Teatime!

It's been glorious here in Vancouver, with the sun shining and the blossoms of our pale pink Camillia starting to open (photo 1). I have my mom here for a couple of days while I'm glazing and I'm getting geared up to announce my Mother's Day give-away at the end of the week! I was hoping to post it on the Poppytalk Handmade Artist Blog and I'm still awaiting some instructions for that:)!
In the meantime I was featured in a new blog called finely Inc., (based in Greece) with some other great teapots!

A visit with Laura McKibbon!

I happen to be a part of a studio building that is full of amazing ceramic artists and Laura McKibbon happens to be one of them! I met Laura a few years ago when she and I both had studios on Granville Island. I was just starting to explore the idea of making living out of ceramics (with the kids being still really young) and Laura's studio was across the alley from mine. I immediately loved her work, found her really approachable and it was great to make a connection. I was up in her studio this afternoon asking her some biz tips, which she was so kind to help me with! Between that and working out a little trade, I thought it might be nice to post about her today.
Laura's work work is sold in shops all over the world- check it out here to find a location near you! Her signature look has been her black silk-screened images on a white or pastel backgrounds, but she has been working on some new beautiful Lamp shades (image on the top) with patterns pressed and/or printed on them. She has recently done some amazing shows- there are links on the front page of her website that you can check out to see more images, especially from the beautiful bathroom project that she and Jasna Sokolovic, (another great ceramic friend I know from Emily Carr days) did together in Toronto at the Gladstone Hotel. Jasna and Laura often collaborate on projects together, which I think is really wonderful!

dahlhaus at Poppytalk Handmade!

I'm pretty thrilled to be a part of this month's Poppytalk Handmade Mother's Day and Kid's themed Market which opened today! Check out my work here!
There's a great line-up of amazing hand-made work so I'll be browsing later for some Mother's Day gift inspiration of my own! I've also got a little Mother's Day Give-Away Contest coming up this week so be sure to check back with me or over at the Handmade Artist Blog for more details... Stay tuned!

Happy Easter from our house to yours!

I'm signing off for the weekend a little early due to a field-trip with my son's class tomorrow, some studio time, but most of all, some good time with the family! Here are just some Easter shots from late, my mom's Paska (Easter Bread- kind of a lemony sweet bread with icing and of course, sprinkles on top- so light and fluffy!), a little egg from one of the 'ladies', the little Bantam Chickens at my parent's place! And our own Easter Bunny, Patches. He'll be hoppin' around our back yard this weekend, hiding eggs for the boys! Happy Easter y'all!

Keeping the cog turnin'

I've been a bit tardy on the blog the past couple of days but busy as a bee in the studio. I am getting ready for Portobello West Calgary May 8-10th and also gearing up for my first month (April 13-May4) as a Poppytalk Market participant! I've been pulling some late nights and early mornings at the studio to accommodate my production schedule. Ceramics is so labour intensive and requires that you are physically present for all stages of development, be it throwing, trimming, putting handles on, drying out evenly, bisquing, glazing, glazing and glazing again, and finally firing and pulling finished piece out of the kiln. If you slack off along the way, the whole cog stops turning and you lose what you tried to start. So I'm keeping that cog turnin', and turnin', and turnin' and hopefully it don't wear out:)

Spring!

There is nothing quite like bare feet in sand at the ocean on the first warm day of spring! It was a glorious weekend, with blossoms in bloom, the ocean full of sail boats, my kids in shorts... I think all that sun and warmth did my soul something good!

Lovely pieces from other artists!

This past week I have become the proud owner of some really lovely work from friends! My ABC/123 Poster from Sycamore Street Press arrived last week, and Eva very generously sent me these beautiful spring-time cards along with the Posters! I may have to frame one of the cards when I get to framing the posters, they are so pretty!
Last night I was able to get out to my good friend's Disa and Erin's (& Kelly too) Affordable Art show and bought myself the little silk-screened painting above, which now sits nicely on my mantle beside some other treasures (including my Xenia Taler tile, a gift from Disa!). Lovely!
Hope you have a great weekend, I am currently baking double chocolate chip cookies, am about to throw a home-made pizza in the oven and ready to start mine off right;)

Poppytalk!

