05/09/2026
This morning I saw a post that some of the big retail shops already had Christmas things like Advent calendars out. It's the beginning of September!
Spring has only just sprung here in Aotearoa! No one needs them for three more months so why are they on the shelves already?
It kinda feels gross.
And yet today, I started thinking ahead to Christmas and began building some festive bells.
Why, you might reasonably ask? What's the difference?
Well, because, pottery is slow. And handmade is slow.
It took four hours to make 10 bells and strikers (or dingers, as some like to call them 😆).
I won’t be able to start carving or decorating until tomorrow when they are a bit drier. Then they'll need to dry, and dry some more over weeks.
Eventually, I'll be able to bisque fire them. That will take a couple of days. Then they'll be glazed and fired again taking another three or four days.
I don't have my own kiln so I rely on my local club for firing. Creations can sit on the shelves until there is space to fire them. Or I can book a kiln to fire myself but with only one slot left for me to do that this year, I need to get making now so it's a full and efficient firing.
So yes, I am making Christmas things in September. Not because I'm trying to rush Christmas or to get you feeling festive and start panic buying. It's because if I want these bells jingling in time for Christmas, I need to start making them now.
At this rate, they'll be ready in November and that feels more appropriate to me.
Made slowly. And with heart and whimsy.
