Month: January 2015

My Life

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My life is pretty amazing right now honestly. That’s one of the reasons I decided to start writing this blog- I feel like my life is going in a really good direction and I’m probably the happiest I’ve ever been. I think it’s a good idea for everyone to keep track of the things that make them happy and of their accomplishments, and even to remember their setbacks. So… Work My life as a potter is going amazingly. In april of last year I started renting a space at my studio and began to get back into pottery after over a year away since graduating college. My first pieces were not great at all and I was nervous, but it felt like I was really doing the right thing. I continued to work part time as a barista, going to the studio after work and on my days off, until september- when I decided it was time to take the plunge and quit my day job. I had been thinking about quitting almost since april, but was scared- …

Movin’ On Up!

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Today I stopped by the pottery shop where I display and sell my work and was happily surprised to see that I’ve been relocated to the second floor! I had previously been on the first floor, which is divided into a few smaller rooms, and I had a half-wall shelving area to show my work. Not a bad space by any means! The second floor however is where all the “serious” artists are located… artists who have a steady career off of their work and sell all across the country! I now have a wider, ceiling-height shelf all to myself, and a place card with my information on it. I am ecstatic!!

The Biggest Piece I’ve Ever Thrown (WIPs)

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The more clay you throw at once the more difficult it is. Centering a huge block of clay takes A LOT of muscle, which is why I usually do it in smaller pieces (as I did for this one) even still, once you have 25lbs of clay centered on the wheel, doing anything with it and keeping control of it as it gets taller is really really hard! I wanted to make this piece mostly to see if I could, and I had no real ideas about what it might look like before I started, other than that I wanted it to be a vase of sorts. I was pretty happy that I was even able to keep it upright to be honest! These pictures are the piece freshly thrown, and then after I’ve trimmed it and added some detail carvings. Its only the tiniest bit lopsided and the walls actually turned out pretty even! The bottom was a little thicker than I wanted it to be but I decided the leave it thick so …

Preserving Butterfly Wings

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I have a habit of coming up with projects I want to do, running out and getting materials for it, and then carefully putting it away with my huge artillery of craft supplies… and completely forgetting about it. This is pretty counter productive until I come up with another project months later and remember that I have just the tool I need to get it done! A prime example is this small resin kit that I bought an embarrassingly long time ago with aspirations of making resin-domed jewelry. I may not have had anything I wanted to preserve at the time, but more likely is that I had a beautiful pressed flower or some other amazing piece that i did want to use, but was too scared to try a technique (resin) that I’d never done before on something I liked so much and risk an imperfect result. Its like how you get a bottle of really fancy body wash for christmas and put it on a shelf for “special occasions only” and then never …

Teaching and Learning

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I very recently accepted a position as a children’s teacher at my studio. I’ve been teaching private one-on-one classes for the past few months to anyone interested in trying out pottery for one lesson, but this is totally different. A regularly scheduled class with the same students every week. And for my very first class I had EIGHT students! 8 children ages 8-13, sitting at pottery wheels with clay and water and no idea what to do with it. For perspective that is nearly twice the size that the class usually is. I was so nervous and excited for my first class that when the students arrived I barely even knew what to say to their parents. And as all these kids sat down and looked up at me to teach them and be in charge, I nearly panicked that I wouldn’t be able to handle it. But I started to show them what to do, if not a little shakily, and within 15 minutes everything was going smoothly! They did an AMAZING job. 100 …

Sustainable Living- My Goals

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What exactly is sustainability? The EPA defines it for us: “Sustainability creates and maintains the conditions under which humans and nature can exist in productive harmony, that permit fulfilling the social, economic and other requirements of present and future generations.” -www.epa.gov Essentially, living with nature so that you both benefit indefinitely. Who wouldn’t want that?