This past weekend I was in the newspaper on the front page above the fold! Ok it was the Life and Times section, but still :) I had done the interview for the piece a couple of months ago and didn't know when it was going to come out. Craig remembered to check at about 9pm on Sunday. Then we had to drive to Carroll County to find a place still open with newspapers at 10pm on Easter Sunday. So that was fun, but we got a few copies. It is available online with additional pictures, but only to subscribers of the Carroll County Times or the Baltimore Sun.
It's crazy to think that my journey into pottery and being and artist has come this far!

This weekend I will be at the Art Fest in Middletown, DE this weekend. Come out and see me!

I forgot when I peeked in the kiln that the rose plates were in there! I made the first one for the bachelorette a few months ago and they came out so amazing I decided to make a couple of more. The rest of this kiln is basically all crabs. Like I said the other day, I think I'm crabbed out for a bit.

Laguna 60 Spectrum Bougainvillea x2	Laguna 60 Spectrum Bougainvillea x2
Refire - since the Spectrum Shallot ran I added more over where the birds were, you can see the shadow of them, but I think it looks cool	Laguna 60 Mayco black ug wiped back Mayco Hot Tamale x2 2167 Clear Mayco Norse Blue x3 Mayco Light flux sweeps
Laguna 60 Mayco black ug wiped back Mayco Hot Tamale x2 2167 Clear Mayco Norse Blue x3 Mayco Light flux sweeps	Laguna 60 Mayco black ug wiped back Mayco Hot Tamale x2 2167 Clear Mayco Norse Blue x3 Mayco Light flux sweeps
Laguna 60 Mayco black ug wiped back Mayco Hot Tamale x2 2167 Clear Mayco Norse Blue x3 Mayco Light flux sweeps	Laguna 60 Mayco black ug wiped back Mayco Hot Tamale x2 2167 Clear Mayco Norse Blue x3 Mayco Light flux sweeps
Laguna 60 Mayco black ug wiped back Mayco Hot Tamale x2 2167 Clear Mayco Norse Blue x3 Mayco Light flux sweeps	Laguna 60 Mayco black ug wiped back Mayco Hot Tamale x2 2167 Clear Mayco Norse Blue x3 Mayco Light flux sweeps

This kiln is mostly crabs. I think I might be done with crabs for a while. While they are my best seller, I am a bit bored with them. Maybe a different kind of crab, we'll see.

It's been quite some time since I made gnomes. I was really feeling like making them lately for some reason.




I started with some normal size gnomes making half male and half female.




Then moved on to some smaller gnomes, also male and female, that can be used as wine topers.




One of the females ended up with Princess Leia buns!




I also had in my head to make some mushrooms.




And before I knew it 2 birds and a fish happened too. This has gotten me thinking about the menagerie of animals I made a couple of years ago that never got glazed. I wonder how many could become wine toppers!

I am nearing the end of weekends that are taken over by wedding events. There's only one more at this point which is the actual wedding in 2 weeks. I did manage to sneak in some clay this weekend. I didn't have time to make mugs, but was feeling a bit more abstract and made leaf forms.

The more I make these the better I get at them. I made these rolling the leaf forms into the clay and then trying to soften the edges before making the shapes. I think it's going to make a difference in the final product. The small vase is a new form.

I ordered some new texture from an Etsy Shop in Europe a few weeks ago. I have one more I haven't used yet, but loving both of these textures.

This is a repeating star texture. I think it's going to be really nice to hold once fired.




This is a leaf pattern that has really nice veins. I'm trying it out with the 214T Mugg Plugg which I think is going to make a really nice cup.

I saw a demo of the Mugg Plugg on ClayShareCon a few weeks ago. I saw a demo a year or so ago on the original Mugg Plugg, but they've expanded to tapered forms and that caught my eye.

I decided to take advantage of the deal and I am really glad I did. This is the 3T and according to Mugg Plug with a 5" tall slab, this will hold between 18-20 ounces of liquid.


I decided to make them upside down because that's how I freehand my mugs. I rolled the slabs out and let them stiffen up a bit before putting them around the wood. I made my own template ahead of time using a pencil and rolling the form on some craft foam. Before wrapping the clay around the wood I made sure to use a lot of corn starch, but one time I forgot and was still able to wiggle it off pretty easily.




Here is my almost finished mug, just need to do the rim once the form is leather hard.

Apologies for the unintentional hiatus. Work has been insanely busy the last two weeks. My sisters bachelorette 2 weekends ago was fun and everyone loved their cups. Last weekend I went to the American Craft Council show in Baltimore and picked up some cool things I'll share later in the week. I feel like I blinked and both January and February are gone!

Coming up in March and April is my first gallery show! I will be a part of the All Fired Up show at Off Track Art in March and April. This weekend is our opening Saturday March 8th from 3-6pm and I'd love to see you there. If you can't make it, but are still local then you should definitely find time to swing by.




Here's my setup

Adults definitely need a bit of a lid to drink their wine out of.

I really like the cups with the half lids. I decided to make a few crab style. I first saw this style of cup on a demo from Alexandria Pottery and her jig. I have the jig, but I'm actually finding that while I love the shape the jig slows me down. I made so many mugs last year that making cylinders has become something my hands know how to do.

Just a cute little trinket dish with snuggle puppies.

I've had this placemat for probably 2 years and never used it. I thought it would make a good cheese platter for the bachelorette party. I ended up not putting feet on it so now to dry SLOW.