Monthly Newsletter - Issue 12 - October 2018

Turns out I skipped right over Issue 11, September 2018. So, let's start there!

First of all let me say, I am so enjoying the colder weather. I mean, it's that time of year where you think it'll be okay to wear warm clothes because it's chilly af in the morning, but then the afternoon rolls around and you regret it very much, but I am grateful that it's no longer ridiculously hot and humid. 

Honey B's birthday is on September 11, so we got crafty for her!

Lil Boy helped me make bath bombs for her, then ruined the surprise when he talked to her on the phone a few days before her birthday. She still loved them, though. They smell AMAZING. 

C made her some soap, which was his first time working with soap. It turned out incredibly, of course, because his chef skills cross over to soap making quite nicely. 

Do NOT Eat. This is soap.

And how freaking cute are the little berries on top?? Those are molds we've got at Craft and STEM; he also made tiny berries out of bath bomb mixture. The layers smell like chocolate and pomegranate. It's really not fair how beautifully he pulls things off on his FIRST TRY.

The package arrived in time for her to open it at her Birthday Dinner with Grandmommy. Can't believe this lil gal is 8 whole years old! And such a darling. We <3 her so much.

On the work front in September, I got to pull a LOT of amazing glazeware out of my kilns. 

Remember when you were a kid and Christmas morning was still exciting? We’re adults now, so we get to watch it in our kids’ eyes, but it’s not the same when you’re Santa Clause. The anticipation of opening a glaze kiln is akin to that child-like feeling of joy and anticipation, only layered with a sense of dreadful certainty that everything went wrong and you’re going to find a disaster instead of a dream. I've fired three glaze kilns so far at Craft and STEM, and each has resulted in both beautiful successes and failures ranging from not so serious to pretty serious. As a potter, all you can do is strive to avoid the serious failures all together and keep the smaller ones from slowing you down. It's all a learning process, and I am enjoying every single minute of it.

Seriously, though. It's amazing. I'm literally turning mud, water and small amounts of heavy metals into stone wrapped in glass via heat. 

Oh yeah, and did I mention the Pumpkins? I probably don't need to because you've been following along, but just in case: I've been throwing pumpkins on the wheel and hand-trimming them since August. They started coming out of the glaze kiln in September, and I am in love with each and every one of them.

For most of my pottery career I worked in a studio that did high-fire in a gas reduction kiln. At Craft and STEM we opted to go with electric oxidation kilns and work in the mid-fire range. While high fire definitely has its advantages, I'm so glad we've got oxidation kilns and mid-fire glazes because the results are not only incredibly vibrant and interesting, they're way more predictable and stable than the results I got with high-fire reduction. This is, maybe, a controversial opinion in the pottery world, but it's only anecdotal based on my personal experience working in both categories.

Of course, this work all represents testing I have been doing in the studio to determine with which clay and glazes to continue working and which to use up and not repurchase. The pumpkin above has my favorite-so-far glaze combination, Greyzel over White. The creamy blue has been reminding me of antique ceramics. I love it! But the clay body, Calico, is a bit gritty for my taste. Not good for dinner ware. Noted!

Since I threw at and had to transport many of these pumpkins from Daybreak, several of the stems broke while they were still green ware. Not a big deal. Stems are supposed to look broken and cut up. Glaze covers those ills. I did, however, lose one stem during a photo shoot.

Before...

Insert Darth Vader NOOOOOO gif here.

This one has an amazing oil-slick effect from layering Moss over Peach, and it is my second favorite of the first patch, so I epoxied the stem back on and it's mine now. 

I'm going to get onto October, promise, but one more pumpkin:

THIS one is my favorite. The glaze dripped just the right amount, and the combination of Moss over Greyzel is something I will definitely continue to do because just look at it

 So many colors. Chemistry is cool, you guys.

Alright, so October.

Busy busy busy over at Craft and STEM. We're getting some traction from my efforts on Facebook and social media. The actual website is NEARLY done (I should be writing copy for it right this second, in fact, but, you know, priorities), and trust me, y'all, it is going to BLOW YOUR MIND. C has built a website for Craft and STEM like nothing you've ever seen before.

Also, I suppose it bears mentioning: this time last year I had no idea that by the end of the month I'd be unemployed for the first time in my adult life. It honestly seems so far away now and if you're wondering, I don't miss it at all. I miss seeing my tribe there every day, but we're in touch. Seeing as I spent my entire adulthood at the same company, I wouldn't have any friends if "work friends" were truly just work friends. I definitely miss you guys. If you haven't already, come see me at the shop you jerks! I'm literally there all the time. Except for Mondays, but sometimes then, too. Text me, though, and tell me who you are because chances are your number was lost in the phone that got dropped in my water bucket a couple of months back. Anywho...

In the last 11 months I've laid the groundwork for my future as I have always seen it: doing exactly what I want to do, being crafty and creative, and spreading my particular brand of weirdness with functional, funky things. It's slow going at the moment, but the Holidays are officially upon us, and everyone wants to be crafty during the Holidays. So, come be crafty with me!

This is only Stage 1 of Halloween Decor at the shop.

Slip-cast porcelain baby arms make everything creepy.

I can't tell you how many pop up cards I've made in the last 30 days, nor count how many more I'll be making because I love them.

Whew! Long one today, huh? Well, that's what I get for missing a whole month's worth of newsletter. I honestly didn't even realize it until September 25 when I got the first notification about this newsletter. It's just luck and coincidence that October 1 fell on a Monday, the day on which I am most likely to be at home.

Thanks for reading, particularly if you made it all the way through. High fives all around! Let's do this again next month.

~The NWB