Mermaid tile Laurie Conger

The Dirty Girls of Clay are back and ready for an exciting studio tour in Port Austin, Michigan! A few weeks ago Laurie Conger and myself had a smashing raku firing! Mermaid tiles, Italian tiles and and bottles were fired and we got excellent results. You can see all the photographs on facebook at Thumb Studio Tour and at my page. Also check the new posts on Red MuddStudio page as well.

The Dirty Girls of Clay

Subtle changes in glaze colors, $35

I can’t waste anything in the studio. Even old jars or test glazes that are just ugly. So I decided to retest on some new funky bowls and see what came out. To my surprise the majic is a keeper. If you are interested in purchasing any of these bowls just send me an email at contact@redmuddstudio.comfor the shipping and handling.

Love the colors, $35 SOLD

Blue and green satin matt glaze, $35

Empty Bowls trimmed

Records were broken for this years Empty Bowls! Over $17,000 was raised! More than 300 tickets were sold and more patrons came this year than ever. All of my 50 bowls were snatched up. At first I thought 50 bowls was a little too much but by the end of the evening all of the donations were gone. We used the back stock from previous years so we didn’t run out. Thank you for supporting the 9th Annual Empty Bowls event with proceeds going to Mid City Nutrition.

Fourteen hours later, I’m not sure I really liked the book. It’s a choppy, many characters to follow and lots of unanswered questions. If you are a history or religion buff you may like it more than I.

Left Hand = Michigan

This past October, I was one of the many potters that attended the Potters Council trip to Tuscany. The attendees  included potters, clay artists, non potters, spouses and friends. My husband Brad gave up duck hunting for this trip of a life time. My travel mates represented Australia, England, South Africa, Brazil, Canada, Singapore, Israel, New Zealand, Texas, California, Georgia, Washington and Florida. Being from Michigan, I constantly pointed to my left hand to show them where I lived! This was an amazing group of people to be with for 14 days. Marcia Selsor lead the group with great expertise and knowledge.

The purpose of the trip was to study architectural elements at La Meridiana, International Ceramic school with guest instructor Marcia Selsor. Also, owner and potter Pietro Maddalena introduced us to Buchchero or “Black” firing process during the second week of the trip.

We stayed in Florence for three nights in a convent that hosts travelers in a beautiful and safe setting. Our room was on the second floor (8 flights of steps) without a personal bathroom. But there were plenty of rest rooms available when needed. It was a great experience, who needed a bathroom, I was in Italy!

The first morning we walked to the Bargello Museum through the beautiful streets, taking in all the sites and snapping wonderful photographs. We arrived in the Palazzo near the Duomo, and as I was in the middle of the  square I realized that I wasn’t in Kansas anymore. I can’t describe the feeling but as I turned I saw 18′ sculptures everywhere by Michelangelo, Donatello, and della Robbia. I was overcome with a flood of emotions. To my surprise tears ran down my cheeks. I had instant recall from all of my art history classes so many years ago. Watching over 100 slides a class, yup it paid off! This set the tone for a very meaningful, and emotional trip of a life time. As I was wiping the tears away, Marcia leans over and says “I want to stand next to you when we San Vitale.”

Pistoia, Piza, Faenza and Ravenna all held beautiful sights, history, museums, artist studios, great food, wine and the best beer ever. I took 100′s of photographs and used 10 batteries capturing the beauty of each minute. Pizza is probably one of my most favorites so I ate whole pies every day I could. Brad, not fond of any Italian food was lucky to find ham and cheese sandwiches and some great gelato. We were sitting in a small cafe, eating when tears appeared again and Brad asked “What’s wrong?” All I could say was “I’m eating pizza in Italy!” It just doesn’t get any better than that.

La Meridiana is where dreams come true in clay. So many wonderful instructors, workshops, demos, and pottery from awesome potters. I learned so many things and have brought back so many ideas to keep me going.

This trip has made a huge impact on my life. Wonderful friends, stories, adventures that I will continue to post about in the future. I know I will return to Florence and La Meridiana within the next couple of years. If I play my cards right, I hope to move there and stay a very long time.

In front of the Duomo - Florence

I just returned from Italy and it was a blast. Took over 1,000 photographs so I will have a CD going so everyone can see.  You can currently see a few of them of facebook and the Red Mudd Studio facebook site. BIG NEWS! When I was in Ravenna, I took a clay impression of the architecture at Basilica di San Giovanni Evangelista, a church first built in the year 425. These tiles will be for sale along with an information card explaining the details.

