Post-Show Blues

 For the past few months I have been busily prepping for the Catawba Valley Pottery Show. Firing the big kiln beast every month has been a bear!

This most recent firing was one of my best. The photo above is what the kiln looked like when I loaded it.

The photo above is what it looked like when I opened it up. At first I thought it was a little heavy on the salting, but I am pleased with the results.

Getting ready for a show is like riding a roller coaster. There's the buildup of exhausting excitement and nervousness for not knowing whether the kilns are going to turn out. There might be a few great turns that put butterflies in your stomach, and then the final show you have been prepping for is like the end of the roller coaster, that final decline, with an abrupt stop at the end. You watch your pieces go home like the people leaving the roller coaster carts, and then it is completely over.

It was all worth it to see my pots all sitting together and going to good homes. Most of my highly decorated blue dishes, mugs, and flowerpots disappeared at the show! So I suppose I don't have the blues after all, I'm just left with my brown wares.Thank you to everyone who has given me moral support in all my crazy endeavors, to those who came to the show, and to the potters who kept me company and gave me breaks! I am looking forward to next year and another big roller coaster ride!