Bathroom Remodel in Progress
We're moving here next month in August
And it needs a little bit of help – more like some TLC after being a rental for the past 11 years.
The only bathroom was cute in a 1950's sort of way
But, pink tile is very hard to work with and the bathroom leaked terribly into the kitchen below.
So we gutted it down to the studs
And have to pick out new fixtures and such within a reasonable budget. Why is everything I like so dang expensive?
Even Danzig is curious
How we’ll manage to have this finished and move in ready next month??? My fingers are crossed.
Meanwhile, I am going to try to make some simple plaster cup molds today.
Wish me luck,
Cynthia
House for rent
Remodeling has begun on the home that we will be moving into next month sometime late August in a pretty vibrant part of Denver called South City Park. City Park is more urban and diverse than where we live right now and I’m sort of excited for a change of scenery, though I will miss living 2 blocks from the light rail, Whole Foods, South Pearl Street and Wash Park. We lived in the house we will be moving back into just a short while between 1997-98 and moved shortly after giving birth to my daughter (yep we sort of fled the city to almost the suburbs). Now that we’re getting older, we keep getting closer and closer to downtown and I occasionally fantasize about buying a condo or loft someday (we even looked at a model in one of the Spire condos in May).
Our goal with this move is to eventually shed one of our homes – we’re tired of being land lords and to avoid paying capital gains taxes we will need to live in our former rental property for at least 2 years before we can sell it tax free. In the meantime, we are gaining square footage in the home, yard and garage - but are losing some amenities that we have come to depend on such as those mentioned above. With an imminent move in the very near future, we need to rent out our current home because we’re not ready to sell it just yet.
Want to get a glimpse of the inside of the home we currently live in? Click here.
I am looking forward to having a little bit of fun with the home we’re moving into next month. For example, I plan to paint one wall in the kitchen with chalkboard paint – we currently have a small chalkboard in the kitchen that my daughter and her friends draw on and it’s become sort of like a rotating art show. I can’t wait to see the images that pop up by children and grownups alike on a larger scale.
I am also shopping for appliances for the kitchen and am considering replacing the icky electric range with a vintage gas model.
Moving is also a great time to destash! I have a secret fantasy of one day being a minimalist, but am a long way off right now judging from the photos of our home in our advertisement. I would also have to convince my pack rat of a husband that less is more….
Have a good day,
Cynthia
New Favorite Tool
And it ain’t for clay either….
The aerolatte milk frother
Makes perfect cappucinos
After spending 6 days in Paris, I came home ‘jonesen’ for a fancy coffee drink that I didn’t have to pay nearly $4- a pop for at my local coffee shop. When one day last week, I got lucky while perusing the kitchen section at Crate and Barrel and I found the aerolatte. For a mere $19.95, I purchased the gizmo after the sales lady told me how much she likes hers and gave me a quick tutorial on usage. It’s already paid for itself because I treat myself to a frothy coffee nearly 3 times a day. I poured about 1/3 cup of 1% milk in a mug, microwave it for 1 minute on high and then froth the heck out of the milk. I top the froth off with brewed French roast coffee and sprinkle a little cinnamon/sugar mixture on top et voilà! I’m drinking a fancy coffee drink in a cool handmade mug – this one happens to be by Ginny Cash, a fellow Colorado Potters Guild member. If you like lattes, cappucinos and other milk heavy drinks, I highly recommend this tool. I thought this might make a nice light post after my sort of heavy confession the other day – working yet?
Meanwhile on Sunday, my husband and I signed the contract with our contractor, Jim Wilkinson, who has begun work on our remodel project. He did an excellent job doing a complete gut job on our current home, which incidentally was chosen to be on the West Wash Park Home Tour in 2007. The current remodel is not a huge project, but will make the house much more livable – including 240 amp for kiln in an insulated and dry walled garagio. 
