Well, If I Needed A Reason

 

If I needed a more motivation to get into the studio & make stuff, my youngest feline just provided it. My favorite mug & pitcher are both visible - or, you know, chunks of them are - in the center of the carnage. 

My husband is quick to point out that we don't know it was SkinnyCat who did the deed - it could have been Bobcat Goldthwaite or the ghost of Jacob Marley, who knows? I mean only one creature makes a hobby of knocking things off tables, but - true! - usually small things, not loaded dish-draining racks. 

Ah, well. Cats are spirit guides, sent to make sure we don't get too attached to our material possessions. Anyway, I can always make more. 

Meet Periwinkle, Our Sponsored Cat!

I visited Kennebec Valley Humane Society this afternoon, to choose a cat to sponsor with the proceeds of the Cat Dish Fundraiser. With the help of the staff there, I decided on Periwinkle. She is a big beautiful 4-yr-old tabby, brown with russet undertones - truly a lovely cat. She's very spunky & playful. Periwinkle has been at the shelter since March.
Like my Snowball, Periwinkle has food allergies, so will need a special diet. This was part of the reason I wanted to sponsor her - it can be harder to adopt out a cat with any special needs. Her adoption fee was $75, but now it's FREE!

Thank you to all who bought dishes & shared posts to help make this happen! We will keep an eye on Periwnkle online & hope she finds her forever home soon.

One Good Thing

A little over a year ago, I did the first cat dish fundraiser, followed quickly by the second. Together we were able to sponsor the adoption fees for 3 shelter cats, all of whom found their forever homes shortly thereafter.

At that time, I had 5 cats; in the intervening months, a sixth cat has managed to worm his naughty, adorable way into our home. Six really is the limit, though; if I needed any further persuading, Skinny is my first-ever sprayer, which means finding and wiping up cat pee is my new hobby! Toward that end I bought a blacklight, to help find the invisible pee spots.

Like they use on Bones. only it's for pee!

But I digress.

It's time once again for the Sorta-Annual Cat Dish Fundraiser! If I can sell 10 of these sweet little dishes, I can sponsor a cat's adoption fee at KVHS.  I've got my eye on an older cat named Sweatpants, if she hasn't found a home by the time this fundraiser is done. 

Let me highlight a couple of my favorites: 

Cat Dish 9: PINK HURRICANE

Cat Dish 2: Serene Green

Cat Dish 1: Spring Tartan

There are lots more in the online shop. Check them out & choose your favorite! I sold some during the Maine Pottery Tour, so I only need to sell five more to sponsor a cat. 

Because I can't adopt them all! 

I know this may not come to you at a good time to buy; and I know you have causes & obligations of your own! Believe me I understand not having money to support every good cause that comes along. If you can buy one, awesome! If not, maybe you can share this post, so it can reach a person who can. Thanks!

Almost Time...

...for the Pottery Tour, of course, but also almost time for another Cat Dish Fundraiser! Together, last year we were able to sponsor the adoption fees of three shelter cats, and all found their forever homes!
The dishes for the next round of kitty-saving are in the kiln right now! I always have fun glazing these because they are low-consequence: I can try anything I want, I can't lose money I wasn't going to make anyway! Here's how they looked before I loaded them:

This load will fire on Wednesday, unloading Saturday morning at 10 am, during the pottery tour! hope to see you there.

Then There Were Six

Hey, pull up a chair! Pour yourself a coffee (in a handmade mug!) & tell me what's new with you. Me? Making pots, trying like hell to sell them; teaching classes, still at Portland Pottery & now at Hallowell Clay Works; and - oops - got a new cat.

That makes 6.

Skinny Cat joined out family in October. We've known him for about a year & a half - he was a neighbor's cat who just liked to hang out on our deck when it was sunny. Somewhere near the end of August/ beginning of September, we noticed the cat we referred to as "skinny cat" (to differentiate him from "scruffy cat," "little gray cat," and "chubby cat," all neighborhood visitors) was not looking too good. He was now VERY skinny, with scabs under patchy fur. Shortly after that we noticed that he wasn't actually going home anymore; at night he just found a hiding place in our garage.

Doug went over & knocked on the neighbor's door, meaning to ask them if they were missing their cat...and they had moved away. Without Skinny! We called the shelter, thinking maybe on moving day they hadn't been able to find him, though that seemed a long shot - they never came over & asked if we'd seen him, even though they knew our deck was a favorite spot of his.

We spent six weeks trying to find a home for him, and in the meantime tried to make the garage comfy. Doug often smokes out in the garage, so he and Skinny spent a lot of time together. By the time I was able to persuade someone to take him, it was too late! They had bonded. Doug's mother has been ill & it has generally been a pretty stressful time for him, so I decided: if one more cat provides him with some comfort, is that really too much to ask?

