MFS Ceramics has arrived!

Whew....this has been a pretty intense spring break. I have a history of intense spring breaks. Its always a balancing act of trying to get work done and also experience life to the absolute fullest extent possible...there is way too much Type A personality running through my veins.

First of all, I have things listed on Etsy! Along with the thousands and thousands of other potters! However, its there and available for the masses! I made my first sale last night. Granted, it was my cousin, but a sale is a sale and there is proof that someone will pay money for things I make! I was also super excited to know that the fees on Etsy are beyond reasonable. They scraped a mere $0.53 off a $15.00 purchase. Paypal gets $0.96 off a $22.00 transaction. Compared to the 15% that Amazon gets, this is pretty dang awesome. Here is the mug I will be figuring out how to package and send to Charleston today.



So that was the exciting part. Now I get to explain how it all came together! First of all, Tuesday night I was sure I somehow destroyed or sabotaged my kiln. A pretty steady stream of smoke was coming out of the top peephole so I shut everything off. Upon further investigation, I assumed it was something evaporating out of the glaze and turned everything back on and kept the firing going. I used Amaco PC Seaweed for the first time and put a pretty heavy coating on the inside of a big bowl and I think that could have done it. Thankfully when I opened the kiln the next morning, everything was fired, and nothing looked like it was having problems. Here is how the seaweed turned out:

There was also a fun undertaking of figuring out how to photograph these puppies. I went and bought a nice backdrop sheet which I think was well worth it. Originally I tried to set this up on a table but there was not enough room so I moved to the floor. Here is the set up (the dog plays a very important role in keeping good energy in the room):

A little fun fact about me is that I used to work in a portrait studio. I now realize why so many professional photographers adamantly detest these things. The one I was at had everything completely set up for me, the camera is even attached to a tripod which does not move. THAT was WAY easier than trying to set this up myself. But this will work for now, I know a few photographers here so if I ever get to the point of needing something higher quality, I know where to go!

Here are the two sets of mugs listed on Etsy.

 

And then my favorite...Love Bees!!!!

Tomorrow it is off to Colorado to figure out if I am really going to move there. Leave the studio I've set up, the friends I've made, the life I built here. Pretty scary but sometimes you've got to take risks for big payoffs!