cake & pie

Beautiful things

I am about finished shopping for the holidays...cookie baking is next on the agenda...but there are still so many gorgeous things I'm finding that tempt me to keep shopping.

(L) metal pinecone ornament, and (R) grow by Lorena Siminovich...I love Lorena's collaged typography...both at doe.

(L) salt & pepper cellars by Diana Fayt, (R) doily necklace by Heather Guidero...so elegant.

It is one cold, rainy day today in Nashville, so I think I'll be staying in with the pets and working on a few sewing projects. Good luck to all of you shopping this weekend!

Lighting candles

I want to wish all of you who celebrate a very happy Hanukkah!

I don't happen to celebrate Hanukkah, but if I did, I think I would have to have this gorgeous utopia menorah from Jonathan Adler. I've never seen another one like it...and it feeds my weakness for all things ceramic. Have a lovely 8 nights everyone!

Handmade favorites

There are just so many gorgeous things popping up on Etsy these days. Here are a few of my current favorites...

Left: Beautiful tea bowls by Diana Fayt, $42 each. I love their shape! Right: Gorgeous knitware vase by Alyssa Ettinger, $120 each.

Left: Great black and white weave print notebook by Susy Jack, $8.50 each. Right: Otto Cornejo by Essimar, $20.

Left: Elegant twisted ring set by Abigail Percy, $55. Right:  The Market Bag by Moop in gray corduroy, $78.

Where did the week go?

Another week gone, and it seems like it should still be Tuesday. Time flies when you're having fun? I'm not terribly sure about the "fun" part, but time is certainly flying. The weather has gotten warm and lovely here in Nashville...a welcome change from the freezing temperatures that were making my walks with Cooper uncomfortably chilly.

This week I got some grading done for the Typography class I am teaching, and hammered out a schedule of the remaining topics we will cover this semester. Watching my students begin to really grasp concepts and talk in critiques has been so satisfying these past few weeks. It is an amazing thing to watch something you have been teaching really click for a student.

I was also busy with a bit of gallery work this week...getting postcards printed for the next opening; finding out what L-pins are and ordering a bunch so we can hang the March show; and this weekend will be spent updating the SQFT website a bit...a constant work in progress.

Leaving the gallery today I walked past a shop in the arcade that I have walked past before—Odyssey's End, (at 5 Arcade Building on the first floor closest to 4th Avenue,) but this time they had some completely adorable pillows in the window that compelled me to enter:

The little round pillows are by Two's Company, and come in three different color combinations. The price tag you ask? $20! I love the colors and I secretly wish I knew how to crochet (I know, another hobby!)—so I was sold.

Lastly, if I were traveling this weekend I would absolutely be headed to St. Louis, Missouri, and Albuquerque, New Mexico. Random places? Well, not if you are a fan of Diana Fayt and Lisa Solomon. Diana is having a show at Xen Gallery in St. Louis; and Lisa is showing some of her work at the Richard Levy Gallery in Albuquerque. If you are in either city this weekend—(a) I am envious of you; and (b) run don't walk...go see amazing work!

Since I am not traveling this weekend, I will be headed to the Art House tomorrow night to check out their latest offering—18 Reasons—work by 18 local artists...lots to see there.

Well, there is laundry to do, a dishwasher to unload, and a VERY early yoga class tomorrow morning, so I will say goodnight. Posting has been rather sporadic the past few weeks here at cake + pie...and I would imagine it will continue to be for just a little while longer. I thank you all for your patience and hope you have a very lovely weekend.

So many gorgeous things!

If I were to win the lottery today I think I would shop for a week. There are so many fabulous things to buy these days. I keep seeing gift guides and people debuting new products...I feel like I spend at least an hour each morning with my coffee just looking at all the amazing things people have for sale...so I thought I would share just a few links with all of you. It's Friday, everyone needs a little break. Go get that cup of coffee!

Lotta Jansdotter is at it AGAIN...check out this completely GORGEOUS bag. I don't know what it is about that mustard color she uses, but I love everything she does with it. She also has done a beautiful calendar this year. I already bought an equally lovely calendar by Diana Fayt though. Is it silly to have two calendars in one studio?

Lena Corwin posted today about trying to cut down the cost and sale price of her pillows (asking for opinions if you have any.) So I of course went and looked at all her pillows again in her shop, and they are SO beautiful. I think the "village" pattern might be my favorite.

