I am a bit of a fly by the seat of my pants crocheter. I never follow other people's patterns exactly. I never do guage. I make patterns up and then play yarn chicken to get to the end. Sometimes I lose at yarn chicken and have to alter my patterns as I'm making them.

All that said - I still think I make some pretty cool things. I have improved immensely over the last few years. A good part of that I think has been making my own designs vs following others. Having to at least have a lose plan for what I'm doing has made me more conscious of what I'm doing. I kind of relate that to what's happened with all the electronic maps. Before I could just plug stuff into Google Maps, I would think about my route. Now because I can just plug it in I do. Sometimes Google takes you a way that is not ideal.

This was true when we were on our way up to the Finger Lakes earlier this month. Did we get to our destination - yes? Could we have stayed on 81 longer and not made 50 turns at night on small back roads - yes!

What got me thinking about this is my new cable sweater I'm making. For some reason when I crochet with cables it comes out as a rhombus. I don't know if this always happens or it's just me. However, I do know that this is when I should block. So this is me blocking my cable sweater before I sew it together so it doesn't look all wonky. Maybe I should do this more often :)

I had some pieces that didn't fit into the last firing that I wanted to take to the art show. This isn't a full kiln, but it still has what I hope are some amazing pieces. The pumpkins look awesome!!

This past weekend was the Havre de Grace Art Festival. It was it's 59th year. I learned from some other vendors while I was there that a few things have changed in the last few years.

First the amazing - I won 3rd place in the pottery category! I didn't even know there were prizes for pottery. Most other shows only do prizes for the fine arts so I was super excited by this. I just started getting my work out there and selling it over the last year so this was really nice recognition.


My booth was in Concord Park which is a relatively new park for the city. It's only been in the last 2 years that this park has been a part of the festival. We did have a good number of people coming from local or downtown that would come into the park and I was perfectly situated right where this park started. However, I heard several people comment that the walk from Tydings Park to Concord was farther than they thought. I also don't believe that the signage was great because there were several people who said they heard people talking about this park, but did not see signs.
This is my booth setup from day 1.




I also don't believe that the festival was well advertized. It used to be in August, but since it can be oppressively hot in MD in August they moved it. Many people who came into my booth were local or were visiting the area and were directed to the park by locals. I had heard that in years past the fair would get 10,000 people. We probably had somewhere between 1,000-2,000. I did not sell as many of my larger items as I usually do, but I did sell a good number of smaller items and had a good fair. I felt for some of the other vendors who only sold high ticket items and struggled to make their costs back.




The weather was gorgeous on Saturday. I got there really early and was able to see the sunrise on the Susquehanna River. I met some great people both other exhibitors and people who came into my booth. Sunday was not so nice. It was windy in the morning then it was just a little cloudy and cold. We had everything crossed that the rain would hold out until after we were done, but it started to pour around 2pm.
Selling pottery I'm fairly lucky because getting wet is not a problem. I just had to move my bags/wrapping paper and business cards further in the tent. It stopped raining for a while and I was able to make some end of show sales with some people on their way out of the park who just couldn't get some of my pieces out of their heads.




This is the first time I've done an overnight show at a public place. The tent that I purchased only came with one sidewall so when we setup on Friday we just took over the tent, tables, and shelves. On Saturday we brought the pottery over. Craig's job on Saturday was to figure out a wall solution where we could close the tent up (which he did with tarps and zip ties). Can you see the flaw in this?

The flaw in this is that we didn't have to pack everything in the car to get it over. There was a moment when we were packing up that I worried - is it all going to fit? It didn't help that it was raining while we were packing so we were trying to get it into the car as quick as possible vs waiting for everything to be packed up before we packed it in.

One more bin and we would have had a problem, but we did manage to squeeze it all in. A lesson for next time...

I didn't have time to post a kiln sneak peek last week with travelling across the country and getting ready for the Havre de Grace Art show so here is the results from the kiln that ran while I was flying across the country last week. It was really fun to come home to a completely cooled kiln and be able to unload it.

My favorite pieces that came out of the kiln are the birch tree mugs. I sold all three of these really early this weekend and had a woman come back Sunday looking for more. Definitely need to make more of them soon. I love how these turned out. I was stressing on what color to make the inside. I really like how the lemon makes the trees pop.

