A Labor of Love

Sometimes I get requests to make special things for people and it's a challenge because it's something new to me and I have to figure out how to make it. Sometimes it's a little stressful to make special orders because the requestor has an idea in their head of what they want and my fear is that my vision isn't in line with theirs. There's always that moment when I hold my breath as the requestor takes that first look at the finished piece.

Well, recently I completed a special order. This was a teapot that my mother-in-law asked me to make. The teapot is a gift for a very special lady and the making of the teapot turned into a labor of love. This special lady loves pink so the main color had to be pink.

Sometimes during the making of teapots, there are mis-steps. There'll be a little cracking that I have to repair or, the glaze will creep or crawl a little so I'll have to re-fire. But, not with this piece. It was almost as if this teapot wanted to be born and wasn't going to give me any problems. As with every teapot that I make, my last one is always my favorite. True to course this is now my favorite teapot.

Group Show

Very exciting! This coming Friday, October 3rd is the opening of a group show for the Westchase Artist's Society. A local group of artists with different disciplines, paint, photography, sculpture, mixed media, jewelry and of course, me representing clay. This will be my first show that I'll have some of my butterfly photography and I'm excited to see them up on a gallery wall. In addition to three photographs Rosalita my Corporate Greeter will also be part of the show. I figured that she needed some time out and about and what better setting that a show?

The show is going to be at the Great Art and Frame Gallery, which is a wonderful gallery owned by Joose Hadley, a fine painter in her own right. Our openings are always fun and if you're in the area be sure to stop on by.

The Kiln Opening

One thing that potter's share, doesn't matter what type of clay, whether you mix your own glazes or use commercial premixed glazes, whether you form works by hand or throw on the potter's wheel, we all share the joys of a kiln opening.

After working diligently, for sometimes weeks, on a piece the culmination of our efforts comes on the day of the kiln opening. If it's a group kiln load there's usually a celebration that has food as an ingredient. There are oo's and ah's shared and usually an informal critique of what went right and what went not so right.

As a solo potter, I rarely have anyone around with the exception of our dog, sometimes my husband, to share my joy and sorrow over the kiln opening. So, my kiln opening party has to be a virtual one shared with potter friends over the net. Thank goodness for the internet!

Why are we so excited about kiln openings? What's the big deal? Well, for me it's all about working on a piece for sometimes weeks. I often wish that I could just stop after the glaze painting is finished. Sometimes the load is magnificent, everything is perfect and the kiln goddess was smiling down on me. Other times there are problems. So many variables can come into play, heat, circulation, dust in the glaze, venting, and the list goes on and on. We have this point in time when the piece either makes it or breaks it. Stress levels rise even more when there are pieces in the load that are part of an order. If something goes wrong it sets back the schedule and at the holidays this can be critical.

We never want to trash a piece, especially if a lot of time went into it. But one thing that I learned from the college experience is that each piece is a learning process. Even if it gets thrown into the shard bucket a lesson of some sort was learned.

Butterflies Flutter By

Another day of spectacular visitors to our garden. I was in awe of this guy that had to get a belly full. He kept going from flower to flower. The butterfly is a Gulf Fritillary. They are spectacular. The top of their wings are totally different than the bottom and so much fun to watch. This was another pristine butterfly, no signs of fights with wasps or the winds. A real beauty. Enjoy!

The Exotic Teapot

I was contacted by a freelance writer about a possible spot in a blog called the Exotic Teapot. What a nice surprise. Two of my girls were featured in the August 25th post. Here's the link http://www.exoticteapot.co.uk/en/myblog/index.html

If you're a fan of teapots, you'll enjoy strolling though this blog.

For a little bit of background on my two teapots that are featured, the one entitled Humuhumunukunukuapuaa was inspired by a trip to Maui a few years ago. The Humuhumu is the state fish of Hawaii. We went snorkeling at a great spot called Molekini and saw one up close. They're also called Reef Trigger Fish, but I prefer their Hawaiian name. The Blingity Bling Bling teapot was the third in a series of blinged up teapots and the fish that I based her on is one whose picture I took at the Florida Aquarium, it's called the Pixie Hawkfish.

