We'll be at the Mandeville Trailhead on Girod St. in Mandeville, Saturday November 28, from 9 to 1.  We're offering 10% off to all customers who mention this blog, as well as, Facebook fans, Etsy fans, EMT Etsy mud team members, and  Louisiana Handmade fans/team members.  If you can't come by the Trailhead, visit my Etsy shop and mentions thi promo in the notes to seller to get the discount. (Some items in the Etsy shop will be deactivated for the Saturday morning sale at the Trailhead, but will be re-activated in the afternoon).  Items we'll be selling include: oil diffuser bottles, sake cups, shot glasses,  our larger/heavier pottery (that costs more to ship), and our altered pottery.

Good News

We have been included in Treasury West by     DorothyDomingo. Please visit the page to see "Clay...Quilts...and Cozy"  What a nice way to welcome us to the Etsy Mud Team!

http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list_west.php?room_id=75180

Getting Ready for a Wedding

Isn't this a lovely ring? It's a vintage piece, a family treasure, that was modified by those two artistic young people. The wedding band will compliment it asymmetrically.  We're having a bridal shower this weekend (and a school fair, 2 birthday parties with friends, and Girl Scouts, too) There's a lot going on here, and with it comes soooo much excitement. Time to put away the pottery and dress things up a bit; we'll have out of town visitors! It's no wonder I have trouble staying focused! Ahhh, but it will be a lovely wedding in New Orleans, I'll have another daughter, and we'll all have some fun sightseeing with the guests, like tourists.  Can't wait! 

Making list; Checking it twice

No, I'm not Santa!  But my list is getting longer, and it's got all these great ideas from various Etsy sellers.  I've always preferred handmade to storebought. Usually giving things I've made, but not always. This year more than one person will be able to say, "It doesn't feel like pottery.... Hmmm I wonder what it is."  This necklace is just one of the truly different and personal ways to make someone feel special.

Necklace Handmade Irish Crochet Icord Hotoke by Nothingbutstring

Necklace Handmade Irish Crochet Icord Hotoke by Nothingbutstring

Facebook Goal

I'm hoping to get a Facebook page under our business name. If you're interested in helping, please visit our Facebook page and click on become a Fan.  If you write a message with your site, I'll visit you, too, and return the favor.  Thanks for helping out! Have a great day!  (Weather report: no rain right now, but it is hot and oh so humid, just like a sauna :P  )

A Gift from a Long Time Friend

A friend recently gave me this poem. After learning that we had started our own pottery business, she found this poem and prepared it in the most lovely way.  It's printed in gold on a piece of vellum paper laid over 2 coordinating sheets of card stock, a gold print and a solid gold. All three pages are trimmed with scalloped edges. Then she tied them together with a bow of 2 coordinating ribbons. It's beautiful. I think the best part is her hand written note of encouragement on the back, though.  It was a very thoughtful, personalized gift; it means even more because she's been going through some tough times, personally and financially. Such a giver!  I've suggested that she open a shop on Etsy, and maybe she will, soon. but in the meantime, if you have something you'd like made up, a personal touch for a special occasion, or you just  want to touch someone's heart as she did mine, here's how to contact her:  Vmenowsky@gmail.com

Weather Report

It's a very rainy day here in Southeast Louisiana, but it was wonderfully cool and breezy working on the wheel today. Such a pleasant change from the heat. I wanted to thank jessi   from ruby studios  for including my sapphire blue bowl in the Spotlight she created.  You can view it at www.byhandgallery.blogspot.com/2009/09/sapphire-september.html  You can also see more of Jessi's beautiful  jewelry creations at www.rubystudios.etsy.com

Making Progress with Item Photography

I've taken longer than I expected to get back to this blogging project, but here I am and that's what counts.