I'm really excited about the leaf globe that came out. I made one of these at Michael Harbridge's workshop, but then he bisque fired it for me and sent it. This is the first one I've made start to finish at my house. It is absolutely amazing how it came out.

How cute is the chicken plate? It's actually a segmented plate that has 2 tiny compartments and then one larger one.

Also - check out the green pocket bird. This is my mystery glaze from one of the last firings. It is Opulence Emerald and YUM!

Laguna 60 Mayco Black UG wiped back On the bark - Mayco Root Beer x2 On the Leaves - Mayco Stroke and Coat Hot Tamale, Jack o Lantern, Sunkissed, Java Bean, Just Froggy, Fruit of the Vine. 2167 clear coat	Laguna 60 Mayco Black UG wiped back On the bark - Mayco Root Beer x2 On the tree portion - Mayco Stroke and Coat Cotton Tail, Hot Tamale, Jack o Lantern, Sunkissed, Java Bean, Just Froggy, Fruit of the Vine. 2167 clear coat
Georgie's Winter Storm diluted and wiped back, Georgie's Zinc Free Clear	Mayco Jack o Lantern, Just Froggy, Sour Apple, Java Bean
Laguna 60 Mayco Black UG wiped back Outside - Mayco Stroke and Coat Cotton Tail, Hot Tamale, Jack o Lantern, Sunkissed, Java Bean, Just Froggy, Fruit of the Vine. 2167 clear coat Inside - Mayco Frosted Lemon x3	Laguna 60 Mayco Black UG wiped back Outside - Mayco Stroke and Coat Cotton Tail, Hot Tamale, Jack o Lantern, Sunkissed, Java Bean, Just Froggy, Fruit of the Vine. 2167 clear coat Inside - Laguna Power Turquoise x3
Laguna 60 Mayco Black UG wiped back Outside - Mayco Stroke and Coat Hot Tamale x3 Inside - Mayco Norse Blue x3 Light Flux on the rim	Outside - Mayco Stroke and Coat Tuxedo x3 Inside - Coyote Parakeet x3
KY Mudworks Brown Bear Mayco Black UG wiped back Outside - Mayco Stroke and Coat Cotton Tail, Hot Tamale, Jack o Lantern, Sunkissed, Java Bean, Just Froggy, Fruit of the Vine Inside Mayco Lavender Mist x3 Muddy Waters x2	KY Mudworks Brown Bear Mayco Black UG wiped back Outside - Mayco Stroke and Coat Cotton Tail, Hot Tamale, Jack o Lantern, Sunkissed, Java Bean, Just Froggy, Fruit of the Vine Inside Mayco Frosted Lemon x3 Night Moth x2
Hat Mayco Norse Blue x3 Nose Mayco Jack o Lantern x3 Eyes and mouth Mayco Tuxedo x3 2167 Clear dip outside	Laguna 60 Coyote Papaya x3 On the stem Coyote Hydra Scale x3
Left: Laguna 60 Coyote Pam's Blue x3 (this was a bit of a let down, Pam's blue is usually much better but this was a new bottle) Right: Laguna 60 Amaco Tangelo x3	Top Left 2: Spectrum Kimchi x3 Top Right: Speckled BMix Opulence SeaSpray x3 Bottom Left 2: Spectrum Autumn Purple x3 Bottom Right: Spectrum Sangria x3
Top Left: Laguna 60 Laguna Power Turquoise Top Middle: Spectrum Sangria x3 Top Right: Spectrum Autumn Purple x3 Middle Left: Opulence Sea Spray x3 Middle Middle: Opulence Emerald x3 Middle Right: Spectrum Kimchi c3 Bottom: Opulence Sea Spray x3	Top Left: Laguna 60 Spectrum Kimchi x3 Top Right: Laguna 60 Mayco Black UG wiped back Mayco Cotton Tail, Hot Tamale. 2167 clear Bottom Left: Laguna 60 Spectrum Autumn Purple x3 Bottom Right: Laguna 60 Coyote Pam's Blue x3
Top: UG transfer 2167 clear Bottom: UG transfer, various Color's for Earth, 2167 clear	Laguna 60 Amaco Blue Midnight x3
Laguna 60 Mayco Black UG wiped back Mayco Cotton Tail, Hot Tamale. 2167 clear	Laguna 60 Mayco Black UG wiped back Mayco Cotton Tail, Hot Tamale. 2167 clear
Laguna 60 Mayco Black UG wiped back Mayco Cotton Tail, Hot Tamale. 2167 clear

