Hello everyone – happy new week (sort of since it’s already Tuesday)!   Between being a mom, going back to school and moving, I don’t seem to have enough time in the day to do everything that I want to do.  Oh why, oh why do we need to sleep at all?  It seems so frivolous to lay unconscious & prone for a good 5-8 hours a day (more if you’re one of the lucky ones).  With that said, and realizing my limitations, I resigned as fall show marketing chair for the Colorado Potters Guild a few weeks ago.  I just can’t manage to find the time to squeeze in one more obligation – though I haven’t gone cold turkey.  As web-mistress for the guild, I agreed to continue in said position and am also doing the online marketing component by delivering event notifications to local online calendars, magazines, newspapers and am establishing a social networking presence.  I just don’t have time to cold call and do all the press releases etc.

The Colorado Potters Guild Facebook fan page

As a marketing tool, Facebook just can’t be ignored by businesses, individuals and non-profits.  It represents viral marketing at its best like the old Breck shampoo commercial – “I told two friends and they told two friends, and so on…”.  While the Colorado Potters Guild’s Facebook page is in its infancy, I think the venue has potential.  Today, I am super excited today to learn that I could add our Vertical Response Email Invitation sign up form directly on our Facebook page.  I have the sign up form installed on our website – but being able to add it to Facebook should help us attract new invitees who are interested in handmade pottery.

Do you have a Facebook page set up for your business?  Do you want to know how to add an opt-in email form to your site?  In the search pane,  type in “Static FBML” and then click on the application.  Once you are on the application’s page, click on the link in the upper left that reads “Add to my page” → then a pop up menu will appear prompting you to select your page → after selecting your page, go to your business page and click on the link under your profile photo that reads “edit” → from here you click on the “static fbml” application and click edit → copy and paste the code given to you from your email marketing company → save your settings.  Once you have saved the code, go back to the main page and click on the + sign at the top of your page and from here you can add the tab for your form.  Voilà – I’ve tested my form and it’s live.  If you use Vertical Response, they have a video tutorial highlighting the process – not hard to do and it took less than 15 minutes to set up.

Meanwhile I have a quiz for which I need to study, a paper to write (luckily I like writing) and am past due for my morning run which means I have to sign off.

Have a great week,

~Cynthia

White earthenware butterfly tile before adding decals

Early this week, I fired a successful cone 04 decal kiln on cone 6 glazed work – the kin included the star initial pendants that I made for my students.  As an experiment, I decided to add some decals to a low fire white earthenware tile I had made as an example for one of my student’s projects and intended to fire it in the same kiln load since I had a little extra space.

Butterfly tile before firing decals

I had previously consulted Linda Arbuckle’s website – she provides a handout in pdf form that discusses firing laser toner decals at different temperatures dependent on the temperature of the glaze surface to which the decal will be adhered.  If you’re a clay person, you know that there’s a huge temperature difference between cone 06 and cone 6 – roughly 400° F.  I don’t know about you, but I decided to use this piece as a test – does firing temperature of decals really matter or is the rule really more of a friendly suggestion?   I know I’ve broken more than my fair share of clay rules with barely any consequences – sometimes, happy accidents are the result.

Post decal firing to cone 04 decals are barely visible

Guess what friends?  The photo above post decal firing shows that the recommended firing temps based on glaze temp is a hard and fast rule – though I’m sure it could be exploited somewhat for artistic means.  The decals are faded and in the case of the one applied to the chartreuse yellow butterfly – barely visible at all.  Seeing is believing.  So, what does Linda recommend as a firing temp for decals adhered to cone 06 glazed work?  Answer: cone 010-06.  If I used a lot of low fire clay, I would probably start experimenting with decal firing around cone 010-08 (1657-1728°F) because it seems like the decal firing should be lower than the glaze firing temperature.  Keep in mind that I used commercial Duncan under glazes and clear cone 06 overglaze for this tile experiment – so results might vary depending on what glaze materials are used and firing temp. For my cone 6 glazed work onto which I’ve fired decals successfully, I use bucket glaze recipes vs. commercial glazes.

Meanwhile, a select few (about 1/4 – myself included) of the members of the Colorado Potters Guild have decided to staff a booth to sell handmade pottery almost every month of the summer at the Old South Pearl Street’s Farmer’s Market this summer beginning June 7th.  I’ve elected to participate on June 7th, July 12th and August 2nd.  After the first week, where almost all interested members will have work represented, the subsequent weeks will only feature 2-3 members at a time for space purposes.  On July 12th, I’ll be sharing a booth with Sarah Christensen and on August 2nd a ? person.  I’m thinking of asking a non guild member of the Denver clay community to join me

It will be a good exercise to see if it is worth the effort on Sunday mornings.  The Colorado Potters Guild is located on Old South Pearl Street and since we are a member of the Old South Pearl Street Business Association, we are receiving our booth space gratis.  Our booth will not really be associated with the Potters Guild per se – each participating member is individually responsible for taxes and proper licensing.  We have also christened ourselves…drumroll please…Pearl Street Potters.  I know very original, but we can’t use the Colorado Potters Guild name for legal reasons.

So, what am I going to sell at the market?  Jewelry for one – but also thinking of pottery related items that will compliment the types of things available for sale at a farmer’s market.  Coffee/Tea mugs, soap dishes, bowls, butter keeps, small vases – ideas anyone?

Have a good long Memorial Day weekend,

Cynthia

Today’s the big day – the Colorado Potters Guild Spring 2009 Show opens this evening at 5:00pm – so if you’re in the Denver area stop by and say hello!  Click here for a map and directions.

It’s almost as this day was so far away, yet so close.  I finally finished printing decals and began a laser toner decal firing last night around 9 pm – nothing like last minute ventures.  I’m working tonight and tomorrow from 10:00am – 5:00pm if you happen to be around.  I am interested to see how the show sales fare considering our current economic woes – no worries, I’ll report back on Sunday.

With that, I bid you early good weekend tidings,

~Cynthia

Kimonos from my after school clay class

I hope everyone had a nice Easter (at least those of you who celebrate Easter…) – I sure did in between spending time with family, I’ve been busy making work for the Colorado Potters Guild Sale opening the end of this month.  Needless to say, I’m feeling less verbose than normal.  Hope you have a good week,

~Cynthia

P.S.  My after school clay classes kimonos have been fired since I took this photo – can’t wait to see them glazed next week.

More Kimonos from my clay class

Oh yeah, I confess, I was drinking a little while photographing – though I swear it was after 5pm!