lessons from a show

I'm still cutting my teeth at the show/fair event element of showing my work. I've only just developed a comfort level with putting my work in the gallery at the studio where I rent space. Shows are equally inspiring/terrifying. This weekend's Mother's Day Austin Flea was insightful. This time I went in prepared, to the extent of having a blue print of my layout created before I arrived at the venue. I wound up abandoning it when I realized they gave me much more space then what was originally indicated. I was outside (which is new for me), and situated in front of some gorgeous succulents beneath a hot Austin sun. Now that you have a sense of ambiance, I'll get to the lessons learned:

1. Bring bigger pieces to display, not to sell. For me, I find I sell a lot of my smaller work - cups, mugs, small ice cream and cereal bowls. I think seeing larger work helps give people an idea of your skill level, but at outdoor events like fairs and craft shows, people only buy what they can comfortably carry. People with an interest in bigger items tend to take business cards and buy later from online locations. So, my back (not to mention my wonderful, great and supportive friends and family) appreciates the notion of a few bigger pieces, and lots more smaller items that are easy to take home.

2. There really is a thing about mugs. That sounds ambiguous, and it is. There will be a post on that later this week. For now I will say that I've developed a love affair with them, and the number of mugs I sold this weekend supports that. Since I'm enjoying all the things I can do with them, I plan to make many more. But it's not about the sales. It's about people and their interactions with them. More on that later.

3. The heart cups really hit home with folks. Originally I created them as a Valentine's Day promotion. Now, I love "LOVE" but I really hate Valentine's Day. Perhaps that's why I sold so few of them in February, lol. People could sense my utter indifference. Outside of the holiday though, I found people totally "got" them. Made me so happy, I plan to crank out more of them, too.

4. Some of the most innocuous things make the very best table accessories. I tried to get creative this time, used my stand and boxes to elevate pieces I really wanted to showcase, and you know what? It worked. I felt like people really lingered at the table at this event. I lured them with work at varying eye levels and colors instead of using candy or sparkly lighting. If you get creative with how you display your work, it is all the adornment you need. At least that seems to be the case for me, I like simplicity and the subtle creativity of understating things.

5. Selling pottery is much more enjoyable when there's a bartender less than 15 feet from you. The dude tending bar at the Rattle Inn is friendly, awesome and mixes a mean cocktail.

I'll be working this summer on developing this obsession with mugs and cups. I'll also be planning on making some bigger steps in solidifying my show participation. It's a good challenge for this introvert potter.

Wow. I'm a potter. I still get a little giddy at saying that.

see you at the flea!

There will be mugs and cups and bowls and vases. And me. Hope to see you!

(brown) greenware.

Sometimes I almost hate to glaze some pieces.

One of my most favorite colors is brown. I've read varying things regarding what that color preference says about me. All I know is, natural colors, earth tones quiet and calm me. Earth says stable. Earth says foundation. Earth means grounded. 

the glaze commandments.

There's nothing like the moment when you look at your pieces fresh from a glaze fire. It is either intense like, or intense loathing. 

Today was a massive haul, over thirty assorted hand built bowls, carved bowls, chattered bowls and cups. I set them out on the table - and some really moved me...but mostly I felt the overwhelming urge to simplify and better plan my glaze process. Here's some of the  points I want to remember:

1. The more surface texture, the simpler the glaze treatment.
I really enjoy carving, chattering, texturizing the surface of my clay before it is fired. The effect always gives another layer of complexity with glaze application. Especially if you are fortunate enough to have access to a gas kiln (which I do). Knowing that so many different things can happen in the firing (oxidation and reduction), I need to remember to keep the glaze simple. The texture is one element or ornamentation. Getting too busy with the glaze just overpowers and complicates the piece. Since I'm crazy about texture, it's time to acknowledge that with glazing - less is more. 

2. Stick with the colors you love, not the colors you think you "should" love. 
I'm an earth tone girl. If you've ever been to my home, you can quickly confirm this. Browns, creams, dark oranges, deep reds and murky greens. I love the colors of fall. The glaze colors that bore me most are usually the ones that sell quickly at an event. As I've been trying to build inventory, I am finding that I am tempted to glaze based on what I think others want, as opposed to what speaks to me. Well, the moral of the story is...you don't change your preferences to serve everyone. You make what you love, and hope that the people who have similar tastes will come and find you. I work well with glazes that I love. I tend to not work well with glazes that feel unfamiliar to me. 