I can't get over how cute this turkey is. Just a small little dish made from a placemat I got in a set off Amazon. Turkey Turkey

It's been a gnome kind of a week. Two years ago I don't think gnomes were even on my radar. Now I make clay and crochet gnomes. They all just have their own personality and it's just so fun. Literally as I'm making them they decide whether their hat is going to tilt left, right, front, or straight up. Some get beards and some don't. Some get braids and become female gnomes. The construction of the gnome depends largely on how big it is.


This gnome is about 12 inches tall and is made on a cone from Learn Fired Arts. The cone is wrapped in paper to make it easy to remove the gnome once it's setup enough. Over the paper is a layer of rolled out clay smoothed out. The hat is made by adding a coil to the cone and then shaping it. Then a ball of clay, flat on one side, is added for the nose. Now the real personality comes out - male or female, beard or no. This particular gnome has a leaf beard. The leaves are made from leaves also from Learn Fired Arts. This is the small and the medium grape leaves. I also added some leaf imprints to the hat. Last a little leaf embellishment on the hat ring. I can't wait for this little guy to come through the glaze kiln.




I've been making a lot of pumpkins and it made me think - could a pumpkin be a gnome body? Yes, yes it can. The pumpkin cutter is from De La Designs. This is the 8.5" cutter. I free formed the hat and used my sweater weather rolling pin for texture. After attaching the hat I added a nose and a little beard. Once the clay has dried a bit I will carve the beard a bit.




Another pumpkin made gnome. This one more halloweeny. I realized I didn't have a pumpkin stamp, but I do have a pumpkin cookie cutter. I used that for the hat and just didn't press too hard. I'll do a bit of carving on that later.




This is 20 gnomes all lined up in rows. This clay was soooo sticky and smelly. I had put it in water to break it down months ago and neglected to put any vinegar in the water. There's a bit of a mold in it, but as it dries out it goes away. It made the clay super wet though and even after a day of being left out it was still really sticky. I made these gnomes and then as they setup I smoothed them. These gnomes are larger than the ones I made a few weeks ago as wine stoppers. I think they're going to be adorable.

Of course glazing gnomes is extremely tedious, but that problem is for next week (hopefully if they dry quick enough).

I started off making a gnome mug, but this mug really wanted to be a snowman. I can't wait to get it glazed because I think it's going to be adorable.

I was a little worried that in my rush to get some things done before I had to leave for California for work that I was going to mess something up, but everything came out like I wanted.

I had to make more of the Cala Lilly Candle Holders because they have been really popular. I did mostly the same color combos I've done before, but I also tweaked them a bit adding a bit more depth of color.

Everything Cardinals and Birch has been really popular. I completely sold out of everything I had so more of that in this kiln. The white trees have been the most popular, but I like the grey with the red as well. I also experimented a bit with what will become some magnets with the water color sunrise and I love the way those came out.

I have a few smaller dishes that I glazed a few weeks ago that I'm not sure on the glazes on. I feel like I've gotten a little too sure of myself lately being able to pick out glazes. It is mostly true that I know my glazes and I can look at something and say I used this, but I also do some experiments. I can usually remember what experiments I did with good success for a few days, but some of these I glazed before the MacKenzie-Child show and they just didn't fit in the kiln. Now I don't remember any more. C'est la vie.

