Ordering Depression with a side of Self Pity (or Sabra comes the rescue!)

Sabra's AWESOME silverware (and kick-ass container!)

Yawp. That would be me tonight. Between my slowly fading headache, my gnawing back pain and my overtired eyes.... you'd think that would be enough. But no. I had to go and try to build a wardrobe tonight. You heard right. After thinking about the fact that my photography clients are going to be less than inclined to have me show up at their special events or place of work, looking like I just stumbled out of a pottery studio, clay stains and all... I figured that it was time to change into something new. Something stylish. (Stop laughing!) Something comfortable. Black.

The hard part was coming to grips with the fact that my body is no longer the shape it was a year ago, or even a month ago. I've been heavy most of my life and by and large, I fall under the larger than large size. Post-surgery though, I have zilch in the way of abdominal muscles. With the onset of the latest incisional hernia, there is even less holding my innards in... so the resultant bulge in my front really looks weird. Not cool. So, I am trying to find ways to pull it all together somehow. Doing so though, forces me to stare at this girth and it depresses the living shit out of me.

I still imagine that I look like I did when Nancy and I got married. Ha. I wish. That was seventy pounds ago. Trying to work my mind around this new shape is more than difficult. But somehow, in the midst of this self-deprecating morass, I realized that no matter what I looked like, I needed to feel better about my appearance

On Friday we were visiting with our wicked cool friend Sabra up in Rochester. There's something so awesome about friends who'll be thrilled when you just drop in out of the blue. That would be us. Dropping in while we were in the neighborhood picking up enormous bags of styrofoam packing peanuts.

A year ago, I was helping Sabra with some glaze calculation stuff. We'd never met in person, but were introduced by a fellow potter, and we worked together online. Fast forward to my coma and Art Trail in October... Nancy needed to be in the hospital with me, but she was determined to keep the gallery open as best she could. Sabra came to the rescue! She showed up with bells on! To this day, we continue to hear great stories about how awesome she handled sales. Apparently some folks were simply cut out to sell other people's pots! God bless em.

So, while visiting with Sabra on Friday, Nancy asked if she knew of a shoe store she would recommend... to find shoes for me. I needed something more snazzy than Crocs. Go figure. I don't argue about shoes with Nancy. If you dont know why, read her blog: http://coldspringsstudio.blogspot.com/. Sabra recommended (and we do too!) a place in Fairport Ny called 123 Shoes. Great little store. We walked in and twenty minutes later, left with a pair of shoes that were perfect for what I needed. Stylish, semi-formal, decent support... and the fit is outta this world! Nice touch: they come with a 30-day, walk-around guarantee. Wear them outdoors for a month. If you dont love them, they'll take them back. Gotta love that!

Thank you Sabra!! You definitely sent us in the right direction. Now if only we had found Dog Town ... a hot dog joint she was trying to help us find. Next time!

Ferro showing off his mug for the camera. He really liked Sabra when she came to visit last month!

Another Week, Fewer Pots, Newer Pots

the tangerine and both turq bowls are sold

the blue plate has sold

the tangerine oval tray has sold

the turq teabowl has sold

I wont go through the trouble of posting prices. Suffice to say, they're the same on our website. This will be our last weekend home before we're gone for a brief vacation the following weekend. For folks out there keeping score... that means we have less than two weeks left of the studio being open. Pots are still coming, but some things we are totally out of... like: soup mugs, footed mugs, ruffled vases, oval vases, pitchers, lg/med mixing bowls.... too many things really. BUT we have a mountain of plates, and more coming!

Getting Ready To Take It All Down

414981 - Blue Blue Day, 15"diameter

After having our gallery walls hung with our huge Glaze Tectonics platters for the past eight years, the time has finally come to start taking them down and crating them up. They simply have never sold as well as one would hope. As much as I love looking at them and reflecting on them, they have never reached out to the public at large. Most people simply cant imagine paying 2D prices (ie painting, print, photography prices) for a clay disk filled with glaze that happens to hang on the wall. Maybe the lineage is too close to being a mug. Maybe it is the old dirt cheap metaphor. Who knows? Doesn't really matter. The real estate is too precious to leave these beasties hanging around. Time to bring them in from the cold, to wrap them up and call it a night.

Which leaves the next question: What is going up in their place? Ahhh. Prints.

Today FedEx pulled into the driveway and unloaded six BIG boxes full of framed, matted, photographic prints. Nancy and I sat down, went through all of my favorite images, and picked out a dozen. They are now framed in a few different sizes... basically big, bigger and DAMN that's big!

My hope is that Nancy and I will have time to repack all the platters this weekend and start hanging the new prints soon. I already unpacked one box and I haven't recovered yet. Mpix makes amazing prints! The framing job is better than I could have done on my own here. Very high end job! Definitely worth the cost. Next week: Pics of the new photographs on the wall!!

Open

Getting Down to the Wire

As we head into our last three weeks with our studio open, the pots on the shelves are starting to look pretty lonely. We had a bang-up weekend where at times we had people leaving the studio with a bag under each arm, and in some cases they had to make a few trips. This is wonderful for us, but for folks waiting to buy pots on the last day we'll be open... perhaps not so good.

