Answering the call by #make_and_do_ceramics to help focus I’m #canadianceramics studio and #canadianpottersstudio We’re all in this together. This is a series I call my “cinderella coach” series. Many years ago I used a slip trailing technique to outline very right and colourful drawings Lor you’d see in a colouring book as a kid. Years later, I began to just use the slip trailing as accented raised textures and lines. The Fibonacci spiral is forever mesmerizing to me and so spirals seem to have landed in some of my work. I love@the feeling of the texture under my fingers while holding a beverage. Handmade mugs are all about the tactile experience for me. Why not go fill out I say. I’m staring outside a picture window right now at the ocean and there are a shebang load of eagles out today. When you look out your window right now… what’s one thing you see ?

by | May 4, 2020 | A Potters Life - Blog | Cori Sandler

Just adding a few more pots to this update. I’m feeling like such a rookie. I haven’t had an update in a good while. I’ve sat wondering if I should even do this… at this time. … with all that is going on, and a dear friend said, do t withhold beauty at this time. We all need something to look forward to, to make our days a little hopeful a little brighter. Okay, so here we go. To brighter days. Thanks for all your encouragement everyone. It means more than you could possibly know. Update will be available starting at 11 am pst today. Fri., apr 24. #corisandlerpottery.

by | Apr 24, 2020 | A Potters Life - Blog | Cori Sandler

For Toronto fro t lines healthcare workers. Contact @picjerphoto ・・・The real #frontlines. The most essential, the most at risk, yet still coming back day after day to keep us alive! Think of your caregiving friends, nurses, doctors, and everyone related! They need your support, even from a distance!..Offering FREE portrait sessions to all essential workers and their families to be shot once COVID is under control ️.Tag your friends and family members I will start a list .Thank you @mirellamazza for taking two minutes for this photo!..#frontlines #essentialworkers #stayhome #staypositive #covid #covid2020 #coronavairus #sendlove #photooftheday #picoftheday #nurses #doctors #healthcareworkers #picjerphoto #beautiful #inspiration #passiton #share #comment #tagafriend #canoncanada #follow #lifestyle #photographer #toronto

by | Apr 9, 2020 | A Potters Life - Blog | Cori Sandler

Gonna throw more pots today. At least that is the plan. You’d think it would be easy to just get into the studio and make make make during this time of isolation. I’m finding it hard though. Two days in a row, I’ve said I’m heading to the studio. Ow and 2 days in a row I’ve not been able to. Crazy really. My studio is in my home, nothing much is different in my daily life… (except everything if you get my meaning). I worry about those close to me and I worry about family so many miles away. I worry about silly decisions people make to “dare the odds” and go about life as usual, even though every notice from government, from institutions etc etc says STAY HOME. I’ll get to making pots, I will. I promise. If not today, then tomorrow. If not tomorrow, then the next day … and so on and so on. Yesterday I gave some fresh veggies to a neighbour who had none. She was going to make a soup from a chicken carcass and my veggies. I’m reminded in the story about Stone soup. We all need to band together, help each other and words to self… play with clay and create. Mug by #corisandlerpottery

by | Mar 18, 2020 | A Potters Life - Blog | Cori Sandler

Time to hunker down and make more pots, think into some new designs perhaps. This one came out of slip trailing gone wrong. I just didn’t like what I was doing with the slipbtrailing on this mug (less is more, I know, but you know me… safe to say I may have gone overboard a bit 🤣). It just didn’t look great so, I added more (what ???? You say). And then I used a harder bristle brush and created these waves of texture. Makes me so much happier now. Sometimes, mistakes or missing the mark, can take you in a different direction. Don’t be afraid to change direction and see what you get. By #corisandlerpottery These mugs are available at #thepottersplacegallery in Courtenay BC.

by | Mar 15, 2020 | A Potters Life - Blog | Cori Sandler

Sitting in an airport waiting for my return flight home. The sky is big and wide as only a prairie sky can be. Looking back on some phone images, I really see how much the ocean I live by has totally influenced my work. Take this mug for instance, both the movement of slip and the colour of the glaze. This particular mug and more like it were dropped off at #thepottersplacegallery before I left for this away time. I’m so psyched to get back to making pots. Sitting in the airport waiting, and watching planes take off and land right on the other side of this huge window, I’m take by what an incredible time to have been alive. A time when we can get to places far away by sitting in a huge metal bird for a few hours. Of course I want to be responsible about how often I fly, the environment, etc etc and I hope I find ways to continue to be conscious of my part in all of this. I do love that I make sustainable art. Art that smiles back at you. Art that gets to be USED daily. Is there something that you have decided to do, to help address your own part in our changing world. ???? Please feel free to share here. Thanks so much all

