It's that time of year, the leaves have turned colour, the nights have become cool and the pottery shop season is winding down...

The past 6 months flew by. From greeting customers to practicing on the wheel, I had my hands full (and covered in clay). It was my first summer working at the shop full time since my teenage years, this time with much more commitment and focus. It was really rewarding to see my efforts paying off, as many people would enter the shop after having seen the new website, "like'd" us on Facebook or followed us on Twitter. The power of social networking!

Although the tourism season is winding down, I feel like I'm busier than ever. We're preparing for the upcoming Christmas Craft Fair at the Confederation Centre November 11-13th, which requires a lot of pottery to be produced. I'm also working to add new items to our online shop and hopefully have a successful holiday season with that! I'm managing my own Etsy shop, The Potter's Daughter as well as Village Pottery's. Check them out!

In other news, I've had some interesting opportunities popping up. Over the past few weeks I was on CBC News to talk about Village Pottery's Culture Days event, advertised in the Globe & Mail twice and overall had a fantastic 2-day event. Thanks to everyone who came out to the shop to be a "Potter For A Day"!  

More recently, I've been featured on Sea and Be Scene, a great local website promoting the hottest things happening in the Atlantic Provinces. I'm proud to represent PEI! Read the article by clicking here.

In a month or so things should start to quiet down and I'll be spending my days making pottery in my new home studio. By then I hope to be able to update you on the progress of my pottery! Stay tuned...

Hello there! Hope everyone is having a great summer so far. I have been extremely busy over the last 2 months, hence the lack of blog updates (or social interaction for that matter). It's been a blast so far... hectic, but fun.

I'm happy to report that I've had some big milestones lately in the pottery department. My items have been selling really well in the shop & over the last 2 weeks I've thrown an entire shelf of pots in one sitting! Mom has also put me in charge of firing the bisque kiln on several occasions, which I managed to complete without burning the house down. Very exciting.

If you'd like to follow along with the pottery shop, "like" VP on Facebook or follow on Twitter

Until next time, enjoy the strawberries & sunshine :)

Suzanne

Today is Earth Day. A day to recognize our beautiful planet and to be reminded how we can help our environment, which so badly needs it. There's a wealth of information out there on ways to help, but I liked this site especially. It's simple, to the point and manageable. Check it out by clicking here.

I'm especially thankful today for being able to make jewelry from one of earth's greatest creations, clay. As a thank you, all of my items are 10% off today only. Click here to Visit my Shop. I'd love to hear from you & your thoughts on Earth Day- will you do something special or do you make a conscious effort all year round? (as we all should). What are your best tips? Greatest hope for the future of our planet?

Thank you all for participating in my giveaway. A total of 146 entries were received! I really enjoyed hearing all of your comments and love for clay too. Plus there were really creative entries which I will give a shout-out to further on. Now it's time to get to the fun stuff..

Entry #87- Paula - Congratulations!
You'll be contacted through email (If I don't hear from you in 3 days a new winner will be picked)

Shout-out to plholden for writing this lovely poem about clay & PEI:

I heart clay
Warmth where we stay
In the red sand we play
On this Islander's beach day

I ear clay
Through the vines near the hay
Beyond the Rustico Bay
Where Cavendish suns ray

I nose clay
Like the child's game knows play
On a tattering fray
With a cup of Earl Gray

I hand clay
To my loved ones dismay
It's dryer in May
May your heart never stray...


Thanks again! - Suzanne

Hi there! Hope you're having an awesome April so far. I've been busy gearing up for the pottery shop to open in May. In the meantime, I've just hit a milestone. The Potter's Daughter is now 6 months old & to celebrate I'm having a free giveaway!

One lucky fan will be the winner of a "Spearmint Silver Charm Necklace". This unique piece is one of the most popular items in my shop and now I'm giving one away to YOU!  So, here's how you win:

Leave a comment on my blog with the words "I heart clay!"

BONUS POINTS!
For an additional entry, you can:

1. 'Like' me on Facebook
2. Tweet "I just entered the @potterdaughter giveaway to win this unique piece of pottery jewelry and you can too: http://bit.ly/gTeFww" (Make sure you get your friends to Retweet! :) 

Applicants can earn a total of 3 entries. Contest is open until Wednesday April 13th 11pm AST. The Winner will be drawn and announced on Thursday, April 14th at 10 am AST.
**All winners will be drawn with Random.org and posted on a subsequent post, here on the potter's daughter blog.**

Good Luck!

Suzanne

Yesterday my dad turned 60, so we decided to throw him a proper surprise party. With an awesome team assembled, we successfully planned, set-up and delivered a most entertaining event.

To figure out who to invite, I sat down with my mom and went through dad's address book. With my parents both having a long history in the arts culture on PEI, it was no surprise the majority of invites were crafty folk who have been operating their own businesses for years. As they entered my house one after another, I found I was "re-introducing" myself even though I had met these people before  (often when I was "this tall"). After I caught myself doing it the first time, it got me wondering why. Do I need to do this? Then I realized.. it happened somewhere around the time of junior high and now. I grew up. The things I thought were most important back then are no longer a big deal. Let's face it, I had changed.

As I adjusted to this thought of "introducing the new me", I liked it. I realized that these people accepted me and almost had already expected this of me. Of course I would eventually end up at the pottery shop. Making things. Creating stuff. It's in my blood, right?  I decided it was time to embrace "the new me" (as corny as that sounds) and really get to know these amazing artists floating about my house. What did I discover? Friendship. Partnership. Support. Each person I talked to was fully on board with my endeavors and ideas. I formed new connections with old friends and bridged the gap from past to present. I also had a whole lot of fun.

Once the night wore down and the last guests left the house, I had a whole new perspective of "the potter's daughter" and how she's all grown up... but still daddy's girl.

