We have been firing every two to three weeks. Our goal is to try to get orders back to a 4-6 week delivery time. Now that our shop is open 4 days a week, we will need to make pots to restock the shelves as well. I had an order for a Bull piggy bank. They buyer didn't want white with black spots so we settled on this combination. I am really pleased with the results. They raise cattle so this is going to be sitting in their kitchen.  This glaze is so hard to photograph. I thought it would be easier outside but I still got the reflection of the trees and sky. We have a dulling spray ..read more

 Last week I completed another tiny accordion fold book made from playing cards. front inside back The garden papers that I am using came from a miniature book of papers that I found online. It was so adorable that I had to buy it. It's about 2" x 1 3/4". The papers are quite eclectic and there are quite a few fun ones. Some of the papers are translucent. There are so many that it will probably take me years to use them all ..read more

  I enjoyed every minute that I spent creating this little accordion folded piece! I am not sure what to call it. Is it a card or perhaps just a tiny bit of art?  Inside  When I started to create, I envisioned an imaginary passport that would take me on a trip to France. The core of the project was created with playing cards that I covered in gesso and then connected using bits of cloth and washi tape. The collage was created using a combination of wine bottle labels, flowers from a tiny book of papers, and stamps. I wanted a vintage feel so on the opposit ..read more

  My latest book binding project was a midori aka travelers notebook. If you aren't familiar with this type of notebook, it's a cover utilizing elastic cord to hold the signatures and also to wrap around for a closure. Traditionally the covers are made of leather. The elastic cord allows you to add and remove signatures as needed. I made my cover out of a cracker box that I covered with gel print papers. The signatures were assembled and saddle stitched using copy paper scraps that I save when printing shipping labels. I try to print two labels per page to prevent waste but occasiona ..read more

 I thought I should begin the month of April with a blog post. Each month I say I will do better but I always drop the ball. Lately the weeks fly by while Jeff and I try to squeeze in everything we want and need to do. We have enjoyed time spent outside getting our garden beds ready for vegetables and flowers. Jeff does the veggies and I manage the flowers. I have the front flower bed ready for sowing seeds. I will do the usual zinnias and this year I am adding nigella, which I have never grown before. It's supposed to give me some nice flowers for cutting, as well as some interesting pod ..read more

  We have made so many salt pig over the last 12 months. There are usually around 30 in each firing. I am still getting orders for piggy banks, but the salt pigs definitely out number them. When the piggy banks started selling faster than I could make them, Jeff took over the throwing part. I became the person that turned them into pigs and glazed them. He is waaaaaay faster then I am on the wheel. Then when the salt pigs came into being, he threw those too. A few weeks ago it was determined that there were so many orders for vessel sinks, that I needed to pitch in with the salt pig thr ..read more

 I love a "good" box or bag and have a hard time letting go of them. Two years ago I got a new smartphone and it came in a nice, sturdy box. I stashed it away thinking that one day I could put it to use. Yesterday was that day. I got out my gel plate and paints and printed a bunch papers.  I used those prints to cover my smartphone box! It's the perfect size for storing my Posca paint pens. I couldn't entirely wrap the bottom of the box because the cover is a really snug fit. I like the bright blue so that worked out fine. The surface on the inside of the bottom was scarre ..read more

 This is the first year that Jeff has planted a winter garden. We are really enjoying it. It's so nice to pick greens for a salad in the middle of February! We purchased some row covers that make it super handy to access the veggies. A few weeks ago there was enough Napa cabbage and Korean radish for Jeff to make kimchi. We have been enjoying it with a variety of Asian inspired meals. We have mixed Asian greens and bib lettuce. It's been giving us enough to make salads a couple of times a week. Occasionally I add some store bought baby spinach. We've also enjoyed swiss chard, kale, a ..read more

 Anyone looking through my recent posts might think that I wasn't making pots anymore. Since the pandemic hit I have been making salt pigs and piggy banks. We have so many orders that there hasn't been time for much else. Despite me thinking that each pig is adorable and unique, my readers might get tired of seeing them! Yesterday we loaded the gas kiln. It should have been done the day before but it was cold and very windy. Jeff needed to spray glaze on two sets of canisters and we do that outside. Perhaps someday we will have space inside for a spray booth. The weather yesterday was gre ..read more

 Since my "junk journal", that was bound with washi tape, was completed at the beginning of the month, it was time to create a new one. I decided this one would have a coptic stitch binding. I took me forever to put this one together. I worked on it in dribs and drabs for two weeks.  The paper for the cover is gel printed using multiple layers of acrylic paint and a stencil. The signatures are mixed media paper. The mixed media paper is less expensive than watercolor paper and it should hold up to multiple layers of paints, ink, and pastels. This is the fourth coptic stitch boun ..read more