Another photo mega post - raku, new doll jars, and Jeanette Zeis spoon trade

I've got too many pictures of ceramic related things not to do another blog post. That's pretty much my motivation anymore -  a lot of backlog of pics on my iphone and camera = time to blog. Maybe one day I'll commit to a more regular blog posting, but in the meantime, here are pretty things to look at.

We had our first raku firing at Beech Grove Clay Works today. It went really well, and we got some excellent results. I even mixed up a raku glaze recipe from Tracey Boone's pottery blog, which got a lot of reduction and did exactly as she said it would. I was pretty excited about that. Thanks for the recipe, Tracey!

Raku firing is so exciting! All the smoke and flames, and getting to see the pieces red hot like that. I can't wait for the next one, I'm hooked!

I made some cute mini doll jars that I'm going to fire at a friends house tomorrow. I'm pretty excited about them, and I'm dying to make more.

I'm also firing some new test tiles tomorrow with a base glaze and varying amounts of mason stains. I did some yellow, and some that are either blue or violet (the mason stains were old, and not all of them were well labeled.) I'll post more on those later if they come out looking halfway decent.

Remember those spoons I made? And the ones Jeanette Zeis made? Jeanette liked my spoons! And I adore hers! So we agreed to trade. I am so excited about getting to trade with her. I now have a ceramic spoon to add to my collection of lovely handmade ceramics from other artists. I admit, I got the better end of the deal, as her spoons are a lot nicer than mine. But I'm happy that she liked mine! She chose the green superhero girl spoon. I hope she enjoys it as much as I love mine!

Finally, here are some pics of Maddy, just because. She is adorable, and she's getting so big! I am dreaming of the day I get to bring her to the studio to throw with me.

Grandma took a huge tutu and added ribbons so she could wear it as a big fluffy dress. She likes to play peekaboo by pulling the tulle up over her face.

Her aunt Mariah made her a huge leaf pile to play in. She wasn't terribly impressed, though.

Bear baby.

Things that are happening

So much going on! It's been a busy couple of months, and the fun doesn't stop! I'm just gonna dump a lot of happenings here, so my apologies if this post becomes bloated and tl;dr.

Last weekend I did the Bloomington Handmade Market Holiday Show, which is by far my favorite craft fair to participate in. It's well attended, profitable for me, and seems to draw a crowd that appreciates my work. Also, the volunteer staff is super helpful, and it's always well organized. The icing on the cupcake is that they provide coffee and noms for the vendors, which pretty much means I'm sold on the whole thing:)

There were some really rad vendors there this year. Here are a few of my faves:

http://pinkcheeksstudio.blogspot.com/