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Back when I worked in corporate, I got in the habit of making daily to-do lists. I would review my work emails at the end of each day and make a list for the next day. Over time, to-do lists helped with my time management and staying on task. Making lists worked its way into my personal life, and when I left corporate life, I found ways of using lists for almost everything I wanted and needed to get done. It has been a wonderful productivity tool, and a tool I'd recommend to anyone wanting to get more done without...

Last Monday, my new kiln element arrived and I replaced the damaged one and immediately ran an empty kiln to oxidize the new element. After the kiln cooled, I got back to firing new work, both bisque and glaze. With less than two weeks to go before the Rhinebeck Arts Festival on June 25th and 26th, and the Berkshire's Arts Festival July 1st-3rd, I have a lot to get caught up on. For that reason, this is just a quick post to say the kiln is repaired and I'm back to firing. I definitely feel the pressure, and I'm grateful...

More than a week has passed since the element in my kiln broke. I immediately ordered a new set of elements from an online ceramic shop and a single wall element directly from Tucker's Cone Art Kilns. I have to say, Tucker's customer service is nothing short of phenomenal and they have made a lifetime customer out of me. The new wall element should be in my hands tomorrow afternoon. In the meantime, the support from other potters has been great. We are a protective bunch when it comes to our kilns. After all, it's a very expensive and necessary...

Life throws challenges all the time and it's up to us to sort them out. And part of the process is separating the problem from our reaction to it. A couple days ago, I went to check the temp on my kiln. The display read "E - 1" which is an error saying the kiln was taking too long to reach its top temp, so it turned itself off. One of the reasons could be a faulty element. My kiln has 4, and I just replaced them back in January, so it seemed strange to me an element wasn't working...

Now that the warmer weather has moved in and the grass and trees have grown and leafed out, it's time to get myself back out in the garden. And while my ceramics are clearly inspired by nature, this post is not about my pottery at all. When I was a teen, my first job was on a flower farm. We had 5 greenhouses, and every spring, we loaded them up with more geraniums than I could count and endless types of annuals, both flowers and vegetables. It was my first introduction to plants, and I can still remember the awe...