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🎁ONLINE HOLIDAY SALE on FRIDAY the 13th at noon! Limited quantities this year so be ready early. Link in bio. The work in the shop now is past work which will disappear on Friday, Dec 13th and be replaced with the new pots. Shake it! #snowmancup #handmade #pottery #americancraft #madeinmaine

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I use a combination of muslin and plastic to dry pots slowly. This kind of wet/dry box is simple to set up or you can just drape muslin or old cotton sheets over pots on a wareboard, spritz the cloth and cover with plastic. Using muslin and plastic, you can make pots more wet or more dry. To speed dry quickly, put the wareboard in the sun and because the muslin is protecting the pots, no condensation drips will ruin your pots. I also use old flannel duvet covers to build up layers and forgo plastic on top if I want a long, slow dry time. Even with all this in the wet/dry box, I turn the pots every now and then to keep them even. Chloe says my set up reminds her of Dexter. #potterytips #potterystudio #potterslife

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🎧🔊I made a mobile for Shio using kamifusen, traditional Japanese glassine paper balloons that became popular in the 1920s. We have them hanging above the kitchen table and I love their transparency! They aren’t traditionally meant to be used in mobiles. Instead, the game is to keep the balloon aloft, bouncing it along in the air. The crinkly sound they make when hit is magical. One of the many objects that inspire my work. Music by Daniel Birch.#kamifusen #紙風船
#hangingmobile

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🌈It's so nice to be back in the studio again, shuffling tiles around and playing with color! It'll be the subject of my upcoming workshop in Feb in Chile, where it won't be chilly! There are still a few spots left and it's going to be so much fun! @centrodeartecuraumilla #suchadadjoke #centrodeartecuraumilla

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Special thanks to Beth Lo for this tiny bowl for Shio! It’s perfect for her new adventure into solid foods and on the back, she can see her name in kanji. It got me thinking that all the bowls I’ve given babies over the years are too big and that they need more changes in the design! I recently got some small bowls from @steven_rolf that have a lip that flares in so food can drop into a spoon for a kid. So smart! Do you have a baby bowl you love and what makes it work well? I’d love some feedback so I can think about it when iale more bowls #bethlo #babybowl

Instagram post 2135271610712758012_28997618 $Join @nsmoen, @ursulahargensceramics, and me for a panel discussion this Thursday in Rock Hill, SC about the @thedemocraticcup. This event will coincide with a show of all our cups, including the newest four cups from our collaboration with @northernclaycenter. For the Land of 10,000 Stories exhibition, we made four new cups that tackle issues surrounding an oil pipeline, affordable housing, sand fracking and mining, and a cup that can be written on that addresses identity and values. Follow the link in my bio to get one of your own! Hope to see you in SC at the DiGiorgio Campus Center at Winthrop University! #thedemocraticcup #politicalart #craftivism #artivism #landof10000stories$

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I'm so psyched to be included in superstar illustrator @lisacongdon’s new book, “Find Your Artistic Voice”. I’ve been reading through it and given my maternity break from the studio, it’s felt very helpful to read different perspectives from so many amazing artists. It helps me remember who I am as a maker. I like that Lisa’s classic tiger is on the cover and is also on one of our latest @thedemocraticcup s.
Lisa writes, “To make matters more confusing, the term ‘finding your voice’ is a bit misleading. Finding your voice sounds like arriving at something fixed and final. It implies that once you have found your artistic voice, it will remain unchanged for eternity. In reality, even once you’ve found it, your artistic voice is always evolving, sometimes subtly and sometimes in more obvious and intentional ways.” Getting back into the studio, I don’t have to necessarily pick up where I left off and I need to be open to new tangents! Who knows what being a new mother will bring? Thanks for including me with such great company, Lisa! Check out the other artists in the book- @sean_qualls, @selinaalko, @andreapippins, @lostboyillustrations, @kindahkhalidy, @andyjpizza, @thejealouscurator, @katebingburt, @martharich63. The link to “Find Your Artistic Voice” is in my bio. #findyourartisticvoice #lisacongdon #chroniclebooks #thedemocraticcup

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🇨🇱CHILE! Come take a workshop with me at @centrodeartecuraumilla from Feb 1-14, 2020! The workshop is about color, mishima or slip inlay, decals, layering- basically luscious surface in porcelain. I've known about Curaumilla for years and am so excited to finally be teaching there! Look it's on the cliffs overlooking the Pacific just right around the corner from Valparaíso, which has Unesco World Heritage status for its historical and artistic significance. Link to the workshop is in my bio. #centrodeartecuraumilla #valparaiso

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Some of these bonsai have been tended for 600-1000 years. Can you imagine what they've felt/seen/survived? We made a quick trip to the #shunkaenbonsaimuseum to see these amazing cedars, black pines, maples, and other varieties laid out in the courtyard with supports, ties, and in understated planters. The koi pond is an added bonus. They give classes on the weekend, so check it out if you’re in Edogawa.

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First fireworks at Edogawa! We were three of approx 1.4 million people venturing out to enjoy the show on the banks of the Edo River and you’d think it would be a logistical nightmare, but the crowds kept moving and we got home via subway in an hour. So worth the expedition out there! #江戸川花火 #edogawafireworks #banz #babybanz #banzearmuffs
#fireworks

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The best part of 400 year old Nikkō Tōshō-gū are the enormous cedars and the mossy climbs up to various shrines. Built to entomb Tokugawa Ieyasu, the first shogun who united Japan, it hosts more than 12 million tourists a year and is sadly feeling more and more commercial these days compared to earlier visits I’ve had. Temporary photo shoots are set up in the middle of courtyards and there are a lot more things for sale. It’s worth the visit, at least once, or go when it’s not so crowded or conversely, go during one of the twice yearly festivals to see archers on horseback. The see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil monkeys are on panels here at this World Heritage site. #nikko #nikkotoshogu #日光東照宮

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💛🍦Gold leaf on matcha ice cream, a Kanazawa specialty, as 99% of gold leaf production in Japan is made here. Swipe to watch a snippet from the Yasue gold leaf museum of how they make gold leaf, smashing down a gold nugget the size of a 10 yen coin (about the size of a quarter) to the area of a tatami mat (about 3’x6’). Because the gold leaf is so thin and can tear with a breeze or with static electricity, they use bamboo chopsticks to transfer it. My favorite part of watching the process is the swipe that the craftsman makes in the air to flatten the gold leaf. There are multiple stages of flattening, trimming, transferring, and making the gold foil into gold leaf. The trimmings go into all kinds of products and food. No taste and apparently just passes right through. I have a new found appreciation for gold leaf! Good stuff! #kinpaku #金箔 #goldleaf #gold #金

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If you've been to Japan, what do you love most? One thing I love is that slow pace and fast pace coexist. #kanazawa

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@ayumihorie