The goose is getting fat?

I have been making a lot of ornaments and "stuff" for my upcoming sales:

The following was what I sent out by email:

IT'S HOLIDAY SHOPPING TIME!
SHOP HANDMADE!

JUDI TAVILL CERAMICS
(handmade ceramic pottery, jewelry, ornaments, objects...great gifts.)

Rumson PTO Vendor Show (a collection of vendors) this MONDAY , November 10, 2008 6pm-9 pm
Forrestdale Middle School Cafeteria Forrest Road Rumson 

Fair Haven PTA Gift Show (a collection of vendors) Saturday, November 15, 2008 10am-4pm
Knollwood School All-Purpose Room 224 Hance Road Fair Haven NJ

...and then ....
the JUDI TAVILL CERAMICS BIG FAT STUDIO HOLIDAY OPEN HOUSE and SALE
(with refreshments!!!)
10 Tyson Lane Rumson NJ 07760 


Sunday(day only) November 30th 9am-3pm(Thanksgiving Weekend *bring friends and relatives*)

Monday(day and evening) December 1st 9am-3pm and 7pm-10pm

Thursday(day and evening) December 4st 9am-3pm and 7pm-10pm

*If you can't make these dates I am happy to arrange a separate appointmant time! Feel free to give me a call.*

I must also add... I am itching for a bit of a shift in my work... so  newness in bigger ways may surface in the new year...ambiguous... ahhhh... indeed.

President Elect Obama...Check out these cupcakes!!!!

My friend Kristen who is an amazing potter made these cup cakes yesterday when she was waiting for the poles to close... and I have to say... they rock!
I am so happy for our country and how historic this is and
I really hope that we can come together and make progress.
Perhaps I drank the KOOL-AID but it tastes GOOD!
I may be an idealist but this is my blog and thats how I feel!

Voting Wierdness!

STRANGEST thing....
I was voting and this lovely little old lady told me I could go into the booth...
NO ONE else voting AT THE TIME
AND WHILE I was voting... ALL LIT UP...
She OPENS the curtain to"check something" and says... "OK, thanks."
So I cast my vote and I was APPAULED!
I said something as I was leaving to the others but...
I called the BD of elections and they said they would follow up...
They sounded sincere... but EEW!
And yuck.

On a Ceramic note... lots to glaze and fire.
TICK TOCK!

Mug Swap

I'm a member or the ♥♥ETSY MUD TEAM♥♥ and we did a mug exchange... so I got this lovely mug from my pal, Judy Nevius.




















Here I am with my new mug and my beverage of choice: DIET COKE...
Gotta Kick the habit!
Check out the MUD TEAM WEBSITE to see what we're up to!
Oh and...
Rock the Vote Tomorrow!
or shall I say BAAAAAA Rock the Vote!

Love this!

Can you tell I'm all pottery'd out?
... I've been making making...
for the holiday season...
trinkets and such...
but I love this video!

Boo.

Happy Halloween.
My Boys....
It scares me too.

Hanging Out!

A small selection of my work is currently "hanging out" at the
LAUREL TRACEY GALLERY in Red Bank, NJ. So... if you get a chance, stop by to visit it... and check out the gorgeous paintings!

I forgot: Cake.Yum.

Did I mention how great the evening was...
A little surprise... my 40th was 8/6/08 the surprise was 10/18/08 .
So I was SURPRISED!
The food was super and the CAKE rocked!!!!

OUCH!

So... I did something to my back...
OUCH...






































I sold this pitcher to my friend Lisa from college...
who I just reunited with on facebook...
She is sending it to her mom in NY(through me) for her birthday.
Lisa has been living in London for years...
This is one of my favoite pieces...
Richard Aerni(whose work is FABULOUS) spoke highly of this piece to me at Peters Valley ...
That alway helps to hear something positive when you feel like you have fallen into an ABYSS!
Anyway... It belongs to Lisa's mom now...
I hope it brings her some joy.
That's a big part of why I do this stuff!

Mary Mary Quite Contrary

SO... I have this new favorite customer...
She lives in Wisconsin and I just think she has great taste...
She wins the award for quantity and quality purchases!
If you get a chance, Check out her Etsy Shop... she makes super cool beads!
I love her houses...



















p.s. The SALE continues in my store

Happy Time

I finished my "Artist Statement" and my "Resume", filed my sales taxes for the quarter... shipped out my entry for the Baltimore Clayworks Teapot Show.
Ick! The whole thing makes me nauseous...REJECTION....... not one of my favorite words. BUT.It's "Happy Time"! Sorry that I digressed.
My 8 year old calls it happy time... as "Happy Hour" was said in front of him and he began referring to it as "Happy Time" and well... it caught on.