I just got word that I will be included in the up-coming Poppytalk Handmade Market for their Mother's Day and Kid-themed Market! This is a curated marketplace that has a reputation for featuring amazing designers and artisans from all over the world! It's a must-see market every month where I always find something new and great! So starting in the 3rd week in April (exact date of the opening tba) you will find my lovely poppies at Poppytalk! How appropriate!
Also, I have a new theory, once you get to the front page of etsy (the needle in a haystack gets found) it becomes like a common occurrance! The two photos were from yesterday and this morning's front page and I sure love all the cute things I was placed with!

Etsy Slow Food Gift Guide

So this week I have been part of one of Etsy's Gift Guide: one on Slow Food, which has prompted a little slow food of my own. I do love to cook and more recently have found a fabulous Banana Bread recipe that cut my butter content in half from the previous recipe I was using! Butter is pretty pricey these days... Also made a killer homemade Mac & Cheese using wholewheat macaroni noodles, Armstrong's Marble Cheese and some Turkey pepperoni. It was even better day 2! And I started on the garden, putting some little pots with Tomatoe seeds by the window to kick start my growing season! We have a little plot in the back of our yard that we use for gardening a little lettuce, beans and peas, carrots and some potatoes. My tomatoes always seem to get a little on the blighty side though, they never have enough time in the sun.
In other news (I was going to write down my new banana recipe but can't find it at the moment, so I'll save it for another time), I'm off to ship a beautiful Teapot and 2 mugs to Inuvik!! Crazy cool! Crazy cold too. We're just looking at the city on google maps- it's really far north! Anyways, better get this package off as it need to arrive by the end of the month!

April Fools!

Just thought I'd play a little April fools picture joke on my blog today...no photoshop here! Unfortunately the weather outside is playing a cruel April fools joke on us with the snow coming down. Yesterday we were out in the garden and it was beautiful, sunny and windy all day! Did I mention that it was warm too?

Calling all missing art...

My good friends from former Emily Carr days are doing an affordable art show together this coming thursday, April 2nd at Box Studios, 622 Franklin St. fro 7 until late! I am looking forward to seeing silkscreened prints, paintings and photography from these three: Disa MacKay, Erin Johnson, and Kelly Nairn, all who are incredibly talented and amazing both as artists and graphic designers. And with art starting at $35- $400 I can't wait to take one of these babies home! (I got a sneak preview the other night at Disa's place and I have an idea which one I'll be grabbing first! Architecture and olive green are two combos I can't pass up...)

Shop up-date...

I am slowly getting some new work up-loaded to my etsy shop! More to come soon!

Portobello West Spring Opener!

Portobello West Market was this past weekend and it felt really good to get some new work out of the studio and in front of a few hundred people! There were quite a few other potters (6 of us- the most I've ever seen at Portobello at one time), and it was good to connect with other artists and designers from all over BC.
As promised before I am uploading some new items to my etsy shop and will be off to Granville Island this afternoon to drop off some much needed work to the BC Gallery of Ceramics (which nearly sold out of my work this past month:)
Thank you to all those who bought work from me over the weekend! I took a bunch of orders so will be back in the studio working on those, while also preparing for Calgary!

Great Colour for the Season!

I'm finding myself on the front page of etsy or in treasuries more often, and it's kind of cool to see the colours I had chosen for my work coming out in all the latest trends of the season!
Hope you have a great weekend, I'll be at Portobello West this weekend and will definitely up-date my etsy shop on Monday for all those outside of the Vancouver area!

New work!

Fresh out of the kiln, the new bottle vases finally turned out the way I had imagined! Also I am loving the new ginko bowls- So fresh and springy, would look amazing with a salad or fruit inside! Pale inside or dark Turquoise blue. I'm saving everything I have made for Portobello West this weekend, but will put some new items in my shop after:)
Don't forget, if you are in the Vancouver area: Portobello West Market, Saturday March 28th, Sunday March 29th from 12-6pm at the Rocky Mountaineering Station, on Cottrell Ave just off of Terminal. $2 at the door!