by | Mar 4, 2020 | A Potters Life - Blog | Cori Sandler

PRESENT. Talking today to a number of very special people I haven’t seen in a very long time, I’m reminded about how important it is to be present. Present when listening to someone else’s stories, present when sharing my own stories and present in my art practice. I don’t want to be one of those who just ends up doing the same thing over and over again, even if it’s working wonderfully. I want to grow and experiment and change and … be present. – my daily mantra for right now. This mug is kind of about that too. In the moment of mixing a glaze from scratch, I decided to be present and play. I want to play. I want to jump up and down and dance in my studio. I want to laugh and smile whole heartedly and myself. I also want to experience beauty in my daily rituals, like drinking from a handmade mug , like this one, made with love and thoughtfulness. Thx everyone for taking the time to look, share and comment. It means the world to me.

by | Feb 27, 2020 | A Potters Life - Blog | Cori Sandler

Life is sometimes very fluid and easy – sometimes there is tension. Embrace tension I say. Goodness, sometimes it’s just perspective as to which of these two things is going on for us. Every-once in a while I have to catch myself and remind myself about that. This glaze is a perfect embodiment of those opposites for me. The flow and sheen and runs of the glaze when it pools and the matt crystals and butter softness of the glaze where it’s flat is that tension between the two. A side note, this is the same glaze as the post with the tree on the mug, but on a different clay body. Just a bit of iron in the clay body fluxes (or melts) the glaze in such a different way and the colour response too is different and more green than aqua but still on the ocean side of green. How cool is that? It almost has an ash glaze character – surprise surprise. So many life lessons for those of us in the clay making world. By @corisandlerpottery

by | Feb 27, 2020 | A Potters Life - Blog | Cori Sandler

I love going for walks in the forests near me. I live in a rain forest and live in the ocean. I think this series captures both. This is the same glaze I recently spoke about. It feels soooo dang amazing to touch. Smoother than a cats under-belly. Also, the herring are beginning to show up which means the eagles and gulls and all manner of wildlife who hang out on the ocean are hovering close by. I love the little birds on this mug. If you were going to call this glaze something, what would it be? I have had a few really great suggestions based on my previous post. Any thoughts?

by | Feb 27, 2020 | A Potters Life - Blog | Cori Sandler

Just thinking about how many dances around the kiln I have taken in my life. Lots! This mug has some of my local (meaning right outside my studio) slip, which I added to this mug while leather hard and on the wheel just after trimming. I hen scrafitto through it and this new glaze covers it. I had a coffee from it his morning and my oh my, did that coffee taste amazing! May be the mug right???? Any high ya in a name for this glaze? All ideas appreciated. Mug by @corisandlerpottery

by | Feb 25, 2020 | A Potters Life - Blog | Cori Sandler

In a mad rush, I made a new glaze. It was a glaze I had made and used and loved in the past but hadn’t had it in rotation for quite a long time. I was in a huge hurry to get this kiln load glazed and in the kiln before heading out of town, so that it would be done by the time I returned and had to turn around again in a day and head out of town again. I’m never one to be complacent or to take the easy way out or even the known route. Having said that, I made up the glaze and just when all ingredients were in the little dry mounds in my bucket I said to myself, ahhh live dangerously Cori Sandler!!! Add another random chemical. So this is the result. A most amazing smooth satin matte aqua coloured glaze. I couldn’t be happier. It has movement and micro crystals and pools to a shiny turquoise and breaks beautifully over textures. Get ready for a bunch of new work with this treatment. It has a very different colour response on different clay bodies, even both being light clay bodies so, there are lots of possibilities ahead. All this to say, sometimes when you take chances, you get something that you can hopefully learn from while other times when you take chances, you hear symphonies and see angels dancing around you. You can find the new work at #thepottersplacegallery in #courtenaybc

by | Feb 25, 2020 | A Potters Life - Blog | Cori Sandler

Do you like a 2 cupper or a larger 4-cupper teapot. I’m on a mission to make a bunch of kickass teapots. Various sizes. I have a friend who loves her personal teapot I made years ago for her. She adds loose leaf tea, (there is a toggle hole for a hanging tea ball should you want that on the bottom of the lid, so the metal hook doesn’t interfere with closing the lid) She takes her teapot to upstairs to her office and she tells me how happy it makes her. This one e will likely end up being a 2 cupper. I like the all different sizes. Always learning even after 30+ years of making pots. Remember to always put a “blow hole” in the top of the lid to allow for air take in and free flowing tea. By #corisandlerpottery

