BIRTHDAY SHOUT OUT #2

Special birthday greetings for two of my favorite people who share the day
(this is not a new tradition, just hitting the double shot!)


HAPPY BIRTHDAY DON!!! xoxo

BIRTHDAY SHOUT OUT #1

Ah, the next wave of instant greetings.....


Happy birthday to my friend Gwen! xoxo

Open House, pt 2

Anne sent me some pictures, but I accidentally shut down my computer when it was downloading, so there may be a part 3 once I get the rest, but here's a nice collage of some of the fun from Saturday's Open House. Thanks again to all who came, all who decorated bowls for Empty Bowls and all the good wishes and great energy that you brought into my humble little studio and my grateful heart!

I left in some of the fuzzy photos just because I like them anyway ... and the shot of me popping the cork on the prosecco makes me giggle because I think Anne was ducking while trying to take the shot!


me & a French Broad....getting ready for the big open....some friends from Odyssey dropping by....

pop!....bowl table gettin' some action....Sam, our young artist featured in the pt. 1 post....

more bowl action....more gabbing....me & my friend Jane who is also my Mtn. Biz mentor-extraordinaire!

gentle accountant Glenda does a party bowl!....Steve really getting into the paints....me & Kyle talkin' pugmills (possibly the least scenic view in the studio...)
me & Anne, the official photographer of the Open House!

October Studio Schedule

As always, subject to tweaking along the way (it's already changed twice and it's not even October!), but for students who will lose the copy I give them and visitors interested in dropping by, here's the studio schedule for October. If you'd like to visit the studio outside these hours, just get in touch with me - I'm usually here long before and after the posted hours!

Since it's still just me here for the most part, I have to 'close' whenever I fire the reduction kiln, but I'll be close by if anyone needs to come on those days. In the next few months I'll be working on having a regular studio assistant to keep the doors open when I have to be someplace else...well, regular in a nicely weird way of course!

Empty Bowls Monday!

Another stellar bowl project class today with a great demo from Gay Smith. We're starting to see bowls coming out of glaze now and shelves are getting fuller, so it looks to be another good year for the Odyssey contribution to the Empty Bowls event.

Gay did demos on throwing and trimming, really giving a full days workshop of information in about an hour and a half, and we'll be saving the bowls she left us to add to the next soda firing. As with all the other great guest teachers we've had in this year's class, I got a lot of good information from Gay's demos and can't wait to play with some decorating and altering ideas when I get back on the wheel tomorrow.


I also got to show off the bowls that were decorated at the open house, and stashed my other bisque bowls at Odyssey for a glazing session in a couple of weeks for our big firing.

Tomorrow starts some serious throwing to fill a few more bisques for my firing mid-October. It'll be busy leading up to it, then one crazy week glazing/prepping for both the Empty Bowls firing and my own firing, plus the Empty Bowls event then unloading my kiln - all before heading down to Atlanta for the Art Walk/Spirit Talk event in Smyrna GA - I'll add that link in my next post, but now I'm going to prep some clay for tomorrow and give the dog a stroll. peace.

Open House, pt.1

Well the house is open, it's official! We had great weather for the open house on Saturday, and a nice stream of friends old and new come check out the new studio. This is part one of my report, as I took a couple of shots when I finished setting up, then promptly forgot the camera but for a few other random shots. Luckily, dear friends Anne & Steve drove up from Atlanta for the event, and I think it's a safe bet that Anne-the-professional-photographer got a few shots herself. I'll post those as soon as she sends them to me when she returns to the big ATL.

The studio cleaned up nicely, with all the elements working together: things on wheels pushed out of the way, new, portable slab roller (thanks Dan!) to easily roll out slabs for the tile project then move into a corner, fabulous risers and ware shelves (thanks Alex!) to use 101 ways and another fabulous table (thanks Annie & Dan!) to help show off the working space and still have a party feel.


I'm between firings, so there was probably more bisque ware out than finished!



The slab roller becomes a bar, wheels become welcome tables, toss a nice cover on the work table for the knosh and we're ready to go!

Thanks to good help from all corners for the big day: Heather and Michael who brought the flowers and the food processor for the dip, Judith who picked up the figs from Clingman, Cynthia who brought the platter just perfect for the truffles. My mom who sent me these fabulous white bread cloths that turned out to be just perfect for display and table covers before they forever become clay-spattered. And huge thanks to Anne & Steve who came early, brought the new stools, helped set up, helped throughout and helped shut it down. Going far above and beyond the call, they even came back this afternoon to help drink up some of the leftover beer!

The bowl decorating table got a lot of action from visitors - it was so cool to go out later in the afternoon and find so many beautifully decorated bowls. Hopefully Anne has some more pictures of artists from earlier in the day, but I'm glad I remembered my camera at least to capture some of the great work:

Busy at work: Anne and Teva on the left, Steve taking a break at the top,
and that's Karen Etheredge from Manna Food Bank herself making some gorgeous bowls!

A glimpse at some of the great works produced. All of these bowls will be available
at the Empty Bowls event on October 16.

Special kudos to our youngest artist, 3 year old Sam Rattigan, for his beautiful bowl that will be,
as he hopes, a 'nice surprise for somebody':

There were also a few hearty souls who took up the challenge to decorate tile pieces for the future 'Crazy Green Studios' mosaic sign. I think they'll be very nice as background pieces, although the 'nose' mold may be a bit of a challenge.

can you see the nose?

So now the studio is pretty much back in working order, and now that the opening is done, it's back to the calendar crunch! There are more bowls to make for the Empty Bowls firing, plus more of everything to make for my own firing to fill orders and for the Resident exhibit and the holiday art walk. And I'll be adding an evening hand building class in October, running down to Atlanta to do a show...much more to report, but right now the official dog of Crazy Green Studios is wanting a walk, so more reports and pictures to come from a very grateful girl! peace.

happy monday!

Having done my time in an office and even a brief stint in an actual cubicle, I approach Mondays now with glee. Even now, having a 9am class which is in truth earlier than I prefer teaching, but still not the 5:30am wake up call from the days of Innkeeping. And more important, it's not the Monday-morning-time-to-get-up-and-join-the-office-drones-on-the-bus/train/traffic-lane. Happy Monday indeed!

This morning Chuck and Patsy, my Monday Morning star students, returned with vigor and having no ill effects from not getting in to open studio during the week.














Chuck & Patsy, getting some pots made! For Chuck, this is just lesson #2, so his motivation is showing!

Before and after class, I was trimming more of the bowls for Empty Bowls, then took a break to head over to Odyssey for the Bowl Project class. I was completely remiss over the past two weeks in taking my camera, so there's no pics from the great classes that Becca Floyd and Heather Tinnaro led, but there will be plenty of other chances in the future to feature them here, have no fear.

This week we had the very wonderful treat of a visit from Michael Kline, who did a demo on trimming and brush work decorations. His pots have been a big inspiration for me as I start to explore my own brush work with colors and wax under and on glazes, and it was very cool to watch him work. It's not an aspect of the process that gets a lot of time in classes - the brush work - and I think it could be the source for a whole series of classes...hmmm...perhaps a future class for Crazy Green...



I meant to take a picture of the beautiful bowl he donated to the Empty Bowls "Collectors Corner", which would I'm sure guarantee an extra long line at the door, but you'll just have to take my word for it and hope you get there in time to snap it up!

Back at the ranch, I'm trimming the last of the current batch of bowls then heading out for a meeting with the Odyssey RAs about our upcoming show at the Odyssey gallery.

What a lovely Monday!