The Luckalilly Ceramics Studio Blog

2010-01-16T11:23:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!! I hope the holidays were as great for everyone else as they were for me and my family!

I was sooo busy over the holidays, and then after about 2 days of rest, I started back up this January making custom orders as well as a bunch of stuff to ship out to the consignment shops I will be selling at while I'm away...at school!! I'm super excited to start working on finishing my undergraduate degree, and I'll be majoring in fine arts at SUNY (State University of New York) Oswego. It's bigtime snow country up there, TONS of lake effect snow; but I've got my warm coat and a pair of mittens so I'm all ready to go! Besides, if its cold outside I'll be motivated stay in the studio to do more work, right??

I landed a great work study opportunity in the ceramics department with Frederick Bartolovic, the head of the ceramics department there. He was so nice and took me and my mom on a tour of the ceramics area and that basically solidified my decision to go for sure. I've been dying to do some more conceptual, sculptural work but I never have time left after managing the shop. My kiln is also kind of puny so I don't know how practical it would be anyway. That type of work always benefits from being in an academic setting, where I don't have the pressure of having to SELL the work after I've made it. Frederick's work is fantastic, and I can't wait to study under him, I know I'm going to learns tons.

I leave on Thursday the 21st, and I'll be putting my shop on vacation for now. I hemmed and hawed over the decision of whether or not to keep it open and either ship from my dorm or pay my mom to ship it from home, but in the end I think it will be too big of a distraction and source of stress to be worth the money. If things settle down at school and I have some extra time, (or run out of money!!) I may open up again to sell all the odds and ends I have piled up in the studio. In the meantime, Luckalilly Ceramics will be sold at three awesome shops: Craft Chemistry in Syracuse NY, Porter Studios Gallery in Hamilton, NY, and Yellow Umbrella in Bemidji, MI. The work at the top of this post is all for these galleries. The sake set and large mugs are custom orders I received over the holidays and am pushing to get out before Thursday.

I will try to post some pics and goings on from school, but I'm not sure how busy I will be just yet. Until then, au revoir!!

Up All Night

2009-11-20T22:06:00.000-08:00

I've been up all night this past week getting magnets ready for wedding favors for my cousin Elisa Beth's wedding. 225 set of 4 magnets to be exact. Thats 900 magnets, in case anyone was counting. But I got it all done (with a little help from my two hard working elves that happen to also be my parents: they will be very upset if I don't give them credit!!) and they look great! I'm so excited for the wedding tomorrow in Boston. I'll try to get some photos to share of the magnets in action.

The Herkimer County Craft Fair last weekend was not as great as I had expected. I had anticipated it as my biggest show of the year, but it ended up being the worst I've done so far. After two days of sitting all day long in a classroom in the WAY WAY back of the fair (people actually had to leave the main building and walk across in the rain to the building I was in) I barely made enough to cover my booth fee! You just never can tell about these fairs I suppose!

I now have lots and lots of extra pottery on my hands, so I signed up for another show at the last minute. It is at Syracuse University on December 4th, in the Newhouse building. One of the organizers had given me a flyer during the Salt City show last month, but I thought that I would be too low on inventory after the Herkimer fair to participate. Luckily she still had open spaces when I contacted her last week. I'm hoping I will do better at this show; I think the "University Crowd" is a good match for my pottery. In the meantime, I am listing a whole slew of the extra items in my Etsy shop.

The rest of the pottery is being shipped to the Yellow Umbrella shop in Bemidji, Michigan, and Craft Chemistry in Syracuse where I will be selling on consignment. Exciting, I know!! I'm working on starting up more consignment accounts so I can still have some income while I'm at school this spring.

Well, I need to get at least a tiny bit of beauty sleep before this wedding tomorrow, so I suppose I'll stop blabbing now!!

*above: new work! from top: green squared plate with leaves pattern; 11" teal platter with moxy pattern; four small circles bowls; four 10" nacho plates in various colors and patterns.