by | Jan 28, 2020 | A Potters Life - Blog | Cori Sandler

I love my days at The Potters Place Gallery. It’s such a treat to see new works from all the local bc #comoxvalley artists as they bring them in. At his is the work of Cheri Lamb that I’m highlighting here. Her glazes are drippy gorgeous, she lives on a river (well, beside it, but you know what I mean) and in a forest… and watching the river flow downstream, and seeing the glistening if the smooth rocks shimmer in the light under the rolling of the waters, no doubt gives Cheri some of the inspirations behind her stunning aqua series. When you have the chance. her work is always available at the gallery along with over 20 other uber talented artists from the comox valley, #britishcolumbia

by | Jan 23, 2020 | A Potters Life - Blog | Cori Sandler

One thing I love about getting up the earliest in my household, is I get sweet little moments like this at daybreak. I think inter-species relationships teach us all how to be better at inter-personal relationships. Truth be told, I think it should be mandatory for humans to love with animals at some point in one’s life. Having an animal so trusting to want to just fall asleep on your lap is one of my life’s simple pleasures. I am blessed.

by | Dec 23, 2019 | A Potters Life - Blog | Cori Sandler

Let the light in. Yeah. Happy solstice to all. Here in the west coast of Canada, it gets dark really early and goodness, am I ever looking forward to days getting a little longer once again. The ocean stirs up all kinds of foam and kelp and seaweed this time of year too. I try to capture that in some of my pots. Kind of feel like this one could have been plucked from the ocean floor. Are you a solstice celebrator? Ahhhhhh. Let the sun shine.

by | Dec 21, 2019 | A Potters Life - Blog | Cori Sandler

Sometimes experiments are good and so@times, not so good. I think I’ll keep working on This one. Does it remind you of the northern lights. I remember seeing them for the first time in the middle of Alberta Canada and then again on the west coast. I’ve only seen them 3 times in my life and I k ow that is 3 x more than a whole lot of people. It’s absolutely fascinating to watch the sky light up with vibrant colours and just dance. Where were you when saw the northern lights? Have you? (Mug by #corisandlerpottery)

by | Dec 20, 2019 | A Potters Life - Blog | Cori Sandler

It’s pouring here right now . The wind is whipping these huge trees around me back and forth. The ocean is all white, like someone is making whipping cream out there. I’m waiting for my glaze kiln to cool enough for me to unload it. This mug reminds me of the churning ocean. I can see #christmaslights twinkling through the raindrops on my windows as I look out. Do you have any recommendations on what to do when you are waiting for something? #impatience by #CoriSandlerPottery

by | Dec 19, 2019 | A Potters Life - Blog | Cori Sandler

Why is the first cup of coffee of the day the best one? Okay… here’s the thing I do. I make my own #ghee. It’s so yummy and I’ve started to put a spoon of that in my coffee instead of my usual whipping cream. I still like to froth it up with my little battery operated whisk. Omg. Is it ever good. What do you put in your #coffee? – mug by #corisandlerpottery By the way more mugs like this are available at #thepottersplacegallery in #courtenay now. (Corner of 5th and cliffe)

by | Dec 2, 2019 | A Potters Life - Blog | Cori Sandler

Woke up this am to take out the garbage. (We finally have curb side garbage pick up weekly which I am so grateful for truth be told)…. and I saw the most magical ice formation on the window of my car. Yup… car gets to be outside all winter cause my wheels and kiln and slab roller and pug mill and spray booth and … you get it… are all in my studio which used to be a garage. I’m enjoying my coffee thisbam from this mug looking out on the ocean and and coastal mountains. It’s cold out there, but the fireplace is roaring and my studio is warming up. I’m making some little tpots before I teach my first class today, just feeing all kinds of gratitude. Gratitude for the warmth and shelter of my home on this cold brisk morning, and gratitude for the freedom to be able to make art everyday. The list goes on, but for now, just quietly saying thank you this morning with this new self made mug, a cat in my lap and a a day of making ahead of me. What’s one thing you are #grateful for today? Pottery by #corisandlerpottery

by | Nov 27, 2019 | A Potters Life - Blog | Cori Sandler

So the story goes like this. My neighbours needed to excavate their driveway and old garage to replace it with a new garage. ( the previous one was sinking). They found a vein if clay and lucky me, I was given a couple of buckets full. It’s has sat in those buckets for over a year before I finally did some tests of the clay. The brown are in the centre of this mug is raw clay I turned into a slip. There is no glaze over the slip which has become a full glaze all in its own. It’s has a beautiful sheen to it. I love by the #ocean, and this is my #baynessound series. The scrafito, or design carved through the slip reminds me of the big bull kelp I see on the beach at low tide, and the turquoise is what I see during the #herringrun. For those local to the #comoxvalley, you can find several of these mugs at #thepottersplacegallery in downtown #courtenay. Mug by #corisandlerpottery

