Component frenzy

Some time ago I was making some beads for myself and I had some leftovers so I put them out for sale on a Czech server where we also sell regularly. It wasn't until one of the other sellers there contacted me. She wanted me to make her assorted sizes of these beads. I gladly did so and she combined them with African glass beads and made wonderful jewelery with them.




For me it was wonderful to see the beads lead a life on their own. For me its hard to make combined jewelery with other materials mainly because I'm always stuck with my hands in the clay and I don't have time to explore other materials. So I decided to start making more beads, pendants and jewelery components and offer them for sale to other sellers. I'm just going to sit back and relax, watch how my little tiny children walk into the world, make friends with other components and create wonderful jewelery :) But until then I'm in a component frenzy, making new pieces every day.
Petra













Components coming soon in our Etsy shop

Woodfiring

We've always wanted to try out woodfiring. Usually for a potter woodfiring is one of the highest goals he can achieve in firing his goods. Nevertheless, it wasn't until last year we could actually have a go at it. The waiting was all the worthwhile because we got the opportunitiy to woodfire with an expert on woodfiring - Gas Kimishima.

In July 2009 we got to participate in a ceramic symposium where Gas kimishima was a host. We had several workshops with him, one of them was about making a japanese tea bowl. Gas is an expert on woodfiring and building anagamas, so we even got to learn how a traditional anagama is built.




The firing itself was a huge experience for us. It was a bit extreme as it took place in the hottest summer. The temperature around the kiln was almost unbearable and every degree on the thermometer was very hard to obtain. The reduction was a big drama as one of the fire pits got loaded with a too big chunk of wood and the door couldn't be closed. The chimnez was closed at that time and so gigantic flames came bursting out of the kiln to suck in the air. The thing was that the kiln we were firing in was built under a wooden shed and there was a lot of wood still lying around the kiln. It was just a few minute struggle but some of us were thinking "man, this looks like too much, perhaps we should call the fire brigade."
But Gas was great, he managed to shove the chunk of wood in and closed the door with a winning smile.




The pottery that came out of the kiln was beautiful, woodfired pottery has a very different quality to it and woodfiring is like a drug. Once you've experienced it, you want to try it again.




We've gotten a building plan for a small kiln from our friend and if we manage to get enough fireclay bricks, we will build it this summer. Firing in our own kiln in our backyard - what a dream come true...


Visit our Etsy shop

We live in a small village on the borders of Czech republilc and Germany, it's a quiet place to live in and ideal to have a pottery studio. With the National park starting just a short walk from our house we really can't complain. It wasn't always like this, though.
My husband Josef grew up in Moravia a totally different part of our country, he lived in Brno a few years, there at the age of 25 he got the opportunity to work in a pottery studio where he learned what the job is all about. The clay got hold of him and never let go ever since. As time went on he moved to Prague where he tried to run a larger buisness along with a few friends and oppened a gallery shop in the centre of Prague inside Charles bridge. That was between the years 2001 - 2004. If you've visited Prague at that time it may well be that you visited it or maybe even bought a souvenir there. The floods that came in 2002 ruined his buisness and that's when he decided to move on and found himself where he is now. This is where I -Petra- in :-) I met my husband during my university studies in Prague. I quit university and moved in with my husband. I started helping him with his work and turned into an apprentice :)




At that time we had some difficulties because the shops that used to buy our wares were going thru a crisis and we started to explore new ways of selling our work. We found a Czech server that specializes in hand made products a filled out the registration form. That was two years ago. Today selling online is the main way customers can get our pottery, in summer we go to a few pottery festivals with our stall and we have the occasional shop owner that comes and buys a few pieces but the internet is our main interest. It's contadictory that here on the internet we can spend more time with our customers on a more personal level than we could ever imagine in real life. The feedback of people that like our stuff gives us energy to produce new and interesting designs.
We are very happy and excited about starting our Etsy shop. It's a totally new and open space for us. The funny thing is that at a certain time in our pottery producing career we used to sell most of our wares to tourists. Perhaps you may have the feeling you've seen this pottery before. Look around, maybe your friend, relative or your boss have it at home :-)

Visit our Etsy shop at http://www.MetamorphosesOfClay.etsy.com