Meanwhile...

...we continue to make stock for faire.

Because it will most likely be too hard to keep up, we won't be making Halloween mugs, alas. We might try to work on them for next year, though, with some more planning.

However, we have started making our skull and pumpkin jack-o-lanterns, which are A Blast to make. Well, they are to me. Va has made so many over the years that she claims she's "over it", which is yet another reason why being the new one on the block is a good thing.

My favorite so far: a pair of skulls I carved last night, the boy one with a Jack Skellington grin and a bowtie, the girl one with eyelashes and lips and a hair bow. I find them adorable. If you can come out to faire this weekend, to see them and others, please do!

Chicken Undertakers Have a Hell of a Time*

In the intervening time in which I have been very busy not updating, Va and I have been prepping and trying to keep up with the stock for the Maryland Renaissance Festival. The new Ceilidh pots are a hit, as are the Crow pots. Be sure to check out www.dancingpig.com if you are interested in seeing some pics and what Va has to say...

On the "personal artwork" front, I had an idea recently for some craft-style crows which will hang from the ceiling and have poseable wings. The materials are mostly assembled, bar the one main ingredient (of course) which I mistakenly thought I had plenty of.

I am designing a new tattoo for my forearm as well, which will be the New Thing at the next appointment. See, < begin artfully-blurred-lens flashback here > I noticed when I was a little kid that the patter of freckles on my forearm looked like Orion, bar one or two "stars". So I always promised myself that even if I never got any other tattoos, I would get the last few finishing freckles tattooed in so I could have the complete constellation. < /end flashback >

Well, now that I'm a tattoo addict it seems like I could do a whole lot better than a few tattooed freckles, so the plan is to design an Ancient Greek/Celtic fusion figure to represent Orion, and incorporate the existing "stars" as well as the new ones. It has to blend well with the spiral work which will be surrounding it on my forearm, so that should be...er...fun. I got out a bunch of books from the library to help with the research, so that step is done. Now I just have to sit down with the data and sketch, a step with is always fun but sometimes made difficult by the necessity to arrange the studio time so that I don't have something else that desperately needs doing.

Anyway that’s all from me...
my job's a weird job...
speak to you soon...
love from Kenny
(PS My thumb hurts)




(* Tonight's post has been brought to you by Eddie Izzard, a Giant Squid, and the number 3. As in, 3 o'clock in the morning, which it is, and which might excuse a tad the writing style and contents of this post.)