by | Nov 20, 2019 | A Potters Life - Blog | Cori Sandler

From @pottersgiveback ・・・We are moving forward but good things done right take time. From the bottom of our hearts we want to thank you for being a part of Potters Give Back! Check out the link in our bio for details as to how to make your donation. We are compiling a list of Potters and making great contacts and strides towards making sure our money will go to help heal the Amazon! We are passionate about this and want to do this right. If you would like to help in other ways, perhaps behind the scenes PLEASE message us @pottersgiveback and we will let you know where we could use your help! Many blessings to you! Cori & Jess

by | Aug 31, 2019 | A Potters Life - Blog | Cori Sandler

Head over to my friends today. They are amazing!!! In #comoxvalley. #Repost @islalifedesigns with @get_repost・・・⠀🖤 Today is the day! 🖤⠀⠀Come on over for my open studio between 1-5pm this afternoon. You don’t have to buy anything! Just come and see the space, check out my options for classes, and enjoy some art! ⠀⠀If however you do want to buy some original art, it is all 30% off for today only! ⠀⠀I also have prints and some old school originals on insane clearance prices (I’m talking $10!)⠀⠀Happening today @baysideartstudio , Oh and my mama will also have some art for sale!⠀• 4759 Kilmarnock Drive •⠀⠀-LJ xx

by | Aug 31, 2019 | A Potters Life - Blog | Cori Sandler

#Repost @pottersgiveback with @get_repost・・・Our hearts are full here @PottersGiveBack. Thanks to everyone who has reached out so far and said you’d like to donate a price to the auction to help fight the fires in the amazon. We are still working out all the details. Thanks for your patience. In the meantime, we’d love it if you’d share our 2 Nd post (the orange notice) on your feed and stories. Help us get the word out for folks to follow us so they’ll know when the auction is going to take place. For those of you who have “signed up” so to speak, please send an image, it’s size/dimensions, your minimum starting bid, your insta and or facebook handle (please specify) and website if you wish – include your real name and where you will ship to along with price of shipping. Email us at pottersgiveback@gmail.com. Include a short bio either about you or the piece too if you’d like. That email will also be in our bio. We will get a message out to you soon, but you can feel free to start the ball rolling. Again, it is with huge gratitude that so many of you are joining us in our efforts. More to follow. And thanks so much to @jessgreenceramics (ahmazing) and @georgia_the_potter for all the help so far and the help that’s still to come. You’re great for stepping up and in with both feet.

by | Aug 28, 2019 | A Potters Life - Blog | Cori Sandler

wow. What a great response so far. Thanks to everyone who has offered to participate in the auction. and we’re still at the beginning stages here. If you want to have a pot in the auction – details are in the bio link at @pottersgiveback ・・・We are so happy to see so many artist excited to donate and be a part of making a difference! Check out our website at www.pottersgiveback.com for instructions on how to send us your images of the work you would like to donate to the auction. We are working out the behind the scenes details and making great connections! Thank you for being a part of #pottersgiveback and joining us! KEEP SHARING OUR FIRST POST and TAGGING fellow artists bringing the ceramics community out in full force to join the fight to save our environment. The amazon needs us. #bethegoodintheworld #findthehelpers #savetheamazon #artistsgivingback #claybuddies #potterycommunity #pottersofinstagram

by | Aug 28, 2019 | A Potters Life - Blog | Cori Sandler

We are an organization of potters – who want to make a difference. We are planning an online auction of pots with funds raised to help fight the fires in the amazon. It all started with the mug in this poster. It hit me, that image of a forest ablaze right there in that mug. I thought I’d auction it off to raise some funds and then… with the shared thought of a few wonderful potters, our community banded together and we are Co creating an ONLINE AUCTION. Please share this and repost it far and wide. Tell your potter friends. It’s a work in progress but it’ll happen pretty quickly. If you are a potter, we’d love you to join in. If you want to help organize it and if you have made web skills, or other ideas and want to link arms here, we’d love to have you on board. You can donate any piece of pottery you’d like and as many as you’d like. We’ll iron out the details in the next days to come but we wanted to get this out there and get some of you amazing potters in our community to have the opportunity to “put your art where your heart is”. We have the most maxing community. DM us or email at the email in the bio, to get on board. Tag someone to let them know about it. We are @pottersgiveback Help us out will ya? We are planning on donating the funds to https://amazonaid.org. Amazon Aid Foundation. @amazonaid. We have to connect with them for logistics but they are a great organization. They are artists who are in line with saving the amazon too. Please be sure to follow @pottersgiveback – I’ll be posting as we have more to share about the auction.

