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!

The Moody Side of Autumn Beauty

 

Before the magic show of turning leaves, autumn days have a soft foreboding quality that I find beautiful. The last roses bloom pale and their petals will drop soon. Full round pumpkins have hard shells to insulate against the coming chill. Preservation. Harvest. Gathering in.

It seems like we have so many seasons when we are young but as we age I’ve come to understand that the reason seasons repeat so continuously without variation is that the lesson to be learned is hard. Things change. Bodies change. Relationships change. All that is mortal  is impermanent. If you are very, very blessed, you have stumbled upon what endures. I hope you have.

I took these shots at the Arboretum yesterday, where I laughed and felt lighthearted with my husband and daughter-in-law Hayley. Only later did it occur to me how somber the photos are that I took. Perhaps it is because I walked here so many times with my baby, with a group of small school children, with my husband when we were younger and newly in love. That’s the seasons; all that has passed. Our family, though it looks quite different, is still here. And the same gaiety I felt as a child myself at  mums and pumpkins and twilight.

                                                         

More Adventures in Photo Styling: Rustic Wood Planks

I have found myself lately captivated by logs in our woodpile. There is so much recorded in the growth rings, the peculiar places where a branch emerges from the trunk, the darker striations of bark like wisdom lines in a human face. The shapes and textures inform my ceramic work at deep levels beyond a conscious choice to illustrate. There is just a delight and fascination  in picking up each log that emerges with no effort at all in the organic shapes of my trays or the combed facets on mugs and vases.

I decided to use a rustic wood plank as a styling board, and went to Asheville Hardware to look through their selection of slab wood and reclaimed lumber. The selection is intoxicating! From beautiful slabs of maple, poplar, oak and cedar to reclaimed barn doors, vintage flooring, and bins of scrap wood to rummage in. Half a day later I selected a slab that my husband has lovingly hand sanded. It is not yet stained nor oiled but I’ve already begun shooting pottery on it. Plus planning several future purchases!

If you are planning to use rustic wood planks as a table centerpiece or styling board, look through the thinner slices because wood is pretty heavy. You can use the pieces that aren't as prized for tabletops and shelving because irregular shapes, holes, and knots are visually interesting. Personally I love love love the bark left on. You can spend as little as $10 for an unsanded piece that is quite wonderful, or as much as $600 for a finished piece of the same size and quality so you can save a bucketful with a bit of DIY. Also, Asheville Hardware’s prices were 1/3 of what I found on Ebay, so definitely visit them if you are in Asheville. Or hunt down a similar store selling rustic planks and reclaimed lumber.

Here are my initial results:

 

I want to thank my husband, my most incomparable love, for his help. Besides sanding my rustic board, Ken is the gardener whose flowers give life to my vases. He also dropped my off at the opening weekend of Trader Joes where a parking place was nonexistent and the traffic was slightly insane so I could buy the little squash and other food staging necessities. He then parked blocks away. I think I owe him a nice home cooked meal after I get done using it for my food styling!

Lemon Curry Roasted Cauliflower and Beets

I recently stumbled upon a new type of artisan food shop specializing in flavored balsamic vinegars and olive oils. They are phenomenal! I made this simple, low fat, gluten and dairy free veggie dish in 30 min. Served in one of my flower bowls with brown rice, it was a perfect autumn evening meal.

Lemon Curry Roasted Cauliflower and Beets

Ingredients

• 2 tbs olive oil
• 1 tsp curry powder
• 1 large clove of fresh garlic (crushed/minced)
• 1 tbs lemon juice
• 1 large head of fresh cauliflower
• 3 fresh beets
• zest of half a lemon
• Kosher salt
• 2 t lemon balsamic vinegar
• optional garnishes: chopped green onion tops, sesame seeds

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Mix together oil, curry, garlic and lemon juice in a large bowl.
3. Cut florets off cauliflower, and put in bowl.
4. Cut beets into thin rounds.
5. Sprinkle in the lemon zest and mix to coat.
6. Spread the veggies on a cookie sheet. 
7. Sprinkle with a few generous pinches of Kosher salt.
8. Place in oven to roast for 25 minutes (turn a couple times during roasting), or until cauliflower is soft and caramelized in spots.
9. Transfer to bowl, add balsamic vinegar and stir to coat
10. Top with garnishes as you like

Here is the vinegar and olive oil I used

And the flower bowls, in Autumn glazes

Enjoy!

FAQ : custom order requests

For FAQ Dinnerware click HERE

There are two types of questions I get from online shoppers, primarily from Etsy. They are variations of:

a) I love your work! I’m looking for a garlic grater with glazes like your Organic Soul swirling together to form the Chinese character for crumbcake. Can you make this for me?

b) I love your work! I want a mug exactly like picture C. Can I get exactly that one?

I am not the person who will do this. I am not the person who makes something you love. You are the person who loves something I make.

