I know I’m very much sneaking this shop update in under the wire, holiday shipping-wise (on that note, I can’t guarantee any of this will make it in time for gifting outside of Canada-bound orders, sorry!), but I wanted to get these mugs & critters off my studio shelves & out into the world before the end of 2023.

So! My shop will be updating THIS Friday, December 8th at 8pm EST (more apologies to my European/UK subscribers — I promise the next update will be at a better time for you!) — read on for some previews, or pop on over to the shop (heywitch.bigcartel.com) to see what’s up there (all mugs & beasts are uploaded, but I’m still working on descriptions/measurements - those will be up today/tomorrow!).

First up, MUGS!! I’m really excited about how this batch turned out, especially the inner glazes  — I tried out some new glaze combos & got some really neat effects, eg:

I just got some more glazes with layering in mind & can’t wait to try them out (a few will appear in the wee batch I’m firing next week, so maybe I’ll include them in some sort of end of year newsletter thingy?!).

And a shop update wouldn’t be a proper one without BEASTS! This round has the first members of a new species - the CloudsBeasts! Descended from the same ancestor as the WoodsBeasts, these creatures have chosen the skies over the deep green mosses of the forest & are often spotted in one’s peripheral vision swooping through the turrets of thunderheads or looping around the purple clouds of sunset.

This little family of CloudsBeasts is the first ever photographed:

Alongside these weirdos & their sweet bébés, you’ll also have an assortment of weird birds to choose from, eg:

So yeah! That’s the update — I promise to get them boxed up & on their way to their destinations ASAP once they’re ordered. See you this Friday!!

Studio Dude-ios

or, what’s going on at my pottery desk & beyond

It’s all tidied up now, but of course my glazing time aligned perfectly with a tight-deadline graphic design project, so my desk ended up an absolute SWAMP of glaze pots & beasts (I type, as if it doesn’t always look like this no matter how busy I am).

It was nice to work on a little, no-pressure experimental batch (as I knew it wouldn’t be fired in time for holiday shopping) & it allowed me to finally start figuring out pinch pots! I’ve still got a lot of practice to go with this technique, but it’s nice to have the option of more organic shapes alongside the more geometric slab pieces. I also noodled around with some medieval illuminated manuscript creatures, a thing I’ve been wanting to do for ages! Can’t wait to see how these turn out after the glaze firing:

That’s it for now! I’ll leave you with this serene photo of some glazed pieces basking in a morning sunbeam. Thank you as always for reading!