Into 2012

It's a New Year!

Still no snow to play in, though.

Joe and I had a glass of wine and brainstormed our plans for 2012 earlier this week. Be prepared for more craft fairs, a revived Etsy site, new glazes, a new direction in materials and shapes for me, and more local materials experimentation from both of us! Although Joe didn't have any specific non-pottery 2012 plans, I am going to run (or shuffle, if you are a stickler for the truth) three marathons this year.

Joe putting the finishing touches on the chimney=warm studio!
He will share stove building stories with you soon.

It turns out that I am too wimpy to make pots outside of a narrow, extremely comfortable temperature range. Probably because I like to don cotton dresses (I never really got over my childhood "Little House in the Prairie" obsession) which are not exactly Wisconsin Winter Wear, in spite of what you may have read in the fictionalized tales of a particular(ly awesome) pioneer woman. But now that Joe has finished our wood stove, I am getting back to work in the studio!

earthenware candleholder still life with safety glasses

I mixed lots of earthenware test glazes and a few clay tests this weekend. Because I'm still struggling to get a reliable local earthenware clay body--I have watched pots break neatly in half while they are drying!--and because it is a challenge to process/mix/dry local materials when it is 10 degrees with 50 mph winds outside (while wearing a poplin dress), I have ordered brick clay from Nebraska to use over the winter. I feel like I am making real progress on my earthenware clay project, though. I hope to have enough tests to do a firing in our test kiln in early February.

Happy 2012!

**c