If you take a sec and drop by our Face Book Page  then you can take a guess at how many mugs I was able to fit into one 7 cubic foot kiln.

Wait… a little background is due I suppose… Ever since we were little potters we have always wondered if we would ever fill a kiln completely with one specific item – mine of course being mugs.  At that point I was happy if I could make 10 at a time that at least looked similar.  Well fast-forward a couple years and here we are.  On Sunday night i loaded our first-ever completly-full-of-mugs kiln!  How about that?  To celebrate I put up a contest on our Face Book Fan Page where if you take a look at the pics supplied and took a guess at how many mugs were in there, you could win one of them !  This Saturday I’ll select the three folks who guessed the closest and I’ll mail them a mug for their troubles.

Take a guess, leave a guess, and let’s see if you can win yourself a mug

Both shows went super well.  We met a lot of new friends, saw a lot of old friends, and all-in-all had a great time.  To all our new and returning clients – Thanks very much for your confidence in us and your interest in our product !  OK, I can’t miss mentioning a couple facts that we are really proud of… We were awarded the “Best Booth Award” in Charlottetown and the “Best New Product Award” in Halifax.  Pretty big deals in our humble opinions and both were something we had been shooting for so it was nice to close those loops.  Another awesome aspect of the Halifax show was that we bought ourselves a huge-big 16′ cube van to take the stress out of getting out inventory and displays from point A to point B.  What a difference   Finally and because we always bring a wheel to shows (to entertain me and keep me out of trouble) I got the chance to throw a bunch of one-of-a-kind pieces.

We got to talking during the drive back to PEI late last night (on the crappy slushy snowy windy roads) that there are as many methods that buyers use to decide on their orders as buyers themselves.  There were the folks who hit the booth early and hard and seemed to know exactly what they wanted the second they saw what was available.  15 minutes later and the order was done and done.  Then there was the buyer who would pass by a few times to get a glance, then swing in for a good chat before deciding on placing an order.  That sort was always fun as it gave us a chance to get to know the person behind the retailer and vice versa.  A third type of buyer was the one who would come by for a look, get our retailer’s information package, then come back the next day with a carefully crafted order that seemed so very precise, like they could see directly into the future and decided that they will need 38 goblets… not 36 and not 40.  Very very precise.  We gained one new client in Halifax (more than one, but that’s another story) who placed an order on Sunday, then came back and padded their order on Monday. In the end however we were more than happy to meet every single one no matter what the method.   

We also had 3 opportunities to attend seminars at ACTS.  Day one was an hour and a half on Intellectual Property, Copyright, and Trademark information delivered by Cécile Klein from the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO).  Very interesting stuff that I had never considered before, especially with respect to copyright rights either registered or not, and the option of a simple intellectual property employee agreement just to keep the facts straight.  Day two’s seminar was about exporting to the New England States put on by Wendy Diltz and an extra bonus of a 4-person panel of gallery / shop owners that were able to both support Wendy’s advice and also offer different opinions.  Monday’s presentation was done by Jeff White of Kula Partners all about the ins and outs of social marketing and how it can help business grow.  I must admit that Jeff’s presentation is part of the reason I’m updating our blog.  Thanks for the insight Jeff.

So that’s about it.  We’ve had a busy couple weeks and we’re glad to be back home on PEI.

Cheers !    Darryl

We were very fortunate to add 2 team mates to our bunch in the early summer.  Jacqui Green was chiefly a hand-builder and Nancy Lavigueur who toiled away at the wheel and helped with my struggling french.  Sadly though we couldn’t convince them to give up on their academic careers and choose a life in clay. Jacqui went back to Queens University in Kingston to continue with her sciency degree thingy and Nancy returned to Quebec City to finish her 3rd year of Ceramic Arts.  We’ve got our fingers crossed that Nancy will come back next year.  Oh and there’s the part where I retired from the Military after 20 years to become a fulltime potter (and full-time live-at-home husband).  I’ve joined 721 Comm Regiment on a part-time basis to keep my fingers in the pie – when they’re not in the clay that is. Mmmmmmm pie

What else?  Well, we’ve pretty well managed to catch up on all our orders and even find ourselves with some inventory – which is pretty handy and we are moving into the Christmas order and sale season.  I’ll update our schedule (yes, another update) very soon, but it looks like we’ll be back to the Three Oaks Christmas Sale in Summerside for the third year, and a couple others too here on PEI but you’ll have to forgive me because I can’t recall when and where they are !!!  Give me a break… it’s not even 5 AM yet.  I promise I’ll update the schedule link.

Oh I almost forgot… we had the Katimavik troops out again for a workshop in exchange for some work around the house.  The Wellington Crew with Natalie came by and helped plant a heap of shrubberies and help me erect a movable-type garage riggins.  We’re also fortunate enough to be hosting Joy for a week starting today.  I’ll admit it though… I can’t remember which one Joy was.  My bad.  Do people still say “my bad” anymore?

So that’s about it for this installment.  Back into the studio on Monday - or should I take a day off ? Anyhoo, until next time clay fans

I enjoyed a whole lot of good information sessions during the PEI Craft Forum today and part of it was about blogs and the usefulness of blogs in marketing Craft.  I figured I was probably a couple months behind on this thing but NOOOOOOOOO.  I haven’t made an entry since wayyyyyy back in the spring.  How about that?  Time flies like crazy I’d say.  Must be the clean PEI air.

Bad news is… I must run so I’ll have to catch everyone up very soon.  Until sometime during the weekend…

I said I would comment on our New Year’s Eve meal at the Stonewall… It was GREAT !!!  The service was great (thanks to Niclole), the meal was great (very tastey pepper steak) and the company of course was perfect. We all enjoyed our meals and the time spent in the intimate atmosphere of the restaurant and we’re pretty certain we’ll be returning.  I must add a quick comment about the Athens Restaurant up on Quinpool where we ate on the 30th… The new location is much nicer than the old one down a few doors and the rice pudding is still the greatest on the whole planet !!!  OK it wasn’t perfect… my lamb came to the table cold somehow but our server took care of it.

Cindy and I spent the entire day on the 1st relaxing and watching a Sarah’s House marathon on HGTV thanks to the storm that decided to roll into Halifax on New Year’s Eve.  Yup… 13 shows in a row.  Seems we did that on Jan 1st a couple years ago too.  Good way to ease into the year, wah?

All our best to you in 2009 and keep in touch !!!

Cheers