Friday, May 31, 2013

ME, MYSELF AND I

I recently completed, packed and shipped out an order for a set of pots that arrived the other day to the client. I received an odd email upon receipt; nothing about condition, how it was received but rather, they were curious how many people I had working for me. At issue, the source of confusion, which is all my fault is the presence of two distinct marks, the small eclipsed moon for Albedo Studio and the CB I use to identify me as the maker. I assured them that other than Jun the ever helpful studio assistant cat, I had only three people working for me; me, myself and I. I further explained that I use both stamps without any real rhyme or reason, but tend to use the moon mark on smaller pots or pieces that I only want a small interruption in the surface which included the thrown style slab plates. The order consisted of 4 smaller thrown slab plates (11" x 5"), 4 larger ones (15" x 7"), 4 sauce bowls, four soup bowls, 8 guinomi and 4 tokkuri all glazed in the Oribe and intended as a sushi/ sashimi set. Once the issue of employment was all cleared up, the new owners related they were very pleased with the set and it was to be used that evening. I am glad I didn't tell them, I use two other stamps occasionally on the terra cotta pieces or they may have thought I had even more people working in my small studio, it might get a bit crowded as at times there is barely enough room for kilns, wheel, shelves and tables, let alone wet and drying pots or more people.