I recently participated in Naglee Park Open Studios which continues to be a wonderful show for me. I do still have some shard pendants available and now they are in my store! The one featured here is clear, recycled bottle glass on porcelain with black glaze. The blues and green happen as a result of the glass meeting the glaze. Click through to see more in my store.
Category Archives: Ceramics
shards
I continue to work with porcelain, combining it with wire and accent beads. If that wasn’t enough, now I am adding glass into the mix. I recently taught a jewelry class at Higher Fire that focused on melting glass into our pieces during the firing process. It’s still very much a hit or miss process, but when it’s a hit, it’s delish! Pictured here is some recycled clear glass on porcelain with a purple glaze. Some interesting things happen where the glass meets the glaze. These are not in my store yet, but I hope to have a variety available at the Naglee Park Open Studios in June.
ceramic jewelry class
I am pleased to announce that I will be teaching a ceramic jewelry class at Higher Fire for six weeks starting in May. I’m excited to see what my students will do with the techniques I have ironed out over the last couple of years! Click here to view the full selection of classes at this wonderful studio in downtown San Jose.
Buttons!
With Stitches West coming up, I thought I’d try my hand at making ceramic buttons. They’re like jewelry for your clothes! They are relatively quick to make, but in order to make a decent presentation, I had to make as many sets as I could manage. That translates to hundreds of individual buttons. I will be offering small and large buttons, and in the large buttons offering two-hole and shank buttons.
BAMS and more
My mother often describes the early fall period as the downhill slide into Christmas. I can feel the pull these days as I prepare for various shows, but it is a challenge I enjoy. As many of you know, I am all about deadlines. Being accepted off of a waitlist a week and a half before the Orchard Valley Ceramic Arts Guild’s Art in Clay Holiday Show and Sale has propelled me into action to see what else I can complete in a short space of time. Thanksgiving will be here soon, then two shows in December, means inventory, inventory, inventory! Here is one of the Big Ass Mugs I have in stock, and there will be many more at the Art in Clay show. Be sure to check out my events page for the where and when, and if you can’t make a show, my online store is always open!
all about inventory
Now that I have a few seasons under my belt as a full time maker, I find that I really want to break the cycle of always chasing inventory numbers. Many who browse the booth assume that I have backstock. “You have more, right?” News flash: I’ve never had backstock, save for a handful of pieces! So, in entering the new year, full of resolutiony thoughts, I determined to work farther ahead and build up the collection. Well, this is the first time I’ve had a show in February, so the chasing continues…
In the meantime, here is one of the yarn bowls I created for the Stitches West show:
happy new year!
Thanks to all who supported me during the busy month of December. It seems I hardly have a break before I get to leap back into action. I learned a lot in working with ceramics last year, and plan to continue as I have some orders to fill and another show to prepare for! Stitches West is a large, fiber arts convention where I will be a featured artist at the Purlescence Yarns booth. I will be selling yarn jars, spin support bowls, stitch markers, and who knows what else?
I have also been collaborating with author and lino cut artist Anita Dime. Here is one of my favorites below, which happens to be for sale:
Deep Sea Diver Tile/Trivet from Steelhead Studio on Square Market
september sales
Last month was a fun challenge for me, having booked three weekends in a row. The first event was the Mountain View Art & Wine Festival, for which I am pleased to report record sales. Because I had sold so many pieces, I scrambled to make more for the following weekend at the Capitola Art & Wine Festival. Saturday saw steady traffic and Sunday was pretty slow. Being able to eat lunch with a view of the ocean was pretty fantastic. At both shows, some old friends stopped which is always a treat.
The third weekend was full of new friends. My other job is teaching kung fu and T’ai Chi, and I was honored to be selected to teach at the Pacific Association of Women Martial Artists‘ camp this year. Most of the emphasis was on teaching and learning, of course, but there was also an opportunity to sell things to promote your school. How could I turn that down? I created some bamboo-themed jewelry and martial arts mugs especially for the weekend. Of the eight mugs I brought, I sold five along with four T-shirts (also designed by me) and orders for many more. Preparations for this event moved quickly, so I do not have photos of the mugs, but am happy to leave you with this lovely pendant in crystal, glass and sterling, which is still available in my online store. Be sure to check out the events page for upcoming sales, including for the holidays!
Sailing on
I have been keeping busy, as evidenced by my lack of blog posts. I am wrapping up a couple of commissions and preparing for two shows in September. Mountain View Art & Wine is September 6th and 7th, and Capitola Art & Wine is the following weekend on the 13th and 14th. Back to back weekends! That means inventory crunch through all of August.
Back in March, I posted a photo of some new styles in progress but have not yet posted a final sample. Here is the turquoise version of my porcelain sail earrings, which are also available for sale here. More colors are in the works.
Be sure to check the events page for details and future events. Hope to see you soon!
Ready, Set, Wire!
I now have four more bases to wire up. A fifth one didn’t turn out in the glaze firing, so it might get smashed. I also have one from earlier when I initially made two. I wired it, didn’t like it, tweaked it, and just haven’t quite settled on it, so I think it’s going to be cut off and done over. It’s been awhile since I’ve been in a space where I’ve had to or even wanted to start over like that. It’s a freeing kind of feeling and I like it.
