What a surprise when I woke up yesterday morning to a convo that another one of my pendants was featured in a treasury (http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=61830).   And then this afternoon I opened up Google Reader to the Handmade Business blog (http://handmade-business-blogspot.com)  and found one of my pictures of my work table looking back at me.   I also found the jackpot lot of ceramic molds that I’ve been looking for–ginger jars, cookie jars, vases, bowls, etc.  I’ve had to wade my way through a lot of figurine molds that I’ll never use (you know, like smurfs and ET and whatnot–but I had to take the lot of molds), and now have them set out, ready to use.  Now if the sun would come back out I could take photos and do some pouring!

Thank you, inmyheadstudios, for including me in this lovely treasury.   And don’t forget to check out the article on this week’s shop of the week, A Cagey Bee.

Be Still My Beating Hearts

This has been one of those non-productive weeks. Night before last Isaac was up 4 times in the night–turns out he was working on a cold.  I didn’t get anything done yesterday.  I did manage to get some listings done in my etsy shop the day before.  I’m working on converting all my listings to pendants on chain; if someone wants to use them for their own jewelry they can contact me and I’ll do a reserved listing.  Hopefully this afternoon I can take new pictures of my old pendants hanging on the ball chain and get those updated tomorrow.

I did manage to get some small pendants cut the other day for glaze samples.  Since they’re for my reference (and for pictures on the website) I don’t have to do all that edge smoothing that ends up killing my hands.  This afternoon, during naptime, I’ll cut out the terra cotta samples so I can glaze them at the same time.

I think I have to finally break down and update my Word Press–this old version has been doing some seriously wonky things lately.  I hate the thought of doing it,  since I had such a hard time in the first place.  I guess that’s the disadvantage of hosting it on your own servers.  Wish me luck–I might be gone for awhile….

Here are a few picks from the Etsy Twitter Team for this week.  And don’t forget to check out the write-up for this week’s featured shop, tamdoll, on the etsytwitter blog.

tamdoll

 curiousmess

 bluecole

FirebirdHouse

A few items from the Maine Team:

Cupcake Girl by indigotwin

Nubian Goat by JLRPhotography

ACEO Sunflower by OneKeeneKat

Enjoy!

This will be a short post today–my hands are screaming at me from the custom order I’m working on.  Yesterday, while the kiln was firing, I had a little bonus time to myself.  Pete and Isaac went fishing, which gave me a couple of hours to work.  I decided I needed to first focus on functional, then do the pretty stuff later.  I got my table moved and set up, so now I have a spot to work without the set-up/break-down that I have been doing for 6 months.

Here are pix:

The bookcase on the left will still be going, but there’s so much stuff to sort on it that it will take me awhile.  Hanging on the backside of that door is  a shoe organizer filled with underglazes.

Lots of room to glaze.  See that window–great light in the afternoon for picture taking.  The bookcase on the left has a selection of glazes lined up on it.  I have  a couple of “step” shelves that will fit on the new bookcase, so nothing will be hiding.

I found a use for the thread rack left over from my sewing days–now I can see most of my cutters at a glance.  Even when the drawers on my box are open there’s plenty of working room. There are shipping/packaging materials in that little white shelf on the right.

I’m almost there–need to get the phone jack installed for dsl, then the computer and printer can be in there too, away from little fingers.   Speaking of little man, I need to go wash the marker goatee he lovingly applied this morning with a stray marker.  Too bad Dad can’t find stuff like his boy can!

As you can see, clay play day extended into the next day.  The pieces in back were completed the day before.   I have plans for all those itty bitty pieces, and I’m hoping to get them glazed and fired this week.  I had a custom order that I needed to get completed (hence the dozen or so victorian pendants), and I used up all the little scraps between the cutouts for the small pieces.  Having done this, I have a sneaking suspicion that I really could get 3 dozen cookies out of a batch of dough–but where’s the fun in that?  I have grand plans for the small pieces, so I’m hoping to get them glazed by the end of the week for another firing.

I had a little epiphany when I went to the dollar store the other day.  I’ve been trying to figure out an easy way to transport my glazed-but-not-fired pendants down to the shop without having two different glazes rubbing off onto each other.  Ta-da!   I’ve also discovered that I can fit an entire ice-tray of pendants into the kiln, so now I have an even better way to judge how many pieces I need to fill the kiln.

I’m now waiting for the kiln to finish firing so I can unload it before I head home.  Time is of the essence with this order and I’d love to send it on its way tomorrow.  I’m looking forward to this load, as I have some new designs and some new glazes.  I think tomorrow I’ll work on getting the glaze sample pieces cut out.

Aren’t these gorgeous?  These are on Moe’s tree.  Moe is my sister’s arabian stallion; this tree is right outside his pasture, so each fall he strips the apples off of the north side of the tree.  It doesn’t seem to be suffering though, does it?  After taking this picture I decided I really LOVE my camera, even though charging the battery is tricky–you have to get the battery seated just right in order for it to charge.

Yesterday was NOT a fun day at home.  Isaac was belligerent for most of the day, so by the time he went down for his nap I needed a little fun.  I pulled out the clay and started experimenting with new designs.  First I made a couple of new cutter shapes out of some sheet flashing that I have. Also, last week I ordered some new texture stamps and cutters from Rings & Things, and yesterday I finally had a chance to play with them.
After seeing some polymer clay pieces, I layered some clay cutouts to create some new designs.  I notice one of them has already warped, so it will be recycled, but I think there are some interesting possibilities.  I’m hoping to bisque fire this weekend, so I should have some new pieces soon.  I have some new yellow glazes and a new ruby red which I’m anxious to try out.  I think this afternoon I’m going to cut a number of textured rounds so that I can get glaze samples ready for the website (see my last post).  Since these will be for my own use I won’t have to worry about warping, so I can work at a quicker pace.  I’m also going to cut out some flat polymer pieces for each cutter so that I can insert it into the cutter and plunge out the ceramic piece without bending it.  Clay has a memory, so if it is bent while you are removing it from the cutter, it will most likely warp during the bisque firing.  I don’t mind on things like leaves, since I think it adds to the movement of the piece, but for medallions, it’s no good.
Incidently, Isaac (aka Stewie) seems to be having a better day today.  He’s enamoured with Pinochio right now.  Fingers crossed that it will last, b/c it’s been pouring out so we’re stuck inside.
Now, I need to go find my ring blanks, since I have some fab pieces to make into rings.   Enjoy your day!

Visit the Etsy Twitter Team blog to read about this week’s shop of the week, Bellflower Textiles.  Megan is offering free shipping this week; just mention “Twitter” in your notes to seller and she’ll either send you a revised invoice or refund your shipping if you’ve already paid.

Photo by Megan Zalkan