Don't you love the glow of the computer screen as it highlights my unsightly age spots... after 40, WE call them age spots..

I have my teapots for the Steamboat Show tucked up on the shelf in the office with the entries for Baltimore... so... POSITIVE VIBES people...Gotta run...
OH... AND MY BAIL OUT SALE CONTINUES...
Check out the SHOP.(click on Shop)

HOW DO YA LIKE ME NOW????

BIG BIG BIG TEMPORARY "BAIL OUT" SALE
CURRENTLY IN MY ETSY SHOP:




















HOW DO YA LIKE ME NOW????
THIS IS A TEMPORARY SALE PRICE reflecting 10-20% off the Original Price of MANY items!
I am experimenting with this pricing and do not plan on leaving these prices alone.
So if you are interested, buy now... I am trying to personally jump start the economy!
The New President can thank me later!

You must check out my latest item for the MAN of the YEAR:
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=15839734

Firing

Well.. I'm glaze firing those teapots in my kiln now...
The above photo is of a brand new version of my kiln...
I'm too tired to go up to the studio to take a real photo of it...
I replaced all of the elements but the top one and the bisque firing worked fine...
So I am doing the glaze fire the same way... I will then replace the top element at a later point..

This morning I had this sharp sore feeling in the same place of both sides of my rib cage and thought something was wrong... Then it dawned on me..
It was from hanging into my kiln replacing those elements...
Who would have thunk it when you decide to get more and more involved with clay... You need to be creative artist, a craftsman, a cleaning lady, a plumber(sink trap) an electrician(kiln and wheel repair),a continual student,researcher,a chemist(making glazes),a weightlifter(those buckets of scrap and new boxes of clay), a marketer, a merchandizer,a camper(tent/booth set up),business person, math wiz, accountant,computer genius,gymnast(teetering on the outside edge of my kiln replacing the inside element head first)
Oh... I am sure there is more...
Frankly it's exhausting just typing about it...

When I was a fashion and print designer I took on alot of roles but...
I gotta tell ya... this is never ending... and I made decent money THEN!!!!
Good think I love this!
Addiction. It' not pretty.

TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK:

Teapots in the Process

I just couldn't look at that last post!!!
Here is my focus now...
TEAPOTS... for an Invitational Teapot Show
in Steamboat, Colorado in December/January
AND
to apply to some Teapot Shows...
Scary rejection possibility stuff...
EEK!

You win some... You lose some..

Ok... the show stunk.

The other artisans didn't ...they were great.

The turnout was down 25% and it felt like people would look around like it was a museum... 

Flattering... but unfortunately not very lucrative... 

It didn't help that all that the T.V. and radio was talking about was the Bail-Out nightmare and it POURED...

I thank anyone who bought from me... 

You do not stink... really... the people don't stink...but the whole scenario stunk.

Stink stank stunk.... 

On a brighter note... the PALS Carnival that my kids totally rocked(and I helped ahead of time) for a support group of ALS patients and ALS research was an unbelievable SUCCESS....

Just sad I could not  be there... We had such great P.R. about my friend Pam.

But... I am moving forward...

See my new Trunk Portfolio...all jazzed up:

Nice?
I have posted some new items... all available through etsy!!!

Let's hope it's a "Big Big Show!"

I set up my booth in the yard...
the tent, the lighting, the shelving, the tables and cloth,s and
the GOODS... Only had 2 CASUALTIES in the bunch... ick...
moving right along...
I am really feeling sick so, I will try to get sleep... very tired...
but... I am please with the booth AND the colors on the pieces look even better in real life...
so come see:

Peters Valley Annual Craft Fair

& Bluegrass Festival

September 27 & 28, 2008

at the Sussex County
State Fairgrounds
Augusta,, NJ

Saturday 10am - 6pm
Sunday 10am - 5pm

Tickets: $7 (under 12 FREE)
Sorry, no pets.

Home Stretch

I know this is a little repetetitve of the last post... but the shelves are a bit more congested now and and have one last bisque fire in now and a final glaze fire  after that....

So...there you go.

Still workiing

Here we go... some pics of what I've been up to and am still up to...

exhausted

this is me.
tired as I look at the screen...
this is how my computer usually sees me.
nice.
right?
catching up...
cranking for the Peters Valley Craft show on Sept 27th and 28th...
did I work out today?
no.
i did not.