HCCC Craft Fair

2009-11-13T07:14:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow is the Herkimer County Community College Arts and Crafts Fair!! I'm going crazy getting ready for it today!! BUT I promised to keep up with the blogging so I'm taking time to do a quick post. Pictures of my ceramics were in the Observer Dispatch (a local paper) in the "Fusion" section in an article about the fair. I was really excited and surprised to see my stuff featured like that!! Hopefully all will go smoothly setting up tonight!!!

Something new I'm having at this show are these "easels" to display my platters. My Dad made them for me, and I have to say he went above and beyond my request!! He's a true craftsman at heart. They fold flat for easy transportation and have removable pegs. I'm thinking about listing them in my shop so people can have the option of purchasing them with a platter for display. I would probably have my Dad finish them with a stain or something if I was going to sell them, however.

Well, I have to go get ready to pick up some last minute things for the show, like these super cute aprons from my CNY Etsy Team buddy Lauren, from Originals by Lauren. I'm so excited about them and hope they make me seem more organized tomorrow and Sunday at the show!

It's Been a LONG time!!!

2009-11-04T05:26:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I know it's been a very long time since my last post. In a nutshell, this is what has been going on in the meantime: a bad breakup, a magnet making dilemma, two car accidents, two totaled cars, an intense and mostly unsuccessful search for a new car, a trip (by train) to Boston to chill out, applications to several colleges mailed, financial aid applied for, blue highlights added to my hair, two weeks of frenzied pottery making in order to get ready for the Salt City Indie Craft Mart, a good make-up, a college acceptance and decision, two new employees added to the Luckalilly business (ok, it's my Mom and Dad, but they're getting paid so they still count!!) a used car purchased, 900 magnets made for my cousin's wedding, and then of course the Salt City Indie Craft Mart itself!!! Which was fabulous, I might add! Something had to give! But, alas, I am back to blogging and I solemnly promise to do my best to keep it updated!!

As I mentioned, the Craft Mart was a huge success, I think for everyone who participated. It was definitely my best show yet. I thought I had about 100 too many business cards, but I ran out pretty quick and had to give away extra pottery tags with my shop address on them instead! The bad thing about selling almost everything at the show is not having anything for the next show, which is coming up in about 10 days!! Yikes! I didn't even have time to grab any photos of the new work or the show except for the one I took on my cell phone above, which shows my booth and is incredibly blurry! I'll try harder to get better pictures next time.

The Herkimer County Community College Arts and Crafts Fair is on November 14 and 15, and my kiln and I are working nonstop to get ready for it!! I still don't know if I can make enough work to really take advantage of the number of people who normally attend this show, but I'm doing my best! Wish me luck!

More New Stuff in the Shop!!!

2009-08-31T07:02:00.000-07:00

In the past month or so, I have been busy making a TON of new items for the Clinton Arts and Music Festival on the 29th, which I unfortunately had to miss because of my stupid wisdom teeth. On the upside, that means I have loads and loads on inventory to list in the shop!!

Here are some sneak peaks!!

I also made some more mugs and plates, as well as magnets, rocks, and a whole host of new sewn items that will be listed soon. Stay tuned!

Glaze Tests: Before and After Firing

2009-08-03T11:21:00.000-07:00

I currently use commercial glazes on my pottery. Right now this is what is working best for me, because commercial glazes offer me consistency, convenience and time-efficiency. I would like to someday develop my own glazes to use, but I'm putting that off for now until I can finish school and learn some more glaze chemistry. I'm not ready to take the leap and buy all the materials and tools needed to formulate, mix and test my own glazes, and I don't know nearly enough about developing my own recipes. I have been interested in trying to get some different effects on the surface of my pots, however. My "standard" solid color, glossy glazes are spectacularly bright and reliable, and they don't move AT ALL during firing, which lends themselves to my process and style beautifully. Lately, however, I have been wanting something a little different. I like when glazes break over the surface and run a little during firing to create beautiful effects, and I have been dying to experiment with some matte glazes. So I ordered a whole bunch of new glazes that will hopefully get me started in the right direction! I ran some tests on them yesterday on old bisque ware I had taking up space in my studio. The results were interesting; some of the colors did not come out exactly how I had thought they would, but these were tests after all! The "after" pictures don't have the greatest lighting, but hopefully you can get an idea about the way these glazes move.

