Kiln Tetris

All potters will understand the need to get "just one more piece" in the kiln. You have a deadline: a show, someone's birthday or Christmas presents that have been ordered. The problem? You have a small kiln, or a full kiln, or too many things you are trying to get done. I played this game with my last bisque firing and that makes a difference too. If it is a bisque kiln you can stack and lean and invade the personal space of every piece in there. If it is a glaze fire, you need to have gaps between every piece, nothing is allowed to touch and definitely NO STACKING!

My deadline is a show and I had a new product I wanted to add in at the last minute to my already full kiln. I unloaded everything I had loaded and stacked more pieces in wherever I could. Here are the pictures of each shelf. (Minus one, I realized I forgot to take a picture as I took out the last piece. I got too excited to unload!)

Top shelves pre-fire.

Top shelves post fire.

I had an extra half shelf with short items on the top.

 Here is where I missed taking a picture. This shelf included all the new items plus some small things stacked and piled in.

Bottom shelf, I added items inside each mug. Minis and baby bowls got stacked
and leaf ornaments and pendants added wherever they fit.

Leaf ornaments and pendants. There were a couple casualties here that
could have happened anytime from making to loading or even in the firing.

Bud vases (new item), dishes, mugs, minis, and baby bowls.

Beads, pendants, kids' items, whistle, soup mug, wine trivet/plates
and a spoon rest, and some stemless wine glasses.

Here is the tally of what I got in this kiln:

• 17 mugs
• 42 baby bowls
• 9 minis
• 12 dishes
• 13 bud vases
• 5 cups
• 1 whistle
• 1 soup mug
• 2 wine trivets/plates
• 1 spoon rest
• 13 pendants
• 98 kids' items
• 17 beads
• 149 leaf ornaments
• 85 leaf pendants

Making the total of pieces fired: 465! This is my new record. I've done just over 200 in this little kiln before, and it does make a big difference when you add in all the little items and do pretty much all small pieces as opposed to having one shelf dominated by a serving bowl or some taller pieces. Now to glaze it all...

A Month of Catching Up

It's coming up on a month since I last wrote anything. That's not completely accurate since I did write an entire post but I deleted it instead of posting it. I decided I didn't want that post on here.

So here's what's been happening. I've had several art shows and all that that entails. The making of work, taking photos of work, pricing my work, packing and then loading it into my car, then unloading and setting up my booth, taking down and repacking my work, then unloading the car once I get home. I've done that seven weeks in a row now and I have one more show this summer on Saturday. After that I have my three day Renaissance faire in September and at least one Christmas show in November, plus any open studios I do. I have won two ribbons this summer so far and I'm very excited about that!

Minocqua Island Art Walk

Three Lakes Art on Main

I haven't needed to make any pottery the last couple of weeks, I will be making some after the show this week, but instead I have been crocheting. I need to get some Kritters made, they seem to be pretty popular and I finally picked up the yarn to work on my temperature afghan again. I made it to July 28th before I ran out of another color and now have to take another trip to buy yarn. Considering I was stuck somewhere back in May, July 28th is pretty caught up, at least for now.

I ran out of orange about 10 inches from the end of the row.

I also took some work to a friend's store, Stamp, Paper, Scissors in Minocqua by WalMart/Trig's. She has a little of my pottery, scarves, Kritters, paintings and cards. So a little of Katlyn Koester Designs and a little of Katlyn's Bohemian Designs. If you need some of my work you can check it out there. (I also have some of my old style pottery at Chocolates and More in the boardwalk shops by Save More, Kritters and sweater monsters in the Three Lakes Center for the Arts, and as always a selection of old and new style pottery and Kritters at Artistree Gallery in Land O' Lakes.)

My display at Stamp, Paper, Scissors

Along with all the shows and art I actually had a little time to be social this month. I spent a couple days hanging out with some family that came to visit, went to a friend's birthday party and made new friends, went blueberry picking with my family and went for a hike with a friend. In essence that amount of socializing is what I usually do in a couple months and I had all of that in about 10 days.

