Fall is Coming!

Fall Themed House Coming Soon!

I’m still working on the last batch of rainbow houses and hope to ship the rest out by the beginning of October, but I wanted to give an update and answer a few questions I have gotten about the fall themed house.

First let’s chat about the tiny houses and how I've changed the way I take orders over the last year. I started creating these tiny houses in 2024. Before that I mostly made bigger houses (Hearthomes) with a different style roof. I decided that I wanted to create these smaller houses in an attempt to be able to make more houses so more of my customers had the opportunity to order. I also wanted each themed house to be a little different than the rest of the tiny houses to make them part of a collection. Many of you started ordering these in July of last year when I started taking pre-orders of ‘subscription’ boxes. The first set was the Halloween set. I didn’t even have a sample to show you all before I took orders, but you guys ordered anyway! Thank you for that if you ordered that first set! I appreciate your trust in me! Most of you had purchased my Hearthomes before, or followed me on Instagram, so you trusted me to make something without even seeing the final product! But I know it helps to see what you’re ordering before you spend your hard-earned money. So, after that I have been trying to create samples before I start taking pre-orders. 

Last year I used the Halloween theme so this year I decided to make it a fall theme with the tiny pumpkin sign. I also made a tiny heart as an option to add on. I made this one a taller house and made the ‘front door’ on the narrow end to create a row house style of house/shop.

I’ve been working on sketches in the evenings and working on the current rainbow houses during the day. In my last blog post I shared the sketch of my idea. Last week I created my ‘first draft sample’. This past weekend I was able to fire and glaze the sample. I called it a draft because I usually change some details after I see what it looks like after it’s fired in the kiln but I’m pretty happy with how it turned out! 

So, this is my fall themed sample! I plan to make a couple more samples using a different color roof and give you roof color options when/if you place an order. I also added a little hanging pumpkin (or heart) by the door, to make it look like a tiny pumpkin shop sign (which gives me ideas for future tiny shops).

I created a fall option last year for my customers who did not want Halloween house. The majority of the orders were for the Halloween option.  

I had 2 options for the winter box. The red roof or the aquamint roof. I also added the option of adding the set of tree and a snowman. I love the accessories, but honestly, those are the things that take me so much longer! 

Let me know in the comments what you think about new fall house design! It fits in well with the rest of the tiny house collection. 

I’ve had a few questions about the tiny house pre-orders so I thought I would answer those questions here plus a few of questions that I thought some may have.

 Let me know if you have any additional questions! 

Q & A

Question:  Will you be taking pre-orders?

Answer:  Yes, I will be taking pre-orders for the Fall House from my website, but I will wait until I'm mostly finished with the rainbow houses. Hopefully by early October.  (Date TBD) 

 

Question: Will this be a subscription box pre-order?

No. This will be a one-time purchase. 

After I started working on orders for my first subscription box, I quickly realized fulfilling subscription boxes monthly, bi-monthly, and even quarterly would be difficult. It can take me awhile to finish orders. Especially when life gets busy! And my life became very busy about the time I took orders for that second box! But I love that many of you have continued to order these tiny houses and continue to add to your collections! I thought I would continue creating seasonally themed tiny houses, so you (my customers) have something different each time. 

Question: How will I know when/how to order?

Answer:  I will send out my newsletter to my email list with the date and time.

Sign up for my newsletter if you are interested in getting these updates. 

Question: Where can I place my Pre-Order?

Answer: Pre-orders will be taken from my website. 

There is a link at the top of this page. BethSMacre.com

 

Question: How long does it take to make and ship? 

Answer: 6-8 Weeks approximately. Maybe less. 

The pre-orders take me awhile to make but it depends how many orders I get. I usually make the houses in batches of 10-15 houses. (The clay starts to dry out too much if I try to make too many in a batch.) When I get a batch finished, I start shipping orders starting with the first orders. Then I make another batch, ship, then start the next batch, until I work my way down my list. 

Let me know if you have any other questions!

Thank you for following along with me! 

In the Studio this Week

Last week I spent most of my time glazing rainbow houses.  

I glazed some brights and pastel-colored houses. I am working my way through my list of orders. I will be shipping out some orders in the next few days. So if your order is in this batch, you will be getting a shipping notification soon. 

