Valenspringtine is here!

27 January 2019

Treat your sweet self or special sweetie! For the past four winters, I’ve given myself +/-4 weeks to delve into reds, pinks, and florals to escape the winter greys and fill them with dreams of Springtime + Valentines culminating with a shop update, which includes new forms and new patterns as well as some familiar favorites. You (as a subscriber to my latest blog posts like this) and my newsletter members are getting a head start (you can also sign up for my infrequent newsletter here to stay more directly in the loop and receive my “faves”!) on the upwards of 50 new Valenspringtine pots, including Deluxe Clover cups, Colorized mugs, covered jars, square servers, trays, wall pillows, yunomi, & more!

Valenspringtine goes LIVE TODAY, Noon EST, 1/27 for YOU.
For everyone else, Mon, 5 PM, 1/28.

Kieffer Ceramics Shop

Please note: Last day to purchase for Valentine’s Day delivery is no later than Noon, Mon, 2/11. And because of a Pottery Invitational the first weekend in March, some remaining work will be traveling with me and removed from my shop, so chose your favorite(s) before 2/23!

As always, thank you for supporting and buying
handmade and elegant from my studio!

Valenspringtine 2018

2 February 2018

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For the past three winters, I’ve given myself 4 – 6 weeks to delve into reds & pinks to pointedly escape the greys & whites of Dec/Jan in boonies, MA and leading towards a shop update with the mash up word I concocted combining Springtime & Valentines: Valenspringtine. I’m continuing my lil’ tradition this year with a handful of new trays, new berry bowls, mamezara (tiny plates), and Deluxe Clover cups. I’m pretty thrilled with all the newness and vibrancy!

Check out Valenspringtine 2018 in my online shop!
Note: Last day to purchase for Valentine’s Day delivery is Noon Thurs, Feb 8th.

PS: Not into pink & red?! I’ve got you! PLENTY of other colors available in my shop as well.

Cup Family Portraits

2 December 2016

I recently unloaded a kiln load of work that included bunches of handled cups and mugs with varying and new decoration, and decided to group them for pix, which immediately and delightfully felt like family portraits. I like the idea of capturing my current cup designs and glaze color palette at this arbitrary point in time. Meet my cup family!

Above are my Stamped mugs decorated with slip-trail and stamps I design and make. Because my ongoing goal is to make pots that are “ornately elegant for everyday,” I refer to these as mugs because it addresses their durability, utility, and size in one word. These are not Grandma’s teacups! This portrait also pictures two from my ongoing Colorized series (the blue flowers and dogwood blossoms) in which I completely fill two to four of the stamps with hand-brushed underglaze color creating lovely focal points. I explain more about my stamped cup making process as well as two-piece handle origin in this old blog post here.

Late this summer I began a new mug series combining my stamping with the inlay line work and polka dots I have been incorporating on other pots. The result feels very Art Deco, so I’ve been mentally referring to these as Deco Stamped mugs.

The other style of handled drinking vessel I make is a Clover cup, which became Deluxe Clover cup when the decoration went from minimal slip-trail to lots of everything! I explain the full origin of this cup in a blog post from last year here. I refer to this as a cup vs. mug because the inward alteration makes the volume it holds less than my stamped mugs. Above are my Polka Dot Deluxe Clover cups.

Polka dots led to stripes, and lots of stripes equals Super Stripes Deluxe Clover cups!

Around this time last year, I began adding inlay lines (and this year, circles) to my slip-trail and underglaze deco which lead to these multi-layered cuties. And since that is exactly what I thought when I made them, I still refer to them as Cutie Deluxe Clover cups.

At the same time I started the Deco Stamped mugs, I started drawing similar arched line work into these cups too, and the Deco Deluxe Clover cups were born.

So here’s the handled-cup family! This group shot illustrates most of the cup styles and the range of my current glaze and underglaze color palette. I’m in the midst of eliminating a couple colors (Cornflower blue and Violet) so that despite a wide range of designs, my colors relate to each other and feel collectively vibrant when viewed as a group… like in my online shop! Which is exactly where you can find all these lovely ladies right now.

Valenspringtine 2016

28 January 2016

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! ♥

Kristen Kieffer Deluxe Clover Super Stripe Red w. Tulip

Kristen Kieffer Deluxe Clover Cup Colorful Polka Dots

Kristen Kieffer Stamped mugs Blue Flowers

Kristen Kieffer Cupcake stand in Buttercup

Kristen Kieffer Compote Pedestal Fruit Bowl

Kristen Kieffer Deluxe Clover Cup Black dots w. Tulips

*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.

Clover Origin & Deluxe

15 July 2015

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Kristen Kieffer Deluxe Clover cups, 'Super Stripes'

Kristen Kieffer Deluxe Clover cups, 'Dot Florals'

Kristen Kieffer Deluxe Clover cups, 'Arabesque mods'

Kristen Kieffer Deluxe Clover cups, 'Stripe Dot Florals'

These cups start, as most of my pots do, on the potter’s wheel. I then alter each form by running my finger up the outside of the wall in four places. This creates a gently lobed lip line (see image below), all the more accentuated when filled with coffee or tea, which is why I named them ‘Clover’ cups.

I began this cup shape when I did a residency at Guldagergård in Skælskør, Denmark years ago. It was a self-imposed challenge to make a simpler surface (the original had spare slip-trail deco, pictured left) in part because I was in Scandinavia where design is sleek and minimal, but also because most of my pots were completely stamped at that point. I purposefully didn’t take stamps with me wanting to investigate what I would do with form minus that deco element. They were also inspired by the Corset (vase) Series I had begun the year prior, which is altered in a similar way. (The vase pictured left was the first ‘vertical’ in the series that began as a lower, wider horizontal form. I made and fired both of these in Denmark, and they are now part of my collection.)

Needless to say, this cup has evolved. Not only have I used this form as a decoration playground, I’ve significantly refined the shape while keeping the lobed technique and tankard, flat foot style. These are more time-consuming than my stamped cups because of the unique design considerations. The form itself provides a ‘frame’ within which I can make each side of the same cup different and collage lots of layers, thus I refer to them as ‘Deluxe.’

New ‘Deluxe Clover cups’ are now available in my online shop in four different styles,
with beachy stripes, joyful polka dots, and candy colors!

‘Valenspringtine’!

27 January 2015

1 Comment

Thoughts of spring and Valentine color –specifically looking beyond winter– is what inspired my work over the last six weeks, buoying my spirits during the cold, short days of December in Massachusetts. This Friday, I will be posting over 40 cups, plates, and bowls of my foray into what I’ve been calling ‘Valenspringtine’ (a mashup of ‘spring’ and Valentine’) pots into my online shop. Being surrounded by candy pink and cherry red, and new collage-like patterns has certainly helped me with the winter doldrums, and I hope you will enjoy them as much as I have. Check out my latest blog post to read a bit more about the new here.