Making pottery, of course, takes time, so with Valentine’s Day in mind I worked on some “heart” pots. Heart shaped dishes and hearts stamped on pots and then of course glazed them red.

Mugs

Heart dishes

Red bowls

Small cup

I love making vases, there is something about playing with the shapes. I like to see how tall, how narrow, how round, how small I can get. These vases are 8 14″ for the tallest one and 3″ for the shortest one.

Yesterday, I did my last glaze firing before Christmas  I was pleased with how most of the pots turned out. Here are some of the green ones.

Large open bowl, 11″ x 2″

Side view of lge, open bowl, 11″ x 2′.

Square, green dish, 8 1/4″ x 2″

Side view of square, green dish.

Green cream & sugar

Green bowl.

Next Friday, Nov. 24, 4 pm – 7 pm and Saturday, Nov. 25, 10 am – 2 pm, the Trail Pottery Club will be holding their 1st Annual Pottery Sale in the VISAC Gallery.

I have been working on Christmas Tree Ornaments. Yesterday I got them all out and sorted them and started adding ‘string’ to the ones which still needed string. I will have some of these ornaments at the ‘1st Annual Pottery Sale’ next week.

All of the ornaments spread out so I can see which ones work.

Snowflakes.

Bike ornaments.

Bear Ornaments

Shapes with bike impressions.

Tree ornaments.

More tree ornaments.

I’ve started loading my kiln with a glaze load. I always try and make the best use of the space so usually have small pieces to fill in small spaces. These small pieces are usually hearts and maple leaves for brooches and bears and trees for Christmas decorations. Glazing all these small pieces is also very time consuming. I usually like to have some large pieces for each shelf, but this load has more mugs cups and smaller pieces.

Glazed and ready to fire.

Some of the booches I make.

Glazed and ready to fire.

With 1 day until our  “Shop Local’ Market”, I’ve started to sort and organize my pottery trying to decide what to pack.  I’m going to take my selection of dark blue (Colbalt Blue) pottery. Here are some examples of what will be on sale Saturday, Oct 14 at the Cornerstone Cafe in Warfield. Hours 10am – 4 pm

I finished loading the kiln yesterday and it’s firing today. Christmas is only 3 months away, but most markets/sales start in the next couple of months. I’m excited to have my pottery at “Curiosity” in Rossland, mugs and knitting bowl at “Unwind” yarn store in Castlegar (I’m working on more knitting bowls), Catherine is once again opening the “Pop Up” store in Downtown Castlegar at the beginning of November, Kootenay Gallery will be having their Christmas gift shop, I need to make a trip to Grandforks with new pots for the “Gallery”, and I continue to have new stock in “Artisan” in Downtown Trail. Also, our “Shop Local” group will be holding a market at the “Cornerstone” in Warfield on October 14.

In all the years I’ve been making pottery, mugs are one of the biggest challenges. When customers buy a mug they are always looking for the “perfect” fit. BIG mugs are very popular or mugs that fit under the Kerig (spelling?), or the handle needs to fit or….. The mugs out of my last kiln load hold anywhere from 3/4 cup to 2 1/2 cups…