This week marks two years since I set up a table to sell my work for the very first time at the First Thursday Street Gallery. And this year, this week includes another big threshold – I get the keys to a studio space of my very own. It's a little scary, but mostly very exciting, and I'm really looking forward to settling in and making it my own. It's an amazing spot and I feel very fortunate to have gotten it.

The risky part is that I decided to raise funds for a kiln and pottery wheel through Kickstarter. The way Kickstarter works is that you make a video and tell the story of the project you want to undertake, choose ways to reward people who want to back your project, then set a goal and a deadline, and launch it into the world, hoping that your friends and neighbors and interested strangers will join you.

The fun comes in making the video and finding a concise and playful way to tell your story. The nerve-wracking part of this kind of crowdfunding is that your backers only get their rewards (and you only get your funding) if the crowd has pledged enough to meet the goal by the deadline.

I'm currently eight days away from my deadline. The support I've gotten has been very encouraging, and I also still have a ways to go. There are a lot of risks in life, and in making a living as an artist, so this does feel like a good way to begin with this new studio.

I'll let you know how it turns out, and if you see this before May 12, you'd be very welcome to join the project! [UPDATE: we reached the goal with a day to spare and ended up with enough to buy the pottery wheel that I really wanted -- many, many thanks to all the backers!]

full project at http://kck.st/1bdPoXW