bit by bit...

It has been slow going to get back into a production cycle. The last round ended with a cone 7 and cone 10 firing, right before multiple deliveries and two shows, followed by a week of teaching. And then it's not just sit down and throw - the lists, oh the lists! This upcoming production cycle is a little different. I have some commission work to do, some back up product to make for re-orders, and the remaining pieces of a bridal registry. But the majority of work will be going to a new gallery (stay tuned...), and some is 'spec' work for future work I hope to get. Usually, the production list writes itself in response to orders, but this time it has to come from my head, and that slowed me down to a crawl.

And because everything is connected, just thinking about the 'work' list begets another list, and that's the list of bills vs. orders ... or the 'business' list. I saw a piece on a Sunday morning show today about a rivalry in Renaissance times between some painters, and daydreamed about my own Marie de Medici to come grant me a patronage so I can focus on the work and not be consumed by the business for just a little while. sigh. But I'm in the business because I love the work, and so it goes hand in hand (or as a friend likes to say 'in one hand and out the other').

empty shelves, taunting me...

So I can call the last week 'mental prep', as I succeeded in cleaning the studio a bit, working on the 2nd Saturday Market, lots of meetings and bustle for upcoming projects, and much thinking on what I need to be making when I actually get back to the making. Taking a quick run through the Biltmore Village show was also inspiring - seeing other potter's work out in a show makes me want to have a booth full myself, so even though my work list practically doubled, it was still inspiring.

Happily, I've broken through the trance of mental prep and finally started making shh...stuff again. Started easy by filling some smaller orders. The recent rains are helping keep things nice and wet, which is fine while I wait for a logo stamp to arrive for the Izzy's mugs, and handle plugs are ready and waiting in the wet box for the Clingman mugs for whenever they dry out.

better...

Getting things on the shelves goes a long way to making better work habits. Gotta keep things moving now, get the handles on the mugs, keep greenware going into bisque and packing bisque for the September glaze firing. I'm already looking forward to that, this time scheduling in better glaze prep time and scouting out plate setters to get the most in the load. It'll also be exciting to see how the kiln fires with the new door.

A few more empty shelves to fill...