer base and I can share some new pieces to keep things FRESH!

This will be the first year I have been able to do that and I am excited for that focus.. . . . . . Am working on getting an inventory…ANY kind of inventory at this stage would be nice…WHEW!  I am riding the WAVE for sure!  Thank you sooooo Much!

Listening to a little Steele Dan “Black Friday” and yesterday surely felt like a Black Friday.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1ZV4Mx7tw8

Now Black Friday has ALOT of meanings to folks so you can pick which you can relate to……I have decided to have a BLACK FRIDAY sale and OPEN STUDIO on the Sunday of the week-end of Black Friday.  Since Black Friday is a BIG shopping day ( the day after thanksgiving) to kick off Holiday shopping…well I thought that Sunday might make a good BLACK FRIDAY/OPEN STUDIO.

Black Friday was also the CRASH of Stock market in 1929  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wall_Street_Crash_of_1929

September  24,1869 was the Fisk/Gould scandal http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Friday_(1869)

However I am Hoping for a shopping Black Friday sooo this year…….

I have been busy getting ready for 2 shows this month and then Black Friday/Open Studio.  That is my push for the Holidays…after November I will be sliding into December relaxed, a few sales here and there but mostly this Year….I just want to enjoy the Holidays and Cheer.

Than my plan for Jan and Feb is to get ready for Farmer’s Market this summer and just enjoying my time in the studio “creating”playing and trying out some new glazes….

This is my kiln recently…..in prep for BLACK FRIDAY!

SOLD Karen and Dodd Stone for $200.00  Thank you MUCH!

It’s 5am when I took this Photo looking off my deck in the backyard.  Just a weeee Bit of the white stuff and it’s still snowing at 7:21am.

Ok we got SLAMMMED!  My big yellow lab is not into sledding or tunneling so I had to clear a path for him in the backyard. 

My kind neighbors, snow plowed my drive and side-walk last night!  Still have to shovel this am but better than the whole 18 inches or so!  Whew!

Hummmm Trimming something that is bigger than your wheel head, bigger than the biggest bat you have and almost, bigger than your WHEEL?

Well this is how I did it.  I have a round board that this would fit on but I have yet to make little holes for the pins on the wheel head.  So I couldn’t use that yet.

I am always intrigued by BIG for some reason, and when I get the chance, well I GO BIG!  up until now, I have kept my bowls just inside my bats,and wheel.  Not wanting to venture out into the BIG without a plan to trim.  I bought a round board with the intention of putting 2 holes in it but I have never gotten around to that.

I put support in the middle of this platter/wide bowl and turned it upside down on my wheel.  I centered it with just my hands and eyes.  It seems to work for me with a gentle touch trimming.

And no damage to the inside shape of the bowl/platter either.  Mission accomplished!  I really ought to get that round board fitted though, than going BIG won’t be an issue!

Well It’s BIG for me anyways*****GRIN****  I was Playing around tonight, not motivated to do anything for up coming shows,etc.  I just wanted to learn something “new” I guess.  It’s 16 inches, small by most standards, but BIG for me and I am Proud!

Not sure what happened to Emily Murphy?  I think she moved and I haven’t seen her blogging for a while.  Still she had this “trick” called the quarter trick that she learned from Jordan Taylor.  http://potteryblog.com/2008/03/the-quarter-trick/

It’s a lot easier to wedge 2 8lb of clay, instead of like 16 lbs.  I would agree here!  Basically you center your first clay and it’s flat about 1 inch thick or so.  Than you place  a quarter in the middle and center your next one on top of it.  So instead of working with like 12-16 lbs of clay, you break it down into doable sizes.

Don’t forget to remove the quarter though.  I was able to throw a BIG platter on my biggest bat.  It works but I think I need to try it a few more times, took a long time to make, and I had a few air bubbles in between the 2 clays.

I also worked on a serving platter as well.  Hummm I guess tonight was throw it BIG!    This is a slump oval slab that I formed into this serving tray.  Nothing thrown on this all hand built.

What to make?  I have a custom order that is very “general”.  Make something that sells for around $200.00 and that is cool so I can auction it at a fund raiser?  hummmmmm

What to make?  Oh and I need it by Nov 15,2009.  hummmmm????  Something Colorado-like that a lot of people would like, you know something you make very cool????

Yikes ok  hummmm.  I came up with a large casserole dish with a lid or could be a soup tureen/slash chilli bowl?  Crock pot cooking is the rage currently so I was thinkin how Could I fit into that?

I decided on this large casserole dish and 6 soup bowls.  They can do double duty as crockpot bowls/beverage cups.  What do you think?  Should I go a different route?  There’s still time to get something completely different?  Should I add little plates under the soup bowls?

