Break Over...

It has been a pretty strange year so far, hasn't it?  Just 2 years before I can begin collecting retirement and quit working so hard in my studio, I get a 4 month paid vacation from the government!  As the free ride seemed to have an end date, I put my faith in the universe to send business my way with nothing but ease and a request.  Really wasn't up for pounding the virtual pavement so close to retirement for mainstay wholesale accounts.  I do still plan to be creating work- especially on demand along with retirement, but with much less pressure.  VOILA!  Orders have been trickling in and from 4 new galleries!  Seems most of my regular galleries are still closed, slow to order, or reworking their business plan so new is good!  More interesting is the number of retail orders I have been getting.  Thank you for finding me and reaching out for Beckett Pottery!  

As you can see in my Beckett Pottery Facebook page live post, I have a comfortable number of small orders flowing through the studio.  It is a great time to contact me if you have pottery desires.  Since these orders are small, there is plenty of room  in the kiln for individual wishes to come true!  

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=3217038698363464/  

Wow!

Check out this blast from my past!

https://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/155781-studio-pottery-by-robin-beckett   A couple of weeks ago, Lillian Pelino contacted me from Huntington, WV with a picture of one of my morning glory cream and sugar sets that she picked up at an estate sale.  She also shared this link to a collectibles website where someone had a whole group of my work available.  Unfortunately, I didn't have the forsight to keep up with the mailing list of my morning glory collectors.  It has been so long, I'm sure many of them have moved.  I started making these before the dawn of the internet!  

The other interesting piece of this story is that Lillian is from Huntington which is where my father grew up.  Traveling the 8 hours there via the curvy 2 lane US 52 and "super hwy" WV Turnpike from Winston-Salem at least once a year was quite a memorable ride I'd like to forget.  They would turn my 6-12 yr old self loose to walk the 2-3 blocks to Ritter Park, the "central park" of Huntington.  Who would think of doing that today??  Anyhoo... I don't have any relatives left in Huntington and my grandmother died several years before I started making pottery  I consider quite a coincidence that we had that connection.  She lives in the beautiful brick street area around the park I used to play in.

Baby Pies

Pie plates in avocado autumn and hemlock.

Living alone and not wanting to blow up like a toad from eating deserts, I have decided to create a baby pie plate.  It will take a half recipe of a pie crust and probably a third of a recipe of filling. Baby pie plates are 7 inches in diameter and about an inch deep.  I get about 4 moderate servings from it when I create a pie.  You can order yours by contacting me with your glaze preference.  Baby pie plates are just $20 each.

Lemon curd pie made with 1/2 pie crust recipe 

Strange times

These are such strange times we live in.  Beckett Pottery has gone through several "business model  shifts" in 37 years of business, some involved health issues and some involved the economic climate.  Who would have expected that less than 2 years from collecting retirement, that my wholesale business would fall flat on it's face from a health related economic crash!  90% of my revenue for the past 33 years has been wholesale, which is why there is so little activity on my blog.

  BECKETT POTTER IS STILL OPEN FOR BUSINESS!    It's apparently not "my jam" to do a lot of self promotion, however,  I am still accepting retail orders for whatever your heart's desire is and have plenty of time to create it for you now that the galleries are mostly shut down for the foreseeable future.  I don't keep a lot of inventory because there are so many things on my production list and so many ways to glaze them.  You can browse my gallery of items for inspiration and get with me via email or text (704-682-7509) where we can create an order.

Since the shut down, I have focused on other endeavors; home completion projects, working in the yard, cutting fire wood for next winter and creating YouTube videos for a channel I am developing.  Its focus is to share how I complete home improvement and enhancement projects as a solo 60 something woman.  I will probably throw in other potentially interesting things I am working on as well.  Check it out at . Robin's Nest Adventures  I sincerely hope you will get a kick out of my filming and editing, (which has a bit of a steep learning curve for me).  Liking the videos and subscribing to the channel will help me qualify to monetize which will bring in income eventually.

Valle Country Fair Time!

Another year has rolled around and I'm franticly busy making pots for the one craft fair I do a year- The Valle Country Fair- taking place Oct 19, now just a few weeks away.  I've been playing with 2 new glazes which makes the pattern combinations much more numerous.  SO, my booth will take on more choices this year, focusing on my wonderful red glaze in combination with  a new green or blue.  I have a few new pieces to add to my collection of pots as well, including a small vase and microwave egg cooker I designed for one of my galleries up in Michigan.  Pictures coming as soon as I pull them out of the kiln.  In the mean time, Mark your calendars to attend this circa 1978 well attended, not for profit event!.....meaning the event is put on to raise money for charity.
https://www.vallecountryfair.org

Sixteen placesettings headed for delivery. The customer wanted solid colors so I did each piece of the placeserting a different color of my Autumn pattern, one each of the serving bowls and one complete autumn pattern. The signature turquoise spot is on the red pieces.

Beckett Pottery Fonta Flora

After 11 months of making the weekly 4 hour round trip from Winston-Salem to Lake James to oversee and personally construct, I am moved in and organized enough to be working in my studio!  There was about a 6 week lag in production while I moved and set things up.  I've been playing catch up for about another 6 weeks and can finally take a small breath to post some pictures here.  I have a full album of progress on my personal FaceBook page https://www.facebook.com/robin.beckett.9/media_set?set=a.1578851625466738.1073741952.100000257460774&type=3 if you would like to see the whole process.  Here are some of the final product:

I'm in a MUCH smaller space than my WS full basement, probably a third of the space if you consider I could sprawl out in my 1700sq ft space if needed.  I have 450 sq ft now and a 200 sq ft loft that is storage for packing material, tools, camping gear and my photo booth.  I seem to spend a lot of time going up and down a ladder accessing things I need.  I have had the luxury of an assistant for the past 12 yrs or so and wondering if there is even room to have a second person working on something different from what I'm doing.  The glazing table becomes the packing table and gets disassembled when I'm doing neither so I can walk through.  Things are very handy to access though and I'm finding I don't need duplicate items for the different spaces like I had in the big space.  I'm enjoying "cozy" in my house and studio.

My little kiln room

I decided I didn't need but 1 kiln about a year ago.... good thing considering there is room in the kiln room for the kiln and a ware cart!

I have a beautiful view of mountain woods while I throw.  Mountain laurel is in bloom now and hoping I will have some nice rhodo blooms soon.

This is my little hand building space.  I've taken up making street numbers.  Contact me if you want some.... pictures of these finished coming soon.

When I get fully organized these shelves will be dedicated to wholesale orders. Right now there are still lots of things I am looking for stashing spots.

 This is the studio entrance.  We've had a lot of rain lately and I put up the tarp for a party.... don't know how long I'll leave it up since it provides several benefits.  I guess I could look into something more attractive!!