Dirt Girl

Potion Making

2010-07-11T16:09:00.004-04:00

My kids, my son especially have been really into potion making which mostly entails water, food coloring, baking soda, vinegar and occasionally salt and other spices I allow them to play with.

I like the look of the creations after he's done.

Mini Bud Vases

2010-06-24T13:53:00.000-04:00

Small bud vase

My daughter and I went around the house this morning with scissors in hand and cut some flowers and then placed them in glass jars and stoneware vases and pots. I love keeping them in groupings on the kitchen windowsill and in various places in the house.

I love keeping the mini bud vases in groupings on the kitchen windowsill and in various places in the house.

Ready to jump in again!

2010-06-07T20:31:00.007-04:00

Four mini green stoneware bud vases

It feels so good to be doing my thing again! I've had a lot of changes in the past year; moving, family health emergencies and small business challenges. Sometimes putting things aside for a while is healthy. Now I'm ready to jump back in. Check out my Etsy shop for some new additions to Dirt Girl Pottery. I've had some fun with my newer cone 6 glazes.

warm brown and burgandy soap dish

can also be used as a jewelry catch-all

Construction and 7 year old photography

2009-06-22T18:40:00.007-04:00

This is a daily site that my neighbors and I get to see while we are going through a major contruction project. The city is doing the right thing by having all the sewer and stormwater pipes separated from the regular water pipes. But for us, it has lowered the quality of like since the end of March. Hopefully they will be done next month.

Here are some pictures taken from my daughter's point of view of her world. Her focus at this time pertains mostly to still-life arrangements, as you can see here in these two examples.

Hostas and Clouds

2009-05-27T19:31:00.005-04:00

Three years ago my generous uncle spilt his hostas and gave me some. They are doing so well in my back yard with partial sun/shade. Right in front of them we have a bird feeder with a family of black and white warblers nesting inside. I haven't heard any peeping yet, but I felt the bottom of the house and it's very warm. I don't want to peek anymore in fear of the parents taking off.

I've been working on drawings of clouds in preparation of clay sculptures in their likeness. This is an idea for a four-panel painting/sculpture.Here is drawing for a landscape with clouds and trees. I'm am really looking forward to summer vacation when I can devote more time to my personal art.

Issues with Privacy

2009-05-17T10:24:00.002-04:00

It's been months since I've blogged! To be honest, once you've taken a few weeks off from blogging, it's so hard to get back into it again. I had originally intended for my blog to be used just for Dirt Girl Pottery and my personal art, but sometimes that gets kind of old. But, I have promised my husband and mother-in-law that I would never enter my kid's names or publish their photos. Then, blogging about my personal life can be tricky when I have so many privacy issues. I am so happy that I have never put their pictures or names on my Facebook or here on my blog. I would love to share with all of you my life with them, but with all the crazies out there, that will not happen. I will not take the chance with my kids, and since they don't have a voice....I am their's. So, here is my little guy with an etch-a-sketch drawn by his dad.

NYC trip

2009-02-20T15:05:00.005-05:00

I went to NYC this weekend with two Portland friends. We stayed with a college friend of their's, so the trip was much cheaper than it could have been. We went to the MOMA and I was able to see in person the pieces of art that I most admire. Works from Kandinsky, Klee, Picasso and Matisse made my mouth drop open seeing them in person. Here are some highlights:

Jackson Pollack

Wassily Kandinsky

Magritte

Happy Valentines Day!

2009-02-09T13:58:00.004-05:00

It's that time of the year again! I've been busy during these cold night making sweetheart pendants. Hearts in general are always a very popular symbol for my ceramic jewelry.

Heart Buttons!

Happy Valentines Day everyone!

Holiday Colors

2008-12-31T18:17:00.003-05:00

Christmas colors, a few days late I know! Happy holidays and Happy New Year to you all! Thank you all for making Dirt Girl Pottery very successful this year. Here's to a great new year!

Studio Sale

2008-12-06T19:38:00.005-05:00

I had my 2nd annual Studio Sale today. Well, it wasn't exactly a studio sale, more like a "move all the furniture out the living room and put my show set-up sale." But, you get the point. I almost did have a sale this year because I've been so swamped with craft shows and gallery stuff, but I really wanted to do it. It's great for me to connect with friends and neighboors.