It's not.

When October Goes

The great Barry Manilow captured the melancholy of late October, as we spin into the dark half of the year. My wallow in that bittersweet feeling needs to be brief, however, because October's end means a very busy time in the studio.

First, I've got new pots in the online shop! Here are a couple of my special favorites:

Got several nice butter dishes out of the last firing! Check this one out at this link. 

Several sweet little sugar bowls too! Check this one out at this link.

Three big beautiful vases available too! Check this one out at this link. 

The online store will be open & adding new items every week until the first week in December. 

I'm also preparing for the opening of the Holiday Pottery Shop, which opens in about two weeks. This year the shop is at 160 Water Street in Hallowell. OMG you should see this big beautiful space!! It's the site of the former Harlow Gallery, and has me musing about renting it to open a year 'round store, after the Holiday Pottery Shop pops back down. That's probably little more than a daydream but...it could work. There's space in the back for a wheel & work table & even an electric kiln to bisque, so I wouldn't lose studio time....it could work....

ANYWAY. I've got enough to think about in the present. Orders, consignment stores that need inventory, oh and....

A new cat!

I didn't really mean to get a sixth cat! Actually I tried pretty hard not to get a sixth cat, but cats happen, especially to me. SkinnyCat has been hanging around our house for about a year & a half - he was our neighbors' cat, although they seemed to be a little rough with him; they had small children and Skinny was always limping or seeming injured. Around the beginning of September, we started to notice that Skinny was not looking too good: he was even skinnier, was losing fur and covered with scabs. Then we noticed that he wasn't going home anymore, he was just living in our shed. When we walked over to speak to his people, their apartment was vacant! They had moved away without SkinnyCat! We'd been leaving food out for him anyway, but we started making sure he got two meals a days & had a safe warm place to sleep in the shed while we looked for someone to take him. I actually did find someone willing to take him, but it took about 6 weeks...by which time my husband Doug had really bonded with Skinny, who is an affectionate little lap cat. He (Doug, not SkinnyCat) just looked at me and said, "I don't think I can let him go."

Doug's mother is very ill, & the whole family is having a hard time with it; if one more cat provides him with some comfort, that seems a small ask. So here we are, introducing SkinnyCat to his new family.

Anyway that's my autumn so far! How's yours?

Harley, the Pottery Tour, and Other News

A couple of weeks ago I ran a little fundraiser to sponsor the adoption fee of a cat at the Kennebec Valley Humane Society. That cat - Harley - has found a home! When the world seems to be getting shittier and more hateful by the minute, it is a balm to do a kindness, however small. (Here's a lovely thread on some other good things happening in the world - just stumbled upon it while I was editing this post. Coincidence? I think so!)

This will definitely be a recurring event, but probably not again for several months; I am currently knee-deep in organizing the seventh incarnation of the Maine Pottery Tour. There are still some cat dishes left, though (including what I thought was the best one!) if you want to beat the rush.

Speaking of the Pottery Tour, you should come! 43 studios this year, all spiffying themselves up, making new work, and planning adventures for visitors. Check out a full list of studios at the website, or plan your pottery road trip with this online interactive map.

Though much of my time has been spent lately organizing this event, I am making new work! I just finished up some jaunty pitchers, and a couple of heavily slip-trailed baskets. I am hoping the action of the soda vapor will cut the sweetness a bit, like a pinch of salt (!) on a caramel.

Good news & Good news

Last week I posted the second online the second fundraiser cat dish sale. It took a few days this time but I did manage to sell 10 cat bowls - enough so I could sponsor a cat's adoption fee at KVHS. That's the good news.

The other good news is that the cat I had planned to sponsor - Grizzle, who had been at the shelter since November, found his family before the sale was over! Which means I got to go in today & choose a different cat to sponsor.  Meet Harley!

Harley is a 7 year old spayed female, with medium-long gray fur. Her details state that her intake to the shelter was March 19th, but that was because she was returned to the shelter after a previous adoption. Harley needs a family with some patience for her slow, cautious adjustment. (Sounds like a not-atypical cat reaction to a new environment to me, tbh. Some cats hide for a while until they know they are safe. General Chamberlain stayed under the bed for 3 weeks! and then only emerged when I was in the room for a couple of months after that. Nevertheless he became one of the most affectionate cats I've known.)

If you've been thinking about getting a cat, here's a chance to take home this sweet girl for free!

Still a few dishes left! I can start building towards the next adoption sponsorship.

A Little Good in the World

Help a cat find a home! 

