Goodbye 2012....and take the cold with you!

What a brutally cold day it is.  I knew this day would come, but I was enjoying the denial and mild winter temperatures.  I sure could use some global warming right now.

So what are you doing to honor yourself this year?  Isn't that what a new year's resolution really is?  How you will honor yourself, your body or family?  I like new year's resolutions, I just hate being unable to keep them due to chocolate.

Speaking of an honor, have any of you other potters ever had the request to create an urn for someone?  In the past two weeks, I've had three requests.  I feel this is one of life's ultimate honors as a potter.  It is the final thing you can do for a families loved one.  Now you'd think these families knew each other and one referred the other, but no, they don't know each other, nor do they live geographically close to one another.  I certainly don't advertise urns.  In fact, I had never considered creating urns.  After about two minutes of thought, I accepted the initial request as well as the subsequent requests.  I just feel it is a honor and God's blessing that I be asked and able to do it.

Today, I worked in the studio carving on some custom orders.  It is my favorite thing to do. I also spent some time catching up with other bloggers, websites and Facebook time.  On one of the group sites that I try to get to daily, but frequently am unable to get to on a daily basis is about pottery.  Today, I was able to get to the Facebook page and saw a post stating that the Wellington Potters Supplies is creating a Wall of Fame out of tiles with potter's hands from across the globe!  They were requesting potter's submit an impression of their hand in clay to be included on the wall.  What an awesome idea and project!  A huge undertaking, but one that will be absolutely spectacular when complete.  Yes, I offered up my hand!!  I can't wait to complete the tile and get it in the mail to NZ.   The best part of the day was creating a new friend, Kate, via Facebook.  As Kate and I discussed, if it weren't for Facebook technology how could one potter from rural Maine meet another potter from New Zealand?  It is times like today that I love computer technology.  It opens doors you'd never have.  I really think it is amazing that you can wake up one morning to a typical routine and by afternoon have your business being promoted on the other side of the world!!!  And all because you just happened to read a post on another Facebook page purely by chance. You just never know how life will change from second to second when you are literally connected to the world at your finger tips!  This project is going to be so much fun, I can't wait to see the final product.  What a great way to end the last day of the year!

Tomorrow I'll be back in the studio and I hope to bring you some photo's of what is happening there.  I plan to do some experimenting with glazes over the next couple months. I feel like a fish out of water and a mad scientist, I have never created my own glazes, but I'm just not happy with the commercial glazes  I just feel the need to develop my own color formulas specific to my studio.  This should be interesting and make for some spectacular test tiles!!

Have a wonderful and warm New Year's Eve and a blessed New Year!  ~~~~~~~~~ 2013

Blisters, Moose Tracks and Norwegian Fjord Horses

It has been busy in the pottery shed, filling orders, throwing, firing, glazing and taking breaks with the girls (horses), a must...just ask them, a girl needs her carrots!

This morning I unloaded the kiln which held several new style pots.  I glazed them in some new glazes to the studio and some old staple glazes.  May I add, all glazes are tested prior to meeting a thrown pot.  Much to my dismay, the pots I glazed with Spectrum Satin Turquoise blistered.  Totally covered in little blisters!  They all had to be thrown away....I watched many hours of work go in the can!  The other pots, as the mug above, came out fine.  I actually really like the mug above, the tracks came through the Spectrum Textured Autumn glaze beautifully.  It is rimmed in Laguna Colonial White which is a staple around here.  It is a great glaze, on Laguna White Stoneware #65 it comes through a silky, gloss white.  On Laguna Brown Stoneware #60 it allows the speckles to break through, very rustic and a nice look.  I use it a lot because it works so well with so many different glaze combinations.  The Spectrum products I just began testing and I must say the Textured Autumn will be one of my top glazes in the future.  I really like how it breaks a foggy blue with the brown under tones and captures any imprinting of the pot.

Here is a photo of the girls in the pasture that give me wonderful breaks, a relief from any stress in the studio.   Anniken's in the foreground and her mother, Beylah, bringing up the rear.  Anni is not quite 2 years old and full of mischief and Beylah is 10 years old, very gentle and loving animals.

Peasley Pottery vs. Mayan Clock

Hopefully the Mayan's are wrong about the end time, because my Christmas shopping is done and I'd hate to think I spent my last days in stores surrounded by strangers and shopping when I could have been home playing with my grandson and horses!...not to mention the Chinchilla who originates south of the Mayans.

Anyhow, if you are reading this you either have nothing better to do in your last hours (and I'll try to make your last hours entertaining) or the Mayan's calendar of hieroglyphs wasn't exactly interpreted correctly and we are back to the surprise end of times.  Either way, I apparently have nothing better to do with my last hours than to blog on a site that has no followers!  Come on people, start clicking on the FOLLOW button, we only have a few precious hours!!

I am so confident that the Mayan calendar was interpreted incorrectly, that I put a load of green ware into the kiln tonight.  I guess one way or another it will be done tomorrow.  In it are Christmas gifts that need to be glazed and back in the kiln by Saturday evening if they want to see the bottom of a Christmas tree on the 24th.  I wish Santa did pick up and delivery, it sure would be more cost effective for my business than the postal service or purchasing fuel for my van.  Reindeer....grain/hay.  Free Elfin Labor = free product.  His only expense is feeding the reindeer....and I'm sure he gets the hay cheap, if not free and the grain.  He gets millions of cookies and gallon upon gallon of milk on Christmas Eve....and countless carrots for the reindeer!  Think about how much food and milk he can hoard away in that one night?  It's kind of like how America has become...Santa is the government....take take take, pay nothing and give away presents to those who don't have jobs!