3. Don't glaze in a rush. 
I start off great. And then...I get overwhelmed. Bored. Tired. And I just want it to be over. Glazing is unforgiving. Like some evil, demented Santa Claus, it knows when you've been bad or good - so be good for goodness sake. Being fastidious in every part of the process promises consistent (if not great) results. Whenever I'm watching the clock, or I'm distracted by my own growing to do list - my work suffers. And that is NO good.  

4. Don't hesitate to have a dress rehearsal. 
I love making big bowls. I love carving big bowls. I do not love glazing big bowls. Why? Because depending on the foot I've given then, inserting that bowl in a giant bucket of glaze is incredibly difficult. I've tried tongs, I've tried all manner of clever grasps. I've tried swooping the bowl through a shallow wide tub of glaze. All of these techniques have worked. But each piece requires a different approach. Before actually glazing, it seems helpful to go through the motions practice the dip, the swoosh, the tong, whichever technique you plan to use. See if any step feels foreign or unsteady. Plan it out. If the dress rehearsal goes well...proceed. If not, revise the strategy. Avoid the oops. 

5. If it "feels wrong"...wash it off and try again. 
This is hard to do if you struggle with commandments 3 & 4. It is a lesson in patience. A lesson in diligence. Sometimes the best laid plans go wrong. You'll live to glaze another day if you take that piece of bisqueware and wash it off and leave it out to dry for a few days. Don't push it through to fire if you already know there's something you don't like. You'll only like it LESS when it's irreversible. 

So there it is. After reviewing today's haul, I'm happy...but I could have been happier. I think I'll print these out and post them somewhere on my studio walls. Healer..HEAL THYSELF!

cuppa love

"Love makes your soul crawl out from its hiding place."

-Zora Neale Hurston

Cuppa Love cups available now on Etsy.

I enjoyed making them so much I'm thinking about making quite a few more. Valentine's Day is just around the corner, so if you'd like to surprise your sweetheart with a cuppa love, don't delay. :)

- sibbotery

in search of...mine.

“If you hear a voice within you saying, ''You are not a painter,'' then by all means paint… and that voice will be silenced.”
                                                    - Vincent van Gogh

I really hate unsolicited feedback. Even when it's well intended. The pursuit of creative aesthetic is such a personal journey. When we create, we stumble across new or hidden parts of the self. In this self-discovery we find what brings us the most joy and it manifests itself through our work. Because I believe that the creative process works this way, I'm almost always thrown off by someone else's attempts to decipher and interpret my internal voice. And if I'm not careful, I begin to hear a stranger's voice in my head as opposed to my own. 

This weekend, I carried another voice in my head when I entered the studio. This voice carried whispers of feedback I received earlier in the week. As I sat behind my wheel and prepared to work, that voice took center stage and made suggestions about what I needed to make. The more I attempted to squeeze it out, the louder it spoke to me. Three hours and 12 lbs of sloppy, water logged porcelain later - I had nothing to show for my labor. Why? Because each time I attempted to throw a piece, I wasn't making what was in my spirit, I was making what others thought SHOULD be in my spirit. 

So much of what I am doing right now, is new to me. Any experimental new texture, any alternate form is a step on my journey. Some experiments won't last...but many will. The ones that stick are the ones I stumble across on my own. All of this is my process. And  to grow and truly find my aesthetic, I'm going to have to be vigilant about the voices that get to shape my process. So, if I hush you in your attempt to tell me what I should be doing...don't take it personal. I just don't have room for any other voice in my head other than my own.

This is more than my pottery. This is my creative journey of self discovery.  

hand

In art, the hand can never execute anything higher than the heart can imagine. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

revisiting instagram.

A few weeks ago when instagram made it's wildly unpopular privacy announcement, then swiftly backtracked, I was one of the many users who reacted in the most aggressive way possible - I deleted my account.

As public as I am with my work, I still like defining and setting the limits to what I share online as it relates to everything else. I like being able to have a digital existence without sacrificing the right to edit and cull my content to ensure I maintain the privacy I cherish so much. I used instagram as many of my friends do. I chronicled the things I've seen and wish to remember. I took random pictures of my old dog, studio shots of works in progress, gratuitous self portraits and whatever objects caught my eye. I took those pictures under the impression that they were my content. Mine to control and share and sprinkle across the Internet. However, the reality is...many of us have a false sense of security when it comes to privacy.  So...did I throw the baby out with the bath water?

