Supportive Friends

I am so thankful for my friends, online and in real life.  Having a circle of support is so important to us as artists.  Family doesn't always understand what we do, so its so very important to have friends that can speak our language and understand our needs or concerns. 

Just recently, I was super thankful for one of my potter friends, Liv at Terra Locale Ceramic Studio.  She let me fire my little pieces in her kiln while I was waiting for my studio to be built.  She understood how stressed I was getting because my show is coming up and I have a lot of firing to do.  By firing my stuff in her kiln, I was able to get a head start on glazing and that takes a while.  I am so thankful to her for letting me do that!  And I certainly would return the favor if she ever needed it!  So if you have a moment, head on over to her Facebook page (which is the link on her name), and if you feel inspired to do so, give her a "like" on her pottery page.

Last night, I loaded the kiln with some glazed pieces for their first firing - YAY - and I'm happy that I'll be able to finish everything before I leaving for the ACC show on March 6. Thank you, Liv!

I hope you all are having a great week!  I am :)

~Kelly

The Studio is Almost Complete

Wow, today was an exciting day!  We had to move the kiln from my old studio to the new studio.  No small feat! I've got a fairly large front-loading electric kiln that required some engineering to get it moved.  My old studio was above our garage, so we had to figure out how to get it off this upper floor.  We ended up removing a section of the handrail on our front porch, and raising the forklift up to that level.  The kiln was put on a pallet jack and then rolled to meet the forklift.  All this done by my most awesomeness hubby, and two guys totally new to moving kilns.  But the three of them did it, by golly, and the kiln survived!!

I don't have any pics of the kiln being moved into the new space, as it was dark and we did it by flashlights and floodlights on the house.  That's enough to make me nervous!!  Hopefully, by the end of this week, we will have power out there and will be able to hook up the kiln.  It's slowly getting done, but these baby steps are killing me!  I have exactly one month to get everything done.  It makes me sweat just to think about it.  I see some long nights in my future.  :)


That's it over here.  I've been working on two new sculptures at my little folding table, but I'd like to wait until they are fired to show you pics.


Have a good week everyone!

Morning!

Well, I have had an amazing morning already! It's 6:30 am and I just finished eating toast, having a cup of coffee, and watching a powerful storm roll in. Listening to the birds, the frogs, the thunder... Nice. Now I'm heading out to the studio to unload the kiln!

I'm working again!

Not only was I MIA from the blog, I wasn't making pottery or sculpture either. But all that has changed and I'm working again. It feels good to be working in clay; I feel like I need to dust off the cobwebs and find the rhythm once again. I have been throwing some mugs and some lidded jars - after I had to search to find all my tools again. My studio has been in a state of disrepair - we ripped out the sink and transformed it into a closet. (We did that because we were preparing to put the house on the market and needed another bedroom.) So, I am working without a sink, but I am managing alright with buckets of water. I know I am not the first potter to work without a sink! In the new house, I'm going to have a bad ass studio and that will make up for it. I've already purchased a kiln - I got a large, electric front loading kiln from Bailey. I stayed with electric firing because all my glazes are formulated for it. To switch to gas firing, I would have to make so many changes to my glazes, and I'm not prepared to do that at this time. I don't have any pictures of finished pieces yet, because there are no finished pieces yet! I'm in a throwing cycle, and soon I will start firing and glazing some of the work. As soon as I have some pieces, I will take a quick picture and post it. Thanks and you all have a great day!