Closedown and Startup

The backside of Mac's Pub in the
afternoon sun.  Reminiscent of an
English country cottage.

The 40th Minnesota Renaissance Festival is now history.  We celebrated closedown along with many of our friends and acquaintances, enduring a very cold morning that developed into a beautiful day and a soft and cool evening.  I did wear my cape and it was the perfect weight and warmth factor for this year's fest.  I've had closing days that were even colder when I would probably want a warmer cape, but for a medium-cool day it was perfect.  Now I want to bead the painted flourishes and replace the knotted closures with a different type and I'll call it complete.  I have at least four other capes sitting on my brain that will happen, as well as a lot of other clothing.  I need to get my den cleaned up! 

Fire performers in front of the main gate to
Ren Fest celebrate the end of our 40th year.

Ren's closure for another year is always a bittersweet time for us.  Despite problems, politics, and grounds that need some serious upkeep, we truly love going out there weekly.  We've met many people through the fest, and several of our customers in the store are part of the Fest as well.  In a way it reminds us of the optimistic days of our youth, when we felt that we had a chance of changing the world to a kinder and gentler place.  "Free Love" and "Give Peace a Chance" were words that we believed, but look at the world now.  Peace is becoming a concept that is ethereal - a mist rising over the pond.  The world that we have now is not the world that I wanted to grow old in and not the world that I wanted my friend's children to inherit.  But it is what the world became.  Going to Ren allows us to believe that there is hope; that there are people out there who still believe in peace, music, dance and good times without hatred and pointing fingers. 

Ticking Down

Busy working on the Chickie's birthday party.  I went and met with the General Manager of Osaka, the restaurant at which I want to hold the party, on Wednesday.  I got a tour and ended up booking the night for eleven of us.  I also sent out reminder Emails to those who had not responded so that I could either add them or tell them about the procedure to send me a card for her.  Now I'm just thinking about decorations and the logistics.  I'll have to go back at least once to measure the chairs and see if I can craft a quick tombstone (or two or three) for chair decoration.  I'm operating on a short budget, so it's important that I get this together. 

Temps will be in the 30's (F) on Sunday morning
so I'll be pretty cold until the sun really hits. 

I got the flourishes painted around the hood of my cloak yesterday and will heat-set those this morning before I leave for the shop.  I need to attach the closures and I can get at least one set attached before I open the shop this morning and the other two tonight.  It will be COLD on Sunday morning.  The cloak is wool, but it's light-weight wool.  However, it will be some help against the cold.  I think I will probably add beads to it at some point, but I know I have no time to do so before Sunday.  My time is too compressed. 

King Crab legs - yummy!  I'll have a nice
anniversary (several weeks late) after all!

We went to the grocer last night and picked up their latest flyer.  They are having a BOGO (buy one and get one free) on large king crab legs.  These things are HUGE and with this offer are selling for approx $11/pound.  DH owes me an anniversary dinner so we decided that he will buy crab for our dinner tonight and I will do Italian on Monday night instead of my usual Saturday.  I'm looking forward to it already.  DH always laughs at me when I eat crab.  I take FOREVER to eat it, but I enjoy it SO much.  I hope I'm busy at the shop today so I don't think of my crab dinner ALL day. 

Accomplishments

I had a GREAT extra day off.  I accomplished a lot of what was on my list, but not everything.  I did get the check from my brokerage and got over to the fabric store.  I did find a light-weight black fabric that will be perfect for a pair of pants for DH.  I'll try to get to that by early next year - it's not a rush because we're heading into colder temps now.  And I got over to Dick Blick to take advantage of the 20% off everything one-day sale as well as use a 40% off one item coupon that they had Emailed me.  I bought crayons for Sebas' box.  I'll strip the main box next week at the shop (as I recall, that's where I have my stripping solution at), and then can start refinishing the box.  I bought a 120 Crayon mix yesterday for a great price, as well as a nice shapener that I will insert into the side of the new box.  I'll build divider/risers in the interior of the box, cut out and insert the sharpener, and decorate the exterior.  The box itself is perfect for this application which is why I had purchased it.  By the time I'm finished with it, it will be adorable.  I see the finished item in my mind's eye and just have to work towards it. 