My plan is to get two more glaze loads in before the Havre de Grace Art Show on October 22nd - 23rd. We shall see if I am successful :)

Honey Flux x3, Thick stripe of Mayco Lemon Frost Up the Middle Flower Portion is Amaco Smokey Merlot x2 then sweeps of Amaco Chun Plum and Amaco Seaweed Leaf portion is Amaco Blue Rutile x2 with sweeps of Amaco Smokey Merlot	Honey Flux x3, Thick stripe of Mayco Lemon Frost Up the Middle Flower Portion is Amaco Smokey Merlot x2 then sweeps of Amaco Chun Plum and Amaco Seaweed Leaf portion is Amaco Blue Rutile x2 with sweeps of Amaco Smokey Merlot
Mayco Sunkissed thick stripe up the middle, Clayscapes Garden Green Brushed on all over then Clayscapes Cream sweeps on the flower	Amaco Iron Luster x3 Amaco Seaweed x2 on the rim
Mayco Fundamentals Black wiped back, Mayco Hot Tamale, Sun Kissed, Just Froggy, Jack o Lantern 2167 Clear all over	Mayco Fundamentals Black wiped back, Mayco Hot Tamale, Just Froggy 2167 Clear all over
Laguna 60 Mayco Fundamentals Black wiped back Mayco Cotton Tail and Hot Tamale 2167 Clear all over	Laguna 60 Mayco Fundamentals Black wiped back Mayco Cotton Tail and Hot Tamale 2167 Clear all over
Laguna 60 Mayco Fundamentals Black wiped back Mayco Cotton Tail and Hot Tamale 2167 Clear all over	Laguna 60 Mayco Fundamentals Black wiped back Mayco Cotton Tail and Hot Tamale 2167 Clear all over
Laguna 60 Mayco Fundamentals Black wiped back Mayco Cotton Tail and Hot Tamale 2167 Clear all over	Laguna 60 Mayco Fundamentals Black wiped back Mayco Cotton Tail and Hot Tamale 2167 Clear all over
Mayco Fundamentals Black wiped back Mayco Cotton Tail and Hot Tamale on the trees and bird Water color Fruit of the Vine, Hot Tamale, Jack o Lantern, Sunkissed 2167 Clear all over	Amaco Smoke x3 Mayco Hot Tamale
Colors for Earth Color Stroke Jade, White. Colors for Earth Color Concentrate Bright Violet, Leaf Green, Maize 2167 clear all over	Laguna 60 Mayco Norse Blue x2, line of Mayco Light Flux, Mayco Hot Tamale, 2167 clear all over
Left: Laguna 60 Mayco Black UG wiped back, Mayco Fruit of the Vine, Sour Apple, Tuxedo, and Java Bean; 2167 Clear all over Right: Laguna 60 Mayco Black UG wiped back, I think the top coat is Amaco Lavender x3	Amaco Poppy x3
Laguna 60 Mayco Iron oxide wiped back Clayscapes Nutmeg x2 brushed on	Top: Speckled BMix Mayco Black UG wiped back, Mayco Designer liner black, red, blue, yellow, and orange Middle: Speckled BMix Mayco Black UG wiped back, Mayco Hot Tamale x3 Bottom: Speckled BMix Mayco Black UG wiped back, Mayco Fruit of the Vine x3, whisps of just froggy on the fin All are toped with 2167 clear
Left: Mayco Just Froggy, Fruit of the Vine, Designer liner red and yellow Right: Mayco Fruit of the Vine, Designer Liner Red 2167 clear over top	Top: Mayco Black UG Wiped Back Beard Mayco Cotton Tail Mayco Designer Liner Red, White and Blue Middle: Laguna 60 Mayco Black UG Wiped Back Mayco Designer Liner Red, White, Blue, Black, and Yellow Bottom: Mayco Black UG Wiped Back Mayco Designer Liner Red, White, Blue, Black, and Yellow 2167 clear over top
Top Left: Laguna 60 Pretty sure this is Amaco Lavender x3 Top Right: Laguna 60 Amaco Blue Midnight x3 Middle Left: Laguna 60 Amaco Tangelo x3 Middle Right: Laguna 60 Mayco Iron wiped back, Clayscapes Nutmeg x2 Bottom: Laguna 60 Coyote Pam's Blue x3	Left: Coyote Magenta Sky x2 Middle: Mayco Black UG wiped back Mayco Just Froggy x3 Fruit of the Vine x3 2167 clear Right: I can't remember and that's sad because its a very nice green!!!
Left: Mayco Fruit of the Vine x3, Jack o Lantern, Mayco Black Designer Liner, 2167 Clear Right: Mayco Tuxedo, Mayco Black Designer Liner, 2167 Clear