Now my living room is back to normal and my pottery is back in the basement until next week! I'll be showing at the Old Crow Gallery for their holiday show.

Holiday Art Show
Opening Reception
Saturday December 13th 2008
5:30 pm - 9:00 pm

331 Cottage Road South Portland
Show runs Dec.13th thru Dec. 24th

Paintings Photography Glass Textiles Jewelry Pottery Sculpture
HolidaySale hosting over twenty local Maine artisans
207.347.8181 http://www.oldcrowgallery.com/

The Dreaded Mug

2008-11-30T21:27:00.005-05:00

I was talking to one of my dearest friends Shanna about throwing mugs last week. I love mugs. I love drinking out of them, love heating them up in the microwave and sipping my favorite beverage. But making them....hmmmm. Let's just say that the mug is not my most enjoyable form to throw. It's the handle. Let's face it, when I make bowls and tumblers, it's the few steps of weighing the clay, throwing the form and then trimming. With mugs you have to add the extra steps....

of pulling the handle, and then.....

drying them ever so slowly upside down for days and days so that the handle dries and the same speed as the rest of the mug.

Don't get me wrong, I love mugs, but this time of year, I'm mugged out! What about a nice tumbler or tea bowl???? Yeah, I know, you all want mugs. grumble grumble

Just kidding really! Okay, off to heat up my coffee in my favorite....mug!:)

New Encaustic Work

2008-11-26T06:56:00.000-05:00

Here are some new encaustic pieces that I've finished in the last month. Above is titled "Orange Leaf". A few of these will be in River Roads Gallery, a wonderful little space in Skowhegan, Maine that has been showing my pottery and small clay sculptures since February.

Showing paintings is something very new for me. In the past, my paintings have been created just for me or given as gifts.

"Tree Sky"

"Green Leaf"

"Green Ovals"

I will be in the Holiday Show at the Old Crow Gallery in South Portland, Maine, from December 13-24 next month. If you're in the area, stop in and check out all the local artists. I'm the only potter so I'm really looking forward to some good sales.

Cool Uses For My Buttons!

2008-11-01T17:49:00.000-04:00

I've been making ceramic buttons since last winter and love them. They are really enjoyable for me to make since they are whimsical and just plain fun. They are awesome "kiln stuffers" which fill all the empty spaces in a firing so a potter saves money because there is no dead space. Carol Dean from SandFibers makes the most beautiful woven bead creations. She bought a few of my large buttons several months ago and listed one of them in a felted wrist cuff.

And.....she sold it!

Picnic Portland!

2008-09-16T18:25:00.000-04:00

I had an awesome time showing at Picnic Portland in Lincoln Park this past Saturday. I shared my tent with my long time artist friend Allison Villani, who makes recycled paper jewelry. The weather forcast was pretty sketchy, but then it cleared up and became beautiful. My 6 year old daughter was dropped off an hour into the show and stayed for 6 hours. I was completely floored that she was able to handle it that long, but she made a bunch of new friends and ran around the whole time throwing stuffed animals into air.

Here's our shared space in my tent. We had so much fun hanging out. I remembered that Allison and I had met in this park 13 years ago while walking our dogs. We both lived in the Old Port at the time.

This was the booth next to us. The guy who makes these large fabulous birdhouses actually made this set-up out of recycled cardboard tubes that had rolls of fabric on them. It took him and a few friends close to 2 hours to rig this up, all the while we were biting our nails watching. It took them 5 minutes to take down. I was happy for him because the birdhouses were priced at about $150, and he sold two. Phew!

Check out Wordy Smith!

2008-09-14T19:57:00.000-04:00

MaryAnn from Backwoods Creations, a fellow Etsy Maine Team member, came up with a great cross promotional idea a few weeks ago and I am just now trying it. She has encouraged all team members to blog about each other. I love this idea! I have chosen by good buddy Kellie, from Wordy Smith!

Kellie has so much fun making her amazing decoupage work. I have some of her bamboo tiles that she thoughtfully crafted just for me. She found many vintage pictures of potters and clay pots and decoupaged them onto the tiles. I later glued magnets on the back and get to see them everyday on my fridge!

I been to a few etsy Maine Team meetings with Kellie and I love hearing her talk about her process. She enjoys finding the right phrases and passages and words in her vintage finds to create her pieces. I know that anyone who purchases one of her goods, will have something very special, not to mention funny as well! Kellie is a hoot, a great team member, and an awesome friend! Check out her shop!