I just love Crayola Crayons.  I grew up with the
64 crayon box and still think that crayons are
one of the BEST gifts EVER! 

I had planned on spending the day at the sewing machine and that's exactly what I did.  I got home around 11:30 am, starting my load of laundry and settled down with my cape.  If I was on Project Runway I would just have used my scissors and cut around the stitchline to separate the satin lining from the wool, but I decided to use my seam ripper instead so it took more than an hour to get the two layers separated.  Then I began finishing the interior seams.  I could have left the seams as they were - rough, but I think that visible seams should be finished.  So I spent several hours pinning and sewing the three long seams down the body of the cape, the line up the center of the hood, and the joining between the hood and the body of the cape.  Then I pinned and stitched the entire exterior seam.  Everything has to be sewn in the proper direction to allow for the cloak to fall properly.  Then I threw it back into the washer and dryer again.  And I decided to give up on the embroidery and do what I do best.  I picked up some metallic fabric paint and I will be painting the scrollwork on the hood this morming.  I can set the paint before Sunday and mount the closures and I'll be ready to wear it on Sunday.  That's been my goal because it will be a colder day (temps into the upper 50's).  We will have a long day at the Fest because we always close the Fest down on the final day.  It's always a bittersweet occasion - it gives my Sundays back to me, but also means that winter is right around the corner. 

Extra Day - What a Gift!

My DH has been objecting about this day for more than two weeks.  For Christmas, he gave me a number of certificates for future things, one of which was an extra day off of my choice.  Today is that day.  I love having the opportunity to have two days off in a row, I can extend my list into two days and that's a blessing.  Yesterday was a wonderful day - I spent most of the day learning how to use my new Silhouette cutting machine.  I think that it has great possibilities and I ordered some self-stick vinyl from the company so that I can do some signage for the store.  I've been wanting to do this since Spring but I didn't want to pay the $100's of dollars that the signage companies quoted to do them.  I want one sign that says BEADS, one that says LEATHER and a sign with our hours for our front door.  Things will look much more professional, and I can then drop the paper signage that I have which will increase our light and allow our beautiful custom-made security bars to be visible again.  They have our Stormcloud logo in them and really are an ironwork piece of art. 

Blick's is my local art supply store - very close
to my home.  They get WAY too much of
my disposable income because I've never met
a sketchpad I didn't like :-)

Today's list, however, is long. I hope to spend today at the sewing machine.  It will be cold on Sunday, although the sun will be out.  I want to be able to wear my cloak, so I want to cut a new hood, remove the lining and finish the edges and inner seams.  Instead of having it be a lined cloak, it will be a single layer.  But it will be wearable and that's the most important thing.  I can always line another cloak.  I still have one load of laundry to do and I need to get to Dick Blick's art supply store.  I was there yesterday using a 30% off one item coupon for a watercolor sketchbook.  They are running a one-day sale today with a 40% off one item and 20% off anything in your basket sale.  These are the good sales and they come rarely.  I'm broke, but I can't turn my back on getting supplies for less money.  Also, I need to pick up a check at my brokerage.  It's pretty much the end of extra dollars that I will have available and it's going to dig me out of a hole right now, however, it won't go far.  That's a problem.  And I want to get to the fabric store and see if I can find fabric for a new pair of pants for DH.  He melted his last pair (don't ask) and needs a replacement pair.   I'm tired just reading my list!  I'm grateful that I got some sketching time in yesterday because I don't think I will have the time today at all. 

Sigh.....

I got the old embroidery removed from my cloak last night and tossed the cloak in the washer.  Any cloak that I have needs to be able to be washed regularly.  I am not a fool and I've been working with fabrics for many years.  I always pre-wash my fabrics.  And, indeed, this cloak has been washed at least two times before.  This time the wollen overcloak shrunk where the satin undercloak did not.  Sigh.....  So, not only did my white markings for my embroidery not come out in the wash, but the lining now needs to be shortened.  My other alternative will be to split the two pieces apart and cut new pieces for each.  I actually think that the wool shrunk to a good length, I had been a bit worried thinking that the cloak would be a bit too long anyway.  But I'm not happy that the wool is still shrinking.  This will have been the third time that I washed this fabric and it should have settled down by now.  It also, with this latest issue, will not be ready to wear for Fest this weekend and that was the whole purpose in removing the embroidery and attempting to wash the embroidery pattern markings off the cloak.  It won't be ready for this season.  I will now have to separate the hood and its' lining and re-align the two pieces to account for the shrinkage, then re-embellish with embroidery.  Since I am doing that, it presents me with many possibilities.  But, as I said, it will not be ready to wear this weekend.  It will be cold this weekend - 40's to mid-60's Fahrenheit, and I will miss not being able to wrap my wool around me.  Maybe I'll just go ahead and shorten the lining anyway ... no.  I just can't bring myself to wear something less than 100%. 

