How to make a Packing peanut Dispenser?

If you ship orders on Etsy, Ebay, for wholesale you know what a pain it is to deal with packing peanuts. With pottery being fragile, you just have to make friends with packing peanuts. I had been struggling with removing peanuts from bags and boxes and all it created is a big mess and I had to come up with a solution.

Sure you can always buy a packing peanut dispenser but it is going to cost you big time and it might not be the size you want. Here is a simple plan that was fairly easy to do and you can do it too. I also got some great ideas from Jim Bridgeman who has an awesome dispenser which holds the peanuts on the upper floor of his studio. 

The best part is that it costed me peanuts. LOL! I actually had everything at home and just needed the tarp which was $10 and the damper.

Cut out the tarp to the dimensions that work in your space. Above are the dimensions that I used and this can hold  a LOT of peanuts. You do need some sewing skills. Make sure you use a needle for thick material like denim. Fold the top and sew the top so as to fit a 1 inch pvc pipe in the loop.

Pass four 3 feet pvc lengths in the loops and connect them with elbows. This helps in maintaining the top of the dispenser square and steady for loading.

I attached a 6" duct with a damper. With this you can open and close the damper for flow of peanuts.

Then with some rope and pulleys you can bring it down to fill and pull it up out of your way for packing.

Feel free to share this with your friends and Etsy teams who do a  lot of shipping online.

If you have any suggestions on improvement of the design or other helpful tips on packing, feel free to comment below.

Pottery Studio Tour and Sale

In all these years of doing pottery, it is hard for me to beleive I still have never done a studio tour. I have usually joined potters and artists and did a show at another location.
With NCECA in Seattle this year, I thought it would be great opportunity to open the doors of my studio. I do show the happenings in my studio all the time through my blog, but this time you can actually step in.

Plus it will be fun to meet other potters and artists coming for NCECA.

Great deals on Older Stock and Seconds!

Plus buyers get to put their name for a chance to win one of my gallery pieces.

If you are out of state, you can have a virtual tour of my studio here and browse through my work in my Etsy shop

When: March 31st - April 1st (10am - 5pm)

Where: 32706 5th Ave SW,

Federal way, WA 98023

Directions: From I-5,

Take Exit 143, 320th St and go west

Drive 2 miles and turn left on 6th Ave SW

Drive 0.5 miles and turn left on SW 327 Pl

Take first left on 5th Ave SW

I look forward to meeting you

As part of NCECA 2012 in Seattle, do look for my work at the following locations

• Pillow bowl being displayed in theSeattle Convention Center for Potters Council Show "The Chromatic Edge"
• Ceramic shoes and bag displayed at the Nordstrom window in Seattle Downtown for the "Feet of Clay" show.
• Two platters at the Platter Tectonics/Specific Rims exhibit at the Kirkland Arts Center Store
• Dancing Divas and a platter are going to be at the Pulse: Rhythm in Clay exhibit at the ArtEast Art Center in Issaquah
• Beer Stein Live auction at the HopVine Pub in Seattle March 29th 9pm.

Other places you can find my work in Seattle area

City Kitchens

JF Henry Kitchen and Tableware

Throwing mud gallery

Ginger Street

 

 

Repairing cracks with paper slip

If you are a potter and especially a handbuilder you must have come across the small hairline crack.  It usually happens when pieces are made to dry too fast. Well sometimes you are in a rush, so what can you do?

I have used my paper slip which has worked everytime and also in cracks in bisque ware. All it contains is my clay body with toilet paper and water. Quick way to make it is use some bone dry clay, water soaked toilet paper and some water. No real propotion. Just use a hand blender to make this goop. You will know you have enough paper by looking at the fibers in the goopy slip.

All you do next is score and apply this goop where the crack is and burnish it smooth. Bisque as normal. You can use this to repair bisqued cracks too. For bisque cracks or joining broken pieces adding a little white glue helps to keep the pieces together while it dries. You still need to rebisque the piece before glazing it.

Glad to see all this salt pepper shakers survive. Love seeing this colorful bisque load.

I use this slip for all my handbuilding purposes, attaching handles, bottoms of pieces and it works great.

Do you have a slip that does wonders for you? Do share in the comments below.

