It's Time for Berry Bowls

Berry Bowls with Lady Bugs

 I had sworn that this year I would get a big batch of berry bowls ready for The Market at Blooming Colors and for the Uptown Market, but my execution of this plan went very slowly. I think, in part, it's because I wanted to try something new instead of sticking with last year's design (shown above) with a simple Heiner Render glaze and lady bug accents.

One of my goals for the year is to do more hand building, so I had decided I would hand build berry bowls using strawberry leaves to form the bowl, and I wanted to put strawberry feet on the bowls as a decoration instead of the lady bugs. It was a disaster! I didn't spray the forms, so the clay stuck fast to the forms, and the bowls were destroyed in the process of trying to remove them. Next, I thought perhaps I could throw the bowls and cut out the strawberry leaves. That didn't work very well either. Add slow firing last month to the mix, and the result is berry bowls delivered at the end of May.

Ruffled Berry Bowl with Strawberry Feet

But, my experimentation did lead to some different shapes, different glazing, and different decoration. I stayed with hand-sculpted berries for feet. These are going with me to the Uptown Market in Columbus Saturday, although it seems that people in Columbus are not familiar with berry bowls. I had one a couple of weeks ago, and everyone who picked it up asked what it was. One person must have thought it was to store berries in because he commented that he had more berries than the bowl would hold. Someone suggested I make ceramic strawberries to put in the bowls as display. I have noticed that props can be helpful when selling some items like my sponge holders.

We'll see what Saturday brings. I'm learning that certain markets are better for certain pieces, and it may be that Columbus is not the right market for berry bowls. Or, maybe I'm the only one who likes the berry feet.