Hey Y’all! Welcome to the Blog!

~ Welcome ~

Im so excited to start up this little blog :3 I wanted to create a space where I can yap about my little projects, be authentic in how I show up so yall can get to know me and hopefully so I can get to know some of you as well! Expect to see content like my latest creations, current musings and thoughts about life, creativity, art, social justice and community building, and probably a hyper-fixation here or there! I am going to be posting a “Monthly Musings” at the beginning of the month and a “monthly recap” at the end of the month! There may be some other posts sprinkled in here and there if I’m feeling really passionate about something! I’d also love to know what you would like to know more about! Leave a comment below if there is something you’d like to see more of <3

Be sure to sign up for emails at the bottom of the page (I will never send you spam - just community, blog and shop updates) and check your inbox to make sure these exciting future Ika updates aren’t filtered by those pesky spam filters :3

~ Intentions ~

My dreams for this space are for it to be a safe place where everyone feels not only welcome, but celebrated and cared for by the community we build together. So in this space please lead with kindness, do your best to be genuine and try to leave the community better than you found it! Together, I know we can create some really amazing moments of connection with each other <3 With that in mind I would love to hear your thoughts and feelings related to our newsletters and blog posts moving forward! You can comment here and chat with the community as a whole, or feel free to email me if there is anything you would like to share in a more private format. I want to know what you think, what you are into lately, and what you are doing to stay creative!

~ Musings of the Month ~

I am so excited to start this blog and open this space up for us to connect! This is probably the thing that brings me the most joy rn!

This month I am working on finishing up some projects and resetting the studio since I got new shelves and had to rearrange everything. The new studio system is coming along and will hopefully help streamline my making process. I am also focusing on my online presence so expect to see more updates to the website like this blog post :3

I am looking forward to making more mugs this month and making more of my favorite shapes that bring me joy and explore different surface designs. I am also testing out a lot of new glazes and underglazes so that is pretty exciting! I got quite a few purples that came out of the test firing with incredible results and I can’t wait to share it with yall. <3

Another project that I am working on this month is finishing a few custom tic tac toe sets I started making last year for some friends of mine. They are challenging but so rewarding to make. Pictures of them will be up on the portfolio page of my website when they are done! (Sneak peek of the first set in the photos below ;))

I had a wonderful art date with a friend of mine recently! It happened last month but I still wanted to include in this post because it had such a positive effect on me. I planned for my friend and I to just do surface decoration on some bowls I had thrown the previous day. Surface design is a part of my process where I am beginning to explore and be more creative with, so I went into it with low expectations and no pre-made plan for my design. When the time came to decorate my bowl, I chose one solid color for the background and decided to try my hand at sgraffito (aka carving the design into the surface of the pot). I had no idea what I would carve into it yet, so I picked a random book from my studio for reference and I sketched a cute rabbit that I liked onto paper. Then I transferred that design onto the pot surface and began carving away. I found it a very meditative process and I truly enjoyed chatting with my friend while we both worked on our pieces <3 This was a kind of flow and social connection I didn’t even know I was missing! And that rabbit illustration turned out to be my most favorite thing I’ve made so far this year! I want to say a special thank you to my friend (I know you will read this and ilysm) for taking time to slow down and create something just for fun! It healed something in me :3 It was such a good reminder as to why I wanted to pursue this career! So this is your gentle reminder to make time to be creative with your friends folks!

I also couldn’t make this blog post without acknowledging that the world is a very heavy place to exist in right now and I am feeling extremely conflicted about making and promoting my art while the world is on fire. But in my heart I know that art is powerful and has the ability to create lasting change. So I will keep making and being creative and I hope, wherever you are, that you can do the same. On that same note, I am wanting to design some pottery that can be sold off for charitable donations to foundations doing social justice work. What are some things you would like to see me make? Are there charities that you think deserve support? Let’s put our big brains together and make some positive change in our communities!

If you are reading this when it comes out (or you read this far back) just know that you are now officially an Ika Island OG and ilysm <3 Thank you for being here and supporting a very small queer quirky artist to achieve her wildest dreams!

- Signed, an ever grateful artist

Sarah - Ika Island Pottery