The Handmade Soap Blog

Muddy Monday with Blue Sky Pottery aka dbabcock

Ok, sorry everyone for last weeks total lack of blog posts. It was school vacation and I played TOTAL hooky and did nothing but play with the kids and other silly stuff.

So after my little mental sabbatical, (which I shoulder have taken at her house, it sounds so lovely!) I would like to introduce you to dbabcock of Blue Sky Pottery over on Etsy. A wonderful ceramic maker who has a lot of things I would want to gobble up! But of course we all know what a ceramic junkie I am. :)

Here are her responses to my silly questions:

Q - 1. Tell me a bit about yourself.

At the millennium 1-1-2000, I reinvented myself...sold my marketing business, sold my house, and moved almost to the other end of the country with my husband to live on the top of a mountain in northern Colorado. I have a business degree but have always been drawn to art. So I started taking art and pottery classes and really latched onto pottery as my preferred form of expression. I'm 54 (ugh) and doing everything I can to stave off getting old. I hike, ski, and garden, in addition to my pottery. No kids. No pets, but our property abuts public land bringing us lots of wildlife year round.

Q - 2. How do you decide what to make? What is your thought process or inspiration?

A walk in the woods, a new book I've just read, a news story, something that comes up in the garden. These are all inspirations for my work. You'll notice a whole series I call teardrops for their wonderful textures. Another aspen tree series. A dragonfly series. And some crystalline pieces which feature water from our local lithia springs (one of only two in the world that is above ground). Lithia is the material that creates crystals in your glaze.

Q - 3. What is usually going on in your studio while you are working? Such as do you blast music, have silence, or watch soap operas?

About half the time, it's silent, except when people stop in to visit or shop. The rest of the time I have NPR on my computer...talk shows, news, and music. If I don't have NPR on, I tune into Pandora radio.

Q - 4. Where else can we find you on the web (such as your own site, blog, twitter, facebook etc.) or in brick and mortar?

On twitter, I'm debthepotter; I don't have a blog and rarely do anything with facebook. I'm marginally active on two other sites under the name Blueskypottery. Those are Dawanda and 1000markets. I do have a brick and mortar shop which is a combination working studio and gallery/salesroom for my work. I'm located in a ski resort area and the shop is across from the local grocery store on the way toward the ski mountain.

Q - 5. What are your favorite websites to visit?

I tend to visit websites that offer me tools to analyze how my etsy shop is doing...craftcult for its heartotronic tool; googleanalytics for visitor traffic; google keywords tool; twitter; and I roam all over Etsy.

Q - 6. What is your favorite color?

Green!

Q - 7. What is your sign? Yeah, yeah,sorry, I know a lot of horoscope junkies.

Scorpio

Q - 8. Now can you share an embarrassing moment, or at least tell us a good joke? We all do need a bit of humor ya know.

Hmmmm. I usually wreck the punchline on jokes because I start laughing. Here's one a kindergartner would enjoy: What do you call a line of rabbits walking backwards? A receding hare line. ***groan***

Q - 9. Last but not least - If you were stranded on a desert island and could only have 4 things, what would they be?

My husband. A computer with satellite connection to the internet. Some seeds to start a garden. And, an I-pod filled with Jimmy Buffett songs.

Another great interview from a fabulous crafter! So with Mother's Day coming, please pay a visit to Blue Sky Pottery as there is just so many great things over there (14 pages), plus you can save my wallet...lol

Below are just a few of the things in her store:

Muddy Monday with Monica Bodnar

Up this week on Muddy Monday is Monica Bodnar. She is an amazing artist, not only does she make beautiful useful pottery, but also loves to draw. A quote taken from her store front: "Drawing is essential to my sanity, and so is drinking! (and eating) I like to make cups that will hopefully make someone smile or get a conversation going." What is very unique is how she incorporates her love of drawing with her pottery. So lets get to know her:

Q - 1. Tell me a bit about yourself.

I like orange cupcakes with vanilla frosting and cooking bacon, even though I have been a vegetarian all my life. I don’t eat the bacon and I’m no longer squeamish when I touch it. I probably watch too much television and read too many blogs. Sometimes I want to try out for survivor or the amazing race. I like living in walking distance to the beach. I have lived in a few places: Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Delaware (it’s a small state) and now residing in Atlantic Beach, FL. My fiance' reminds me of Homer Simpson but less voluptuous. I started playing in clay a year and a half ago and can’t imagine my life without it.

