More Pictures

Lower Fire Clay

I bought a block of low fire clay to see if I could get some better color effects to my pieces. I am very pleased with what happened! I have more pictures too! I also have more pieces to glaze today and fire tonight. I am so excited to see what happens next!

Buy Handmade Damn it!

What a great day yesterday was. My debut at the Handmade Brigade was a moderate success. I met lots of nice people and sold many of my pendants. It is trippy to think people will be walking around wearing something I made!
One of the best things about the Handmade Brigade craft show was being surrounded by so many talented Indie Crafters. I bought a cute little wallet from Mandalanda made from the inside pages of vintage books, what they do with the covers is they make the these awesome book cover purses very well made and cute as hell. I bought some nerd, geek, dork button pins from the ladies at Tired Girl Collective, I put my dork button on right away for the world to see and even wore out to dinner after the show. Nina from Taco's and Eggrolls was the coordinator of the show, who not only managed the show and the crafters but ran her own successful booth too, she was great and her jewelry funky and original. I chatted it up with the very creative Miriam Dema who makes beautiful screen prints and some funky button pins too, which darn it I didn't get a chance to buy any! I guess I am gonna have buy some from her etsy store :)
The Porterness booth went around handing out BUY HANDMADE DAMN IT! stickers which will go right on my car. All and all a very good day.

Fresh out of the Kiln

Ahh, the smell of fresh baked porcelain in the morning. I get so giddy with anticipation of seeing my pieces in their final stage that my child in me wakes me up extra early so I can open up my kiln. It's like Christmas, because you basically have no idea what your going to get. The glazes have a mind of their own, sometimes there are color combos that you didn't even use or the colors you thought you put don't show up. I know I put lots of purple, where did it go? But mostly I am always delighted with what the kiln gods bless me with. So here are some more beads and baubles that I will have at the Handmade Brigade this Saturday in Cerritos CA, at the Tall Mouse store from 11am to 5pm. There are lots of talented indie crafters showing their wares and it sure is to be a lot of fun! The Tall Mouse store is a family owned craft store, hurrah for family own independent stores just as they are supporting us indie crafters these businesses need our support too! So come on down this Saturday and have some fun, you can bring the kiddies :)

Etsy, My first Craft Faire and my MESSY HOUSE!

I am trying to figure out the whole Etsy thing. I have managed to put up two items and my shop looks so empty but I hear your supposed to post only one item a day. I may be making it harder than it really is, I tend to over think things but from some reason I feel like I am doing it wrong!
I also have my first craft faire this weekend and my display is killing me, it is not my forte'. I want to keep it simple and uncluttered and I can not find anything to hang my pendants on. Sigh I just need to keep positive and forge ahead, maybe doing the laundry , the dishes and a bit of Vacuuming would help clear my mind, ugh.

Wuthering Heights

I first read Wuthering Heights in my late teens. In my youthful almost adulthood I wallowed in the misery that book yielded. How romantic I thought Heathcliff was, wrecking his revenge on all for his love of Cathy. Now that I am rereading in my ripe old age of 41, I am seeing Heathcliff as the monster that he is, how could I have thought the traps , webs of deceit and revenge he wielded were romantic? It is the ultimate cycle of abuse story, that shows how families create their own chaos, and how the abused become the abusers. Makes me want to go back in time a slap myself and hand me a book about co-dependants save myself from some future misery, but I digress. Poor Emily Bronte this was her only novel and soon died after it was published, what state of mind was she in when she wrote this book ?
In my late teens it was then also that I discovered my love for Kate Bush, her song Wuthering Heights coupled with my Bronte book made a great catalyst for the self inflicted sorrow of my young mind. Kate Bush was only 15 or 16 when she wrote that great album The Kick Inside, which I still listen to, although not wallowing in misery I might add, now I just wonder about what a genius Kate Bush was at such a young age and if when she read Wuthering Heights in her youth did she wallow in delectable anguish too? And now if she reread it what would she think of it now?

Slow like Molasses

Everything is on hold ceramic wise until I buy a kiln. I have decided on Aim Kilns they have a few small test kilns that plug into a regular socket! They start out at 160$ on up up up but really they are the most affordable kilns I have found. Which I should mention I would not have found them if not for this wonderful forum Wet Canvas. I am thinking of the one that is 8" x 8" by 9" it's small, but for a beginner I am sure that it will suit me just fine. If I find that I need a bigger kiln I have this one that I bought off Craigs List for 100$. Boy this baby is an ancient 1975 Duncan Kiln, its pretty big for what I need and overwhelms me when I think of trying to work it. I bought it on a whim and maybe it will come into use later down the road. Lucky me I have two brother in-laws that are electricians that can help me install a new outlet for it because this one runs off of 220. I am going to continue to create more goodies with the clay and just store the green-ware until my kiln comes which can take Gulp, 2 to 6 weeks! But life is good and I am thankful for everything even the little bumps which cause us to slow down when we don't want to.