Finished.

I want to extend a tearful and heartfelt thank you to all my amazing customers, friends, family and congomates!

…wow- sounds kinda like I won an oscar.

These people have been so very patient, kind and considerate during the past 5 months.  Yes, 5 months!  That is how long it took me to get through the last batch of orders I received the first week of October.  There were a total of 99 orders and 574+ pieces of pottery made during this time.

My customers, especially the ones during the last phase of orders, have been more than patient with my glaze problems, supplier problems, and looooong wait time.

My friends have put up with me talking about nothing but potting, throwing, potting, glazing, potting.  And my “no I can’t- I have to work.” and “sorry, I’m too tired.”

My family has put up with bad food;  fast food, breakfast-for-dinner and frozen pizza; they have tolerated the increasingly dirty house, no clean clothes, and my foul moods when things did not go right in the dungeon o’ clay.

And my congomates have put up with more bellyaching about workload and my failure to stock the store every week!

Thanks so much to all of you, but most importantly, my customers, who make me feel loved, important, and valued for being something other than mom/housewife.  It means a lot to me!

I learned a few things, too.

1.  I don’t do very well with a very large workload.   I’ll need to limit my future customs lists to 20-25% of what I took on in October, to avoid burnout, mistakes, and stress.

2.  Glazes are not reliable and I must add something to that effect to my catalog.

3.  Roombas are amazing things.

4.  I can’t count on supplies being available the second I need them.  Plan ahead.  Weeks ahead, even.

5.  I listen to a lot of books on tape while working.  Iris Johansen uses the phrase “she moistened her lips” far too much.  Enough to make me cringe every time I hear it.   And Robin Cook’s characters speak like they are made of wood.  Sorry fans, but it had to be said.

6.  A studio buddy makes work much more enjoyable:

7.  And most importantly, I have the BEST CUSTOMERS EVER!!!  I love you all!  Thank you so much!

*MWAH*!!!

~June

P.S.  No customs for a few weeks while I take a much needed break!

There will be a couple more kiln loads yet.  Here some of the latest goodies!

And I am so happy with this last piece.  This is by far my favorite one.  I was very afraid of attempting it and put it towards the back of my list, but once I did my research and took the plunge, I really enjoyed doing it and I am thrilled about how it came out!

detail:

I can see the light at the end of the tunnel!

My beach glaze used to look like this:

And after the supplier running out of one of the main components, and me scrambling to find more, and the supplier finally getting some more backordered for me, my beach glaze now looks like this:

I like it just fine, in its own right.  It’s toastier.  But for people who have preordered items in beach glaze, expecting the former, this is a HUGE problem.  I’ve been fighting this and other problems with this glaze since Christmas.  I hope I can finally get it right today with the latest tweak.  Cross your fingers for me that it works, or I am going to fling myself off a tall building.

Another WTF pig:

And mugs:

I’m loving the way the wolf came out:

A travel mug:

And, I learned that plates get really really cranky when you set the kiln for the wrong firing temperature:

But it’s okay- I have my studio buddy to make things all better:

I waited until my hands were itchy for some clay, and they are twitching!

I’m starting on phase 3-  Will be working on casseroles, squishies and some utensil holders today, and playing with heart shaped bowls for Valentine’s day.

I had to knit him his own little sweater, too.

Every year we cut down a tree at a local tree farm.  Very local, as in 2 blocks away!  We love this farm and we also pick blueberries there in the summer.  This year I decided to get fancy and selected a different type of tree than what we usually get- I chose a white fir.   Due to a heavy workload this time of year, we often don’t get to bring a tree home until a week or so before Christmas.  We installed ours in the house on the 13th within an hour of cutting.

A week later, we discovered this:

I’m a bit of a fire phobic, so OUT the tree went.  I tried vacuuming up the needles and ended up spending an hour unplugging the vacuum cleaner!  So we ended up sweeping the carpet and attacking the rest with a shop vac.  Whew.  Yesterday we went searching for trees- a lot harder than I thought it would be- and our local farmer was snowed in, so I couldn’t go back to him.  We finally found a farm stand with three lonely frasier firs and brought home a little one and set it up.

24 hours later, I am glad to report that it is behaving nicely.  No needle vomit on my carpet.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!

Christmas gifts- something new that is a lot of fun to make!  These are between 15 to 18 inches long and cut off a slab of clay with a twisted wire to get the ridges.

An order from a local customer who has the SWEETEST Westie on the planet.  Hugs to MacDuff!!!!

The WTF pig:

a new style of mug I debuted at the Potter League Animal Shelter on Sunday.  I love making these and will make more!

I am FINISHED.  Happy Holidays to everyone- friends, family, customers- from Rising Sun Earthworks!