The Little Lamb

N was a lamb for Halloween, her store bought costume( 1/2 price!) was warm and cozy, and sweet, and she loved it. When I first put it on her she didn't want to take it off, she so enjoyed being a big stuffed animal. The top picture is her newest face- it's hilarious, she pulls her mouth into this tight little surprised "oh!", and she uses it whenever she's really impressed with something. I hope she keeps it for a while, it's so funny and cute. She's changing by the minute, this girl.

One Small Change: November

This month for One Small Change, I plan to bring some of the outside in, by starting to keep houseplants. This probably seems like nothing- so many people do this naturally, with out giving it a second thought, but I have cats, and my cats disturb things, or so I thought before I brought in some Herb Plants. I started with some thyme on my kitchen counter, and when they left that alone, I added some tarragon, then I started some chives, all of these have done fine, so apparently my cats don't like herbs. Now I've stepped it up a bit, and brought my Rosemary and Peppermint in from outside. I have no idea if this will work, if they will thrive inside or be left alone for long by my feline friends, but I think it's Worth a shot.

Indoor plants are really good for the air quality of your home, and if these ones work, they could also serve as natural air fresheners, the mint smells heavenly when you brush it, and they're tasty to boot. So I'll follow some directives for growing herbs indoors, and if all goes well maybe I'll even try to grow some greens for eating.

Happy Halloween

Hope your day is spooky!

Glaze Safety

Right now I'm itching to make more pots along this line- the fantastic glaze however, is discontinued, it is also not the healthiest of glazes, so I'm a little reluctant to use it- even if I could find more. I love the way that the metallic feels on such an organic form- but I think I'll play around with overglazes and matte surfaces contrasted with high gloss. As soon as the babe is on a little more even keel (the last few weeks of frenzied activity and time away from mama has really messed with her schedule- plus the teeth are still coming...so that's fun) I'll start making some pots.

The issue of glaze safety is a big one for me, with young kids around I'd rather not have super toxic materials, as I'm messy, and glaze can sometimes get on clothes which can get touched by N before they get washed., no matter how concious I am of her being around, I feel better knowing that my materials are safe. Unfortunaltly though, there are a lot of potters that don't think of food safety when making their glazes, and on sculptural ware this doesn't really matter, but on food ware it can be very important. I know potters who underfire gloss glazes because they look cool when they're matte, the danger of this is leaching. Leaching happens when acidic things come into contact with the glaze (orange juice, tomato juice, coffee, tea etc. ). Even if your chemicals are 'safe'- calcium, copper, zinc- the idea of leaching is scary to me, not to mention that the more porous a glaze is the more susceptible to staining a piece is- which is not my idea of fun.

So next time you buy a homemade pot- make sure you ask about the glaze- how food safe it, what chemicals go into it, and how high it was fired. Try to stay away from porous looking glazes that are used inside dishes on the surfaces that come into direct contact with food. If there was any stained glass used as a colourant on the peice (melted in the bottom or on top) don't use that pot for eating, as some stained glass colours have lead in them. And if any of your homemade pots stains easily or fades after use, or if they bleed any colour (after filling with clean hot water the water comes away brown) stop using it, because you never know what's in it.

Home

The past few weeks have been a flurry of activity around here- but now that the craft sale is over- I'm back. We made out okay- I think we'll do things a little differently next year. Things like only selling pottery, and possibly toy barns (K makes them, and there wasn't anything like them at the sale). Also starting work for next year's sale now, and working on it all year so that I have enough stuff and good quality control.

This sale is big and there are some really professional looking booths, but there isn't a lot of art there, there's lots of craft and home invention type things. When people were really taken with my stuff the things they liked were the hand carved unique pieces, the colourful glazes, and the funky-aspect of it (funky is my word- they mostly said weird, in a good way). So that's what I'll capitalize on.

It was a good experience because I learned where my market could be- individual mugs, lots of colours, and hand carved and decorated 'showpieces' (turkey platters, soup tureens, covered dishes, cookie jars). It's perfect for me because that is what I want to do, and it fits in well with what's out there, it allows me to focus on what I like, and maximise my skills. But for today I just want to hang out with my little girl- because I've missed that a lot lately.

Landscapes

These are some small paintings that are finished for the sale, they're quite sweet if I do say so myself- they are small 5x7, and 6x12. I've always thought that I didn't like to paint on board- I like the texture that canvas provides, but this particular board has been over painted so many times that it's got just the right mix of smooth and bumpy, it was a real pleasure to paint on, so I think more boards are in my future, It's so easy to use and inexpensive- especially if you have frames for the works already, so much less work than canvas, and much easier to transport.

Brandon's Big One

This is the poster for the Arts and Craft sale that I'll be attending. It's a big show- lots of vendors- 200 booths! yikes! I'm coming along with all my stuff, and though my last minute glaze tests have been, well, more last minute than I'd like (preparing for this show in two months (!) has me vowing to fire my kiln once a month from now on- or maybe once every two months), they have been successful. I'm loading the last bisque kiln today, for those of you not in the know- pottery gets fired twice (at least)- once for a bisque which allows the clay to vitrify and become more solid or go through quartz inversion, then again to glaze which is the glassy surface. Then I'll have two, maybe three Glaze kilns and then I'll be done, with clay that is.

I still have some painting to do, as well as some sewing, and then display and pricing to sort out. I'll keep ya'll posted about how it's going though- and I apologize for the scarcity of posts- things are busy around here.