Preparing for a show
I’m participating in the Handmade NW WTC event in the World Trade Center Portland. Everyone is invited. Come by and see my new line of work. 
I just remembered that they even have me up on their page.
I’m pretty excited. I don’t have to have a tent, and its under a glass roof. Pretty light no matter what! It could be raining and it’ll be dry and warm. Yeay!
The only down side is going to be sitting all day listening to Christmas music. I know that many people complain about hearing Christmas music when going into stores (I’m one of them.) I would just ask you to console yourselves in that we vendors and shop personnel have to listen not only to Christmas Music, but to the SAME Christmas Music on loop for 8 hours. ARRGH!
Its not that I don’t love Christmas. I actually do. I enjoy it being a nice one to two day event with about one to two weeks of preparation and minimal christmas music playing. Seriously, we’ve not had any new christmas songs once the merchants took over the holiday and made it all about the gifts. 
I know, I know, I’m a merchant selling my wares. Christmas is a vital part of the merchant economy. Well, damn it all if I think greed is bad and having your entire economy poured into one basket case of a holiday is a bad idea. I’m more about quality than quantity, and I make goods that (I hope) reflects that. I want my functional wares to last a long time. I want my sculptural and decorative goods to serve their purpose and be used again and again.
So please, from the bottom of my clay-loving-heart, don’t buy cheep crap this year. Buy cheep if you have to, but don’t buy crap. Invest in a quality item that will last you a few years. It’ll save you money in the long run, and it will make your living space a much more beautiful place.
Kiln unloaded!
So here’s a breakfast set from the most recient Kiln Load.
I’m thinking once christmas is over I’ll be ready to start sculpting again. Sitting down with some work that takes time and precision.
Kiln Unloaded!
So now I have a kiln load of glazed pieces. There were some disappointments, but over-all a good load of shtuff. I’ll put up pictures as soon as I can. In the meantime, check out some items from previous loads:
Bisq out!
Last night I went and unloaded my bisq. It was fun, taking out a kiln full of my stuff and knowing that I’ll have a kiln full of my glazed pieces going in on Monday. Yeay!
Of course, it was rather creepy getting to my kiln, since I had to do it at night. My studio is under a bridge, and therefore a lot of transient people hang out there. While I’m sure most of them are good people, I’m just afraid of that one random guy/girl who won’t be. Since I get there on bike, I feel rather vulnerable, and basically had to find a new, less exposed route to my studio to get there.
I think I’m going to stick to getting to the studio while the sun is up from now on. :/
Photographic day
So it was sunny today! Joy and a half! My husband and I went out to a local state park and took some pictures.
I know I must have looked a bit funny hiking around with my internal rack back-pack for what was, in essence, a very short hike. It really makes carrying around ceramic pieces a lot easier. Once I’m out there I can take some rather nice pictures of my pieces. Some, I feel, are more successful than others.
Still, the river was extremely high today; at points it kissed the edge of the path we were on. The deep flow made some beautiful waterfalls spectacular!
Progress Report
I have a firing on Friday. With the season being what it is and the number of people using the studio, I have to fit my firings into a tightly packed schedule. So I’m trying to fill out my firing by Friday. This, unfortunately, also means that I have to have things dried by friday. I’ve got some mugs to finish tomorrow, and then… there’s just one day to dry. Ergh.
Christmas Fair…
I went to a local Christmas fair today. Let me just say that it was horribly dead. I was so glad to not be a seller there, and I really felt for the people that were.
This is just not going to be a good year, and its going to get worse. The shoe event horizon was pretty damn close when this broke. I can only hope for new innovative technologies that we can manufacture here at home. I don’t want to be part of a culture that just sells things to each other. Its one of the reasons I work on my ceramics. I want to be making something, not just selling Chinese crap.
Easy Listening
The CD player in the stuio is broken. No problem, someone connected up a portable cd player to the sounds system and there you go! Now that CD player is broken. So now, whenever I go in, I’m setting my station to the local NPR, OPB.
The result is that I am a lot better informed about random topics, while I work. Since I’m always thinking about something (can’t stop the brain!) I figure this is much better than getting stuck obsessing about past battles, frustrations, and times when I was so embarrassed I just wanted everything else to vanish and go away. I also tend to get a lot more done.
I still think though. I’ve been thinking about my tendency to live in past and in fantasy. While I don’t want to loose my fantasy world, living in the past just isn’t healthy. Living in my fantasy world all the time isn’t healthy either. I probably need to do more to get that out on paper, so that it has somewhere to go instead of just swirling around in my head and eating me alive every fall when the SADs comes around.
Still, when I put my pots away for the day I know more about what is going on in the world, I know more about migrains, Iraq or the after effects of the American Civil War.
Back to work.
Took the day off yesterday to celebrate with my husband. Turned out to be kinda’ depressing because we don’t have jobs and can’t really afford to do anything in this weather.
So I’m going back to the studio today, to work on more bowls and ornaments and an advent wreath that is coming due soon.
Obama wins!
With Ohio we know that he can win even if he looses every other State but his safe states of Oregon, California and Washington. Obama wins!
The only question left is by how much?
And then there’s the Senate and the House…
Oh, this is supposed to be my art blog…
Ummm… I started making mushroom pendants today. And some cups. Really. -_-’
Look! Results from the kiln!
