Yes, a sculpture sale!

The glaze kiln is unloaded and a sale is made! I sold an abstract sculpture of two people 'connecting' to a local guy. He purchased it as a wedding gift for his niece. I personalized it with a design using the date of their wedding and their first names. It seemed he was happy with it so that made me happy!

I'll be taking photos of the new pottery today. I had some sculptural pieces in this kiln as well as some functional work. A few of the pieces need to go into the pottery graveyard as the glazes ran too much - not all over the kiln shelves, thankfully, but enough so that I want to trash a few of the pieces instead of keep them. The old saying, 'Don't love your work until it is out of the last firing' certainly holds true. I am trying to get the hang of a few new glaze combinations so I'm sure I'll add more pots to the graveyard in the future!

Glaze kiln loaded

I just fired up a glaze kiln - its almost 2am and I had a hurry-up glaze session going tonight. I taught a kids' pottery class today so as soon as they finished I cleaned up that mess and started glazing. One of the sculptural pieces in this kiln is sold - pending approval of the final appearance - and it is needed as a wedding gift. The purchaser is flying out on Wednesday so I need this sculpture out of the kiln on Tuesday, hence the rush job.

My daughter, Amy, came down at midnight and helped me finish up so that was awesome. She also made homemade chicken dumpling soup for supper! I have several styles of flower vases/centerpieces in the kiln, pasta dishes, dipping bowls for salsa, flavored oils, wasabi, etc., larger bowls, some madonnas and a couple other sculptures. I hope things turn out - glazing always makes me nervous. I'd so much rather just make the pieces and let someone else worry about glazing them!

We are missing our granddaughters - it was SO fun having them for a week. I'm putting together a photo album of our time together and will send it along with some things I forgot to pack and a few little gifts I got on sale.

I'll post photos here of my new pottery - be sure to come back and check it out!

Locked out!

We were about to leave on a shopping trip for new pj's, shoes and The Cat in the Hat Comes Back when I decided I needed to bring along some Kleenex for my granddaughters. But as I turned the knob on the door, I realized it was locked. Taylor, age 3, locked the door as we went out. The key was in the house. Another memory made!

I have a lot to get done in a day and a half, after our granddaughters leave tomorrow. I need to get a bunch of bisqueware glazed and fired so I can open the kiln by Tuesday. One of the sculptural pieces is sold - to be a wedding gift next weekend! I hope it turns out!

I finished my final report today for the North Dakota Council on the Arts. They gave me a Professional Development grant to attend the NCECA conference last week. Thank you to them!

Granddaughters visit!

Taylor and Haley are here visiting for the week. My kids' art and pottery classes are canceled because of Easter and spring break so this was an ideal time to have the little visitors. They are age 3 and 1. We've been outside to play, although it is still chilly most of the snow is gone, and to the indoor playground. Taylor went with me to the dentist today and thought that was great...she was really good while we were there. Yesterday we went to the library for story time. The story teller noticed we were new and asked Taylor, "What is your name?" "Hannah," Taylor answered. For whatever reason she always tells people her name is Hannah!

She has enjoyed making birthday cakes in my pottery studio - she takes a wad of clay and lays on it with her belly to flatten it. Then she adds a bunch of buttons for candles, we sing 'Happy Birthday' and have a pretend party. She went into the bathroom to wash her hands later as I was putting the clay and tools away. After a while she yells in a sing-song voice, "Grandma Jackie, water is going everywhere!". I rushed in to find she had plugged the sink drain and water was indeed going everywhere, and had been for quite some time! Grand Forks hasn't been flooded this spring but my basement has!

NCECA in Phoenix

I laid awake all last night in our hotel room in Phoenix thinking over my experiences at the NCECA conference the last three days.  Besides being lucky enough to win a couple of nice door prizes, I met up with a friend I met at Anderson Ranch a few years ago and had lots of shared experiences with our daughter, Amy.  We met quite a few new potters, listened to some interesting lectures and discusssions, watched demonstrations by other ceramicists and potters, and learned about new tools from vendors.  All in all it was a wonderful time - I hope to make good use of some or all of the new information in my work and with my young students.  Hopefully, they will benefit from my time here, too.

Winter won't leave!

Winter won't leave! So I'm taking off instead. Headed next week for Phoenix and NCECA, a gathering of potters/ceramicists from around the country and around the world. It is my first NCECA time, but hopefully not my last. I was lucky enough to attend a few national gatherings of art educators when I was teaching for our local school district. I expect this to be just as exciting and rejunvenating!

I'm headed to my pottery studio in a few minutes to do some cleaning and make a few pottery flower bowls. I didn't get enough pottery made before NCECA to fire the kiln so my cup for the cup exhibit/auction won't be ready. I'm kind of disappointed because it is unique, some may say weird, but I like it. It is one of a kind and big enough to be a soup cup, with a handle and some nice texture. I'll post a photo after it is out of the glaze kiln.

I have a kiln full of kids' glazed pottery, but am going to let them help unload it on Monday. It is always fun to lift off the shelves and see how things have turned out. I really encouraged them to use enough underglaze this time around. They are usually in such a hurry that the colors are spotty and not even. Maybe they did a better job this time? We'll see.

The Red River level is falling here after the third highest crest in history. Not a drop of water escaped our new levee/dike system - awesome! Prayers were answered!