It is 2013! Can you believe it?

It is 2013 and after an extreme hiatus from blogging my goal is to be back on a regular basis. I am in a wonderful new teaching studio, I have lovely students, and it is great. I have not been working at home but that is starting up again soon. I will be back in a few days with some pictures of the new digs and hopefully more good stuff! Bye for now, Linda

Back to the Blog----finally!

Hi all,

I am so glad to be back and able to bring you all up to date on my life, with clay and in general. I went on vacation with my mom, and I got sick. Came back home and got sick. Now I am well and am not going to get sick again!

I have some pictures from the Pottery Sale/Party in Nancy's back yard. We all love being there, and I was able to get some fairly nice pictures of the pottery before it became picked over and moved around. The colors look so beautiful in the sun.

I have some new ideas for clay projects that I am anxious to try. I really do need to get some throwing time in and make some mugs, bowls, and serving platters made. I don't seem to have many of them left in my inventory. The weather is getting hot here, and that makes firing the gas kiln a less appealing prospect, yet we will do it, hopefully soon.

As you can see we have a wonderful selection of glazes at our disposal. Rich iron reds, copper reds, blues, and many others. Sometimes that makes glazing difficult. I need a plan when I glaze, and if there are too many choices, I have trouble making a reasonable plan. My studio partner in the home studio, Lila, has extolled the virtues of a small color palet, but I am not there yet. I just recently found some new (to us) green glaze recipes I would like to try. Soon maybe.

Also, I am thinking about the holidays already. The fall season is busy at the galleries, shops, and with art sales, so now is the time to plan and execute the seasonal stuff. I have not made any clay ornaments in the past, but have some ideas for them. I will try them and let you know how it goes.

Okay, going for now. Next post I will try to have a great clay idea for you.....and possibly a recipe to make in it!

Come back soon, and don't forget www.starshinepottery.etsy.com

Linda

I am getting ready to travel

Hello again!

It has been a few days since my first post, and much has gone on. My pottery friends and I had a home sale. One of the Pottery Babes has a great backyard, and twice a year we have a group pottery sale there. We hold our sales the Sunday before Mother's Day, and another Sunday in the middle of November.

It is really more like a party than a sale. There is food, music, friends, and of course lots of pottery. The music is provided by a local bluegrass band. One of the band members is married to one of the potters, and I am fortunate enough to sing with them. That has been such a super opportunity, and I love it.

Tonight I am finishing packing my suitcase, because my mom and I are leaving early on Tuesday morning to fly to Connecticut. We have family there we are excited to see, and we are also driving up to Houlton, Maine. My mom and her family are from there. It should be a fun trip.

This posting is short, as I really need to get done packing and get at least a little sleep! When I get back from my trip, I have some pictures to share with you all from the pottery sale. I have shots of the general lay out and some of our lovely clay art.

It will be fun learning to upload pictures from my computer to the posting. Another lesson in computer stuff.

Bye for now! and don't forget my etsy site - www.StarrshinePottery.etsy.com

Hello there

Hi there!

My name is Linda and I am so happy to start blogging. It will be fun to share my clay (and other!) adventures with you all.

I live in Tucson, Arizona, and am so fortunate to be teaching pottery at a local leisure class program. The program is administered by a local school district, and they have been awesome with us. They "adopted" our entire art program after the county left our center due to budget cuts. We really lucked out!

I have been teaching since 1998, and have really grown in my abilities and knowledge concerning running a program. My duties inclued coordinating the class schedules, ordering supplies and clay, as well as firing kilns, making glazes, and of course teaching people about clay. I do mostly wheel work, and we use stoneware and porcelain clays, firing in a cone 10 (2350 degrees) gas reduction kiln. It is the best! Teaching introduced me to an entire group of people who are also interested in clay providing a wonderful artistic community.

One of the things I am anxious to share with you all is my love of clay, what my new ideas are and other everyday goings on. I will try to keep it as interesting as possible.

The things I most love to make with clay are mugs. I make mugs all the time for my regular inventory, and I am fortunate to occassionally have a commission for personalized mugs. I have made custom mugs for a local university sorority, a local bluegrass band, and one of our local politicians. It is challenging and fun to create their names and ideas on a useful and personal item they can use every day.

I have recently opened a shop on Etsy. If you don't know what it is, it is an online store housing a large community of artists. They also feature vintage items and items you can use to make create or enhance your art.

My Etsy shop address is www.starrshinepottery.etsy.com. I have only a few items listed so far, but am looking forward to listing more in the near future.

Thanks for joining me today. The next posts will be more than an introduction to who I am, and will include other aspects of my life......

Hope your day is great!

Linda