Bidding 2014 Adieu

Thanks to customers old & new for helping to make this a great year!  I look forward to creating more pottery that you can use and enjoy with your family and friends in the new year.

Early in January I'll post the list of shows you can find me at in 2015.  For now, I think I'll fill up one of those cups and spend some time relaxing and enjoying my family and friends.

ORIGINALS opens today!

I'm all set up at the EY Centre, ready for the full 10 day show this year.  Booth #718.  I have a smaller booth this year but plenty of inventory under & behind shelves and of course I can always bring more from home.  Looking forward to a great show!

ORIGINALS Christmas Craft Sale Dec. 11-21

This will be my last show of the season!  This year I will be there for the full 10 days (the show is closed on Monday).  You can find me at Booth #718, with my full range of pottery--all functional, microwave and dishwasher safe.

Fisher Park Christmas Craft Show & Sale this Saturday

I'll have lots of pots in the $5 - $40 range, suitable for teacher gifts, hostess gifts, etc.  And Christmas ornaments too!

Guild Holiday Sale at the Horticulture Building

Horticulture Building at Lansdowne Park

Thanks to everyone who made it out to the Guild's holiday sale at our new venue!  We had lots of positive comments from customers who were happy to see us back in a more central location.

NEW Apple Bakers

Warm up this winter with the ultimate comfort food--a baked apple in your very own dish.  Here's the recipe I include with each baker:

Core apple and place firmly in centre post

of apple baker.  Mix together:

1 Tbsp. brown sugar

¼ tsp. cinnamon

½ Tbsp. butter (softened)

Pinch of salt

½ Tbsp. chopped nuts (optional)

Stuff mixture into cored apple.  Place

clay baker in cold oven, heat to 350 F and

bake for 30-45 min. depending on size of

apple.  Serve with ice cream if desired.

Hintonburg Artisan Craft Fair

I'll be at the Hintonburg Community Centre this Saturday with a selection of pottery (including yarn bowls and apple bakers) that would make great gifts for the loved ones in your life!

NEW LOCATION for Ottawa Guild of Potters Holiday Sale!

For those of you who didn't venture out to Orleans for the Guild sales, we hope to see you back in attendance at the newly renovated Horticulture Building at Landsdowne Park, right in central Ottawa.

Marlin Orchards Pottery Show

I was one of the first to set up this year in the green houses at Marlin Orchards.  Just look at all the space that will get filled by about 20 other potters!  I'll be there all day Monday.

Country Harvest Pottery Sale Thanksgiving Week-end

click on image to enlarge

Next week-end I'll once again have my pottery in the Marlin Orchards greenhouses, along with 20 or so other potters--many from the Cornwall area, Ottawa and Montreal.  The setting is beautifully located overlooking the St. Lawrence River in Summerstown, just east of Cornwall.  Fresh apples, pumpkins, spring bulbs, etc. can be found in their shop.  Potters take turns working shifts; I'll be there on Monday.  I'm firing some new apple bakers this week, just in time for the sale!

September harvest

It's been a busy month.  This kiln has barely had a chance to cool down!  It's the larger of my two kilns and the one that gets used most regularly since it has a digital control panel which allows me to program the kiln to fire overnight--when electricity rates are lower and when I'm not in the studio.

Peter Farris-Manning has been photographing my pottery for several years.  This large serving dish is from the latest session.  You can see more of his beautiful photography (portraits, nature, weddings, etc.) at farris-manning.ca 

NEW!! Salt shakers and Espresso cups

Have you seen this design of a stopperless salt shaker?  The tiny hole you see on the bottom is where you fill it up with table salt.  When it sits on the table, the salt is stored in the hollow interior "donut" in the pot.  Give it a shake and the salt comes out of the hole!  Very clever design.

And I have new espresso cups in all 4 colours with a black interior.  Both the salt shaker and the cup pair up nicely with a little bread & butter plate.

The River Guild in Perth, ON

I took some new pots to The River Guild in Perth last week, and will take more in September.  It's a lovely shop which carries the work of at least six potters, as well as all kinds of unique handcrafted items.  Well worth a visit to this charming town.

