I packed up the pottery “starter sets” and shipped them out… anxiously awaiting The Big Reveal on Christmas! With things being as they are this year… the family “got together” to open their presents online!!! Not the best screen-grabs… but you can kinda see the excitement & joy of their new pottery! With the “gift-givers” a bit blurry, but still in the bottom left corner!

And since then… it’s been fun watching them all start using their new pottery collection! Each of them showing off parts of their new collections!

And Matt has already found “space” on his kitchen display shelves… although methinks he’s going to “need” more shelving pretty darn soon!

Another great Christmas SURPRISE…
I was also asked to make a couple “sets” of pottery for three different families. The parents who requested these “sets” have QUITE the collection of my pottery. They’ve been collecting my work for years… and probably have TOO MUCH if that’s even possible! I know most of their kids have some “random” pieces… a mug here, a bowl there… but not a good “set” of anything!

So the request was to make two bowls, two mugs and two juice cups in three different colors for three different families. They love the stamped patterns… but didn’t want them to be all “matchy-matchy”… so they wanted the stamps to all be different. Similar, but different.

And to make matters worse…
imagine ME not being able to share the photos of these pieces as I was making them!!! I was so careful not to share too much to ruin the surprise! I had fun making the sets… but so tough NOT to show photos along the way!

The “celadon” green set traveled to Kristy & Matt in Wisconsin!

The cobalt blue set went to Karen & Annie in Maryland.

And the green set was delivered to Jody & Ira in Pennsylvania.

And oh, but wait there’s more…
I figured since each of the families was getting a nice “starter set” courtesy of their parents… maybe they needed a plate to go with it too??? Especially since I’ve kinda been “adopted” into the family. I’ve even been referred to as “the favorite son”!!!

A title I’ll gladly take… especially since they only have daughters!

Okay… PART TWO of the story!

With only two flat & two warped soda-fired plates,
I knew that these wouldn’t work for this special order of FOUR.
Especially since I had already decided that these dinner plates
were going to be my friends’ Christmas present!!!

So I quickly threw another set of plates.
Center. Compress. Throw. Spiral. Stamp.

This time knowing that a simple glazed firing would be a lot “safer” for warping this time around. Especially with the Christmas deadline closing in!!! This time I also hedged my bets by making five plates… so I would have a back-up if something went wrong!

I went with a “neutral” glaze combo… one of my cone six glazes. A honey-amber tenmoku looking glaze… I then sprayed a tiny bit of blue glaze around the perimeter to help with the contrast of the stamped impressions.

I was quite pleased when they came out of the glaze firing. The glazes melted and “broke” just right in all the right places. Not only were the stamps highlighted nicely… but that spiral?!!! Beautiful.

And now that Christmas has passed… and gifts have been shared… I can let the “secret” out. I decided to give Gerry & Rosene BOTH sets of plates! Starting with the soda-fired set “as requested” in the special order. They LOVED them!!!… and didn’t seem to care so much about the warping. They know all about the process and the inherent risks!

And then they opened the second package…
with the “replacement” set of glazed plates…
and they LOVED those too!!!

So much so… it brought tears to Rosene’s eyes!
What more could you want from your Christmas gifts!

Mission accomplished.

And now… finally...
Christmas “secrets projects” can be revealed!!!

So I got a request for a “special order” to make a set of four soda-fired dinner plates. They were to be for some very good friends of mine… actually, my VERY FIRST art fair friends ever!!! They wanted four dinner plates that were very “neutral” so that any of their other more colorful pottery pieces would still work along with them. When I took the order, I made sure to mention that I don’t make a lot of soda-fired plates as there’s a larger propensity for them to warp during the firing. I also explained the inherent randomness of soda-firing… which they are fully aware of as they have quite a collection of my work!

So I made their dinner plates… taking extra caution to compress them really well, make sure they’re not over-worked, and very careful not to pick them up in a way that might warp them. They had asked for four “matching” plates that each had a different stamp pattern. They looked great after the bisque firing, so I glazed them for my latest soda-firing. I even made sure to us a LOT of wadding under the plate… probably double what one would normally use!

Here they are glazed… with a tenmoku inlay into the stamped impressions. A thin spray of tenmoku in the center area which should turn an “neutral” amber color… and a very light spray of a green glaze for a bit of a subtle random accent.

And then it was time to soda-fire them. So I placed them towards the back of the kiln. Making sure that they were placed on NEW flat kiln shelves! I was confident that these plates were going to work out… as they’re a commission order for very special friends!!!

When I unloaded the kiln, I was very excited about the “neutral-ness” of the plates! They’re going to LOVE them… as Rosene’s favorite color is BEIGE!!! Which I keep advising her that BEIGE is indeed NOT a color!!!

And here they are… the four “matching” dinner plates each with a different stamp pattern! With very subtle accents… and yet very “neutral.”

Again, the GOAL was a set of dinner plates… very neutral…
each with a different stamped texture!

After they came out of the kiln, as I was stacking & packing up the pieces… only then did I notice that TWO of plates were perfectly flat… while the other two were not!!! Two of the plates were warped terribly!!!

Ugh…. WARPED!!!

As these were a SET OF FOUR… two warped and two flat were not going to work for me!! I was going to need to make some replacements VERY QUICKLY… so they would be ready for Christmas!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EVERYONE.
As I spend another socially-distant holiday by myself today, it is nice to reminisce and be thankful for the FAMILY you have surrounding you… whether in person or not. It’s been such a trying time for so many families this year… and I am SO THANKFUL for the “family” I have surrounding & supporting me.

Happy Holidays to all of you… my “online family”!
I hope you all stay safe, healthy & happy through this socially-distant holiday season… and that 2021 becomes much better that 2020!!!

Tonight’s the night… and Santa Claus is comin’ to town!!! So why not celebrate with some sweet treats and a little Christmas Caroling?! Feel free to sing-along… ahhh, remember road-trips back when you could still drive in the car with friends???

It’s beginning to look LOT like Christmas!!!… EVERYwhere you go! So festive & fun to see how one of my ceramic totem poles is now surrounded by Christmas Cheer!!! It’s a crazy mix of holiday fun out in the suburbs these days!!! Thanks Chris!

Looks like there are some new yummies coming out of the oven! More Christmas cookies on a pretty stamped yellow plate. And if the cookies didn’t look yummy enough… SURPRISE!!!… there’s apparently a peppermint patty candy hidden inside! Thanks for the “sweet” photo Jody!

Never too soon to break into some Christmas Cookies, right?!
While decorating for Christmas it’s always good to have some sweet snacks to get you in the mood… again… and again!!! Doesn’t hurt when they’re displayed on a nice holiday green platter either! Thanks for baking & sharing Rosene!

Momma Molloy sharing some of her mug collection to help celebrate MUGSHOT MONDAY! I love seeing my pottery being used in people’s homes… making their morning a bit more special.