2/12/25 Update: I'm Still Alive

 I'm here to say I'm alive and kicking. How are you?

I'm still making pottery but at a slower pace. It's been freezing lately and difficult to get motivated to do pots. We even had snow last week. In the last post, I said winter has been mellow. Yeah, that came back to bite me in the ass!

The BYOA art show at Studio Bob was well attended. There was a lot of interest in my work, but nobody bought it. Maybe I have my prices too low. Time to adjust my prices up!   

What else can I say? Indoor trees are indooring. Outdoor trees are for the most part sleeping. 

All for now.

01/28/25 Update: Happy New Year!

I don't have much more to add from the last post. I'm still making pottery. I slowed down the past couple weeks. It's Tuesday and I've only done one pot for this week. Being honest, I'm starting to run out of room for all these pots!

Local place (Studio Bob) is running a bring your own art show. I have a few of my pieces in the art show. I figured it would be fun to display my stuff. And while I'm at it I may make a sale. Doubt it, but whatever. 

Though we've had a mellow winter, everything is asleep outside. No point in posting anything further than that. 

12/20/24 Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Feliz Navidad, and Mele Kalikimaka!

Holiday wishes to everyone: I hope you have a very Merry Christmas, a Happy Hanukkah, Feliz Navidad and a Mele Kalikimaka. I'll be making tamales and possibly pozole for Noche Buena (Xmas Eve). We plan to make a turkey for Xmas dinner; I may have potato latkes and spam rice and eggs for brunch on Xmas. We're extending our holiday celebration to include Epiphany on Jan. 6. It's just a nice, low-key way to enjoy some family time. 

I looked at my last post from November where I say I've been on the slow burn, turning out pottery at the rate of about 6 per week. I continue to go at this pace as my minimum. Being it's the week before Christmas, I turned up the heat. I have 12 pieces from this week (rather than 6) that I have to pick up tomorrow!

I've taken my own good advice and have been making crafty pottery regularly. Fuckery that nobody asked for. Shit that I do just because I feel like making something stupid. I started making stylized stone lanterns and mushroom lanterns. Just for the fuckery of it. 

I'm doing my best to keep busy and motivated. I work out most days and I watch what I eat. I don't drink. I don't smoke. My drug of choice is coffee. Diet, exercise, weight loss = healthy body and mind. 

I'm still in the studio most weeknights, blasting Deadmau5. The craft room is crowded. Bernie has decided to store our holiday decorations in there. I like that everyone in the house is using the craft room.  

11/4/24: I Continue to do Pottery

Quick November update: 

I've been on the slow burn, turning out pottery at the rate of about 6 per week. This is 3 sessions a week, with two pots made each session. I'm starting to catch up on inventory. There is still a long way to go before I'll have enough pots for all my trees but frankly, I'm running out of room!

I need to make more 'crafty' pots: urchins, octopots, Cthulhus, Beholders, etc. 

Other than that, Autumn is here, leaves are falling, temperate trees are falling asleep. Tropicals have been moved indoors. I forgot to give my scheffleras their autumn trim back, but I can do that at my leisure. There's still time for that. 

Thought just crossed my mind: It's November 4! Thanksgiving will be here shortly, and then Xmas. 

Anyways, I'll be in the studio if you need me. I'll be blasting Deadmau5, so you'll have to speak up so I can hear you. If I'm not doing pottery, I'm tending to the tropicals. Or playing video games. 

All for now.

10/8/24 I Continue to do Pottery

I'm low on inventory. I need to make more of everything. I need large pots for my unpotted bonsai trees. I also need variety. I recently made a dragon head, a large sea urchin pot, and some spider pots. I also had a large Cthulhu pot from last winter in Oregon Brown clay body that was recently completed. I have a few fish and some sea slugs. However, my sea urchin and spiders sold. I have to make more! I currently have a sea urchin and a couple spiders in the studio, waiting to be finished. To balance production/crafty work, I've challenged myself to produce two items daily (daily meaning 2-4 times a week): One a production pot, and a crafty work. 

