Summer Clearance Sale!

I am in the process of marking down items in my shop for my Annual Summer Clearance Sale. This will take a bit because I have to open each item listing and edit 3 different pages. Unfortunately, as far as I know, we don't yet have a tool that will allow us to apply percentage discounts to each item without having to go through the editing process. But, that's okay... It gives me an opportunity to tweak a few other things in the listings anyway.

So please keep checking my Etsy store because, like the items shown here, everything will be marked down!


If you are local, keep an eye out for information about the Kiln Club's Clearance Sale, which will take place on August 7th at Bethesda Elementary School from 9am to 2pm.

Wedding Favors

When one of my daughters got married 4 years ago, she asked me to make tiny vases w/ a heart to hold the table assignment cards. I made them all different sizes and glazes, and guests even traded them! These are the vases:

I also made some personalized hearts to be used for gift bags at her shower:


But that was it. I never really got into the "wedding market"... until now!

I met a delightful bride-to-be and her fiance who asked me to make 100 olive dishes. They plan to give them out as favors. Apparently, there is a family story connected to olives! This is the olive dish they want:

I am delighted by this order! First, because weddings are a time of such high hopes when it seems that the future is wide open. Second, because I love olives! Third, because making these little dishes is a lot of fun!

So, there it is. I have until next April to get them done and I started this week.

Here are some dishes waiting for handles:


And some handles waiting for dishes:

And the first batch of 8 dishes drying:

With a Little Help from My Friends

I keep thinking that I'm not going to be doing shows for a long time so I haven't really focused on the set-up. Just some tables and crates should do! But for this show I needed a canopy tent. I also wanted there to be enough room within my space for people to move around. And, from past experience, I decided that I needed a bit more space in the back to be able to pack purchases more efficiently. So I decided to have shelves on one side rather than 3 tables in the shape of a U.

Potters are well-known for their generosity and I was the beneficiary yesterday! Roberta Couver lent me her E-Z Up canopy tent and two 4-ft tables. Jennifer Dinkelmeyer lent me her shelves... And I was ready for the Ballston Arts & Crafts Market!!!

The Ballston Arts & Crafts Market is held in Welburne Square in Arlington, Virginia, on the second Saturday of every month from May to October. It's a really well-organized show and it's easy to get in and out despite the fact that it's in a busy urban setting. Welburne Square is really lovely. It's very shady and there are lots of restaurants and apartment buildings around, which should ensure a good crowd. The live music was excellent! Fingerstyle guitarist Jeff Severson entertained the crowd. I got two dates for the show: June and October (but had to turn down the October date because it coincided with an important family event).

Saturday, June 12th was a hot day: The temperature reached 91 degrees! But I had a lovely spot under a tree and at the corner where there was a nice strong breeze all day. I was also right in front of Cosí where we could get iced tea all day long! Here are some photos of my spot. Note the duct tape all over the table covers to keep them from blowing over and up onto the pots! I was warned about the strong wind in the square so I made a point of keeping my set-up low: I started the shelves much lower than usual and did not put any attention-grabbing platters up high on the crates or shelves.

I met fellow-Etsyan Kelley Squazzo, whose spot was right behind mine! She and Heather Rellihan run Pocketful of Posy and make wonderful handbags, wallets and accessories. Check out their shop on Etsy!

It would have been great if there had been a larger crowd; I was disappointed with my sales. But I guess it was a hot day and the pull of World Cup Soccer was much stronger than that of pottery on the Square. In any case, I did meet some very interesting people and spent a great day with my lovely daughter.

Embracing Failure

I’ve been thinking about how much life is like making pots.

You spend most of your time trying to make that idea in your head into a real thing you can wrap your hands around. Searching for the perfect job, the perfect relationship, the perfect house… the perfect pot. After much work, you get what you wanted, but it wasn’t what you expected… it turns out that the pot you get out of the kiln isn’t much like what you had in mind. Or after you think you've got it, something goes wrong. This form flew off the wheel while I was trimming it. It had been perfectly round. Now my choices were to toss it into the reclaim pile or... square it!

After struggling for years you have a moment of perfect understanding and peace… you sit at the wheel and make gorgeous pots effortlessly… and then the moment is gone.

