It's been a while...

Oh dear, it's been such a long time since I have updated my blog, but worse - it's been even longer since I have done anything remotely creative. I seem to have lost my enthusiasm somewhere. And my confidence. And my motivation. I am, however, enjoying reading quite a bit at the moment, so maybe I am simply recharging my creative batteries? After all, things were pretty hectic at the end of last year.

I'm looking forward to the warmer weather. It's not very inspiring to be cramped up in my kitchen, so I'm looking forward to being able to get back out in my studio, but it's too cold at the moment. And I really want to learn to throw this year. So maybe all of my goals for various shows will have to go out of the window. I want to make whatever my soul desires instead of saleable items, and take time to learn and grow.

I haven't renewed my membership for the FPAA yet, and I still haven't decided if I really want to. Just the thought of all the snobbery and pretence drains me.

I am enjoying being at class with Sophie though. I don't make anything myself when I go because I am there to support Sophie, but it's lovely to be with such creative people who are normal and down to earth. Sophie has a real natural talent, and has really progressed in such a short space of time. Here is one of her latest pieces:


I can't wait to see it glazed!

I hope to be able to post again soon, maybe with pictures of my own creations?

I want to know...

... how much of your own art do you have on display at home? And if you are a potter, how much of your own pottery do you use?

I usually only keep my rejects, but on display at home I also have pieces like my Swan that has been on exhibiton everywhere but not sold. I also have one or two other pieces that are slowly creeping in, like my Marianne vase. I said I wanted to keep my brown tortoise trinket box, but when someone offered to buy it I sold it. Why? Why did I do that? Why am I so desperate to get rid of my pieces when actually... I love them. Yes, I love my own art. Isn't that the point of making it? So why are all my pieces boxed up waiting for the next show or sale?

"Swanee, no-one loves ya, no-one loves ya..."

What has led to these thoughts tonight? It's a mixture of things really. I received the FPAA news letter today, which contained a review of the exhibition in November, and my pieces didn't even get a mention. It kind of left me feeling unappreciated as an artist. And then of course there are the lack of sales... and I'm trying not to care, but I do.

I need to make myself a replacement of this now

But why? Why do I care? First and foremost I should make art for me. I should make it for the enjoyment of the process, and because I love what I'm making. And I do. So why are my pieces boxed up for other people?

My Marianne vase. Yup, mine. I don't particularly want to part with my Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy vases either!

So tonight I have been unwrapping pieces and placing them around my home. Because they're mine. And I appreciate them even if no one else does. It doesn't matter what others think of them because I made them for me. My home will be filled with original pieces that no one else has!

The year in review and my goals for 2011

Yes, it's that time of year again when people start reflecting on the past year, and the one ahead. Since my confidence yoyo's more than... a yoyo, it's good for me to reflect on what I have actually achieved over the past 12 months.

The goals I set myself for 2010 were to be more prepared for upcoming shows, and to create and expand a Jane Austen Collection, as well as making at least one more animal. I'm pleased to say that I achieved all of those things this past year. The ones I didn't do were trying out slip trailing, finishing my second tree fairy vase, and finishing the portrait of Scott when he was a little boy.


Month by month review

In January I took part in the One World One Heart give-away for the first time. I thoroughly enjoyed it and I look forward to taking part again this year. More news on that soon!

I also made a start on developing my Jane Austen collection, starting with this jug as a prototype, with my Marianne design.

Marianne Jug prototype

The final design

The highlight of February has to be when I received my surprise gift from Philippa King! I also went to an exhibition of hers in February, and it was fantastic to see some of her work in the flesh!

"Hearing Hallucinations" by Philippa King

As for personal achievements, I started on Fred the Head during this month.

In March, Fred the Head had a gender re-assignment and became Freda the Heada! In class, I made my very first pot on the wheel! And it was awful!

My first wheel thrown pot!

I started a 28 day challenge in March but I completely lost all motivation when my class was cancelled and I lost access to a kiln. This was definitely the lowest point of the whole year, especially as I couldn't find any other options available to me.

