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Something sort of new…

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The personalized piggy banks sell so well that I decided to start offering personalized mugs in my Etsy shop. The first prototype was a gift for my great niece.  I delivered it to her when we visited New Hampshire last month.

Last month… wow. Where did August go? I can’t believe it’s September already. I am looking forward to some cooler and less humid weather. I am hoping it arrives soon. There is nothing like windows open and fresh air in the house. Especially for sleeping at night.

Back to the mugs. I will offer these in a few more glaze combinations and probably with some other stamps. I will be adding more to the Etsy shop in the coming weeks.

Enjoy the Labor Day weekend, even if you have to labor.

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Re-Cap of the Fair

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I have blogged about the fun adventures, and misadventures that we had on our trip to New England, but I haven’t said much about our time at the League of NH Craftsmen’s Fair.

Overall it was a good event. Our sales were a little ahead of last year. Jeff and I both had family and friends visit us at the fair. They were people that we would not have been able to connect with if it wasn’t for them coming to the show.

One of my favorite visitors was my great nephew Weston, who also came along with his mother, my brother’s oldest daughter Brooke. He is a very active and expressive 1 1/2 year old! Our booth was across from the upper lodge of the ski area and we were able to have lunch together on the patio.

Jeff and I always laugh that to many in NH, hamburgers and hot dogs are called barbecue. They did at least have a brisket sandwich on the menu. The food is actually quite good. We typically bring our own lunch everyday and treat ourselves to either one breakfast or lunch during our time there.

Getting to the show this year was a struggle. We had so much going on at home that we hated to leave. The day before we left we unloaded a kiln and had to pack and ship most of it’s contents. We also knew that leaving was going to put us a little behind in production for the next round of orders that are due at the beginning of September.

Then there was the garden. Jeff worked so hard all Spring and Summer, and we knew that a lot of the veggies would  be ripe for picking while we were gone.

All of these things, along with some changes to the show and management, helped us make the decision that we are definitely not doing the show next year. We need a break… and it might be permanent. We actually sold our booth rug to another booth holder that was moving into the show on the night we were packing up! There had been a lot of rain and their space was muddy and they didn’t have a rug. Problem solved… they were happy and we didn’t have to pack it up.

This year the attendance at the fair was down most every day. Could it be because the gate fee was increased to $15? I think it definitely had an affect. At $15 you don’t even get to come for two days. A second day is an additional $5. This is a big show and it really takes two days if you want to see and do everything. There also were some “guest” craftsmen that were not juried members. That totally blew my mind since I lost my juried member status when we moved. Jeff was grandfathered in. I am no longer eligible to participate as a booth holder. We take Jeff’s work to the show. I am allowed to help with a percentage of it’s creation. There were also rumors that the booth fees will increase next year. Our booth fee is around $800 for four days. A nine day booth, I believe is close to $1600. This is for a 10′ space. Corners and large booths are more.

It’s a little scary to stop doing a show that has become part of your life for so many years. We have had good sales the last three years, but many years of poor to mediocre sales as well. I guess I would rather go out on a high note. Next year we will take some time, perhaps in the Fall, and take a road trip to visit our family and friends… and we won’t have to pull a trailer, YAY!

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Yale University Art Gallery

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Jeff and I have been wanting to visit the Yale University Art Gallery in New Haven, CT. for a few years now. In the past, the timing never worked out for us. This year we stayed an extra day with Danielle and Jason and were able to go on Tuesday. The gallery was much  bigger than I imagined. Three floors of art, ranging from ancient to modern.
I was happy to find a Georgia O’Keeffe in the collection!

 

Betty Woodman
Peter Voulkos

 

Jackson Pollack

 

This room of ancient Mediterranean art was amazing.

 

 

Lots of interesting African art
The gallery has a large number of Picasso paintings and few of his sculptures. Lots of pottery in the Asian art section. My camera photos were too dark and not worth sharing.
If you are ever in the New Haven area, be sure to take a couple of hours to explore the gallery.

