I know...i know...

Yes, I have been really slacking on my blogging duties. But I wanted to get this in real quick. This Sunday instead of Saturday...(rain date) will be the Stone Soup Farm Chilifest!

http://stonesoupfarm.googlepages.com/chilifest

I will have a booth there with KILLER PRICES on older stock. Come out and say hi. Or at least try some tasty chili!!!

Here I am at the Mill River Marketplace.

The place goes way back,but I am just doing a quick video of the main room I am in. In the other room there are about 6 more vendors, a coffee and sandwich bar and then there are antique dealers out in what used to be the garage bay.
So this is it...

It is really beyond me why there is a giant canoe in the middle of the room. It is a sample for sale for $2200. You can buy a brand spanking new one for $4500. I think it would crush the stop of my suv in! That thing has got to weigh a ton. The strange hologram man is here again, as well as about 6 new artisans and 2 more farm stands. Lots more veggies this week.

Tonight I am teaching a wheel throwing intensive for the studio on throwing off the hump. And my friend Jim is coming down with his special lady friend and her sister and the sister is going to get a one on one lesson this afternoon after the market.

Big day ahead, but the sun is shining and I have a giant brownie.

Cheers!

Updating the Etsy

So, I posted to my Twitter this week that I was going to put up one pot a day on my Etsy site. So far so good. And My new cloud dome photo kit arrived yesterday in the mail! It made snapping shots of this mornings pot so easy! I had been taking them to work and using their cloud dome kit. But they have them pretty affordable on the web includes lights and the infinity board and it fit ever so nicely into my pantry! I now have a permanent photo studio right in my home and out of sight! So, this weeks Etsy listings have been for:











And I need to give a shout out to my friend Deb who's birthday is today and who just opened her own Etsy Site!!! Deb crochets wire jewelry. Check it out!

All right, time to get in some quick exercise before work today.
Have a wonderful weekend and hope wherever you are it is not as humid and rainy as it is here in New England. Ick!
Cheers!

Malea

A few quick pics

Buttons and such.
Have a great day.

I am so impressed

I do a lot of donating to local schools and charities. Before I owned my studio I primarily gave away pottery to these events. Now I have the luxury of being able to teach from my space and share my love of clay with others. So I give free lessons.

This past weekend I had a lovely young studio guest, meet Lily.

I was blown away that this tiny girl not only could center by herself, but she made 5 pots all over an inch tall to boot! And this was her first time on the potters wheel!! Kudos to Lily! I can't wait to get her pots bisqued and back to her.

If you have ever tried to make pots on the potters wheel, you know how hard this is! I have permission to post these pictures of Lily from her mom. She will be checking in on the blog and it you would like to leave some comments here for her on how fabulous her daughter did...please do!

Cheers!

Mill River Marketplace

So, here I AM. Waiting on Jen from the studio to get here with more pots and if i can pursuade her to bring me a burrito I will be al set. It is quiet today as the farmers don't have enough crops to bring this week, so next week it should be full. We are at the old Cahillane dodge sight in Northampton, right on Rte 10. Stop by...bring me iced coffee...
Cheers to all!

Malea Rhodes

Getting back to my roots

Some years ago when I was in college I began experimenting with surface design. Not of my own doing, but my pots were so clean and strong and I was tending to stick with such simple glazes that, although they were finely made, were quite boring. So my professors told me if I didn't start doing some sort of surface treatment I would have to come up with some sort of new forms. I went for surface design.

In the beginning I took to slip trailing, squirting mud on to your pot similar to how a baker would pipe icing onto a cake. The form I always returned to was the leaf. And here I am again.

Over the past few years I have tried to boycott the leaf. Force myself to not be such a perfectionist with my forms and glazing techniques. But, what I have found was I was never happy with the results. So, I set about around a month ago to return to my roots, do what came naturally, return to the form and design I had shut out.

And low and behold I am happy with my pots again!

Sometimes it just takes walking away to make you appreciate it.

These photos are all from my phone so the colors aren't as lovely as in person, but I will probably be doing a photo shoot soon and getting them on etsy shortly. This is my line. My permanent collection of pottery that I will continue to make for years. Love it or ...well, I don't really want another critique. College is over, Professor Chamberlain has retired, and I am making my bread and butter design that my hand feels so comfortable doing.

Green and amber, always.

Below are some new glaze tests that came out of the kiln today. The deep blue was supposed to be a violet shade, but I think I might add some more manganese dioxide and make it a little darker to use with our glossy amber. So the green and honey amber will be my pale line and the deep blue and dark amber will be the more color saturated line. Something new eh?