Firings from the Past Week

Altered Raku Vase

As the Dixon Studio Tour nears, my firing schedule has accelerated.  I've fired up the raku kiln the past two Saturdays for these large vases below and to the right.  I also unloaded a glaze firing from my electric kiln this past week.  There were plenty of mugs and french butter dishes, my best sellers.  I am making a few extra chip and dip platters like the one below because I sold out last year. I was especially happy with the way the glaze turned out on that one.  These platters take up a lot of room in my kiln, so I usually only put one or two in a load.  Hopefully I will have two more firings before the Tour and I'll be sure to stick another one or two in those.

I am also working on special order Christmas gifts.  I am firing lots of small mugs with children's names carved into them.  I finished up one commission this week, and hope to finish another with my next firing.  If you have a special item in mind that you would like before Christmas, please let me know right away.  I will probably have just one more round of firings after Tour and before Christmas to round out the year.

Chip and Dip Platter

Fall is in the Air

The view from behind our property

   What does this cute family have to do with pottery?  Well, not much, but this is my family on a walk out behind our house.  We are definitely enjoying the fall colors around here.  There is a chill in the air and a buzz around town that can only mean the Dixon Studio Tour is right around the corner.  We mailed out just under 6,000 maps this past week.  It was no small task, but an enjoyable one with a sense of camaraderie as close to a dozen of the artists pitched in and made it happen.  Now that the maps are out, there is much to talk about.  People are stopping to tell me that they saw I would be on the tour this year and promise to stop by.  My neighbor picked up the phone to wish me well and tell me how excited she is for me.  This is an amazing community that we live in and I feel like the tour really brings it out.

   So, I've been working hard trying to get ready.  Yesterday I made a few of these soup mugs and plates to have available.  I like the idea of this set and it fits right in with the season.  I also made a few more of my whimsical masks.  I can't help but smile when I look at them.  I hope that these new items may entice you to stop by my studio, but if not, surely the view alone will bring you up my way.  I'm only a half mile off of the main road, but certainly on the edge of the wilderness surrounded by public BLM land.  I happen to think that it is one of the most scenic spots in Dixon.

A Visit From the Local Woodworker

 I had a local woodworker and friend make a new display shelf for the studio, just in time for the Dixon Studio Art Tour.  I am very happy with it.  He came and set it up himself, what service!  I appreciate the adjustable feet that he put on the base to make sure that it is level in my not-so-level studio.  Most of all it is sturdy in a way that only something handmade by a real carpenter can be.  I will keep the shelving unit that I bought years and years ago at a big box store because I still need the shelf space, but the quality cannot be compared.  While he was at it, he also made a screen door that you can see at the bottom.  We will enjoy the cool breezes coming through it for only a few more weeks, then we will cover the screen with a piece of glass for the cold weather to come.  It should make the studio a little warmer because it is a rather leaky door.  So, the improvements keep rolling in.  Last week my husband painted his half of our two room studio.  There has never been paint on the bare drywall that only makes up one wall on my half, but two walls on his half.  Hopefully mine will be painted soon, but considering the work that needs to go on in there this month, we'll see...