After the sale of 2021

New work is posted, now, on my Big Cartel site:  https://anntubbspottery.bigcartel.com/products
 

Ah!  The studio sale is over, and life goes on in the pottery studio.  Bob, the studio cat, has a new furnace (emphasis on 'fur')  (sorry), and it's nice and warm.  The Big Cartel site now has a lot more posts of pottery, since the uploading frenzy of the last week (where I wasn't able to figure out how to make the functions of image choice work on my computer, and decided to download a BC app to my phone.)  Everything keeps getting smaller and smaller.  

Rovin, the clay manufacturer up in Ann Arbor, now, is not yet making the clay body that I normally use (RO82-M), fired to cone 2, so I am about to buy some of the Standard (out of Pittsburg) clay which they are carrying, and test it.  The problem with this is that I did, actually, test three clay bodies from Standard, about 10 years ago, and wasn't interested in using them, at the time. The tests showed problems.  I eventually made tiles for the top of the big desk in my studio, but didn't buy more clay, at the time.  Now I need to do tests, again, and be more specific.  

Thanks to everyone who purchased the sock-inspired mugs, decorated by Cathy, Lynn, and me!! We, along with the donations for Sylvania Area Family Services, were able to make a huge donation to SAFS!!  Hurray!!

Stay calm, love your dear ones, work hard at what you love to do, and, as my brother always says, take a walk every day, and drink your water!  

This is the view north from our dear neighbors' front door, where we had Thanksgiving dinner!  Be well!

Dear Friends, 

First of all, I would like to thank you for your support for my sale in early October. It was wonderful!  You are the Best! As I said, then, I would not be having the usual studio sale in early December, which Margaret Mazur http://www.playoflight.etsy.com/, and I have been doing for many years.  We are all adjusting to the covid climate which seems to be worsening, now, during the colder months.  I hope you are staying safe!  My December Studio Sale, however, has, of late, made an attempt to support the Sylvania Area Family Services.  In the past, I offered a 10% discount on your pottery purchases if you brought in any of the non-perishables listed on the SAFS website. https://sa-fs.org/  (Or, if you had forgotten, you still received the discount, then made the donation on your own—thanks!)  

     This year, I would like to go a little further.  I, with the encouragement and help of my son, Pete, have begun listing my work on an internet sales platform called BigCartel. I have a 3-part plan:  

1. If you are interested in buying something from the BigCartel site, you will receive a 15% discount.  If you are local, please choose the local pick-up option.  (more on this, later.  Truthfully, the reason for the 15% discount is, in part, to get you to use the site, and then, to give me feedback!) (and did I Mention how much I don’t like to package pots to be mailed……). I trust you to make the donation on your own, either to SAFS  https://sa-fs.org/ or to an organization of your choice.  If you wish, and are picking up your purchase at my studio, you may also leave whatever non-perishable items with me, and I will deliver.  
2. In addition, I have found that I have 14 small plates, thrown in the fall, which I worked into a final bisque firing.  They turned out to be slightly too small.   I have decided to glaze them as “poco piatte”, and I have put the image of an even smaller plate into the design.  Many have a depiction of a tiny dish with the Eiffel Tower and “Paris” on them—-a little dish Edith Franklin gave me many years ago.These plates will be identified on the Big Cartel site as “Small Plates”, https://anntubbspottery.bigcartel.com/product/small-plates-and-the-50-donation-to-sylvania-area-family-services, and are $40.00, each.  For that amount, you will receive a plate, at 15% off, and I will donate 1/2 of the original amount to SAFS.  In fact, in anticipation of these sales, I will be making the donation next week. And, just as a head's up, I called SAFS today, and was told that they are 40% above last year’s needs!  

I hope not to be too confusing, here.  (was there a third part/  Never mind~) As you know, my letters are usually short, with details of the sale (dates, times, location), but since everything is different, and because I know that times are, for some, quite desperate, I am proposing this slightly different plan.  

Does this make sense?  Do you have questions!?!? Have I left any thing out?

I have work, now, on both Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/anntubbspottery—-mugs and 4” tiles, and on Big Cartel…https://anntubbspottery.bigcartel.com/   The 15% discount will apply to both sites. And it will last until the end of December.

But not everything in my studio has been listed. (perhaps this is part 3.)  If you want me to photograph the studio stock, let me know.  If you live in a state other that MI or OH , I will run the sale through the BigCartel because they will pay the sales tax. (Pete’s such a whiz!)

