Crafty Weekend!

Fredericksburg Art Festival this whole weekend! Come see me!

Over due update....

I can honestly say the lack of posts is because I have been so busy! We are finally having some much needed work done on our Old House. The rebuilt screen porch is looking beautiful. I KNOW I will appreciate the waterproofed basement. The jack hammering better damn well be worth it!

In the mean time the LibertyTown Patron Show opened last First Friday. I donated two pieces:


A doubleweave throw woven of Harrisville wool and felted in my washing machine. This was my first time at attempting to weave double my looms width. Im pretty happy with it....and it won second prize! I've never won a prize for my art before. :)




My second piece is this woodland mirror





I am SO happy with this. I have carried it around in my head for years....and would not have been able to complete it without my Dad's help (he cut the MDF and routed out the hole for the mirror) and Andrea Shreve-Taylor a VERY talented mosaic artist here at LT (she basically held my hand thru the installation and grouting process!)





Those of you who read Dan Finnegans blog will know that he had an awesome kiln firing a week ago. He generously allows some of us to add a pot or two....This time I made buttons. Such cool color variation. And the wonderful thing about a wood firing....no glazing needed!

I have also been preparing for my first craft show. I know I have enough pots....

I am sweatin' the logistics and the set up and the weather....But this weekend is the "Big Event" and with my hubby the CPA's help with the financial end I can worry about the other stuff. :)

I HAVE been busy!

So I did get in to the local small show at Hurkamp Park. The date is May 15 and 16. Because it is my first, I am a bit anxious. Not because of the show itself (I love to talk with strangers.) but because of all the preparation. So I have been working hard in the studio. These slipped mugs are on a new type of clay. I have been looking for a redder, cone 6, clay. I like the color but the amount of grog makes the clay stiff to throw. I have tendonitis in my right hand and this clay really aggrevates it. Bummer. So for now I will stick with smaller pieces, and keep looking for another alternative. Maybe when I have my own kiln one day I will experiment with the low fire earthenware like I have been wanting to...


I also have been throwing alot of my standard clay that will take the blue/green combination of glazes. I'll have some of those to show you in a couple of days. I hope!

Watch this!

Especially if you are a knitter!

Lack of planning

Each day I get up about 6:30. I feed the dog and leave to drive Greg to the train station at 7:08 (any later and we wont make it, we have it down to the minute!) Back home by 7:20 I read the paper, check the blogs (while watching the squirrels out the window over my desk in the living room...) and eventually hit the floor for a session of yoga stretching. IF I'm LUCKY I don't fall asleep. Then Layla gets her walk (if SHE'S lucky) before I eat my breakfast and head to the studio.


That sounds well planned.....what isn't is the fact that I FORGET MY CAMERA EVERY DAY. I am getting frustrated with myself. I can only beg photo shots from friends so often...When I do remember to bring it there is nothing new to show.


So here is what has been going on (but without the pictures.): a tile mirror project for the Patron Show in May. (I WILL have pictures of that thanks to Elizabeth) banks nearly completed and a mess of mugs of a new VERY RED clay I am trying for my slipware work. At home I finished the doubleweave blanket I (may have) mentioned earlier. Also for the Patron Show. (No pictures of the process because of pure laziness on that one). All this interspersed with articles for the Fredericksburg Spinners and Weavers Guild newsletter.

First Friday tonight.

I promise to do better. I hate posts without pictures. But no post is worse right??

Signs of Spring....

Well, maybe not technically but arent "new" sheep a sign of warmer weather to come?

I like making these banks. I throw the body as a closed form (they are slowly getting lighter, though closing the buggers is still hit and miss...) and then add the rest. I usually make them from my buff clay and make their legs and faces black. Give the whole thing a coat of clear glaze. This time, since I have been experimenting with slip, I've used a brown clay with the white slip and will leave their faces and legs au natural.

I always have to make at least one cow! (This one is as of yet unfinished....my husband interrupted me with a text message that he was on an early train home from work, so I dropped the tools, covered the cow and we ended up at a local bar for a quick St Patty's day Guinness with fish and chips....) Cows always are more work since I cant seem to complete one without an udder....that will come later of felted wool....stay tuned!

Show pics

One of my goals this year (besides this blog) is to finally to do some actual shows. They don't have to be major events, just something to get my toe in the pond, teach me the ropes and motivate me to do the work. In Fredericksburg we have a smallish show in May, that happens to coincide with the Marine Corps Half Marathon that is now sponsored by this small town. Plus this particular show is in the Park just around the corner from LibertyTown! If I forget something I can always run back and get it....How's that for an easy first show attempt!

Fortunately the show is very low key. So I have attempted to take my pictures for application myself. I KNOW they are not great but hope they are adequate for this particular event. I have already been promised by a certain person that he will help me for the more serious event I'd like to try for in Williamsburg in the Fall.


I'm required to send three pictures, to include one of my set up. So the first one and probably the third and sixth will go. (I know the mug is too blurry, but I really love that mug. Only I can take blurry pictures with a tripod!)