admin, Author at Dat Set

April 14, 2022April 21, 2022

In Other Words

My first solo show – a milestone 🥳

I have never been so excited seeing my name written on a wall

The most special thing is to have my mom here at the show opening. I had three degrees and two graduation ceremonies, but for different reasons my mom never had a chance to attend any of them. Throughout my career, she never interferes with my choice of what job I was going to take, although I think she probably questioned and worried a lot. Last week, thanks to our in house travel agent (aka my husband) and with very little planning, my mom flew to the US two days before the opening. I hope seeing my solo show and that my work sells quickly will make her less worried about my career choice 🥲 Less – because she will never stop 🥹
I am very proud of this first solo show. I hope she is proud of me 🎈

April 4, 2022April 4, 2022

2022 So Far

It’s been a while and I am happy to share with you several good news since my last post.

The first piece of good news is that I still make balloons. Yes, I still do. The whole cycle of making, breaking, succeeding/failing has been going steadily. It doesn’t happen as quickly as it used to, but it happens. In the last year I started to take some custom orders again; not too many but enough to remind me custom orders come with a strict commitment to deadlines. I was still looking for an answer for all the hairline cracks I frequently have with my balloons. This problem had been happening in no pattern – making it impossible for me to understand why (especially – when I was not professionally trained in ceramic). It was also one of the reasons why I took custom orders slowly. But after two years of looking for the answer in many different ways, last week was the first time I felt like I had found closure.

May 19, 2021May 19, 2021

Where have I been?

In An's nursery; I made all the ceramic balloons in the photo

I have been quiet, too quiet. But I am still here and I am back. So much has happened since my last post, and I hope if you follow my blog you also follow my Instagram – where you have probably been updated about what I’ve been up to.

December 2, 2019December 2, 2019

Skutt Kiln and Slab Roller for Sales

As I’ve upgraded my studio with a bigger slab roller and a bigger kiln, it’s time for me to find a new owner for my smaller kiln and tabletop slab roller. Below is the information and photos of both, feel free to contact me via bythuongtran@gmail.com if you’re interested:

November 10, 2019November 10, 2019

Conversing with my customers

Letter balloons: a custom order for one customer of mine

It’s been a few months since my last post, and it was a post about my first customer outside of the US. The “demand” for my ceramic balloons have been growing a little bit, slowly but surely, inside the US as well as outside. I am proud to share that I have shipped some balloons to Australia – which is very far away from the US, I just brought the first few pieces home – Vietnam, soon I will ship one piece to the UK, and few other to Canada.

July 27, 2019August 6, 2019

Andrea

Ceramic balloons in metalic coats — My ceramic balloons in metallic coats I made for Andrea’s nursery.

You may have seen in some of the previous posts a photo of two metallic balloons I made for a customer in Panama. Andrea – the customer, is a popular pastry chef in Panama. Andrea was pregnant with her child, who – according to her – would “arrive” at any time. She was getting her nursery ready and she’s been wanting ceramic balloons for a long time, and one day destiny brought my photos to her Instagram feed.