Friday is my day: MyClayDay

Hello and happy Friday! Today we're visiting Barbara in Slovenia. Please check out her shop MyClayDay.etsy.com for stoneware jewelry, buttons, plates and other beautiful ceramics; but first, enjoy her day!

Little white with brown spiral stoneware earrings
MyClayDay

First I would like to say hi to all readers of this blog, I'm really happy and excited to have an opportunity to present one of MyClayDays to you. :) Actually this is a special Friday for me, because today I get to stay at home all day and do what I love most – work with clay. Here's how my day goes:

I wake up at 6.30 even if I don't have to go to work today, but I have a lot of work to do and I'm very excited to spend a whole day in my craft shop.

The first thing I do every morning are 5 tibetan rites, which I have been doing on and off for years now. I think these exercises are a great substitute for morning coffee, when I finish I'm wide awake and ready to go on with my day.

7.30 a.m. Breakfast/Etsy check time. No new orders for me today, but there are some views and new hearts for my shop.

After breakfast I go to my »warehouse« in the attic to bring down some raku vases and plates I made last year at the raku weekend with my colleagues from the school of ceramics. Found a lot of other stuff I almost forgot about too. I'll take pictures and put them on Etsy next week.

9.30 a.m. Postman comes with a nice surprise, a much expected little package from Turkey with beautiful handmade copper earring findings from NeSHEnJewellery. I immediately try some with my clay earrings and beads and I think they go together perfectly. I will wait for a new batch of beads and pendants to be finished and will use the new findings there. But I’ve put two pairs of earrings together immediately and put them on Etsy. :)


11. a.m. My friend Mateja arrives. She's a very talented photographer (check out her Etsy shop) and she kindly offered to take some pictures of my crafty day. Thanks to her my photos in this blog look so professional. :) She doesn't loose any time and starts taking pictures of me in action.

I'm preparing to fill my kiln today with various tiny things I have been working on for the last few weeks. Fish hooks and fish ornaments are for a friend who would like to have a unique looking bathroom, bells are for a girl who is getting married in May, I have tried some one-flower vases resembling sea urchins, I'm making trials for coasters and of course there is a lot of ceramic jewellery for my customers in Slovenia and on Etsy. As you can see my work is much influenced by sea and sea creatures. :)


Mateja is busy taking pictures of my raku collection while I'm finishing the items for the kiln.


3 p.m. I'm finally ready to load the kiln. This will be bisque firing at around 980°C. After that all items will be glazed and fired again to stoneware temperatures of around 1280°C. I set the programme of my electric kiln and now I have to wait until Sunday morning. The firing itself takes about 8 hours and then the kiln has to cool down to under 100°C before I can open it and take the items out.


4 p.m. Now we are really hungry and we start preparing lunch. Asian style stir fry with vegetables and wild rice, yummy! Bon appétit to Mateja and me after a hard day's work.

5.30 p.m. After some afternoon green tea and chitchat Mateja takes her last picture and takes off. This is a picture of me with my »biggest« work, my beloved stripy ceramic pear. The top of the pear comes off and I use it to keep my slippers inside. I call it my slipper pear. :)

Time to say goodbye, I have enjoyed this day very much, I hope you have enjoyed my clay day with me!