The friends of Asian Art Association

Spring is in the air... Fresh blooms, new leaves on trees, sun shinning with color popping everywhere. This is always my favorite time of the year. And I am very glad that this year my parents were visiting and we could enjoy this colorful season together.

With my mom at the Tulip Festival in Washington State. A great way to celebrate a Pre-Mother's Day

Talking about mom, don't forget "Mother's Day" is right around the corner. Check out my new mugs and other Mom favorites in my Etsy shop Mother's Day Special Get a FREE sample of Jaipur Avenue Chai with every purchase till supplies last. If you have wondered of what true Indian Masala Chai Tea tastes like then you have got to try this.

Pictured here are some of my new variations in my mugs photographed and staged by a very talented photographer Archana Srinivas. She is passionate about interior design, travel, rustic food photography, her cups of 'chai' & capturing the beauty of everyday life... Check out her facebook page and you will be amazed.

Moravian Pottery and Tile works

When I went to Philadelphia for the Buyers Market Show in February I made it a point to have an additional day to visit the Moravian Pottery and Tile works in Doylestown, PA. It is a 1.5 hour train ride with 1/2 hour walk from the train station to the studio, but worth every minute and much more.

Seeing the video of the history of how these tiles acme about was great with so much great insight to some simple processes that still in use there.

Check out the number of tiles a worker had to produce in a day. That is a lot of freaking tiles!!!

It was great to get an in depth look into process with one of the artists there (Eric, don't recall his last name). He was grateful to answer all my questions and also gave me a ride back to the train station in the freezing rain. I was amazed to see that the tiles were all physically pressed by hand with simple tools till date and he mentioned that the tile press was used for mostly open faced tiles. A very basic tile press and plans of making one are in Frank Giorgini's book "Handmade Tiles"

This I think was one of the most genius things I saw there. Their boards for storing tiles during making, decorating and glazing was so simple. Just a board with small 1x2s attached at the end that just stack and make a cool inbuilt shelving system. They have been using this system for years and some of those boards are really old. Some of the simplest ideas are the greatest.

Of course going there has me inspired t do some tile work. I have had it at the back of my mind for years, but going to this place has really got me thinking again. I have already started working on some prototypes, so hopefully I will have new products during the summer shows. What places or workplaces have you visited that have inspired you?

     

Slip Decoration Madness Video

As many of you know, Slip decoration is big part of my work. And my work is highly influenced by Indian fabrics colors and embroidery. At first instance people assume I am imprinting a piece of fabric on my clay and then make my forms.
That is not the case and the pieces get slip decorated individually making each one unique. I try to keep adding new patterns and designs and since each piece gets its own unique touch, each one lands up being one of a kind.
Here is a short video clip (speeded up, of course) showing a typical day in my studio. I wish I could decorate at that speed. I enjoy this part of the process, but have heard comments that it is just madness.
So call me crazy, but I LOVE it!
To see other pieces of my work slip decorated visit my website

Do you think this is Madness?

     

How to organize digital images?

Don't we all just love the digital world we live in? The amount of time and money we save by just clicking our digital cameras and taking as many pictures as we need is just awesome. No more taking pictures on film, wondering if you got the perfect shot, then spending money on developing them and realizing that you messed up color balance or focus or something else. I am talking from mostly the point of view of taking pictures of my pottery, which is great for keeping records, seeing how your work progresses, applying for shows, posting on Facebook, blog, websitesetc... One big issue I have had is with the excess of pictures and trying to organize and find what you need. They land up going in multiple locations. For every purpose resolutions change, website and blogs need low res, show applications need high res but of a certain size. Sometimes color correction is required. I just had to come up with something that would save me the frustration of finding the picture I want. I posted this question on Facebook and got some great tips. I adopted some of them and modified them to suit my needs. I wanted to share this on my blog as I am sure there are several of you who would be dealing with this situation. One option was to name images as per date, resolution, kind of product and many adopted this method. However this would be a nightmare for me with the current pictures I have. And because I am always in a rush, spending more time after taking pictures naming each one would just sink my time. I came up with a folder solution which was a combination of suggestions by two of my Facebook friends, James Young and Kristen Kieffer At first all images get downloaded from my camera to a folder called "Sort". In this folder, all bad shots are deleted and everything is moved to the "Originals" folder. And within the "Originals" there is a sub folder for every year, 2008, 2009, 2010... So at the end of it the "Sort" folder should be empty to receive new images the next time around. From the "Originals" folder things get really sorted. Based on where and what I use my images for this is the structure I use. Images are "copied" to the respective folders and edited as per resolution needed and cleaned up. A copy of the originals in the "Originals" folder stays intact. Blog Website Show submissions Press Submissions Studio Facebook Videos Wholesale Catalog Etsy Inspiration And each of these folders has subfolders of years in them, i.e. each folder has a 2008, 2009... 2013 folder in them. It took me 3 days to clean up all the images I had, but I feel so much better now as I know exactly where an image goes and where I can find it. I hope this helps other as well. What tips do you have for organizing your digital pictures???