Kitty Genius just revealed her latest December print in her "Hello" series...beautiful. Go see!

The design*sponge shop debuted a new line of products for December today. Among them is this fabulous ceramic birdy head by the talented Amy Ruppel, and this pomegranite pouch by Sara Bee Jensen. I love that print!

Had enough yet? I'm not done!

Port2Port debuted some new cards this morning...among them a set of 3 Camilla Engman illustrated winter cards. Beautiful, enough said.

Karin Eriksson is selling this gorgeous porcelain vase in her etsy shop.  Everyone needs something from Sweden!

Jessica at Funky Finds posted about Kate Sutton's etsy shop the other day. I had no idea Kate Sutton had an etsy shop. Did you? Go look.

I will stop now, because I could go on all day. Off to buy a lottery ticket:) Happy Friday everyone!

Diana Fayt Calendar

As the holidays creep up on us faster and faster, I should not be buying myself things, but when I read on Diana Fayt's blog, One Black Bird, that she had illustrated an absolutely gorgeous new calendar for 2007, I couldn't help myself, I had to have it.

My photos do not do it justice. The colors are incredibly vibrant, and the paper has this ribbed texture to it—very lovely.

For those of you who may not know of Diana Fayt—she is an extremely talented ceramic artist...you can see more of her work here. Her calendar is available in limited quantities on her website...get yours while they last!

New bowls

My ceramics teacher did a glaze firing last week, so I was able to pick up a few of my little bowls last night.

I'm still not terribly thrilled with the glazes at Cheekwood, so I'm trying to hunt down some new cone 6 glaze recipes to try out. The square-ish blue and coffee colored bowl was my attempt to save a rather lop-sided bowl I threw that was toppling over on the wheel...I try to make the most out of my lop-sided throwing attempts. I am pretty happy with the shape of the other two bowls...I have always loved little tea bowls.

My attempts to throw some tall, narrow, vases last night proved to me I need a lot more practice throwing. I think its hard to get good when you're not doing it everyday, so I've decided to just continue taking the class over and over until I get better. I also want to try to put in a little more time in on the weekends. So the ceramics journey continues...

Happy Friday everyone!

As promised...

Here is a look at my first ceramics pieces glazed and fired from my ceramics class at Cheekwood.

I am not terribly thrilled with the glazes...the piece on the far left has some carvings in it, and the lines were supposed to be a green and the rest glazed clear...but the glaze in the lines bled a bit. There were other unexpected results...but its all a learning process. The glaze selection at Cheekwood is kind of limited, so I may look into mixing some of my own from some old recipes I have from when I was at Skidmore. On the bright side my throwing is improving...most of these pieces I threw my first and second class, and now we just had our 5th class. I really love working on the wheel, so I've decided to sign up for the next 6 week session, and then hopefully again for another 8 week session after the New Year. Practice makes perfect...or almost perfect...hopefully!

Tired Monday

We had a bit of an exhausting weekend here at cake + pie. We've been helping Cooper adjust to living here and nursing the kennel cough he caught while he was at the shelter, and tending to our kitten Oscar. We found Oscar outside an antique store in Downtown Franklin about two months ago...a maggot had burrowed into his jaw and killed some of the tissue and made him very sick. We had Oscar treated—but after 6 weeks his wound still had not healed, so a week ago the vet had to suture the wound, and on Saturday Oscar managed to rip open the sutures. We spent much of Saturday at the vet, where Oscar had to have the wound stapled, and then helping him adjust to wearing a cone around his head—which he hates of course. It is really sad to watch, but hopefully the wound can heal now and he will grow up to be a healthy cat. Needless to say not much else was done this weekend besides tending to our growing (animal) family.

Sleepy Oscar, before he got his cone. Poor thing.

In some crafy news, I glazed some pieces last Thursday in my ceramics class, so this coming Thursday I should have some brand new pieces to share with you all. I am really excited about them.

I am determined to have life return to normal this week. We are starting Cooper on a walking schedule. He LOVES to go outside, but yesterday morning he cried three times for me to take him out—which of course I did—so that really has to stop.

Thank you all for being such patient readers as we make some adjustments here at cake + pie. New work this week...as well as an "artist who inspires" feature. Stay tuned!