A Handmade Christmas

So this Christmas I spent a lot of time making some of my Christmas gifts. My goal every year is to make a lot of my own gifts, and this year I think was better then the last. Still pretty tricky with a busy two and four year old, but my mum helped me out a lot by letting me hang out there for a few days :)

I made a whole bunch of creative gifts. Handstamped spoons, a stamped penny keychain, handmade cutting boards, silkscreened tea towels, embellished t-shirts with additional fabric and some silkscreening, sewn owl pillows for five precious girls in my life, and lots of pottery things (mugs, slab bowls, cups, magnets, a tiny jar, and a large vase)... oh, and two little sewn lap blankets for my two nieces.

Although it was a lot of time and effort to create everything, I really enjoyed the process and glad I could make all that I did! I find it so much more personal. I unfortunately didn't take pictures of everything -- which was crazy silly of me, but oh well. I did take some! And that's better than none ;)

Above is *some* of the stuff that I made... Chris and his had helped to make the cutting boards aswell...

I'll post more "process" pictures later :)

My First Guild Sale

I had my very first potters guild sale on November 23-25th, 2012!!! It had been a little goal of mine to actually participate in the sale t some point, and I'm very happy that I did. I was a bit nervous leading up to the sale, but once there everything went well!

I had a three foot space in the far right hand corner... all my little buttons and such displayed. Kayo Endo and I shared a whole table, it was really nice to share a table with someone else who hadn't been in a sale before. I think she made my experience a lot smoother and nicer! Such a wonderful person!

And speaking about people, my wonderful friends and family came out too! On the opening night, my best friend Joleen and her family came out, same with my other awesome friend Corinne! My Uncle Cliff and Aunt Lorraine came out on Saturday, which was so nice, and my in-laws came on Sunday - but I unfortunately wasn't there yet to see them! Thank goodness my Dad and Sue stayed at home to watch my girls for me... Would've been pretty hard to attend with two kids in tow!

On the opening night I sold my very first piece within the hour! So exciting! My wonky teapot sold for $130!!!! Astonishing, but awesome at the same time :)

I worked at the sale on Saturday packaging up the purchases. Above are my comrades, Sandy and Nancy. It was a fun few hours!

The beginning and ending of the sale was a little meeting with all the potters. I snapped a few shots, and a larger panoramic shot from my table in the back of the room.

I was so pleased with the overall experience ~ something I look forward to doing again in the future!

Preparing!

So I am officially in the London Potters Guild Show and Sale. And it starts tomorrow! I have been busy busy packaging up buttons and beads and making wooden things for my display, and my father in law has helped me out with some boxes aswell. My husband and I made up some cutting board sealant put of locally sourced beeswax and mineral oil do I finished my walnut boxes with that. I've embellished my business cards with red thread, as well as the card stock for my button packaging. I've also inked a bit of the card stock aswell.

The above cans and jars are my makeshift clamps to hold down little strips of wood so that my buttons don't slide down and lay in the box...

Glazing and Throwing

So this week past I went to the guild on Wednesday and I had the chance to throw a bowl and the beginnings of three mugs. Unfortunately I forgot to take any pictures of them!

I glazed some bowls, little saucers, beads, buttons, ...and my big vase - I'm really curious to see how that turns out.

I also snapped a picture of what I have in the kiln room, waiting to be bisque fired...

The Past Week

On Wednesday I went into the guild as usual, and I stamped into a slab bowl that I made for the imagery on
clay workshop - I thought "cock a doodle doo!" was rather fitting, lol!

Then I got to glazing some beads and my wonky teapot! And some little slab built bowls that I made with the girls and my niece. I glazed a lot with celery, and I glazed my teapot with celery and floating blue. I'm always so anxious to see how everything turns out!

Oh, and let's not forget that Wednesday was Halloween! My friend Margaret dressed up and even brought in some goody bags for all of us :)

So on Wednesday I brought home two mug bases and two bowls that I threw the week prior. I was hoping to trim them on the wheel - but I totally ran out of time...

I carved them Thursday night, once the girls were in bed. It was fun thinking of some designs to carve into them.

On Friday night Chris and I went out on a date night... dinner, a comedy improv show, and we even squeezed in some time at the potter's guild!!! I glazed some beads and a couple of doily imprinted bowls while we were there. I also put some more pieces in the kiln room to be bisque fired. Good times! :)

And tonight (Sunday night) we had dinner at my Dad's. Obviously since he lives right around the corner (of the potter's guild) pretty much, I had to pop in to the guild on the way in! And some of my pieces were out of the glaze kiln!!! Too exciting!

My wonky teapot that I glazed on Wednesday, was out -- and I was pleased with the results! It actually pours half decent, and the glaze looks pretty good aswell! Yay!

The little leaf bowls that I made with the girls and my niece were done, same with all my beads! It's so nice to see the final results - and I love how well the celery glaze really highlites the texture of the leaves.

This whole pottery thing never ceases to amaze me! :)

Halloween Skirts

So last night after the girls went to bed I made a couple of Halloween skirts for the girls. I had picked up a yard of fabric for $2.50 - in the hopes that I would make Jess a skirt for her Halloween day at school. They dress in black and orange instead of costumes.

So they were in bed, I looked in pinterest for some easy tutorials, and away I went!

And below is Jessica just before she went on her way to school!

Imagery on Clay Workshop

On Sunday I participated in a workshop taught by Chris Snedden -- and was it ever informative! I especially loved learning how to make my own screen prints! We submitted some images earlier on in the week and Chris had a screen already prepared for us when we got there. I enjoyed learning about all the various ways images can be put on clay and I look forward to expanding my work to incorporate more imagery.

A Little Blog Hiatus

So I've decided that enough is enough and I'm just starting again from today's happenings at the guild. I've been meaning to go back and post all the amazing things I've done over the past couple of months, but that has just been a little much -- so I've let go of that notion. I'm (hopefully) going to post what I've been up to over the latter part of the summer as I go...

So today I FINALLY went and threw on the wheel! It's been a couple of months since I was last on the wheel, and it was amazing to get back on.

I also rolled out some slabs and pressed in a doiley for some neat texture. I was quite impressed with the results!

I also made a few beads and buttons with the texture from the doiley... loving the texture!

Saggar Firing Workshop!

On Sunday August 12th, I participated in an awesome workshop on saggar firing with Chris Snedden. I really enjoyed it and found it really informative and captivating.

Chris prepared a pot of his own and fired it to show us the process.

Then we had a lot of fun preparing our pots and then decorating them...

First we brushed on ferric chloride, in a 1/3:2/3 ratio mixed with water. Then we laid out a piece of aluminum foil and added some combustibles such as straw and shredded paper and also some copper sulphate. We placed our pot on top and wrapped it in the tin foil. Then it was time for the kiln!

Below is following a pot of mine throughout the firing process...

I also made some pendants and some other decorative pieces... What a great experience and I can't wait until we do a traditional pit firing in September!

Below is my box of take home goodies!

And I thought I'd also share this picture of a little birdie I saw munching on some mullein on my walk into the potters guild!

Glazing Some Bowls

On the Wednesday past, I went to the guild. I didn't really have anything set in my head to do, per say, so I decided to glaze some larger slab bowls that I had made. I also glazed a little tray and my nice Raechyl's handprint.

I also put my two hand built teapots in the kiln room to be bisqued.

Glaze Making Workshop

On July 29th I participated in a glaze making workshop at the guild. VERY informative and I can't wait to develop and test some glazes of my own!

Below is a few pictures of the class making a clear glaze! A 10,000 gram batch...