Making Encaustic Medium

2008-09-09T20:49:00.000-04:00

Well, I FINALLY took the time a few weeks ago to make my very first batch of encaustic medium. This is the method I learned from Kim Bernard, my encaustic guru. What is encaustic medium you ask? Well, it's kind of like what gesso is to oil painters, encaustic medium is to encaustic artists. The medium acts as a base for the paint, among many other purposes. Since I intent to do a lot of scraping in the wax, I need a thick surface on which to work on.

I felt like I couldn't really start anything in my studio until I had accomplished this task. It was a very impulsive evening in August. The weather was nice and the kids were happy playing outside and I thought, "now is the perfect time!" It was 4:45 and by 5:00 I had the hot plate plugged in and everything set to go.

Here's all the equiptment: hot plate, stainless steel pot, stainless steel bowl, colander and ladle, silk screen, clothes pins and stirfry spoon.

To make encaustic medium you need 5 parts beeswax to one part damar resin, which comes from a certain family of deciduous tree that grows in the East Indies. They have to be melted together slowly over low heat. The white stuff is the refined beeswax and the golden chunks are the damar resin.

Okay now the damar is really melting now. Here is a gooey chunck stuck to the stirfry spoon.

All done! Now it's time to pour it through the filter.

Ooooh nasty! That junk was all in the damar crystals. It's bark and maybe some elephant hair.

The wax is now poured into silicone muffin tins and tuna fish cans. I ordered the wrong size muffin tins. They said on-line that they were the standard size. Maybe for kids cupcakes....they were a lot smaller than I expected so I have to scrounge and find every tuna can laying around. Thank goodnes my daughter loves tuna sandwiches!

Aren't they purdy? Aren't they just lovely? I'm so proud of myself. I gave myself soooo many hours to do this, thinking that I'd begin at 5:00 and slowly start the melting process. By the time 6:00 came I was already filtering 1/2 the batch and pouring the rest of the beeswax in. By the time 7:15 came, I was pouring the wax into the tins! I thought it would take much longer. Well, I must have done it right because nothing got set on fire in the process.

Surviving Craft Show Season

2008-08-18T19:43:00.000-04:00

My booth at the UMC show.

I spend August 7,8,9 and 10th (four days!) at the UMC Cumberland Craft Show. It was looooong, but I felt I made a lot of great sales. As usual, my ringholders, spoon rests, and mini pots were my best sellers, but I also sold quite a lot of mugs and cereal bowls. And 12 pendants, which is very exciting since they are just simply fun for me to make and are a total bonus when they sell. I'll definately do this show again next year, but maybe do it outside in one of the animal stalls. I know that sounds gross, but the spaces are huge and cost a lot less than what I paid.

Rob made these shelves for me. They where so easy to set up and display.

Close-up of my jewelry and button display.

Some Encaustic Work

2008-07-16T23:22:00.001-04:00

Here is one of the encaustic pieces I made at Kim Bernard's workshop during July 4th weekend. We made our own supports which are basically shallow boxes turned over. The sides of this piece are about 1 and 1/2" thick. The supports keep the piece from warping. If it warps the wax could crack...very bad. This piece has another mini box inset near the top where I poured wax into the cavity and stuck one of my mini vases in before the wax cooled. Underneath are a row of periwinkle shells. I'm having so much fun playing with the wax and trying some cool things out.

Here's a close-up:

I think I can put dried flowers in the vase and they won't fall out. My daughter said this is ocean art because she says the blue part at the bottom looks like waves, plus the shells. Maybe instead of flowers, we'll collect some feathers we find at the beach and put those in the vase.

Buttons and Boxes!

2008-07-02T09:52:00.001-04:00

These are my new buttons that I'm having fun with. I myself don't enjoy sewing but used to enjoy running my fingers through my mother's button box when I was little. I loved the feeling of the smooth buttons on my fingertips. These buttons and nice and large measuring anbout 1 and 1/2" wide. I've sold some in my Etsy shop and at craft shows. People seem to really like them. I had some shoppers ask if I could make them smaller, so I'm working on that now.