You probably know that I suffer from depression. (If you don't, you must be new here! Welcome.) That is, I am not always in a depressed state but the way my brain chemistry works, I am susceptible. I've been in this brain for a long time, and I know what that slippage feels like; and I have learned some steps I can take to avert it.

Getting plenty of exercise, getting outside - those are a couple of steps. (I would say "Getting plenty of sleep" but that's a useless prescription, as sleeplessness is as much a symptom as a causal factor of depression.) Also really helpful? Do some good in the world. That's where I was going with all this. Today the good I want to do, is to help a cat find a forever home.

I had an online fundraising event for this purpose early in February. The two sponsored cats were adopted soon after, and let me tell you, that felt good, to know that I had a part in that. I don't have much money (hello, I'm a potter) but I do have a little skill, and I can put that skill towards doing some good in the world.

Here's how it works: I've listed a bunch of these little dishes in my online shop. They are about 4" in diameter, and maybe 2" tall - just sweet little bowls appropriate to feed sweet little cats! And sweet big cats, too. If I can sell ten of them, I can sponsor a cat's adoption fee.

Click the link, scroll down a few inches, and choose your dish. Help lift my winter funk - and maybe your too! - by doing a little piece of good in the world. And, bonus, get a little gem of a dish, to feed your kitty, or catch your change, keep your keys, or serve your dipping oil. 😊

https://squareup.com/store/fine-mess-pottery

Happy St. Gertrude's Day!

I think I've found my personal patron saint! My professional one, of course, is St Spyrdion, he of the potsherd metaphor, patron saint of potters.

Today is famously the feast day of St. Patrick of Ireland, who drove out the snakes and today inspires great feats of song and alcohol consumption. My own brother and sister-in-law perform Irish music (go see them today at Billy's Chowder House!) and my favorite Pandora channel year round features the Pogues and the Irish Rovers. There is, however, another saint honored today: St Gertude of Nivelles, patron saint of cats, cat lovers, and gardeners.

St. Pat gets all the attention, but St. Gert sounds like my kinda gal.

Look What We Did, Together!

Last night's fundraising sale of cat dishes drew an overwhelming response! In just 4 hours I sold out of cat dishes and raised enough to fully sponsor the adoption of one cat and partially sponsor another.

Meet the beneficiaries:

Update: Sylvester was adopted last weekend!! Yay so happy. 

Sylvester is an 8-year-old short haired grey & white neutered male cat who has been at the shelter since November. Sylvester's adoption fee is fully sponsored!

Patcha is a 3-year-old shorthaired brown tabby. She is spayed (all KVHS cats & dogs are spayed or neutered.) Patcha has been at the shelter since October, poor lamb! The shelter staff says she is timid around strangers so it has been hard for her to find her people but that she is quite sweet and affectionate once she gets to know people.

I'll keep checking back for both of these kitties, in hopes that they find their forever homes soon. You can see all of the KVHS cats here; if you are interested in Sylvester, Patcha, or any of the other available cats, call the shelter at  (207) 626-3491 or email customerservice@pethavenlane.org

Because I Can't Adopt Them All

Why is cat lady an insult? I've never understood this.  I can testify: being a cat lady, or a cat person of any kind, is truly delightful. If people wish to live happy, fulfilled lives, they should aspire to be cat ladies.  (Likewise SJW: Social Justice Warrior. Who wouldn't want to be a warrior for social justice? The internet is weird.)

My affinity for felines is well-known. Currently I have five, all foundlings and rescues of one stripe or another. Five is about my upper limit; when I have to start being deliberate about making sure everyone gets enough attention each day, I know my home is full up.

I wish I could adopt them all! But alas, that is right out. With so many still needing homes, I want to do what I can. I don't have a lot of money, but I do have a little skill, so I am using it to embark on a fundraiser. Here's the plan:

14 little catfood dishes, each about 4" in diameter, each unique, each priced at $15, including shipping. As soon as I sell ten of them, I sponsor a cat's adoption fee at KVHS. Maybe I could do this in an ongoing way: every time I sell a dish, I post a new one. Every time I get to 10 sold, I sponsor another cat. Here's a preview:

Are there any cat ladies or cat gents out there in the pottery world? If your feline friend deserves a new dinner dish, or you want to help another cat find its forever home, click here and scroll down a few inches.

ETA: Holy cats, you guys, THANK YOU SO MUCH for your overwhelming response. I have sold ALL of the little bowls, so I will go to KVHS to bring them my donation, and meet the cat I am going to sponsor. Because so many of you were willing to help, I will so this again - after I've had a chance to make more bowls. 🙂
Update: We were able to fully sponsor one cat's adoption fee and partially sponsor another. Read more about the kitties here. 