Last we had 400 guests, help me make my goal of 401, please bring a friend. We have grown this show for five years and each year it keeps getting better. I have a waiting list of artists so next year we are expanding!

In Over My Head

I excel at procrastination, it is my best feature. It’s at the top of my resume and is my finest quality. I have several weeks to prepare for the Holiday Pottery Sale at Red Mudd Studio on November 19/20. I set a goal of 320 pieces. Does the small stuff count like Michigan tiles and wine bottle charms? I made 85 stinking charms in one afternoon. I am behind the eight ball on these bread and butter items. I’m lucky enough to have two wine shops purchase them wholesale to sell in their lovely little shops gracing the pretty reds and whites! Normally I have a shoe box full of the Michigan tiles. Do you think I can complete? It doesn’t help when I drop a box of pottery onto another box of pottery and break 14 at a time. So every day it seems like a become a Michigan tile making machine and hammer out about 16 at a whack. I’m just not seeing the end results with each kiln load producing a handful at a time. What’s up with that?

The More Than Mud exhibit was a smashing success! I’ve sold many of the never been seen before wall pieces which is very exciting. There will be a lot of these new pieces up in my studio before the big Holiday sale. Stop by my studio anytime if you can’t make it to Studio 1219 before October 2nd.

Tonight we experienced “Cowboy Candy” dip, “Tim Tam Slams” and found out one of the girls is “equipped.” Looks like we were priming the pump because tomorrow several of us will be traveling to Partridge Creek for a day of shopping, eating and more laughing.

We travel often on little jaunts to areas in the state of Michigan we find interesting. We have a yearly trip to Sommerset Mall during November for some heavy duty shopping. Three girls and their spouses will be traveling to Italy in October and I will be going to Italy week later to study pottery at La Meridiana. During the summer months one gal hosts “Happy Hour” every Friday evening for drinks, dinner and dip in the pool.

You get the picture. These women have done countless acts of kindness and would give up their left kidney if asked at a drop of a hat. Count your blessings and your friends. I am truly blessed to be in this league of women. Their support and friendship means everything to me.

Please note the brand new refrigerator in photograph behind Ann. Rose was a trooper as she hosted the month of September without a refrigerator!

Ann slam!

TimTamSlam!

Laurie Conger standing in front of the sculpture she along with Lynne Wiencek and Claire Booms designed.Check out is wonderful sculpture at the waterfront park in downtown Port Austin, Michigan.

My student Mary and I, have a favorite saying in the studio “It will burn out!” Which we use often for just about every possible scenario we can! After surviving the Port Austin Art in the Park this past Labor Day weekend, I have a new slogan: “It is what it is!”

How long have I known about this fair each year? Yet I continue to procrastanate and not use my time wisely in the studio prior to this sale. It’s my best show in sales, the most fun with my potter  friend Laurie Conger and the whole gang and my feet never touch the ground the entire time I’m visiting Port Austin, Michigan. So I began to fast fire the kiln on Monday with four firings prior to leaving Friday morning. Mind you, I had to leave a bisque load behind because there were not enough hours in the day or night, for the cool down. Talk about being chained to the kiln! So I just kept telling myself on the two hour drive “Deb, it is what it is.” Of course it was just fine selling the stock I had and not all of the new pieces that were just thrown in the four days before. Silly girl!

Lynne Wiencek, Artist and Designer of Whim Originals is a metal-smith and jeweler. Her work is to die for. We traded this past weekend and I got a beautiful bracelet. She scored some buttons to use in future creations. Be sure to check her out at www.whimoriginals.com.

A new clay artist, Susan Gilland with her inspirational ceramic art tiles was also at Art in the Park. She liked my business card boats and raku faces, so we traded and I got some great tiles! Her email is gardenoftiles@yahoo.com and can find her Soul Garden Creations on Facebook.

Of course Port Austin potter Laurie Conger had some amazing mermaid pieces and I got one of her huge trays! Don’t forget to check out Brenda Hines of Dancing Hedgehog Glass Art Studio with beautiful hand made beads. I filled my bracelet with new beads to add to my collection. Her work is amazing and I love all the pieces which I wear just about each day! Her website is www.dancinghedgehogstudio.com.

Wire wrapped bracelet by Whim Originals