I'm also working on some sculptures for my fellowship work. I'm taking a weekend long workshop with Kim Bernard on the 5th and 6th at her studio in North Berwick, Maine. I needed to make some supports for the encaustic to adhere to. Anything pourous will work. I am so excited to try this on clay. I've been making these clay wall boxes for years and can't wait to see what I'll come up with. Here are two different sizes in the green stage. The "green" stage means that they are still wet and not leather hard yet. My basement is nice and cool right now with the humidity (as long as I keep the dehumidifier on all the time), so everything is drying nice and slow, perfect for slab work.

New glazes!

2008-06-24T15:51:00.000-04:00

Okay, it's been waaaay too long since I've blogged. So this will just be a quick update blog post of my newest glazes until I get back into the swing of things. I've been very busy doing some craft shows and fellowship stuff. Here are my new cone 6 glazes. I'm so happy so far with them.

From the top left to right: semi-matte cream (in some parts of the glaze it comes out a beautiful blush color), raspberry (kind of touchy, need to work more with this one), semi-matte light green. On the bottom left: greenish-blue, then royal blue.

This is the raspberry glaze on a bud vase.

Here is the cream glaze on a bud vase. I love the speckled coming through on this glaze. There are dark and light speckles that occur.

Encaustics!!!!

2008-05-23T22:12:00.000-04:00

Well I started my fellowship over Mother's Day weekend by taking the encaustics workshop with Kim Bernard. It was so inspiring! It felt like being back in college taking art classes again. I haven't taken many workshops or classes at all since I graduated with my B.F.A. from USM in 1995. I'm so used to being the one leading or teaching, that it was so nice to be able to listen, think and reflect for once. Kim's one big rule was we were not allowed to create works of art. We were supposed to just play and experiment. 16 hours of playing and experimenting! I never do this. I always work for a finished product. It was hard at the beginning to let go and just try something new without worrying and fretting over it. Here are some pictures from my weekend:

This was my work space. A griddle to heat up the wax, heat gun to melt the wax, vent to suck out harmful fumes.

My tools: various clay tools for scraping and incising in the wax, natural hair bristle brushes to paint the wax with, and vegetable oil to spread the oil pigment sticks around the wax.

My painting station with the encaustic sticks. I melted them straight onto the hot surface of the griddle, set at 200 degrees. The clam can is holding melted medium, which is a combination of beeswax and damar resin. Smells so good! It's hard to believe that this wonderful smell (it's fabulous too) is harmful if inhaled too much.

Preparing a wood panel. I'm painting this with melted medium in one direction, then apply heat with the heat gun, then let cool, then paint another coat in opposite directions, apply heat, and so on for a total of three times. Then the panel is ready for encaustic paint.

This panel is cooling, you can see how the bottom right hand side is still warm and not cooled. It's almost ready!

This is my first experiment, well actually my second. My first one was so bad, I heated it up and scraped the entire piece off with a razor blade. You can see here that I tried incising and inlaid approaches. I also used pigment sticks for the little scratched green lines and the black lines. I'm totally addicted to those pigment sticks.

Here are four experimental panels. The gray one is a transfer from some cool medical drawings I photocopied of the spinal cord and skull. The upper right shows incising and pigment sticks to bring out textures. The lower left has collaged pieces of wood and a ceramic textured tile. It's blah, but good practice for when I try this on more clay work in the future.
Here is a close-up of the transfer I did. I gave it to Rob, sort of as a joke about his back issues.

Prepping Studio Walls

2008-04-26T19:48:00.000-04:00

Well, it's time. It's time to paint the studio walls. And when I say "studio", I mean "basement", and when I say "basement", what I really mean to say is "crap crap crap!" In January I wrote about my studio and how terrible it looks. I want to feel inspired when I work down there. Yes, it is a basement, but I need to keep my costs down. I can't rent a studio space, especially with a spouse that works nights and two small children at home. So, I need to spice things up. I finally bought a new heat gun today. I needed one anyways for my fellowship to work with encaustics.

Here are my new fab tools! A heat gun and razor blade.

This is a before shot of some ugly adhesive on the concrete wall. Before heat gun:

After heat gun: You can see that I tackled the spots at the top and haven't done the bottom ones yet.
Now my arms ache!

Makin' Magnets

2008-04-22T21:23:00.001-04:00

This is my new thang: magnets! I love them! It took me a while to get a few sets because my daughter would always want the pink ones, so I'd never have a set of four to post in my shop. I've actually had these made for a while now, but was too "busy" to glue to magnets on. Then I had to work with epoxy, which to be honest, I haven't used since those college days when everything you make in art school breaks because you don't have a clue.

