it was in venice in sue’s front yard. she and some neighbors put together the whole thing. there were like ten or fifteen artists selling stuff (and i think more came later on in the day). it was kind of a crazy weird neo-hippie-burning-man-raver vibe going on next door in the neighbor’s yard. it was quieter and a bit more my speed in the yard i was in. i shared a table with heidi who made some beautiful necklaces. she had one that was red coral and turquoise! my favorite. on the other side of me was a man named joe. he made these whimsical chicken clocks.

i’m totally brain dead today. i worked really hard for three weeks to get all my stuff ready for the sale. i had a great time, i sold a bunch of stuff. but totally glad it’s over. unfortunately, i was so busy setting stuff up, chatting with all the people and drinking beer that i forgot to take any photos. there were tons of people around snapping away, so hopefully i’ll get some photos soon to share. the way i set my table up looked really nice. so i’m sad that i can’t show you what it looked like.

but i did take a few pictures of my pots. here you go! these are some of my favorites. but they’re like kids, you love them all, in just different ways.

i was exhausted after the four hours, but managed to snap a few photos to share with you. i wish i would have taken some of the actual glazing process so you could see what it looks like. i’ll have to remember to do that the next time.

when i got the to studio, i checked the shelves to see if my first set of pots where done. and they were! they came out very different then what i expected, but that’s the fun of it, i guess. you can see them here as bisque ware and after being glazed. and also here, with little succulents planted in them.

after the basking in the awesomeness of my finished pots, i had to switch gears. the glaze didn’t turn out how i expected. instead of flat brigth colors, they were spotted and muted. i took note of the glazes i liked and which ones i didn’t, went to the wall of samples and started planning my attack.

i went to the shelves in the kiln room and gathered all of my little pots. and here they are. all twenty two of them! twelve pots and ten, what i call, donut holes or saucers. instead of throwing away the clay from carving the hole out of my pots, i decided to make them into little, tiny, beautiful saucers.

after wiping off the dust, now comes the fun part! glazing. just about every one of my pots has some sort of decorative etching on the side. i didn’t want the etching to get drowned out with too much glaze. i spent so much time carving each one, that i wanted it to stand out. so on each pot, i either used a white or black matt glaze on the etching. and then i dipped the whole pot into which ever glaze i wanted. there are samples of each glaze on the wall near the buckets of glaze. the samples only give you an idea of what the glaze might look like. then i painstakingly i filled out a little white tag with my name, phone number, date and which glaze i used. it’s a reference point for the person loading the kiln. and then, for my own reference, i drew a little picture of each pot and wrote down which glaze i used. so that if i LOVED a glaze, i could know the name and use it over and over. and also, if i didn’t like a glaze, i knew to stay away. and i am SO glad i did that!!
here they are all lined up, ready for the final firing.

and best of all, i made a bunch of really cool stuff. by far my favorite is my pinch pot. one of the first assignments was to make a hollow ball and use it to test the glazes. well, i didn’t want to make something with no purpose, something i couldn’t use. so i made a hollow ball and then carved a hole in the top.

after making a few of them, i decided to carve a hole in the bottom, so i could plant something in them! and make them even more useful. i only had time to make one. here it is!

i keep it in my office by the window and the scanner. i love it.

the best part about hand building, is that i can do it at home. after the class was over, i wanted to continue making stuff, in particular, my pinch pots. so, i went out and bought 50 pounds of clay! and started in on makin’ some more.

when sue shankin, my former boss at radioandrecords, came to me and asked me to put some of my art in an art show slash barbeque, i knew exactly what i wanted to do, my pinch pots!