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

the Holiday Sale

Denise's handiwork sets off Margaret's jewelry!

Margaret arranges pottery--her work is the beaded jewellry

We're halfway through the always interesting Holiday Sale---how wonderful it is to see friends, and to talk about our work!  Denise and Indigo stopped by today with plates full of delicious treats--dates stuffed with cream cheese, and mushrooms stuffed with a pesto mix, and pumpkin pie squares and chocolate angelfood bites  (who knew there were such wonderful delights!  More photos tomorrow!

pots from one bisque load

work, work, work!  the sale approaches!!!!

I've unloaded the bisque kiln and am about to wax the bottoms of all the pots (and the lidded areas), so that I can glaze everything.  Here's the procedure:  before I glaze, I wax, then wait for the wax to dry, (the longer, the better), then dip everything into a bucket of cool water (don't want to re-soften the wax), then wait til the pots dry a little and can accept the glaze, and then I glaze.  If the pots are too dry when they're glazed, they absorb too much of the glaze water, too quickly, and the glaze builds up unevenly on the surface of the piece, sometimes pinhole-ing and leaving areas that are too thick. In addition, I single-dip, so I can't re-dip where I think there might be a problem. On the other hand, if there is a little moisture in the pot (just cool when held up to your cheek--as you would a bone-dry piece, to see if it's dry enough to go into the bisque), then the water from the glaze enters the porous, bisqued walls a little more slowly, and the air exits less precipitously, and I don't have little pinholes all over the glaze (which have to be fixed before firing, so they won't show up, later.)  hmmmmm.  If you have questions about this  (better as a demo, I think) just ask.