In April I spent quite a bit of time with my nieces and nephews while they were off school, which was great! They are so creative, and it's so inspiring. I worked more on Freda the Heada, and spent a lot of time online looking for a kiln after exhausting all other options (such as hiring kiln space). And then... I bought one!! :O

My rather large kiln

May was an incredibly creative month, due to the fact that I only had that one month to prepare for an exhibition in early June! I expanded my Jane Austen collection to include an Emma design, and I made a Marianne vase, as well as developing a Woodland collection.

Tree lady vase before firing

It was also a very stressful month trying to get the kiln wired in, but finally it was done and I did my first firing in my own kiln!

The exhibition in June was a success, and I sold three pieces! My first sales! And I received a fantastic gift from Cindy :)

My mug by Cindy Gilliland

In July I made tortoises :)


I spent a lot of time with my nieces and nephews again in August, but I'm glad to say that my clay time didn't suffer too much because of it. I continued with decorating my tortoises and then expanded my Jane Austen collection further by including designs of Elizabeth Bennett and Mr Darcy.


In September I used paper clay for the first time. I must say it was very clean and easy to use.

Swan made with paper clay

In October I made lots of Woodland pieces, and pendants. The Rabbit I was making was going a bit wrong, so I made some changes to it and it made a very nice Meerkat!


November was a busy month with glazing and firing. There were a couple of disasters, but mainly my firings were a success. I had a couple of exhibitions during this month. At one of them I did very poorly compared to the summer exhibition at the same venue, but at the other one I did much better.

December was a lazy month! The only clay time I had was a demonstration I did at a craft fair! I shouldn't be so hard on myself though - it's only through writing this post that I realise how productive I have been this past year! It's so strange looking through posts for the past year and thinking "Was that this year? It feels so long ago!"

So that's the past year pretty much summed up. I never did finish Freda the Heada, so I suppose that will be on my list for 2011. After the disastrous time I had at a recent craft fair (see last post) I have spent some time thinking about which avenues I want to use in 2011 to sell my art. I don't think I have completely given up on the craft fair route, because there are a couple of fairs in the summer that bring in thousands of people every year, so I'd like to give them a try.

Freda the Heada

So my goals for 2011 are to prepare for the craft fair in July, to have one or two sculptures ready for the FPAA exhibitions in June and November, and to be ready for the Open Studio's event in September, and the Pytchley exhibition in November. That's five events! Am I out of my mind?? Quite possibly, but it keeps me sane :) I'm tempted to take part in a craft fair in April, but it's a three day event and I was so exhausted after doing just two days recently. I've had people offer to help though...

My clay goals are to continue developing my Jane Austen collection. I really want to try to make some lamps. I also want to make some slim vases, so that I have something slim enough to fit on my mantelpiece! And animals! Lots of animals! I also want to work on trying different flowers on my woodland pieces. Ooh, and I'd really like to try some porcelain this year too.

So those are my goals. What about you?

Craft Fairs - the good, the bad, and the shipped in from China

Yeah, I thought it was about time I wrote another post! It's been a while hasn't it?

So what have all you lovely people been up to? I mean, apart from the Christmas thing - I hope you all had a lovely time with your friends and family by the way.

I have been feeling much more sociable than usual, which has helped me keep my sanity at the Crafts Fairs I took part in recently. Last time I blogged I said I had one more show to do, which was more of an Arts and Craft Fair. It was very quiet there, and I didn't sell as much as I had hoped, but I did better than the two previous exhibitions put together! But it was mainly those little dishes that sold.

It was very dark in the Tithe Barn, but at least it was warm (once they closed the door!) and we had free hot drinks.

After that I still had so many pieces that I made a last minute decision to take part in an Arts and Craft Fair in another town. It was a disaster. I thought the first one was quiet, but this one was completely dead. I sold less than £10 worth of stuff in a whole day. This was a more expensive venue as well - £25 a day, compared to £15 for the last one. And there were no hot drinks as we had been promised. As if that wasn't bad enough, the organiser decided that we should pack up early. Some of us wanted to stay for the full amount of time we had paid for, but what choice do you have when most of the others have packed up and gone home? Anyone walking through the door at that point would think the Fair was over anyway.

It was much brighter in the Guildhall, and it is a beautiful building, but it was freezing and we had no hot drinks.