Now the end of summer is near and isn't that odd? Where did it go this year? I feel like just a couple weeks ago I was hiking the Ice Age Trail. You can read about that adventure here: Day 1-2, Day 3-4, Day 5-6. Of course a lot has happened this summer, some good, some not so good. But you can't stop time no matter how much you want to, just have to take notes, pictures, and enjoy it while it happens. And the more you enjoy it, the more it stays with you.

Assorted Happenings

My mom and I took a hike on Wednesday so I could wear my pack with everything but my food and bathroom items ready. I had taken off the lid pockets, because it is removable and would take away a little weight, but I have to put it back on after taking this hike. Without it, too much weight gets shifted to the outside of my pack so that my food bag would fit and it hurt to carry the weight like that. So the lid will go back on. (I also lost a marble and if you are interested in what that means go to The World's Biggest Marble Hunt on Facebook and join the group and have some fun.)

I have found several blue, black, and white feathers during my walks and hikes.

While we were talking about some of the details of my hike I looked down and saw what I think is a blue jay feather. It is blue, black, and white, and according to the meaning of feather color page I use that means a change is on the horizon. (Read about my mystical mind.) Well it certainly is. In just a couple more weeks (really I could be counting in days now) I will leave for my attempt at a thru-hike of the Ice Age Trail. I'd say that's a pretty big change.

One of the bowls I donated.

In other news I attended an Empty Bowls event at my elementary school, the same event I went to last year. The kids made bowls that they got to keep and several local potters donated bowls to be raffled off. All the money raised and canned food is to be donated to the local food pantry. I won a bowl again this year in the raffle. My donated bowls went missing some time between when I dropped them off on Monday and the event last night. All the teachers were trying to figure out where they went and hopefully they'll find them and be able to raffle them off among the staff and teachers when they do. Raise a little more money for the food pantry.

The second bowl I donated.

And a handled soup bowl.

Yesterday I sorted through my pottery that I boxed up at the end of the season last year to make sure I have enough for my show tomorrow. I loaded my car today. The first show of the year is always the hardest. I'm not sure where everything got stored for the winter, I can't remember exactly what pottery I have or want to take, and this show is actually a craft show so I am also taking my crocheted Kritters, my new sweater monsters, and the beaded sun catchers I made this winter. This also poses new problems as I have to work out how to fit these items into my regular display and much of that tends to happen when I am setting up at the show venue.

One of my new sweater monsters. He is a specific variety
I keep calling "Pocket Monster."

I don't know how many more times I will get to writing before I leave. I will have at least one post next week and then we'll see!

2017 Art Plans Begin Now

It's the end of the year, and I hope everyone is having or has had a wonderful holiday season. Whichever holiday(s) you celebrate. The end of the year for me means catching up on bookkeeping and preparing to do my sales tax, but it also means the new show season is about to start.

My booth from one show in 2016.

I typically start shows no earlier than April and it looks as though I will be doing that again this year. That doesn't mean I can sit around until April. I have to get my applications sent in. I am hoping to do a few new shows this year, some bigger ones that are going to require a bit more work in terms of travel and planning. Those applications are going to start coming due in February. And since I am not going to be around to send out applications in April or May due to my hike, any applications I get that are due then will have to be completed and sent back upon their arrival in my inbox or mailbox.

I'm hoping to get into a second Renaissance Faire this year.

Before I get into the summer show season I will be having a sale for Valentine's Day on my Facebook page again this year. This year, however, instead of having only pottery, I will be including some of my other items. I have yet to make the pottery, that will be the next big thing on my list, but I have several beaded sun catchers made with plans to make more, and I'm working on a few Kritters to include as well.

A couple of the sun catchers I have done.

I know Christmas just happened and with presents just bought and opened, buying more gifts is pretty far down on everyone's list of things to do. As a maker of items that take a while to complete, I have to think months in advance and then hope I get everything done that I plan to do. So I will be reminding everyone again on my Facebook page when we get closer to my sale and Valentine's Day

An in progress bunny, it always looks like Frankenstein's
 lab when I'm assembling Kritters.