I HEART San Francisco

Pic above from Heath

It seems like forever ago, but Thanks giving was just 7 weeks ago. AC and I went to San Francisco to be with his family for the holiday. I FELL IN LOVE with San Francisco. It is very easy for me to see how all of his siblings (2 sisters and his older bro) ended up there. If NYC wasn't my first love...

While there we took advantage of visiting HEATH! A gang of us Cravens headed over the bridge to Sausalito for the factory tour. Above you will see how they get their pottery so perfect! It is how they "throw" their pottery- by machines and molded profile templates with a man at the front.

So two of the reasons I wanted to take advantage of our geographical location for the holiday and visit Heath (there are probably a few hundred other reasons as well) are:

1. Clearly I have been in a slump since my unfortunate last kiln load, and I needed inspiration and a pick me up!

2. I am going to make the tile for our kitchen. Gasps are being taken all around I am sure- either from the sheer blah of our current kitchen tiles (pictured below), or my quest to see this project of mine carried out and completed. I told my friend J around Christmas, and all she could muster was as deadpan, "ambitious"- without much faith in me!

If AC and I were to buy tile for our kitchen, it would be from Heath. I went straight to the source for inspiration. The tile pictured at the very top of this post has a third dimension to tile, which might be a little too much for our kitchen, but I love the shape, so I am set. I have a few tile making experiments going on and ahead of me, but I am back in the studio. If not for me at the moment, for our kitchen.

Speed Bump

A bump in the road-3 weeks ago:

My entire kiln load was ruined. I think my glaze was too thick. This REALLY threw me. I mean it really threw me- I haven't stepped foot in my studio for 3 weeks! The picture above was taken next to the Maritime Hotel on 9th. Looking up and seeing the sign in front of the building struck a chord.

I took some time, worked on the Craven house (before and after pics coming soon!), and I'm back.

I was in a slump, and not quite ready to be back- but these picked my butt up!:
1- a visit from my sister in law. I really love a houseguest.
2- a few sales through Etsy!
3- these from Nest. A tiny little bit of twisted craftsmanship for an extra lift. Some people think they are creepy, I love them.

4- thumbing through the recently published pics of Marilyn Monroe's visit to Banff in the Canadian Rockies. The pictures are full of bears, which I think is great.

Back to the task at hand... studio here I come!

Mistakes were made

What happened here? Looks like nothing from above... I am finally near the point of happiness and functionality with my sihouettes, and then this. I put the damn flat piece on a stilt and it warped in the kiln. ugh- lesson learned the hard way.

What happened here- what are those bumps? No clue, I am thinking I didn't pull it out of the glaze fast enough and it went on a little thick. I kind of like the way it ended up, but it is a "second" none the less.