Easter table

 

I have a beautiful Modern Lace dinnerware set in Gray and Chartreuse ready to ship, so I shot these pics on the dining room table with my garden flower arrangements for this Easter. I love the neutral table linens with bright pops of spring blooms.

These Easter eggs are so easy! I wanted to use the natural brown of the local organic eggs. After hard boiling, each one was wrapped with different twines and cords I had on hand and then embellished with a scrapbooking paper flower with a glue dot on the back. Sometimes the simplest projects are the most successful.

 

 

Happy Easter! Happy Pesach! Welcome spring with your cool breathe and promises of renewal.

All pottery in pics can be found on LeeWolfePottery.com

A Merry Little Christmas dinner party

With my red dining room, Christmas decorating is easy! I like to set a simple table with neutral table linens and dinnerware so that the centerpieces on the table runner become a focal point. By keeping the arrangements low and using many candles, I’ve found that we can talk easily with everyone. For this table I gathered greenery from outside, focusing on aromatics like pine and lavender which is still green. I also gathered accents to spray gold. Here is my quick DIY:

Krylon metallic fast drying gold spray paint

leaves, pine cones, seed pods, dried flowers

Spray outside, wait 10 min, turn, spray backs. These accents can be used for many years. They also make a Yule/Christmas table transition into New Years with a few minor changes. Here are some I  made this year:

 

Here are the Lee Wolfe Pottery pieces I used. Click image to see details:

 

You can find my recipe for the Gingerbread Cookies here- they are gluten free and wonderful.

I also used my totem animals. I enjoy making these for fun. They take a bit of time but really let you return to that magical time when you were 4 years old and a wolf could have neon eyes or a penguin chevron green wings.

 

With simple greens , candles, and handmade accent pieces, I’m ready for a few dinner parties and Christmas guests.

Have a merry little Christmas, Happy Yule, and dream big for a New Year!

Happy Halloween!

I had to try these Halloween ghosts made with marshmallows from Martha Stewart!My first ones looked like neighborhood bullies had attacked a snowman with blowtorches. Eventually I made ones I like. Here are my tweaks to Martha’s ghosts. First of all, select only the roundest marshmallows. I made a bit of “glue” by microwaving a marshmallow for 10 sec, until it melted a bit and then used the sticky part to attach the parts. I also used an edible food coloring marker for the faces. Test it first because if you press too hard the ink blurs.

I also made a few place settings with my marshmallow ghosts, dried seed pods, candles, and mismatched plates and my River Journey bowls. Each setting becomes a bit comically spooky by using odd angles. My table centerpiece will be a simple arrangement of candles sitting on pods, dried leaves, plastic spiders, and white pumpkins painted with glow in the dark paint so they will glow. Here are some settings:

 

I love the one night when we let kids fly their freak flag, stay up to late, and eat too much candy. The laughter and excitement lives in our memories throughout adulthood. May the magic and freedom you felt as a child on Halloween carry your spirit aloft tonight!

Simple and natural holiday table

My favorite meals are with a few people at a time, and I like an intimate setting that lets us all shed our worries, relax, and enjoy that exquisite pleasure of being appreciated. Without taking hours of time, I make a few welcoming arrangements of candles, flowers and pottery in my foyer, living room, and dining room. I like this a lot better than an over-the-top table runner packed with tall, intimidating objects so that you can’t see across the table. These look great when you are making them, but I’ve found that they aren’t truly inviting. No one feels comfortable being the only one who can’t recognize a Rookwood vase, or comment knowledgably on Japanese floral arrangements.  I pull more precious objects out for large gatherings but for my small dinner parties, I like simple and natural. Like this:

 

 

 

Click on any pic here to see details or purchase. Hope you have some guests over soon!

Fine Artisan Ceramics vs DIY

I listed this platter on my website and then pinned it on Pinterest .

Where it soon acquired this comment:

@ Savannah Hall cool idea to incorporate lace to make pattern in pottery when you make it.

One of the dilemmas we’ve all encountered as artisans is the perception that images of our works for sale are also DIY projects that any beginner could easily achieve. When, in reality, this piece has been in design production for years. It has evolved out of pressing lace in clay, such as in these ornaments That I made for Grovewood Gallery from 1996-2009

In 2010, I helped my daughter design this tray:

  

and here in one of my own from 2011

By 2012 I was partially obsessed with lace trays, with organic shapes. Here are a few:

 

And here are the lesser quality pieces from the same kiln load; all experiments done on the same day:

and a similar piece:

I want to encourage everyone to play around with clay, as it is a lot of fun. I do, however, want to dispel the impression that what I do is so low-skill and easily replicated that anyone in Ceramics 101 can whip them out. The work on my website represents countless design tweaks.

So here is the reply I posted on my Pinterest Pin:

It's an easy technique, but don't expect to get results like this in your first 1,000 tries!