Many Thanks!

Sofie with butterfly face paint.

Almost a month has gone by and I haven't had time to update the blog! It has been an extremely busy as well as rewarding month!

I was at the City of Fairfax Holiday Craft Show again this year on November 20 and 21. It was wonderful to see many old friends and customers! The second day of the show was much better than the first, and I think that's because #1 daughter, Bibi, was there helping me. She is the Queen of the Tableau, rearranging my displays to best effect, and also a fantastic salesperson (to say nothing of her packing skills!).

The first weekend in December was the City of Falls Church Show. Once again, I was heartened to see many people come by because they had received my postcard. I have to thank #2 daughter, Andi, for designing a magnificent postcard once again this year. Granddaughter Sofie came by to help on Sunday, greeting all the customers and steering traffic to my booth by just being her cute, sweet self!

Although customers laughed saying that everyone they know has a brie baker, these were, once again, top sellers. I sold 19 brie bakers in the two shows. The yarn bowls and baskets were extremely popular, I sold 9 of those at the shows and would have sold more if I'd them. I was surprised that many people had not seen yarn bowls. But they did think that they were great gift ideas once they saw them.I did manage to make enough ornaments this year: I sold 105 ornaments between the two shows. The textured trees, both large and small, continue to be a hit!

In addition to the shows, sales on Etsy have been hopping. They picked up right after Thanksgiving and have not stopped, allowing me to reach my goal of 200 sales. This averages out to 6.5 sales a month in the past 2.5 years since I opened my Etsy store. I'm very pleased with that!

So thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who came by my booth at the Fairfax and Falls Church shows, as well as to all my wonderful Etsy customers!

Leaves Falling Like Rain

It's that time of year... I am fascinated by the leaves. Just driving to the grocery store is like going into a wonderland of color. I love the leaves in the spring too... all the myriad shades of green as the light-colored shoots turn into dark green summer leaves. All of life in a small leaf: from the tiny shoot, to the nurturing leaf that helps provide energy for the plant, to the splendor at the end of the season.

I want to draw leaves, paint leaves, make clay leaves... but I've always tried to resist that urge because there is so much leaf imagery in pottery and elsewhere. Nevertheless, I've decided to take a few tentative steps. I've carved leaves on my lamps, I've drawn some leaves on a few bowls and brie bakers... I think I may look into this a bit more in the future! For now, I made a treasury that I hope you'll visit.

Time for a New Wedging Board

1. Canvas Wedging Board

While most studios have plaster wedging tables, I've found it much better to wedge my clay on canvas. I like canvas because it won't gouge or crack and also because it dries the clay up a bit as I'm wedging. The latter is important because, to protect my wrists, I throw with very soft clay.

2. Stapling the canvas to the board

In addition, a canvas wedging area can be set up quickly and easily and lasts a long time. I made mine in 1999 when I built my studio. Eleven years later, the canvas was getting a bit threadbare so I decided to redo it today. With my husband's help, it took all of 30 minutes! Here's the quick and easy way to make a long-lasting wedging board.

3. Cutting off excess canvas

I started with a piece of wood about an inch thick. The dimensions of the piece of wood are only restricted by the area available to you for the wedging board. Mine is about 2.5 x 2 feet. Simply staple marine canvas to the board making sure that you pull it very tightly (fig. 2). I put canvas on both sides of the board and use one side for dark clay and the other for white clay. After stapling the canvas and cutting off the excess (fig. 3) I cover the edges with duct tape (see fig. 1).

I attach the wedging board to a a sturdy table with vise grips. I've placed bricks under the table's front legs. This puts the table at a slight angle away from me, which makes the wedging motion easier (see fig. 1).

4. Ware boards made out of wallboard

I also use pieces of wallboard as ware boards. Simply cut a piece into as many different sizes as you need and duct tape the edges so they won't crumble (fig. 4). You can also use one side for dark clay and other for white clay.

Yarn Baskets and Bowls Part 2

I'm very happy with the way the yarn bowls and baskets turned out. You can find them for sale in my Etsy store.

Yarn Bowls...

Everyone seems to love yarn bowls!

I make mine in two varieties: bowls and baskets. Both the bowls and the baskets have a relatively wide foot and thick bottom to make sure that they are very stable. The baskets evolved at the suggestion of some of the grandmas in Etsy's WWWG Team. The carved handle makes them easy to carry from room to room and provides a place to put the needles.

I like to the look of carved pieces and I enjoy carving through leather-hard clay, so I generally carve a more intricate design on the bowls and baskets than what is strictly necessary to serve the function of a yarn bowl.  I think that this design element opens the bowls and baskets up to many more uses, making them an item of decoration for the home if used, for example, with pebbles or sea glass on the bottom to hold a candle. They can also be used as candy dishes or to hold jewelry or keys.

Love and Sweetness

This past weekend was my brother's wedding. The ceremony was held at Overlook Farms in Clarksville, Missouri, overlooking the Mississippi River. The site--with its view of Old Man River, hills, pecan and walnut trees--was a romantic's dreamscape. The ceremony included readings of several poems, including e.e. cumming's I Carry Your Heart. But the most inspiring poem (which elicited a loud laugh from my 8-year old grandson) was Li-Young Lee's From Blossoms.

From blossoms comes
this brown paper bag of peaches
we bought from the boy
at the bend in the road where we turned toward
signs painted Peaches.

From laden boughs, from hands,
from sweet fellowship in the bins,
comes nectar at the roadside, succulent
peaches we devour, dusty skin and all,
comes the familiar dust of summer, dust we eat.

O, to take what we love inside,
to carry within us an orchard, to eat
not only the skin, but the shade,
not only the sugar, but the days, to hold
the fruit in our hands, adore it, then bite into
the round jubilance of peach.

There are days we live
as if death were nowhere
in the background; from joy
to joy, to joy, from wing to wing,
from blossom to blossom to
impossible blossom, to sweet impossible blossom.

My contribution to this lovely day was a "wishing pot." It was a humble pot that was filled with everyone's best wishes for my brother and his bride. What a wonderful idea!

Support Your Local Artisan

In mid-August, The Washington Post ran an article about decorating for the fall that highlighted "artisan wares" and the fact that "major retailers are offering alternatives" to handmade artisan products found on Etsy. This really bothered me because, in addition to mentioning alternatives to Etsy sellers, the article showcased clay vases from Indonesia selling from $12 to $24. Well, I wrote a letter to the Post's editor, which got printed on September 2. Here's a link to my letter.

As I talked about this with several artisans, someone commented that in these difficult times you can't blame people for going for lower priced items. I think that it's up to us to educate our customers about our work and why they should purchase local artisan wares, even if they have to pay a bit more. Lisa LaPella has pointed out that she would rather save her money to purchase a more expensive handmade item that can become a treasured heirloom. But I think that one of my repeat customers put it best when she sent her own feedback in response to my letter to the editor . She said:

"I'm not an artist but I support local artists by buying at local sales and on Etsy. The benefits of buying locally applies to art, not just vegetables purchased at local Farmer's Markets.  Buying locally produced products cuts down on energy consumption, because there's less transportation; it provides income to a local resident,  it supports locally purchased materials, and it supports the local arts community overall."