wintery wares

here's a few things just out of the kiln with a wintery theme...tiny sneak peek at what will be at the Owl this weekend...

here's the mug from previous process post, finished:

another moose mug: white slip trailing on white slip...even though there's no snow here, well there is thick frost some mornings....

a wee white slip platter: who doesn't love bicycling in the winter?! and red berries, green leaves...seasonal hints:

caribou platter: hawthorny leaves, more red berries...

not to worry not everything is ungulates and bicycles (well okay i made LOTS of bicycles of various styles)...bears, herons, salmon, crows, foxes, hummingbirds, rubber boots, umbrellas, trees, etc...
and some new new things with my new new bike cranks and cogs stencils!

spring handles

it had thought to pass over the whole "look at all the blossoms we have here" spring thing that happens here on the west coast…knowing friends and relations east of here are thigh deep in snow…
but, well, one blossom shot can't hurt. here's my little studio gallery with the plum tree in bloom (last week!)

and i have been contemplating handles and how one holds things and how many fingers and balance of mugs and such things for the past few months…finally sprung into action to play with a couple of handles:

handle # 1, i call the medium handle. can still get you whole hand in there, but doesn't take up quite so much of the mug:

handle # 2, i call the two finger handle, as you can get a couple of fingers in there:

the mug on the far left (navy blue) is the current handle for my regular mugs. it fits the whole hand with room to spare. large handed people like it… but i find it takes up a lot of mug and have never been completely happy with it's profile…

i am leaning towards handle #1. i like being able to still get all fingers in there and i like its profile and balance… while my current handle is pulled off the side of the mug, this new handle is pulled separately and attached leather hard.

well maybe i will make mugs with both the current and the new handles!

oh the merry mug

tis the season for making mugs.
while to some the christmas season may still seem far off, for those of us in the business of making and selling handmade, we've already been ramping up for awhile…
here's a few studio shots, from an afternoon of mug making.
thanks goodness for the sun, which speeds along the drying of the slip in such a lovely way. will be missing that soon, as the days get damper and i have to resort to the heater under the plastic for drying things in any kind of timely fashion…

photo shoot

here's some images from a recent photo shoot…really should take a photo of my set-up. i always enjoy seeing how folks set up their photo boxes etc…. mine's made of pvc, duct tape and sheets of opaque corplast, with photo paper back drop. i made it so it can be easily disassembled, stack flat, and it's cheap! i do have a little nylon pop out photo box for quick shots too. i don't have anywhere to leave a photo box set-up, so i don't end up taking photos as often as i would like or should.

i must say, one of things i find challenging about taking pictures of my pots is they tend to look different all the way around, or front/back. so with a little help from my fabulous father, Francis Sullivan, a few of these show two views

a touch of whimsy

just a few playful pieces… these quick snaps are a little blurry, something's up with my camera, but you get the idea…