Thanks MUDTEAM!

Thanks to the MUDTEAM's mug swap, I began making handbuilt mugs. Never having done it before, and not being one to look up how to do things, I just did what I always do and plunge in and hope for the best.

I admit this time I really SHOULD have asked questions about the how tos! My first mugs were mugs even a mother couldnt love. Lumpy handles, rough edges, and sloppy inside where the base met the mug. And then..in case I wasnt having enough trouble, the glaze wouldnt adhere to the inside of the mug at the base either!

After many failed attempts I finalllly reached out for help from my team members, and fixed my errors!

I'm happy to report, I have sold 16 mugs in the month of Dec alone!

Thank you thank you thank you for supporting me in pushing my envelope and making something Id never have made on my own!

Thanks Mud Team!

I really have a good life. I get to play with clay any time I want (pretty much). I look forward to evenings the most. Around 5ish I go to the studio and play till I'm aching from not shifting my position, then I leave things to dry and go exercise in the pool, read a book in the hot tub, and then go back and play in more clay.
Since joining the MudTeam I find myself eating drinking breathing pottery. It was just what I needed for helping my focus. The teapot contest pushed me past my normal limits, and while the first few attempts were pretty dismal (humourous in retrospect!), my last creation while not functional (cause I didnt know then what I know now!!), pleases me.
Another good point from joining the team, I feel more creative. Not sure why, but reading bout everyone's sucesses and boo-boos pushes my desire to create up a few notches. For me, creating itself is an alone proposition. I'm so innner focused that the rest of the world falls away. But now, while Im creating, I find things fellow mudders had shared in the forum enter into my thoughts as Im covered in clay. So now it feels like Im in a shared studio! Nice feeling!! And magnets. It never occured to me to make them. Now Im having so much fun turning them out!

omg I have to figure this out??? Random facts

Apparently Ive been tagged. I hate to admit this but I have no idea what that means nor how to "link" to others to tag them.. so.. all I can do is post my own 8 random facts bout me, and hope someone takes pity on me and points out how to tag others...
Here are the rules:
1. Link to your tagger and post these rules.2. List eight (8) random facts about yourself.3. Tag eight people at the end of your post and list their names (linking to them).4. Let them know they’ve been tagged by leaving them a comment on their blogs.

1: When Im excited about something I almost burst at the seams and jump up and down with uncontained joy (not unlike a 5 year old on christmas morning) yelling at the top of my lungs.

2: I forget to shave my legs sometimes (often) and then go to the beach or pool and wanna die of embarrassment when I see dark stubble (long) in the sunlight.

3: I love my cats far more than I love most people.

4: I cry at sad movies, that awful loud gasping kind.

5: I wrote a book once. Unpublished, but it is the best thing (other than my kids) that I have ever done.

6: I often go to the beach/ocean after dark and sit and stare at the waves for hours.

7: My favorite flowers are lilacs.

8: Did I mention I love my cats more than I love people?

4:

My first baby

Learning the wheel has been an adventure. For years all I did was handbuild. I love it. And to be honest (and I AM embaressed to say this), my thoughts about wheelthrown things was... "Oh gosh..any old one can do THAT". I am learning the hard way... WRONG. My first days were so far past disaster that I cant find a word for it. There was the to be expected clay on me, on the floor, on the walls. But HOW there was clay on the CIELING is beyond me. I made lots and lots of doughnuts at the tops of everything flew off in my hands. I made lots of pancakes as many things slid off on to my leg. Each night I'd say..Thats it. NO more. I wasnt meant to use a wheel. And each morning Id be chomping at the bit to get back and try again.
So... finally, after many many tries.. I accidently made my first baby. The little "Harm None" bowl. And the Malachite bowl.
So since then Ive made several. The thing is.. and I swear this is true... I dont know HOW Im making them. When I TRY to, I cant. I cant figure out how to make things go where I WANT them to go!!
So I keep practicing... and oh,
for all the wheel throwing potters out there... I'm sorry. Im so sorry I had my nose in the air thinking wheel throwing was soooooo easy!

BUYER Incentive Sale!!!

BUYER INCENTIVE SALE ♥ ◦ ♥ ◦ ♥ August 27 - August 31
Visit any participating Etsy Mud Team shop listed below - Look for the "Buyer Incentive" item - Make your purchase and get the "Buyer Incentive" item FREE!Purchase requirements vary within shops- please check each shop for details!!Ant's Pottery ◦◦◦ Averly ◦◦◦Baily Bowls ◦◦◦ Blue Sky Pottery ◦◦◦ Ceramica Botanica ◦◦◦ dgordon ◦◦◦ DK Pottery ◦◦◦ Earth 'N Elements Pottery ◦◦◦ GinPin's Shop ◦◦◦ Into The Fire ◦◦◦ Jessica Sharrah◦◦◦JMNPottery◦◦◦ JudyBFreeman ◦◦◦ khphillips ◦◦◦ Montezuma Mudd Pottery ◦◦◦MudPuppy◦◦◦ NKP Designs ◦◦◦ Tara Robertson Pottery ◦◦◦ Vegan Dish ◦◦◦ Vessels & Wares

POTTERY ~BY~ DEBORAH

My love is pottery. Working with my hands, covered in mud, creating something from my soul. What could be better?