Be sure to check out the Exotic Teapot blog. It's a lot of fun even if you're not a teapot aficionado.

Garden Visitors

Sometimes I get lucky and have my camera handy, or if not handy at least close enough. I've had a few days when my timing was right and the lunchtime visitors were too hungry to care about me. Our visitors the other day were a group of three White Peacock butterflies. In the past I haven't been lucky enough to catch them when they're young. It seemed like every time I'd photograph one, when I enlarged the photo there'd be telltail signs of age, beat up and shredded wings. Well, the three that came for lunch looked like they may have just come out of their coccoons. Their colors were vivid and their wings showed no signs of age. Oh to be a young butterfly enjoying the lantana blossoms in the sun.

And the answer is...

I don't know.

Now the question - "When is my episode of That's Clever! going to air?" It's been so long since the filming that I often forget that it ever happened.

Traveling back through my time machine to the evening of November 17, 2006. We had just come in from an evening out and I was checking e-mails. I had one that had in the Subject line "HGTV Inquiry (seeking FL artists). Well, I was frozen, as if I had just gazed upon Medusa. After I was able to breathe and had read and re-read the e-mail that was sent from one of the Segment Producers that worked for Weller-Grossman production company, I yelled out to my husband, "you're not going to believe this!" I read the e-mail to him, which was an invitation to apply for a spot on the show That's Clever! I asked him what he thought. We both agreed that I should go for it. So I immediately put together my application. Now mind you, this original e-mail came to me from out of the blue. Even the producer couldn't remember how she found me, but it was through a search on the internet.

Well, after submitting the application and photos, I went through a phone interview with the producer. On December 11, 2006 I received an e-mail letting me know that the "pitch" was approved by HGTV. The green light was given to set up the shoot. Now the way that the production company works filming, they visit a city and set up 18 shoots for the time that they're in town. Each day there are two shoots. It's basically a blitz.

After the approval, I had to put together a Steps/Materials Form and sign all sorts of releases. Once both tasks were accomplished on January 6, 2007 I received my list of Step Outs. The step outs are basically a list of the steps in completing the piece with a listing of pieces that need to be made ahead of time. Since they don't shoot in real time, ie. having to wait for the clay to dry, waiting for the kiln to fire, etc., kind of like a cooking show, I had to make a lot of things ahead of time. This was very time consuming. I basically had to make 8 versions of the piece and because of drying and firing times, had to start in December right after the pitch was approved, prior to receiving my list of Step Outs.

Once the production team came to town I had a prep meeting where the producer and director visited to take a look at my studio space, approve wardrobe selections, and gave me directions in how to prep things for the shoot. Basically I had to clean my studio space, cleaner than it has ever been or ever will be again. My shoot was scheduled for January 27, 2007 at 8:00 am. There was a crew of 4, a lighting/camera guy, a sound guy, the director/camera guy and the producer.

Getting ready for the shoot was grueling, but the actual shoot day was arduously grueling. It's amazing how much work you have to go through to come up with 7 minutes on air. The director fed me lines and as the day went on I came down with brain freeze and he had to feed me 4 words at a time. I had a tiny hope that I might not come off looking too crazy. All hopes are gone. My brain freeze caused me to also make some mistakes that I won't reveal prior to the show airing. Just let me say that a well trained eye in sequencing should be on the lookout for slight variations. They were at our house for over six hours. At one point my husband poked his head out and said that I might want to take 5 and have something to eat. Thank God for my darling husband!

My segment was assigned a number. It's 460. This means that I'm in the 400 series of shows. Now, keep in mind that my shoot date was in January, 2007. HGTV has still not aired any of the 400 series of shows. They do still list That's Clever! as an active show, they're just not airing any episodes now. So that's the skinny. I keep forgetting about it, and every so often someone asks me - " So what's up with HGTV?" I guess that's my question too. So what's up with HGTV?

My take-away from this whole experience has been an incredible admiration for anyone that does TV or movies as a career. How people can actually do this for extended periods without melting down is amazing to me and to be able to make it appear effortless is the true miracle. I don't expect to be nominated for a Grammy, and if the show gets cancelled prior to airing, that might not be a bad thing. If or when the show does air, please be kind and remember that I'm not an actor, I'm a potter.