Showing posts with label Pots for Sale. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pots for Sale. Show all posts

Saturday, August 31, 2024

Shop Update!


Finally got my items photographed and, after an hour and a half on the phone with support, listed in the online store. Lots of bowls this time, a couple of mugs, one sweet little lidded jar! Check them out here if you've got a minute. 

I did something a little different, with the photo set up: instead of tearing apart my living room, I tried setting up outside on the deck. Not in direct sun - the shadows would be harsh. My deck is in shade all afternoon, so I tried that. It was easier & I think pretty successful. 


I own one of those nylon photo tents but my friends, I am here to tell you, those absolutely SUCK. Or else I am doing something wrong, but I can't imagine what. I couldn't get a good pic out of the thing to save my life. For me the graduated paper is the way to go. I think this is the one I got, but I've had it for like 15 years so I can't remember for sure. 


Monday, October 9, 2023

Everything Matters


My October firing is in the books! 

After the last firing, during which my sprayer failed, necessitating a frantic drive around town to find a barely-adequate replacement, I ordered two good sprayers with metal wands online.(I actually wanted this one, because it looks so sci-fi; but it's more than twice as much as the ones I got.)  Always good to have back up! The new device performed admirably - better, I'd say, than the original. It sprays in a finer mist than the first, which allows more of the soda to volatize before falling to the burner-channel floor. As a result, the coating of soda glaze was thicker, for the same amount of soda. 

This is no bad thing, but it does mean I'll have to make some adjustments to get the coat of soda just how I like it. There was more grey than I am usually aiming for in this load. It's a pretty grey - light & pearly, flashed with honey-brown - I just want to adjust the ratio a bit, so the next pots will be honey with some grey, rather than grey with some honey. Still, overall very happy with the results. 

I am lately aiming to fire once a month, because my accounts have been doing really well, & I want to keep them stocked up, and have enough to add some new stores this winter. Also, twenty years after Doug built my first website, online orders have become a significant stream of income for me! If I knew how, I would tell you - I'm all about lifting other potters up - but honestly ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Here's what I do know: 

  • Facebook has always been a good way to generate a sale or two, when I post updates to the online shop. I know everyone hates Meta, & not without reason, but for artists, nobody has yet created a tool to so effectively reach customers.
  • I've been posting to Insta, & cross-posting to the Fine Mess business page, a lot more since my friend gave me her old iphone. I don't post literally every day but maybe 10 times a week? Much of it is pottery process, interspersed with some cats, hiking, & gardening. 
  • I had a post go semi-viral last summer, seen by about a million people. There was nothing unusual or amazing about the post, so I don't know why, but I did gain hundreds of new followers as a result; and as a result of that I get more interaction per post, which in turn make the FB algorithm show posts to more people. 
  • Interactions seem key, so sometimes I will ask for feedback about a new technique or a piece I am working one. 
The takeaway, if I had to guess, is just more posting. I post pots in progress, & I think the audience gets interested & invested in the work. I dunno; what do I know? I'm just guessing. 

Anyway the shop update is live! Check it out here
Actually there's only one pot left for sale - & I just updated last night! I better go make stuff. 
Aiming for October 29th for the next firing. 

Thursday, August 17, 2023

Saturday, February 11, 2023

Flash Sale! I think

 

One of my New Year's resolutions was to learn to use social media better for business. I usually keep my New Year's resolutions, or at least make a mighty effort; this one was challenging, as I feel older & less tech savvy by the day. 

But I think I got it figured out! Here goes: for 48 hours - midnight February 15th though midnight February 16th - enter code FEBFLASH at checkout in the Fine Mess Pottery online shop to receive 15% off! 

I hope somebody actually buys something so I know if I did it right! 

Friday, November 25, 2022

New Pots in the Online Shop!

Just in time for Small Business Saturday. And, you know, Cyber Monday, & the rest of the holiday shopping season, right up to December 15th, which is the latest I could get a piece shipped in time for Christmas. Here are some of the new offerings:

Garlic roasters! If you have a cook in your life, they need one of these. Roast garlic is soft & spreadable, & has a milder, sweeter taste than raw. I'll tuck a recipe in the box with purchase! Get one here

This is a larger serving bowl, about 8 inches in diameter & 4ish inches tall. The slip trailed flowers are pretty exuberant, I guess I got carried away! The glaze is a greatly altered Leach White - like, so altered it now only shares one ingredient - plus some chartreuse Mason stain. It's satiny & smooth, and while I wouldn't call it chartreuse (Mason stains don't always express the expected color, especially in reduction) it's a lovely spring green. See more here

You know how I love to make butter dishes! I have a few new ones in the shop. This one has a periwinkle interior, another results of my playing around with Mason stains. See more here.

