Hap, Hap, Happy Girl on Joya Court

Day; 92. Sunny, warm, beautiful. Temperature on outside kiln; 65 degrees.
Firings; Just unloading the last image transfer kiln for the Contemporary Clay Fair.

Writing this blog, doing the dishes, laundry, anything at all to keep me from opening the kiln too soon and cracking all the hard-won pieces that are in there. Still a little hot to the touch so I am giving them all another 30 minutes...

Teaching/meeting with student Kris again this morning and reviewing handles and how to make and attach, I think these pieces look pretty good!...

(Back in 5 minutes, I know I said 30 minutes but I want to see what's in the kiln, damn it..)

Okay, unloaded everything and I am a hap, hap, happy girl. Really some beautiful stuff in there. I wish I could keep some it for myself. Someday  I will begin to do that..! Here are my 3 faves for the show;

Very tempted to keep the two noodle bowls, really love them, oh well, I can always make more, but then I never do?! Feeling relieved and proud of the work, especially as it was touch and go 2 days ago. Now to sand all the pretty bare bottoms so they feel like a baby's you know what and then price and pack. Off to new homes go my challenging children in clay.....

Procrastination Is My MIddle Name

Day; 82. Overcast and windy but pretty warm. Temperature on outside kiln; 60 degrees.

Procrastination; verb. To delay or postpone, to put off doing something out of habitual carelessness or laziness. To drag one's feet/heels, to play for time...

Yup, that's me all right. Don't much like the "habitual carelessness or laziness" part, but the truth hurts sometimes... And the truth this week is it's  wayyyyy past time to put this....

.... all over these......

Rule number whatever for successful potters; never let your bisqueware pile up....OOPPS!!!!

Out of the Kiln and Into the Marketplace....

Day 78. Sunny and warm, beautiful spring day. Temperature on outside kiln; 56

Pepe the-potter-in-training and I had a really productive day together. And he will be in Santa Fe for the summer! Internship continues through June/July, great news for me, not so sure for Pepe. This means he goes to summer school and doesn't graduate completely in May. I'm ecstatic, Pepe not so much....But atleast he has a summer job!

Anyway, we rocked the studio today!; unloaded the kiln, sanded buttons and earrings. made cute little square plates and recycled 100#'s of clay. I'm exhausted  and ready for the couch but he had homework to do and a class to go to...ahhhhhh to be 22 again, so much energy! I kept trying to feed him but he wasn't hungry. How can a person work that hard and not eat for 5 hours?! No wonder he weights about as much as I do...

 Here is a small part of what we did today... plus my favorite little tumbler from this kiln-load complete with new images..(enough with birds and bees already!)

Looking forward to the Clay Fair at the end of this month, especially if everything comes out as good as this kiln-load did!

Contemporary Clay Fair A-comin' Down the Pike

Day; 77. Sunny, warm and a bit breezy again. Temperature on outside kiln; 60 degrees
Firings; image transfer firing afternoon/evening to cone 02, about 8 hours total. Off by 9pm. Unload
finished work in the morning! Yipeeeeeeee

I spent this  morning finishing up image transfers that I started on Friday!? Finally got kiln fully loaded and firing by early afternoon. I tried to take  a brief nap for 30 minutes, that is  until dog sled team woke me up to dish out their puppy chow. Somehow they can tell what time it is without being able to read a clock....

Afterwards, I had an early dinner with Adele Devalcourt from Handstar Designs in Louisiana. About 18 months ago I helped her start a crowd-funding project through Indigogo. Her dream was to move back home to Lafayette and open up her own ceramics studio/school. Although the project was not fully funded, she did receive a portion of the needed  funds and subsequently used those to move, find a location, and set-up shop. As I was very involved in the prep work here in Santa Fe ( writing, scheduling, moving equipment, pricing, estimating costs, moral support, etc.... ) it was very gratifying to see her after a year in her new home and find out how it is all unfolding for her.

After fueling up at Harry's Roadhouse ( I know I was just there two days ago....) I continued on to the pre-show meeting for the Annual Spring Contemporary Clay Fair coming up in a mere 3 weeks. We divided up the postcards, scheduled the jobs for all participants for the weekend, and  made up a floor plan for the layout of the show itself. We are pretty much ready to go! Now to just make pots like a crazy woman for the next two weeks and then fire, fire, and fire!!!!!!

Petitioning The Big Guy in the Sky....

Day; 70. Sunny and really warm again, t-shirt weather in March! Temperature on outside kiln; 60 degrees

Another day of not making ceramics.. hmmm  kinda a weird week, but trying to learn to pace myself, so I guess I will just call it "practice". Anyway I'm  a bit wore out from yesterday and schelping 4 large tables, 8 bins of pottery, four 35 pound weights,  half dozen very large tiles, two display units, a cash counter, directors chair, step-ladder, lunch, cash box, big bag of table shirts and 3 walls for ez-up tent... did I forget anything?!  oh yeah, two thermoses..... out of the truck and into the railyard, back into the truck and home again to unload into the storage trailer, no wonder I have back problems.....! this sounds like I am complaining but not really, I love what I do! Just a little hard on my late-middle-age bod....

After breakfast at Cafe Fina, where I saw half my friends ( Eldo is so small!), I received a phone call from a local woman beseeching me to help her.  It seems that a friend has pancreatic cancer and is not responding to treatment as well as she and her family had hoped. This being New Mexico ( bumper sticker spied today; "New Mexico; it's not new and it ain't Mexico!"), she asked me if I would be willing to make a pancreatic milagro. I paused for a second trying to remember what that was but after recalling my friend Kathleen's charming milagros, I responded by saying I would be happy to. This is a first for me, never in my studio career have I been asked to assist in a traditional healing by the making of a religious charm.

 First things first; straight to Google Images to see what  a pancreas looks like and then to Wikipedia to find out the origins of milagros. Dear Readers, warning!,  the pancreas is not the cute part of our bodies and looks remarkably like another more erect  part of the anatomy, if you get my drift. I decided to use an image with  context ( showing the liver and stomach as well) not wanting to confuse any deities that might be invoked...

 Milagros, in New Mexico anyway,  are basically a small piece of tin embossed with the image of whatever body part the petitioner is having problems with...

In the case above, the heart, it could  symbolize either a  romantic problem or  blocked coronaries...

Either way, the milagro, also known as an "ex-voto",  is a religious folk charm traditionally used for healing purposes or as a votive offering. It is used to assist in focusing attention towards a specific ailment or body part. It is often attached to altars, shrines, or other sacred objects. The use of the milagro is traceable to the ancient Iberians who inhabited coastal Spain and is thought to have traveled  to the New World along with the Spanish conquistadores.

 How interesting! One of the things I love about living in New Mexico is the tri-cultural nature of our state. We may not always get along, but the Gingos, Native Americans, and Spaniards who make this desert their home are certainly each rich in cultural heritage and I am honored to be a part of it.
  May the humble clay charm I fashion here at Magpie Pottery be successful in petitioning whatever Gods may be listening....

Etsy Shop Update

Day; 38. Overcast, bounce back to winter. Temperature on outside kiln; 40
Firings; Bisque kiln to cone 04; 1,945 degrees. 12.5 hours to temperature.


Back in the studio today after getting photos taken in the Duke City yesterday. Loaded a bisque kiln with mostly  plates for dinnerware show...trying not to drop them as studio assistant Pepe snaps a quick picture.

After getting the kiln going I cleaned the house (love how the dishwasher looks filled up with other potter's work).....

while Pepe filled up my etsy.com shop. It looks a lot better with something actually in it, don't you think?...
 Lavine the Cat thinks so....