Little Traverse Tileworks

Ghost Army Returns!
After a year off last year...we have PLENTY of ghosts this year. We even have some pumpkins and witches hats as well! These are only available in store. If you cannot make it in, reach out and we can send you pictures and invoice you/ship them.

Remember that personal project that I mentioned in the spring? Well after a lot of time and some assistance at the end, it is finally complete!
As I said in the post before that it was something for me, kind of. To elaborate a bit: This is my moms 70th birthday present from our family, it is located in my parents rustic cabin north of town. When we purchased this property, this was a combination of wood and cement board. I wanted to do something here but the time was never right. My mom mentioned wanting something like this for her birthday, so last winter and spring was spent designing this and then getting it all glazed up. I designed a unique pattern that repeats every 20 inches... this did not make it easy to install as I had to consult my design guide for each tile placement. I did the installation over the course of 2 days (60 % of it the day before her birthday). And then it sat for a few months....the summer really gets away from us. I was lucky enough to hire a great handyman contractor to grout it for me. (He is local if anyone needs anything!)
We cannot wait to spend some cozy winter days around this wood stove as we have done in winters past! Are you thinking of doing something like this? We are happy to help in any way possible, we can even provide some great people who do installation....I only do installation work for myself (and that is rare!). We can create a custom pattern for your space and we now have 21 different glaze colors to choose from.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS!
2024 ornament mold has been made and ornaments are gettin pressed. We will release the ornament on NOVEMBER 1st! We will send out a reminder email if you are on our mailing list and we will also do a reminder post here. We are VERY excited to share it with you and we hope you are excited as well! If you are lucky, we may even drop ONE hint later on! Stay Tuned! Just like in years past we will only be making 100 of them. They will all be numbered and we will not make anymore, once they are gone...they are gone!
#2024

SPOTTED...
SOME ORIGINAL LTT HOUSE NUMBERS! I had a lovely conversation with this lady and hope she does not mind that I snagged a picture of her numbers. These were the orignal house numbers that we made for LTT over 10 years ago. They were a huge pain in the BEHIND for us to make and fit into frames, but they look GREAT. They were rectangle shaped which meant that we had to have horizontal style frames and vertical shaped frames. BUT for those of you who wonder if our tiles hold up...the tiles hold up 100%.. They will outlast most of their surroundings.

TRILLIUMS?!
Full glaze shelves still! These shelves have been full for weeks. Pieces only get stored here for a day or two while we wait for a kiln to open up to get them into. We have enough space to hold about 1.5 kilns worth on deck. For about 5-6 months out of the year we fire a kiln almost every day. In rest of the months it is about 2-3 kilns per week. It all depends on orders and what is happening. If you have been following along, you would have read that this is the first year we started firing on a 24 hour schedule for a few weeks to produce more work in one week. It got pretty crazy there in August!
While we are working on a lot of leaf dishes to get us through the next few weeks, we are also still firing a lot of Trillium Dishes! Thanks for loving this design as much as we do. All of these shelves are green glaze except the bottom shelf that is clear!

Can you guess what these colors will be?
Can you guess what colors these are?... Swipe to find out! We just sent off a 4 square foot installation project that was a mix of all these colors. We think that they complement each other beautifully!

Please note new hours for SEPTEMBER, effective immediately. If you need to meet with us on a Monday or Sunday, please feel free to reach out! We will try to accommodate the needs of everyone as best that we can.

REMINDER⁠⁠⁠
We are a VERY small crew currently and we have some overlapping important family events that we cannot miss this weekend. We strive to have a work environment where no one has to miss the important things in life. We think its only fair that our employees can take the time off that they really need. AND everyone here worked SO hard over the summer so we really think it is well deserved...it is LABOR DAY after all right?⁠⁠⁠⁠
Unfortunately for you, that means we have to close the doors over the long weekend. We know that this may be a huge bummer for some of you. We are offering FREE SHIPPING Thursday-Monday on our website for all items! If you had planned a trip or stopped by the store to pick up something in the shop then please reach out to us. We are happy to ship any item you were looking to get for FREE as well, not just tile. Reach out to us on social media, by email ([email protected]) or call/text (231)-526-5807. We will make sure you get the pieces that you want. ⁠⁠⁠⁠

HEADS UP!
We are a VERY small crew currently and we have some overlapping important family events that we cannot miss this weekend. We strive to have a work environment where no one has to miss the important things in life. We think its only fair that our employees can take the time off that they really need. AND everyone here worked SO hard over the summer so we really think it is well deserved...it is LABOR DAY after all right?
Unfortunately for you, that means we have to close the doors over the long weekend. We know that this may be a huge bummer for some of you. We are offering FREE SHIPPING Thursday-Monday on our website for all items! If you had planned a trip or stopped by the store to pick up something in the shop then please reach out to us. We are happy to ship any item you were looking to get for FREE as well, not just tile. Reach out to us on social media, by email ([email protected]) or call/text (231)-526-5807. We will make sure you get the pieces that you want. If you shop our website, you will notice the free shipping option at checkout.

END OF SUMMER SALE IS ON!
Sidewalk sales always morphs into our annual End of Summer sale! Come check out everything that we have on sale! Steep discounts and all in perfect condition! Stop by and check it out...if you are thinking ahead (unlike us), you can get started on you holiday shopping!

