Christmas Open House

Christmas open house at the shop today was awesome!  We had people there starting right at 10 am and didn't really slow down till almost 3:30.  I love to do this every year. And I always thank my regular customers so much for choosing to support my little local business.  I have some customers that have been buying from me since way back when I used to do craft shows and have continued to buy my work through the years.  I even let people cruise the "Etsy" room and sold some stuff out of there.  And my smart phone was so handy to be able go into my shop and deactivate items.  I would love to get a Square reader to do credit cards but we are in a dead zone for signal and I don't think it would work.  As it was, I had to go down to my husband's shop where he has wi fi.  But I got some exercise!

This gets me in the mood for Christmas!  Listening to Christmas music all day, and you know I love Charlie Brown Christmas and Mannhiem Steamroller the best.

Tomorrow, I'll get started on some more decorating at the house, my blue and green tree that goes in the front room we call the parlor.  My sister is coming to spend the night and will help me.  She loves, loves, loves to do Christmas!  So we'll put some more music on and have a good time!

Come on in!

Look around!

There's stuff in every nook and cranny

This little table top tree is a button tree(and all kinds of other stuff).
I bought from an artist several years ago who had work at the gallery where I demonstrated.
Every year she would bring them in and get gone
before I could get on.  So 2 years ago I grabbed one first thing.

 

Pumpkin bread muffins, chocolate chip cookies and the Pillsbury cookies with
the Christmas trees in the middle, rice krispie treats and hot cider.  OMG, I'm full!

 I still have lots of stuff and some things will make their way to my Etsy shop or maybe given as gifts.  Or just stay on the shelves.  But for now, I'm tired but happy, a good tired when you know you've been busy.  

Are you in the holiday spirit yet?

New photo set up

OMG, I must be serious about this on line selling.  I've rigged up a semi-permanent photo box/station.  I got some really good Daylight flood lights at Home Depot and they do the trick.  The glazes look great under them.  Not too dark or washed out.

Looks sort of professional, doesn't it?

My husband built the frame work from dowel rod and PVC joints.
It will fold up flat to store if necessary.

I have been taking pictures outside on cloudy days.  Which was fine but some of the colors just didn't look right.  And then was there always the wind to deal with or heat or cold.  You get my drift!  Now there is no excuse for not taking pictures.

I generally use a white background.  That seems to make all the colors show up.  A piece of white paper clipped to the back of the frame and pulled forward with a box underneath for things to stand on.  That gives a seamless background which works for most things.

See, works pretty well!

So I'm in the process of going through all my pictures and retaking as needed.  Don't you wish you could help!!

Shop tour (ignore the mess)

my wheel

glaze buckets

So I thought I would let everybody see my work space.  This is a little brick house, about 900 sq. ft. that is on our property.  We actually lived in this house while we were building our new house 15 years ago.  Imagine 2 adults, 2 kids and 2 dobermans, in this little space.  After we moved into our new house, my in-laws lived in it for a while and then it was empty for several years.  I had been working in the basement and glazing and firing in a shed out back when it dawned on me to use the empty house as a studio.  We weren't doing anything with it and didn't want to rent it out.

our slab room

gallery

Sooo, we cleaned it out and painted, put up shelves everywhere and now it is the perfect studio.  Heat in the winter and AC in the summer, YAY! Running water and space to spread out all my junk, I mean, stuff!  I throw in what was the kitchen and have taken all the doors off the cabinets so I can see what I have.  One bedroom became the slab room and clay storage and the other bedroom became a dedicated Etsy room with shelving, tables to pack on, a closet to hold packing stuff, OMG , it is wonderful.  We even have a laundry room! Great for muddy towels. The other big room in the house is gallery space with finished work for when we have open house at Christmas.

etsy shelves

So that's where I spend lots of time playing in the mud. If I'm not in the yard or on the computer!