 

I also started cutting some clay blocks to make the next batch of rainbow houses and a few samples for the fall themed house. I hope to have a sample to share soon. We’ll see how much I can get done. I need to ship a dozen orders out first. 

 

I also worked on a batch of wholesale pig magnets for the local visitor center in Fayetteville. I need to make pig ornaments this week if I have a little time. I want to get those made and delivered before the next home Razorback game! I also make Arkansas shaped ornaments and magnets that are also sold in the Fayetteville Visitor Center in the square in downtown Fayetteville. I'm working on restocking those as well. 

 

So that’s all for this week. I have a lot of work to do!

 

In the studio

 In the Studio

 

 

August has been very hot, as usual, but the temperatures here in Arkansas have cooled down to a much more comfortable level this week. I seem to have more energy when the weather is nice so I am beginning to look forward to fall. I would say it's my favorite season but I love something about each season. 

What I’m working on…  

I shipped the first small batch of rainbow houses last week and finished making the next batch of houses to glaze. While those were drying, I have been sketching some ideas and thinking about plans for future projects.

I worked on some sketches for my next tiny house design. Last year I made Halloween themed tiny houses, and only a few fall themed houses, so I decided to go with fall this year. Many of my customers have become collectors so I want to make sure I offer a variety of themes for customers to collect. The photo below is my first sketch. I will make a couple of samples when I make another batch of rainbow houses. My priority right now is finishing the rainbow houses and hope to have enough time to get the fall houses made!

Ready to Ship Sales

Since I started taking pre-orders for the tiny houses, I have not been having many ready to ship restocks. The pre-order system seems to allow for more of my customers to purchase a house, but it takes me quite a while to fill all of those orders, which doesn't leave much time to make extra houses. However, I do have some samples and some slightly imperfect pieces that I will probably put up for sale in the near future, so if you missed out on pre-orders, make sure you are following me on Instagram or signed up for my newsletter to get notified of the details when those events happen. 

Link to Instagram: Beth Macre on Instagram

Link to Newsletter Sign up. Newsletter Sign Up

Blog post updates

Also, check back here weekly if you are interested in finding out what I'm working on. There is a link at the top of my website, BethSMacre.com. (See photo below)

I think email inboxes have become so full that many of us, me included, miss seeing the newsletters that get lost in the advertising emails. The social media algorithms don't always show us the accounts we want to see, so I thought that if I started blogging again, you can come to my website and catch up on what I'm doing, if you are interested. It won't disappear after 24 hours, it won't get lost in your emails, and it will be here as long as I am here. 

This blog dates back to before Instagram, Facebook, and all of the other sites that have come and gone. I originally started it to document what I was doing with my art while I was still teaching. I stopped blogging for awhile because social media kind of took over that goal. But time changes everything, so I thought I would get back to blogging and document what I'm working on again. I plan to create some long form videos for You Tube, but I'm still learning to create content that would be interesting to watch, and trying to figure out what I want to vlog about. I love to draw and paint and would love to do more of that and maybe create some drawing or painting how to videos. Working with clay is very difficult to video and my process with clay takes so long and would be kind boring to watch, in my opinion! Like watching grass grow. It is a slow process. 

So if you've made it this far, leave a comment below and let me know if you like to watch videos and what you would enjoy watching. I will share a link when I upload some video content. 

Until next time...

Ceramic Rainbow Themed Houses

What I’m working on…

This month I took pre-orders for my tiny Rainbow themed houses. I made several samples to try out different details so I had some examples to show my email subscribers.

Here are photos of the samples that I made. Each one is a little different but I selected one style to make for the pre-orders. In the second photo, you can see the style I chose and the progress I’ve made so far. 

I am going on a trip with some friends this month so I will take a short break then start glazing these and begin another batch. I work in small batches because the clay starts to get a little hard if I let them sit (in an airtight container) too long. 

This batch has a dozen houses. I need to make the tiny hearts that hang from the chimneys but the houses are finished and drying. 

I am currently using a white earthenware clay. This clay is gray while in its greenware stage. After it dries completely it will be fired in my little kiln and will turn white. It will then be ready to glaze and be fired again. I will post more photos when I get to that stage. 