The experience of making pottery full time for 35 years is like this: When I enter my studio, there is a rushing stream. Experience has given me a raft and mastery of skill, a paddle, but the current is strong. If I flow with the current, this amazing sense of grace and freedom arises. My pottery emerges from this experience. I don’t have production lists, schedules or a business plan, other than not to go to jail for tax evasion and other practicalities.

I can choose certain forks in the stream- bowls, plates, owls, flowers. On any given day I might discover a new tributary: melon shapes! Bird’s nests! Chevron texture! New directions are discovered in the journey. They are not programmed into a GPS in advance.

If you are familiar with  me through my blogs or Facebook, you know that I’ve scrutinized each kiln load for the pieces that hold magic vs. those that are just ok. The latter gets reglazed and refired until something joyful emerges. I will sell flawed pieces as  discounted seconds but the hopelessly ugly and lifeless ones are not sold.

Buy my work if you want to hold a bowl made with pleasure and mindfulness. Perhaps you will find these invisible qualities arising within you as you use my pieces. I like that. And I’m so grateful that we found each other!

There are things I currently love to make that are available as Custom Order options on my website when they are out of stock. And I also offer some ways to personalize my work to suit your individual needs and tastes. Here are some options:

Family Bowl: custom made for your family

 

Flower Bowls: choose your glazes in 1 or 2 sizes; create your own nesting bowl set if you like

Choose from a large selection of dinnerware options and I will custom make your set

{Click images to see the listing)

Zen and the art of pottery making

For the first few months of learning to throw on a potter’s wheel, you struggle to center the clay. After that, the clay begins to center you.

This is one of the smartest things I’ve learned in my life: no matter what life throws at you, fair or unfair, deserved or underserved, welcome or unwelcome, your happiness is not determined by it. Getting the good stuff doesn’t make you happy, and it isn’t necessary to get all the bad stuff to go away in order to be happy.

In fact happiness is a kind of emptiness, no doubts, worries, longings. It comes like an exhilarating wave whenever you are at peace with the present moment, not wanting to change anything, just 100% grateful and appreciative of the gifts and opportunities each moment holds. So yeah, there are brief spaces like that when you are at the perfect place with the perfect people and you can just bask in the glow. But for the most part life has annoying waiters at he perfect restaurant, bugs on the idyllic hike, etc. Your parents failed to give you perfect unconditional love and the Prince has halitosis and an allergy to your cats.

It is much more reliable to enter that silent inner core of our being, which can be found with meditation, which can be found with deep prayer, which can be found with mastery of an art or sport that demands your complete surrender of attention to the present moment. Through the myriad ups and downs of my life, my studio has been a sanctuary. I come here to still my mind, release my stress, sooth my soul, let go my anger.

This is my new serving set, the White Lotus nesting tray set. When aligned symmetrically, the petals form arrows pointing inward and circles radiating outward. It was made after I centered the clay… and after the clay centered me.

Have you found the lotus, that pure flower of peace, love, and joy that rises through the muddy waters? Have you learned to wage peace?

Gluten Free Brandy Pineapple Upside Down Cake

For our anniversary, I made my husband’s favorite dessert, and discovered a fabulous gluten free treat. It was so good that my dinner guests raided my gluten free bread, muffins, and pasta, convinced that gluten free food must all taste better! Ha! They haven’t seen all the dry, gritty, disgusting food I’ve thrown away in order to discover the good stuff! The bird plates can be purchased from Lee Wolfe Pottery. This recipe works because the cake, made in a cast iron skillet, is as moist as a fine bread pudding, and Grand Marnier really ramps up the taste. I modified this recipe from Saveur:

SERVES 8

INGREDIENTS

1¾ cups all purpose gluten free flour (I like Red Band)

2 tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. fine salt
1⅓ cups unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
1 tbsp. distilled white vinegar
3 tsp. vanilla
3 eggs
1⅓ cup low-fat buttermilk
10 tbsp. dark brown sugar
2 tbsp. Grand Marnier

8 slices canned pineapple
1½ cup stemmed maraschino cherries

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Heat oven to 350°. In a bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside. Using an electric beater, cream together 12 tbsp. butter, sugar, vinegar, and 2 tsp. vanilla until fluffy, 3–4 minutes. Add one egg at a time to butter mixture, beating for 15 seconds between each addition. Set beater speed to low and alternately add flour mixture and buttermilk in 3 batches. Scrape down sides of the bowl. Set mixer speed to medium and beat batter until smooth, about 3 minutes. Set aside.
2. Melt remaining butter in a 10" nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Whisk in remaining vanilla, brown sugar, and brandy until dissolved, 1 minute. Remove skillet from heat; arrange pineapple slices across bottom of skillet. Arrange cherries evenly among the slices. Pour in cake batter. Bake until cake is golden and set, about 35 minutes. Let cool for 30 minutes. Invert onto a serving plate.