Loads of little vases, just over 4" high, listed today as well. Little enough to bring some beauty to your workspace. Or even your car - they fit in the cupholder! 









Thanks for looking, & I hope your Thanksgiving was as full of love & family as mine. 

Thursday, May 20, 2021

Mugs & Stories

 As I have mentioned here before, the wildlife imagery I use is never of the "iconic" variety. I'm not opposed to moose & lobsters, but they are not really personal to me, so until I have a story to tell, their images don't interest me much. Dragonflies, now those are a different story! Conttontails, pumpkin seeds, ladybugs...all more interesting to me than the critters the tourism department has decided stand for Maine. 

I just listed a whole bunch of new mugs, all with a wildlife story to tell. 

Read my ladybug story at the link! 

Read my salmon story at the link! 

Read my cottontail story at the link!

Read my dragonfly story at the link

Lots more in the Fine Mess Pottery shop

Saturday, January 11, 2020

Resolution: Less Waste

When I asked a young friend of mine if she made New Year's resolutions, she told me no, but she had made a New Decade's resolution: to cease using single-use plastics by 2030. This is an ambitious and laudable goal! Though I'd like to think I could do this, it feels overwhelming; but it did inspire me to think about the ways in which I could reduce waste in my life.

Here's an easy one: I can remember to bring a ceramic cup with me when I get coffee out! Coffee is one of my small indulgences. Every day at home, naturally! If you are like me, several times a week you also find yourself with a disposable cup in hand, enjoying a java out in the world. Take a second to picture the pile those cups would make at the end of the year! Disposable coffee cups aren’t good candidates for recycling, because they are either Styrofoam or lined with a thin layer of plastic.
That’s a lot of waste, but there’s good news, friend! A ceramiccup requires only 18 uses to break even with paper in terms of water use andenergy consumption. After that, every time you use a ceramic cup instead of paper, you are helping to save the planet. Once or twice a week I get a coffee out - usually at my favorite Portland coffee shop, Coffee By Design; and usually because I am between classes or other appointments in Portland, killing time. I am a potter! It is an easy matter for me to bring my own mug.

Think about it: after only 18 uses, a ceramic mug is gentler on the environment than paper, in terms of energy consumption, water, and waste. Everything after that is basically an environmental freebie! Plastic breaks even with paper after only 8 uses, but plastic will get brittle &; crack much, MUCH sooner than stoneware - a stoneware mug's useful life is basically forever. All the forever we have, anyway.

You probably already have a stoneware mug - I know my readers are mostly potters! - but just in case, here's a link to my new ones online.


Saturday, September 21, 2019

Pots by the Pound, Saturday October 5

Maine Craft Weekend is coming up, October 5 & 6th! Here at FIne Mess Pottery I am celebrating with my annual Pots by the Pound Sale.

Because I now teach 6 classes, I have what might be a literal ton of demo pots. And that's only the ones that I fire! I do a lot of demos, usually planning at least 2 per class, plus demos by request. Some just get wedged up, but many go through the whole process (there are a lot of glazing techniques to demo also!) In addition, every firing produces a few pots that are just not quite up to snuff. You know the story: soda blobs, tiny cracks in a rim, pasty color. I wouldn't sell any pot that's functionally compromised, but lots of things that make a pot not-great don't affect function at all. The demos, of course, may not even have flaws, they just aren't a fit with my body of work.
All that is to say, I have a lot of pots to shift! Here's how Pots by the Pound works:
  • Each pot will have a colored sticker, coding a price per pound: red for $1 a pound, blue for $2 a pound, yellow for $5 a pound, green for FREE! (Yes, there will be a few free ones.)
  • Customers make their choices, then we weigh all the same-color-code pots together. Weight is rounded up to nearest pound.
  • Price is determined by multiplying the weight of the group of pots by the price code of their sticker. So, if your pile of blue-sticker pots is 3.5 pounds, that rounds up to 4; 4 x $2 is $8. 
This event has been a great lot of fun in previous years, both for me & for shoppers. I hope my local peeps will stop by. Early October is a great time for a road trip in Maine.

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

The Pottery Stairs Are Out!

Come by, local peeps, and grab your bargains!