If you come to pick up, here are my Requirements:

1. Wear your mask.  I have hand sanitizer and extra masks, if needed.
2. I will bring your purchases to an outdoor table. 
3. you may pay with a credit card (on the big cartel site—)
4. or at the studio, with Square. Prepayment is preferred. 

I will not be inviting anyone into the Studio during these winter months.  I do not have a new, H-Vac furnace, or adequate ventilation.  Only Bob, the Cat.  It will be safer for all of us if we are outside. 

Be well!

Fondly, 

Ann Tubbs

a new site for sales: My Big Cartel

 With the help of my son, Pete, I have been setting up a sales site.  This year, as most of you know, there were no fairs, to speak of (all my big ones were cancelled, due to the pandemic).  And, yet, she persisted, in making pottery.  Well, I had accumulated orders.  So over the summer I began to photograph work and add it to the site    https://anntubbspottery.bigcartel.com/    I still have a lot of work to post, and need to do a fair amount of tweaking, since I don't fully understand all of it  (a little different from the Etsy site). 

 I hope all of you, out there, are staying well, and safe, and are finding interesting things to do, and are helping each other.  

As my old friend, Richard Zakin, used to say, at the end of each letter:  "Be Well!"

Leatherhard pots, my favorite time to handle the pottery!

For me, the best time (and most efficient, as well) to handle pots is when they are 'leather-hard' (some people call it the cheese-hard) phase.  Enough of the water has evaporated from the body of the pot, yet the clay is still not to the dry stage. I can stick a fingernail into the surface, or, more importantly, I can smooth, with firm pressure from my fingers, any areas which will be rough after the bisque firing.

smoothing around the handle

 I really like to handle the pots at this time.  There is something about the cool, smooth surface It is firm, but responsive, and not dry or scratchy.  And it is when I make sure that all defects are fixed before the next stages.  Here are some mug forms, --being made for an order---, in two of the stages.

the foot, trimmed

A tray of finished, leather-hard mugs

  The first few photos show the leather-hard stage which is the final wet stage.  The last is a photo of the thrown forms, having dried overnight under a plastic wrap, now continuing to firm up so that the bottoms can be trimmed. 

mugs drying out so that the feet may be trimmed

Winter Vases

a vase for winter flowers

Vase shapes have a variety of requirements:  they can't leak water onto the grand piano; they shouldn't tip over; they should show off the flowers in a way that doesn't overwhelm.  My thoughts for this form were along the lines of displaying an arm full of chicory in bloom, along with the queen Anne's lace that blooms in the same ditch along the roadside in August.  Our vegetable garden has lots of French chicory, planted by our son about twenty years ago.  Its ephemeral blue blossoms are a rare blue during the yellow summer. 

The larger vases are thrown in parts, with the first section removed from the wheel so that it can be footed before the more delicate top areas
are added.

 Handles are added last. 

Then, after the group is finished and photographed, I begin to pick out the aspects I felt worked well, so I can make more, and build on what I've learned.

new work at Red Lodge Clay Center

https://store.redlodgeclaycenter.com/collections/ann-tubbs

Holiday Studio Sale

The holiday studio sale is coming right up.  I am out in the studio practically all the time, decorating the now-bisqued and glazed work.  As I go along, getting more and more done, I get more and more ideas.  That's how it works!  Here are some photos, and the information for the sale:

Holiday Show and Sale 2018 

Ann Tubbs Pottery Studio 

Ann Tubbs &;Margaret Mazur 

Friday, November 30:  12-8 

Saturday, December 1:  10 - 4

 a selection of maiolica pottery from my year's efforts.  

anntubbspottery.com

playoflight.etsy.com. 

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Tiling the Chairs

I have had two metal chairs for a number of years, and I am finally going to get them tiled. I finished the tiles about five months ago, and then I had to have the chairs sand-blasted, (there is a business, locally, that will do it), and then I primed and painted them. 

First of all, I got Bruce to help me take apart the little ice cream chair he’d gotten me. I had cut a piece of hardiboard to hold the tiles for the seat, so we had to remove the back and legs to glue in the hardiboard. Did we photograph the chair before we took it apart!? And did we have differences of opinion when putting it back together? No and Yes. After I glued the hardiboard in, we reassembled the chairs, and I re-painted the metal.

putting the chair back together

the ice cream chair, upside down on the work table, with my Dad's old tools on the seat

Tiles are ready to go as soon as the touch up paint dries. The image is from sketches of blue gentian, loosely interpreted.  When I get the second chair ready to go, I will post photos of both the chairs being mortared onto the seat area. 