This one is meant to fit together like a puzzle, or break apart like an abstract relief sculpture.

New Colors and Etsy Maine Team

2008-04-15T17:27:00.000-04:00

I fired my kiln to cone 6 (2165 degrees f) overnight last Friday and it just wouldn't reach temperature. So after 18 hours, I made the decision to turn it off. The results still came out kind of cool, I just didn't put enough glaze on most of the pieces. Here are some photos of my square plates in the red and green. The green was supposed to come out spearmint, but this plate reminds me of the 70's refrigerater we had when I was growing up. Or, I could consider it mod and feel really hip and cool.

Here is my new yellow, supposed to come out a bone color, but I think it looks like oatmeal. Here it is on a spoon rest.

We had our second Etsy Maine Team meeting last Saturday in Augusta. We have a blog now which is awesome and private forums in the making. People on the team have really come together and are working hard to make the team work. We now have weekly blog writers and private forums in the making. Very exciting.

50 Things About Me Part 2

2008-04-11T21:02:00.000-04:00

Here's the second installment of facts about me:

26. I’m obsessed with checking my e-mail. I must check it literally over 20 times a day.
27. I was a vegetarian from age 16 to age 29. I started to crave chicken when I was pregnant with my daughter. I caved in completely when pregnant with my son a few years later while craving bacon.
28. I’m no longer a vegetarian, but try to only use animal test free products.
29. I was a hippy-goth girl in high school. Picture this: tie-dye and black make-up with hair in the face.
30. I listened to the Cure and Edie Brickell in high school. Does that make the picture clearer?
31. I didn’t take my first plane trip until I was 26.
32. I love making banana bread with the kids. My husband can’t stand the smell. Hmmm...maybe that’s why I love to bake it soooo much.
33. I Rob sooooo much!
34. I chew my cuticles.
35. I yearn to sing like Ann Wilson (ya know, Heart?) Barracuda!
36. I can do 50 sit-ups in a row holding an 8 lb weight, so there!
37. I hate squats, but I do them for my butt.
38. I need to do more squats.
39. I have a B.F.A. in Art and teach elementary art.
40. My students have stopped asking me if I’m a college student. Does this mean I look my age now?
41. I’m torn between teaching full-time and teaching part-time to pursue my art and pottery. Hard decision financially.
42. I stress about decision making. It consumes me, ask my friends and family.
43. I love Sharpie markers. I believe them to be the ultimate art supply for professional and student artists.
44. I’m not a good house cleaner. Sometimes I admit I’ll see a dead fly on the floor and ignore it. It may still be there a few days later until I get around to getting rid of it. Still want to come over for coffee?????
45. I used to LARP (Live Action Role Play). I cannot believe I’m actually admitting to doing this on my blog. People might read this!
46. My characters have included (including LARPs and table top): vampires, ghosts, risen (zombie like creatures with brains), humans, werewolves, dwarves, rebel fighters, super heros, fae, orcs, magic users, warriors. All of these geeky characters come from the beloved games of: D&D (admit it, you’ve played it and like it), World of Darkness, Warhammer rpg, Star Wars, Magic the Gathering, and so many other games I can’t remember.
47. My husband owns Game Geeks http://gmgeeks.coms with his brother Paul. Now you see....I’m married to the biggest geek of them all!
48. I have two tattoos, one of a sun that I designed on my right ankle, and another of a tiny ladybug on my left foot. I got it done in Seattle last summer. It’s illegal to do foot tattoos in Maine.
49. I want more tattoos, they really are addictive.
50. I think I need more nightly sleep.

50 Things About ME, Part 1

2008-04-05T13:12:00.000-04:00

My neighboor Kate started a blog last month and wrote this great entry called 50 Things about Me. I thought it was hilarious and so honest that I wanted to try it myself. But I'm going to post my 50 things in two installments. Part 1 and Part 2 coming in the future.

