What to Do with Seconds

With a garden full of new landscaping/hardscaping and a bunch of pottery seconds sitting in my house, I decided to take action and enhance our new front patio.

Happily, on large trash day, Avie found a discarded baker's rack, which we absconded with and put up in front. Then I checked out my seconds, consisting of pieces I'd made which had something I didn't like. I also took a trip to our local Goodwill for a few extra pieces, to fill in the blanks. Then I tallied up the sizes of our pottery pieces.

Finally, we went over to our favorite garden shop and purchased a lot of succulents to fit into these vessels. The result: NICE!!!!

As time goes on, I'll see how these cuties do. I'll probably add to the collection as I accumulate more pottery seconds, or find some in the wild.

What do you do with YOUR seconds?

Snowy Owl Mug: Results

NCECA is Coming Up Fast!

This coming Wednesday I'll be driving out to Houston with at least two of my pottery friends to attend this year's NCECA (National Council on the Education for the Ceramic Arts) conference. It will be my second time attending and there will be lots to see and learn.

What am I most excited about? There are several things.

I'm delighted they're having a process room, with different presentations on specific techniques which I can incorporate into my pieces. There are also some top notch artists speaking on their work and doing demos. I'm particularly looking forward to Christa Assad, Kristen Kieffer, Tom Coleman, Marion Angelica, and Jake Allee (a potter from whom I've already had a workshop).

And, as if I didn't need more mugs, I'm also quite excited to donate to and purchase from their annual mug sale, benefitting scholarships for ceramics students.

Finally, I anticipate dropping a bit of "change" in the vendor's hall. Last year in Seattle there were a few things I wanted which were too large to get home on the airplane. This year I'll have my van, making things much easier to transport. Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing will soon be discovered.

Stay tuned for photos and comments on all I've seen and learned!