New Work has been sent to Red Lodge, MT

I've shipped a box of pottery out to Red Lodge Gallery, MT, and with the help of Jill Oberman

Curator and Gallery Coordinator, the work is now online:  https://store.redlodgeclaycenter.com/collections/ann-tubbs

https://www.etsy.com/shop/anntubbspottery

I also have some work on the etsy site:  https://www.etsy.com/shop/anntubbspottery

Otherwise, it's work as usual in the studio, since fairs are quickly approaching, and I have been taking a little too much time finding homes for the two stray kitties from this last winter.  Otto is about to go to his new home, and then I can fire the kiln, again......

The 5X5 Fundraising show at Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art, Santa Barbara

Dear 5x5 Artists,

Thank you again for your generous contributions to our 5x5: Celebrating 80 years exhibition and auction! We are busy installing the work and it looks wonderful!

Many of you have asked us about the status of our opening reception scheduled for this Thursday. Because of our proximity to the unfolding disaster happening here in Montecito, the limited access to campus, and since we currently don't have any running water, we have decided to postpone the reception for a future date.

Here is the revised exhibition schedule:

Thursday, January 11th - The exhibition will go live online and will be open to bidding. Please see our website at www.westmontmuseum.org/5x5 for details.

Tuesday, January 16th - We plan to resume regular hours in the museum and will be open beginning at 10am.

Thursday, January 18th - Gallery reception from 4-6pm. Come see the works in person with your fellow artists! We hope that you will join us for cake, coffee, and hot chocolate. 

Friday, January 26th - Auction ends promptly at 5pm.

We look forward to seeing you in the museum!

An Idea for a New Glaze Pattern--the Oak Leaf

The first pie plate

 A pie plate (part of an order) came out of the kiln that was unloaded the morning of the opening of the holiday studio sale (always the last minute, just one more load eagerness!), and I really liked the results.  I put it aside so it wouldn't be on the sale, since I had three other perfectly good pie plates for my customer.  When she came, however, she spotted the oak leaf one, and liked it best.  And since she is a good customer, and has a good eye, I let it go, taking a couple of photos, first.  The brown color I use for the leaf is an odd one, and I am not sure how to reproduce it.  Did I put some barnard clay into it?  Or some RIO?  Will I be able to reproduce it when it's gone?  You can see how much is left in the third photo:  it's the brown half-full container just behind the big platter, with the brush sticking out of it.  Maybe this will truly be a limited edition.  The brown breaks up, nicely, even though it looks dark and dense when I paint it on.  I also put some chartreuse, and a little copper carb., and sometimes some orange, on top.  The very outer edge of each of the pieces has a very pale yellow, and the decorative band has sage and leaf green leaves, with a little dot of ochre, and some chartreuse swirls.  I have been saving oak leaves for many years, and periodically use them as patterns.  This is the most successful, and repeatable rendition.

Finished work from the following kiln load.

Ann Arbor's Winter Art Tour: www.winterarttour.com

This Saturday and Sunday, there is an art tour in Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti:  www.winterarttour.com  and I will be in the Art on Adare section.  Join us!

Thanks, everybody!

Studio Sale, completed!   Thank you, everyone, for coming out to see Margaret and me, and all our work! We really enjoy seeing you, and talking with you, (and hope that we weren't so scattered that we didn't have time to concentrate!) Now, it's back to work for me, with orders, and one more sale up in Ann Arbor, next weekend:  Art on Adare.  And if you are in Ann Arbor, don't forget to visit the wonderful Clay Studio, as well, where I have taught, and which is having a show in conjunction with the Winter Art Tour in Ann Arbor, MI.  We wish you all the best this holiday season!  (What, no photos, this time??...)