50 Things about Me:

1. I was born in Maine and have lived in Maine my entire life, except for two years in Canada when I was 2, but I don’t remember it.
2. I have two kids.
3. I’ve been married for almost 16 years, and got married when I was 20. 20+15.5= EEEGADS! Yes, I’m 35, in two months I’ll be 36. And no, I wasn’t pregnant when I got married, as many people think I was.
4. I had my first child at 30, so there!
5. I’m 5’and ½" tall
6. When I was 6 I told my brother, 4, that the mud pies I was creating were really yummy...you can guess what happened next.
7. I love tortilla chips, salsa and sour cream. It’s deadly on a Friday night.
8. The first thing I threw on the wheel in eighth grade looked like some animal climbed up and took a dump. I even glazed it brown for some reason as well and my Mom still has it somewhere in her house.
9. T he second thing I threw on the wheel, at age 19 in ceramics class in college, was amazing and beautiful, then as I stood up to get the pot scoopers, I stepped on the pedal making the wheel spin uncontrollably and sent my creation flying across the studio room, smashing in a muddy mess on the wall.
10. The third thing I threw on the wheel looked like an animal climbed up and took a dump. But this time I glazed it white.
11. When I was pregnant with my daughter I craved banana bread. When I was pregnant with my son I craved everything!
12. My first grade teacher told my mom that "Becky can’t draw her way out of a paper bag!" My mom saw her at a conference 15 years later and told her I was in art school, then proceeded to tell her off. Go Mom!
13. When I was 9 I told my brother, 7, that chewing gum was good for your jaw muscles. Several cavities. Oops!
14. I drive an escort wagon. Very sexy let me tell ya! But it’s paid off!
15. My studio is in my basement.
16. I love living in Portland, Maine.
17. I still have not put my sons baby book together yet. He turned 3 last month.
18. I met my husband when I was 14 on the first day of school in of course...art class.
19. Rob and I didn’t start "going out" until a week before prom.
20. I moved in with him when I was 19 and almost gave my parents heart attacks and ulcers.
21. I played clarinet all through middle and high school. I almost majored in music in college, but chose art instead. Good choice!
22. I think the sound of a clarinet squeaking during a middle school performance is close to the most horrible sound in the world, besides the sound you make while your giving birth.
23. I was not one of those parents crying at the bus stop when my daughter started Kindergarten last fall. I was excited that she was beginning a new phase in her life. And I was also very happy not to pay for childcare anymore. My son starts Kindergarten in 2 years. I’ll be VERY VERY happy then!
24. I wear 30 spf facial lotion year round. Why wouldn’t I?
25. My shoe size is 5. I’m not kidding.

I won the fellowship!

2008-03-29T14:47:00.000-04:00

I just found out on Thursday during lunch, that I won one of the Maine Arts Teachers Fellowships! This fellowship is awarded to only 8 arts (visual art, music, dance, theatre) teachers in Maine per year. I started the application way back in November when my very good friend and artist Shanna Wheelock told me I should apply for it. She teaches art in Lubec and won one of the fellowships in 2007. The whole point of the fellowship (which is awarded through the Maine Alliance for Arts Education) is help arts teachers take their own personal art to the next level, thereby giving them a boost of creative energy so they will become more effective teachers in the classroom. Makes sense doesn't it? I have always believed that art teachers must be artists first and teachers second.

I have been itching to try encaustics (the art of applying molten wax paints onto surfaces) for years, but have lacked the instruction to do it safely and the funds to start up. Let's just say that it can cost over $1000 just to buy the heating supplies and basic paint colors for this medium. I asked for almost $3900 ($4000 was the limit) to pay for a workshop on encaustics at Maine College of Art, a mentorship with artist Kim Bernard, encaustics supplies and paints, travel expenses to Kim's studio, and childcare! They are paying for childcare! How awesome is this?! I plan on using the new knowledge I will gain through the workshop and the mentorship with Kim Bernard, to make a series of clay sculptures this summer. I'm actually going to have enough money for once to buy all the supplies I need without feeling guilty. Plus, I've asked for a total of 17 days of childcare spread out over May and the whole summer. So freakin' exciting!

In other news, my square plates came out....interesting. Only one came out good (actually outstanding) and it already sold! The other two had disappointing side effects. One of them sagged in the firing and touched the kiln shelf, resulting in some kiln wash stuck to it. I can grind it off, but it will have a blemish on the bottom. The other one sagged too, but when I picked it up, it actually snapped off one of the corners. Trash can! But, I am not too upset as this is a learning experience for me. I may have to try some supports in the firing process. I must think think think.... I must not be mad because of my good news mentioned above. Here are some photos showing my really nice 8" plate that came out. The third photo shows the blemish on the bottom of the plate, blah!