Monday, May 27, 2019

Must Be Summer!

The Pottery Stairs are out!

I've had people ask if I can email them when the stairs are out. I can't promise that - the only reason I am able to sell items for $5-$15 is because there's no effort involved beyond putting them out there. But I will try to post it to the Fine Mess Pottery facebook page every time. Deal? Deal.

Saturday, April 6, 2019

New Pots in the 2nds Shop!

 Two tiny tiny rough spots on the interior are what renders this gravy boat - otherwise my favorite piece from the firing! - a 2nd. Not enough to compromise the function, mind you! Juuuuust enough of a flaw to put it over the line. Silver lining? Somebody out there will get a great bargain, and this pot will serve its useful purpose in the world.



 This pot doesn't actually have a flaw - just a demo that doesn't really belong anywhere. I was demonstrating a couple of things - the spiral pattern on the inside is a pattern of dark clay inlaid in white. The resulting slab was placed over a hump mold, so my beginners could see that process. Got lucky with the Malcolm Davis Shino - the Mad Dog, as my friend Peg likes to call it - like you sometimes do with that glaze and its wonderful carbon-trapping properties.
It's about 6 inches wide. Check it out here!
Nothing wrong with this pot either! It was a throwing demo, which I then used to demonstrate stamping & slip trailing. Just a basic workhorse shino on this one; pretty nice all the same. It's also about 6" wide, destined to be somebody's go-to bowl for cereal, soup, mac 'n'cheese, even ice cream.
Maybe you? Check it out here



I used this pot as a glaze demo when the little loop on the side proved to be too small for the pate knives I bought for that purpose. That'll teach me: Always do the math! This little pickle fork fits just fine, though, so this pot has found a new purpose in life: it's a pickle dish! Do you need a pickle dish? 

Sunday, March 10, 2019

Demos & Seconds & One-offs, Oh My!

Every pottery teacher amasses demos. I teach 5 classes, all mixed skill levels, so I make a lot of demo pots. I don't fire all of them, but I do a lot of glazing demos, also, so many of them do eventually emerge a a finished product. It's the nature of teaching that I teach many techniques and forms that are not in my usually body of work, and also, I don't do the types of detail work - sanding the bottoms, for example - that I do on what I think of as my "real" work.

In addition, my firing method - soda-firing - generates a fair amount of seconds. Pasty, not-enough-glaze pots, big blobs of soda in unfortunate places, warps, minor cracks...all of those fall in the category of aesthetic seconds: flaws that don't compromise the function of the piece.

What to do with all these oddballs? In the summer I sell many of them from my front yard "pottery stairs," but in the winter they just pile up. Since one of my 19 for 2019 was to increase online sales, I decided to offer these imperfect-but-fine pieces a place in my online store. Upside: maybe sell some pots! Downside: photographing & listing takes time - way more time than just sticking them on shelves in the yard & letting them sell themselves. It may turn out to be not worth it. Also, the flaws do not decrease the cost of shipping, so they are not as much of a bargain for online shoppers as they are for drive-bys. In spite of these, I decided to give it a try. Here are the pots I've listed so far:

Serving Bowl w Green Dots, $30
(Some of the dots are smudged)

The flaw is the blotch, obviously! But this one is nevertheless my favorite. 

Green quilted mug, $22
I got distracted while doing this demo for my class, and mis-spaced one of the quilting lines.
See that funky diagonal? That's what I get for trying to do too many things at once. 

We'll see how it goes. Worst case, they don't sell, and will find homes when summer comes.

Sunday, February 17, 2019

Beautiful Bottoms

At art fairs, I always know when another potter has entered the booth, even before they speak: potters always turn pots over to look at the bottom. Mostly, I suppose, because there's a lot of information there - if it's not obvious from looking at the surface, a glance at the bottom will tell you how the pot was fired. But often, on atmospherically-fired pots, the bottom is as beautiful as the body of the pot.

I've just listed some new items in the Pottery Shop (in keeping with #16 on my 19 for 2019 list! I am actually doing it.) When I photograph the pots, I'll usually take a shot of the most beautiful bottoms. Does that make me weird? Maybe...or maybe I'm just a potter, like you. Yeah, I see you, turning pots over. Can't fool me.
Here they are:
Click here to purchase this Sunburst Bowl
Click here to purchase this Ring of Pearls Bowl

Click here to purchase this Rustic Floral Bowl

Click here to purchase this So Comfy Mug

Click here to purchase this Monday Morning Mug
The kiln did all the work, in the case of these particular bottoms, but sometimes I'll put a little slip-trailed curlique within a foot ring, or stencil on an underglaze dragonfly...I like the idea of a little surprise, a tiny treat for the person who washes the pot & puts it away. It's like a wink, passed between me & them: "Thanks for taking care of my creation."