In the interest of time, we’ll only be doing some of the more decorative work such as painting and landscaping, but that’s about it. I really wish we were more handy, but with my husband working full time we have all we can do to maintain our home. We should be able to move into the new house (which we have rented out since 1997) in late August just in time for school to start for both me and my daughter – though technically we start the third week in August (but we all know that nothing important really happens those first few weeks anyway). New beginings all around. We have taken some before photos – and will post them here and there. Demolition on the bathroom should have started on Monday…eek we’re going from two bathrooms to one. Good thing that there is only 3 of us!
Cynthia
P.S. I was drooling at the Apple Store again yesterday - pretty soon I think they’re just going to give me a new MacBook Pro to keep me away. 
Falling in and out of love
For those of you who are potters (or even if you work in another medium) – do you ever fall out of love with clay (substitute medium of choice)? I do and I’m not quite sure why. I’ve tried nailing it down in my head – is it the sales aspect? Or frustration at seeing some very fine factory produced work from Asia selling for pennies? Or lack of ideas? Or technical difficulties? Or keen competition? Or, or, or???
I seem to be afflicted by all of the above from time to time and am really trying to make an objective analysis of my two steps forward, one step back position with clay. Literally, I distanced myself from clay in May & June by not making any work at all. It’s not that I don’t like touching the material, it’s more a question redefining what I make and what I want to see happen with the end products.
Coiled Mug
Let’s face it, it’s tough to make a living as an artist. Throw in teaching, selling in galleries, in person, and online and one begins to approach being able to support oneself. If you are more of a production potter, then you stand a better chance short of being a pottery super star. I guess what I realized about myself is that I’m not happy doing all of the above at the same time. I never have been very good at juggling.
So, in an effort to reclaim my love of clay, I’m taking the selling aspect out of my clay experience. Or more correctly, I’m removing the pressure to make a living as an artist and am simply moving to more of a hobbyist making what I want and selling here or there when it suits my frame of mind and schedule. As an observer, you might tell me that you could have told me this – but somehow I had to decide this myself for it to stick. I think that’s why I decided to go back to school (albeit another creative field, but one where salary is more livable) this fall. For a time, I even considered selling all of my pottery equipment in one fell swoop. But, I know I would regret this when the love returns. And it will…because it always does.
Pinched Bowl
In my last post, I showed a hand built box along with a large coiled bowl that I made last week. I have gone back to basics to help reclaim some of the joy that I originally found when I first touched clay in 2002. Coiling and pinching are a pottery student’s first projects and there is something magical transforming a lump of clay into something – anything. I had to laugh though – I think I messed with my coiled bowl for the better part of 5 hours – not necessarily the route to efficiency or wealth. But, I guess that was my point when I decided to make these projects – sort of clay as zen master. I am not planning on selling these either – they will serve more as a reminder about why I turned to clay in the first place seven years ago.
This post isn’t meant to be all dark and brooding either…it’s simply a revelation I recently made about myself. I love pottery, making, buying, touching – I just don’t want to be a professional potter after all. I truly hope that this sentiment comes across today.
So where is this blog going? I’m not sure. Most likely, it will continue as it has with a bit about my interests, clay work, connections found and maybe even some school projects thrown in here and there.
Here I am standing in the Colorado Potters Shared booth at the farmers market before it opened yesterday morning
Meanwhile, I had a busy weekend including a stint at the Old South Pearl Street Farmers Market early yesterday morning. But, wait – I just said I’m taking the selling aspect out of my clay experience. True, but I did say I’d sell some of my stuff when I felt like it and this was one of those times. I didn’t have much in the way of pottery, but I did bring my ceramic jewelry which generated a few sales and lots of interest – one of my booth mates even commented that I would have made a lot of money if I charged a $1 a touch. A local gallery even inquired as to whether I’d be interested in showing my jewelry at their First Friday events. I make stuff that I also like to buy and jewelry is one of those things. Hopefully that comes across in the things that I do make – that they’re made with love by someone who is enjoying what she does. I think this is also true in reverse because it’s also reflects the type of person from whom I buy whether pottery, food, or services. Laissez faire….
Have a great week,
Cynthia
