ornaments for Everyone- Pottery Painting

Yesterday I told you about Ornaments for Everyone this weekend (Nov 20 & 21).  In case you would rather paint your ornaments, we have been busy making them out of clay the past few months.

We're adding a snowflake ornament to the mix this year to compliment the others: bear, candy cane, angle, gingerbread people, train, stars, heart and more....

Come by and check it out!

Ornaments for Everyone - Fused Glass

I'm really becoming addicted to glass fusing, the results are always gorgeous. And so easy! 

This weekend the studio is offering ornament making at discount pricing.  Most of the glass is precut and there are plenty of kid friendly projects with no sharp edges.  Here are a few examples of ornament made with "pebbles" which are small, about 1/2" round pieces of glass.

For those more adventurous, we have pre-cut 3" blanks in clear and white for you to go wild and create by layering colored glass on top how ever you wish.  Here are some examples. 

See you this weekend!  Teresa 

(PS- Cherie will be back Wednesday December 3rd at 5:30 pm for another free glass class)

Clay Mask

Isn't "Rocky" adorable?

We've always wanted a studio cat...Cory made him for the studio at Convention.  Until he came out of the kiln, she decided to keep him....

Oh well, we will be making more masks this winter...

Dish, Dine, Paint & Wine

This month we will be painting these sweet "Ribbon Platters" at Dish, Dine, Paint & Wine. October 8th at 6 pm

It is so fun, anyone can do it!  Pre-registration required, call the studio at (530)550-7822

New Class Schedule is out!

T Pots Pottery has added classes in fused glass and pottery painting workshops!

Check it out - great fun, exciting new classes and mediums. 

There are still a few spaces left in the Summer Kids Camps in August.  Camp has been so popular, the studio will be offering kids pottery classes starting in September.

Hot Weather, Hot Cat, Hot Kiln

It has been hot, even hotter in the studio the past week.  Many days both kilns have been clicking away which makes the studio really, really hot.

Even my fluffy, long hair cat, Raku is hot.


 




Two kilns???? You may be thinking... Yes,(I say with a big smile).  I got a second kiln a few weeks ago, it is an itty bitty little thing. 

The Paragon Home Artist kiln is only 12" x 12" and plugs into a regular wall plug!  It even has wheels and one of those pull up luggage handles so I can wheel it outside for Raku or move it out of the way when not being used.

My husband, Stu calls it the Easy Bake after the kids play oven.  Adorable, easy and fast!  The new kiln allows me to offer 24 hour turn around on Paint Your Own Pottery and Fused Glass projects.  Oh so fun!

Keep Cool, Teresa

Truckee Thursdays

Wow- I could not believe how many people were at Truckee Thursdays last week!  It is definitely the happening event in town.  About a dozen people painted pottery during the evening, most came over the weekend to pick up their masterpieces.



Being that I have Drop-in (open  studio time) Thursdays 5:30 - 8 pm at the studio, Gerri will be there tonight for T Pots Pottery.  Stop at our booth by the Kid Zone to say Hello and paint a piece yourself or come over to the studio and check out the happenings there!

Enjoy your Thursday in Truckee,



Teresa

Summer

Summer arrived yesterday... and is leaving again tomorrow.  So sad.  It has been wonderful having the big roll up door open, it is South facing, so the sunshine beams in all day long.  The studio feels so much larger.

With summer comes all sorts of activities, "Truckee Thursday" begins this week.  New this year, Donner Pass Road will be closed off to cars.  Stop at our booth to say "hi". 

The first Raku firing will be this Saturday from 2 - 7 pm at the studio.  It is so exciting!  Probably not an issue this year.... if you are going to Raku fire your own piece of pottery be sure to wear long pants, long sleeve shirt and closed toe shoes.  Using tongs, we take the pottery out of the special Raku kiln when the pieces are around 1500 degrees!  That is hot!

Kids Camp starts next week with a 60's theme- "Peace, Love & Pottery".  I'm so excited, have some really fun projects planned.  This first week, we will be playing in clay, both handbuilding and on the wheel, doing some fused glass and so much more.

And, of course, ARTour, North Lake Tahoe's Open Studio event.  Two weeks of fun are planned July 9-11 & July 16-18.  I'm really looking forward to ARTour this year, with the new studio, I can leave the "working" area as is without to much interruption to production and class schedules.

Lets hope summer comes and stays for a while!

Teresa

Painting Pottery Field Trips

This past week, a second grade class at Incline Elementary and Middle Schoolers at Loyalton painted pottery. 

 A sampling of the 18 ice cream bowls painted by the 2nd Graders at Incline Elementary for their Moms.

 A few of the 8" square plates painted by the 11-13 year olds in Loyalton.  Mr. Fisher spearheaded the project to help the kids release some tension and stress after a long week of STAR testing.

All of the painted pottery turned out beautiful!

Teresa Wik

Can't draw

As long as I can remember, I have been uncomfortable with my drawings, even as a kid.  The drawing just never felt right.  Probably why I became a potter. 

I know, I know, I have said it so many times now- Painting pottery is a blast.  This is not just a marketing ploy, I am constantly thinking of different things to paint, searching the web for new techniques and painting at least one piece each day I am at the studio.

Unloaded a kiln today below are some of the pieces which came out.

Flower Plate

Dragon Fly Dish- I tried to blend the leaf colors by dipping the brush in two different colors then twirling the brush while I stroked.  Kinda like patting your head and rubbing your belly at the same time- very difficult.

Tree Sponge Plate- Ok, yeah it was the neighborhood 5 year old who taught me how to paint with a sponge.  I even mastered two different colors!  The tree was fun, maybe a little less coffee before using the fun writer pen.

Off to use the other side of my brain in the Emergency Room.  Easter weekend  and a snow storm, how did I get so lucky?

Happy Easter!

Teresa

Moms Visit- Painting Pottery

I love my Moms company, she is silly, goofy and a lot of fun! 

Mom is my #1 Assistant!  If you have been to an open studio- you know have experienced Cory (aka Dogwood, Gigi).  Along with open studio, Mom helps with glazing, pricing, dusting and thankfully adding cute little touches to the pottery display.

If it were not for all of her help and support (both mentally and physically) I would not be where i am today.  

 Last week Mom, my friend Teresa and I spent the day painting pottery to be used as example display pieces at the studio.  what a wonderfully, fun day we had.  Painting, chatting and giggling.  The pieces came out great!  

A gal came in, just after I had put the display up, saw the dog dish mom painted and wanted to buy it!  Mom is very crafty and does some wonderfully creative stuff- check out her blog http://pinkdogwoodblossom.blogspot.com/

Later that same day, a group of young women loved a different display piece so much, they used it as a sample to paint their own pieces. 

Have you ever painted pottery?  Help me out, let me know what you liked about it and if there was anything special the studio did to make your visit a great one. 

Paint Pottery- it is cheaper than therapy!  Teresa

Paint Your Own Pottery

In preperation of offering Paint Your Own Pottery at T Pots Pottery, I recently dragged my friend, Teresa with me to learn the ins and outs of paint your own pottery.    I figured we would stay an hour or so... 2 1/2 hours later, we left with smiles on our faces.  What a blast!

Jean, owner of Clay Canvas in Reno, NV was fantastic, showing us all the fun techniques in her arsenal. 
We painted, dripped, blew bubbles and stamped glaze on our pieces.

 

Teresa's creative masterpiece!  I love the grapes.

 

Mine is a little goofy.... I wanted to try everything Jean could throw at us.

Right now I have about 20 glaze colors and 15 different bisque pottery items to paint, more is on the way.  I hope to get it all on the website soon. 

Happy Painting, Teresa