My online shop is brimming with new work in time for holiday shopping and the New Year. Each one-of-a-kind, and all ready to ship. Thank you as always for supporting elegant and handmade from my studio. Last day to purchase for Xmas arrival is Mon, Dec 18th. This blog post is just a sampling, so click on over to peruse everything right here.
This is my sixth, year-end roundup of in-progress and in-action images from my studio and of my pots, plus several from workshop adventures and other outtings. It’s fun for me to look back on the collection of images I’ve shared (lots of flowers!), and reflect on what’s continued from past years and what was new in 2016 for me as a maker. These are just a selection of favorites I posted throughout the year on my Facebook and Instagram. As with past years, it’s not an order, it’s a cycle.
As always, thank you for your continued support of my work and studio.
A happy, healthy New Year to you and yours!
Last year, I posted six weeks of pottery investigation celebrating thoughts of Valentine color and springtime imagery into my online shop, an event I coined as Valenspringtine. It was so fun and successful, I decided to give it a go again this year, perhaps making it an annual post of my winter play. As with last year, this winter’s pursuits included new forays into surface deco, as well as form with Compotes (pedestaled serving bowls for fruits, nuts, and sweets), Cake & Cupcake Stands, new Deluxe Clover cups, and a couple other goodies totaling almost 30 pots.
Valenspringtine 2016 goes live Friday, January 29th
at Noon EST in my online Etsy shop!*
Happy Valenspringtine! ♥
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*Helpful tips: If not already registered, set up an Etsy account to purchase. ‘In cart’ does not equal ‘in hand.’ First to complete their payment makes the nab. Refresh your browser to make sure you are seeing all that are listed and available.
I’m going for both meanings of props in my title: “things used in creating or enhancing a desired effect” and “proper respect” (slang).
The idea of using props to spice up my pics, as well as to suggest my pots’ elegant use and beauty in your home is one I have both toyed with and ignored for years. As a former lover of the folded magazines Metropolitan Home and I.D., and current adorer of the hugely popular online design blogs Design*Sponge and Apartment Therapy, I am first in line for expecting (even salivating over) lush interiors with perfectly placed, unusual items in gorgeous environments. The idea of staging my own work, even in the simplest of ways, however, seemed impossibly time prohibitive.
Photography has changed a lot in the last few years, not only leaving the idea of a “photograph” in the dust, but also the simplicity of the single object on a grey background in the wake of staged objects in homey yet tailored settings. Retailers placing goods we want alluringly in environments we love is hardly new, but as we’ve all shifted to online reading and shopping, it’s what we expect, even for handmade.
The influence of Etsy’s marketplace, where I have an online shop and where beautifully styled images of equally beautiful objects is the norm, also made me take notice of staging. So, the time manager and photographer in me decided to let the designer and marketing director in me finally play for once. (As a lone studio potter, I wear all the hats around here.) It did take more time, but was also fun, and it allowed me to shop for props (felt pom pom flowers, soap cupcakes, and wooden flowers, all by fellow Etsy artists in this case), as well as use objects from around our home that are influences for my work like all my books. Even my own work became props for other pots.
It’s just a start, even if it’s baby steps; I’m pleased with the results. Someday when we’ve finished ongoing home renovations, I may do some in-room staging. For now, the time manager continues to breath down my neck (not to mention the potter who would like to get into the studio!). So simple staging is where it’s at for me: bits of playful added to the elegant, modern merriment to the Victorian.
Props to my pots!
You can shop for these *propped pots* at my
Etsy shop here and my Gallery store here.
