studio goings on

The summer is in full swing and the crunch of preparations for fall shows is on.... Normally i start panicking around March and try to dive into big-time production around that time.... Now, with the tea-house and other responsibilities added to the mix, March, April and May came and went, and here we are nearing the end of june.... starting to feel the pinch of the "closeness" of fall, and specifically the Yellow Daisy Festival; my biggest show of the year and the beginning of my craziest season.  So, these days i am diving into studio work as often and as much as possible.   These last few weeks have been packed with all sorts of different work.  My wooden magnets with funny/ inspirational quotes/ messages/ pictures are sort of a bread-and-butter item for me, and so i try to get oodles of those made before anything else.

so many bits of paper to cut....

The photo above shows a step mid-way in the process of creating these magnets.....    Another item on the list this week are bud vases.  On Monday and Tuesday i spent the day (s) making as many as i could from an entire 25 lb. bag of clay....  aching legs, feet and wrists and 263 bud vases later.....

They don't look like much now....  but after some cleaning up, sponging off smoothing, under-glazing, an initial bisque firing, some staining, more wiping off, glazing on the inside and drying out, then some glazing on the outside- in many different colors.... another firing, after which i will glue super-strong magnets on the back of each and every one.....  i will wind up with a tidy, colorful pile of something like these:

and on that note, there are really only a few available minutes for studio time today....  so i had better hop to it.  Today i need to work on a painting- the 4th revision-- for an exciting project that i am not ready to disclose to you quite yet.  stay tuned though, because i will be making a formal announcement soon.  I can't wait to tell you about it! 

It doesn't look like much yet.....