Min mand er som de fleste måske ved Tømrermester og han arbejder typisk med store erhvervs projekter. Det betyder en del varer på vores lager, såsom køkkener, døre, vinduer og alt muligt andet byggemateriale.

Det bliver leveret med fragtmand og er typisk pakket ind i både plastik, pap, skum og alt muligt andet. Det er nok ikke noget jeg kan ændre på selv om jeg godt gad, tør slet ikke tænke på hvor mange tons plast der blot bruges for så at blive smidt ud i en stor Container - Erhvervsdrivende skal sjovt nok ikke affaldssortere andet end pap.

Derfor står jeg klar når de pakker ud og snupper alt hvad der overhovedet kan genbruges både at nyt og gammelt de måske har med hjem fra en byggeplads. Det er både gratis og miljøvenligt.

Min mand synes vist jeg var lidt skør i starten, men tror lidt jeg har fået ham med på vognen efter at han har set hvad man kan bruge det til.

Her har jeg lige samlet og skåret 50 meter skum plast som passer perfekt til at beskytte både lys og keramik. Jubiii dejligt!

Jeg bruger rigtigt meget maler rørepinde til at røre glasur, ler og jesmonite op med, men i denne omgang bruger jeg nogle genbrugs fodpaneler, faktisk 20 meter, det skal jeg lige love for blev til en del rørepinde da jeg først havde haft gang i saven. Pyha god træning :-)

Det samme gælder røreskåle, litermål og andet plastik. Det meste har jeg købt i genbrugsbutikker og så samler familie og venner diverse creme fraiche bøtter og lignende ind til mig, så jeg slippper for at bruge alt for meget plastik.

De kloge siger at det er noget ens kunder går op i, at man er miljøbevidst, men jeg må jo bare sige at det må mine kunder også gerne, men det er nu ikke derfor jeg gør det. Jeg er bare glad for at bidrage og så hjælper det selvfølgelig at det er gratis, når nu jeg forsøger at holde omkostningerne nede.

Inden jeg slutter for idag skal der lige pakkes en ordre til en 60 års fødselsag der gerne skal nå hurtigt frem og jeg skal have lavet de sidste lys til tre ordrer til jylland som er forsinket. Pyh.. håber jeg når det.

Håber i alle derude har en fantastisk søndag med dem i holder af, jeg har nu fri og skal hygge med min kære husbond som er syg.

Kærligst

Sys

Last weekend was a hit, and I sold out before lunch time on several handcrafted new pieces, which was either great (because people loved my new designs), or just a bit newbie stupid, that I didn't create enough to meet the demand, and therefore missed out on sales.

I was listed in the local online news channel SønderborgNyt with a nice picture of my pop-up shop, and I was grateful to get free publicity. http://Article in SønderborgNyt

In the article, it is mentioned that I am working on opening a local shop that allows customers to shop 24/7 using the latest payment and access software, which I am super excited about, but it still has a long way to go, to find the right tools and systems, not to mention the money to put that dream into action. Sønderborg already has a flower shop to operate 24/7 so why not an interior design/gift shop?

Sønderborg is my home, no matter how many years I live here in Copenhagen, it will never be my home, in the same way. I love coming home and doing fairs, especially since my mom is mostly joining me, I love spending time with her, and we meet so many nice people and just get to spend time together a whole day.

When doing fairs I meet a lot of people who have the same dream as me, working on my own, being my own boss, and having a small business that I can live off and as much as I love the passion that people put forward and however much time we spend on letting that dream come to life, its really really hard work. Today is Tuesday and I slept most of Monday because I really needed a break after almost a month with no days off. So I asked my boss (me) and she agreed that I needed a break.

Most of today was spent at the computer learning the tricky ways of search engine optimization for my webshop and other admin stuff. Tomorrow I will be back in the workshop and creating some items that customers wanted me to ship as they were too late at the fair, and wanted them anyway. So candles and ring holders are up for tomorrow.

I spend a lot of time searching for materials for my production of pieces, that be stearin and paraffin for candle production or casting clay in bulk for ceramics. Phew it's a jungle and it really means the difference between making it or not, having good and cost-effective suppliers

On Thursday and Friday, mom is visiting and she needs to take home the items and she delivers them to the customers. Don't know what I would do without her! <3

Lots of love

Sys

So these days I am super busy. I am working with some of the safe stuff, like jesmonite and standard glazed for my ceramic pieces. These pieces are fairly easy to make and to ensure consistant results so that I have items for my webshop amd the markets.

BUT… I need to find my own signature style that represents me. That is a lot easier said then done. Goid thing that I am a structured person. So this picture is from late nights testing fun

So the way I test new styles is that I take the standard glaze, either from a recipe or store bought, and then I add stains, flux or other additives to make it my own.

So up here I took small amounts of glaze and added stains in 0,5%, 1% and 3%. I do that to see what happens with it, when fired. Now the tricky part is that each stains coloring abilities differs. Take for example these two blue are very different so I will test them and see.

Apart from that I also test what happens ehen adding flux and crystals. So flux is different additives that will blend with your glaze color and add life to the piece. Let me show you

Its really hard to explain what it does, it makes the glaze come alive, changes the look and adds the color play to a piece.

So on a test piece it looks like this

I made a whole bunch of tests and I can’t wait until they are fired. Now a little prep went into this test, as I cannot just mix any glazes just like that. I use Mayco brush and stroke and a transparent glaze from Cerama 2209 and fire to cone 6. These go together in firing schedule as they can react quite a lot if fired to high.

All there is left now is to wait and let the kiln cool off.

I will add the test results to the blog when Ready. Crossing my fingers 🙏🏻

Have a great day ahead ☺️

Sussie Spize (my nickname in Dar when I used to live there)

It's sunday and I spend most of my weekend working, preparing for the two big upcomming creative fairs in Hillerød and Sønderborg.

I have a full load of new ceramic items in the kiln, and I can't wait to open the kiln tomorrow. I think most ceramic artists can relate when I say it feels like Christimas eve, opening the kiln and see if anything went according to plan. I still need more experience regarding the firing process and it's no joke to hit the right temperature.

let me give you an example.

Below are two test items, the buttom one is of the glaze as it suppose to be and the top item is a bit over heated but the result is so beautiful that I really hope it can be recreated. So I am waiting for the kiln to cool down to see.. It sort of turns a little green and blue, and it just makes the piece come alive right?

The jesmonite items are are also coming along, and I made around 50 new items that are in pastel colors and ready to sand down and put in the webshop.

I am also starting the christmas collection in both Jesmonite and ceramics and the overall theme is light, white beige colors, gold and green. I hope you will like it.

Now its time for SoMe, inventory, sales tasks and my favorite - finances. Yak!

Hope you are happy and doing well, I am for sure, tired but happy.

Sys