Homemade Pizza

As many of you know, along with my interests in pottery, I like to cook too. I haven't been getting much time to do it, but it does relax me. So I decided to start blogging about it on a regular basis with simple everday cooking. I am sure my wife will love it that I am at least getting in the kitchen more. :) Share recipes/thoughts/ideas, etc.. Talking about recipes, I rarely follow one, but I will provide links and ingredient lists.

For today we have the Homemade Pizza. We have all at some point or the other tried this. I usually like different topping than normal. It is mostly what is there in the fridge/pantry.

These are some of my favorite toppings artichokes, onion, feta cheese, sun dried tomatoes, kalamata olives, broccoli, mushrooms and walnuts. And sauce of my choice is pesto sauce which is zinged with some cilantro and green chillies

I used store bought all wheat pizza dough. A little hard to stretch but some dry flour really helps. Layed it on a perforated pizza dish (My brother told me about this) and just have fun with it. Topped with mozzarella cheese of course.

Into a 425F oven for 20 minutes and enjoy.

What are your favorite toppings? Do comment and share your tips on making a good homemade pizza.

NCECA 2012: West Coast Teapot Show, Platter Tectonics and Pulse: Rhythm in Clay

March is going to be a busy month with NCECA and with it being held in locally in Seattle this year, I am extra excited.

As part of NCECA, I have previous mentioned about my pillow bowl being displayed in the Potters Council Show and my ceramic shoes and bag being displayed at the Nordstrom window "Feet of Clay" show.

In addition to this my teapots are part of The West Coast Teapot Show at the Columbia Art Gallery Hood River, OR. It is an honor being among such great potters with amazing teapots. Do check them out.

You can see two of platters at the Platter Tectonics/Specific Rims exhibit at the Kirkland Arts Center Store

And my Dacing Divas and a platter are going to be at the Pulse: Rhythm in Clay exhibit at the ArtEast Art Center in Issaquah, WA

And at the end of NCECA March 31st and April 1st, I am planning on having my first open studio tour. Stay tuned for more info on that!

If you would like to receive email on the studio tour, sign up here

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Decorative Butter Dishes

I have been making decorative butter dishes for a few years now and I am always thrilled to decorate them with unique patterns. Because of their time consuming nature, I usually made 12 at a time. This time I decided to challenge myself and make 30 of them. Most of these are for wholesale orders, so I have been a busy bee.

I made all different patterns and had to really scratch my head on these.

Few things I realized from making larger quantities at one time...

• You increase your efficiency. For example, you pick up one tool and do the same step on all the butter dishes. Rather than picking up and putting down 10 tools for each piece. This saves a lot of time.
• Develope quicker ways to do the same thing. I made a new tool which helps me score and slip. More on that in another post.
• And because I wanted different designs on all butter dishes, I came up with some really cool new patterns.
• And most of all your hand developes a memory, just like playing the piano which makes things go a lot faster and your work will continue to improve.

Do share your insights on what you have learnt working in your studio.
 

Creative Gaga: The Enthusiastic Creative Journal

I am absolutely thrilled to be published in the Creative Gaga Magazine and more importantly making an appreance on the Front Cover! This is a quality magazine circulated mostly in India.

It is very well put together with great images of my work in a four page layout. Here is the writeup.

Handmade Solutions:

There is a love and attachment that passes on from the creator to the consumer when something is handmade. Moreover, when these pieces come as design solutions to everyday affairs, design gets a new meaning. Charan Sachar comes out to be an artist with an endeavour to add this design-dimension to his creations.

Clay transcends the distance between art and design. From all the mediums I have worked with, clay gives me an opportunity to make three dimensional art which can serve the purpose of function as well. The whole transformation going from a lump of soft clay to a form that is created from one's imagination, resulting in a solid piece of solution, is an experience in iteself.

Culture is an accidental mentor. India's amazing treasure of art and culture has been me since childhood. Without a conscious effort, the colors, patterns, motifs etc. seeped in me as I grew up to be a visual artist. It is magical how all the small things that I was exposed to now find a way into everything I create.

Every problem either has a solution or a beautiful solution. At the core, pottery is all about creating functionality. But if you want the user to go beyond usage to experience, aesthetics will have to fit effortlessly into the larger design scheme. The shape of the form or its beautification can, for instance, make a huge difference to the way even a mug can transcend the shelf space to acquire an emotional space. It is the ultimate aim of any creator to create an attachment. Experimentation with ways to solve a problem is the only way out.