Progress and commissions!

Photos: "Animal jar" for friend's birthday; plates and bowls with new clear - NO CRAZING!

So much good news to share! I've been going bananas (in a good way) with studio work and life. Here's the news:

1.  Just completed a commission to do vases for all the cottage rooms at the Blue Dolphin. I've never been much good at doing multiples of the same thing. But this was fun, challenging and I am excited to have my work there. I'll post pics before they are delivered in March. 

2. I sold an older piece to a friend who wanted to treat a special buddy for a significant birthday. She knew her friend had admired this piece and I actually sold it out of my display at home. It's such a great stroke for me since I really liked making these "animal sculpture jars" but it didn't seem like there was much of an audience/market for them. Maybe I'll start working on a new variation...

3. And, FINALLY got my crazing problem solved with the clear glaze! This had been a long-standing problem and pretty much halted some of my work. I called Laguna and worked with their glaze expert guy to get a low-expansion clear. They sent me a test batch to mix up and it worked so well. I bit the bullet and special ordered a big batch of dry. So worth it not to struggle with this any more. 

LAST - We are going to Brazil on Saturday! We were invited to stay with a friend and thought it was a once-in-a-lifetime opp... Then we went to buy our plane fare. Ouch. That's a lot of pots! But we're going!