I'm really bad with remembering dates. Thank goodness my honey remembers when our birthdays and anniversary are. But maybe this explains why I totally missed (Mud)Bucket's first birthday.
I know, I'm a horrible mom- I mean blogger. Hopefully, I'll be better at remembering babies' birthdays.
The point is... that I have been posting on this humble little blog for right passed a full year. WOO HOO! I've tried really hard to maintain a close-to-daily blog- which is a lot of work considering I'm in school full-time, work part-time, and have my own studio that I also attend. I'm not slowing down or anything (okay aside from this week- sorry, by the way, for the lack of posts, we had house guests), but I am considering some fun new activities to create more of an interactive blog for you all.
Speaking of you all, I wanted to tell you how much I appreciate your readership and the dialog you bring to the table. Watching the counter tick away, reading all the 'this is awesome' comments, comparing the love(it) votes to the (meh) votes, the kind emails, the growing group of followers and subscribers- this all brings so much happiness and encouragement into my life. So thank you, sincerely. I am so grateful to have an audience with which I can share all the ceramic work that inspires me.
Because this blog is ultimately for all of you, I thought it would be really neat to bring more of you into the spotlight. So I have a few ideas I would like to share with you, please let me know in the comments which of these ideas you like. If you would like to participate in some of these new posts, please send me an email (just click the contact button to the right).
Recipes... I dunno why, but I always love a recipe thrown into a good blog once or twice a month. And seeing as ceramists are always such fabulous cooks, I thought it might be fun to post a fun recipe once in a while. But I would need your help...
Interviews or artist profiles... I know there are some folks out there that already do this on their blog, and I think it's great! I would like to do some (Mud)Bucket style profiles- aka succinct, inspiring, and novel. I'm thinking of 20ish questions: some single word answers, some photo answers, some sentence or two answers, and maybe a couple in depth answers, but ultimately up to the artist in profile.
Studio tours... Just a spot for folks to share their creative spaces and what they create there. Kind of voyeuristic, but cummon, who doesn't love a sneak peek.
City guides... Sounds kinda weird but I've always wanted to find this somewhere. You know, say you live in Albuquerque, NM... You can share your favorite spots for clay in Albuquerque, so someone visiting or moving might have a better idea of what to check out- galleries, shops, studios, suppliers, events, etc.
Product reviews... I think we could all benefit from this one.
Show and tell... Sharing your collections. Anything ceramic... pottery, sculpture, thing-a-ma-bobs, figurines...
Giveaways...? I haven't really worked this one out in my head yet. I just think it's so cool when other bloggers do this. :)
If you like these ideas or have others, please say so.
If you really like one and would like to participate in one of these columns, send me an email and tell me which column you are interested in in the subject line.
Finally, thanks again for your loyal readership over this last year. I hope the next is even better!
Cheers!
(photo of Jason Huff's work via his website)
7 comments:
Happy Birthday and thank you!!
My top three would be 1. Product reviews. 2. Interviews or Profiles. 3. Recipes. Thanks again for the great blog.
i love your blog! i check it everyday, and my studiomates and i felt like major rock stars when you posted our images!
i love your new ideas.
my favs
1. city guides
2. interviews
3. show and tells
4. all the other ideas are great too!
I love these ideas, too! As someone who's trying to fit a creative space back into my life (figuratively and literally), I personally would love the studio tours. You know, just to see how other people carve out a space for themselves and decorate for inspiration.
You do such a great job presenting ceramics, I don't think recipes are neede. Every other blog has them, and it's kinda tedious to wade through tehm to get to pottery talk. The other ideas are good, though.
Keep up the good work JL!
All these ideas things that would happen once a month at most... so no fear about recipes taking over ceramic content... it would just be a little rest and maybe something nice for folks who are reading who aren't ceramists.
Also, a side note... these column ideas are about incorporating you, the readers, into this blog. So these new adventures are dependent on all your participation. :) hint hint.
Happy birthday to the Bucket! I think all of the ideas that you have are really wonderful. I particularly the artist interviews (something I'm trying to work on, too). I personally want more content about how your own work and business are proceeding. Best wishes for your continued success in the second year.
I like your blog. I really can't dig recipes on the blogs. For that, we have Alicia. I think people use it as a hook of some sort or filler when nothing is going on. I really am tired of seeing photos of people's meals (I usually blog-bop early am and am NOT ready to see pie or chile or any food ;). So, because I think you and your blog are unique, I hope you won't be like everyone else.
(((hugs)))
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