Studio News (Blog)
Studio News (Blog)
Find out what's happening in the studio and with the artist. What items am I working on? What changes are being made in the studio and gallery? What shows am I applying to/have I recently been accepted into? In general, What's New? Thank you for your patience as the photos download. Some are not about pottery but I hope you will enjoy them and they will enhance the story for you.
Thursday, January 22,2026
Sorry I haven't been checking on my website much, I trusted all the links were working like they were when I set it up, and only now learned that most were no longer working. I will try to make updates to the links within the site and to photos over the next few days. I HAVE kept up on my Facebook page so if you want to know what I've been up to and see photos of shows and my work, that is also a good place to look.
A lot has happened since I last wrote here. My brother was diagnosed with brain cancer and subsequently died within months. While dealing with my shock and grief over my brother, we learned that I had endometrial cancer and that I'd had it for several years. When they did a CT scan to see if it had metastasized, they found other problems with my heart and lungs. Further testing was required before they could do surgery to remove the cancer, and that testing showed a need for heart surgery! Turned out the surgeon said I had a 99% blockage which he cleaned up before placing 3 stents. I then had to wait another 6 months following that surgery before they could do the surgery to remove my cancer. It felt like I had a ticking timebomb inside of me and although they checked regularly to make sure it wasn't spreading, I was glad to have my pottery to keep me busy and the ability to see and talk to you, my customers at the shows!
It was a year from the time they found my cancer to the time they were able to remove the cancer, however the shock of the cancer and surgery to my system caused my blood sugar to go very high and for months it was a battle getting it under control with insulin and meds. Thankfully, I no longer need the insulin. Now we "wait and see" for the next five years, hoping it will not return, hoping cells were not planted elsewhere to grow. But in true Sharyn fashion there had to be more. While recovering from that surgery they decided my thyroid needed to be removed. When the pathologist looked at/tested my thyroid, he discovered I had yet another primary cancer! Yep, two primary cancers at the same time, no wonder I was tired all the time. Well, I'm happy to report they got all of that one out too, though I'll need to be followed for that cancer now too. As I recovered from that surgery I continued to work on pottery for shows, attend shows and posted things to Facebook, but I just didn't have the energy to also work on my website and Instagram accounts. (also had the garden to care for and the harvest to process!)
While energy can sometimes still be a problem, I have been VERY busy in the studio preparing for the upcoming year of shows. As always, I will have new items to share. I plan to do a lot of Raku this spring so I should be able to include some of that in the shows and will post some for sale here if I can figure out how to get photos that show off the magic of the Raku. Watch my website for updates, though I'll probably still post most frequently to Facebook since I can do that while working and I have a lot to catch up on! FB: Ceramic Treasures by Sharyn Last year was a great year, thank you ever so much for your support through purchases! See you all at the shows this year.
Photos to left: More Butterfly feeders, bird feeders and Scrubby/'sponge holders waiting to be fired. In the kiln-NEW! Dinosaur Kids' Koins ready for purchase. I KNOW this will be a hit along with all their other favorites!
Monday, May 8, 2023
After days of working on my web page, I'm hoping today will be the day I can finally post all the changes. I'm typing this just in case it works out. While the gallery isn't even close to being ready for posting (I have to upload all the photos again) at least this will be a start and perhaps I can put just a few items in each gallery category and post that to begin, later adding to it when I have time.
In the studio I've been creating pots for plants, vases for flowers, thirsty coasters and much more. I have two new envelope planters which people use for: vases, mail, and a catch-all. Maybe you'll have a new use for it that you can tell me about! None of the items are fired yet but will be ready for their first firing tomorrow.
In the garden the weeds are growing really well so praying they're right about this being a sunny week of weather! Some bulbs have finished blooming, others are in their prime bloom stage and more are coming through the soil every day.
The photos with today's blog post represent some of the items I have been working on. These are currently firing and will be ready for the show on May 20th at From Buds to Blooms.
Monday, November 28, 2022
Well, I pretty much gave up on the website because there had been changes to the program and it wiped out some of my work, meaning I would first have to figure out what was different and then rebuild what was missing. That of course happened just as I was headed into what became a very, very busy spring-summer-fall for me. I participated in 12 Art & Craft Shows beginning in April, and there is one more to go. With the majority of them in May-August, I was attending about 2 per month, and 3 in August. Some items were selling out so quickly, I had a hard time keeping up with making more between shows and custom orders became impossible. Next summer fewer shows!
I am very thankful for all the time my husband, Jim, has put into helping me with this adventure, I couldn't have done it without him! If you attended any of the shows I was in, you may have met him as in addition to helping set up my tent, tables, and some of the displays, he also sometimes helps with sales. In Frankenmuth he carried ALL of the heavy totes of pottery up the hill to my spot in the show. (Anyone have a really good used, large, big-wheeled cart to sell rather inexpensively?) While selling in Frankenmuth was great and I met a lot of interesting people, setting up and tearing down was ROUGH.
Most of the sales this summer went well, and I enjoyed doing a variety of demonstrations for everyone. We did have the experience of setting up in the rain a couple of times (not fun) and tearing down/packing up in torrential rain twice--that's absolutely awful. Only once, a storm came up unexpectedly during a show and though we tried to tighten the tent sides and get stuff into the tent as it quickly approached, we were not prepared for the sudden vicious gust of wind that knocked over platters into my bowls, breaking items.
In addition to attending the shows and trying to keep my inventory up for shows I had a large vegetable garden to care for, and of course the usual cooking, cleaning, pet care, flower gardens and grandchildren.
I ended the summer with lots of harvesting and canning of my vegetables. (Garden photo and small sampling of my tomatoes shown) We also were blessed with a new granddaughter, so we now have 14 grandchildren in all!
Tuesday, March 22, 2022
Not sure how well I'll do keeping-up with this, but I will make the attempt to write a few times a week. Waiting to hear if I was accepted in another show in October, will update here and the show calendar if I am. Today was a busy day. I designed a flyer, ordered a banner for my tent, and more business cards. I also re-designed my egg tray/dishes. While I didn't make much in the way of regular pottery today, in honor of Sunday's spring equinox, I made MANY flower-shaped tablecloth weights which took a lot more time than I'd figured, and some small flower magnets. After carving a plate I'd prepped today, I also spent some time applying wax and carving my maker's mark in preparation for working on inlay tomorrow.