Making Pottery + 100 Days of Vases on Instagram

I've been working away in my little pottery shed for the past couple months. I have signed up and been accepted to be a vendor at The North Quabbin Garlic and Arts Festival at the end of September. This is the first time I have done an "official" show selling my pottery. Most of my pottery sales in the past couple years and over 20 years ago were done at my own home at Open House formats or on-line. 

I have never been to the Garlic and Arts Festival but I have heard it is a great time. It is similar to The Common Ground Country Fair in Maine but on a smaller scale. I got accepted to sell my ceramics, my tea towels and my books. I will bring our 10 x 10 pop-up Farmers Market tent and hope for the best. My good friend Kay has volunteered to help with sales. Thank you Kay!

I've got lots of pottery in progress. This summer I have been throwing lots of vases and mugs getting ready for the fall selling season. I've also made a lot of smallish platters and some larger ones. My plan is to list all the leftovers on-line on my website after the Garlic and Arts Festival so if you want something but are far away, you will have a chance. 

When I am sitting at my wheel, I look out to the hill behind it and the field that some of our sheep spend the warmer months in. They hunker down during the day and sleep next to our portable corral. In the beginning, they were skittish of me but as we spend more and more time together they just look on. 

The dogs come down to check on things too. They are curious as to what the heck I am doing spending all this time in the little shed. 

I've got so many pots made now and the next step is decorating them all with underglazes. This is the tedious and time consuming part of making my ceramics. It is also what adds to the price because each piece takes quite a bit of time. I treat each piece differently depending on the shape of the object. In the photo below you can see vases in different stages - unfired white clay, underglaze painted pieces, and glossy glazed finished pieces. On the bottom right side of the photo, you can see 2 vases that haven't had their black lines added yet. The addition of that line finishes the piece and makes the motifs stand out. I use very bright colors of underglaze but they don't look bright until they are gloss glazed. 

I started a 100 Day Challenge on Instagram! I've always thought of doing this kind of project but never really thought I could find enough time in the day to do it. I'm giving it a go and am on Day #12 coming up. Each day I post a photo of a vase or two or whatever I have been making in the studio. I hope I can keep it up. It does help to keep me focused on making and creating. 

You can follow my progress over on Instagram here. My feed also posts automatically to my Kristin Nicholas Designs Facebook Page here if you don't do Instagram. Make sure to follow me if you are interested in the progress. 

Hope you are enjoying the summer as it quickly turns to autumn!