Penny Sanford Designs

Return to Porcelain

My last remaining kiln is dead. I test fired it with a piece of porcelain earlier this week. My four kilns bought between 1993 and 1995 were WARRIORS! (If every machine we use lasted as well as those kilns, this would be a much healthier country!)

Anyway, I need to raise money to finish buying a new high-fire porcelain kiln.  I have put down about a quarter of what I need.

To raise the rest of the money, I am searching the house and studio for porcelain I made for my own collection or to have on hand to give as gifts. Unless noted, everything I list on Etsy will be mint-in-box.

The porcelain ornaments and brooches (maybe tiles and vases) will be in my Etsy store. I am happy to combine shipping, so expect a refund of shipping charges if you buy more than one piece. I have not figured out how to set up the Etsy store to combine shipping charges for multiple purchases.

Once my new kiln is paid for and set up, I can start sculpting and firing all the new designs in my head.

The Lord continues to restore me and renew my mind. Thank You, Lord!

Gamble Plantation Brooch

 

Hubby Gordon here.  I shot this video of Penny working on the Gamble Plantation brooch.  The Gamble Plantation is the only remaining sugar plantation in the state of Florida.  It is now part of the Florida State Park system which commissioned Penny along with the UDC to create this brooch.  Proceeds from the sale of this brooch go towards renovation of the historic home.

 

Spirit of Hospitality Pineapple Brooch Available Again

Once again, there is a limited quantity of "Spirit of Hospitality" brooches available at the National Daughters of the American Revolution gift shop in Washington, D.C.

This sculpted porcelain brooch was commissioned by NSDAR President General Linda Calvin to help raise funds to continue the restoration and renovation of the historic buildings of the National DAR headquarters in Washington, D.C.

I have sculpted on every brooch, and I have signed each piece. The metal finding on the back of the brooch allows you to wear this piece as a brooch or as a necklace. (Think: refined omega necklace)

This is a limited edition piece, and each brooch is numbered. It comes in a gift box with information about the Calvin President General's project as well as my studio on Historic Hamer Hills Farm, circa 1837.

This piece is only available through the NSDAR Gift Shop in Washington, D.C. It is not on the NSDAR website because of the limited number of pieces available. 

Call 1-888-673-2732 to order.

The price is $20 per brooch plus shipping. Their phone hours are 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. EST Monday through Friday except holidays. Their email is: [email protected].

This classically designed brooch, a collaborative design between Mrs. Calvin and me, is created in high fire porcelain, polished to a soft luster. The comment I hear most is, "It looks like white chocolate".

From my research, the pineapple originated as a symbol of hospitality, reportedly because sea captains placed a pineapple on their gate post when they returned from a sea voyage, signaling neighbors to come visit and hear of their sea-going adventures.

The rope border around this octagonal piece is a nod to those sea-faring origins of the pineapple as a classic icon of gracious hospitality.

My Three Magnolia Sculptures

Actually, I have sculpted seven magnolia pieces, but the rest were private commissions or are now retired. These are the three magnolia pieces that I will currently make.

That pretty aqua fabric has been flirting with me from its cozy basket in my sewing area.  Before washing it, I put it to service as a backdrop for a few new pictures of these three magnolia designs.

These are available in an ornament ($25 plus shipping) or as a brooch ($20 plus shipping). They come in a gift box with a brochure. The brooches can be worn as a necklace or as a brooch.

I will sign or personalize the piece for free. Orders over $200 get free shipping.

Magnolia Leaf Brooch:

Magnolia Blossom Brooch:

Magnolia Glory Brooch:

Brooches you may not have seen before

Four and 6/10 of glorious rain this weekend! Apparently it was enough to wash away the pollen that has been causing my chronic coughing this past month.

Quickly tonight I finished the few pieces we needed to ship before Mother's Day, and the weather is allowing us to fire the kiln tonight! Yeah!

Here is a quick look at a couple of brooches you may not have seen before.

The Stages of Cotton brooch shows the various stages of cotton from the beautiful bloom to the fluffy boll to the burr.

The Magnolia Blossom Brooch is a small version of the Magnolia Blossom Ornament.

As you probably know, all of our porcelain comes with a gift box and a brochure explaining the artwork and the historic farm and the story of Penny Sanford Porcelain Studio.

These brooches are $20 each. The ornaments are $25 each.

In the firing process, porcelain will shrink about 15 percent. Right now, these pieces, and a few others, are warming up to 2300 degrees Fahrenheit.

Every time I fire porcelain, I think about God's refiner's fire. He sure has been putting us through some painful and hot refining the last few years, and there is sure to be more to come.

There is not a Stages of Cotton Ornament, but I do have a very limited edition series of three ornaments depicting the stages of cotton. I'll show those to you another time.

Another video from Penny's archives : WJTV 1998 with former MS First Lady Pat Fordice

Another video from Penny's archives. This is a feature from WJTV 12 in Jackson, MS. that aired on April 1998. It features Penny signing her ornaments and the late Pat Fordice, Mississippi's First Lady for eight years. Also discussed was the "Versailles Sunflower", the special commissioned sculpture of the world famous splendors of Versailles museum exhibit that originated in Jackson, MS.

More video from the Penny Sanford archives.

This is a television commercial from 1997 or 1998 featuring Penny's Natures Angels porcelain designs. Most of the ornaments shown in the commercial are still available except for the versailles sunflower. We hope you are enjoying these as there are more to come.