Tuesday, October 30, 2018

When October Goes



The great Barry Manilow captured the melancholy of late October, as we spin into the dark half of the year. My wallow in that bittersweet feeling needs to be brief, however, because October's end means a very busy time in the studio.

First, I've got new pots in the online shop! Here are a couple of my special favorites:
Got several nice butter dishes out of the last firing! Check this one out at this link

Several sweet little sugar bowls too! Check this one out at this link.

Three big beautiful vases available too! Check this one out at this link
The online store will be open & adding new items every week until the first week in December. 

I'm also preparing for the opening of the Holiday Pottery Shop, which opens in about two weeks. This year the shop is at 160 Water Street in Hallowell. OMG you should see this big beautiful space!! It's the site of the former Harlow Gallery, and has me musing about renting it to open a year 'round store, after the Holiday Pottery Shop pops back down. That's probably little more than a daydream but...it could work. There's space in the back for a wheel & work table & even an electric kiln to bisque, so I wouldn't lose studio time....it could work....

ANYWAY. I've got enough to think about in the present. Orders, consignment stores that need inventory, oh and....

A new cat!

I didn't really mean to get a sixth cat! Actually I tried pretty hard not to get a sixth cat, but cats happen, especially to me. SkinnyCat has been hanging around our house for about a year & a half - he was our neighbors' cat, although they seemed to be a little rough with him; they had small children and Skinny was always limping or seeming injured. Around the beginning of September, we started to notice that Skinny was not looking too good: he was even skinnier, was losing fur and covered with scabs. Then we noticed that he wasn't going home anymore, he was just living in our shed. When we walked over to speak to his people, their apartment was vacant! They had moved away without SkinnyCat! We'd been leaving food out for him anyway, but we started making sure he got two meals a days & had a safe warm place to sleep in the shed while we looked for someone to take him. I actually did find someone willing to take him, but it took about 6 weeks...by which time my husband Doug had really bonded with Skinny, who is an affectionate little lap cat. He (Doug, not SkinnyCat) just looked at me and said, "I don't think I can let him go."

Doug's mother is very ill, & the whole family is having a hard time with it; if one more cat provides him with some comfort, that seems a small ask. So here we are, introducing SkinnyCat to his new family.

Anyway that's my autumn so far! How's yours?

Sunday, March 25, 2018

A Little Good in the World

Help a cat find a home! 

You probably know that I suffer from depression. (If you don't, you must be new here! Welcome.) That is, I am not always in a depressed state but the way my brain chemistry works, I am susceptible. I've been in this brain for a long time, and I know what that slippage feels like; and I have learned some steps I can take to avert it.

Getting plenty of exercise, getting outside - those are a couple of steps. (I would say "Getting plenty of sleep" but that's a useless prescription, as sleeplessness is as much a symptom as a causal factor of depression.) Also really helpful? Do some good in the world. That's where I was going with all this. Today the good I want to do, is to help a cat find a forever home.

I had an online fundraising event for this purpose early in February. The two sponsored cats were adopted soon after, and let me tell you, that felt good, to know that I had a part in that. I don't have much money (hello, I'm a potter) but I do have a little skill, and I can put that skill towards doing some good in the world.

Here's how it works: I've listed a bunch of these little dishes in my online shop. They are about 4" in diameter, and maybe 2" tall - just sweet little bowls appropriate to feed sweet little cats! And sweet big cats, too. If I can sell ten of them, I can sponsor a cat's adoption fee.

Click the link, scroll down a few inches, and choose your dish. Help lift my winter funk - and maybe your too! - by doing a little piece of good in the world. And, bonus, get a little gem of a dish, to feed your kitty, or catch your change, keep your keys, or serve your dipping oil. 😊

https://squareup.com/store/fine-mess-pottery

Wednesday, May 31, 2017

Matching Plates Are So Over

I've posted four new items in the online shop - plates! Check 'em out here, here, here, and here. I've been having some fun with the descriptions. It's like a lot of things: once you give yourself permission to have fun, it gets easier.