Q - 2. How do you decide what to make? What is your thought process or inspiration?

My thought process has drastically changed in the last year and so has my medium. In grad school I focused on installation sculpture using ephemeral materials. I have always read a lot and most of my work was a reaction to articles and studies relating to environmental issues. This seems worlds apart now, since I am currently making and smashing ceramics.

After school I decided to make a switch to functional ceramics. I was intrigued by the idea of eating and drinking out of “art”. I used to be too serious about the art making process and way too academic about it. Nowadays I draw. I draw a lot. I have sketchbook piles that take up an entire closet. These drawings are inspired by my life in suburbia and random books. I don’t think I’ve ever drawn any two items with the same thing. There is just too much fun stuff in the world to limit a certain set of characters.

Q - 3. What is usually going on in your studio while you are working? Such as do you blast music, have silence, or watch soap operas?

I have to have music on. I used to only throw to Norah Jones , carve to Lighting Hopkins, glaze to Taj Mahal and Jack Johnson. I’ve opened up a little bit and get crazy by putting the ipod on shuffle. I have been known on occasion to run into the house at 1pm to watch days of our lives and eat bon bons. (I for one am glad to see the mix up, and of course I promote bon bons all the way..)

Q - 4. Where else can we find you on the web (such as your own site, blog, twitter, facebook etc.) or in brick and mortar?

The internet is a crazy thing.
Website www.monicabodnar.com
Blog: www.monicabodnar.blogspot.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/monicabodnar
Facebook, although you can find me on there, I don’t use it for art purposes. Mostly to keep up with friend drama and their babies.
Real life: right now you can find me at the Atlantic Beach Art Walk in Atlantic Beach Florida every third Thursday and Starbucks for the next few months in Atlantic Beach.

Q - 5. What are your favorite websites to visit?

Soooo I’m addicted to Etsy and pottery blogs.
Michael Kline got me hooked starting with his blog. http://michaelklinepottery.blogspot.com/.

I also really like cake wrecks. If I weren’t a potter I would probably be making cakes.
http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/

I would go on but then I would have to admit to myself that I’m addicted to the internet.

Q - 6. What is your favorite color?

I go through phases and don’t think I’ll ever answer this question the same way twice. Today I like butter cream yellow. (umm...I love butter cream frosting, lol..all this talk of cakes and butter cream I am hungry)

Q - 7. What is your sign? Yeah, yeah,sorry, I know a lot of horoscope junkies.

I’m a Gemini. Which is probably why I don’t want to stick to one theme for my mugs or pick a favorite color.

Q - 8. Now can you share an embarrassing moment, or at least tell us a good joke? We all do need a bit of humor ya know.

Oh dear…. I’ll just tell you my most favorite joke ever. Ready?

Why are Conceptual Artists painting again?
Because they think it is a good idea

Gets me every time.

Q - 9. Last but not least - If you were stranded on a desert island and could only have 4 things, what would they be?

Depends how long I’m stranded. If it’s short term I would like a barrel of rum, some hot Spaniard, a hammock, and sunscreen.

Long term I would like:

1. plenty of dessert. You don’t want to see me going through chocolate withdrawl. It’s not pleasant.
2. lifetime supply of sketchbooks/pencils.
3. my fiancé, Jake, he keeps me sane (well when not driving me insane- does that make any sense?) and is pretty MacGyver like handy.
4. memory foam pillows. (LOVE mine!!)

Ok, now I need to stop laughing as I really could hang with Monica. I really had to wipe off the Diet Pepsi from my screen when I read what she would do if it was short term. A girl afer my own heart....

Now that we have had some fun getting to know Monica Bodnar, take a look at some of her items below then pay a visit to her store to check out more. Mother's Day is coming up ya know!!

Thanks Monica and I hope you are having fun at the conference!!

Muddy Monday with Almapottery

On this rainy Monday (here in Plymouth anyways), it feels really cool and kind of fitting to have a Muddy Monday post! This weeks interview is with Lavinia over at Almapottery. Her store announcement states art & attitude, and you will get that for sure at this store. Truly amazing works of art, and I can proudly say I purchased my first tree sprite just this past week! Now I need to put together a bigger terrarium so she has a happy home, but right now she is just hanging out and smiling at me every time I do dishes, you can see her here, happy as can be.

One cool thing was Lavinia informed me in my package that I am a ceramist at heart. I do believe her. Some day when I am not cleaning mud off the floors, walls, and everything else from my two little kids, I just may go and start some classes. :)

Enough of my babbling, lets get to know Lavinia from Almapottery!