TOMORROW!
Don't forget! Stop by Harbor Springs Sidewalk Sales and then head up the coast to check out some incredible artists studios! A great opportunity to see where some of our favorite local art is created!

BIG WEEKEND AHEAD!
Sidewalk sales on Friday and Saturday 16th and 17th. We are going ALL OUT! Buy one get one on all 2nd quality tiles. We also have discounts as high as 40% on work from other artists. We are making room for new items! Stop by and check out all of the deals. Get stated with your early Holiday Shopping! (Something we always aspire to do but can never get organized enough)
Tunnel of Trees Art Trail is on Saturday! Artists along the Tunnel of Trees will have their studios open and displaying their artwork. For more information head over to the Good Hart Artist Residency page or website. Lots of Studios from Harbor Springs to Good Hart to Cross Village and in between will be participating.

SIDEWALK SALES! Mark your calendars for August 16-17
People ask us all the time what makes our discounted tiles 2nds...here is a perfect example... Sometimes we get distracted and forget to wipe the glaze off of a tile. We felt like we were forgetting something... Surprise! Besides that, nothing is wrong with the tile. Some of them have slight imperfections (wrong glaze color, bubbles in the glaze, no hook in the back, slight cracks or warped) but that just makes them truly one of a kind! We will be doing buy one get one for our 2nds again. We also will have a lot of other discounted art for sale! Make sure to stop by on Friday and Saturday to check it out! We will have discounted work inside and outside.

Dilly and Doc want you to come join our team! We are looking for someone to come work with us full time and year round!
Are you a hands-on, friendly individual who enjoys a variety of tasks and has a love for dogs? If so, we have the perfect opportunity for you! We are seeking a full-time Studio Assistant & Sales Associate to become a key member of our team. No prior experience is necessary—just a willingness to learn, get your hands dirty, and contribute to both the creative and customer-facing aspects of our studio. Stop by the shop for an application or email your resume to [email protected]

MARK YOUR CALENDAR!
We will be participating along with a bunch of amazing artists up the Lake MI coast! We are super excited for this event. It will also be on the same day as Sidewalk Sales in Harbor Springs! Such a great opportunity to check out our shop and buy one/get one seconds!

CHRISTMAS?!?
Here is your Friendly reminder that if you want a custom piece for the Holidays we need to have the design finalized by the end of the month. This would be a design that we do not have in our inventory; family crest, logo, custom lake. That is our only guarantee that we can have it completed by the Holidays. We are currently working on a custom design lead time of 12-14 weeks.
If you are interested in something in a different color, framed or just to personalize an existing design; then we have more time to chat about that. Remember that we cannot do anything last minute around here. Our process is slow so please plan ahead. We hope this reminder helps. If you are thinking about something from us for the holidays but are unsure, feel free to reach out and we can give you lead times and pricing. It seems so surreal to think about the holidays but we are alway planning ahead at least two months around here since it takes that long to make everything!

GLAZE TIME! We have been filling both sides of this table multiple times on a few occasions this summer! We end up running out of kiln space/glazed storage before we burn out on glazing. We can glaze for days on end! Stop by the shop any time to see what we are doing! We are always happy to chat about what we are working on.

Check out this BEAUTIFUL framed Great Lake Set that was framed by Mike Majeske at Studio North in Higgins Lake! The colors are STUNNING! The picture does not do it justice. Dont forget, we can even ship pieces this big! This guy is not on our website but we can definitely sell and ship it if you are interested but not here!

Shelves are FULL!!
We just loaded up a bisque and we are ready to fire another one! Even with our 3 kilns firing we are barely keeping up! Our team has been doing an amazing job keeping up with our demand this summer and we thank you all for your support as always. We are always surprised at how much many tiles we go through each year, making and selling! We have definitl

Wildflower season is upon us! Also all of the flowers in the garden are in bloom! Check out these flower frogs that we made this past spring. I cannot arrange flowers to save my life but these guys make it super easy and look pretty cool too! We have a few different patterns and we are thinking of making more this winter. Let us know what designs you would like to see!

ALL 3 KILNS IN ACTION!
We are rocking and rolling in here! We apologize for the heat but we are cranking things out in here! We have been firing all three kilns and making sure that something is firing each day! While we only have two outlets currently, we are just unplugging as we need and it buys us some extra time to unload kilns. This is amazing! I never thought we would be using our "spare" kiln this way but we SURE are glad that we have it!

"LLT is an eco-system of opportunity" is how one participant this year described this program. Applications are now being accepted for the next class of Leadership Little Traverse with a deadline of 5:00 p.m. on Monday, July 15. Applications are available here https://bit.ly/2024LLT

Leadership Little Traverse is a community leadership program hosted by the Petoskey Regional Chamber of Commerce & Harbor Springs Area Chamber of Commerce. The class of 2025 will be the 24th class. Sessions begin in September of 2024 and are held monthly through May 2025. Each session is a full day in length and introduces class members to different facets of the community while helping them hone personal leadership skills.

This is an incredible opportunity to:
1. Learn about the state of our community, its systems, and current issues.
2. Develop your civic leadership skills and capacity to make an impact.
3. Find your path and commit to doing 'community better' in the Little Traverse Bay Region.

Call with any questions (231) 347-4150.