Okay, back to the pottery.....
Here are a few of the recent listings at the Peasley Pottery shop on Etsy.com

The Horse Shoe Pitcher is approximately 8 1/2 " H x 5" W and holds one and a half quarts (6 cups).  It is glazed in a beautiful Antique Copper which accentuates the hand carved horseshoes that surround the base of the pitcher.

The Standing Horse Mug .  The mug holds 10 ounces and is white stoneware with red and blue glaze.  The other pieces pictured are available upon request or at a later date will be listed.

I wish you a very Merry Christmas and safe holiday travels!!!!  See you after Christmas (or on the other side, whichever comes first) and bring your friends and family to FOLLOW along...hint hint.  God Bless and Good night!!

Hearts & Prayers

Hearts are heavy and in mourning as our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims, the children, the families of all those affected by the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, CT.    God Bless.

Last Minute Christmas Orders & Etsy Listings & Nocturnal Rodents

The past two days have been spent throwing last minute Christmas gifts, not mine...I haven't even started shopping yet!!  No, this is for those organized shoppers, those early birds who during their organization forgot to place their orders prior to the end of November.  So why didn't I turn them away?  I could have responded, "no pots for YOU!"   Instead I respond, "it's kind of late, but I will see if I can get these done before Christmas."  See if I can?? What an over achieving jelly fish!!!  How about cleaning your house and starting your own Christmas shopping???  But no, I take on a custom order of a pot I have only thought about NEVER doing, because I don't like the style of it.  So, not only do I take on the custom pot, I redesign the pot from the normal version, of course, and WHY??..because the person who is on the receiving end is a wonderful person.  Now with Christmas  less than two weeks away....crazy short time to construct a custom order with monogram and flowers on the pot which I have never attempted to throw.  Realistically, the only way this pot will arrive on time is if every detail goes off without a hitch, no room for even a little hitch...no hitch, no hiccup nor bump in the road...smooth sailing only!  I'd post a photo, but that would give it away.  You'll just have to wait until December 26th!

So, on to our next story.....


Latest Etsy Shop listings....

I call these mugs "The Chase"....I should have named them "Run Bunny Run!!"

Double-handle Beer Mug or Large Coffee/Cocoa Mug...whatever your poison, this mug can take the job and deliver!

Time to go, Isabella the Chinjella is up and wanting to play....sorry Isabella, this old lady is headed for the bunk!

Good Night!

Photo of the Accidental Chinchilla....

  She hasn't been named yet, we are hoping to have one soon. This photo was taken of her just moments after moving in, she was still being shy and nervous.  After a few hours and still early in the evening, she settled in to her new home...she even met the other animals and played outside her cage for awhile.  The chinchilla makes little cooing/purring noises and I was told she wouldn't be any louder....I was told wrong!   She apparently got over her shyness, because she started screeching at me...I was less than 10 feet from her cage.  When I opened the cage she ran circles around an apple tree branch that was set up for her to play with.  She made it clear that she was upset with having that branch in her home!  I removed the branch and she instantly settled down.  No more screeching until 3 a.m. when she wanted to get out and play.  Chinchilla's are nocturnal from what I've read and enjoy the night life!  She didn't find anyone willing to join her, so within a few minutes settled back down for the remainder of the night.

Now that everyone is up, she is napping.    

Pottery Delivery & the Accidental Chinchilla

I go to the mall today to deliver a custom piece of pottery and come out owning a chinchilla....    I couldn't resist the pull from the pet shop to go in and JUST LOOK.  Five minutes into the show...okay, more like two....I was holding a chinchilla.  It was an accident, not intentional or planned....   Did you know Chinchilla's can live to be twenty years old?  Neither did I!!   I'm not sure if I'm happy or extremely sad to know this over-sized mouse could potentially out live me.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone and I'll see you back here next time with pictures from the farm!

(see I told you it wouldn't be ALL about pottery! :)

Beer Mugs and Holiday Cheer!

The kiln was opened and the contents emptied....I always am so excited to see what the results are and then sad when I get to the end that there aren't more pots!  Just like a kid at Christmas, always wishing for more gifts to open!   Here are a few of those gifts from the kiln, I hope you enjoy!

I love this beer mug...it was a custom order by a dear or beer friend who also enjoys boating and fishing.
The mug is 6"H x 4 1/2" W at the base and holds 24oz.

This mug reminds me of brass knuckles, maybe it should be for the ladies...it is 5"H x 3" W at the base and holds 16oz.

Now off to load the kiln up again and start working on the under glaze of the Brook Trout and Poppy Pots.

Introduction & History

Welcome to Peasley Pottery and my first blog post!

With the Christmas holiday upon us and so much going on with traveling, shopping, family functions and other events, I will try to keep this blog entertaining and at times oddly interesting...it won't be ALL about pottery, although that is the primary focus.

Peasley Pottery is made in Maine located in a rural town Downeast called Otis.  The pottery studio is my father's old hunting camp which sets on the small farm.  It's so nice to wake up and walk to work! I started Peasley Pottery as my full-time occupation last winter.  So far, it is working out well and I made the right decision. I use to drive for over an hour to work, now I gone green and walk to work, all 25 feet!  And I sculpt mud.  How much greener can a business be?

Most of my pottery is focused around wildlife, horses, flowers, fish......nature in general.  I thoroughly enjoy carving and painting the pottery into a piece of art, not just a functional pot.

This is a Brook Trout, one of two, on a piece I am currently working on.  This was at the carving stage, the piece has since been fired and waiting for the final glazing.  I am taking my time preparing the surface to bring a realistic feel to the final piece.

To see more, check out my web site at  Peasley Pottery  or  Peasley Pottery at Etsy