New Adventures

2009-07-25T08:14:00.000-07:00

My harddrive crashed last week. Yes, it was devastating; espcially since I'm super irresponsible and never backed anything up. I did still manage to get some new items listed in the shop, however, using my family's super SLOW desktop.

I took the rest of my laptop-free time to work on more custom orders as well as begin some exciting new projects that will make thier debut in the Luckalilly shop soon as a "test run". If everything goes well, I may begin a second shop selling a new line of products made from felt and linen (and possibly screen printed t-shirts) all showcasing my favorite patterns and designs that can be found on my ceramics.

It's a very ambitious project, but I want to diversify my offerings in order to reach more customers and prepare myself in case access to my super-sweet studio and kiln ever becomes limited (aka I go back to school!) Sewing and screen printing are both much more "mobile" operations and don't require too much specialized equipment and space. A girl's gotta make money somehow! Plus, I just like crafting, and starting new projects is always fun for me! (I still need to think of a name for this hypothetical shop tho, and any suggestions would be appreciated!!)

2009-07-15T17:44:00.000-07:00

Ever have a day where your grouchy for no good reason? That was today. I just woke up grouchy, and not even my new morning coffee/yoga/smoothie routine with my mom could get me out of the funk. I wasn't mad or upset about anything or anyone in particular, I was just all around grumpy. I mean, yeah, life is rough, but it's not any different from yesterday or the day before and I was in a perfectly fine mood on those days! I wasn't even in the wallowing, self-pitying kind of bad mood-you know, the kind you can secretly kind of enjoy a tiny little bit, even while projecting outward misery. I wanted to be in a good mood today (it was even sunny out!) but I just wasn't. I dragged myself to work and pouted the whole time (on the inside, since my day job requires a lot of outward smiling and enthusiasm).

I had been planning to work on ceramics when I got home, but I have learned from experience that it's not a good idea to work on that stuff when I'm in a bad mood. I get very hyper-critical about everything I'm making and have made in the past, and that sometimes leads to a pottery-smashing party. Smashing dishes (especially ones that you made that came out horrible that you hate to look at anyway) is actually a very effective form of therapy, but it leaves a huge mess. And then there's always your mother nagging you about the concrete floor and coming down to inspect if for gouges from said smashed pottery.

So instead of smashing pottery I decided to write about my bad mood in my blog today, and then go to the movies with the love of my life, my boyfriend, to see the other love of my life, Johnny Depp, in Public Enemies. It's definitely a large popcorn kind of night...

Getting Back into a Routine

2009-07-07T07:18:00.000-07:00

After the show this weekend in Hamilton, I was pretty worn out! The show turned out well; after a few hours of worrying I would make absolutely no sales (and pledging to finish off an entire bloomin' onion by myself if I didn't sell anything by the end of the day, wheat allergy or not) I ended up getting a few takers. It was a fun day, I love getting together with the other members of the CNY Etsy Team in person!

But after a few days off spent basking in the gorgeous summer weather (hiking around taking photos of my 'hood-more photos in a set on my flickr stream) I'm struggling to get back into a regular routine at the studio. I have a bunch of custom orders to finish up, and I have to list all my leftover items I made for the show in the shop. That alone is a pretty big task-photographing everything, editing all the photos, uploading them, writing descriptions for everything, figuring out shipping costs, ect. I certainly have my work cut out for me for the next couple of weeks. I'm also working on a set of dish ware for my family that I want to glaze differently from my usual, so loads of glaze tests are on the to-do list as well. I want to get all of this taken care of so I can prepare for my next show at the end of August with plenty of time to spare. I really don't want to be super crazy two weeks beforehand like I was for the Hamilton show!

