V-Day

While I'm no culinary expert like my good friend Ron, I sure can work wonders with some box cake and sprinkles.

And, of course, we had to eat our dinner (I mean, pre-dinner snack) on some special plates! Awwwww. Look how sweet Brian is eating his cake.

I don't mean to get on a soapbox, but I will, being it's the day after cupid's rampage. While no marriage is perfect, many people say that it is hard work. I feel incredibly blessed that being married to Brian is quite easy. Not only do I love him, but I really like him too. So go have some cake if you love someone (this can include friends, family, a presidential candidate or animals over 5lbs)!

Oh yes, it's true!

Many of you already know this, and I don't know why it's taken me so long to post: but, yes, Brian and I are going to have a baby. This is the first picture we've taken of the whole process, so I thought I'd put it up since my belly's finally poking out. I'm a little over 5 months along and due in June. We're very excited, and not finding out if it's a boy or girl. A little while ago I thought it'd be funny to have a blog contest on naming the baby, but was a little scared of what may turn up. My dad keeps saying things like "Clay" if it's a boy. Yeah right.

Anyway, things are going well in the studio. Last week many of our Circle of Eight participated in the "Treasures of the Earth" show in Shelby, NC. The opening was fun- lots of people and great food. Tomorrow is the grand opening of Lark and Key, a new gallery in NODA that Julie, Jen and I are in- it's beautiful. They promise to have lots of people and great food there too (is there a pattern forming here?)- and a DJ. Should be a good time!

A little bit of redemption

After my goofy stamp debacle (see "Doh! & Duh!!!" post below), it felt good to finish up my plates for the Community Blood Center this morning. I was able to quickly remake some stamps, fire them and get them out this morning to use. They wanted me to work in my normal style, just basically sneaking in their logo as part of the design. I'm pretty happey with how they came out.

I guess plates have been on my brain lately, because as I looked around my studio, I had several other shelves with various plates on them. Maybe I've been craving sandwiches or cake!

Packing pots

About this time a year ago I attended my first wholesale show in Baltimore. For those of you who don't know, a wholesale show is one where artists set up their display and many gallery owners from all over the US come and make orders for the upcoming year. I was very blessed with a successful show and have spent much of my studio time over the past year filling orders for new galleries. It was a goal of mine to have a wider range of exposure, and I was able to do that as a result of the show.

Yesterday I packed my final order (actually, I may have two more orders if waitlist galleries still want the work) of the year. It felt good to see a giant list have the final X through the order to say it was shipped. I thought I'd share a little about my packing process, as I've gotten a little better at it (although I still occasionally have breakage- it's hard to completely guard against someone dropping your box, which happened last week!).

I first get all my pieces together and check the list to make sure I haven't overlooked any items.

Each piece will be wrapped well with bubble wrap, with the end taped so it doesn't come free. Masking tape or another colored tape works best because whomever is unpacking on the other end will be able to easily find the tape (rather than using clear plastic tape). I often tear off a bunch of strips because it's much more efficient than wrapping the piece, putting it down, tearing one piece, etc.Here's a pile of wrapped and taped pieces:

The final mess of bubble-wrapped pile. I like to have all the pieces out so when I'm loading the boxes, I can see what may fit in a little nook. I didn't take any pictures of the loaded boxes, but a couple things to keep in mind:

-don't stack plates flat on the bottom of the box. Instead, create a little nest with newsprint and stack them diagonally or on their ends. I will often add a little paper cushion in between the plates as well

-Fill all gaps between pieces with newsprint- you don't want the work shifting in the box

-add extra bubble wrap around protruding handles, feet, and spouts before wrapping the entire piece Always double box your work with at least 2" of foam peanuts in between. That's my gigantor bag of peanuts- 20 cubic feet!

I always overfill the top because the peanuts tend to break down through transport:

The process yesterday took a little under 3 hours (which is always longer than I think it will!). This was a particularly large order, so it took me a bit longer to wrap all the work. This all includes wrapping, packing, typing the invoice, creating a cd of images and info, dropping it off at UPS and a quick trip to Wendy's for a celebratory Frosty!