Hiya! Hope you're enjoying the small signs of Spring! Days are getting longer, snow is thankfully melting and a few rare daffodils are popping up. I even heard we had a UV of 3 last week!

It's been a productive week on my end. I made a surprising amount of pottery, took good progressive moves with my web developer and started a business course! It's all about "Starting your own business" and was initially catered towards new immigrants to the island. This gives me an opportunity to refresh my business skills, as well as meet interesting people from far away countries. We're 10 strong with a mix from Ukraine, Iran, Turkey and South Korea. With a shade of rural PEI thrown in there. 

On the pottery front, I'm happy to say I've got the slab roller figured out. I can now roll out a whole bag of clay (in intervals) and have so far produced trays, plates, vases, and small dishes. Leftover slabs make perfect pieces for jewelry. None of these pieces are completely finished yet so you'll just have to wait for a photo :)

Mom is in full-on pottery mode. She's tackling the list of items needed to be produced by the time Village Pottery  opens and guess what? Only 7 weeks till it is!

Countdown is on! 

Happy March Everyone! For those of you living in the northern hemisphere, it comes with great relief as it's been an especially brutal winter. I feel ya. Well, good news. We're now approaching Spring and full steam ahead to sunny skies, cocktails on the patio and warm sand between your toes. Ahh.. Can't you just feel it?

I've always loved this month for the simple fact that I was born on March 4th 1985 at approximately 12:30pm. There's this classic story that always gets told. Mom went into labor in the wee hours of the day. Since it was her third, she took it pretty easy. Got some warm milk, lazed around the house until she was ready to "make it happen". Well, as you would have it, there was a massive snowstorm during the night. Our neighbors were buried and couldn't open their door. My Dad being the helpful man he is, ventured over to see what he could do. A while later and Mom is more than ready to "make it happen".. while Dad is still out shoveling, completely carried away. After several hours, much to our neighbors' surprise, Dad says "I better go drive Daphne to the hospital now" (!!) Before you knew it, lunch time rolled around and I entered the world!

Birthdays are always a great time to reflect. There's always that comparison of "where was I last year?" or "how has my life changed?" and of course, "do I feel older?". I've gotta say, it's been a banner year. From leaving my day job to pursue a more creative self-employed role, to finally finding the perfect person in my life. I'm thrilled to be where I am and hope that people out there who are unhappy with something will finally decide to change it. It's true, life's way too short to keep doing things you don't want to. As a friend once said, getting older is all about minimizing the things you don't like doing. So do it! You'll be proud you did.
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As a special birthday celebration, I'm having a sale today in my Etsy Shop- 26% off everything in store! If there's something you've been eyeing up, now's the chance!
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Hakuna Matata!

This past week I attended an excellent workshop with my Mom. We discovered it by chance and frankly, were NOT the target market of the event. Put on by the Department of Agriculture, the title of the workshop was "Marketing the Whole Farm". Why would a pottery shop attend, you ask?

Reading further into the workshops' details, it was discovered that the presenters were a mother-daughter team from Hawaii. With a lavender farm in Maui. Sound more appealing? We thought so.

Mom and I both expressed concerns on the morning walk. "We won't fit in".... "Will they kick us out?"... even more so "Would we take anything from it?". As we entered the room, our concerns were quickly dismissed at the sight of 2 beautiful lavender-laden Hawaiians. Not to be ousted were 2 lovely sisters from a local lavender farm on PEI. Things were looking up.

Overall, the workshop was a great experience for Mom and I both. On several occasions we broke off into different groups only to come back with a handful of new ideas. We met several island businesses to collaborate with.. most importantly the local lavender farm! I connected with the mother daughter presenters on a level that got me thinking. What is it about such a duo? If there was no family tie, would the workshop of sounded so good? By conducting a quick search on Google it's easy to see this term gets tossed around often. "Mother Daughter Realty Team" - or "Mother Daughter discuss dating". If you've got it, flaunt it I guess!

There is something special about a mother and her child coming together professionally. Sure, it has its' tough times when *maybe* the daughter doesn't want to listen to everything the mom has to say (as I laughed with the Hawaiian daughter over beers later that night). The decision to go into business with your Mother is not something everyone wants (or gets) to do... but I beg to differ. The amount of support and advice, not to mention unconditional love comes together and creates a type of connection that you'll find nowhere's else. Like any good business partners, you're on the same page and can read each others' minds.

So as we sat and watched this mother and daughter who had traveled across the world to talk about their business, I thought to myself, 'hey, that could be us."

Since committing myself to self-employment over the past few months, a lot has changed. Instead of structure, policies, management levels and a pay check (yikes)... My life now revolves around creating my own routine, rules, empowerment and *fingers crossed* .. income. My environment has changed entirely. There's no dress-code, time-sheet or water-cooler talk. All of sudden, my feline creatures have become my main source of interaction. I'm too young to be a cat lady, aren't I?

I decided to take a friend's advice and open a Twitter account. Within 2 months, I've met an incredible amount of jewelers, potters, web designers, you name it. The common thread? Each and every one has that entrepreneurial spirit flowing through them. Each and every one has chosen to create their own path, therefore entering the solo journey. It's inspiring and motivating to watch my fellow followers work their way through successes, failures, trials and tests. In a strange sense, we rely on each other to get through the day. I may not know them on a personal level, but that's not it. We've found each other via common interests, geographical location or by some strange #hastag thread.. regardless, we're connected and we're there each day checking up on the latest adventure, or perhaps what they ate for lunch.

I was once teased for spending too much time on Twitter. My reply? I'm not wasting time- I'm just checking up with my co-workers!

Here's to all of you along the same crazy journey. Click here to join in on mine!