     

Buyers Market of American Crafts: Booth Setup

So where have I been? Since my last posting during the holidays I have been super busy. It all started in June 2012 when I decided that I wanted to do the Buyers Market of American Craft Show in Philadelphia. The show was last weekend (Feb 16th-18th) and it has been quite a journey preparing for it. Here is the final picture of my booth at the show,... I truly believe that Rome wasn't built in one day and neither was my booth.

It all started with this basic idea of booth design for a corner booth. Love Sketchup for that. After which came the Chicken and egg problem, along with a long list of questions.

How many pots should I take? What size boxes should I have for the pots? How should I pack the pots? Do I ship boxes separately or in a crate? If I use a crate, what size crate? Should I buy the crate first and plan my booth so it fits in the crate? or should I plan my booth and then buy the crate that would hold everything in it? What should I do for drapes? How should I hang my posters? How do I make pedestals, light weight and collapsible? What do I do about the floor? How many lights should I take? Will black back drop be too dark for my booth? These questions are only 15% of things that were going in my head for the last 8 months. A big thanks goes out to Pam Corwin from Business of Crafts, Mark Rosenbaum from Rosetree Glass and several other professional artists (now friends) I have met online to help me answer all my questions and worries. Below are some things that I did and I hope would help others in my situation as well.

This is the general way I packed my pots in these stackable plastic totes. You can get these totes at plant nurseries that import bulbs. Peanuts would be great protection but are a pain when it comes to unpacking and packing again after the show. Some more cardboard on the sides and sponge was added to these crates to make sure nothing moved.

Then came the challenge of packing all the pots, pedestals, display items, lights, step stool, promotional stuff into a shipping crate. But then what size crate? Thanks to Alison Baker Supple to giving me a great tip on this. Tape a squares on the garage floor to the inside dimensions of available shipping crate boxes. Fill up your imaginary crate which would give a good indication on what size will work. I settled on a 48" x 40" x 40" collapsible shipping crate which not only holds everything but also collapses and becomes a pedestal for my booth. It is under the black fabric in the corner. Below are pictures of the inside contents of my crate and the crate itself. PS: Don't bother with that ridiculous cone on the crate. There were no signs of it when it reached my booth. :)

I am glad after all that stress and planning, it all came together quite well. .Got great feedback from other exhibitors and buyer as well. What are your tips on Booth Setups?

    

Christmas Shopping FREE shipping

Don't forget to check out my Etsy shop that is stocked with goodness for the Holiday Season Shop for your friends, family and may be yourself too. Or just forward to your friends and loved ones to tell them what you want this holiday season. LOL!

SPECIAL OFFER FREE SHIPPING for all orders received by December 9th (Sunday). Use Coupon Code: DECSHIP2012 All orders from today till Sunday December 9th will ship on Monday Dec 10th by Priority Mail so you will get your orders well before Christmas

Christmas Mug Every year I introduce one special mug especially for Christmas. This year this one is it. I removed it from the kiln and it just screamed Chrsitmas to me.

Platter Bowl Intricate detail and layers of colors

Salt Pepper Shakers One of my most popular stocking stuffers. Check out several other stocking stuffers in my shop

Wish you and yours a very Happy Holiday Season and a Happy New Year! Best wishes Charan Creative with Clay Federal Way, WA Tel: 253 241 2245 Email: creativewithclay@yahoo.com Website: http://www.creativewithclay.com Store: http://creativewithclay.etsy.com

If you like my work, you sure will like the colors and patterns in the works of my friend, Angie Heinrich. Check out her work at Zetamiri.com