Tidings of Comfort and Joy

Happy Holidays from the House of Many Cats.

Comfort & joy, indeed.

Cats and Clay, a (Very) Brief History

Yup, that's a paw print alright.

It appears cat have been wreaking havok for clay workers for at least a couple of millenia! Paw prints were found on 2000-year old Roman roof tiles, perhaps made when the tiles were laid out to dry. The tile was fired and used nevertheless - for all we know the marks were considered an embellishment! That wasn't the way of it when my own feline friends - kittens at the time - contributed to my work, but who knows? More likely, it just didn't matter, as the fairly shallow prints didn't interfere with the function of the tile.

Smack in the Middle: Maine Pottery Tour 2015

It's 8 am on Sunday, the beginning of Day 2 still three hours away. I'm having my coffee and trying to type around a cat (we have five now - more on that later - so my lap is basically always occupied) and thinking about what's working so far, and what isn't.

The Kennebec Journal covered the Pottery Tour - my photo was in the article. I hung posters and sent postcards and distributed maps. We had absolutely perfect weather. And still, I did not have as many visitors as last year.

Maybe because we had so many new studios this year, people opted to visit potters they hadn't seen before. Maybe because it was the first summery-feeling day in living memory (okay, since, like, last September) and folks chose to put their docks or boats in, (those who have docks or boats) or do yardwork (those who don't) Any of those options bode well for today, which is supposed to be warmer but not as sunny.

Speaking of today: I am thinking I may move a set of shelves closer to the street, and get some balloons - sometimes the movement grabs the eyes of passers-by in a way that signage does not. 

In other news, just a few weeks we adopted Finn McCool, Bastet has seen fit to put another cat in our path: Snowball's people - friends of my mother -  passed away within a few months of each other, and their children were not in a good situation to care for her. Who ya gonna call?

Snowball and me

Snowball is 14, and has had a lot of changes in a very short time, but given all that she is adjusting very well. There has been no conflict with the other cats in the household, she eats well (does she ever!) and enjoys petting and attention.Welcome, Snowball, to the House of Many Cats!

ETA: And the verdict is, moderately sucky. It's about 4 times better than the worst pottery tour I've had, and about 1/4 of the best. Silver lining: I have lots of inventory to fill stores, and restock my badly neglected website!

Wheel Week at Cony High

Every year, my town's high school ceramics program hosts potters for Wheel Week, in which each of five potters spends a day throwing and talking to the students about clay, creativity, and being an artist. Today was my day! Wheel Week is always fun for me; the kids ask great questions, and the school is in my neighborhood, so many of them know about my studio, or have seen the pottery stairs in my yard during the warmer weather.

In other news, we adopted a new cat today! Doug and I had agreed to bring another fur friend into the mix, and today I chose a big black and white kitty. He was named Survivor at the shelter, but I am thinking we will change that; whatever it was he had to survive, those days are past him now. It's Easy Street from here on out. He's a timid guy, and reminds me very much of Waldo. So far the other cats have not had much reaction at all, which is all to the good, since cats' first reaction to a new feline is usually hostility. I'll post a photo after he has had some time to adjust.

ETA:  Here he is! Still hiding but he did eat a little bit this morning. Baby steps!

Finn McCool

It's almost spring, and time for new beginnings.

The After

I can't remember whether I promised to post the "after" photo to go with the "before" here or on my facebook page; in any  case, here it is. The gravy boat halfway up on the right was my favorite from this firing; if it doesn't sell over the holiday shopping season, I'll photograph it so you can have a closer look.

This was Wednesday, a rough day at my house: we had to have a cat euthanized. William was almost 17 and in some ways the heart of our household. He greeted visitors, spent every possible moment in a lap, and the other cats adored him. (not exaggerating: one in particular followed him around like a shadow.) It sucks to lose them but it's the price of loving them, and well worth it in my book.

Folks who only know me online probably think that all I do all day long is say goodbye to pets because I always mention it. We do have a lot of pets, so we lose a lot; and it feels...not right, I guess...to carry on as if nothing happened. Rest easy, Sweet William; I'll see you on the other side.

Back to our clay story, already in progress:

This firing reminded me how very small differences can make a big difference in results! There was a tiny gap between the bag wall (recently rebuilt) and the back wall of the kiln. I stuffed it up with a bit of wadding, and thereby addressed this issue I was having that there was an area in the center of the kiln which seemed a little dry. Some of the soda vapor must have been being sucked straight up the stack.