The organiser offered me a free table for the next day, and an extra one (since so many people had pulled out) to do a demonstration. It was the second day that my social skills were really put to the test! For some reason, even though I was sitting right next to my table of wares, people didn't connect the two. I have no idea what they thought I was doing! My friend Anita helped me out that day, and we both had to keep explaining to people that I was demonstrating how I make my pieces. Some people were impressed, but many were just confused!

It was busier that day, but still quiet. And I sold less than £10 again. To top it off I also got a parking ticket, after being told by the organiser that parking was free!

This is how I felt after two days of freezing my butt off for less than £20, which didn't even cover the cost of the hot drinks and food I had to buy, not to mention the parking, the table, and the parking ticket! And I didn't even shout at anyone! It's an unfinished squirrel by the way, with no ears, no arms and no tail.

The thing that really niggled me at this event was that many of the people there were not selling handmade goods, or at least, not made by themselves. One lady shipped her leather bound hand made paper books in from India, and the stall advertising "Hand made Leather Bags" shipped them in from Morocco. There was also a stall selling boots, which I'm guessing the lady didn't hand stitch herself, likewise with the childrens hard backed books. The same was true for the lady selling cards, and the lady selling toys, and the lady selling dog treats... in fact, after talking to so many stall holders who just shipped their stock in from elsewhere, by the second day I gave up asking "Did you make these yourself?" and replaced it with "Did you ship this in from somewhere?". Apart from myself, there was only the jam lady, the cake lady, the knitting girls, the felt decorations lady, and another lady with hand made decorations that brought in their own hand made stuff. And not all of those were there both days! No wonder people looked confused by my demonstration!

So, the good points were that at the first Craft Fair I managed to get rid of sell that Ivy Vase with the glaze that didn't crack, and the leaf that broke. I explained to the customer about the glued on leaf, and she wanted it anyway. Mind you, she is my counsellor! Does that sale count??


Another highlight was swapping pendants for home made cake :) I did this at both Fairs.


And of course, doing a demonstration was definitely a highlight, and a first for me, even if it did leave people confused! Having my hands in clay that day definitely helped to keep me sane!



Next Post: The year in review and my goals for 2011.

Bouncing back!

Well, I never did sell any more than just those two sets of coasters at my first show of the season. Pytchley was much better although only being a one day show, and sales are very reassuring, so I've put all that negative vibe stuff behind me - it's time to bounce back!

My table at Pytchley

Actually, I'm not doing too much bouncing at the moment because I'm nursing a rotten cold! Scott and I always seem to get them really badly, but on a positive note it's not as bad as the flu we had this time last year!

I still have one more show left to go, and I'm hoping I'll do well there. It's more of an arts and crafts market, and I tend to think people go to markets to buy, rather than to just look at beautiful art, which is what I think a lot of people go to art exhibitions for. Am I right?

Once that's over with I can't wait to get my hands in some clay again! It may seem a little early to start setting goals for the next year, but already I'm thinking ahead about what I want to achieve. The FPAA have said that there will be a limit to how many pieces each artist can exhibit next year, which is fair. Currently artists can only exhibit two paintings, but if you are a ceramic artist you can display a whole table. Next year ceramic artists will also only be able to exhibit two pieces of art, so I really want to exhibit my best. I'm kind of excited about this. I think it will mean no more sales at the FPAA for me, but it will become an avenue for me to display real works of art. I shall have to keep stretching myself to produce pieces that create enough presence on their own.

Back to the present day, the glaze on the swan didn't turn out too well and so I couldn't include it in the Pytchley show. That'll teach me to test my glazes before using them for the first time!

Negative vibe

Hello all. Well, what can I say? I'm not sure how to start this post off because all I'm going to do is moan my head off anyway. You don't have to read it, but it's my blog, so there!!

I was "stewarding" at the show today, and each time I do it I come home feeling negative and down. There just doesn't seem to be a very positive vibe this time, or maybe it's just me? I can't decide.

Why it could be me: I seem to need a lot of reassurance about my work, and I'm just not getting it. I "only" sold two sets of coasters on the preview evening, and nothing since. Still, I keep trying to remind myself that someone liked my Jane Austen theme enough to buy the coasters, and that maybe they just couldn't afford a larger piece. No-one has left a comment in my comments book this time though, which mean as much to me as sales.