I’ve learned that life, like making pots, is about embracing failure. Not being afraid to fail frees us to spread our wings a bit farther, push the clay a bit more… it might collapse… or it might yield a beautiful pot!

So it is with life. Looking back I see how fear kept me from much joy. I am learning to be fearless now!

The Better Butter Dish

I have to admit it right at the top: I don't eat butter. But I've become a bit obsessed with butter dishes.

It all started a few months ago, when several Etsy potters had their French butter bells removed from the site because someone has actually registered the term "butter bell" as their trademark. So now we have to call them bell-shaped butter dishes or butter crocks or something else. This was followed by the publication, in Pottery Making Illustrated, of Keith Phillips tutorial on how to make a classic American Butter Dish, and by the discovery that butter sticks in the East and West coasts are different sizes (who knew?).

So I decided to look into butter dishes. First I tried to make the infamous butter bells. My first attempts looked nice but, once fired, the top and bottom didn't quite fit. I eventually modified the design and came up with this. I'm really pleased with these. The only glitch left to figure out is how to ensure that they don't warp too much in the firing since they sit on their rims in the kiln.

I then went back to making what I've always thought of as a "butter bells," that is, a dish with a dome-shaped lid (rather than the French version for storing butter outside of the refrigerator). Got some good results there too, although they might need to be a bit larger.

I finally tackled Keith's American Butter Dish. I've made a few and I am ending up with a tray that is a bit too large relative to the lid. I think that this might be happening because I am putting the bottom on the tray when the clay is still too soft and it stretches more than it should.

So, here's what I think about this exercise.

• I like the shape of the French butter crocks and I especially like that I could use one of the components for olives (place the pits on the outside rim!) and the other for a dip bowl.
  
• Making the dome-shaped dishes reminded me that I should make some garlic roasters (same shape just add a small hole for the steam to escape!).
• And I absolutely love the trays that are resulting from my efforts at making Keith's butter dishes.
  

What do you think? And... who still eats butter?

Visit to Burlington, Vermont

My fabulous niece, Monica, graduated from the University of Vermont with a Bachelor of Arts in Sustainable Development this past weekend. I drove Mom up to Burlington and we spent a wonderful time with my brother, my sister-in-law and my SIL's sister.

We arrived Friday night and met at Monica's for wonderful organic pizza. On Saturday morning we went to the Burlington Farmer's Market. What a treat! I bought some artisanal bread and one-year old cheddar cheese (yum!).

At the Farmer's Market I met a couple of Etsyans selling their wares. Dan Siegel is a potter who makes graphic mugs, tumblers and other vessels. I bought one his mugs for my collection and have already enjoyed drinking my tea out of it. Jen Kahn is a brilliant jeweler and my wonderful SIL bought me a pair of earrings that I had admired! Check out their Etsy shops!

After the Farmer's market we had lunch at Stone Soup where I had the best roasted tofu sandwich in a long time. Following lunch we visited with Monica's professors at a reception for the environmental science students and headed to the shores of Lake Champlain for a very touching impromptu ceremony. That evening we had the best dinner at Leunig's. I had risotto stuffed artichoke... to die for!

Sunday was graduation day! We got to the Campus Green at about 8am and found the perfect chairs under a big shady tree with a magnificent view of Lake Champlain and the mountains in the distance. Even though the ceremony was very long (they read each graduate's name... and there were 2000 seniors!), it was a delightful, breeze day. Following the graduation ceremony, we met at Monica's house where all the housemate's mothers had a wonderful meal ready for us. There we met parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and siblings of Monica's friends. That evening we had another fabulous dinner at Starry Night Cafe. This time I had the salmon w/ the most amazing mashed potatoes.

So that was my weekend. I really felt privileged to be in such a beautiful setting, celebrating this most important occasion with my beautiful niece and dear brother and the rest of the family!

My Starry Nights Lamp is on Etsy's Front Page!

This is very exciting because I actually got to see this in real time!!! I'm very honored and extremely grateful to Walrustusks for including me in her treasury. Please visit her shop!
View an Etsy Front Page Treasury List - The Vault on Craft Cult