A Belated Merry Christmas!

Sending wishes to all of you for a wonderful remainder to 2019 and a happy and healthy 2020.

I had a wonderful Christmas at my sister's home, surrounded by family.

Thank you!

I had a wonderful time at Mistletoe Market again this year. Thank you to all of my returning customers and the new ones as well.

May you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

A New-to-Me Glaze!

Another update...

60 angels survived the glaze firing. (YAY!!!) They were too hot to take out of the kiln this morning. I will unload them after my Business Association meeting tonight. I was able to glaze 8 more last night, 8 remain.  Then on to the Santa Hats and the soap dishes...

I will be ready to go for Mistletoe!

Progress report

I have no photos to share.

I do however have 60 angels glazed and ready for the glaze firing tonight. I have 16 additional angels, 12 Santa Hats, assorted soap dishes, bowls, and a few pumpkins to glaze tonight and tomorrow night. They should fire Wednesday morning. I will be adding gold accents, heads, and halos to the first batch while the firing is being done.

Mistletoe Market begins Friday evening and I should have everything completed by Thursday evening.

Thank you for your support of my artistic release.

Home stretch

Sunday was my last day to create items out of clay for Mistletoe market.  They need about a week to dry enough for me to fire them. After the initial firing, they will need glazing. The Santa Hats will also need wire hooks fabricated and attached. The angels made previously will also need gold accents added before the heads and halos (hooks too!) are added. 

Last day of clay production.

I was pet sitting the first part of the week and did some prep work with the wires for hanging as well as a bit of glazing. Tonight I have another obligation before resuming glazing. I forsee glazing, trimming and ornament assembly in my future for the next week. (I am definitely not complaining.)

Pre-show Crunch

I am participating in the Mistletoe market at the Anderson County Museum again this year.  It is scheduled for Friday, November 22 from 4:00 - 8:00 PM and Saturday, November 23 from 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM.

As usual, I am in a crunch to finish creating stock. Yes, it is still 2 weeks away, but I have a lot to do in that 2 weeks to be ready. There are 76 angels in progress as well as some more soap dishes and Santa hats and Sake bottles.

There never seems to be enough time.

Painful

My week started off with me feeling a little off kilter. I knew that I had been dealing with a kidney stone on the move. There had been the lower back pain that shifted with time, as well as other telltale signs that I had a kidney stone.

Tuesday I was dealing with the knowledge that it was about ready to pass. I was feeling quite miserable and only got about 2 hours of very interrupted sleep. Wednesday morning, it was still there... they finally passed on Wednesday afternoon. A horrible feeling. I do not wish that on anyone. I have experienced it worse a few years ago, but this was pretty bad as well. And no, I was not at home waiting on it, I was at work, trying to keep a cheerful face for those customers I helped that day.

As I said, THEY passed in the afternoon. And the smaller of the two was JUST as painful as the larger one!

The rest of the week has been much better!

Hands and feet

Growing up, we had a fabulous art teacher in the elementary school. Her name evades my brain at the moment. When we were in kindergarten, she had each student press their hand into terra cotta clay which she then fired for us to gift to our parents. Mine is packed away somewhere.

Here at the store, I have offered that tradition to our customers. One grandma has her grandchildren impress their right foot and she then hung the plaques on her wall. (The littlest guy had to keep coming back, his would either crack or blow out in firing... finally there was a successful one!)

These are the two I took from the kiln this morning. Big brothers hands and little brothers feet.  The little guy just was too wiggly to get his hands, so we improvised.

A photo for inspiration

These are two angels I made last year for a special order.  I plan to glaze more of them white this year, as well as the other colors I have on hand. No more sticking to a set color palette.  Whatever color I feel like glazing is what color they will be.  I will still make some for special requests, within my reasonable capability.

I did have a productive day "off" yesterday, making 16 more angels before having to stop due to my fingers getting all wrinkly.

October

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month.  Don't just wear pink and think that it is enough. Everyone be aware that this evil disease is out there and does not discriminate.

Mental Health Awareness month is also October. There are many different mental health issues out there and most likely, you know several people who deal with them on a daily basis.  It is not always evident on the outside looking in.

All in all, just be aware that people the world round are dealing with things you may not know about, no matter your relationship with them. Not everyone shows their suffering on the surface. Treat everyone with respect and be nice.

OK, down off my soapbox I step.