Why it's probably the vibe from the show: I don't even know where to start with this one! I really hate snobbery and partiality. On the preview evening I was talking to a member of the FPAA when someone else butted in to introduce a posh looking lady who was obviously very "important", and suddenly I wasn't in the conversation anymore, and I was left standing there looking at someones back. I was too tired to care at the time, but with other events this week it's really starting to niggle me.

You may recall that in the summer when Stella (a fabulous artist and a really lovely lady) won both "Best Ceramic" and "Runner up", Scott was outraged. It really didn't bother me at all, but Scott was convinced that it was all fixed. But this time round it is starting to bother me, but not because I haven't won anything, but because I just hate hate hate the favouritism thing. Once again Stella has won the "Best Sculpture" (and rightly so), but maybe others had mentioned that she shouldn't win both 1st and runner up because this time there isn't a runner up!

I started looking around at the other pieces that had won prizes, because I noticed that some fabulous paintings had been completely overlooked, and some of the winners weren't actually as good. What I noticed is that a high percentage of those who had won were committee members of the FPAA (and two of them were there while the judging was taking place). I don't know why this depresses me, but it really does. Other people have noticed it as well, including the actual owner of the Museum, who made a complaint to the Chair Person of the FPAA. She was very honest (despite being a winner herself) and agreed that the person who judges needs to be someone from another town who doesn't know any of the members. But sadly, some other committee members (who have won three years in a row) feel very strongly that the judge stay the same... it just disgusts me, and I don't particularly want to be associated with an organisation like that.

So I'm wondering if all of this is affecting the "vibe" at the show. It just doesn't feel the same as it did a couple of years ago before I was a member. I remember going to the preview evening with Anita and the room was just buzzing. I've never seen it as busy as it was that night and the vibe has never felt the same. This one feels worse though.

All of that being said, I have to say that it is a beautiful exhibition with lots of different styles and media.

Rant over. I'm just not sure about renewing my membership at the end of the year.

Updates and photos

Wow, what an insanely busy week I've had! I was glazing all day Monday and Wednesday and I just about got everything fired in time! I unloaded the kiln at about 12.30 Thursday night / Friday morning, and I had to set up my show on Friday!

There were a few disasters along the way... the piece that broke in my hand and dropped into the kiln... but also my lovely swan ended up with a huge crack underneath!


This actually happened in the glaze firing, although the swan wasn't glazed. I know that sounds strange. Well, the swan was made with stoneware but I wanted to use a low fire glaze on it, so I read that I could fire it to stoneware and then glaze it. Previously I would have just low fired it even though it's stoneware and it wouldn't have been fully "mature", but I got it in my head this time that I wanted everything to be done "properly". Anyway, I have managed to repair the damage with more paper clay (amazing stuff) and popped it in with my low fire glaze firing, but it still needs to be glazed. Thankfully, John (from the clay class) has said I can pop it in their kiln on Monday, so I should have it by the weekend for the Pytchley show. Thank you John!

Another disaster was the red vase I made for my sister in law. When it came out of the kiln it looked like the surface of the moon! (but red) I took this photo especially for you dear readers...


... but then when I looked at the photo it struck me how much it looks like a strawberry... which gave me an idea! I filled in the pinholes craters with black under glaze, and then refired the piece with my low fire pieces. So now the dots look like seeds (I hope) and I shall exhibit this as a strawberry vase! The finished result is included in the slide show below. I have no idea what caused the pinholing in the first place though. I vaccumed my kiln, and wiped my vases down before glazing, so I don't think it's dust. And it only happened on the red one...

Apart from that everything has run fairly smoothly, I've just had to make some last minute changes to what I had planned to display and where. This is my table at the FPAA. The drawings in the background are from a kids drawing competition.



A couple of people at the FPAA said that my work is "evolving" and that I'm "coming along well". One lady bought both sets of my coasters on the opening night, then another man asked about them, and my friend was planning on buying them herself! So I know what I will have to start making soon!

There are so many photos to show you I decided to join Photobucket and upload a slide show. I hope you enjoy it. I still have my pendants to photograph once they are on the chains.