Isn't this beautiful?  This is machine embroidered. 
Unfortunately, this is WAY beyond the
capabilities of my machine.  But it's certainly pretty!

The cloak pins, on the other hand, are progressing well.  They should be complete by the end of next week if I get some early morning time at my silver bench.  The backs are cut out and just need to get into my polisher, then I need to make and set the rivets, and finally set the enamels into the settings.  Rivets always cause me some problems, so using them again is not a bad thing.  I am using pretty thick wire for the pin tines and the rivets so things should be sturdy.  What a project - this one has taken me far too long and, since I'm so picky, is still not complete.  Sigh....

Wrapping Things Up

I am trying to get things wrapped up so that I can wear my cloak this weekend.  I don't want to rush the decoration, so it won't be decorated, but it still is a nice and a warm cloak.  Now all I have to do is get DH out of the door at an appropriate time instead of late, as he was last week.  We ended up parking in the boondocks last week because he was late.  I like parking closer to the main gate.  I might have to bring my cloak to the shop so that I can finish pulling the embroidery that I've done up to this point.  Then I'll put it into the wash tonight.  I drilled the backplates to the cloak pins yesterday and will start mounting them to the faceplates with rivets today.  It will be tight, but I think I'll have things finished on time.  I do have one alternate fastening method if I need to, but I think I'll be OK (down to the deadline of course - LOL). 

These are a more traditional style of
cloak pin.  My pins are enameled and
work as a pair with a chain between them
instead of this style.  But aren't they lovely?

I don't think I've ever been as broke as I am now.  I think I'll take my Discover card and bury it so that I can't use it for a few months.  I had to pull from my emergency fund yesterday so that I could pay off this month's charges.  I knew it would be an expensive month - I had the Fair, and Ren Fest and a new machine that I bought that I think will help me with my etching.  I really have to get myself under control again. 

Happy Anniversary to me!

And yesterday was my 31st wedding anniversary.  DH forgot, I remembered, but we decided that we would celebrate sometime within the next two weeks when we could more adequately afford a night out.  Guess he'a as poor as I am right now :-)  Have a wonderful and creative day! 

Ouch!

It's going to be nice, but cold, at the Fest this weekend.  Having my cloak is going to be important, and I did the template for the backplate of the cloak pins yesterday.  I will drill and saw today and Friday morning, set the rivets and the pins will be ready to go.  That leaves the cloak itself. 

No, my machine is more modern than this one.  But
this is pretty cool, isn't it?

I am not happy with the hand-embroidery that I have done up to this point.  So I decided to try out the machine embroidery features of my sewing machine.  My machine is old, but it can satin stitch, and that's really all I was looking for.  I tried several different methods and threads, ended up having to run out to the fabric store to get thread that I liked, and continued experimenting.  While doing that, since the embroidery part for the type of stitch I was doing requires the pressure foot to be removed from the needle leaving a naked needle, I ended up with a serious oops.  The naked needle impaled my finger.  Ouch!  Everyone who has a sewing machine has sewed through their finger at some point - usually when they are children.  I am here to tell you that it still hurts when you are an adult.  I was "one with the machine" for a bit - the needle wouldn't retract because it bent when it impaled me.  But I manually retracted the needle after a couple of futile tries using the foot pedal.  I cleaned it up, put on a bandage, and went back to the machine with a new needle.  Results?  Well, it will take more practice before I am happy with my skill levels on this but it might give me the look that I need.  Next week I don't get a studio day so I can't play, but in the meanwhile I will take out the embroidery that I don't like and wash the cloak.  That should get rid of the marked designs that I was using.  I can reapply them easily when I am ready to try the embroidery again.  In the meanwhile, I will at least have a useable cloak this weekend. 

