I won't even address the fact that I haven't been blogging, except to simply say...I haven't been blogging....and I apologize :)
My husband and I took yet another journey to Southfork, Colorado the last week of February for time away with friends and also sort of an anniversary trip! We celebrated 4 years of marriage on February 27th! The time sure has flown past and I cannot believe he still puts up with my antics :) Really though, what a great man I married! So thankful!
 |
| We took a train ride form Durango to Cascade Canyon. It was...awesome! But that's for another post! |
Upon our return from sunny...err supposed to be snowy colorado (the trip was a bit warm), I set straight to work on ceramics for my first arts & crafts show. I worked day in and day out making clay art, since I knew my time was limited. I had to make sure everything could fully dry out before firing in the kiln. If you don't let them dry out completely, as in all the way through to the very core of each piece, then when you fire it....BOOM! And as I told (and regretfully had to show) my students, clay will indeed explode if it is too thick and not properly vented. Basically the steam produced from the water in the clay and the heat rising to 1800 degrees needs a way out of the ball of clay. That way out is to explode if you did not make a hole or let it dry thoroughly. It would all be fine if it i just ruined one piece of art, but we know that when things explode, they throw debris, which can destroy neighboring works of art. I did NOT have time to remake any broken pieces, so I let them all dry for a week before firing.
 |
| Ready for a bisque fire! |
During the drying phase, though, one of my best friends came to town to visit! Tomara stayed with me for a few days during Austin's SXSW event. We spent lots of quality time together laughing and lounging, seeing a man in a speedo at the park, braving the crowds of 6th street for some free music, and getting our noses pierced....well...at least I did :-P. I love seeing Ms. Rock! She is an incredible & encouraging friend and loves the Lord with all her heart! :)
So that finally gets us to the last week. Chance was at GDC (game developers conference) in San Fran for the week, so I worked endlessly again painting and finishing all those fired ceramic pieces. I got very little sleep last week, but I have SO many cute little creations just waiting to be taken home with someone soon.
My first arts & crafts show was this past Saturday and was a pretty miserable failure. Not for a lack of effort, but the show was just not well attended. Those who did attend....looked like they might all have come from a nursing home bus that dropped them off for the day. Truly though, elders don't really want to spend $25 on an owl sculpture. Hehe. The few children who were around that day though LOVED my booth. They wandered in taking in all the sights of each small piece with huge smiles on their faces. Totally made the lame day worth it! I did manage to make a few sales, which covered my booth fee plus some. I can't complain. I got to see what my set up would look like and now I have a ton to upload to my etsy. No big thang!
One benefit of buying my work from a show is no shipping AND you get a discounted price since there are no etsy fees to deal with. Nonetheless, many of these pieces will be up on my etsy soon if you are interested in purchasing. I am actively searching for another spring show and going to get busy creating so I will have a large inventory for multiple fall shows! I WILL be successful at this artisan thing :-P. Thanks for stopping by!
