Change in plans

I decided not to do the Wayzeta show this weekend. Everyone in the house has been sick (and some still are) and our oldest daughter has a lot going on already. My studio is still in disarray and I have yet to establish any true production routine yet. Anyway I was feeling really stressed about it and glum that I was going to be missing yet another family event when I realized I could make it better. This is one advantage of the "day job". It doesn't pay much, but it does mean I don't feel like I have to do every event I get into regardless of my health or what is going on with my family. Loring is going to be a big show and while I know it isn't until August, that realllly means I only have 4-6 weeks to make work and get it glazed before then. I'd like to have a couple of super brilliant pieces for this event which will take some time (meaning that I'm not just going to be cranking stuff out the whole time).

About that whole "cranking stuff out" thing. That is something I want to get completely away from. I'd rather focus on perfecting each piece, making less of them and selling them for more. It gets really boring to make the same thing over and over again. I have discovered that my comfortable limit for anything that is going to have a lot of detail in the leather-hard stage is about 6 at a time. Otherwise the pieces begin to get too dry and then your under the gun to get them finished (not so pleasant). There are a million production potters out there and I have no desire to compete with any of them because I know it won't make me happy! And I want to throw larger pieces too, maybe not huge, but definitely pieces with presence and more surface area for carving.

So I am doing a small event (or maybe two) this summer, but mostly I'm going to get my studio in order, get back to working on my business plan, and make work for the Loring Park Art Fair!

Cheers!