Ads are out on the Buy-Sell-Trade pages for the football trees. I am already starting to get some orders. So if you want to come and make one get your order in right away. Bisque is $35.00.
Are we having fun yet?
Did you know that you can search for whatever you want? For example, “Fall Calendar”. Type into the search box on the right and it will come up with anything containing that phrase, then click on the one you want.
Did you know that links take you directly to that place on the website? For example, click on Old World Santas.
Did you know that when you click on “Bisque” on the menu bar, you will get an index page with all the categories listed alphabetically? Try looking for Halloween. The category is called “Trick or Treat”.
OR
the same place provides pull-down menus of two more levels and you can just click on those until you find what you want. Try finding Thanksgiving. The category is “Gobble Gobble”.
Did you know that you can subscribe to this website? Click on the word “Follow” on the right and it will ask for your email address. You will then receive my blogs directly into your email either on your phone or your computer. You will not get other posts, just the blog. However, if there is something new I will try to mention it in the blog.
And thanks for reading my blog.
Please tell your friends about us.
We will be pouring tomorrow and next week to:
If you want bisque-to-go (for our vacation), let us know now.
If you know which Fall Workshops (Wednesdays) you want to do, let us know.
Fall Workshop Schedule 2016
The studio will be closed on Thursday, September 15th so that we can attend the Kenny Rogers Concert in Youngstown thanks to a gift of tickets from our son and daughter-in-law.
The Silly Scarecrows Workshop scheduled for Thursday, September 15th will have to be rescheduled. Take a look at the scarecrows and let us know which one you want to make.
Trick-or-Treat
The studio will be closed the week of September 18th for the next leg of The Great American Baseball Tour. We have already visited all of the parks east of the Mississippi. This trip will include the Kansas City Royals, the Houston Astros, and the Texas Rangers. We will reopen on Wednesday, September 28th. You can always get some Bisque-to-Go to keep you busy that week. LOL
And sometimes we are on-the-go, but we’ll be right back!
Hoping that everyone had a nice end-of-summer holiday today. We cancelled class tonight so that we could hold our Friends and Family Labor Day Picnic. We had a nice mix of ceramic friends, personal friends, and family here. Some played corn hole, some stayed and played trivia, and everyone stuffed themselves on loads of picnic food. Thanks to all who provided the buffet. Classes will resume on the regular schedule on Wednesday.
Thursday, September 8th 6:30-8:30
Patchwork Pumpkin Stack
Wednesday, September 7th 6:30-9:30
Thursday, September 8th, 6:30-9:30
Friday, September 9th, 6:30-9:30
Everyone seems to do things differently come January 1st– eat better, lose weight, go to church, and so on. I find myself doing the same thing in September. Maybe it’s the teacher in me or maybe it’s the end of a lazy summer where schedules are rather flexible.
Now that the kids are back to school why not schedule some time for yourself? Besides getting away from the hustle and bustle for a few hours, it gives you a chance to refresh your holiday decorations and start on unique Christmas gifts for friends and family.
September has arrived, the Canfield Fair is under way, children have gone back to school, and we start to think of things to come this fall. That is . . . Autumn Leaves, Harvest Things, Pumpkins, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Even though fall isn’t official until later in the month, the Fall Workshop Schedule is already published (scroll down to see it). However, many of the end-of-summer workshops are getting us started. We already did the Fall Harvest Jar workshop in Fashenhues and next week is the Patchwork Pumpkin Stack Jar workshop where we will learn to paint “fabric” in stripes and plaids.
We had to cancel the Colorburst Crystals Workshop last week and the Kids Krafts workshop scheduled for tomorrow (due to the water heater replacement). However, Jim is now starting to pour the leaf dishes. There are four different sizes this year – large ($5), medium ($5), and two sizes of small ($5 for the pair). With the studio fee it comes to $20 to do the whole set (which is what the workshop would cost). Rather than rescheduling the workshop we will offer this technique during any open class that does not have another workshop going on (so, not on Thursdays in September, and not on alternate Wednesdays in October).
Crystal Glazes have a liquid base color but also chunks of hardened glaze in one or more contrasting colors. These crystals melt when fired and form unique and beautiful patterns on the ware. On vertical pieces (such as vases and coffee cups) they cascade and flow more than on flat pieces (such as plates) where they puddle in place and make more of a polka-dot pattern. The leaf dish is the perfect piece for crystal glazes because of the gradual slope to the bottom of the bowl. We have several crystal glazes on hand for you to choose from.