During a conversation about social media tools and privacy this weekend, someone suggested to me that abandoning instagram also denied me an outlet to share my work, connect with other artists and promote new projects. Why not, they suggested, simply use the tool as a promotional outlet and continue to use Flickr as I always do - for sharing/storing images that require more robust privacy settings? Gee, had I not been so seething with offense, I probably would have landed there, myself. 

So, that's what I've decided to do. Granted, my name sibbotery is now gone forever. A consequence of acting aggressively, but all things considered, it probably needed to be done just to purge previously posted content that I don't want to offer up for public use and promotion.

If you have had privacy concerns but also see the business opportunity in keeping your instagram account, I'd love to get your perspective. 

porcelain heart

Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.  -  Lao Tzu

Happy New Year, much love and happiness to you in 2013!

3 lessons learned from the craft show circuit.

Image credit: Gallery Black Lagoon

During the fall/winter season, I participated in my first craft shows - the Austin Flea and the Holiday Sale at Gallery Black Lagoon. There was a third show in that list, but my most valuable lesson learned? Be sure you have enough inventory to take to your events. While that is a nice problem to have, it reminded me of the importance of planning for these events with a serious increase in production.

The next lesson? You get by with a little help from your family/friends. I tend to me a "lone wolf" about things, but with events like this - you need all hands on deck. And with my perfectionist anxieties and the overwhelm I often experience when I can't control every facet of my surroundings, it is really nice to be able to look at your support network and let them handle the things making you want to rip your hair out - those last minute details that require attention, but offer no solace in exchange.  I'll be abandoning my super hero cape for these events - and special love and hugs go out to my family. I couldn't have pulled those shows off without them and they know enough about my tendency to hide my needs to stand and deliver even when I insisted I could manage it all "by myself."

Final lesson learned? What you like to make, isn't always what people want to buy. What you hate to make? People usually love. Maybe that's less of a lesson and more Murphy's law. :) Being able to observe what drew people in and what lured people in to touch, really helped me understand what people like about my work - and what I need to produce more of. Granted, I don't want buyer behavior to shape what I make - because that ruins the fun and spiritual exercise of creating that drew me to pottery in the first place. I do, however, want to make sure I create excess stock of things that will move at these shows while I continue to establish a name for myself and sort out my aesthetic. 

sneak peak into 2013...

This year I worked with carving. On nearly every piece I made. Experiments with texture, chattering and an array of tools to help me further define my technique. I think I'm getting closer to the work I want to make...

holiday wish

The owl is the symbol of the feminine, the moon and the night.
The owl is the bird of magic and darkness, of prophecy and wisdom.

- excerpt from the Owl animal totem description found here. 

Hope the holiday season and coming year bring you wisdom and all the magic your heart could hold. 

vessel

Our passions are the winds that propel our vessel. Our reason is the pilot that steers her. Without winds the vessel would not move and without a pilot she would be lost.

- Proverb

chatter

All true language is incomprehensible, like the chatter of a beggar's teeth. - 

Antonin Artaud

back to nature

My big thing this year has been carving, and it's been a great way to further suss out what my aesthetic is. I will carry it into next year, along with all the glaze and prep lessons that come along with it. 

Planning to glaze this piece in naturals, to give the base the effect of tree bark. Using a couple glazes to achieve that effect. We'll see what happens.

sneak peek: jars and vases and cups

In an attempt to wean myself from my bowl addiction, I'm currently working on jars with recessed lids (currently preoccupied with getting the lids juuuuuuuust right), vases and fulfilling a very large order of cups with a *no pressure* deadline. 

Increasing my studio days to Saturday and Sunday has done two things: increased my general productivity and helped me hone some of my finishing skills. After a studio visit with an AMAZING Taiwanese surgeon (and hobby potter), I was inspired to take a lot more time with my work. Not just the throwing but the detail work like trimming, sanding and glaze prep work. The goal? A more perfect finished piece. Knowing perfection is eternally a moving target - I plan to be patient with myself. 