New Glaze Tests

2008-03-26T21:41:00.001-04:00

I did a cone 6 firing last week and experimented with some new glazes. I've always just fired to cone 4 because I found a couple great base glazes over a decade ago and just configured my own colorant and oxide amounts to add to them. But, over time I am discovering that cone 4 is very limiting. There are hundreds of cone 6 glazes out there that I've been itching to try. It takes hours to do though, something I don't have a lot of. I bought "Mastering Cone 6 Glazes" by John Hesselberth and Ron Roy, glazing gurus. A very good read with loads of great info. I realized that I've been loading my kiln so that it's not firing evenly. With just a little more work and watching the kiln more closely, my firings are coming out better.

Down below are the three test tiles that I'm most pumped about. Raspberry, Bone and Spearmint. The Bone looks more whiteish in the book, but I like the warm variation I got here. I can always experiment with the amount of rutile in that one. I'm sooooo excited about the Raspberry and cannot believe I actually weighed out the components correctly on my tiny little kitchen scale that I've owned forever. One measurement called for .2 grams of green chrome oxide! If you put even .1 gram more, you can get a disgusting green color instead of red. And the Spearmint just looks so yummy.

Happy Easter!

2008-03-23T10:22:00.000-04:00

This is my daughter showing off her ceramic pattern egg that she made in her Kindergarten class with me. I took a couple afternoons off from teaching my Kindergarten classes......to teaching her K class. Not a big switch for me, but I never get a chance to volunteer, so this was fun for me. I feel weird teaching holiday projects, but I introduced it as a "pattern egg". The kids didn't care and had so much fun anyways. Even if some of them don't celebrate Easter (which I know a few don't), they experienced a making a sculpture rich in art elements: pattern, line, shape. Below are all the eggs from the class. I love how they are all different in pattern and color, just the all kids are!

New Pendants

2008-03-21T14:41:00.000-04:00

I've made some new multi-colored pendants measuring approx. 7/8"width by 1 and 1/8"tall, with just over 1/8"thickness. I've already sold 3! This week has been really good to me with local and word of mouth sales. I've sold 5 pendants just this week alone.

Broken Dryer and Making Square Plates

2008-03-12T20:14:00.000-04:00

Our dryer broke this weekend. The heat just stopped working. We've tried fixing it and have had zero luck. It's old, so time to replace! But, until Uncle Sam sends us some $, this is what you'll see around my house.

This is what I'm working on right now in the studio: square plates. I'm having so much fun making them. So different for me to handbuild functional ware. My sculptures almost always have slab work, but never have I tried this. I love rolling slab and throwing them. I don't have a slab roller, but I think I do pretty well at getting even thickness. I'm trying 12" squares. With the 11% shrinkage, I'm looking at approx 11" width. I'm also working on smaller 9"plates that will shrink to about 8" in the end. The little plate pictured is a test. I want to make sushi pottery too!

New Pendants and Etsy Maine Team meeting!

2008-03-07T19:48:00.001-05:00

These are two of my newest pendants. I have been experimenting with different textures and combinations of glazes. I love the way they are coming out. I just need to make more at this point.

I love this plate. Right now I'm experimenting with square shaped plates that can be interchanged with my thrown pieces.

Tomorrow is our first Etsy Maine Team meeting! http://www.etsy.com/profile.php?user_id=5647553 I hope the weather holds out for us. We were supposed to have our first meeting last weekend, but I had to cancel it because of the horrible weather. I was so bummed. I'm really looking forward to making some new artistic and crafty friends and of course to network. I've made some great trades too, although some of my key trading buddies can't make it tomorrow.

Now I just hope my kids will feel better soon! My son has an ear infection and my daughter is fighting something nasty. Spring can't come soon enough.

My New Prints!

2008-02-20T20:17:00.000-05:00

These are my latest finds on Etsy: awesome prints by artist John Golden, http://johnwgolden.etsy.com/ I bought the space ship for Rob for his birthday a few weeks ago, and it's hanging in our office so I get to see it everyday. I intended to give the Stan Jr. robot to Henry for his birthday today, but have decided to hang it in the living room instead for the whole family to enjoy. Definately check out his shop. He also does fun animal prints as well and other great stuff.

Happy Birthday Rob!