Lesson 2 of this firing: salt is not soda! I tried adding a small amount of salt this time, and discovered that some glazes that perform just fine in soda do not like salt much! I had a few pieces get blistery and bubbly. Not so badly that you can't use them but they are definitely seconds.

The Stranger

I've moved my glazing operations outside for the season. A little late this year; we've had a cold, rainy spring. It's nice to be outside whenever possible, and glazing is so messy that indoor clean-up can take a bunch of time I'd rather spend doing something else.

I've had company this week while I glaze for the 6/19 firing. This little cat took up residence on our deck on Monday, and has shown no inclinations to leave since then. He was skinny but shiny and apparently healthy. (He's not so skinny now, since we've been feeding him for almost a week.) He's a little luv, a lap cat - it seems like he must have been somebody's pet.

Actually, I've caught glimpses of him around the neighborhood before, just passing through the yard, for a couple of months; which raises the question: if he has a home to go to, why doesn't he go home? My fear is that somebody just moved away and didn't take him with them. Though he has hardly left our deck, I thought I should give him a chance to go home, if indeed he has a home. So I put a collar on him, thinking that if he goes home and his people see the collar, they'll either keep him in for a while - and I won't see him - or he'll come back without the collar. That was Wednesday. He's still wearing the collar.

I've called the police and humane society, but no one has reported a missing black cat in the area. He's intact, so just feeding him and letting him roam free is not an option; we can't have him making kittens that will themselves become starving strays. Adopting him ourselves is out, also, as we already have five cats, one of whom is very old and deserves some peace. So, on Monday he'll have to go to the shelter. It's the best thing for him; they will neuter him and bring him up-to-date on shots, and test him for catly disease like feline leukemia. They will also keep him for a while in case somebody out there is missing their furbaby!

Wait, Earthenware?

Well, yes. Kind of.

Just what I needed, another claybody to keep track of. I made myself a special stamp for the ^6 test pieces, because BMix 5 looks alot like Bmix 10 - unless you fire it to ^10, and then they look substantially different! But that's another post. This post is about these earthenware jars.

Remember I said I was going to have to say goodbye to some of my accounts? I thought one of those would be an account I've had for years with a veterinarian making urns for the ashes of cats. I was sad to do it - it seemed right to me that the urns should be made by a committed cat lover like me - but as I discovered at the end of last year, my old pricing was actually costing me money; and I didn't think they would be able to support the new price points.

Time for some creative thinking. But first, a story:

A couple of years ago, my husband and I lost a pet turtle to pneumonia, but ultimately to old age. His name was Big, to differentiate him from his smaller co-turtle, Red, who has a red stripe on his face. (They don't come when you call, anyway, so the names might as well be practical!) Big was an aquatic turtle, and I couldn't bear to put him in the ground, although I know his spirit had already moved on. What I had was just a shell, so to speak. But still.  So I made a container for his remains out of clay, surrounded him with blueberries and raspberries - his favorite foods, and Doug and I brought the unfired "casket" to the river. We placed it on a passing ice floe. The current carried it away. When the warming day melted the ice, Big's remains were consigned to the river. The greenware casket would of course just dissolve.

It occurred to me that folks who have lost cats might want to do something similar. A container which would hold the cremains until the owner was ready to let go, and then just dissolve in the ground once buried, might be something people would want. It would work for me with only a tiny price increase, because I wouldn't incur firing expenses. I made this suggestion to my contact at the cat doc, who agreed.

These will be stamped and adorned with slipwork; some will be burnished with terra sigilata.

By the way, I was wrong (imagine that!) about one thing: in addition to carrying the unfired urns, they also agreed to also continue to carry the fired urns, at the steep hike I found necessary. Important learning moment: so far no one has said no to the higher prices.

Helpful Cat Wants to Help

I have five cats. (Is that enough to qualify for crazy cat lady? I don't know.) My cats all have different levels of friendliness, but this one - the only girl  - wants to cuddle only when I am working. Active work, that is - no way is she going to quietly sit on my lap when I'm typing, but she'll ride on my shoulder all day if I am, say, cleaning the house. Studio work also gets her attention, as you can see in this clip. She'll do that for hours, if I let her - nuzzle my hands, my banding wheels, everything one the table, and then come back to cuddle me again. I do eventually have to put her out of the room, but as I said, it's the only time she's cuddly (with me, anyway: she cuddles her co-cats all the time), and I want her to have some affection.

She also occasionally steps on wet bowls (not too often - she doesn't seem to like the feeling) and rubs against fresh slip decoration. I tell her it's not too late to stick her back under the dumpster where we found her and her two littermates, but she doesn't seem to concerned.

Oh, also: Blah, blah, blah, Kickstarter.  :)