by | Aug 25, 2019 | A Potters Life - Blog | Cori Sandler

Let me tell you a story. This is a story that is breaking my heart. We’ve all been hearing about the amazon burning up. This is devastating to our planet. All of a sudden, that’s all I can see in this mug and the other one like it (only 2). I see the trees at the bottom of the cup and the forest above in red and then the smoke plumes into the sky at the top. I wish I could see something else but… I just see blazing forest fire on these mug now. Such a serious moment in time for us all. Whoa. I wish you could be here with me, and see these mugs up close. It’s as though someone was flying over head in a helicopter and took a photo below of the trees and fires and smoke. Am I the only one who see this?

by | Aug 24, 2019 | A Potters Life - Blog | Cori Sandler

I love it when old friends/customers find just what they are looking for looking for. Kathy thought she was coming to the studio to pick up a new Cinderella coach butterdish, blue with spirals, but when she got here…. the bright coloured carnival series that reminds us both of dr. Zeus and tents seemed to find their way into her truck. 🤣🤣🤣. Kathy said the best thing to me: “They just make me smile!” @kathybligh, you made my day. Thanks for making the trip up island to my studio. Butterdishes by @corisandlerpottery

by | Aug 24, 2019 | A Potters Life - Blog | Cori Sandler

Have you ever been in a canoe or kayak on a really calm body of water? Then… all of a sudden there is a gentle rocking that happens as another boat is seen off in the distance. He wave they create dissipates a bit as it gets closer to you, but you begin to rock back and forth a bit in your boat? Well, that’s exactly what thisbmug reminds me of. A gentle rocking or cradling on the ocean. I can practically feel the sun shining and sparking on the water. How old were you when you got into your first canoe? Mug By #corisandlerpottery

by | Aug 23, 2019 | A Potters Life - Blog | Cori Sandler

Let me tell you a story. I had a friend in school that always mixed the paints on her art work in unexpected ways. She’d never wash her brushes out, just combining one colour with another. Everything always came out wonderfully unique and beautiful and lovely. It’s how she lived her life too. Unapologetic, whimsical in nature and not afraid to take up space. I think these mugs are my ode to her. Or maybe to that group of women who in their mature years, decide to wear RED HATS – hmmm maybe these are my red hat mugs. They’ve got me thinking. #corisandlerpottery

by | Aug 13, 2019 | A Potters Life - Blog | Cori Sandler

This is the slip I made from local clay under my neighbours driveway. Read the post before this one for the whole story. There is no glaze whatsoever on the reddish brown carved section. It is pure clay that I added water too and drives it to make a slip. It went on hard leather hard just after I trimmed the pot. The light brown ridge or line above the reddish brown section is where my transparent satin matte glaze overlaps it. I wanted to see what happened both with the slip glazed and unglazed. How cool is that? I’d love to hear your thoughts. Is it a direction I should further explore??? #corisandlerpottery

by | Aug 11, 2019 | A Potters Life - Blog | Cori Sandler

Let me tell you a story. About a year ago, my neighbours had to replace their garage. In doing so, they needed to address the foundation which meant digging up their driveway too. Dwayne, my neighbour saw something blue. It was of course the smoothest blue green clay and he thought to put some of it in buckets for me. (Talk about sweet). Well it’s taken me about a year to take a few scoops of that clay, soak it in water and then drive it. I just did a bit. I fired it to see what the end results would be if anything. … first I bisque a glob and a smear and painted stroke… then I put the same test through the glaze kiln. It ended up being a really lovely slip/ glaze all by itself. Lots of iron so it’s a lovely shade of semi glossy auburn brown. As a thank you, I’ve made them some ice cream or dessert bowls – or you name it bowls. The image next image and one in my stories is the test piece I made. I’d love to know if you’ve ver used your local clay as a glaze too? What do you think. Should I make more???? Or stick with a black slip. I’m kind of digging this #corisandlerpottery

by | Aug 11, 2019 | A Potters Life - Blog | Cori Sandler

Just went outside and it’s kind of coooool this am. We had much needed rain last night here on the island for which I am grateful. Then I came into the studio and see all these bowls and mugs on my table just waiting to be bottom sanded (yes, remember to sand your bottoms smooth after the glaze kiln) including this one so many rich colours here. How many colours can you pick out? Not sure if this one will go in the fundraiser pile for #yanacomoxvalley or go on the gallery shelves at #thepottersplacegallery Decisions decisions decisions.

by | Jul 19, 2019 | A Potters Life - Blog | Cori Sandler