Friday Five: July 13, 2007

1. I know it seems like summer just started a few minutes ago, but here at Bracker's, we are gearing up for the back-to-school season. Our busiest time of the year comes between mid-July and the beginning of October. All of our teachers want their orders at the same time. We have been stocking up on moist clay, glazes, and tools for the big rush so we can hopefully fill your order when you need something, but the more notice you can give us, the more likely it is that we'll be able to fill your order completely. For example, if you think you'll need 500 pounds of Earthenware White in mid-August, give us a call and let us know to allocate that much for you. If you decide you only need 400 pounds by the time mid-August rolls around, or you decide you won't need it until September, it's no big deal. But we'll have it in stock for you just in case. We go through approximately 500,000 to one million pounds of moist clay in that July to October time frame, and clay goes out as soon as it comes in. It's actually quite amazing to see.
2. The Steve Branfman workshop will be October 13th & 14th this year. It won't be the traditional raku workshop, though. Steve will help us all explore ways to make your raku firings more consistent while exploring how different factors (reduction material, glaze thickness, etc.) can affect your results.
3. Other workshop news: Lana Wilson was originally tentatively scheduled for Spring 2008, but our schedules didn't quite mesh, so we've scheduled her for Spring 2009. Right now, we're talking with Angelica Pozo, sculptural clay and tile artist and author of the popular Lark book, "Making and Installing Handmade Tile" for the Spring 2008 workshop. Robin Hopper is still scheduled in Fall 2008.
4. Spectrum 900 series "Low Stone" glazes are in stock now, although I don't have the new ones on our website just quite yet. Until I have them online, check them out on the Spectrum Glaze website and give us a call to order them.
And finally, 5. I think I'm going to turn the 5th spot of my Friday 5 into a regular customer feature, whether it's a youtube video, a website, or just info on something cool one of our customers is doing right now. My inaugural 5 is Danny Meisinger, The Dophin Song Gallery & Spinning Earth Pottery. Danny has been a customer of ours since the beginning of his career in pottery. He is now a very accomplished potter, teacher, workshop presenter, and so much more. He was on the board of Accessible Arts, which has the following mission, "to champion the arts for children with disabilities and advocate access to the arts." Read more about Danny and see some of his amazing pottery in the Shopping section of his website. His glaze work is as impressive as his forms.