It's a clay issue...

So I've been having a bit of a clay issue these days. Basically, my clay distributor went out of business and I can no longer get the clay I have been using for the past 5 years unless I want to drive across the boarder down to Seattle and pick it up myself. I don't feel that's the best use of my time these days, so instead I am clay shopping but am starting to think that it's a big waste of my time and money... am I right?
I have been working in clay for 16 years now and know that the minute you change the clay body even slightly -not to speak of temperature, just clay body and brand, EVERYTHING changes.
Here's for the techy types- hang in there if you don't mind a little shop talk...
I went from using 'Georgies Pink Salmon Cone 4-7' to try #1- 'Laguna B-Mix Cone 5-6'- pretty standard well-used white (although now that I've fired it I'd say yellow) clay body that I used before the Georgies. Well, it seem that B-mix doesn't like being fired to Cone 6 as one of my large bowls in the middle of the kiln bubbled and the clay turned very yellow making my lovely pale blue glaze more on the green side than the blue. Hmmm. Not going to work for me. So I am onto a more local Canadian clay- Plainsman but Porcelain (P300). I generally steer clear of a pure porcelain because it's like throwing with cream cheese and I end up throwing it too thick and having to trim too much off. Anyways, I had to make a trip out to the only other clay supplier in the Greater Vancouver area today and committed to 6 boxes of the stuff so I'll be darned if it doesn't work for me. In the meantime it has got me thinking... what would happen if more of these companies and suppliers go under considering the current economy?

A good start to the week!

I was so excited to see an etsy interview with my friend Jinsil from elephant and chickpea today! Her hand-made house shoes are really extremely sweet, they are all from up-cycled clothing and I'm really digging the ones above. Just my colours!
There was a lovely little plug on Poppytalk about the Poppytalk Handmade Artist blog along with a link regarding my Mother's Day Mug give-a-way! There are so many great things coming out of that blog and I really love to see what everyone is up to!
In other news, I finally picked up some more shipping supplies and was able to find a source for some corn starch peanuts for packing! I had been re-using a bunch from a previous shipment, ran out and wondered where to find these eco-friendly shipping peanuts that are compostable and just discintigrate in water!

Spring Bottle Vases!

Some new spring bottle vases are out of the kiln and available here for $34 each!

A dahlhaus Mother's Day Mug give-a-way!

There is nothing quite like waking up in the morning, turning on the kettle, the coffee or espresso machine, and starting the morning off right with a hand-made mug of your favourite brew. This morning ritual has inspired me to make many a mug in my day! After 16 years of making mugs I'm still on a quest to throw and glaze a great mug, a mug that inspires this daily ritual of coffee or tea, and a mug that is the first one out of the cupboard every morning!

For Mother's Day, I wanted to do a special give-a-way: a set of my mugs of your choosing! It's a give-a-way for anyone: you could certainly give them to your mom or an inspiring woman in your life, or you could keep them and bring them out for visits with mom. As a busy mom myself, I know what a shared cup of coffee and some friendship can mean in my own life and want to pass along that inspiration to others!

Please post a comment with your name, whether you prefer coffee or tea (if you can actually choose one over the other) and which mug set you like pictured above (click to enlarge photo). I will randomly draw a winner next friday, April 24th, so that the mugs can arrive in time for Mother's Day!

boys will be boys

And I wonder at all the scraped knees already this spring.

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?