A Year of Bluegill Pottery Calendar Giveaway

Here's what February could look like on your wall in 2010. All you have to do to win this full color calendar of 12 months of Bluegill Pottery work is to register at my open house this coming weekend. I'll be open 10am to 4pm on Saturday and 1 to 4pm on Sunday, so come out, look around and register! Oh, and you can even buy things for yourself, friends and loved ones!!!

Crow Clock in the Bird Series.

Bluegill Website Update

I finally was able to get my website updated last month. Many new photos in the gallery section and changes to gallery hours, class info, etc. Have a look at the new stuff, then it will stay the same for a while, since my blog is really where all the new work is featured and the website changes at a snail's pace.

I'm trying to decide on changing my email program from Constant Contact to Vertical Response. I set up a VR account for the Carolina Pottery Festival and it worked very well and was economical to send out show info. I think that I don't use my CC enough to warrant the expense. I will miss all the nice templates in CC, though. There is always a learning curve with a new program, and frankly my patience in learning curves is a bit worn thin.

After/Before or What it takes to make it saleable

These are the pieces I dropped off this past Monday at the Cleveland County Arts Council for their Handmade for the Holidays show. I think it's a nice selection of work with new bird themed pieces, impressed fish trays and some sweet little plum blossom trays that I have coupled with a red bowl. The beehive shape is for knitters or crocheters to house their wayward thread skeins in.

Before it could become a saleable item, it had to go through a bit of post kiln magic. You're seeing many things in many different stages in this shot. It's funny that I took this photo on Monday and when reading Ron's blog today, I see he has his own bit of chaos going on. Is it something in the air, or just the time of year when creativity and clean collide? Creativity seems to win at my house, hands down.

In the cause of full disclosure, I have not been paid or recompensed by Panera Bread for drinking their tea and showing it on my blog. I also had a bagel with cream cheese and darn if I didn't have to pay for that, as well.

Will you be there?

Working on some great pieces for this holiday open house.

Come and bring your friends.

I'll have lovely pottery in all shapes, sizes and prices.

Even a few wonderful, but slightly flawed pieces with reduced prices (only a very few from the last firing)

Also some really beautiful new "donut" semi-precious stone necklaces on satin cording and co-ordinating earrings.

And "snowflake", gingerbread men and heart ornaments for the tree.

(The snowflakes and hearts are in a white/delft blue glaze with an impressed design-

very lovely, if I do say so myself!)

New Work at the studio

A berry in the mouth is worth two in the bush. Old Crow proverb.

Cedar Waxwing come to feast on my Bradford Pear. An early memory of Spring.

Big Bird Jar

Just a few quick images of more bird work.

I have been swamped with making/firing/finishing in order to get all obligations done in studio before the holidays. You can see some of this new work at my Holiday Open House at the studio, Dec. 12 (10am to 4pm)and Dec. 13 (1 to 4pm).