I need to get back to work and create more things for the store and for Mistletoe Market.  I want to get some pieces finished so I can send photos for promotions.

Good-byes are hard

This has been a rough year for some of the furry friends I take care of off and on through the year.

Last year, one sweet kitty - Sophie got sick and was not able to be saved.  Her people adopted another, equally as sweet kitty named Mocha. Sadly, Mocha too got very sick (different problem) and was not able to be saved. Both of these girls were close to my heart and I miss them dearly. Their "brother" Rocky is still here and as charming as ever.

Tuesday, an 11 year-old pup I have known since she was adopted by her people also crossed the Rainbow Bridge. She was the sweetest yellow lab I have known.  And, like her "sisters" Cleo & Savannah before her, Sandie stole my heart. She was part of my best friend's family.

Even when the fur babies are not your own, it is easy to become very attached.

My heart breaks and tears come to my eyes as well.

Up and running!

Thank you to my brother Rick for checking out the wiring diagram and the kiln and fixing the mistake I made. I am now able to fire the large kiln with no problem.

The small kiln I have not given a test firing yet.  It seems possibly the tube of the kiln sitter was out of alignment and the sensing rod was getting hung up thus keeping it from tripping the power off. I do not have anything of my own to test fire it with at the moment, so it will have to wait until I can get some things made. (* EDIT - still not working correctly.  Will just have to use the large one for the time being.)

In the meantime, my car went into the mechanic last week.  I have had a whining noise from under the hood for a few months, but the most disconcerting was the new grinding noise coming from the rear axel area.  It sounded like I was dragging a branch.  I did not see anything, but thought it could possibly be the wheel bearing go bad.  I needed the car for a house/pet sitting a half hour drive away.

I dropped it off on a Thursday morning.  Their schedule was packed with appointments and they had to work me in around them. To get an appointment otherwise was at least a two week wait. I waited patiently to hear back.  They called at about 4:45 on Friday afternoon for me to come by to pick it up (they close ot 5:00).

It was not the wheel bearing (YES!!!), it was indeed a branch caught up in the undercarriage that was causing that noise.

The whining noise under the hood was the alternator and pulley that needed replacing, the alternator was nearing it's end of life. Thankful for the branch making me think it was a bad bearing for getting me to the mechanic sooner than later.

After a brief case of it overheating (a connector to the cooling fan knocked loose) that was corrected on Monday, all is running smoothly.

I am needing to get my hands back into the clay to create! It is my calming and rejeuvenating activity. And, I also need to get product for the store as well as Mistletoe Market.

Kiln troubles

One of the things about creating with ceramic clay is that it needs to be fired in a kiln to finish it. And as fate would have it right now, BOTH of my kilns are off the operational list.

The larger kiln needed a new power cord and had to be re-wired.  I think I made a mistake because it tripped the breaker when I tried turning it on. I have the wiring diagram now and will need to take a closer look at it. 

The smaller kiln is firing things too hot.  That is something I have not had a problem with before.  I may need to replace the kiln sitter tube (it is cracked) and sensor rod.  Both things I cannot afford to replace at this time.  In a couple of weeks when I get paid again, maybe.  Other bills take priority at the moment.

I am looking forward to getting my hands back into the clay, but not until I know that I can fire them.

Meanwhile, I am working on designing cards for classes at The Mercantile.

Keep cool in this hot weather and let me know you were here.

Feeling lost and celebrating a find!

This is one of the saddest days of the year for me.  I used to adore Valentine's Day and celebrating love and romance.  These days, not so much.  I would rather stay at home and eat a peanut butter sandwich for dinner than go out and see all the couples gaga about each other (or at least putting on a good show).

Yes, I love my family and friends, but I have nobody to call my own.  Simply telling it like it is.

OK, enough about my intense dread of this day.

The find is thanks to my sister-in-law Jan.  She noticed a pair of plates advertised by one of the local antique shops in my home town.  She thought she recognized them and posted them to my facebook page.  Sure enough, they were plates that, along with Laurie - another sister-in-law (and probably others as well), I helped produce in 1990 while working for my father-in-law.  My contribution was the decorating.

Long story short - they now belong to me and safely made the trip via USPS.

There's no place like home!

After just over two and a half months, we are back in our house!  We moved back in on the 6th & 7th of January.

The new roof looks and works wonderfully, as do the new gutters.  Dad's bedroom repairs make the room look like nothing happened.

No photos to share.