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Home again, home again, jiggity jig…

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Our travels back to North Carolina took a jag in the “jiggity jig”. We hadn’t traveled more than an hour outside of New Haven CT, where Danielle lives, when the car started vibrating. We pulled off at the next rest area and realized that one of the front brake calipers had seized. There was a Midas at the next exit, in Stamford, that would be able to fix the brakes right away. At first they wanted to replace the brakes pads, rotors and brake lines on the entire front end. All of this for the low price of $1200 and some change. Seriously? Two years ago I had a complete brake job done on all four wheels for a little more than $700. Connecticut is not the place to break down. We finally settled on repairing the one side for $620. We just wanted to get home. My car goes in for an inspection next month and if it needs any thing more, my mechanic in Asheboro will be much more affordable.

Despite the break down we really had a great time visiting with Danielle and Jay. They recently purchased a 1926 craftsmen style home that was completely rehabbed. The contractor did a great job, leaving a lot of the original details of the home intact.

Many of the windows have the original stained and leaded glass.

 

The tile in the entryway is also original to the home.

We had our usual lobster feast as well as dining out a few times at some of the really great restaurants that New Haven has to offer. Aside from eating, we did squeeze in a little culture by visiting the Yale University Art Gallery. I will save that for another post.

It feels good to be home and sleeping in our own bed. The trailer is unpacked. The laundry is done. Now to tackle the weeds that overtook our gardens, and get our hands back into clay.

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Indulge

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I ate fried clams for brunch this morning.

They were calling me from the refrigerator and I thought, heck, I am in vacation mode and I can eat what I want.

We took Dad to Newick’s Lobster House last night. The portions are huge and I brought home nearly half of my fried clams. He ordered baked scallops and ate them all! I was so happy to see him and his new nursing home digs. It’s a great facility, super clean, nice decor, and excellent staff. Dad has adjusted well, and has gained over 10 pounds since he moved there. I like that I can now envision him in his environment when we talk on the phone. For the past 8 months all I could picture in my mind was the rehab facility he was in when he broke his hip. This place is much nicer and it should be, it costs a fortune to be there.

Today we are off to the farmers market to hopefully buy some fresh haddock for dinner. We have to keep up this “eating seafood everyday” challenge… let me tell you, it isn’t hard.

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Another Year at the Fair…

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Last night we packed up our booth at the 85th Annual League of NH Craftsmen’s Fair at Mt. Sunapee Resort in NH. Despite the heat and humidity and occasional torrential rain shower, we sold lots of pots.
Our friends David Ernster and Alicia Bergeron, were kind enough to offer us lodging for the duration of the event. Their home is a nice respite after a busy day of interacting with people. They have a deck with a beautiful view and this very cool canopy of hops growing over it and up to the roof of their home.
Dave is an awesome potter. We have collected quite a few of his pieces over the years.
This year I picked out this “birch tree” mug from his booth at the fair. The birch design will remind me of my New Hampshire roots.

When the trailer was packed we headed to Wolfeboro to spend a few days with my sister and visit my Dad. We stopped on the way to pick up food for dinner and found lobster for $4.99 a pound. We bought two, along with the ingredients for a quick pasta dish. Way better than a frozen pizza! I sure do miss affordable lobster. Our plan is to buy a few more, the day before we leave, to cook and carry home in a cooler. Tonight we are taking my Dad to his favorite seafood restaurant on Dover Point. We are going to indulge while we can!

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The Lion King?

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I make a lot of piggy banks. Most are special orders and I have to make what is requested. Don’t get me wrong, I love making piggy banks with kids names. It keeps me in touch with what all the cool parents are naming their kids these days. Once in awhile I can break away from the orders and make something different.
This time it was a Lion Bank.
He is my take on a Chinese guardian lion, with a friendlier face.
I am really happy with how the shino glaze and wood ash worked for this form.

I have been hanging on to him for a bit. Eventually I will list him for sale on Etsy. In the mean time I will study him.

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When it rains, it pours

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When we moved to 505 E. Main we bought a used refrigerator on Craigslist. We needed something to get us by until we could afford a new one. Lowe’s had a decent sale this month so we bit the bullet and bought this beauty…

It never arrived the day of the scheduled delivery. No one at Lowe’s knew why it never got on the truck that morning. They would reschedule for six days later. On a good note they gave us an even better price for the inconvenience.

