9/23/24 Well, we sold out the "first drop" of vases in a little over 48 hours and a HUGE thanks to everyone who bought one. I appreciate you bearing with me through the early tech glitches.

I'm hard at work sorting out the next restock we can schedule as well as 2 new vases in the works and more in the works for next Spring.

As always, your patience and support are truly appreciated while me and my new shop figure things out.

The practice of restock or product drops are fairly common among ceramicists because of production cycles so we're trying this while we figure out the best practices of selling physical products.

This is new for Sullivan and her small team and we're trying to figure out how to wear all the hats that a small business requires. In order to design the vases, get them made, get them ready for clients to buy, box them up and ship them out-that needs time and planning. Rather than fulfill orders 24/7 on demand, we've structured these pop up sales so that we can manage all those things and get the vases out to you directly after the sale.

Right now, drops are scheduled every 6-12 weeks. Those dates are based on holidays, our own schedule, the schedule for the production team in Oregon and managing a new product based business. After the September drop, the dates will be shared as soon as we've confirmed that the pieces and their boxes will be ready to go out. We like the countdown clock so we'll put that up too.

As we learn more about this aspect of the business, we'll adjust as info comes in.

We are only offering pieces to be sold when they are physically here in Philly, ready to go to you. So when the collection drops next (see the clock above) those vases are here in their fancy boxes waiting to be sent to you beginning the Monday after the drop date! We expect to get all orders shipped out by Wednesday.

If you've never worked with ceramics this probably doesn't make any sense but there's about a million things that can go wrong in a production cycle. Just releasing this first collection of three vase models has had delays due to material shortages, kiln issues, heat wave problems, contaminated glaze, it's enough to make you want to tear your hair out and then move on to solving the problem.

We really don't want to take your money and hold it while we all wait to get your vase made successfully, get it to Philly, get it finished and then sent to you. That could be a few weeks to a few months depending on where we are in production cycles.

9/24/24 Update: We sold out all available launch pieces in a little over 48 hours. If you missed out, we're sorry but restock info will be shared soon, get on the email list!

We ask for some patience as we try to sort out how many to make, how many we can ship out and all the rest. We know the info we gather over the first few releases will help us make the process easier in the future.

Because more people should try to manufacture things here! We know that the USA used to make all kinds of things really well and we want to champion more of that. We wanted the people who work on our products to have safe working conditions, earn a living wage even in a high cost of living city and to celebrate craftsmanship.

It's surprisingly comparable when you factor in things like shipping heavy objects from overseas, pending tariffs, rising fuel costs and potential unsafe working conditions. If we want people in the USA to earn living wages, we have to be willing to support those costs in everything we make and buy. We're too used to cheap, fast and disposable goods. We make our products to last a lifetime, ultimately cutting down on waste, shipping and general overconsumption.

The production studio or manufacturing studio is in Portland, Oregon. When choosing a partner to bring these vases to the public, we wanted humans-not factories. Our vases are complex forms, handled by 7 or more people before they get to you. We wanted to know those people so we can all appreciate their work! The owner and production lead is a woman with extensive ceramic knowledge and casting skills who works closely with Sullivan to make the collection possible.

Simply, they are objects produced in sets or editions that are numbered 1 through wherever the series stops. Each number represents a singular object within an edition. Artists should keep records as they work on series or editions. We do.

It means that right now, we don't know how many pieces of each vase will be made. Sometimes editions are numbered with 1/100-meaning it's piece number one of one hundred. Our vases are only numbered because we don't know what that second number will be yet.

There are several factors that will ultimately determine the total quantity of pieces created in each vase model, color or series. When the edition is to be closed or has been closed it will be announced and noted on the product page.

We're trying not to think of it as discontinued. We think of it as the end of a chapter in what might be a long book.

Just because we might not make more Porcelain White Twist No.1 at some point, doesn't mean that there won't be an evolution of that vase either as a new model, new colors, new ceramic materials etc.

Value is determined by what you're willing to pay for something. Buying art, hand crafted items or prints is not something we think should be an investment in anything but self care because you love it. If you love something and can afford it, buy it. If you buy a vase from us, we hope you find it to be as functional as it is beautiful-that's the value it provides.

Wash by hand with soapy water and a non scratching sponge. Take care not to scrub off the branding markings on the bottom of the vase.

Flowers may contain pollen and natural pigments that can stain even glazed porcelain with prolonged contact. Dyed or painted flowers can also stain.

If you see any color transfer on the vase, clean it immediately with soap and water. The longer a stain sits, the harder it will be to remove.

We've had success with Magic Eraser on stubborn stains but use caution, especially on the branding marks.

For as pretty as flowers are they can be equally gross at times. You should use that flower food we sent or some you've saved with the bunches you buy, it helps keep the water clean.

But your best defense against interior staining is frequent water changes, no need to recut stems and making sure no leaves, foliage, debris collects in the water.

The original porcelain pieces Sullivan made are still in use today. They have acquired a well used patina, marks, spots, even a stain or two. In our opinion, these are signs of love and functionality. We hope you fill your vase with abandon, that it will someday show the signs of how much you love to use it.

Yes, feed it flowers, your creativity, fresh water, a little flower food and a bit of fearlessness required to cut into the stems of those flowers!

Our gift bottles of flower elixir are included with each vase but we don't plan to offer individual bottles or refills for sale. We send you a liquid form of a commercial food from the professional company Chrysal. The same product is available in dry form, in packets often gifted with bunches of flowers you can buy locally. We encourage the use of flower food because it helps the water remain cleaner for longer and does generally improve the longevity of flowers. Most people don't use the correct dosage which will vary from product to product.

well yes but not as flower food. We have no experience with any of the homemade suggestions actually working. You will find a million and one anecdotes about these ideas working, we're not trying to argue-it's just not something we recommend. You do you!

There's no one correct answer to this question. Sullivan actually attended floristry school at a few places before basically doing her own thing. Others get a job at a shop, grocery store floral counter or intern to break in. It all depends on your means of supporting yourself while you learn, how much time you can practice, what you want to get out of being a florist. There's a lot of variables.

One thing that Sullivan always tells her floral design freelancers who are considering starting their own business: If you really love flowers and want to work with them every single day, you shouldn't own the business. You should work for someone doing flowers. Being the owner, creative director, head of sales and marketing means a lot of time spent working -just not with flowers. It can be very fun if you like wearing a lot of hats, but it can be disheartening if your business takes off and you spend very little time with the flowers you love.