THREE Weeks!!!!!!!

I can't believe that it has been three weeks since I last blogged, but "it is what it is." The school year is almost over, testing is finished, and all that is left is taking 165 eighth graders to Washington, DC on Monday and two more days of cleaning up before they are released on Wednesday for the summer. I will then have time for working on pottery - more time than I had anticipated!

I don't know why anyone would read these to hear about the writer's personal life, but in case you one of those types that are into reality TV, as of the end of this year, I will be unemployed and can join the ranks of the 6000+ teachers in North Carolina that will not be given a contract for next year. So....... I supposed my summer will be filled with job searches (they have already begun) and I plan to fill in the down time with being more intentional about producing pottery.

Susan called me on my way home the other day to tell me that she had sold $100 of my pottery that afternoon - she has turned into a pretty effective marketing manager - and said that she did not have to do anything. Someone had come by the house to see her and saw the pottery displayed in our living room and picked out some pieces to purchase. So, I really need to work on getting it out to where it can be seen. Maybe this will give me the confidence to convince me that I could make a go as a full-time potter!

Not much to show for the last three weeks. Besides not turning out much because of being so busy with the end of school, Dan Finch is working on an order for 600 brie bakers and that has taken priority in the firing schedule at the studio. I hope to have quite a bit to show next week. The items I had glazed over the last couple of weeks were being fired Thursday evening. I have tried some new things with spraying glaze, so I am really interested in seeing how they come out.

The pictures shown here are of some of the last work I finished. While watching kids who did not have to take retests, I counted up all the pieces of pottery I had made since I started in January of 2008. Luckily, I have been very good at keeping track of everything I have glazed and fired in a kiln log. Now, think about Dan Finch filling an order for 600 brie bakers in a period of about 2 months and then listen to my grand total - 384 pieces that have been glazed and about 12 others waiting to be glazed. This really shows me that I have to work at production if I am even going to consider trying to make a go of pottery full-time. But, the most encouraging thing to me is that of the just under 400 pieces, I have very little left and have sold everything except the little I have given away. Faith can move mountains, so I pray it will also "move pottery."