It’s July, my fellow artistes! We made it, woo-hooo! We’re finally in the midst of sunny days and late nights, the joys of summer fun and the complexity of keeping your studio cool when it’s ninety degrees outside. We know our staff have been hard at work on their pottery projects, and we can only hope the same for you!

We’re kicking July off with one of Colorado’s largest arts festivals of the year. You guessed it—the Cherry Creek Arts Festival is this month! In fact, it starts today!

From July 1 to 3, the Festival will fill the streets of Cherry Creek North with over 250 juried artists ready to share their talent. This event will have plenty of live music, kids’ activities, art, information about art education, food, and more. In the ceramic category, some of the vendors present will be our very own customers! Come on out and celebrate the community, with a plethora of mediums for art-lovers of all kinds!

If you’d like to learn more, here’s the website for the Festival with an overview, location and FAQs. If you’d like to learn more about the artists, here’s the artists’ page!

As a reminder, we’re kicking off our spring cleaning by cleaning off the board and starting fresh this 4th of July weekend! If you’d like to retrieve previous fliers, or replace them with fresh ones, feel free to swing by or let us know. Any fliers that were dropped off in the last week pertaining to July events will remain on the board.

As our firing services have raised in price, we realize our customers may be in need of new firing accommodations. If you’re in the North, we’d like to recommend Erie Pottery’s firing services! They have different firing packages depending on your needs, offer pick-up and delivery, and 50% off your first pick-up. If you’d like to learn more, check out their website.

If you’re closer to central Denver, there’s also the Community Clay studio! They’re a local studio in Capitol Hill that offers classes and workshops, as well as firing services. Click on this link to learn more about their location and pricing!

The beginning of the school year is just around the corner, and you know what that means: Stone Leaf moves into its busy season. Place your orders now to make sure all of your supplies are ready for the back-to-school rush!

We have some shorter days coming up, as well as a holiday closure:

• Saturday, July 1st we’ll be open 10am - 2pm

• We’ll be closed Tuesday, July 4th

We’re also looking forward to the “last weekend of summer”, when we’ll be open from 10am - 2pm on Saturday, September 2nd.

Ripley, our warehouse manager, is officially leaving Stone Leaf Pottery for greener pastures. As you may know, Ripley is a cornerstone of our store and studio. Having dedicated years to making sure our customers receive the clay, equipment and supplies they need, she’s reinvented the wheel when it comes to our operating procedures and overseeing the warehouse. Ripley’s best known for her incredible positivity, forklift artistry and multi-tasking finesse. If you see her around the store, as she’s focusing more on her pottery, be sure to get one of her famous high-fives! We’ll miss you, Ripley!

[insert picture of Ripley here]

While we look for a warehouse manager replacement, our deliveries may be delayed. If you receive deliveries regularly, have patience while your Stone Leaf staff navigate this transition. If you have an interest in applying for our warehouse manager position, click here for more information.

Up next, our specials. Julia, our goth punk phone operator, selected the clay, tool and glaze of the month!

CLAY OF THE MONTH

Dover White by Laguna, $15.25 per bag

Julia’s clay of the month, Dover White, is a mid-fire favorite of Stone Leaf Pottery’s. This white stoneware body fires off-white in oxidation and gray in reduction. It’s excellent for medium pieces, as well as dinnerware, and the addition of fine sand gives a good deal of strength to this plastic body. It’s great for throwing on the wheel if you’re looking for an extra bit of umph. We’ve also found that Dover White is fabulous for sculpting! The grit of the clay makes it easy to build up pieces by hand, and its plastic, pliable texture is helpful in forming intricate details, or manipulating sections for your piece. Whether you’re a beginner or expert at ceramics, Dover White’s a lovely clay to start with, and will prove to be one of your go-to’s in no time.

Want to see some examples of Dover White? Check out this example from Pinterest!

TOOL OF THE MONTH

Do All Tool by Mudtools, $20 instead of $25

You’ve seen it on social media, you’ve seen it in your friends’ studios. Now, the Do All Tool is on special at Stone Leaf! This one’s for our trimming fanatics. The Do All tool is a Japanese-inspired, reimagined trim tool that, as the name implies, "does it all". No more switching between dozens of different trimming tools to get your desired effect! This elegant, versatile pottery tool provides an excellent, precise cutting edge, especially for working details around the foot of tea bowls, bowls and plates. The curl end provides a combination of all of our favorite loop tool shapes: it includes both a broad surface for smoothing and a tight shape for detail trimming. Need a sharp edge, a loop, and a hard corner all in one trimming tool? Scoop up one of these babies today!

Want to see this tool in action? Check out this Mudtools demonstration on YouTube!

GLAZE OF THE MONTH

Hidden Falls by Laguna, $17 per pint instead of $22

Julia’s selected the Hidden Falls pint by Laguna as the glaze of the month! A mid-fire wonder, Hidden Falls resembles water flowing over moss, creating a neutral but beautiful effect. Organic tones peek through blues, light greens and browns, a lovely midsection between vibrant and earth-toned glazes. Another of the Rainforest series, Hidden Falls uses the base formula from your favorite Robin's Egg glaze, reminiscent of its speckly blues. Want a solid, inexpensive glaze that’ll turn a piece into a looker time and time again? Give Hidden Falls a try! Prepared in liquid form for brushing on, this pint will make a gorgeous addition to any studio.

Here’s a closer look at Hidden Falls by Laguna!

That’s all for now, folks! Happy potting and we look forward to seeing you around the store!

Elise and the Stone Leaf Pottery Crew

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All Clay of the Month purchases are limited to 100# of clay. The sale price is valid only in July 2023 and not combinable with other discounts.

It's not uncommon for us to run out of the clay (s) of the Month, so we always suggest you shop early in the Month to ensure the clay is in stock. Also, when purchasing Glaze or Tool(s), or Equipment of the Month, again, it's limited to products on hand. So, if we don't have it when you shop, come shop with us again soon! We replenish our shelves constantly—we'll hopefully have more soon! Got more questions about how this works? Please, please reach out to us!