A Great Wedding Gift!

It always thrills me more when people buy my work as gifts. One can always spend money on themselves, but when they spend it for someone else, it shows they have confidence in their purchase and the the receiver is going to love them.

And of course it is great when people combine different items as gifts. This last order was just the perfect gift for a wedding. Sugar creamer set, a butter dish and salt pepper shakers.

Wouldn't this be just great for a wedding gift? Other popular items in my shop for gift are my Oil vinegar bottles, teapots, set of mugs.

Best wishes to everyone receving these gifts!

Bollywood Influence

As many of you know, my work is influenced a lot by Bollywood and Indian fabrics and costumes seen in the movies. It is amazing to me when these influences penetrate your brain.

I came across this video of a Bollywood song shot in 1970 (Shot before I was born). There is a striking resemblance to how I even take pictures of my work compared to this video.

You can see the main actress (who appears a little later in the video) in red dancing in the center and the other dancers in colorful costumes dancing in the background. Now look at the picture below of my Dancing Bottles. I took this picture several months back without intentionally matching it to this song. Can you see what I see?

NEW items added to my Etsy Shop

I am finally done with my last show this year. The shows sure are a lot of work, but I do enjoy meeting all the wonderful people there. Love the new ideas which people have and surely love the feedback.
With the last show done, I am posting some of my show inventory in my etsy shop. It is not late for Christmas shopping yet.

Oil Vinegar Bottles ready to hit the Dance Floor

Oh yes they are ready! I am thankful to the customer who put this idea in my head. She said, I have your butter dish, I have your salt pepper shakers, I have your mugs and bowls and I need some thing more for the kitchen.

I decided to make Oil/Vinegar bottles but wasn't sure what shape/design or how would I incorporate my style to them. Sometimes you just have to try out things to see how they transform.

I made a new die for my extruder and manipulated the clay as it came out. And just like that I knew where this was going.

I tapered the tops to give them a more elegant look and the decoration just empahized the curves and flow of the shape emulating the look of embroidered fabric wrapped around a body.

And I just couldn't decorate one side... they have a different pattern on both sides. The textured slip pattern also helps in getting a good grip on the bottle while cooking.

I like how they came out and would like to read your comments. Getting input on new work is really appreciated. Thanks

New work and more new work in progress

Being an engineer, I am always problem solving. And being an artist, I am always striving to be creative and create new work. Seems like a good combo to me and but it can be an overdose of ideas floating in my head at all times.

I have made incense holders in the past and designed them such that the ash fell directly on the tray rather than creating a mess all around. These still work very well and have beautiful stamped patterns on them. A few months back I started thinking of how to make them even more interesting. This is when I designed a lidded incense holder. The lid has holes through which the incense smoke escapes making these smooth curvy patterns. Of course I went crazy decorating these lids. They took me forever but I love the way they look and especially when the incense is lit. I just posted some on Etsy in my shop.

Another I have had on my mind is oil vinegar bottles. I have been struggling to get a form which would work and had made a few prototypes but not to my liking. This is when observing everything around you becomes important. Just be aware and enjoy and take in all that you see. I was looking at the smoke patterns from the incense holders and decided that is the shape I want. I made a new extruder die, got to work and made these oil vinegar bottles. These still need to be decorated but couldn't wait to share my Aha! moment. Looking at the group photograph they look like dancers in Bollywood dance routine. LOL!