There is a shelf in our garage with all of these unglazed pots on it.

My favorite is the bird house. It’s the third one I’ve made, and I learned a bit about designing them after a momma bird built her nest in one of the others. For example, that little perch would have been really helpful to her… as it was she had to land on our clothesline (yes! we are that low tech!) and then sort of hop-fly into the opening. Precarious at best when you’re carrying a big fat bug in your mouth for your obnoxiously chirping babies.

I’m not nuts about the canisters, but they are pretty well balanced and probably actually useful (as opposed to some of the wonkier ones I’ve made). I love the bowl, and there is a tiny bud vase that isn’t shown in these pictures that I also love.

They’ve been sitting there for years just waiting for me to finish them. Actually, there were lots more, but I decided to only keep the best ones with the hope that someday I will either start taking classes again (in all my voluminous spare time), or I will drive my butt all. the. way. down. to the clay store and buy some glaze. Then I’d only have to find a place to fire them.

On the other hand, they’re really pretty where they are, and I really like seeing them whenever I walk into the house. A little bit of beauty in an otherwise totally and completely trashed out garage*.

*Ok, maybe it’s not really that bad.

Well 3 more days until we leave for Florida and the Bahamas. And I’m happy to say I’ve gotten all of my Etsy orders for Halloween packaged and shipped. I’m actually down to only one Halloween item left. A little lonely pumpkin:

And I’ve had enough of black cats to last me a life time. I do have just ONE more to make for a customer who has been very patient with me while I look for the perfect black cashmere sweater for hers. But she’s not buying for Halloween, just because he reminds her of her sweet deceased pet. :(

I’m so ready for that vacation! The last week has been a confusing mess of trying to package and ship items. I really hope I didn’t get any of them mixed up. (Now, I’m not so sure I would ever want to be the featured seller on Etsy.) I also ran out of promo packs… So I need to either buy some stuff so people will send me promos to pass on, or I need to find promo donations somewhere.

I’ve also really got to get cracking on the Christmas items, and start perusing the items on Etsy for gifts! Speaking of gifts, I promised I would show you what I got for my friend Sarah’s wedding. She recieved it last night and loved it. Or, maybe she’s a really good faker. Honestly though, how could you not love these:

I bought them from JDWolfe’s shop. Oh she does such a great job. The colors on the glazes are just beautiful, and the bowls are flawless. I highly recommend anything from her.

Got a bunch of stuff back from my second class over the weekend. Whee… It’s so exciting to see what comes out of the kiln after a glaze firing. Funny though, how things change while they’re in there. What was a favorite piece can come out and be ugly as sin. And then there are the pieces that just … SURPRISE!!! I definitely had some of those. For example this was a very unmemorable piece, and when I was looking through all the work searching for mine, I picked this one up thinking, “wow, that’s pretty, and it sorta looks like something I would do”. When I turned it over, I was really shocked to see my very own “jd 07″ on the bottom.

It’s also interesting to me, the differences in what pleases people. Eric Jackson, my instructor, really liked this piece, but me, I’m wishing I’d just used the temakou glaze on it. I’m not crazy about the yellow salt. :(

All in all, though, I’m fairly happy with what I got back. And with my progress thus far. I’m showing some of my collages and paintings at The Big Art Show downtown this week, and I hope it goes well. I mean, it’s just a free show, and I’m sure they’ll let just anyone in. But I’ve had good feed back from people recently, and I just hope I have what it takes to be at least a little successful. I don’t ever expect art to pay my way in the world, but it’d be nice to have the side cash (and the ego strokes.)

So now I leave you with a few more pictures of my favorite pots…

So I’ve been awfully busy at work lately. Not a whole lot of time for creativeness. I’ve been waiting for the hubster to make good on his promise and take pictures of the latest craftiness. I’ve made a bunch of pillows. And I finished knitting a sock (one more to go!) a project that was inspired by gina.

Also this weekend I bought a serger! Yay… it’s so neat to start sewing the blankets on it and watching them cut the fabric — “like butta“. I hope I’ll be able to turn the blankets out faster as I am supposed to do the Artist’s Market show on March 10. So come out and see me. I need to clean out my closets to make room for new stuff!

Hopefully, soon also, I’ll get some of the pottery back from my class at AMOA. I threw a cool ceramic bird house that I am totally exited about. I can’t wait to see it next week. Speaking of ceramics, I’ve added a bunch of links to the blogroll over there >>>. But Whitney’s has to be my favorite potters blog. She’s so personable, and so good at taking photos of her work, that I aspire to be like her. :)

And I must not forget my etsy friend Muttsywonder (Harrilu). She makes the softest nicest shirts ever… I love wearing mine.