The Everglades

Of all the things we did on our trip, this was the most WILD! Alligators, anhingas, herons and all sorts of other amazing things!!!


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Seaworld

While Aurora and I sat in Orlando with a 5 hour layover, we decided to DO SOMETHING with our time. So we hopped into a cab and went to Seaworld. Here's some of what we did.


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New slideshow from our trip to Florida

After trying to sort through the hundreds of pictures that Aurora and I took on our trip, we have whittled it down to these. Enjoy.


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Gone to Florida

Took a break from the studio this week to come down to Florida with my daughter to visit my family. Once we made it to Miami we headed down to Key Largo with my brother Martin and my mom in tow. We had the most amazing time snorkeling off the reef. Saw fish of every size and shape imagineable!! On the way back up the keys we stopped in at Dolphin Cove and SWAM with dolphins! Originally the plan was that only A would be going in the water to swim with the dolphins... then my mom sprung the surprise... I GOT TO GO TOO!!! Talk about amazing. Nothing in the world really prepares you for such a stunning experience. Rather than write more, here are some pics.

Ready, Sets, Go

Another week passes and we are up to our eyeballs in pots. This week was spent making oval forms. We had an order for some casseroles (which I no longer keep in stock as part of our line..)
which needed to be much larger than our normal old-style baking dishes... think 14"x10" ... which means throwing the form at 16'x12". That's a mighty BIG casserole. Looks more like a battleship compared to our little pots.

One of the things Nancy and I have been playing with is the idea of sets. In the past, everything we made was sold piecemeal. Now we're hoping that by combining pots into sets of forms, they'll sell as a unit. We shall see. I think the tumblers on the tray above is a good place to start. More to come.

I also had a chance this week to make oval vases again. My hope was to have a few days in a row to really make an extensive series, but our cat Ferro has been in and out of the hospital with urinary tract issues. No fun! With only a few more days to be in the studio before a week's hiatus (kid and I are heading to FL for some snorkeling and some exploring in the Everglades) there isnt much time to get hip deep in more work.

We are definitely getting closer to that end of March deadline as we get ready for Craft Boston.

Getting Caught Up

This weekend was incredibly productive in the studio. Nancy went to town making plates. Board after board of oval platters, dinner plates, salad plates and dessert plates... they just kept coming all weekend. She took Friday off work for a snowday. Ended up spending most of the morning trying to get our cat Ferro to the hospital. Add a wicked ice storm to the mix, and it made for a very exciting and tense morning.

We unloaded another kiln this weekend. Some pretty amazing pots came out. More oval pitchers and oval platters. The gallery is started to look fully stocked again. It's ABOUT TIME!!!
Our goal at this point is to be really overstocked by the time we leave for Boston at the end of next month. We're getting there.

Nancy spent a huge chunk of time over the past week stripping, sanding and priming the new booth parts. Still a lot more to go. After trying out some chemical stripper on some of the big hollow doors we use for shelves, we decided that strippers just arent meant for us. Talk about GOOEY! What a mess!! To save time and frustration we went to Home Depot and bought NEW hollow core doors. Done. Tonight they'll be primed and tomorrow they can be painted. Easy.

Sometimes the hassle just isnt worth it. We try very hard to be as eco-conscious as possible in this family.... but there's definitely a point of diminishing returns!