The Clay Hub Collective

Since April 2015 I have  been busy as a new member of the Clay Hub Collective which is located at 2375 Koksilah rd.Cowichan Station BC V9L6M5.
I  have been taking classes to gain more knowledge about clay and am a member as well  as a volunteer, and now a new board memeber.
If Clay and Pottery is your thing come check out the Clay Hub Collective. Its 100% Volunteer run.
There are on going classes and other activites. Website: www.theclayhubcollective.com 
Lots of information  for you there.

HERE ARE SOME EXAMPLES OF WHAT I HAVE BEEN DOING AT THE CLAY HUB

 Hand building class by using slabs and patterns.

 To the Right.... The Vase in the back slab work and the two pots in the front wheel thrown.

 Making platters class.  Using a fish plate and recreating the fish as a platter.

 To the right....Platter class. Using slabs to make a dish and adding stamps and texture.

 Platter class...Using an image from a plaster bat. Then taking a dish and making a platter from the form.

 To the right.... Throwing class. How to cone in a neck with a small opening. Then I textured the outside with carving tools.

Throwing class.  Doing a jug form....Learning proper placement of the handle. and  adding a spout. I textured the outside at the leather hard stage of drying.

Our First Year at a Glance

2014 was our first year out in the local community of Cowichan and Shawnigan Lk. 

Here is a snap shot of some of the events and places we were involved with, starting June 2014

Shawnigan Adventure Fundraiser June 2014, we were part of the Inspire Shawnigan Artisan group

July and August  South Cowichan Farmers Market 2014.

 

 

A good friend and myself making do-it-yourself clay garden slabs. 

They were a great hit with kids and adults too.

Inspire Shawnigan Festival in August in collaboration with the Shawnigan Museum

We were part of the Artisan group for Inspire.

clay Madelin's we created blank for kids and adults to colour for $1 donation and half the proceeds went to the local food bank. 

there were a variety of images the turtle was the most popular.

Starting in Oct 2014 Tanis did a Introduction to Hand Built Pottery at the Shawnigan Community Centre for 5 weeks. 

Showing how to make a tea light holder in a wooden mold.

student's making their creations. 

Some of the finished student projects.

                                                

Craft Fairs

We did 2 this year to start with. 

November

First one was at The Cowichan Fire Hall 

Our table set up at the Hall.

No pictures taken in the Hall.

Second Craft fair was at the Shawnigan Community Centre at the end of November

Shared a table with another artist

From the Craft Fair Tanis ended up taking her blank ornaments to the local Elemtary School and showed 4 classes of students gr 3 to 7 how to paint the onraments, over 150 blank ornaments. This was all done the week before Winter Break. The year ended very busy and rewarding for

 Tanger ArtWorks. 

samples of ornaments that are painted. 

 

This is the end of 2014 

Starting in January 2015. We will be in a new Store opening at Wipple Tree Junction January 15th called Local Treasures. All art is made here on the Island by local artists.

Tanis will have her Pottery and Art cards in the store. She will be doing clay work shops coming soon.

 Gerry will have some wood work items in the near future. For now he helps Tanis with making wooden lids from local wood, and honey dippers for her honey pots and other lids for more little pots that can be used for sugar, garlic, salt etc.

Local Treasures

Coming soon to Whipple Tree Junction

I am happy to tell everyone we will be part of a local artist store. They will be featuring art works from many different artists in the area and I have the Honor of being one of the artists that will be displaying their work for sale in the store. Gerry will also have wood working items paired with my pottery.

Opening day is attentively scheduled for January 15, 2015

Shawnigan Light up 2014 with Inspire Shawnigan

The light up night at Shawnigan Lake was great fun. At Inspire Shawnigan there was potato stamping and Ornament decorating. There was also Mulled Apple juice and Carolers.

I was there with an assortment of ornaments for the kids to decorate. We went through about 100 ornaments and there was quite the crowd at one point. Crazy for 2 hours. Great energy.

I want to thank all the people who run ( for non-profit) Inspire Shawnigan for having me there with my work and donating to the Community Light Up for Shawnigan Village.

2014 Craft Fair experience ( My first year with the Pottery)

Finally after all the Christmas rush for gifts and events I have an update for everyone.

Both craft fairs we attended went well for us this year. Good sales and more great contacts. One of the highlights was meeting a teacher from the local elementary school and arranging with her to do ornament decorations with her class. To my great pleasure she showed my samples to her co-works and I got 3 more classes the week before winter break. It was noisy, messy, chaotic at times but great fun with the kids. Grades 3-7. They want me to come back in the new year and talk about other projects to do with the kids.

Here are some photo's of My Craft Fair table set up.

My pre-set up for the Cowichan Fire Hall show.

Center image of Clock by Gerry. Was made all by Hand no electric tools used. All hand cut, plained, sanded, no nails. Out of pine wood.

Shawnigan Lake Craft Fair. Shared a table with a friend.
There are wooden items that Gerry made also.
The end table has my ornaments hanging already painted.
I have a small basket with unpainted ones as well. For do it yourself crafters.

Along with my Water Color / Ink cards.




I enjoyed the time spent doing the shows and making ornaments. I learned a lot about what people are looking for and to start now with making plain ornaments for next year.

Some samples of the painted ornaments I did. and were for sale. Some of the choices are available plain for anyones own personal touch.

Craft Fairs and Activities

Starting Saturday November 22nd we will be at Cowichan Bay Fire Hall for our first craft fair this year. From 9am to 3pm.

Then Saturday November 29th at Shawnigan Lake Community Centre from 10 am to 4pm

 I will have some new items with us. I have been working at an assortment of decorations and some smaller dip bowls. Some honey pots with wooden lids and dippers made by Gerry.
There will be some wood working items by Gerry also.

Then at Inspire Shawnigan on Dec 7th for the Village light up. 5 to 7pm. For anyone who wants to do any slabs for gift ideas. I will be holding a work shop for Only $12.00 a slab. Slabs will be ready by  the 21st of Dec. for pick up.
  There will be bisque fired decorations that you can finish decorating for $1.00 each. to take home that night.

Hand Building pottery class photo's

I have the pleasure of posting some pictures that were taken by Rebecca Bernard and myself, during my first session of classes at the Shawnigan Community Centre this past October. 2014
Every one had fun which was my main goal and produced some great projects.

Here are a few pictures of finished projects.

 All projects made in wooden molds for beginners.
Tea light holder and a clay bowl.
Using  the coiling method, rolled balls, stamps and cut out designs.
colouring is done with stain only or left plain.
Leaving plain you can use crafters paints for a decorative bowl.
Stains used were Red Iron Oxide, Green and Blue.

Another project was a mobile using a circular cut out with stamped designs on them. Or cookie cutter images.

You can paint or stain the finished project. 

 The moon and stars mobile was cut out with cookie cutters then a rock design was rolled over the front leaving the images slightly out of shape to add some character. After the bisque firing Blue stain was used for the coloring then kiln fired one more time. Hemp twin was used to bring it all together to hang.

 Making a mobile with ferns from outside on one side and stamped images on the other side.

This mobile was painted later

 This mobile was stained Blue and kiln fired again.