Before and After

So, i will never stop being amazed at the dramatic difference between a piece of pottery in the bisque state, covered with glaze waiting to be fired a second time... The chalky colors, dull surface etc... transform so completely in the glaze firing, that every time i open up the kiln, i almost gasp aloud! I am so familiar with the colors i use, and do many designs with frequency, you would think that i might not still be so blown away by the change, but i always am-- and i love it!! Of course, i am often working with underglaze colors under a clear glaze, and so when i am working at least i am seeing a shade of what i will end up with. What is more stunning (and nerve wracking frankly!) is when i am working with stoneware clay and using mid to high fire glazes. You would never be able to tell by looking at a bucket or other container full of glaze what the finished glaze color will be (well, once you are more familiar with glazes, you might recognize a certain glaze and then have some idea... but to the untrained eye-- no way). There is a rutile blue glaze that i love, for instance, and whenever i use it i can barely believe that it will turn out to be blue as i am applying it... in its wet form it is dark terracotta... so unlike its finished state! i'll show a before and after look at that another day....

but TODAY i want to show you a "before and after" of an earhenware piece that i am excited about... it is my entry for this months Etsy Mud Team challenge-- "the Critter Challenge". (Check out the Etsy Mud Team website for more information and some of the other critters as they are being uploaded and entered into the challenge http://etsymudteam.craft-sense.com/). So here he is, my little critter in his bisqued and painted with underglaze state, and then in his finished, shiny and bright glazed state. I hope you enjoy seeing the difference!

The first two photos are of my little clay friend

painted in underglazes before the glaze firing.

These next three pictures are of my little turtle

in his terrifically colorful and bright finished glaze state.

This piece measures 10.5" long from head to tail,

8.5" wide from fin to fin,

and the shell is 7.5" long and 5.5" wide.

here are a few of the "springly" things that are coming out of the studio right now;

these earrings are some of my faves.
i really love this new pendant; the contrasting glaze colors

and the beautiful pool of melted blue glass in the middle .
this fun little mug shares the same colors of the pieces above

and has attitude to boot!

let's give this another whirl

after a few attempts at blogging in the past, i am giving this another go. i have another blog in which i posted a few times here and there, mostly about the children (babies at the time) but decided that it was time to jump on the blogging bandwagon and put up a little bloggity-blog about my work. i am also interested to see how many times i can use the word blog, and derivatives thereof in this one paragraph….
really though, i am anxious to connect with the world again in this way, and hopefully use this forum as a way to explore and watch my work evolving, share news about what it going on in the studio, my triumphs and failures… and explore the relationship and balance between mothering and making art– particularly pottery , as this has always been my main obsession. In recent years, it has taken up more of my time and resources than the other mediums in which i involve myself. In the past six months or so i have become active on Etsy, and it is there where i have connected with a larger community of “mudders” in the Etsy Mud Team. It has been terrific to be a part of this group and i have learned a lot from many experienced potters and clay artists there. More than that, i have really found a wonderful group of supportive friends who work together to promote each others work, share glaze recipes and clay tricks, and talk about everything clay-related, and not clay related! As a stay at home mom of two little ones, i can say that the mud team has been invaluable over the last few months in helping me to connect to another part of the world, outside the four walls of my happy house. because, as happy as it is…. it does sometimes feel lonely in here, and it is darn good to feel relevant in other areas and arenas of life! so, a shout out and big thank you to the Etsy Mud Team for helping me reach outside of this studio and house in a completely different way! Thanks for all the help, and suggestions and support– and especially for the laughs!
Since joining Esty last May, and beginning to list items in July, i have sold 90 items to date. I am pleased with this number, but hope that as time goes on and i can begin to really promote the shop, and create more work, that the numbers will continue to grow. I have been doing art and craft shows for about 8 years now, and dabbled with consignment and wholesale accounts. These have all been rewarding and i am eager to give my Etsy shop - chARiTyelise.etsy.com more attention and hopefully grow it into another successful avenue for sales. I also plan to continue to develop my personal website charityelise.com and become more and more organized so that everything can be current and up to date! please check out these sites if you get a minute.
well, motherhood calls, so i need to wrap this up for now. more again soon- there are many things i need to figure out on here, so bear with me as i navigate around and discover how to do what i want to do with this blog. thanks for reading!