Urgent Message!

I got a call while I was in the studio a few weeks ago about making some salad plates and 6 " bowls from someone who had been to Odanada Gallery.  I had muddy hands but wrote the items on my chalk board work list but don't have the contact info for this customer!!  How silly is that?!  If you are that customer, PLEASE give me a call as I have your plates etc.

Carolina Pottery Festival

I have been doing the Carolina Pottery Festival for a number of years.  Last year they had to stop showing at the Cleveland County Fair Grounds and have now moved their venue across the street to the LeGrand Center.  The date has also had to change to Nov 16.  Check out the details and like their Facebook page:  http://hosted-p0.vresp.com/574692/400d9b9c1f/ARCHIVE#like

Feast of Pottery in the Newfoundland news

It was so much fun to see my pots on the Canadian local news, even if for just 3 seconds!  Apparently it was well received as I got an email from a customer who purchased the casserole and cream and sugar set saying all but one piece was gone in the first hour of the 3 day show.  Very fulfilling.
http://ntv.ca/feast-of-pottery/?utm_source=rss&utm...rss...feast-of-pottery/ 

New Ideas finally in creation

Wow!  I've been dreaming of these pieces for at least a year; the idea being functional pots that look like trees and stumps with a whimsical nature.  This body of work is a further development from work I did years ago where limbs served as candelabras with mushrooms gathered on them and more recently my boxes that have the woods carved on them. I was invited to participate in a show in St Johns Newfoundland that will be showing in November and have just finished the pieces to go there.

 This is a casserole dish holding 2 quarts.  The interior is glazed with my avocado green glaze and the outside is stained with manganese and iron.  The outside is textured with a piece of wood to create the "bark" texture.








This place setting includes a 10" plate , 8" plate and 6" bowl.  The mug stands on 3 "roots" as a tree grown over a log that has long since rotted away.  The rims of the plate and texture on the mug was done with a walnut hull... very time consuming at this point,  I found it amazing that if you imprint the hull just right it actually looks like a tiny tree.  Different areas of the hull produce a really nice bark like effect.

Saving my favorite for last is this cream and sugar set.  The creamer has a "vine" for a handle and limb for a spout and nestles over the sugar bowl.  I have ideas for canisters that lean into each other like a group of trees, teapots that stand on their roots, and condiment sets that fit together like a puzzle.  There are also plans for woodsy creatures to be hanging around in the future.

This is a long term project to create this body of work, doing it in between wholesale production, so stay tuned for a piece here and there, as I collect them over the next year for a public showing.

2013 NC Potters Conference

Whew!  Sensory overload again at the Potters Conference.  Friday afternoon and Saturday were spent watching a 3 ring circus of potters, Julia Galloway, Peter Beasecker and Tara Wilson  throwing their signature designs on the wheel.  Julia and Tara live in or near Helena,  Montana which is close to the Archie Bray Foundation, a well known and revered educational facility for pottery.  Beginning to get the impression that if you go there you will most likely become well known and revered yourself.   Peter is on the faculty at Syracuse University. 

Julia's work.  She does a lot of decorating and uses lusters in an interesting way.

More of Julia's  Here she has carved with an exacto knife on hard leather hard pots, painted with colored slip and wiped it off with a damp sponge.  She also has used shellac as a mask in places.  When she cleans off around the mask it leaves a raised surface.

Julia pulling a handle for the pitcher in the forefront.  She  made some interesting handles inspired by vegetables:  peas, green beans and celery.

a salt and pepper pot.  she makes "pillow lids for them", (hollow lids with rattles inside.

Julia's backside, Peter and the finished pitcher.

Julia's teapot left, Peter's teapot right.

Tara's pieces.  She does lots of darting and pinches little feet on her pots starting with bottomless pots.  Wood fired of course.

more darted footed shapes

She is a fan of pulling handles thick on both ends and thin in the middle.

Tara forming a pitcher spout and finished spouts below.

This became a collaborative piece when Julia did her decoration on it.

finished pitcher... green of course.

Tara's finished teapot.  They all did teapots at the same time sharing different techniques of spout making.

My new mug purchase from Peter Beasecker.

There were several inspiring speakers.  Check out: http://skulladay.blogspot.com/p/about.html to read about a project that went viral and became a creative awakening inspiration for thousands.

How Embarrasing!

As I check my page, I see that I am at the same place I was last time I posted.... back from ACRE Orlando and a notebook full of orders.  Guess that means I've kept busy all year!  This year, I intend to focus a little at least on the retail aspect of my business by adding Etsy to my options as a way to get my one of a kinds out there in the marketplace.  You can find my shop there by searching Beckett Pottery... I hope.  Still new at linking everything together.  I plan to post a new item about every day until all the pieces I have on hand are posted.  Then I can add some things that I produce on a regular basis and special order things such as sets of dinnerware.    Here is a link to my Etsy page, (that hopefully isn't my administration page!)  http://www.etsy.com/shop/BeckettPottery?ref=si_shop

I have worked on my recipe page a bit, including my favorites that work really well with Beckett Pottery pieces!