What Sold

Here are a few pictures I dug out of the archives just to show the stuff that has been selling. Squared and oval bakers sold like they were full of hotcakes last week. I went with 4 and came home with none. Five Pi plates have new homes and I have a request for several more. The big shino bowls both left Saturday and that was the last of the big bowls I had on hand. I even sold a big crock and as much as I like to make them, they are not fast movers around here. My last scheduled show for the season is Saturday at Cottell Park at Snider and Irwin Simpson Rd. near Mason, Ohio.Say you read it here and I'll give you 10% off everything.

The View from Bellevue

Hey everybody. Did you ever have one of those blogs where the author buried his camera in a crate in the middle of his van and may not find it for another week? Welcome to my world. Saturday started early this week. Up at 5 to get ready for Art in the Park in Bellevue Ky. It usually takes me an hour to get ready to go and Bellevue is about 40 miles away so I ended up getting there at about 7 as dawn was on its' way toward breaking. I know for an 11 am opening I don't have to be that early but it just makes things go better. I'm not a last minute guy. It lets me unload at my own pace and take breaks when I need to and very importantly, gives me time to see my friends. I have done this show for 5 years. I know all the potters as well as the organizers and volunteers. Except for all the hard work it is kind of like a family reunion.

Bellevue is right on the Ohio river with a view of the Cincinnati skyline. It is a beautiful spot but over the years, it had fallen on hard times. There is a very energetic group of people who work hard every day of the year to revitalize the town and it is working. It is a fun place to go with lots of nice people. They really take care of their artists and know that you came to sell stuff not just sit around and look pretty. Anything they can do to help with that, they do. I have customers who come back year after year and loudly rave about their Whistle Creek pottery in the middle of my booth. I love it. But we digress.( Like we have never done THAT before!) The heat broke in Cincinnati this week. Saturday morning we had low temps in the 40's and after a chilly start we may have gotten close to 70 in the afternoon. It was sunny, not too breezy and just a perfect early fall day for an art show.

People started coming about 10:30 we didn't officially open 'til 11 but what's a guy to do?? I started selling pots. People kept coming, kept selling. The cool morning must have told people it was safe to use their ovens again. I took a bunch of bakeware, thought I took too much. I was wrong. I sold out of square and oval bakers. I sold most of my round baking dishes. I sold all my Pi plates and found out that I have a customer who wants to give one to everyone on her Christmas list. I saw Patti who buys a couple of plates or baking dishes every year. I probably had 10 prior buyers show up. I even had a couple from Augusta stop by who had bought a big bowl in June. After I got home that day I found out that somehow I had screwed up my Square processing and their charge had not gone through. I figured I would never see them again and would have to eat the loss. Nope, they are going to review their statement and if it doesn't show at their end, send me a check. The world is full of nice people.That is the only foul up I've had with Square and I'm sure it was my own fault. For those of you who keep track of such things, About half my sales this year have been on Square and I rarely see a check from a customer . If you do shows, you need one. The crowd kept coming til about 4:30 but I sold up to about 5:15. Two huge bowls went out in the last half hour so I'm glad I didn't try to pack early.

Often this show is not as lucrative as some of the others I do but like all the other artists, I keep coming back because it is fun to do, and we are well taken care of. This year it turned out to be the best show I had since spring. At 5 pm I didn't know what time it was, didn't know how much was in my pocket and wasn't exhausted. That's how I like to end a show. I did well, my friends did well and Bellevue did well. Next Saturday, I'll be in Mason Ohio for my last show of the year. It is in the park at Snider rd. and Irwin Simpson rd. Hope to see some of you there.

Just Catching Up

I have some pots firing in the electric kiln tonight. I have a show in Loveland Sunday and hope to see some of you there. Maybe you can come wake me up. I have High School reunion stuff Friday and Saturday then up at 5:30 Sunday. It's going to be a long day but people like me down there and I usually do pretty well. Work on the house continues, my major projects are done, the gas is on, and we have people putting down new flooring on the main floor of the house.That's a lot for one week. I also got a couple of red hot shino pieces out of my friend Mike's kiln so I thought you might like to see them.

Kiss Those Peppers People !

This is a short post of the utmost seasonal importance. Last week, a friend of mine gave me some produce from her garden. Let me tell you she is the nicest person you will ever meet and would be mortified by what happened. She is not like my other friends who would just think this is funny. Everything looked gorgeous, especially that long red pepper.She had said "I think this is like a banana pepper" It wasn't. It looked so yummy that I cleaned and seeded it then put a big slice in the wrap I was making for lunch.One bite and flames started shooting out of my mouth. I spit it out and went to get some milk. That would take care of it. Nope. Ice? Nope. Cold Yogurt? Nope. Washing my mouth with Dawn? Helped a little. It took an hour to put out the flames. Later in the day, I touched my lips with my finger. I HAD WASHED MY HANDS PEOPLE. I was blessed with the return of the burn. This morning, I used the same cup that I had used that day. I HAD WASHED IT !!!!! Again my lips burned, If I ever eat a gift pepper again I will kiss it first just to be safe. This is ridiculous.

Coping Skills

I think  I can see that the light at the end of the tunnel isn't a train after all. The major carpentry on the house was wrapped up last weekend when my brother Norris helped me install a new patio door. The old door was an aluminum slider that was so worn that it didn't really like to slide anymore. It had also racked enough that it didn't close as tightly as it should either. Besides the mechanical concerns, it wasn't getting any prettier. Keep in mind that we have a pack of dogs and that between the ins and the outs that door probably opened 20 times a day. It had to go. As I got ready to remove the old one, I noted that the original installers had put in the door then brought the aluminum siding over the edges of it. The door was also set about 1/2 inch into the floor. It had to be removed from the outside and the new one had to go in the same way. This meant that we had to cut back the siding with an angle grinder to get the old door out. This gave us a couple of extra hours of fun in the sun. Did I mention double steel patio doors are heavy?? It was nonstop fun from 9:30 to 3:30 when we finally got it plumbed and secured then we collapsed for the day. Saturday was lightweight by comparison. I was able to take my time caulking and trimming it out. I think it ended up looking pretty good. I know swinging it open and closed is a lot easier than sliding the old one.

Duke finally ran the gas line to the house last week. Now my furnace guy needs to hook up to it then Duke will set a meter and open the valve!!! Finally.

The interior work is mostly done. plaster is patched and new baseboard has replaced the old baseboard radiators. There is still some painting to do but very soon, the new flooring will be installed, NOT BY ME, and this project will be finished. Next, rehab the bathroom. I am including a couple of "before shots" to refresh your memory. Thanks for stopping by.