Doh!!! & duh!

This past week for me has been filled with random blunders and clumsy acts that have gotten me questioning if I need to just go away for a couple of days and start anew. This all culminated about an hour ago with the discovery that I had committed the ultimate mistake when making a stamp: I didn't create the mirror image, and thus ended up with a stamp that was opposite what I wanted (see the little swoosh going down to the left instead of the right)! DARN! DANG!

I'm working on a project for the Community Blood Center of the Carolinas: creating volunteer and donor awards for their 5th anniversary celebration. I have the pieces made and ready to receive patterns and textures that contain the CBC's logo of a blood drop. Luckily, I decided to test out my stamps really quickly before I went to town on the 12 platters and 8 vases I had made. Needless to say, I was much more careful when making the new stamps to do them backwards!

It a winter wonderland!

That's what a friend of ours used to say on the rare chance it snowed down here in the Carolinas. While it's only about a half an inch and will probably be soggy mud by the end of the day, I've always loved how beautiful snow-covered trees are.

All that's left

Today I returned to Clayworks for the winter session. Once again, I'm teaching 2 sessions of handbuilding. This morning's class had several returning students, one who hasn't taken in a year and she's back (yeah!) and many new eager students. It looks like it'll shape up to be a great session. We're going to be working on bowls (some to keep, some to donate to Second Harvest Food Bank event), wall pieces, a box with a drawer, and as many other projects I can fit in 10 weeks. I always have unrealistic expectations of what we can accomplish in one 10 week session, but there's so much one can do with clay, it overwhelms me (in a good way)!!!

After class I headed to Tic Toc for a yummy lunch, and then on to the Mint Museum downtown to check out the Fiberart International exhibit. For those of you who live in or near Charlotte, it's one show to see. It basically blew open the concept of what fiber art is, for me, and included many wallpieces, sculptures, and objects. It made me inspired to explore sewing materials other than fabric. I'll share sometime if I actually get around to it!

After my little excursion downtown I headed to tutoring, and then home to discover that one of my daggum (that's darn for you non-southerners) cats knocked one of the plants out of the garden window! AAARGG. Of course it was in one of my favorite pots (I can't figure out if pots become my favorite before or after they're broken!): it was one my professor in college had made and given to me. Bummer. Here's all that's left:

The problem is that Parker and Posey love to sit up in the window and chatter at the birds outside in the fig tree. Usually there aren't quite this many plants in the window because many of them are outside during the spring and summer. Parker, the fat one, has a charming way of squeezing his body in the smallest available spot. It just doesn't work well for fatty. Although I can't accuse him of doing it because I wasn't there to see it happen- just home in time to discover the pile on the floor and little dirt and ceramic treasures scattered around the house. I wish I could ground those crazy cats, but what can I do? Not pet them for a day? Yeah right.

In case you didn't know....

Here's the answer to that age old question: what is art? A friend sent this to me and I almost fell over.

Little rascal

The reason our bird feeders run out of seed so fast....

I saw this little guy several times this morning even before I thought to get the camera.

I guess it was divine intervention for him to fill his belly so well.

A little visitor

My wedging table has a window above it that looks into my neighbor's backyard (and no, I wasn't peeping). During a marathon wedging session yesterday I happened to look up and see this little guy, nestling down in the tree. He (or she?) was fluffing up its feathers and really getting comfortable for some time. It reminded me of my cat, Parker, who is fat and cuddly and quite a character, and will quit at nothing to get comfortable (or fed).

I have a new found appreciation of birds, as my brother-in-law and sister-in-law are bird watchers and just got these new amazing binoculars. They took Brian and I on a short birdwatching stint. It would be fun to be able to identify birds.

Here was the result of my wedging labor yesterday. Although not much actual work got done. I ended up going to the Clayworks monthly potluck lunch, which was fun and yummy. Those ladies know how to cook. When I got home, a friend who now lives out of town stopped by and we ended up talking for 2 1/2 hours! That's the pleasure of working for yourself, I guess. That means more work for today!