pottery

There is so much to running a pottery business and this photograph kind of resembles a lot of it.

In it you can see some of our work which has been made for orders or for the upcoming fairs. We have an order book that thankfully is never empty. We could do with being in the studio every day but there’s other things need doing too…

You can also see some work by Karen Middleton who helps me out once a week in the pottery in exchange for her own making time. You can see her work and writing on her website blog Karen Middleton Ceramics.

Amongst the work on the table includes some pieces that get sold on Etsy – including some pieces that didn’t come out of the kiln the way I wanted them and so have been re-glazed and re-fired. There are also some pieces still waiting to be glazed, the white pieces at the end of the table that didn’t make it into this firing. They are waiting their turn.

If you look closely too you can also see a few tiny things made by the Kids and Clay youngsters for their model village as well as a couple of trial pieces that they have used to test out some glaze mixes…

There are some tiles made by one of our regular Wednesday night potters – trying out different surface techniques ready for when her bigger pieces are fired and need to be glazed.

And finally there are some bowls that will be added to shop orders who have been patiently waiting quite a while as I catch up from Christmas orders…

So you can imagine how busy the pottery studio is with shelves for pots that are drying, partly, made, glazed… shelves for kids projects and finished pieces waiting to be packaged up…

 

I think I need a second shed…

Held bowls

I first made a small version of this bowl for our exhibition – ‘Where the Streams Come From’ – to represent the support and encouragement I had had from so many people during the process of doing our first exhibition – much more stressful than I had imagined. Without people’s support, it wouldn’t have happened.

The bowl sold but I was encouraged to make more by customers who had missed the opportunity at the exhibition. Like everything we make, every one is different, but the style remains the same – a bowl made to be held in one or both hands, with the word ‘held’ imprinted in and two lines that cross and connect around the bowl.

Some things we make seem to resonate with others and although we don’t always know what that connection might be, we feel humbled that our words and clay can bring some peace or joy express something meaningful.

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We (Seatree) are participating in another exhibition!

This is at the wonderful TIG gallery, over in Tighnabruach, overlooking the Kyles of Bute- long reputed to be one of the most beautiful places in Scotland (therefore the world.) What better way could there be to celebrate the arrival of spring? The blurb is below. Come and see!

We would like to invite you to the exhibition launch which is featuring some of our work. We are looking forward to seeing what the other artists have been working on too and hope to see you there!
Michaela and Chris

‘Spring on the Secret Coast’
Friday 19 April – Monday 6 May

Mixed exhibition featuring paintings, photography and ceramics by a variety of local artists, all capturing Spring as it bursts onto Argyll’s Secret Coast.
Featuring work by Mary Taylor, Peter Walsh, Michaela & Chris Goan, Pauline Beautyman and Kyleside Art Club.

Exhibition Opening
Friday 19 April, 2-4pm 

Join us for a celebratory glass of fizz as we open the exhibition and celebrate the arrival of Spring!

kids and clay

Most Friday afternoon see me and my Mum in the pottery welcoming in the primary school age youngsters that come along for Kids and Clay.

Some weeks we have a plan, to introduce some new skills and new ideas. Some weeks the children themselves have a cunning plan. And some weeks the two come together.

Recently I thought it would be a good idea to teach them how to make square box shapes and the idea grew to become a village… The children drew a building they wanted to make and we set to to construct each one. Check out our facebook page for what became of their wonderful ideas. The young boy pictured is glazing his house, made on his first session with us. Not bad, eh?

Of course, we didn’t stop there – our village has a river, a road, bridges, a pavement, some flower tubs, a lamp post, some chickens, some people, street benches and a street sign.

The village name is Claytopia.

(Of course.)

I just love children’s imaginations. Their freedom teaches me to be more free. Why should a bridge be brown when it could be a rainbow?

The Good Life

 

It was one of our favourite programmes many moons ago – probably still is to be truthful – and for many years we used to bore our friends with ‘one day we will live on the west coast of Scotland and have chickens and all will be well’. In 2002, we finally made the move here and have experimented with growing and a small brood of chickens but it was in our move to this house in 2016 when we finally have made a bigger step towards becoming Tom and Barbara. The Good Life wikipedia entry says “Opening with the midlife crisis of Tom Good, a forty-year old London plastics designer, it relates the joys and miseries he and his wife Barbara experience when they attempt to escape modern commercial living by becoming totally self-sufficient.”

 

You might think it isn’t related to our pottery business and poetry writing but really, it is all connected. The joys of growing our own, and learning about foraging, are life-giving. Not only does it save us money, but it feels right to be caring for our world and also gives us some head-space, whether through getting construction work done with as much recycled materials as we can or the actual growing and picking. Now we work for ourselves we have more time and space for the physical and time-consuming work of growing and that in turn gives us time to think and plan about our future business. The money we save helps us to survive on our small business income. The chickens too bring us a lot of happiness but also lots of eggs and the cost of feeding them and keeping them warm is covered by our honesty box sales in the summer.

 

It all adds up. And makes us feel very lucky.

 

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Now we run our own business, I am trying to get better at giving feedback to people that I buy from as I now realise what a difference it makes to small businesses and individual makers.

It’s so lovely (and a relief) to get good feedback on our Etsy page. Sometimes we get emails – I always open them with trepidation – did it break in the post, do they not like it… and thankfully (mostly) I worried unnecessarily and the email is to say thank you.

My favourite feedback though comes in the form of a card – imagine taking the time to make or buy a card, write in it, head to the post office. So lovely. Here’s a little selection of cards we’ve received, including a brilliant one designed and posted to us from a family who were visiting on holiday.

The plan was for the three of them to make something unique for themselves. While chatting at the beginning – do you like making things, have you done pottery before, is there anything in particular you would like to make – the Dad mentioned that when he was at primary school he made a mole. Lucky him, I said, having never had the opportunity to do pottery until I was in my forties. However, the story took a turn for the worse as his father had thrown the mole out of the window to scare a cat out of the garden and the mole smashed.  So we hatched a plan to remake the mole. Sometimes I have to think on my feet!

Here you can see the mole which features on the thank you card along with their message – such a lovely thing!

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