WillowAK Pottery

Pretty quiet on the pottery side this past week. Tied up loose ends from the open house last weekend, ordered a few Christmas gifts, made an Anchorage run on Wednesday for appointments -- one with the surgeon who closed the hole in my left retina in Sept. 2011, and one with my regular eye doctor. Squeezed in a quick stop to say hello to the craft group. Two members were celebrating their 92nd birthday and it was the group's annual holiday luncheon. Stops to see family in Anchorage were abbreviated so we could get back on the snowy roads before commuters were headed to the Valley -- and before road conditions worsened.  Keith moved lots of snow again the latter part of the week and has pathways, driveway, decks and parking area looking great. No gym membership needed! A handful of us are making progress on putting together a potluck for UAA potters of the past -- some of whom are still involved with the studios on campus. We have a date in late December, a list of potential invite...

Hello!  We had our first WillowAK Pottery Open House last weekend . . . Thank you, John! It was fun to do an "open studio" event and great to see friends I'd not seen for awhile! Had visitors from Anchorage, Eagle River, Wasilla and Willow. Not lots of people -- but there was time to visit with those who did come, time to show the house to those interested, and time to wrap pottery for those wanting gifts for themselves or others. I'm very appreciative that some could come on Saturday and Sunday, and am looking forward to seeing those who said they couldn't make it then -- but want to visit soon. By arrangement, that's very doable. Baked snowball cookies, sugar cookies, and cupcakes to offer with munchies and beverage. Set up eight display stations with a variety of "pieces with personality" and folks had lots of questions about the process -- if they were not potters themselves.  Here are some of the stations: Fish, dog yard, bird, and b...

Thank you, Gail. Colanders and berry bowls waxed Three fish plates ready for chalks Pet moose smelling the roses...thanks, Sara The good news is that we mailed out the Christmas boxes that have to travel afar -- and also that the temp made it above zero here today!  Oh -- and yesterday I supported several local vendors at a Christmas bazaar here in Willow.  The bad news is that I've sure allowed myself to get distracted from getting glazing done so that I can fire a kiln load and get the studio cleaned up for the WillowAK Pottery Open House next weekend.   New target is to complete glazing on Monday, fire on Tuesday, unload and price on Wednesday, photograph and set up on Thursday, clean and bake on Friday.  That all sounds doable. Now it's just a matter of following the schedule! One end of the island. Nice to have enough space in the studio to spread things out between steps.  After going through the process a few times in my new spa...