Colorburst Crystals are chunks of harden glaze that come in tubes and can be added to any base color to create a unique crystal glaze. This allows us to create an unlimited variety of crystal glazes. We can use a base color of yellow, orange, red, brown, or green for the leaf and then add white, yellow, orange, red, green, brown, or black crystals or a combination of these. I like to use two or three crystal colors at most.
The final “summer workshop” is Silly Scarecrows on Thursday, September 15th. We will do these in Fashenhues to bring out all the intricate details. Scarecrow pictures will be posted later and it is very important to order yours ahead of time. We need time to pour, clean, and fire them but also will paint the base coat for you if it isn’t too late to do so. Those of you who did the Harvest Jar workshop might have gotten to finish if they had been base-coated ahead of time. (If you want to paint a scarecrow but don’t care to work with Fashenhues you can still come and do yours in acrylics. Let me know so we don’t base coat it for you.)
Watch for more fall items coming up at the Fall Workshops. And check out the Harvest Time and Trick-or-Treat sections of the catalog. We have many sizes of pumpkins and other Halloween decorations. But there are way too many selections for us to pour them all for the shelf.
So why not come on over and make yourself some Autumn Leaves?
Next time you come to class you will notice that two tables of molds and accessories are missing. We are relocating things in an attempt to get our game room back. Of course, the pool table is piled up again but eventually those molds will be mended and on the shelves and all the bisque will be put away.
We have not been able to pour molds for a week because of the water heater problem. However, we did pour today (and probably again tomorrow) in an attempt to get caught up on all our orders. The large trees with the extra branches are the hardest to do and take up a lot of space on the pouring table. However, the three people who ordered them all have other projects they are working on. Most of the other trees are poured and on the shelves.
There was a large group on Monday for the Decal Diva workshop and the tables are still set up for it. The workshop scheduled for tomorrow was cancelled because there wasn’t time to pour the bisque. There are ten stations ready for tomorrow night and everyone should have a project to finish from last week or a new one to start on. Many of the summer samples are being moved and bisque packed away for next year, however we can always get it out for you on request. The sample trees are on the top shelf now and will be lit up as soon as the electric is run to them.
(By the way, all the decal pieces are fired and ready to be picked up.)
The Patchwork Pumpkin Stack Candy Jar is the workshop project for next week. We will be learning how to use a liner brush to make stripes and plaids. You will receive your own liner brush as part of the workshop. (If you already have one you can request the small quilted pumpkins in bisque. Depending on how detailed you make your pumpkin stack, you may not have time to paint the small pumpkins during the same session.) It is important that you let me know early that you are doing the workshop so that we pour enough pieces. I already have three signed up. Of course, you can still come on Thursday and not do the workshop, and you can do the workshop on another day if you let me know ahead of time.
Monday is Labor Day and we will be closed.
Those of you who were here Wednesday night (or Thursday or Friday) know that we had a flood in the Mud Room. Finally figured out it was the hot water heater (which we new we would have to replace eventually). Just a short note today to let everyone know that we have hot water again. Thank you to my husband Jim and oldest son Jimmy who installed the new tank for us on Saturday. Of course, it was more work that it should have been as they removed a humidifier and moved the tank closer to the furnace.
June, Laura, Rickie, Rayne, Tona, Carol, and Harriet participated in the first Decal Diva Workshop. All of those items are fired and ready to pick up. Linda and Robin did their decals Friday evening, and we are doing them again Monday evening, August 29th. I have white-ware pieces ready on the shelf for Amber, Beth, Bonnie, and Joanne.
Here are some of the pieces that were done. Please Note: There is no guarantee that these particular decals are still available. After applying all their decals, participants were able to look through catalogs from Olympia Decals, well-known distributor right here in Youngstown. We can purchase any of those decals for future projects you might want to do.
If you are interested in this workshop, let me know right away so I can pick up more pieces at the dollar store. That is $20 for 4 bowls and 4 plates or 4 cups and 4 plates plus choose from my grab-bag box of assorted decals. Purchased decals or additional pieces available for an additional charge (e.g., bowls + plates + cups = $30). You are welcome to come Monday night. If that doesn’t work for you we can schedule another time.
And sometimes we just want to apply some fancy pictures without all the detail work of painting them ourselves. That’s when decals come in handy.
Carol's Carousel Creations 