I sold another piece!!

I was really happy today to hear that a lady from Sheffield came to see the show, and she really liked one of my pieces but it had already sold. She took one of my busniness cards though, so hopefully I shall hear from her in the future.

Then this evening I heard more news that another one of my pieces had sold!! That's 3 out of 9 pieces! Last I heard I had sold more than anyone else! It's probably because I'm new, so my pieces offer them a style they haven't seen before. Not that I'm playing down my success - I'm as pleased as punch!


Wow. I feel like a real artist now! In yer face Art College man!!

Health wise I'm still not doing well. I have to pick up the rest of my pieces tomorrow, but I'm not really looking forward to going out. I wish this thing would hurry up and go away so that I can get on with making more stuff!!

A question and a gallery response

No new clay pieces to show you I'm afraid - because I'm poorly again!! I tell you, Scott and I have never been so poorly as we have been the last 6 or 7 months. It all started with that nasty flu in November, and we just keep getting chest infections and chesty coughs since then.

It doesn't stop my brain from working though, and inside my head is an absolute riot of ideas! I can't wait to get going again!

I've been thinking about trying a teapot, but I have some questions about that for you more experienced potters. Do teapots have to be made from stoneware? And if I use earthenware, will I have to glaze inside the spout? I think I already know the answer to that one, but I just want to check.

I had a response back from one of the galleries I contacted about exhibitions. I have to apply 2 - 3 years in advance, and they want photos of the pieces to be exhibited included with the application. Hello?? Do they think I'm going to have pieces sitting around for 3 years just waiting to be exhibited with them? And I'm thinking a persons work can change a lot in 3 years! Oh well, I'll probably give them a miss then!

When the rush is over - what comes next?

Well, I finished the 28 day challenge on Friday and already I feel lost!! I can't wait to just rip open a bag of clay and get going again!

This FPAA exhibition runs for a week, and then Monday is the day for submissions for the Wellingborough Open Art competition, run by the local council. I was hoping to enter Freda (the heada) but I gave up on that idea about a month ago, because I knew I would never be able to finish her on time and get ready for the FPAA show at the same time. So I will enter Polo and Swanee and see what happens. The standard was high last time, so I don't expect to win, but as this is a jury selected exhibition I will be very happy if my pieces are chosen to be exhibited.

So what's next?
I really love the shape of that pink vase I made - the one that Leanne carved and Charise glazed - so I'm tempted to start straight away on another vase that shape. But I need to finish Freda the heada. Poor Freda has been sitting there with no hair, wrapped in plastic for ages!!


Apart from that, I plan to start getting ready for November! I know it seems like a long way away but I was shocked at just how long it took me to prepare for this current show, and I have two shows to get ready for in November. Realistically, I'm guessing it would take me about 3 months to fill my kiln, based on how long it took me to make the pieces for this show. Once I'm prepared for the shows, I'll have time to concentrate on larger animal sculptures! I can't wait!

I am really enjoying the creative freedom that having my own kiln gives me :)

I SOLD!! I SOLD!!

Yippee!! My first ever sale and it was the first sale of the night!!


And then Anita bought one of my pieces too! She assured me it was because she loves it and not just because she's being nice to me :)


These look much better in daylight don't they? So here's the rest of my pieces... again.








And here is my whole table.


I can't believe that I was unpacking my kiln at 9pm last night, and then less than 24 hours later I have sold two pieces!! In fact, for an open evening, not many pieces sold at all, and I sold two!! I had a lot of people looking at my table too, and a lot of people returning to my table again and again. So who knows what will happen over the next week...

These are my two favourite pieces from the show. The painting is by Michael Peachy and the sculpture by Stella Benford (of course!)




Thank you again to everyone for all your advice and support. I really can't thank you enough for helping me get this far. Of course the biggest thanks has to go to Philippa King, who inspired me to take up art again in the first place!

Wow, I can't wait to start getting ready for November's shows!!

Glazed pieces out of the kiln!

My kiln cooled down much quicker than I expected today, probably due to the fact that I didn't shut the lid properly last night! See that gap?


So that meant I was able to unload my kiln this evening instead of having that long wait until the morning! I'm really glad, because it meant I had extra time to think about pricing, which I have been absolutely agonising over!

So here are the pieces. I warn you, the photgraphs are not great. This kind of thing always looks better photographed in daylight.


I'm really pleased with how the ivy came out. I didn't think the veins would be visible after having both slip and glaze applied.


Those dark runs at the top are where the clear glaze ran down the side of the vase when I was glazing the inside. It really changes the colour of the clay. I didn't think it would matter too much because bark isn't usually one block of colour, but in future I will paint the top with glaze resist.




I don't know why, but there is very fine crazing in the clear glaze on the squirrel. It's also a little milky in places so maybe I applied it too thickly. Mind you, the glaze was really thick when it came out of the bottle and I had to water it down to glaze inside the vases.


Unfortunately the fine cracks on the two pitchers still show up. It's such a shame because I think these have turned out beautifully (even though I say so myself!!) I'm really pleased with these, and I will definitely use the wax resist on the images again because I love the contrast in texture it produces.


I'm still going to include these in the show, but at a lower price.


This "matte" clear glaze on the Marianne vase (and the squirrel) isn't very matte at all!! I'm still happy with the vase though.


But my favourite piece has to be... my Mum's mug!! It has finally come out the way it was planned!! And I really enjoyed glazing it too because it's for my Mum :) (The flowers are pink, but are washed out by the flash)



So, overall I am very happy with the results, although there are a couple of things I have learnt. That's the way I like it :) I like to learn so that I can constantly improve, but obviously I don't want the results to be sooo bad that I don't enjoy learning!

Tomorrow I set up my table, and you know what's next? I'm gonna start preparing for my next show!! More aboutt hat in another post. Good night everyone, and thank you all so muchy for your advice and support :)

Feeling Blessed

No, I haven't opened my kiln yet! But this feeling has been building up and I just have to share it with you.

I just walked into "my studio" to see what temperature the kiln was at and I just thought to my myself how totally blessed I am.

I have the most supportive and most wonderful husband any girl could wish to have, who has just allowed me to spend a fortune on a kiln to enable me to reach my artistic goals. But it's not like he just throws money at me to keep me happy, he really understands where I want to be artistically, and he would walk on hot coals to help me get there.

And I have the most supportive and encouraging readers! Really, the support I have had online recently has blown me away. I want you all to know how much I really appreciate it. It has really encouraged me to keep going.

So whether the contents of the kiln comes out a success or not, I feel really lucky to have the equipment I need to fullfil my artistic needs, and to have the support of people who understand why I need to fullfil it.

Everything is fine again :)

Wow, what a rollercoaster!!

I was able to postpone setting up the show for a whole day! So I don't have to set up until tomorrow afternoon now. Phew! So I went ahead and used the 11 hour firing schedule that I found on the net.

My business cards came today too, which I am very happy with. What do you think?


And that's about all I can tell you today! There isn't much I can actually do in preparation for the show today. The kiln won't have cooled down until late tonight. So I shall have to get my clay out again because it's clay day 27 and I have to do something!!