My plan at some point is to turn this blog into a functional
site where you can order and purchase pottery (AND I can still have a blog area
where I can post updates and news). My husband, Dave, is a web developer and
has plans to make me an e-commerce website… now to just make that dream a
reality! :) The plan is to have that up and running by Spring, so… fingers
crossed??
I had a VERY busy summer with Red Sunset Ceramics – which
was wonderful! I attended the Black Fly Festival in Milo, the 4th of
July Craft Show in Bar Harbor, the Bucksport Bay Festival in Bucksport, the
Piscataquis River Festival in Guilford, the Fine Arts Show in Bucksport, and
then the Blueberry Festival in Machias. I was overwhelmed with how my presence
in the communities I had returned to was welcomed and with the support I got
from other vendors and clients alike – I felt well received and am excited to
return to the shows next year :)
So last summer I did 2 shows over the summer, and this year
I added in 4 more (two large, two smaller) for 6 total. It was a challenge at
times to keep up with the demand and need for stock with the shows (as well as
with the local shops I am currently in!) so I did end up throwing almost every
day, and my kiln got a work out with 4 – 5 firings each week!
We did end up experiencing some issues with my kiln over the
summer. We purchased the Evenheat kiln used online from an individual (who had
purchased it used online from someone else…) and it does not have a manual and
appears to be likely 30+ years old. (Good longevity at least!!) We started
experiencing that the kiln sitter was not triggering off, so the pieces were
overheating – glazes were runny and streaky, and bisque pieces were coming out
warped and wonky. We cleaned it out some and adjusted a couple of the pieces
and it seems to be doing better (although is still not always shutting off at
the expected time), but all in all we decided to order a new kiln. I qualified
for a business loan to purchase a new kiln (Because jeez, my business is just
starting, I do not have an extra $3,000 laying around!!) and was SUPER excited
to take the time to research kilns and think about sizes, etc.
Currently the kiln I have can manage low fire (Cone 06 – 04
range) as well as medium fire (cone 5 – 6 range… although I have never tried
that). One of the things I wanted if I was going to purchase a new kiln was the
OPTION to do cone 10/porcelain. Not that I have specific plans for that, but
the option is nice. I also wanted more space. I know there are larger kilns in
which I can fit more pieces. So I researched what my options were. I knew my
kiln was not HUGE, but did not realize that it only holds 2.7 cubic feet, which
is really not a lot when you think about kilns! So the new kiln I selected is a
Skutt (because, yeah Skutt!) that can fire to cone 10, AND can hold 8.1 cubic
feet of pottery. WHAT WHAT? Yep, it is awesome. I also ordered a set of kiln
shelves with it and stakes to hold the kiln shelves. I mean, I have some of
both at home, but these ones will be made to fit the new kiln exactly, so that
is great. I ALSO optionally upgraded the kiln from a digital screen to a
touchscreen that is wifi enabled, i.e., it can tie into the internet and comes
with a downloadable app that I can monitor the kiln from on my phone!! I can
even tell it to start or preheat, etc, from my phone! It is AMAZING.
I am SUPER excited
for it to arrive – the combo of a new toy combined with an unreliable old kiln
makes it so much more difficult to be patient. I ordered it 5 weeks ago
tomorrow. They said when it went through that it would take 4 – 6 weeks. I had
hoped for the shorter end of that estimate, but we are where we are. I actually
just sent out an e-mail to my contact asking if there is any news. Fingers
crossed!! I have several large shows coming up so having the new kiln in place
could REALLY help with that, especially since I do not have the same
availability for firing now that I am back at work. 
I researched the new kiln – it has pre-programmed settings
for firings, so I load the kiln and say, “slow fire” and it does a greenware to
bisqueware fire that takes 12 hours. If I do a bisqueware to glazeware firing
that is a medium firing, and takes 7 hours. There is also the option of fast
fire, which is what you would use if you were doing decals, which I am excited
to have the option to try.
So all in all, super pumped for this to happen!
I am back to work – I went back to work the last week or so
of August. So finding time in between everything to get pottery done becomes a
challenge once again. I had about 6 weeks off from shows after the Blueberry
Festival. I just went to a new show last weekend in Southwest Harbor – a fall
craft show for Oktoberfest. It was smaller than I expected, but I exceeded the
sales I had tentatively set as a goal, so I left happy. And I feel like October
is a slow season – it is not summer so most summer people are long gone, and it
is not QUITE Christmas sales time. So I was happy overall. Now I have two and a
half weeks until my NEXT show. So stay tuned! :D
On a quick side note, I am in the process of fazing out my
“Dutch Enamelware” glaze – the white with Blue specks. It is my slowest seller.
At the start of summer I picked up a new glaze – yellow with fun specks! And it
is a huge new seller. So I have perhaps enough glaze for 1 – 2 more items and
then it will be fazed out of my color rotation. Currently in my displays it has
been bumped to the back row on the same table as my marbled pieces, so I would
prefer to get that area back to full marbled display space. I also ordered some
hand lotion/soap pumps and am going to look into the option of making soap
dispensers – EXCITED! :)
I am going to make a separate post after this that lists my
upcoming shows for winter. Hope to see you there!
List of Upcoming Shows ::
UMaine Orono
Homecoming Craft Show
Dates: Saturday, October 27th &
Sunday, October 28th
Location: UMaine Fieldhouse
18 Gym
Drive, Orono ME
Times: 10am – 5pm Saturday
10am –
4pm Sunday
Sunshine Club Holiday
Market
Date: Saturday, November 3rd
Location: Anah Shrine Center
1404
Broadway, Bangor ME
Time: 9am – 4pm Saturday
Augusta Maine
Turnpike Mall Show
Date: Saturday, November 10th
Location: Augusta Turnpike Ma
42 Whitten
Road, Augusta, ME
Time: 9am – 3pm
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