Q - 1. Tell me a bit about yourself.

I'm 36 and I was born in Eastern Europe in Romania. Most of my father's family escaped the communist regime and settled in Italy so I was the cool kid on the block who had real cherry bubble gum, not the made in China, paper pulp tasting kind and I owned the most awe inspiring markers ever, 54 colors.
I've been living in the USA since 1999, except for the last year when I lived in Japan. I'm married to a brilliant man who knows squat about art, reads physics and math books for fun, and I've been tormenting him the past 18 years by making random rules about art which he tries to prove and apply when we visit museums. I suspect he gets back at me every time I ask about stuff I don't easily understand, but again I will never know for sure. We have a child which seems to be a rational artist so far.

Q - 2. How do you decide what to make? What is your thought process or inspiration?

I don't. I sit down with a piece of clay and make something. I usually have lots of projects going and I have to beat myself down to make some of my production items if I really have a deadline. Even in that case I allow myself a few pieces in which I don't try to control the process. I have made some hideous stuff in my career but sometimes special items are summoned and that makes it all worth it.
I tend to assimilate the environment I live in and most of my work is very personal, like a diary but you need to know me well to read it. I'm also inspired by new techniques and try everything at least once.

Q - 3. What is usually going on in your studio while you are working? Such as do you blast music, have silence, or watch soap operas?

I work in my basement and I keep quiet trying to figure out why my child is rearranging the furniture upstairs and if big noises followed by: "It didn't break ,mommy!" means that my pottery is very sturdy. The rare times I'm alone , working,I listen to music, I stumble over water buckets and eat lots of chocolate covered coffee beans. (man, I am coming to her house, coffee & chocolate mmmm..)

Q - 4. Where else can we find you on the web (such as your own site, blog, twitter, facebook etc.) or in brick and mortar?

I have a blog at http://almapottery.blogspot.com and I hope to have my own website soon.

Q - 5. What are your favorite websites to visit?

my favorite website was called pingmag make, but unfortunately it will be closed http://make.pingmag.jp/

I like checking out pocko http://www.pocko.com/ and greener grass designs http://www.greenergrassdesign.com/ to keep in touch with the trends and Ubu Web http://www.ubu.com/ethno/ and Photography Now http://photography-now.net/listings/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=461&Itemid=334 are some of my all time favorite places.

Q - 6. What is your favorite color?

Indigo blue

Q - 7. What is your sign? Yeah, yeah,sorry, I know a lot of horoscope junkies.

I'm a Libra and wood Tiger :)

Q - 8. Now can you share an embarrassing moment, or at least tell us a good joke? We all do need a bit of humor ya know.

I don't know. I tend to have at least one embarrassing moment a day so I'm kind of used to it. My best friend gave birth 12 days ago and I was her photographer.  The first thing I said when we started talking after the birth was: Ohh! I'm so glad I didn't faint. The next thing was: I need to check my camera to see if I have a memory card in. Sometimes I should really keep quiet but they know me for many years now and they laughed.

Q - 9. Last but not least - If you were stranded on a desert island and could only have 4 things, what would they be?

It depends on the island, if it's friendly and food is abundant I would like my family and a small sailboat.

If is not, forget my family I will take Wilson, the skates, and that toilet door Tom Hanks used to make a raft in Cast away. My fourth item would be some extra rope because "I'm not going back up there."

Thank you so much for the fabulous interview Lavinia!!

So below are just a few items from Almapottery, but make sure you go and check out everything at her store as there is just so much!!

March Madness Winner Is...........

Let me start by apologizing for taking so long to do this blogpost! I waited to hear from the winner than the week just got in my way.

So, let me start by saying thank you to everyone who took a bit of time to post on my blog for their chance to win. And those who purchased, tweeted, or blogged about it, Thank you!

You can see what I gave away on the post March Madness Giveaway, it was a great set if you ask me. :)

The lucky winner was Sharon, who blogs over at Sarcastic and Stressed. Congratulations Sharon!!

I put everyone's name on a spreadsheet, sliced it up and placed it into a bowl and drew it out the old fashioned way, by closing my eyes. I find it more fun that way than random generators online.

Thanks again to everyone who played. For those of you who have, please accept 20% off any order good through the end of April. Just place SOAP BLOG in notes to seller and I can send an adjusted invoice or reimburse.

Stay tuned for the next give away!!