Work In Progress Wednesday: Circus Circus

These are close-ups of a rectangular casserole I'm working on-it's in the very early stages here. It's Vintage Circus inspired- which is something I really love- all the big fancy embellishments, almost Baroque- but much more playful, also fun repeating patterns, bold stripes, and of course elephants. Who doesn't love elephants?

I'm slowly starting to make more pieces so I can fill my kiln and fire those tile samples. and then I can get started pumping out the tiles for the back splash. But also I'm thinking I should plan to do a few more sales- craft shows and the like next fall- The girls are now getting to the stage where I can work for a little bit- N will be in kindergarten next fall- so I'll have much more time I think, (though A will be two so we'll be heading towards that style of fun). Anyhow, at the rate I go for completing stuff, I should have a decent amount of stuff to offer come next fall, if I can stay on track that is (with Spring sewing time coming I'm not sure how on track I'll be- but I shall try...If you're trying to stay on track by avoiding the siren song of spring sewing do NOT look at this,or this,or this, or this- but seriously how awesome is that last one?)

My thinking is to make a lot more oven to table style dishes, oven safe- good for regular use, but highly decorative, and not out of place with the 'good china'. There is a LOT of the typical brown country style pottery around here- I think the younger folks could use something different, a little more colourful, not as traditional. I think really functional ware need not be plain- though it's true that more embellishes benefit from hand washing, but really any casserole dish benefits from hand washing, right? What do you think, any favorite types of dish that you'd like to see in pottery, but don't too often?