Studio Day - What to do??? What to do???

So today is my studio day.  I have enamels calling out to me to be used, a sketchbook that is screaming at me to get some work done in it, my cloak pins to finish the final template for, the cloak itself (I don't like the embroidery that I've done on it thus far and think I'll rip it out, wash the cloak, and start again) and I still have a den full of books and papers from "the flood" of my broken plumbing pipe several weeks ago.  I guess I won't be bored.  I am grateful that I finally finished the story I was reading at 5:30am this morning.  Every spare minute I had was spent trying to finish it.  And now that I have, I have a bit more time and a bit less perched on my brain to get done.  That's at least a relief. 

Some possible embroidery elements.  Maybe...

So what to do?  I do think that I will work on the cloak template and tear out my embroidery and wash my cloak to eliminate the designwork.  I can reapply it later, but I'll dump it for now because it's not 100% what I want.  The cloaks that I was looking at at Fest over the weekend used a separately applied front plaquet to stabilize the front edge and I'm tempted to do that.  I'm sure that they do it because it adds stability and also adds strength for any fasteners.  Since I am planning on using cloak pins for that purpose, a plaquet may not be my best solution.  I'll have to play with this today because we are getting into the last few weeks of Ren Faire and I know at least one of those days will be cold.  I plan on wearing my new cloak for that day and I have to get myself in gear to have it completed on time.  We'll see how much I actually end up able to accomplish, after all, it is only a single day. 

Studio Day = Cleaning Day

Last week my goal was cleaning and Comcast.  Well, cleaning didn't happen.  But I'm running out of Wednesdays before my BFF Sharon comes for the State Fair and Ren Fest, so today I will take vaccuum in hand and clean my house!  I know it won't be pristine, but she's really not counting on that either.  She's been coming up to visit me for years and she knows that I'm NOT an excellent housekeeper.  But I have let things slide a little much and I'm not happy with the condition of my house.  So I'm on the attack today.  At least the temps are down a bit so I won't melt while I'm cleaning. 

That's my usual attitude:  "My idea of
housecleaning is to sweep the room with
my eyes."

Renaissance Faire starts on Saturday.  I have to make sure that I have my outfit ready to go.  My cloak isn't done (I think I want to change the embroidery again, so I haven't worked on it recently), but it's for the cold weather portion of the Fest and that won't happen until mid to late September.  Those will be the days when we will look back to the hot early days of Fest with a smile.  It's a fun Festival since it takes eight weeks in a Minnesota autumn, meaning a range of temps from 90 F or more to occasional snow at the end of the run.  Nothing like living in Minnesota - LOL.  So, I'll treat myself to a nice breakfast at the Twisted Fork, renew my car license, do a small amount of shopping at the office supply store, and send a package off.  Then I'll clean and finally I'll hit the grocery store late this afternoon.  I've also had a portrait lounging in my mind and I'll try and see if I can begin the work on that.  It is an unusual perspective, looking up from chin to forehead, but I keep thinking about this one and I need to try it.  Have a creative day! 

Focusing

I'm finding it very hard to focus lately. It seems that winter has gone on forever. I am wrapped up in the Olympics and several on-line fan-fic novels that I find as hard to put down as a good paper copy novel. And I'm just not inspired to catch up with my friends on other chat boards. That's really not good. I don't like losing contact with friends...I'm just relatively uninspired by things outside my immediate sphere. I know I'll crack out of this, but I also know that I'll end up skipping some notices and messages when I finally get back into my standard groove. What I really need is a vacation, and that's something that I won't get until Bead & Button in June. I have a LONG time of work still to go.

I did order my Ferric Nitrate on Wednesday, as I mentioned in my blog yesterday. That's going to allow me to etch silver. So I do have that project ongoing. I need to pick up my needle again and continue with my embroidery on my cloak. That's probably going to happen after the Olympics wraps up on Sunday. I do need to get my glass grinder on order. I don't need it immediately, but I do need it. I have some projects pending that require some fused glass and the glass has to be a precise size and shape, requiring grinding to get there. I know I'll get back into my creative groove and that this is just my winter doldrums....but sometimes that can be a deep pit to crawl out of. It'll happen though - I have every confidence.

