"the true artist..."

my poor neglected blog... over two months since my last post. practically three really.

I've been reflecting a lot more lately. I use to have a calendar that had an awful lot of quotes in it and one was, "If you can't do what you like, like whatever you do." Now I do what I like when time allows and I don't have a mess on my hands like here....

Due to the fact that we had a large crack in our cast iron plumbing pipe (most likely the original to our good ol' 83 year old house,) many things had to be moved from the 'storage' side of the basement to the studio side. This amongst wedding plans and knowing I had a show barely two weeks after we got back from the honeymoon a great reorganization took place. It progressed...

and I now have this:

Hooray for order! Well it's mostly in order. I have my metal bench down here. I am so thrilled about it. I haven't had a good space to do metal work in really ever. Certainly no place designed specifically for that purpose and only for me. I have been far more productive than ever and am cranking out lots of pieces in my latest small batch production lines.

I've also finally designed some pieces that incorporate my handspun. I'm especially happy with these little chandelier style earrings.

I also spent some wonderful time with Adele and my bestest friend when she brought her son over. What a lovely afternoon.

AND AND!!! I went to an alpaca farm with a coworker. A baby had just been born that morning! I bought over 2 pounds of alpaca fiber. I'm going to try my had at natural dying with that and the pound of mohair fleecey locks I've been hoarding all summer. Here's some of the cuteness!

The second picture is the momma and her new baby. Way too adorable.

I had an art fair two weekends ago back in Adrian. There was a beautiful fairy ring of mushrooms outside the house I stayed at.

...and some more beautiful fungus at the park that I happened upon while disc golfing with joe.

I've even gotten some fiber going on the hackle! Very halloween-ish.

and finally, back to where I started. I've been thinking about my whole life situation really. I am now a happily married girl with a happy homey little place of our own, but I HATE my job. The people are great. It is just the job. It robs all the time that I could be spending doing what I love. Two quotes are increasingly becoming the root of this restlessness I am feeling to DO something about it. The first being,

"Sometimes, the pain of not doing what you love forces you to take a chance." - Stephen Goetschius, sculptor

and the second,

"The true artist is not the one who draws and paints, but rather the person whose life is adjusted to beauty in every thought and action." - Ellis Havelock

I need to live and breathe these quotes. They just might be the key.

The new artful blogging came out a while ago but, I just got the chance to snag in about a week ago. Every time I pick up that publication I am just absorbed, inspired, and baffled. I don't feel so bad about neglecting my blog now... I've been very busy but, going through all those gorgeous images gave me that extra push to get in here and give it another go. On that note, I leave an image of my best version of those lovely photos people take with their magazine tucked in there. I've been frantically crocheting these little spinning wheel hang bags out of my art yarns for the show this weekend. They hang so well on my wheel with a little orifice hook and oil pen in them.
:)

the past few weeks...

Whew! It has been so busy the past few weeks, I just haven't had a moment to blog really. Two shows are over, and, while I didn't do amazing at either one of them, I had a good time. I worked hard and got a lot of jewelry done. Not as much as I would have actually liked to have gotten done but I still have a few months before my next show... and barely that till the wedding. Mom has been so hard at work at the bridesmaid dresses and they are so cute! Very simple looking and hopefully comfortable for the girls to wear. Adele's little flower girl dresses is way too cute too!

My bench is quite the mess now but can easily be cleaned off, which is good because I have a major piece I have to finish this weekend. I snapped some pictures of work in progress for the shows. There is just something about that major grouping of all the same little components that is so satisfying.

I got a chance to use my new cases that were gifted to me at the art fair. I was really happy with my humble little booth. I'm learning a little bit more every time I set up for a show, eventually I might get it just right. :)

It was sooooo windy though! I almost lost an entire heavy case all over when the wind kicked up. The booth next to me lost their canopy off their EZ Up when it happened. I was so concerned for them I didn't realize that my case was flying backward. LOL! Everything was okay though, and my idea for using peat pots to display my earrings on was a hit!

For the fiber show I had been accumulating some lovely vintage green suitcases and used them to display my batts it. It worked out great. One less bin that I needed to pack because the display was how I transported everything. It really worked out beautifully and I got lots of compliments.

I did realize one thing for sure after these shows. I need a bigger car. The little Saturn and I have to be very clever and play some serious car Tetris to get everything packed in properly. Luckily I've had plenty of experience doing so with that car after 4 years moving back and forth from college in it.

I can't wait to get back to spinning and carding at this point though. I got just a tiny bit burned out on the metal for a while. :)

Another show...

Just an add-in on the show schedule. I will be at third annual Fiber Expo held at the Washtenaw Fair Grounds in Ann Arbor October 24 and 25th sharing a booth with Jill of Fuzzy Wuzzy Fibers. Should be a great show! :)
I am going to put an updated schedule on the side of my blog so it is visible all the time and will be posting as I figure out any more shows I will be participating in.

A wee preview...

all righty, I have been working my little fingertips down nearly to the bone, filing and cutting metal, frantically needle felting, carding up a mini storm, staining wood, buying the last few "booth ingredients," and missing a lot of sleep. I tell you what though, as stressed out as I am, I'm pretty happy. I mean really, I'm quite content. If I could quit my day job and just have the WHOLE day every day to do these things, I'd be happy as a wee little clam. Unfortunately, throwing that day job in the mix just makes me super antsy at work to get home and get bustling away at all the things I need to do that I actually enjoy... and then I end up blogging first... Here are a few pictures of some earrings designs I've been working on:


Anyhow, rather than working at the moment, I am impatiently waiting for the treasury listings on to drop because I have a fabulous set of images to make one from that I made almost a week ago. Waiting, waiting, waiting.... I just never seem to be able to time it right. It's all Peanut Butter and Grape themed but in a somewhat clever way for part of it. I found a lovely handspun from an etsy seller that had little plastic grapes spun into it and I just had to find a way to work it into a treasury and what better than peanut butter and jelly right? I'm going to hold off posting this so I can work the screenshot in here...

I also made a Goober and Grape batt set. I'm saving it for the fiber show and if it doesn't fly away there I'll be posting it in the shop. But there will be a sneak peek on my flickr tomorrow hopefully. :)

I'm really excited for the fiber show. Last time I tried to sell my batts to people who could actually seem em' was at a high school craft show and they did pretty well there so we'll see what happens in a more appropriate setting. :)

Another one!

I was featured in another treasury this week and just wanted to share the lovely stuff that was in it! Plus, I still heart etsy! :)

who knew i'd love....

digital cameras and blogging...

I mean really, it took me a while to start blogging and I'm still not completely comfortable with the idea BUT, I have found myself thinking about things and knowing they'd be a good blog blurb.

Well, I was just going through photos and came across some real beauties I took a few weekends ago. I made Adele a big batch of the ultimate bubble mix and took her out her bubble thing so she could make massive bubbles. This is by far one of the coolest inventions EVER! Here's a great photo I shot of her making them. I can't believe I took that photo! Not because the composition is that fantastic but I was shocked I was actually able to capture the bubble so well. On top of that, this happens to be one of few where Dillon didn't sneak into the photo. He needed to have his own little photo shoot though.

To feel this blissful and childlike on a Saturday afternoon is definitely something to be cherished.