Posts By: Dan Finnegan

Tomorrow is the big day and I just wanted to thank all of the well wishers who’ve been sending me their love, affection and positive thoughts. I have been overwhelmed by the support of friends near and far. Despite the impending surgery, I sit here today feeling a fortunate man to be so rich in… Read more »

When I began writing this blog it was in part an effort to refocus my mind on my life as a potter. Running an art center and trying to be a potter at the same time often leaves me feeling discombobulated. It was never my intention to get too personal here, but rather to share… Read more »

Putting down a good bed of gravel in the kiln shed has been one of many items stuck on my list for years…thanks to Mr. Michael Littlefield I can finally cross it off (NEVER use pea gravel underfoot, friends…it forever shifts beneath your feet). Purple stone is an extravagance, but I’m a sucker for pretty… Read more »

It seems a long time ago, but while I was in England this summer I had the great pleasure of sharing some excellent time with a few fellow bloggers. Hannah McAndrew and Doug Fitch arrived at Toff’s bearing these fantastic gifts for me! I was bowled over!I have a wooden crate full of treasure that… Read more »

…Things Stacked On Top of Each Other. I took it down today before somebody got hurt.A bunch of pots on the window ledge.You remember Ellie Bird, I’m sure. Here she is with her dad, Paul Cymrot, proprietor of Riverby Books (along with his dad, Steve Cymrot.)Ellie and her 1,000 watt smile!

I am back from the show in New York, unloaded and ready to figure out what’s next. The Westchester Craft Show was a moderate success for me… it is a very high quality show and deserves its reputation for sophisticated buyers. It is a real pleasure to be included among such accomplished makers.There were lots… Read more »

I’ve traveled more than 20,000 miles this year.It’s been ten years or more since I’ve done a craft show. No doubt I said I’d never do another… and now, I’m all packed up and ready to leave for New York early tomorrow morning. If you find yourself in White Plains this weekend stop by the… Read more »

I took a drive yesterday to visit Gary Roper at his Washington Street Gallery in Lewisburg, WV. I needed to pick up leftover pots in advance of my trip later this week to New York for the Westchester Craft Show. It is 201 miles each way and takes me from just about sea level here… Read more »

I’ve always made tile of one sort or another…sculptural ones, backsplashes, fireplace hearths and lots of individual tiles. For a while my assistants were making hundreds of square feet of stamped 2″ squares. But I’ve always wanted to make more massive floor tile and today Beth and I put together our first effort. Using clay… Read more »

I’ve been making lists like the one from my last post for a long time. Many of them are between the pages of these composition notebooks…I’ve been filling them for more than 35 years.A list of pots is more of a guideline and it’s usually a little ambitious…I always yearn to have way too many… Read more »

It takes about 300 pots to fill my kiln and hence the making cycle is a long one. I find that I procrastinate and find reasons not to begin. It’s not because I don’t want to make pots, because there are few things that bring me as much pleasure and contentment. I think the real… Read more »

I’m feeling a little out of synch with my fellow bloggers…it seems like everyone is rushing to dry the last pots for a firing and I myself am slowly creeping towards the beginning of a cycle.I’ve been wrapping up a bunch of projects so that I can start to make pots (maybe tomorrow… I’ve been… Read more »

Inspired by my old friend Ken Hussell over in Conderton, I came back from England determined to make some alcoholic cider from our locals apples. Sadly, it has been a very weak crop, but we pressed what we could today and got 4 or 5 gallons all together. We used this great old chipper/grinder/press and… Read more »

On a somewhat grim and rainy night, a small but fortunate crowd joined us at the Purina Tower building for an evening of gorgeous music with Shannon and the boys. We’ve been trying to lure Shannon here for a couple of years and it was well worth the wait. She and Jon and Matt are… Read more »

If you are within the sound of this Blog you should seriously consider joining us this Saturday at LibertyTown for Shannon Whitworth and her band. Shannon played here several times as a founding member of the Biscuit Burners and now fronts her own band playing ‘Americana” music. She plays the banjo and every other instrument… Read more »

I pass through a farm gate to get to my studio and I keep a key on a nail inside a hollow in a nearby tree. Today as I started to reach in for it I was greeted by this black snake! Luckily it was sticking it’s head out to smell the roses, or I’d… Read more »

I sometimes watch Ebay for interesting pots and recently scored a major haul!! These were originally purchased from Winchcombe in the ’60’s and have the lovely, soft matt glaze called “mw” by those in the know. It was later altered with zircon to please a client (Crank’s Restaurants) and was never as nice after that…. Read more »

Brendon, Jim, Cherie, Linden, myself, Pam, Shelle, Gail, Elaine and Stewart. Here’s the firing team from last week’s workshop at Castle Hill in the town of Truro on Cape Cod. It was a wonderful group and we worked very well together, sharing lots of laughs, good food and good conversation about pots and wood firing… Read more »

200 blogs written in little more than a year! I’m not certain what it says about me that I have set aside the time to write about my self, my work in clay, and the ideas that rattle around my brain that many times?! But I do know that I have grown to count on… Read more »

Don’t feel spurned, gentle voter, but this my new favorite, a last minute entry from Anna that we both really like. The only question I’ve got is…should the handle be ‘off the page’ or on? This week has been filled with out of town visitors, a new water pump for my truck and hanging the… Read more »

Anna is helping me to design a new business card and brochure. She sent me these 5 to look at. I like them all, so if you have an opinion let me know. I’d print them all if it was feasible!

I’ve added a bunch of blogs to my blog list. I’ve been reading them for a long time, but I just figured out how to share that fact with my faithful readers this evening. So, if you haven’t done so already, check ’em out. Hannah McAndrew, Matt Grimmit, Shane Mickey, Brandon Phillips, Aaron Sober and… Read more »

I am not a summer kind of a guy, and I have been struggling to find much momentum or energy this August as the ‘dog days’ have really got me down. A couple of days ago the heat index made the temperature feel like 113 degrees Fahrenheit! It is impossible weather and I long for… Read more »

There are always good things happening at LibertyTown and I’m guilty of not including as much here as I should. Last week we had a 2 day summer camp for an enthusiastic group of youngsters. They moved from one artist to another making masks, felting projects, printmaking and ‘trek’ bags. Anna, Lynette, Ariel and Elizabeth… Read more »