Demonstrations at the Studio Sale

Tomorrow is the start of the Holiday Studio Sale and I will be demonstrating twice, each day.  On Friday, I'll throw face mugs, and talk about them, at 2 pm.  Then at 4 pm, also on Friday, I'll construct some slab-built oval casseroles (like the ones I posted on this blog in a three-part posting:  https://anntubbsmaiolicapottery.blogspot.com/2013/02/oval-forms-slab-built.html,
https://anntubbsmaiolicapottery.blogspot.com/2013/02/oval-forms-slab-built-part-two.html

and https://anntubbsmaiolicapottery.blogspot.com/2013/02/oval-forms-final-finishing-work-part.html

a little oval casserole with legs

The Red Bird District Art Walk: 1 & 2 December

The businesses in downtown Sylvania, Ohio, have branded themselves, collectively, as the Red Bird district, and have been having openings every first Friday of each month.  December, 2017, is no exception; celebrations are being planned!  I have work in the Hudson Gallery, on Main Street, and, though I won't be there (my studio sale's first night is the same day), my work will be on display.  (and online: https://hudsongallery.net/artist/ann-tubbs/) Here is the link for the Hudson Gallery's Art Walk:  https://hudsongallery.net/  

     Meanwhile, back in the studio, I'm loading another glaze kiln.  Here are the tiles for two small tables. They still need the black outline around the leaves and lemons, and a touch of red and blue.

Tiles for tables

New Paint Job on the New Look to the Studio's Front Display Wall

New look to the front wall, formerly peach-colored

 CaCO₃

My go-to dictionary in the studio (Mick Casson, a wonderful potter from England,on the cover)

   My Studio has had an upgrade this fall.  I took down all the white shelving, and re-painted the peachy color which had been there for 15+ years.  It's now a charcoal, or, as my friend,Denise, said,  Graphite.......  Then I bought Ikea shelving, and with a bit of what my husband and construction guru calls 'discussion', we hung three of the shelves, managing to get them reasonably level, and hooked up to the studs.  He had bought me a stud-finder, but I couldn't figure out how to use it, and found the old 'pound a skinny nail into the wall to see how easily it goes in' technique to be more useful.  And since we were the ones who built the studio, many years ago, who knows how on center those studs are, anyway.   I then found a recipe for making your own chalk paint on Pinterest:  2 cups paint to 1 cup Calcium Carbonate --- CaCO₃   otherwise known as Whiting.  Most all potters have lots of that.  And it's an ingredient in my maiolica glaze. After I let the mixture sit for a while, I then sieved it with an old paper sieve from the drug store.  No good pottery sieves were ruined.  I drew a rectangle on the wall, and painted at least 3 coats on. Then I lightly sanded it, and 'seasoned' it, by rubbing chalk over the surface, and then wiping it away with a barely damp sponge.  Voilà!

Doing the last USPS mailing for one of my studio sales (while visiting in Chicago)

 i've almost finished with the mailing  (stuffing envelopes, putting on stamps, sometimes writing a little something.  So many names, so many memories!  I am hoping to transfer customers to the electronic emailing service!

glaze firings for the next studio sale:

   December is almost here; time for my studio sale.  Here are some before and after the glaze firing photos of large bowl/chargers.

and if I had to pick my favorite, from the last kiln? ---

it would be this one.  Because of the striped legs.  A little Tubbs Four-Legged Tub.

What Comes Out of a Glaze Kiln?

two large, long platters

multiples

large oval platters

edge tiles, strips, and a bowl to be refired

I am firing large platters for an order taken last fall, along with some smaller pieces.  The kiln was fairly closely packed, but not overly so.  In and around the larger pieces were the little scotch tumblers, in the second photo, and the strips and edge tiles which will finish off the top edge of the backsplash I've been tiling in the kitchen  (with the subway tiles I made).  In addition, in the last photo, there is a bowl that will be re-fired.  There was a small area on the upper edge where the glaze had been rubbed off.  I touched it up with fresh glaze while it was still warm from the kiln. Now, everything, except the tiles, gets sanded on the bottom (where the red clay shows), and then priced.  My first fair is coming up!---

and another two

two more; two part.

two more soap dishes

Working on a few more ideas for soap dishes.  These do not have the little bars across the inside base, but the next ones will.  No holes, though.  The long, low one is made using an extruder die, and it turned out to be (the die, that is) a one of.  Though I got a number of pieces out of the extruded lengths, the die broke during the extruding.  My next post will be about the problems I am dealing with (and the body tests I am doing) when the clay body I have been using for a number of years no longer performs as it used to.  Phooey!

The Opening Is This Wednesday: 4:30 - 6:30

Soap Dishes

I am making soap dishes--trying all sorts of shapes, and different ways of allowing the soap to drain.  Over the next few months I will be posting some of the results:

about 3" by 3"

also about 3" by 3"

and the backs of the three, trying out different feet, and patterns.