1001 Pots in Val David

We holidayed in the Laurentians this summer (if you haven't cycled Le Petit Train du Nord, I highly recommend it) and spent our last night in Val David, home of 1001 Pots, a one month pottery sale/exhibition extraordinaire.  Here are a few of the many photos I took:

  The last two photos are an enormous structure on the property, whose wire walls are gradually being filled with broken pottery, presumably donated by the many potters who have taken part in the sale over the decades.  This place defies description--you really need to experience it!  Check it out for next year at www.1001pots.com

Summer sales are over!

Thanks to everyone that made it out to one of the summer sales.  For a total of 8 days outdoors, it only rained on one of them.  Not bad given the kind of summer we've had.  Now I'm busy filling orders and will soon start gearing up for fall sales.  The first one is Thanksgiving week-end in Summerstown, east of Cornwall.

51st Annual Haliburton Art & Craft Festival

Thanks to everyone who came out to this summer festival.  Once again we were blessed with no rain during show hours--thunderstorms overnight and downpours after pack up, but dry during the days!  I took a few photos of my booth at the start of the show and then got busy.  My booth was alongside the river again, so all day long I could hear the sound of (mostly) kids jumping into the river from a rope off the nearby little bridge.  Ah, the sounds of summer.....

More sounds of summer to come as I'll be in Bancroft at Millenium Park Saturday and Sunday for their annual Art & Craft Sale.  I plan to take lots of "seconds" along, all functional--suitable for cottage country!

I've changed up my outdoor display a bit this year.  The new tent is great, the table with display boxes works well and I've added a few small Ikea tables at the front of the booth.  Trouble is, it takes some pretty careful packing to fit everything into the truck--especially with all the stuff we need to take along when we're staying in our cabin.  As with most things in life, it's constantly evolving!

New pots for summer shows

I've been busy getting pots ready for the summer shows I'm doing this year.  Next week I'm off to Haliburton for the Haliburton Art and Craft Festival July 25-27.

Then to Bancroft for their Art and Craft Show August 2-3.  Back in Ottawa I'll be at Art on the Farm at the Central Experimental Farm Sat., Aug. 16th.

Here are a few three-handled vases fresh from the last firing:

And a few snack trays.  The bottom photo shows the bisqued roller in which I've carved the lotus leaf pattern which is imprinted onto the tray.

Summer show time!

Thanks to everyone who came out to The New Art Festival.  It was a lovely couple of days in a beautiful park in great weather.  Now I'm busy making orders from these recent shows and getting ready for the next shows which start later this month.  First is the Haliburton Art and Craft Festival July 25-27, then the Bancroft Art & Craft Sale August 2-3.

Here are a few shots from The New Art Festival in June, under my new white, waterproof tent:

The New Art Festival June 21 & 22

This Saturday and Sunday you can find me at The New Art Festival in Central Park in the Glebe.  It finally looks like nice weather for this festival which has been plagued by rain the past few years.  Regardless, I have a new waterproof tent (yay!) and I'll be there 10-5 each day, with lots of new pots to choose from. More info at www.newartfestival.ca  Here are a few things that would make great wedding gifts.

I've made a few large shallow dishes with slip trail decoration, all in the popular green/blue combo.

I have teapots and cream & sugar sets in all four colours right now; also several sizes of teapots in some colours.

Large salad/fruit bowls are versatile; I have several colours & styles available.

I'm making a smaller version of the landscape platters; these are about the size of a banana loaf!

A beautiful week-end at The Potters Market in Guelph

It was a fine week-end weather-wise and that can make all the difference for an outdoor show!  The setting for this show is stunning, in the ruins of an old mill along the Speed River in Guelph.  Here are a few shots of two of the areas where most of the 50 potters were set up.  Maybe a dozen more were set up along the entrance to the mill.  A local catering company provided great food and beverages and musical entertainment was provided by the adjoining music school.  A great show--it was lovely to be part of it!

The Potters Market

click on image to make larger

Looking forward to this show next week-end!  Held in the limestone ruins of the Goldie Mill in downtown Guelph, beside the Speed River.  An amazing group of over 50 potters will be gathering to offer their wares for sale.  I'm looking forward to meeting those I haven't already met & seeing their work.

More info can be found on the website www.thepottersmarket.ca

As advertised:  It's the only outdoor event of its kind in Ontario, modeled after the famous potters markets of Europe, such as the hugely popular "Diessener Topfemarkt" in Upper Bavaria.