So, here's the sneak peek on what's to come: 

coming soon to an inbox near you...

A sibbotery e-newsletter! 

Wait...was that an audible groan I just heard? Don't be that way. I know your inbox is probably filled with promotions from Old Navy, solicitations from Viagra salesfolk and the occasional chain e-mail or not so funny forward from your Aunt Hilda. But I promise you, you won't hate what I send your way. Why? Because of three primary promises. 

1. You'll only hear from me six times a year. 
That's right. Six times a year, max. In newsletter format, I'll be giving you a sneak peak of works about to hit the shop, share some recent inspiration or art news related to pottery, share upcoming promotions and sales and hopefully tell you about some events I'll be participating in.

2. I'll keep them short. 
No really. I will keep them short. Four to five short segments and a few images. I promise.

3. You'll get special holiday discounts that no one else has access to!
It's my way of thanking you for letting me grace your inbox with updates six times a year.

 So how do you signup? It's simple. You can sign up, right here on sibbotery.com. Check out the right hand navigation bar and plug in your email address. If you're a friend on Facebook, you can signup using that cute little rainbox envelope:

The first newsletter comes out next month. I really hope you'll signup, your feedback is always welcomed!

- C

dear grolleg: you scare me, and that's a good thing.

All things must change. And this applies to clays as well as everything else. Recently, our studio decided to bring in some new clay bodies. For the past year or so I've been using B-Mix, but lately it's been arriving so hard in the bags that I've worn out my wrists trying to wedge it aaaand the studio has decided to bring in clay from some other locations. And so that is the back story to my new burgeoning relationship with grolleg porcelain. 

So here's the good news. IT'S PORCELAIN. That means at cone 10, it will fire white in reduction. It's made with Grolleg kaolin from England and it's buttery soft with incredible plasticity. That means wedging it is a dream (after wrestling with the brick that was b-mix on import to unbearably hot Texas), it will fire white and glazes will pop with brilliance and do lots of incredibly cool things under the right circumstances. 

So why am I scared? 

Because I threw with it for the first time yesterday and to say it was a challenge is an understatement. I wired off a six pound hunk of clay and I may have even cooed audibly as I wedged it. That should have been my first warning. I smacked it on the wheel and centering was fast and simple. Drilled a hole and that's when I started wondering..."how tall am I going to be able to pull this?" 

Minutes later, I was looking at gloppy, sloppy pile of mud pie after my first failed attempt at...anything. First lesson? Use little to NO water. In fact, I've been reading off and on today about Grolleg (clay geek) and it's actually more effective to throw using slip (or slurry) to coat the clay and your hands. Second lesson? Start SMALL and work your way up. I scaled down on my 3rd or 4th attempt and found I had better results - but even then...ribs were definitely my friend. 

I've committed to mastering this clay. So I know there will be many more lessons to come. When I return to the studio on Sunday, I'll be starting off small...perfect time to resume that big order of cups I've been slowly working on. I just keep reminding myself that every clay body I've ever worked with required an adjustment. This will too. And, if I'm resilient enough, patient enough and diligent enough...I'll look back on my first attempts and I'll laugh. As for right now, I'm just wincing. 

But I still managed to eek out two pieces that I was fairly pleased with:

new items in the shop (finally).

It's been awhile since I've updated - blame the usual excuses. 

I've fully moved into the studio space I share with my studio mate, and I'm back in business. I've still got a few items I'd like to acquire to make this happen, but for the most part I am settled and back in the flow. 

I'm still working on a tea cup project, which has lead me to fall in love with yunomi style cups because of their beautiful, balance defying feet and lovely organic forms. Focusing on one form hasn't been so easy, and I still struggle with squirreling about, hopping from one form to the other. I've got to find a rhythm, but more importantly, I think I've got to stop babbling out loud about what I think I'm doing and put my head down and focus on where it is my aesthetic means the most. Identify what I do well, and then set about mastering it. 

Here's a sneak peek at what's available in the shop:

Also, I've started a new blog, where I post on topics of a non-clay nature. If you're interested in following me (and my ramblings) there, visit me at: apotterspen.com

potter pals make the best birthday friends.

I'm not a fan of surprises, but when your potter pals present you with cupcakes from Hey Cupcake! in the middle of your throwing day? 

You learn to make exceptions. 

Happy birthday to me. :)