Here's a thing I sometimes wonder about: many people like to have their own personal mug. It's not unusual for a household to have no matching mugs (is it? I've never owned a set of mugs, handmade or otherwise.) But plates? Culturally we look upon matched plates as the only way a normal household can have plates.

I want to push back on that idea, and not only because I like to make plates but I hate to make sets. I think it's an opportunity to appreciate plates as object d'art. Each plate its own little vignette, a circular frame around an arrangement of texture, color, and pattern. It's a chance for creative hosts to mix styles and colors together to create an artistic table. Plates are also naturals for display storage; on plate rails or in glass-front or open shelving.

Matching plates? So five minutes ago. Set your table with plates as individual as the people using them!

PS. Don't forget: type in discount code BLOG BUDDY to get 10% off!

Sunday, May 28, 2017

Sweet Hearts Sugar Bowl

New item in the Pottery Shop - this little soda-fired sugar bowl. Best thing about it? THE BOTTOM. (I can say that, because you all are potters, and you understand.)


The rest is nice too. Check it out here.

Thursday, May 18, 2017

Challenging Aesthetics, Or, The Last Juicy Mug from The Juicy Firing

There was a super- juicy area in this last kiln - no dry spots (YAY) but there was a region that got heavy soda, so much glaze it flowed in rivulets on some pots. As it does when it's fired in reduction, the thick soda glass turned charcoal...wait, no, silver...what's another pretty word for grey?

I just mean - in selling these pots, I never describe them as just grey. Dove grey, maybe, or pearl grey.  People think they don't like grey. Shopkeepers think people don't like grey. But these pots, with their juicy grey rivers of soda? Are flying out of here. Every time I post one it's gone in an hour. (KNOCKS WOOD, really hard. Nothing to hear, here, jealous gods, move along!) So I only have one left, of the mugs from the super-juicy spot in the super-juicy firing. It has some grey, flecked with gold.

Why are these the mugs in huge demand, in a world where bright colors are king? I have some thoughts about this, about how people make aesthetic judgments.

There may be some aspect of aesthetics that is hardwired - a preference for bright color would make it easier to find food: fruit, obviously, and edible flowers; and flowers can mark the locations of edible roots, or, later, berries. It must be a pretty mild preference, though, (if it's there are all) because historically plenty of cultures have favored neutrals and muted tones. Most of our aesthetic is formed by what we see every day. And what we see every day is formed by our aesthetic. It's a feedback loop. But there are little cul-de-sacs of  preference that form when people spend a lot of time with a less-mainstream aesthetic.

The people who bought these magical grey, wonky, fluid mugs? All people who, while not potters, have spent some time looking at and thinking about handmade ceramics. For most people, their ideas of what is beautiful are shaped almost entirely by machine-made objects. Things that are asymmetrical in form or surface, things which have uncontrolled aspects, these look weird or flawed to most people. The same for colors: what is thought of an normal is informed by what we see every day.  In Western culture, we favor neutrals for background aspects - walls, floor, window treatments, even furniture - and but we are drawn to brights for more intimate objects - towels, throw pillows, and yes, pottery. We also favor the kind of symmetry that comes from machine work.  (I have a world of thoughts about this: how people think they want handmade but the handmade most people like best looks a lot like mass produced ware. )Yes, this is a very broad generalization, and yes, many people fall outside of it. Don't @ me , I know! That's the point: the exceptions. Where do they come from?

They come from exposure to things outside the mainstream aesthetic. From you, from us, with our wacky, wonky, handmade pots! Every time you show them or post them or use them with friends, you are changing the world a little bit. You are changing the cultural aesthetic just a titch. I like to think that at the same time we are making the culture a little more accepting of differences, quirks, oddballs. If you can love a pot that is a little off-center, why not a person? If you can love a mug that doesn't fit anyone's mold, maybe you can see as lovable a person who doesn't fit society's mold. It's OK - no, it's beautiful! - for us each to be unique.

ANYWAY! Sorta wandered off into the weeds, there (but they are very beautiful weeds!)  If you want the last super-juicy mug from the super-juicy firing, you can buy it here. Who knows when the kiln will grace me so again?

Wednesday, May 17, 2017

Rivers of Glaze

Sometimes pots turn out pretty much like I planned. Sometimes, not so much! In this case the kiln seemed to have ideas of its own:
$36 - Click here for purchase information


It's a very nice mug in the hand, too - an intriguing landscape of impressed hearts for fingers to explore.
"Not what I expected" is sometimes better than I expected!

UPDATE: This mug sold within an hour of posting! 😊😊😊