September 21, 2013

on

Open House at WillowAK Pottery on Nov. 16 and 17. Please mark your calendar if you're within driving distance and stay tuned for details closer to the time!  Gather your neighbors and friends and come see the pottery.

Lots of soil, seed, rock, time and talent have been involved 
With summer coming to an end, we're celebrating the green grass and rock pathways.  Quite a transformation, thanks to Keith's hard work, from how things looked a year ago.  He mentioned having 200 hours with his faithful friend this summer -- John Deere.  We had periods of too little water and those of too much water, so it's been a challenge. 
Thank goodness the resident landscaper/groundskeeper cares, is dedicated, and in good health! The deck staining is completed, thank you Steve, and things are looking pretty finished around here!
   
So, fall officially begins tomorrow, but I think it actually came in the backdoor a little early. When it looks like fall, smells like fall, feels like fall and sounds like fall -- it's fall! The distant mountains have new snow and we've been warned that snow may make an appearance on the ground here tonight.

Pottery talk -- Steve Godfrey, ceramics professor at UAA, visited since I last wrote. It was great to see him, show him our new home, and pick his brain a bit. Talk about someone being attentive to construction/design detail in a home! Nice to see that -- and not surprising. He's making some beautiful improvements to his Anchorage home with an artistic eye and skilled craftsmanship.

After having the studio relatively clean for awhile, I now have clay spread out to dry, wet pots awaiting trimming, mugs awaiting handles, trimmed pots awaiting embellishment, balls of clay awaiting throwing, etc.  Yes, like the arrival of a new season, it's the beginning of a new throwing cycle, with the studio looking, smelling, feeling, and sounding like a pottery. Aiming for a bisque firing before next weekend. Opened my last box of porcelain yesterday, so put in an order for more clay and several new glazes.  Nice to keep experimenting with new color combinations, although eventually I'll probably end up with a palette for WillowAK Pottery.  

Sage green yarn bowl
Markings on bottom
These yarn bowls were recently delivered to The Yarn Branch in Anchorage. If you knit or crochet, you probably know about the openings in these bowls -- for yarn and for needles.  It's nice to keep balls of yarn under control, to have a place to park a project, and to have a porcelain bowl close by to enjoy.



Nutmeg and black yarn bowl


The mugs I recently mailed to Pennsylvania were broken upon arrival. To the credit of USPS, the insurance paid promptly. Although I did double box and thought I had protected the pieces well with blister wrap and other materials, it was apparently not well enough for the mugs to encounter whatever they experienced between AK and PA. More and better packing materials will be used next time.  I'm appreciative that those who sell my pottery in their galleries and shops do the packing and mailing of those pieces!

Great family dinner in Anchorage last week to celebrate Noah's 11th birthday, and a very nice Harvest Dinner in Willow, sponsored by the Willow Garden Club. 

Knitting has been calling me lately, with the most recent project being felted clogs.  Yes, when winter arrives, knitting, wool, and warm feet take on an elevated priority.

Lopi 100% wool yarn -- felts to fuzzy!




More about pottery in the next posting.  I do try to make forms that folks express an interest in, so if you have something in mind, please let me know. 

Thanks for your continued interest in WillowAK Pottery!