Unfortunately I dislocated my hip the other night in the middle of Barnes and Noble, so that is not helping anything!

During my "time off" I also made these guys for a baby shower we held for two of my coworkers. I made the brown felt out of lambs wool roving for another project, but had plenty left over for this little project! I downloaded the pattern from the Martha Stewart site. Mine didn't come out as perfect as the ones in the photos, but I still think they're cute!

I've also been working on this drawing a little bit-- it's going very slowly, I can only work on it a bit at a time, in between everything else. As usual, I have way too many projects going at once! I've got to get back into ceramics full-force this weekend, however, or else pay the dire consequences of bad time management down the road when deadlines loom.

FREE SHIPPING!

2009-06-26T07:31:00.000-07:00

Free shipping on orders of $20 or more at the shop in honor of Independence Day!

Visit the shop for more details!!

The Workshop!

2009-06-23T04:54:00.000-07:00

Well, sorry for the delay, but my first week back after the workshop was filled with scrambling around trying to catch up on shop stuff: tax forms, mailing out orders, answering convos ect. ect. Phew! But I'm pretty well caught up now, so I squeezed in some time for a blog post to show you some pictures from the workshop. If you would like to see even more photos, visit my flickr site!

This was a piece I worked on for a good long while, but it ended up collapsing because I pushed it too far and got it too wet at the bottom. What a disappointment!

I made about six of these bottles or so, some with longer necks. They were all fired in the wood kiln.

These were experimental plates with everything on them, to be fired in the salt kiln.

Jenelle's bottles for her masters show, ready to get a good soaking of ash from the wood kiln.

Old kiln posts. I just love the color and texture.

Loading the back bank.

The second bank, complete with recessed lighting.

Bryan firing up the wood kiln after the "ceremony" (rice and liquor for the kiln gods!)

Food for the kiln (she was really hungry)
A peek inside during the firing. Thats one of my pieces on the top shelf!!

I hope to take some photos of some finished pieces soon and get them up. I gotta do it fast though, because I already gave a bunch of stuff away! Stay tuned for more...

"Hearted" Sale and Wood & Vapor Workshop

2009-06-04T17:51:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!

Well, the first order of business today is to announce that I'm hosting a sale at the shop, starting today and lasting through June 14th. It's a rather unusual sale, actually. As a way of thanking those who have "hearted" my shop, I am offering anyone who "hearts me" 20% off everything in the store! Another reason I did this sale is because I know many times when I heart a shop, it's because I really like what the store has, but I may not be able to afford to buy something at the time. So, buy reducing the prices for those who I know already like my creations, I hope that more people will be able to purchase something!

In other noteworthy happenings, I will be attending the "Wood & Vapor" workshop at the Munsen Williams Proctor Arts Institute in Utica starting on Saturday. I am jumping-out-of-my-skin excited about this, and I would not have been able to attend had it not been for a very generous person helping me out by offering me a scholarship (thanks, Joe!!)

The workshop is for nine days straight, right up until the 13th of June, from 9:30 Am to 9 PM daily, so if I'm not too tuckered out I'll try to post some pics nightly of the workshop as it progresses!

(The pics are of some of my new slipcast ware that I'm working on.)

WIP: Work in Progress

2009-06-02T06:08:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time, I loved drawing and painting even more than clay. When I was in school (I went Syracuse University for art) I did loads of drawing and painting, most of which was dictated by a teacher. Very educational and instructive, but pretty boring. So when I left school, I pretty much dived into my newest passion, clay, and never looked back on the 2-D stuff. I made a few prints over the winter, but nothing too extensive. Lately I have been itching to draw again, with all the fields by my house coming to life around me with greenery and wildflowers. I started this drawing of my backyard (above photo) the other day:

I love the idea of using patterns to describe shape, form, and contrast. In case you couldn't tell by my pottery, I love patterns, especially those with a mid-century bent. I love how patterns change when on a 3-D surface and can help eccentuate the form. I actually think if I went back to school, I would major in surface pattern design.