Supplies used: 

Low fire earthenware clay, Nichrome 20 gauge wire, Mayco Stroke&coat glazes.

Affiliate Link

Nichrome wire : https://amzn.to/40svyno

Hey friends! 

Welcome to my studio blog! I’ve decided to resurrect this blog to talk more in depth about what I’m working on, share some behind the scenes photos and videos, answer questions, and possibly have some small tutorial lessons for diy art projects. I’ve been wanting to have a place to create community with my Instagram and Facebook followers that can all come together in one space. 

Latest Rainbow House to come out of the kiln. 👉🏻

I’ve been on Instagram and Facebook for a long time but I’m limited on space and what I can do there so I decided to go back to my original online journaling space…the blog. I actually have two blogs. This one, Beth Macre Studio, since 2007, and my second one that I started in 2011, while I was still teaching high school art. I retired from teaching in 2012, so I didn’t post much on that blog after that. Just an occasional tutorial. But I want to add any tutorials that I may create over there on the Art Class blog. My plan is to also create some YouTube videos to enhance tutorials and demonstrations on projects I decide to share.  

There is a link at the top of this page to ‘Art Class’ or here is a direct link if you are interested in checking that one out. 

Mrs. Macre’s Art Class 👉🏻 https://macresartroom.blogspot.com/

Follow along if you are interested in what I’m working on and let me know what you would like to learn more about what I do. Leave a comment below. We’ll see where this goes. 

Until next time, 

Beth 🌈❤️🏠

Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube (more coming on YT in the future). 

My Kiln

My Little Kiln

She is small but mighty. She gets the job done. 

The size of my kiln does limit what I can create, but I get a lot of use out of it. When I purchased this kiln, I planned to use it to fire my little clay houses and other accessories. So she has plenty of space for that plus more. I also use it to fire small bowls, ornaments, and other small items that I sell from my online shop. You can see how big it is inside in the photo below.

 There are many times that I wish that I had a larger kiln so I could fire larger things and fit more layers, but I can fill it with a variety of houses and accessories, as well as ornaments and bowls. If I am careful, I can get quite a few things in there and fire a load overnight. And because it is a small kiln, it really doesn't use a lot of electricity. A little larger one would be great to have, but this one works for me.

What I love the most about my little kiln is the automatic timer. After having this feature I could never go back to having to change the temperature manually. Well, I could, but I wouldn't want to! It is so easy to just set it in the evening and unload the kiln the next morning.

Type of Kiln

I use a Paragon Xpress with a kiln sitter.

I keep my little kiln in the garage. It only a requires 120V plug that we had an electrician add next to our electric panel in the garage.


Next Size Up:
I recently did a search for my model and apparently, this exact model is not available anymore. If you are in the market for a little kiln, look for ones that are 120V. But if I were going to purchase a new one, I would get the next size up. 

I just did a search for Paragon Kilns and the website where I purchased mine does not sell Paragon Brand any longer. But I did find one similar to mine on this website:

Paragon Kiln Xpress 66-3

I have no affiliation with this company. I'm just sharing where to locate this style/size kiln. 

It is 240V, so you would need to have the proper wiring installed.
Obviously, you would want to do your research on the different sizes that are available, based on your needs.

Thanks for stopping by!

Beth♥

Garden Markers for the Creative Gardener

Ceramic Plant Markers

Plant markers are a fun way to decorate your garden and to
mark your new or existing garden plants.
I've seen many different creative and fun styles of markers out of different materials. Some I've seen are made of stamped silver spoons, wooden spoons, and even tongue depressors! As an artist, I believe in decorating any space. Gardens are no exception!


I am a 'wannabe'  gardener, but since I work with clay I decided to make some plant markers for the garden I dream of.

My gardening has mostly involved flowers over the years, but herb and vegetable gardens are perfect little gardens for the pretty plant markers.

Veggies? Herbs? Flowers? Potted Plants?

Any herb, vegetable, or flower can be stamped into these plant markers. I have received orders for plants that I have never heard of, so it has been a learning experience for me! What are your favorite plants?

Update: I am not currently taking orders for the plant markers. 

Happy Spring Planting! 
Beth