Custom Platter for Samera Baird, She would like this in my matt blue glaze with the light  blue on the rim and handles!

Nicole stopped by yesterday for a wedding gift and some early christmas gifts.  Well I can’t post them or that would ruin the surprise.  Thanks Nicole, I am thinkin I need to set up something to display pottery in my house as I have a few folks that come over to buy prior to the Holidays!  Hummmm I will be giving that some thought!

When Otter was a Pup, he loved the snow, always the chubby fellow

Ok so upon waking this AM…..Otter, my yellow lab would not go outside.  He is getting on in years and the backyard consists of a deck and about 12 stairs of which all were covered with ICE.  He’s not into ice  skating so he promptly goes to the front door and wants to go outside there.  …sigh….ok I get bundled up and we go outside through the garage into the backyard…Otter is HAPPY and it’s cold!  I wish I had a door into the backyard from the garage, but I do not, for days like this.  Brrrrrrrr.

Now OTTER got his name ….well…. he can’t swim. Yup I said it.  He SINKS like a rock!  I have had to go in after him so many times as a puppy!  Ears,head,tail and all go under.  He loves the water, but can not swim hence the name OTTER.

Next headed out to the barn to soak a horse leg, I get about 6 blks and there’s these 2 kids pushing a car down the street.  It’s freezing, so I roll down the window and ask if they are ok.  Girl says, we ran out of gas.  They are slipping and sliding, gym shoes,no gloves and no coats….AH youth….giggle….  So I drive back home, get my lawn mower gas container, drive back to where they are.  I hand it over, with my card, saying it’s unleaded, I think enough to get them to a gas station, and please could they return it.

Will I ever see my gas can again?  Hummmmm maybe or maybe not, it’s like 5-6.00 dollars to replace and there was about 1/4 of gas left.  Either way, I think it was the right thing to do and if it were my “KIDS” well I hope someone would stop for them or me for that matter.

Paying it forward so to speak! In Founders Village, Castle Rock, Colorado!

Yeah well it’s that kinda day!  Stay warm……

Yes we have BUTTER YELLOW…yippy!  I thought it might need to be thick as cream, but nope I think a bit more like “light” cream would work well!  Doesn’t seem to mis behave at all! 

Yellow with waterfall brown on the rim…not much movement.

Turquoise and Licorice on Calico clay stoneware.

Butter dish…hummmmm

I wanted to see what exposed Clay would look like on a cup?  No clear glaze just inside and around the rim and sliding down a bit of Turquoise.  Plus I wanted to see if it would hold coffee without leaking?  Hummmm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7swVi8ZPM4&feature=related

Video about horses and the music in the background is “into the RUSH”….Kinda explains the last week or so for me.  If you have ever had an injured animal you will be able to relate….life just seems to stand still for a time as you struggle to “FIX” what ever is broken or sick.

I have never heard of a “hot nail” before, and I guess it happens a lot when a farrier shoes a horse.  I have been riding horses and jumping for over 25 years and never had that happen until 6 days ago.  It’s devastating.

Bella just got new shoes, but 3 days later, she was on 3 legs instead of 4.  It’s an insidious lameness as you struggle to figure out what happened.  Luckily she showed me a nail hole with a very small spot of blood coming out……the nail hole was a bit too high on her hoof, and the farrier must have noticed because he pulled the nail out but left a hole there.  They call it hot nail or quicken your horse.

Well the next day we pulled the shoe, and now begins the cycle of soaking her foot in epsom salts and packing it with dmso/furazone bandaging it up with diapers and duck tape 2 x’s per day.  The hope is that what ever is in the hoof (ie infection,pus,etc) will come out and drain. 

Today is day 6 and nothing so far however she is standing on her leg.  It’s sad really when you take such good care of an animal and then this happens,out of your control.  It’s a waiting game. . .

Speaking of waiting…..The kiln is loading,firing up and almost done with it’s cycle…waiting to cool down slowly and unload.  I did some different glazing this time so we shall see….I should have some pics later today or tomorrow.

“sigh”…just waiting!

In  the Fall in Colorado, driving up into the mountains, is a sort of ritual for many folks.  Sept and Oct in Estes Park, a favorite place,you can take some cheese and crackers, a good bottle of wine, comfy blanket, and sit in your car and wait until the Elk come down into the meadow and listen to them BUGLE!  If you are lucky you may even be able to take a photo of a “dance” of  BULL ELK woooing the ladies!

When a BULL ELK Bugles, well you can’t help but listen, it’s an eerie sound….especially at dusk.  So mysterious, strange, or unexpected as to send a chill up the spine.