Photographing and writing about our pottery was a bit of a challenge for a while, but I think I'm getting the hang of it, which is good because the photographer in the family is really working long hours these days. When he's not working his JOB, I'd rather he was glazing pots than photographing them, although he's better at both than I am.  Here's the funny thing to me. Right now I'm showing off my photo skills instead of my throwing skills! I never thought I'd be in this position at all.  What's even greater is that our pottery is starting to sell online, finally.  It's hard to sell something like pottery online, even if you do have great photos. Pottery is such a sensual, tactile art form.. You really need to pick up a piece, turn it over, stroke it, cradle it, really get to know how it feels. Then if it feels right, you're hooked. Hard to do that online. So here are some examples of some of my latest photo sessions.  The first photo is not one of my best, the light is too bright on the pots, but I do like the colors. 

These pots with the glossy,black glaze have been the  hardest.  They just aren't working outdoors with out some diffuse artificial light. I really do have to save these for my husband to do with his fancy equipment and skills. (To get the light bright enough to show all the variations in color in the waterfall glaze at the neck you need some tricks to keep from getting the bright glare on the pot.)

 I'm saving the rest of the black pieces to shoot at a later time. My photos just don't do them justice.

 

This little blue pot has the same waterfall glaze at the neck.  Amazing how different the same glaze can look in combination with different glazes!  This photo was shot using the flash point gear. Believe it or not, it's night time!

I have quite a few of the blue pieces, and just got some great shallow bowls and a vase  out of the kiln that have this blue and waterfall combo. They are waiting their turn for a photo session. This next piece is a wonderful fruit bowl.  I love the way the bright colors of the fruit contrast with the calm blue of the bowl.  By the way, the green fruit is a Louisiana satsuma, and this is the last one left til I go back to the grocer.  They were super tasty.  The gala apples were also very good.  These two were gobbled down shortly after performing their duty as models.  These were shot outside on a partly overcast day. (We've had a few of those lately, but usually it's hot and sunny.)

Initially, this blue vase didn't show up well in Etsy's gallery images because I cropped it too close (so the glaze could be seen better.) But it was too tall for the space allowed in the gallery view. So I uploaded  a photo that's not cropped as tight.

The lovely fall colors of gold and orange-rust (and the magenta cockscombs, too) are such perfect compliments to the blue of this vase. I can't get enough of these colors!

This little altered pot was easy and fun  to shoot.  It looked different from every angle.

Another little altered vase.  This white is so crisp and clean and yet it blends so well with the fall foliage behind it, thanks to the totally awesome waterfall glaze at the rim.



The last little vase is in cinnamon roll cream icing, again with a waterfall flowing from the rim.  Love that waterfall!  These last two were also shot when it was overcast.  No glare!

To see more of our pottery, visit our website at www.HurricanePottery.etsy.com

Getting focused again

I've been so neglectful. I wanted to start this blog; I set it up, and then, froze. What to write? I can write in a stream of consciousness style and go on and on. But I really wanted to have a focus. Ahhh, now we get to the problem. I haven't been able to focus lately.

I thought when school started, and the house was empty again, that I could get better focused, but alas, No, it wasn't meant to be. I fell on the first day of school and busted my tailbone. It was very painful. Sitting at the computer and sitting at the wheel were not possible for days. It's improving over time, though, and as long as I sit leaning forward (as I do at the pottery wheel) I can hang in there for a while. So here I go with my first entry.

While I was in the process of healing, I found a few things to distract me in a positive way. I took quite a few photos, some to share on Facebook and some to post to my Etsy site. Here's one that I took of one of my pottery pieces. It's a large fruit bowl, or serving bowl. These bright, green grapes made such a lovely contrast to my teal green bowl, I just had to take a photograph before we ate any. The grapes were so sweet and juicy; it's a good thing I got the photo first, because those grapes didn't last long! I have several pieces of pottery with this deep teal green/blue glaze. I think the glaze color shows up better on the other photos I took, because they were taken at a different time of day. It was a little brighter outside. You can see the other vases, bowls, and pots on my Etsy site at: http://www.hurricanepottery.etsy.com I still have some more teal pots to list, so keep watching for them. (If teal isn't your color, I'll be listing some indigo and cobalt blue pots next.)




It's hard to focus when you're stressed or in pain. Taking time to enjoy some pleasing sights, or tastes, can be comforting.