As it gets closer and closer to Christmas and the end of 2009, I start to reflect on how I spent my time. It seems like I have been making Christmas ornaments all year long!

One of the best things to come out of this year is making new friends and getting to know older friends and acquaintances better. There have been ups and downs and back ups again. And I truly believe that the downs help us appreciate the ups. All the while, I've been so lucky to be able to live my dream life: creating things with my hands. As I sit drinking my morning decaf out of my handmade mug, that I made, I want to wish all who might read this blog a happy holiday season, health and good friends and family and peace.

Judy B. Freeman

Potter

That's Clever!

Well, my heartrate is back to normal, the anticipation of nearly 3 years is finished, all that's left are the hoards of fans and paparazi that will be chasing me for autographs and interviews. My segment on HGTV's That's Clever aired this morning. What took six hours to film, clipped down to a little over six minutes. Thankfully the editors took out my flubs, and oh there were a lot of flubs. My husband reminded me that I haven't made a cat bank since the filming. I also don't think that I have ever seen my garagio look so clean and neat, nor do I think I ever will see it look so clean and neat. It's fun to be able to share a look into how I spend my time.

The cat that the bank is based on is Jazmin, a petite calico that we once had, or should I say, she had us. I still love making cats, and as you can see from the background shots, I was big into butterflies and fish teapots back then too. I've inserted a link to a video that I took of the show, just in case you missed it.

So, for my friends and family that encouraged me, and asked every so often, "so what's up with your show?" I can now finally say, the show did go on!!!

HGTV That's Clever!

I have an air date! I can't believe it, but they didn't lose the tape, or whatever they use these days to film TV shows. Anyway, set your DVR's for HGTV at 7:30 am e/p on October 13, 2009. It's going to be fun to see how they transform 6 hours of grueling work into 6 minutes of air time. Also, anxious to see how they were able to make me sound coherent. Oh dear, I hope they were able to make me sound coherent.

Non-potters probably have no idea the angst that's involved in the multi-step process of creating. Especially when you start to work on a piece that you become emotionally attached to. My most recent attachment is to a new teapot called Girls' Night Out - Lola and Sonya Out On The Town. I started this teapot with the thought of reviving one of my old teapot themes, fish with a pelican. As I got further and further into the creation of Lola and Sonya, I started thinking of more ways to make them glitzy, blingy, and fabuloso.

The easy part was to construct the teapot, this is a relatively safe phase of the process. Yes, things can go wrong at this stage, but only a few hours have been invested and I can always start from scratch. Once sufficiently dry, the teapot goes into the kiln for it's first firing. Another precarious stage in the process, when there is the potential for exploding clay or cracking. No problems with the bisque firing, so I pushed on to begin the glazing. This was when I started to feel my connection strengthening. I started to worry about whether glazes were going to run, how I was going to connect the necklaces, etc. etc. Final step prior to the glaze firing was to do a quick dip in clear glaze. This is when I can really screw things up, by smudging the colored underglazes, or having too thick a layer of the clear glaze. Oh the agony. But I pushed on. Yesterday, I loaded the glaze kiln with goodies. I always approach a kiln load with pessimistic optimism. Knowing that stuff can go wrong, but hoping that "stuff" doesn't happen. As the kiln was firing just prior to the shut off, I heard a noise. It sounded like maybe something tipped over. There was no way I could lift the lid, so I had to just imagine what it could be. Could one of the pieces have shifted off it's stilts and toppled over and then taken out another piece with it? My imagine ran wild and with 17 hours to go before I could open the kiln up, it was an evening of trying to find ways to get my mind off the kiln. This morning I was up bright and early, out to the studio and opened up the kiln. No problems with the top shelf, no problems with the second level, no problems with the third level, no problems with the bottom shelf. I have no idea what the noise was, but I have to remember this for the future. Don't fret over the unknown. And with clay, don't fret at all because there's always another one in my hands.

Color Combinations

A big part of being a ceramic artist, or any kind of artist for that matter, is color. The choice of color, the combination of colors, and how we use them can make or break a piece. Working hours or days on a piece can come to ruin if we don't get the colors just right. Lately I've fallen in love with the glaze color combination of a truly red red and a wonderful soft yellow orange. Both are from the Duncan Ceramics line of glazes called Concepts. The red that I love is called Really Red and the yellow orange is called Safron. I now am driven to make a day's worth of bowls and plates to use the two colors on. These are the first of the bowls that came out of my last kiln load.

As I scroll through my recent posts I realize that my blog's name, Butterfly Farm Pottery, makes it look like the Fish have taken over the Farm. I have three major themes that I work with, Fish, (no major mental leap there) Cats and Butterflies. There are times when the mood strikes me to just make butterfly themed pieces and then there are times like now, when all I want to make are fish. I often feel like a person with multiple personality disorder. Just to give the butterflies some face time, I'm posting a photo of a recent Monarch Butterfly serving dish. It's an evolved piece and is one of my favorites.

New Old Teapots

I just finished two fishy teapots that are remakes. This version of "Mandy" is my favorite. I lucked out when I looked through my stash of beads and found the perfect hank to use for her beaded wire embellishment. I was equally lucky to have an ample supply of buttons for "Button..."

Pictured on the top is "Mandy" and of course every time I type her name I hear Barry Mannilow singing in my ear. And, on the bottom is "Button, Button, Who's Got the Buttons?"

Both teapots are made from soft earthenware clay that started out as two forms thrown on the potter's wheel.