The new refrigerator was delivered a week ago Monday and we love it. Tuesday we woke up in the wee hours of the morning to a light flashing and a humming noise. Jeff jumped out of bed, thinking the house was on fire. It thankfully wasn’t, but it was probably close. The plug on the condenser of our heat pump fried, which in turn caused, what I guess, was a power surge in the house that made our touch lamp flicker as well as burning out the power strip it was plugged into. When we called an HVAC company I was shocked that a tech arrived within an hour of the phone call. I was even more shocked when he said it was close to $3000 to repair or $8000 to replace it.
It’s a 15 year old heat pump. Which is a heat pump’s average life span.

UGH.

We decided to get a second opinion. The second company came out right away too. The repair estimate was about the same. The first replacement quote was for a fancy Bosch unit, super efficient, ultra-violet air cleaner, all for the fancy price of $12,000. I wanted to say, “Look around this house dude, does it look like we can afford that?”
After some discussion we settled on a Rheem unit for the low, low price of $6,100. I still wanted to throw up. The unit was installed on Thursday, just before the humidity returned.
Thank goodness for interest free payment plans.

It’s already looking dirty. Maybe when I clean the stainless on the fridge I should go outside and polish this baby too.

Before the heat pump expired we had also called our electrician to assess our old well pump so that we can use the well to water the garden, instead of town water… and to install an outlet for our window AC unit in the studio. This was the smallest cha-ching of the week, and the good news is our well pump seems to work fine and hopefully we will be able to start using it soon.

If we could have foreseen the future we never would have bought a new refrigerator. I just have to have faith that everything will work out in the end. Perhaps our electric bill will be a little lighter with the new appliances.
In the mean time I have to remind myself that we are more fortunate than many others. Money can be tight but we have roof over our head, food on the table, and generally good health.

Jeff and I like to take the time each day to enjoy the beauty of nature that surrounds us. We really appreciate the land that we live on and call home.

If you look closely you will see my baby anole garden buddy. I have been watching him grow for the last couple of weeks. Yesterday I noticed he is getting a dark stripe on his back.

… and it really did rain here. The gardens are very happy.

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Realizations

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Over the weekend I was searching online for a list of Salmon Falls Stoneware makers marks. A friend had a bean pot that I wanted to identify for her, and Jeff wasn’t home to take a look at it. During my search I came across a Salmon Falls Stoneware piggy bank with John’s mark. John was one of the piggy bank makers at the factory in Dover, NH. As searches go, I then stumbled upon a short essay that John had published in The Sun magazine in 1983. I knew he had subscribed to The Sun, there were lots of old issues in the house. What I didn’t know was that he had submitted, and had this piece published.

I AM COMING TO REALIZE I am an artist as opposed to a
craftsman. I enjoy making pots that do no more than sit there and speak
directly to the spirit. God, I am a lucky one, for I work with spirit every
day. Some days more than others. Today, I had to work eight hours before it started,
but then it was like working with clay for the first time again, finding new
forms and delighting in their appearance. One day of making a group of
successful “one-of-a-kinds,” or even getting just one right, will carry me
through weeks of repetitious throwing. And the plates and bowls take on a
newer, subtle glow.
I have found a voice. I try to let myself be open to it
everywhere. When I used to play music, some of the nights, really special
nights, it was beyond words. It’s a matter of putting yourself in a place where
the spark can come through. You offer yourself up and sometimes it happens, and
sometimes it doesn’t. It is in control, not you.
I’ve tried to do the same in my relationships. If I feel
that spark, I follow it. And I don’t settle for anything less than the best any
more, in anything. I’m talking about quality. In music, in pots, in love. It’s
all the same — I wash dishes the same way I play guitar.
The striving to reach new heights is what I love and work so
hard for. Maybe I take myself too seriously, but I want to make a statement
that will last longer than my life here on earth. Ego? Not entirely. Through
art, man has an ability to communicate; it is an emotional language understood
at the gut level if the artist has depth and command of his materials. It takes
a lifetime to learn those skills — how to weld the technical to the passions of
being alive. There are higher forces at work on us. I want to create the
feeling that one gets from looking at the pyramids, or the stone sculptures of
Easter Island — reaching higher. I have felt much pain in my life, but that has
carved out a place in me that is full of love now. I have to hide it even from
myself. It’s overwhelming sometimes. And I want to pass it along — it’s not
worth a damn if I don’t.
John Zentner
Knoxville, Maryland

My favorite sentence is, “I wash dishes the same way I play guitar.” 

And that he did.

Reprinted with permission
Read more of The Sun here: Things I Make – The Sun

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