From the archives: WCBI feature "Southern Expressions" 1998

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58-j0uYwUqE

Gordon dug this out of the archives today.  In 1998, Don Culpepper of WCBI in Columbus, MS. came and interviewed me here at the farm and featured my various porcelain designs for their "Southern Expressions" program. 

Some folks have already asked on Facebook and via email about where to see more of my designs. Look to the right of this column, and you will see the new Paypal widget for my porcelain designs that Gordon setup here on my blog.

In this widgit, you can see my designs that are stil available. You can order them through the widget or visit the porcelain website: www.pennysanford.com. (Gordon says one does not need a Paypal account to make a one-time payment with your credit card when purchasing through Paypal.

Hope you enjoy this almost 10 year old video feature. Where does the time go?

Wanna see my hearts?

Gordon pointed out to me last night that there are so many new readers on the blog now, and some of you may not know what I do. This is what funds the little extras for the seven fur kids and the humans. I sculpt porcelain ornaments and brooches.

My first original designs debuted in 1996. My Nature's Angels concept is that there are angels all around us, representatives of God.

When tree leaves move or branches sway, it may be just the wind, or it may be one of our angels sweeping by. God is all around us 24/7.

So I started sculpting designs based on leaves and their related blooms or fruit.

Angels are also incorporated in the Nature's Angels designs. Sometimes the angel wings are shaped like the leaf, or her skirt mirrors the shapes in the plant.

These heart-shaped pieces are based on heart-shaped leaves that occur naturally in nature.

Over the years, as I have been exposed to and have absorbed elements from different cultures, my appreciation has grown for the heart as a universal design element.

Scandinavian hearts decorate at Christmas. Hearts for Mother's Day, for weddings, for special little gifts of thoughtfulness. The heart shape can represent a full spectrum of emotion from friendship to deep love.

A heart is like a little black dress. It is always appropriate.

Thanks to my geeky hubby, my sculptures are now available on eBay or on the website (that we keep promising each other is tops on our to do list to redecorate).

More of What is Really Going on Behind the Scenes

Thanks so much for the emails and comments of encouragement and understanding and prayer. You helped my rubber band get some elasticity back in just one day!

One day spent sleeping and snuggling with fur-therapists, and I was back finishing porcelain and facing opportunities (a.k.a. challenges, a.k.a. problems) the next day!

It always amazes me.  I can work myself down to that zombie state, and then after a short regeneration, the first time I pick up a piece of porcelain on which to sculpt, the experience...the emotions are just as fresh and exciting as those first years of making my own designs.

My fingers thrill at the touch. The control over my muscles is steady and gentle. My eyes are almost hungry for the details of the texture and even the color of the towel on my work tray.

The light I work under is really strong and intense with a mixture of incandescent and fluorescent lighting. I also try to mix in some daylight on my work space so that I get all three sources of light.

Another Fed Ex Overnight Shipment to Washington, D.C., yesterday, came off without a hitch!

Just two short days before we were so confused and exhausted by bizarre problems with the kilns, by bizarre problems with a strange crust on the fired pineapples, even by crazy problems in shipping a package to D.C.

Below is a picture of all the rejects in just one firing in one kiln!

That one kiln firing had 15 pieces that we had to reject! That is 15 times 20 to 30 minutes for me to do my work in finishing the sculpted details! Then there was the time to cast the 15 pieces, the wear on those 15 molds, the cost of the porcelain on those 15 pieces.
OUCH!

That crusty stuff is not something you can brush off. It does not even fire off in a second firing.

We've investigated this mystery for years, called and sent samples to porcelain slip companies, etc.

When there is a huge deadline crunch, this crust starts to appear.

We have some theories about what is happening, and we take some steps to help minimize the time and materials lost by this problem.

The firing the day after the big deadline...not a fleck of this crust to be found on any of the pieces! I told you it was weird.

The other problem that pops up at the most inopportune time is a tiny piece of the plaster mold that hides under the top layer of porcelain. I can sculpt details over it and never have any indication that a plaster fleck is lurking. When the piece fires, the plaster fires away leaving a big crater in the piece.

I've come to look at these unpredictable defects as challenges God allows in our lives to make sure we are leaning on him and depending on him to provide for us!

He does...every time!

Just this morning, we had a call inquiring about me doing a piece for another historic building that I would love to sculpt. If it works out, this would be for Christmas, 2009.

It restored my confidence in pursuing the next level in our business. I'll share some of that at another time.

I'm not telling you any of this for any "Poor Pitiful Penny" sympathy. This story is anything but a pity party. This is yet another victory story in our journey. Anyone who creates something from raw materials runs into production problems.

I'm just sharing with you some of the behind-the-scenes, and more importantly how God takes care of us especially when we have exhausted our own energy and our rubber band has lost its elasticity. This process has been played out here hundreds of times, with every deadline I've ever faced.

Either I am one of God's dumbest children, painfully slow to learn, or He is building strong faith muscles in Gordon and me for a reason. 

Today I am thankful. Just deeply, deeply thankful. Trying to work smart and not run my batteries down to empty. Trying to take some time for rest and renewal. Trying to do something not work related.

We still have hundreds of pineapples to finish, and over 100 St. John the Baptist Catholic Church ornaments to finish and several other projects to finish...but we can and we will!

Once again, for the many-thousandth time, I'm learning to take baby steps and then learning to walk again emotionally and spiritually. In the past almost five years, this process of starting all over has been shared with a man who loves me more than I have ever been loved by a human before.

Yes, I'm more thankful than I can express in mere words.

Oodles of fab doggie pictures to share with you next!