"...ain't it a blessing to do what you want to do?"

Ahoy-hoy...

I'm in MD this weekend for the Holiday Sale/Open House at Art of Fire. Va and Darrell and Mary and I have converged upon Va's parental homestead for the evening, and at the moment are still striving to regain the feeling in our extremities from such a very, very cold day in the Celtic Annex (read: un-insulated garage). We are looking forward to seeing some great people this weekend. Will any of them be you? We've got all the usual suspects, and some new ones, including "Crow" cookies jars and "Ceilidh" cassarole dishes. More info is up at the Dancing Pig website.

Anyway, that's what's going on on the pottery front. This show was last weekend and this, and it will be followed by two weeks of stock building before Va and I take off for Hamilton, ON, where we are planning to spend the holidays. (Darrell is staying home to make stock and host the indians. No, really.)


But wait, there's more:

-In addition to making stock these next two weeks, we are working pretty steadily on renovating my apartment above the pottery studio. The decorating scheme so far is a melange of Celtic, Roman, and Halloween chic. Kinda. Hell, it'll be eclectic but tasteful. Not unlike myself.

-Over the past few weeks, I've started work on the leather jacket back piece. It's a Hanuman design, with Buddhist art influences and some crows thrown in. (Would you honestly expect me not to involve a crow or two in this project? Really, with me you can almost count on it.)

-Also, I've been researching representations of both Hermes and dogs on Archaic Greek pottery for two new tattoo designs, but I've post more on the subject when I have some more research under my belt.

-In DC just before Thanksgiving, I was inspired to start tap dancing again. "To what end?" you (probably didn't) ask quizzically. My answer? To try to revive the tradition of tap dancing as an integral part of burlesque performance, in the DC area. I find it almost impossible to believe that no one has done it yet; it seems like such an obvious thing. Am I wrong?

-Does anyone out there have any books to spare related to Buddhist art and iconography? I find that there's a disturbing hole in my collection.

Hope all is well with you, and in these crazy December weeks, please try to find some time to enjoy the way winter can bring a little clarity along with the cold. I continually find it...useful, even what I see wasn't what I was expecting.

Cheers, all.

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!

You thought you wanted to know, eh?

So, lessee. It's another jam-packed day of fun our here on Tul Creggen, haus of strange work and stranger slack. We're scurrying to get ready for the Western PA Faerie Fest this weekend, as well as Potomac Celtic Festival. Split stock means we have a lot of work to do. In fact, it means that other things get pushed back until loads of pots are in the kilns, and the only thing we can do is wait.

That being said, waiting is not something we are going today. I finished up making a batch of glaze, and I'm about to go out to the studio to glaze another kiln of pots. I'm thinking of devising a rating system to evaluate the relative difficulty of glazing some kilnloads over others. The rating system will not only help me support my geeky reputation, but will allow me to winge more effectively. See, some kiln loads are a breeze; mostly mugs or bottles, which mostly go smoothly and require very little fiddling. Then there are kilnloads like today's, which big huge bowls and berry bowls and other pots which require extra steps and finesse (which it seems sometimes has gone out to lunch leaving me going, "hey! come back here! i'm gonna mess this up without you! hey!" Anyway, having a short hand for when Va gives me the news might be entertaining.

B: So, what kind of stuff is it today? A, B, or C?
V: I'm afraid it's D today, mon amie.
(Not that Va says "mon amie", but I'm extemporizing here.)
B: A kilnload entirely made up of butter-keeps and teapots? Omigawd. Okay, that's cool, but I'm picking the music. "Temple of the Dog" it is.
V: ohwailywailywaily! Why do you hate me so!?
B: Mwahahahaha...

So while the current bisque kiln cools off enough that I can glaze it later, I'm going to spoil myself by going out to the studio now and making some new glazes to test. I'm working on a rich red, a buttery smooth yellow, and revamping the green. Yay!

-end geek transmission-