Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Shop Up-date and a SALE!





My shop has a fresh new look along with some new photos from the mini-photography session I had with Vancouver Photographer Byron Dauncey last week!  I have been working on new vase forms and new designs off and on all spring, and was hoping to do a complete website over-haul along with a formal photography shoot and road-blocks just kept coming up with the timing on it all.  So I'm happy to report that there is always a way out of every timing mess- a mini-shoot, a new webshop design (courtesy of BigCartel) and it's all looking pretty good for the summer, if you ask me!

Please head over and check out the new work!  I keep seeing such lovely bouquets at farmer's markets or just on my walks in people's gardens so I'm offering a 15% discount on all the vases in my shop from now until August 15th!  Please use the code SummerSale for the discount- all the vases listed are ready to ship, with many of them being one-of-a-kind and in limited quantities!

Thursday, July 4, 2013

in the new place, on the other side


It's amazing how much energy and mental space moving can take.  But here we are, moved in, getting things set up, on the other side of the bridge, kind of where we started, actually.  The home Dean and I lived in before we had kids, happens to be on the same street, ironically.  It's a funny feeling to be back in the same neighbourhood, but 11+ years later.  For us, it feels like we are coming back home, for our boys, they are feeling a little displaced, like their little world is opening up and they aren't sure where they belong.  I am slowing down a bit in the studio this summer to get them settled and hopefully by the fall, as they enter a new school, we will have found a few friends in the neighbourhood and it will start to feel like home. 

It has been an incredibly busy spring for me in the studio and I'm thankful that I was able to wrap up all my outstanding orders just as we were moving into our new place (ie, last week!).  I have some new work that I'm hoping to launch in the fall, along with a website re-design, so things are busy, but not crazy.  It has felt like a crazy few months, trying to sort out where to live, thinking about what I do and whether it is sustainable for my family in the city, and doing a bit of soul searching to understand what I want to do next.  I see some makers getting really burned out with production pottery and it made me realize I need to make some changes in how I make work so that making continues to be a joy and not a burden. 

So hopefully I'll get back to blogging a bit more often, taking photos again instead of just instagram (do follow me though if you like ;), doing some more painting (I have a new series on the go!!) and making some new pots.  Sometimes starting in a new place feels really good, like you have a blank slate to work with once again.  The furniture is still the same but the setting is different.