There's a lot of detail in this, sorry I can't get a better picture right now! I think I'm going to ink over the pencil drawing and then have it scanned and photographed at Danella Photographic before I attempt to watercolor it. That way, if I mess up, or want to change something with the colors, I can just print another in black and white and start over!

I'll post the progress of this project as it evolves; right now I'm dreaming of doing a whole series of all the beautiful hills and valleys around my home; but who knows!

I have another Etsy shop called Moxyprints where I hope to someday sell prints of my 2-D artwork, but it's closed right now so I can focus on Luckalilly. When I have enough prints to sell and I'm better organized, hopefully I'll open up again!

Mold Making

2009-05-27T09:00:00.000-07:00

I did some mold making over the holiday weekend in an effort to streamline my production process and improve consistency. The molds will (hopefully) allow me to make many pieces that are nearly identical in shape and size (without loosing the handmade element) in a short amount of time. I can then decorate and glaze each piece how I like. The process of slip casting with plaster molds also has the advantage of being pretty straightforward, meaning I could easily train a future studio assistant to cast for me, freeing me up to spend more time decorating and glazing.

The molds are made from original pieces I threw on the wheel like the ones in the first photo. I'm hoping to do another post about the process of slip casting in the near future.

Here is my very first cast (this was my test mold I made about a week before-plaster molds have to dry out for a few days before they are usable):

Check out my very first slip cast pieces:

Right now, I'm going for two "lines" or "styles" of ware, one that is low and rounded, like these little bowls, and another, more angular set that will (IF all goes well) stack neatly on top of one another.

Mold making was a rather exhaustive and messy process, but hopefully it will pay off in the end!!

Memorial Day Sale at Luckalilly Ceramics!

2009-05-22T08:04:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

I'm hosting a sale this weekend at my online shop. Everything in the store is discounted 15% off! I have lots of new stuff to check out, and I'll be adding a few more things this weekend.

Click here to go to the shop!

New Blog!

2009-05-21T21:17:00.001-07:00

Ok, so I have finally broken down and decided to start a blog. Apart from sharing info about new work and sales/shows I'm participating in, I hope to share a little about what goes on behind the scenes in my studio as well as my experiences making and selling ceramics.

A little about me:

My name is Caroline Hayward, and I was born on August 14, 1989.
I make functional pottery, which I sell primarily through my online Etsy shop, Luckalilly Ceramics. (visit me, say hello, buy something!!)
I live in beautiful Upstate New York, specifically in the city of Utica.
I also write another blog for the CNY (Central New York) Etsy Team I am a part of, you can check it out here, there are loads of talented artists in my area!!
I enjoy bold patterns and contrast, and I harbor a deep weakness for anything mid-century modern.
I attended Syracuse University for my freshman year of college in 2007/2008 where I majored in Art Education with a focus in Ceramics. I have put my formal art education on hold for now due to "financial roadblocks," but I continue to practice art pretty much every day, mostly through Luckalilly, which takes up a good deal of my time and energy.
I'm a Mac, end of story. I love my MacBook to pieces and nothing can change that!
As of right now, I throw every piece of ceramics I make on the wheel, and then decorate, glaze, and fire each one in my home studio. Talk about handmade!! (Soon I hope to start slip casting some of my pieces for production purposes; more on this endeavor later...)
I have a part time job as a receptionist at a hair salon that pays most of my bills and also provides me with (really bad) health insurance. On the upside, I get free haircuts and also a killer mall discount. I don't hate it.

Well, now that you know the backstory, I hope you will enjoy reading about my daily goings on--I promise I'll try to make it interesting!!