December 17 - Goneaway Pottery Holiday Sale

Saturday was the annual Goneaway Pottery Holiday Sale and was the best one yet.  Becky and Nic joined me for the day with their beautiful work.  We had customers right from the opening and there was quite a bit of traffic in our garage throughout the day.  As usual a lot of friends stopped by and spent some time visiting which is something I always look forward to.

The sale is held in our garage and as I always warn people, it's a 'working garage', so there are the usual garage-y items throughout.  I keep thinking about getting some inexpensive fabric and draping the walls, but I always forget about it.  Maybe next year...

I sold a lot of pots and lots of my seconds found new homes as well.  There was good company, good music, warm weather, coffee and doughnut holes, and pizza for lunch.  How can you not be joyous with all that going on?

Thanks to all who came out to purchase, browse, and visit.  We enjoyed seeing you.

If you'd like to be notified of future sales, be sure to click the huge, orange 'Join My Mailing List' button on the right.

My work.

Becky and Jaime standing by Becky's birds on the left.
Nic's work is in the background.

Coffee and doughnut holes
(with a beautiful creamer from Hannah McAndrew).

The seconds shelves.

.

October 29 - Big Day part 1

Saturday was a huge day with lots of activities, all involving good friends.  The first thing was the Wells Fargo Community Cultural Celebration.  Clayworks presented a booth downtown at the event.  Our dog was kind enough to wake me up at 5 am and I couldn't get back to sleep so my day started even earlier than I had planned.  I was going to get up at 6:30 because I had to be at Clayworks at 8:30 to load up the equipment we would need for the booth. 

Thanks to Binkley, I got there with time to spare.

I achieved an item on my bucket list that day thanks to Adrienne.  I always wanted to do a raku firing downtown representing Clayworks and she got us approved for one at the festival. 

The firing went well and we also had throwing and hand building demonstrations.  We were right next to a stage that had various musical groups playing so it was quite festive.  We were there from 10 am to 4 pm and we laughed and danced all day.

We had to fire on plywood so we didn't damage the granite patio.

Adrienne, me, Becky, and Rich.

Jaime and Becky.

Rich gets ready to throw a 25 lb. bag of clay.

Centering.

My friend Divakar's daughter Taige was dancing in the atrium, so I took a few minutes to go see her dance.  It was amazing.

Divakar and Sonya.

I only had time to watch one dance since I had to get back to check the kiln and see what Rich was up to.  I dashed back to the booth.

Opening...

A bowl!
Bravo!

This was on the beginning of my twenty-two hour day.  Stay tuned for Part 2.

.

October 22 - Charlotte Charity League sale

Friday night I set up for the Charlotte Charity League Showcase of Artisans show on Saturday.

After setting up my display I went to the studio assistants appreciation get together at Clayworks (and was having WAY too much fun to pull out my camera).  We had a good turnout to honor our great studio assistants and we were able to tell them how much we appreciated all the hard work they did moving us to the new building and setting up everything.

Saturday it was back the the Charity League Sale.  The crowds were sparse, but I got to hang out with some friends from Clayworks:  Dorothy and Robin were also participating in the show.  I also made a great new friend named Frances --turns out she is Cary's (one of our instructors and also a good friend) best friend.

Thanks to Jaime and her friend Rachael for coming by!

Saturday evening I went to Clayworks to make more raku pots.

I didn't have to pay extra for this sunlight midway through the sale,
but it was pretty dramatic.

Dorothy.

Robin.

More raku pots.

.

Monday - Meeting at Midwood Smokehouse

Tonight the Clayworks Communications and Marketing Committee had a brainstorming meeting.  It was a great meeting with lots of energy and creative ideas passed around.  Keep an eye on Clayworks because we are all working on taking it to the next several levels.

We met at the Midwood Smokehouse and sat outside.  The food was very good and there was live entertainment.  I got there early and took some pictures, but once we started I got carried away and didn't find out the singer's name.  He was very good and covered a nice range of material.  I'll be going back.

Oh, and today was International Talk Like A Pirate Day.  Arr, I hope everyone did their part.

The view from our table.

The entertainer.

He sang very well.

Becky and Jaime.

I found a new to do from Meredith when I got home.

.

Saturday - Raku firing

Saturday Clayworks held a raku fundraiser at the lovely home of our friend and board member Jaime.  We did a raku firing, had wheel demos, food, beverages, and lots of sunshine after a morning of rain.

A big thanks to all our great volunteers.  Angela did wheel demos after already teaching a morning Muddy Fun session, Ann made lots of delicious treats, Mary-Ann kept everyone well fed and beveraged, Becky helped fire the raku, Kym took pictures, Jaime was a great hostess, and I'm not sure who else was involved since I was tied up with the firing (so if I've forgotten anyone, I apologize).  We have great volunteers.

A big thanks also to Jaime and Steve for opening their home to a bunch of crazy artists for the afternoon!

Jaime also did a great job glazing the pots with me last week.  Despite the breezy conditions, it was a good firing with several beautiful pieces.  The pots cooled off very quickly due to the breeze, so we could handle the finished pieces sooner than usual.

After the fundraiser, I went over to the Art Walk on Kings Drive to see Greg.  Due to the high winds, the tent carnage at the show was horrible.  There were Gators driving by every few minutes with the mangled skeletons of tents piled in the beds.  Artists were holding down their tents with the weight of their own bodies added to the cinder blocks or concrete-filled pipes --or both.

Before I arrived, Greg lost a few teapots when a big gust whipped through.  Luckily he had several people in his booth when it hit and they all grabbed shelves before they toppled.

Not a good booth day for the squeamish, or the novice...

Adrienne explaining the raku process.

Our "double-header" tank rig.

Reduction cans waiting.

Jaime, our hostess (middle).

A buyer with her chosen pot.

Guys can make anything look like a bar.
(That's Steve on the right.)

Angela busy throwing beautiful pots.

Quite a spread of goodies (sorry about the blurry picture).
(I like Ann's "ghost" in the mirror.)

Some of the finished pots.

More.

Still more.

Dot and Becky looking at the two newest ones.

From top to bottom:
The kiln, the base, the burner.

Greg Scott at his (totally secured) booth.

The view down the walkway.

.