The Clay Teacher Blog: "In the Beginning"

This is my first blog as The Clay Teacher. Here I will talk of starting our business, any snags we have on the way, how it grows, or not, how I feel about the business, the growth, or no growth, the people we meet along the way, the jobs we do, kids, my kids, sisters, family… our life as we move into this new venture and it moves us.

I always thought Steppenwolf said it best when starting out on a new path:

"Well, you don't know what we can find
Why don't you come with me little girl

On a magic carpet ride.... "

Words and music by John Kay and Rushton Moreve

Jim and I are in the preliminary stages of starting up The Clay Teacher and very excited about it. One reason is the name; we couldn’t believe that no one had thought of that name before and the website was available. It’s such a natural name for….. well…the clay teacher….Another reason is I really enjoy the kids. I have none of the responsibilities a teacher. I come in, mess up the schedule, the class, and the kids and when everything is dirty, I leave. The kids have a wonderful time and so do I.

Jim and our daughter Kaileigh have worked hard to build this great web site. The day to day workings of The Clay Teacher, Jim will look after, all the web work, correspondence, booking, firing and deliveries, leaving all the clay and fun for me. I’m not sure that’s entirely fair for Jim, I do help him out and we like to make deliveries together. It’s nice to drive around and have a bit of time to ourselves. But between the two us we will have all our bases covered. I am really looking forward to the years to come and being…. well… the clay teacher.

I am going through the curriculum this morning and making a list projects that I think are related, fun and geared for the age of the student. I spent most of yesterday afternoon making pieces that as they are finished they will appear on the projects page. What I made yesterday is online, wet and not finished. If you visit the website often you can watch the progression of the projects. Today, when I am done this, my first blog, I have to throw the last of my wholesale orders. I still do some wholesale pottery just to keep my hands dirty and pay some bills. This lady I am making this order for has been a client for years and she has patiently waited for this order for months. There is no excuse for that and she has been so nice about it. I have been busy and I had cold for months, but I honestly have to say I have been procrastinating; I could have had the order done if I had just …. done it….. Tomorrow I will spend making more projects for the catalogue. When I am done the first catalogue it should contain about 100 different items, curriculum and fun based. I am open to suggestions in this start up stage or any time. With the web builder upstairs and the potter down stairs there is no stopping us.

I have to go to work and make Lila her mugs, plates and bowls. I have another order after Lila for a wonderful young couple. They recently got married, a friend gave them a gift certificate from us, and then they went ahead and ordered a lot more pottery. It is such an honour to have our pots plays such a major role in a newly married couple’s life. These pots will be in their cupboard and their life for years. Everyday they and their friends who come to visit will use our pottery. I have to have them done for the end of the month.

I just got the idea that it might be fun to include at the bottom of each blog a“Pottery Pick of the Day”. I am not sure where to start, but I will start with one piece I made over a year ago, but I liked him. I won’t always show my pots, there is a whole world of potters out there.