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.

Gluten Free Fruit Pizza

This dessert pizza is perfection! It’s luxurious without being too overpoweringly sweet. You can also make great sugar cookies from the recipe for the crust. The dough gets really hard if you chill it, but the baked texture is light and airy. 

Ingredients:

For cookie crust:

1 C (2 sticks) butter, room temp

1 C sugar (I use organic)

1/2 t salt

1 egg

1 t real vanilla extract

3 C gluten free all purpose flour blend

toppings:

1 15 oz jar lemon curd

2 T raspberry jam

assorted fresh fruit cut into artful shapes: any combo of berries, melon, pears, banana, kiwi

3 t granulated sugar

In large bowl or Kitchen Aid, cream butter, sugar, and salt until creamy and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until batter is one consistency. Add flour a cup at a time beating on low until fully combined but don’t overbeat.

Pat into ball and into circle on floured board. Place in center of oiled 12” pizza pan, and press out to edges with a shallow lip on the rim. Bake at 350 degrees 12- 15 min until golden brown on edges. Remove from oven.

While crust is still warm, spread jam and lemon curd over surface. Fan fruit out in concentric circles- have fun and make it pretty!  Sprinkle sugar over fruit and broil for 3 min. Cut into wedges with pizza wheel and serve. It’s good warm or cold.

ALTERNATE: sugar cookies- mix the crust dough. Space cookies 2” apart on parchment papered cookie sheet. Bake 350 degrees for 7 – 12 min. Edges should be golden brown. Decorate as desired.

If you want the dinnerware plates from Lee Wolfe Pottery, check my website here.

New Business Cards

I never had a professional business card – until now! This was designed by Eva Black Design, and printed by Mama’s Sauce, who spent considerable time hunting down the holographic ink. The cards change color as light passes over them. It’s soooo cool. It’s so me! Eva took into account my ceramic work, my commitment to organic shapes and the Handmade Movement, and my unique sense of style. The hand lettered logo on my website was chosen from several initial designs. I wanted something a step bolder for the cards. On Pinterest I found the holographic ink, which was used with very blocky type on black by an Italian artist. Eva made it work on white letterpress with my new brushstoke logo. Here are some photos- not as great as the cards because the beauty is in the fiery rainbow that shoots off the type as you move the cards, but it gives you an idea. Hiring a logo and branding designer helped me understand my own unique point of view. I’m going to feel very good about sending these cards out with future purchases. Hopefully buyers will be enchanted with the movement of light across the type, and keep the card. That little spark of magic is what I live for; where my work originates, where it might take you if you let your free spirited heart be swayed.