Let me say again for anyone who didn't read the postcard or the Facebook page or my earlier blog posting: August 21st is the LAST day to buy pots. Prices GO UP all day long. We have pots now, and that selection is dwindling fast. If you want to be able to have choices, NOW is the time to be shopping. Okay... 'nuf said.

Wide Awake and Wondering

62098F - The Sixth platter in the Sixth Month of the Year (Blue Storm).

The clock just ticked past 4am. That means I have missed out on most of tonight's sleep. I have no idea what brought on tonight's insomnia, but rather than toss and turn in bed in frustration, I figured a better solution was to get up and try to work on something. To that end, I have prepared new images from the Glaze Tectonics platters hanging in our gallery currently.

Now That We're Closing...

Now that we're starting to wrap things up here in the studio, it's time to begin a new blog. To that end, you are welcome to join me at our new Photography Blog: http://alexsollaphotographyblog.blogspot.com/

My goal is to have something visual to add at least every other day. Writing something more meaty might happen at fewer intervals.

But we are going to let go of the Cold Springs Studio Blog... so get ready for the change-over.
The new blog will deal more with our new venture into the photography world. (just so you know, it is very odd to not be working in clay... not just now, but knowing that I wont really be able to go back to it)

While we're working on that, we've also been seeing a LOT of interest in our Glaze Tectonics platters. Ironic eh? Now that we're about to take them off the walls, folks are wanting to see more of them. If anyone has ideas for marketing them, or knows of a great gallery that would love to host them, please let me know.

How Many Ways Can You Say WOW!?

©2010 Alex Solla Photography

©2010 Alex Solla Photography

©2010 Alex Solla Photography

©2010 Alex Solla Photography

This morning I was up early due to some major back pain. Yeah, I know, if it isn't one thing, it's another. Being up early has its advantages though. It made me realize that the light was going to be sweet this morning. So I mustered up my courage and pried myself out of my chair, grabbed the camera bag and went down to the marina. Ithaca's marina at Cass Park/Treman Marina is pretty small and the boats we get are pretty low-key for the most part. My favorite part is that it is so incredibly quiet first thing in the morning. Sometimes I can even get out there before the rowers or joggers have begun. Such was the case today.

Okay, so I love my new camera. Is that a bad thing? I think the differences between my older Nikon D80 and this D300s are huge. And I LOVE IT! Have I said that enough yet?

And for those of you who've asked, yes, we are making many of these prints available for purchase via Zenfolio. Great quality prints, excellent packing, very fast turn around and decent prices. As always, comments are welcomed.

The New Camera is HERE

And I dont want to do all the rest of the things that I need to be doing. I just want to go play with my camera! I know it will still be here tomorrow.... but I WANNA PLAY NOW!!!

Seconds vs. Seconds

One sixtieth of a minute.
Not first, not third.
Not perfect, defective.
(and 26 other different meanings too)

We are counting down the minutes (and seconds) that our studio will be open and selling pottery. There's not a lot left...

In order to replace the mountain of pots that sold earlier this month, Nancy and I cracked out the pile of seconds that had accumulated since last June (our 1st Seconds sale). There were enough pots to fill two good sized display tables.

So what makes one of our pots a second? Minor blemishes, pinholes in the glaze, plate bottoms may wobble, odd glaze colors... all make our pots less-than-gallery quality. If they were good enough that someone could put them to good use, safe to eat from, etc... but not good enough to sell at full price as a gallery worthy pot, then they became a second.

What does this mean? Well, for those of you hoping for half-priced seconds.... they are on the shelves NOW! They are all half our normal retail price. There won't be anymore after this lot. They won't be there in two weeks that's for sure.

Tools, Toys and Training

I don't care how you phrase it. Getting new tools for me is like getting a new toy. I love the learning curve of having something that tests my old skills and teaches me new ones. The excitement isn't just the newness though. Somehow for me, the growth part is the exciting aspect. The try and the fail. Both.

Since we are diving into this new photography business with both feet, I figure we need to be ready to make a serious splash. When I started making pots over twenty years ago, my confidence level was nearing its apex. Ten years later, a grad program and a divorce later, my confidence was riddled with bullet holes.

After talking things over with many friends, we're trying to approach this new venture with our eyes looking towards the horizon and not at our feet (and definitely not behind us!).

To that end...
I bought a new camera today. Here's my new baby. I think we need to give it a name.

On top of that, I picked up this tome of an instruction manual for it at the bookstore the other day. Started reading it, and so far haven't been able to put it down for longer than half an hour.
Every now and then I look up, hoping that the UPS truck is backing up our driveway ... with my new camera!

Glaze Tectonics - Another Platter Finds a New Home

©2010 Alex Solla - Glaze Tectonics
9998D - Sold

Today a wonderful woman came into the studio, not long before we were scheduled to close. She and her mom took an immediate liking to our Glaze Tectonics series platters. We get a few folks a week who gravitate towards these beasties. They are huge. Even a small one is over 20#. Today they went home with this one. Now there's a new platter heading to Chicago!

9998D detail - Sold

9998D detail - Sold