2008-02-02T06:36:00.000-05:00

Today is my husband Rob's birthday, which also happens to fall on Groundhog's Day! I found this magnet by Etsy artists pearsonmason (www.pearsonmaron.etsy.com). I think this is just so funny! They also make Bigfoot and Abominable Snowman magnets which is probably one of my next purchases, maybe Father's Day, or earlier if I can't help myself. I showed Rob this site a couple of days ago and the Bigfoot magnet: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=9165981 and he loved it.

My Basement Studio

2008-01-29T22:07:00.000-05:00

Here's a photo of my "studio". It's located in my cold basement. You can see my little space heater right by my chair where I throw my pots. My goal this spring to to remodel my space by removing all the old adhesive on the walls and put up fresh paint. I plan on using colors leftover form other painting projects. My daughter's room is purple and my son's is blue and green. I'll use all of those.

Here is a picture showing a bunch fo ringholders, and honey pots waiting to be bisque fired. You can see on the ugly concrete wall behind showing that nasty adhesive. I pulled off numerous styrofoam insulation sheets this past summer that were so dusty and disgusting. I do pretty well using my shopvac in this space, but it was always way too dusty until I pulled those down. But, in their place is a scary sight. I'm going to photo document my progress in my blog. Stay tuned!

I'm getting noticed!!

2008-01-22T21:26:00.000-05:00

Oh my gosh!!! ETSY featured my little green pendant in a Storque article about taking pictures of your work using colored backgrounds. Here's the link:

http://www.etsy.com/storque/section/howTos/article/shop-makeover-series-makeover-your-listings-with-color/1082/

And, I was featured in this blog, The Cutting Edge of Ordinary:

http://thecuttingedgeofordinary.blogspot.com/

How cool is this? She bought a bunch of ringholders and they made her very happy. They are one of the best things I've ever come up with. It all started years ago when I was looking at one of my mother's apple bakers, which is essentially a bowl with a rod coming out of the center to spike an apple on and bake it. I was always misplacing my rings, and as a potter, I just don't like wearing them in the studio. So I made my first ringholder. I think I've sold a couple hundred of these over the years. Now that I'm starting the sell again after the "having kids" absence, I predict I'll be making MANY of these this year. They are really fun and easy to throw on the wheel. Here's an example of the ringholders that I sell in my ETSY shop.

Lots of new stuff

2008-01-20T21:10:00.000-05:00

I've been neglecting my poor little baby blog. I need to nurse it back to health and do some writing and posts! I've been so busy working on my various applications to craft shows and fellowship (see previous post), and listing stuff on ETSY. Check out this heart pendant necklace. Perfect for Valentine's Day!

I've also been doing lots of throwing lately. Really enjoying the nature of centering, pulling up the clay, and creating something with my hands. Tonight I made some super cute honey pots. Will post pics soon. These clusters of mini bud vases are selling very well on ETSY right now.

Application craziness

2008-01-05T20:40:00.000-05:00

Right now I'm in the process of filling out all sorts of applications. Some of them are for craft shows, one for a fellowship (which I REALLY want to get) and my sales taxes (blah!). It's hard for my poor un-organized brain to handle all of this at once. I'm also firing a bisque kiln right now and am worried that I need to replace the elements of my kiln. It's firing too slow. Too much! All I want to do is curl up in front of the T.V. with a blanket and sip hot cocoa. You know, I may just do that anyways. After I list this cute little eye candy necklace in my store.

Check out my ETSY mini to the right. You can click on any image and it will take you to that listing in my shop. Click on the shop link in upper right and it will take you to my shop and all I have for sale. I'm very proud of it. I started listing my pottery and jewelry on December 2nd and got my first sale on the 9th. 25 sales so far!

I have a blog!

2008-01-04T22:09:00.001-05:00

Well, I did it. I have my very own blog. A year ago I didn't even know what a blog was, and now here I am. My name is Becky Wheeler and last month I launched my on-line store: http://www.dirtgirlpottery.etsy.com/ My business is Dirt Girl Pottery, where you can find stoneware pottery, hand glazed earthenware jewelry, and clay sculpture. At this point, all things clay. I also enjoy working in colored pencils and hope to sell prints of my drawings in the future.

I live in Portland, Maine with my husband Rob and two kids. I love living in Portland and will write more about living in this awesome city in future posts.