Sudden thought to myself: 

Maybe I should do some older forms:

Rocket

Old man pants

Goofball stuff

I could include these in my crafty count.

Yeah. Let's have fun!

All for now

10/1/24 Update

 Update: I struck down the outdoor tropical growing area last night. All tropicals are now tucked away in their winter quarters. Initially I forgot my Brazilian Raintrees. Ran out in the middle of the night to retrieve them. I'm going to leave the Chinese elms outside. They should acclimate to the weather and will be fine. 

I continue to do pottery. I struck a bargain with Fairview Studio: I clean the studio on Wednesday mornings in exchange for my studio fees. I still have to pay for clay. 

I was planning on taking a few months off over the winter. Sales slow down and I can't afford the studio fees without the sales. I don't have to worry about that now! I do have a bit of pottery I must do. I have a bunch of pre-bonsai trees that need pots. Now I have all winter to work on that. 

I can also explore other shapes that take a while to make. I recently made Cthulhu pots, dragon heads, spider pots and sea urchins. These shapes are time-consuming. If I pace myself, I can do production work and more crafty shapes at once. 

All for now.

9/30/24 Shutting Down For the Season

I went to the Pumpkin Patch 9/28 for the last time. I meant to say for the season, but it may be the last time ever. There's talk about selling the Pumpkin Patch, so I don't know if it's coming back next year. If it does sell, I'll likely go to another venue(s). For shits, here's some pictures from Saturday:

That's a picture of how my space looked. Yes, I'm a bit stretched thin.

Just a bunch of pots here with my fish, sea slugs and dragon up top. 

This is mostly small pots. One beholder is still there. One goblin head is still there. My raku ware is there. Yes, I take Square! :)

My bonsai for sale. Did I mention I'm starting to get a bit stretched thin out here?

Second display with bonsai. I got some cute stuff. 

This is the if you know, you know section: Pre-bonsai material for creating your own finished bonsai. This stuff sells!

Alright, let's look at some of the stuff fresh out the kiln: 

I have this wacky-looking dragon. Wacky!

LOOOVE this glaze combination. I believe it's Floating Blue over Shorebreak. 

Great look on a sea urchin pot! It's okay if it's not your thing. This was sold fresh out of the kiln, so someone absolutely loved it. Paid more than I asked for it!

Small selection of pumpkins in different glazes. Hard to get the scale of these things!

 Here's a spider pot that I'm working on. Tiny clay pumpkin for scale. 

The weather is still warm during the day, but it's getting cool overnight. In anticipation of moving my tropicals indoors, I'm moving my vending supplies into winter storage. Down in the basement. I'm taking advantage of the move to clean up the craft room. I have so many projects that led to nowhere: 

bent pieces of wires here

odd rocks there 

It's getting to the point where I can no longer craft. I did what I had to do: 

I left the door to the craft room open. 

I invited my wife in to 'do her thing'. Meaning she cleaned: 

Tossed the side projects. 

Vacuumed. 

Cleaned up, organized, and put away the odd rocks and items of interest. 

It was brutal but had to be done. I will finally have room to craft without being hobbled by too many projects and distractions. 

WRONG!

The boys rediscovered my stash of Nintendo: N64, Game Cube, and Game Boys. They bought an old CRT TV/VCR to play the GC and N64. There's no other place to place it in the house so they set up shop in the craft room. The GC works fine; still have not tested the N64, but I doubt there's any issues with that thing; it's bulletproof. There's been some talk of purchasing a nicer chair for the 'retro station' as it's being called. 

I am glad to hear the craft room is being used by more now. Our next step is to strike down the outdoor tropical growing area and bring it indoors. I have more things to clear before that can happen, but it's gonna happen very soon. It has to. Winter is coming.