AFQotD, random notes and financial cuisine...

I was going to put a little review type thing on here about the show I did last weekend in Fairview Heights, IL, but it is getting kind of late.  Therefore, in the interest of brevity, I will simply transcribe the hand full of notes I scribbled down during the show.  These come to you more or less as I originally thought them.

Friday

•  Art Fair Quote of the day #1: two 20-something women

               "Hey Lindsey, there's a butter dish!"
               "Hahahaha!"
               (What in the world could have transpired that would make the sight of a butter dish so funny?)

• All the tent poles, stakes and ropes make it feel like we are on display at some sort of circus or people zoo or something.
• A little bit of wiggle room between tents would be nice.  They practically have us stacked on top of each other.  Twice already I have knocked paintings off the wall in the booth next to me by bumping into their display.
• Have you ever seen someone so tall you thought to yourself, "What the hell happened to that guy?"
• I have had a number of people give my work the stink eye already.

Saturday

• Art Fair Quote of the Day #2:  Mother & 4-5 year old daughter

               "No no, don't touch Gabby"
               "You touched!"

•  Art Fair Quote of the Day #3:  3 year old boy

               "Follow Simon!  He knows where the didgeridoos are!"

• I don't make pretty pots
• I think I have the most expensive mugs at the show.  The average looks to be about $30.  My average is closer to $40.
• It is slow like a...like something that is really slow.

Sunday

• I think it is funny when parents dress their kids so the whole family matches.  I can understand if it is for family pictures, but I don't think these folks were having family pictures taken.  "I still think there's too much green..."  "I told you, it's a motif!"
• I love it when people give me lengthy, unsolicited advice about what I need to change on my pots to make them better.  Excuse me sir, but...go away!
• There are just shy of three hours left for this show and the crowds (and I use the word "crowds"
  in the very loosest sense of the word) are pretty much gone.
• I love it (really) when people smile, or even better, when they laugh at my work.  Sometimes I laugh when I am making it.

Overall it was a very well organized show, just not very profitable.  Depending on how I decide to cook the books, I covered expenses.

And so this post is not completely devoid of pictures...

...a custom platter for my wife.  She has been wanting me to make a name, wedding, anniversary, whatever you want to call it platter for a while now.  Partly because she wants one to hang on the wall, but mostly because she wants me to hock them as a "custom order" item at shows and such.  Either way we were both pretty happy with how it turned out.

Up next...Timmy Tabasco! 
(I know I said that last time, but this time I mean it...but it will not be for another week and a half as I will be gone all next week.  I know you are all waiting on pins and needles to find out what "Timmy Tabasco" is, but keep your pants on.  You will find out soon enough...and you will undoubtedly be exceedingly disappointed when you do.)

Squirrels, platters and how to store your butter...

 

As many of you may be aware, the world did not end in 1954.  The planet Clarion did not come to call but Dorothy was undeterred, even though the doctors were watching.

I was actually going to write this up last night, but firefighter duties put a stop to that.  Which brings us to the PSA portion of the blog post.

Fire Prevention Tip #089:  Do not allow squirrels to store their acorns and such in your electrical fuse box.

Oh well; so it goes.

I am firing a bisque today, so I don't really want to be out in the studio anyway.  Air conditioned blogging sounds like a much better option.  I did get a large platter trimmed before the studio got too hot, though.

Here is the platter in question right after being thrown.  I say it is large, but when it is all said and done it will only be around 14 inches or so across.  That is pretty weak considering I used about 18 pounds of clay to make it.  I have not made very many large platters, so it still a bit difficult to stretch the clay to where I really want it. 

Here is the platter in question after a lot of trimming.  I may not be great at throwing platters yet, but I think I got it trimmed up pretty nice. 
I did not take a picture of it, but the foot is undercut on the inside to allow for easy hanging on the wall.  I have tried making holes for a wire, but that just seems like and extra, unnecessary step when this works just as well.  And this way I do not have to worry about orienting my decoration to the wire.  I'm not saying I have failed to do that in the past...I meant for those pieces to look crooked. 
I am going to be making quite a few more of these, both because I need the practice and because that large surface area presents some very enticing decoration opportunities.

Speaking of decoration...

I am totally digging how this one turned out.  This fancy little french butter keeper thing is in the kiln right now.  I have made regular butter dishes in the past and liked the end result, but they are pretty laborious to make.  These are not as complicated (less components to put together) and are probably more practical.

And finally, Mitchmatic: Why Don't You Know?
Hip-hop-ish music, but not really.  Fun stuff.

Up next...ligers!

Why I hurt...

A month or two ago my wife and I purchased a short term membership to Crossfit, a local gym.  We have both been putting off actually going thus far (my wife still is).  Yesterday I bit the bullet and attended my first class...it kicked my ass pretty hard.
Crossfit is not your typical gym though.  They have scheduled classes with short, intense workouts.  Yesterday we did squats, kettle bells, pushups, lunges and something called burpees.  Doesn't sound like much, but we were supposed to do as many as we possibly could of each of these exercises in four minutes.  So the total work out only lasted 20-25 minutes, but everyone was laid out on the floor after it was all said and done.  And on top of all that, I chipped my tooth with a weight bar.
I am a strange kind of sore today; my muscles hurt a bit, but they are more tired than anything.  It was good though.  I am going again tomorrow.

On the clay front, I was accepted to a couple art fairs last week, which is cool.  I was kind of worried about getting accepted to shows for a little bit, so getting into even these two shows is a nice little validation of what I am doing.  I still have to apply to shows for later in the year though, so I have yet to see what will happen with those.
The wife and I are also planning a home show type thing in the next month or so.  We have a lot of work to do to get ready for that on top of making enough inventory to cover everything.

And finally, here are a few pictures so this post isn't so dry.  This is all stuff that came out of the last load, I think.  I just haven't put any of them up here yet.  Most of these and more are on my Etsy page.

Skull butter dish.  Someone asked if I could make one of these, so I did.

Bird and magnolia butter dish

The "Baa Baa" cup

Raven wine set

I guess that is all for now.  Until later...

-Rob, Simple Circle Studios