Thoughts and Restarts

So what do you do when things just don't work out on a project? When I would have a beading project that just wasn't working, I generally would just start again - after all, thread is not expensive and neither were the beads. But with metals my materials are a bit more so I tend to push the restart out longer than I probably should.

Sometimes it is colors that don't work. In my current cloisonnae, I did diamond drill one color out to refill it with a more muted tone. But I generally live with my glass results. Because I am rethinking the backing plates for my cloak pins, I took a few steps back. Instead, I had a chance to continue sketching on my preliminary sketch for my Lady in the Mirror project, it's almost at a point to transfer it over to my sketchbook for a true work-up. I am also designing my charms for the PMC Conference, I will purchase my Beading For A Cure kit tomorrow, and I have a glass and enamel project pending in my head. It's perched there and won't let go, so I need to start bending some wires for that one once the design work is completed. My enamel weight should be arriving at the shop today and that gets me one step closer also :-)

But each re-do, each "back off and look again" experience strengthens me as an artist. It is an opportunity to learn, practice, and fine-tune skills. I hope you don't have too many re-do's in your future, but if you do...just look at it as an opportunity to do more of what you love - playing in your studio or with materials that you love.

Experiments and Progress

It was slow at the shop yesterday. I took a short time before I opened the shop to try out some textures on some scrap copper. I decided that I liked the look, divided the sterling that I wanted for my final into the appropriate portions, and, annealed the metal. In the afternoon, took a bit of time and textured my back plates. I'm happy with the results on this, and after everything is complete, I'll LOS selected parts and silver-black other selected parts. I also scribed the locations for the pin retainers and the top bail. I want to get the back pieces soldered on this morning and hopefully get the bezel also soldered on. If I can manage this, the pieces will be almost complete and I can move on.

Today I have errands that will take me from south Minneapolis to north Arden Hills - in other words, all over the cities. Oh joy! I'd much rather be at my computer or my sketchbook, but I'll make some time for that later today. I want to start getting some measurements for one of my smaller boxes and start making the cloissonae wires for the surface decorations. I also need to order checks, get some prescriptions filled, go grocery shopping, etc, etc, etc. Playing with fire seems like much more fun than driving all over on icy roads . The challenge of life in Minnesota in winter :-)

Keepin' On

Yesterday was actually fairly productive. I washed three loads of laundry, pickup up more paper bags for the shop, bought a very fun box to play with, cut out my silver, edited a chapter for my Beta friend, and started drawing the mirror. I will have to re-do the drawing - refine it and change the scale. But at least I did get it started and I can work from that. It was very pleasant to pick up a pencil again. Shame on me for letting them sit unattended for so long!

I also got the next three elements for my embroidery transferred to my cloak. I'll try and get those embroidered over the next two nights if I'm caught up on my computer work. The only thing I did not get to was more refinement of my cloisonne designs. But I'll get more done this week and those don't have a deadline. Now to continue this trend into the next few days - to do the soldering and continue with my cloak pins. I'm pleased - I haven't picked up my torch in too long and I've missed it. Yippee....Sandi and Fire ... ... ... .

Progressing and Designing

I am trying to get my scheduling nailed for the year. I know that I will complete an item for Beading For A Cure, the charity against colon cancer that I have been involved with for many years. And if my friend Shruit gets our application in and accepted, I will be participating with her in a second competition piece. But I think those are the only two beading competitions that I will produce beadwork for this year.

In metal clay, I will be making charms for the charm swap at the PMC Conference in July, and I will be making some Art Clay Copper pieces to enamel and test out because it's a new product that I actually have owned for a while now and just haven't had the time to play with yet. I may or may not do more with metal clay this year - it's still very much in the air. I love the product, but I also need to work on my fabrication skills which have fallen by the wayside.
For fabrication, I will be setting enamel pieces. I need to finish my cloak pins. Then I would still like to do the center heron for my heron and chrysanthamums piece that I started more than a year ago. And I want to make more enamel. Lots more. I really love playing with enamel.

And I'll be drawing. Because my fingers are itching to pick up a piece of graphite and a sketchpad and draw. And many of those drawings may make their way into color and finally into glass because the projects that I have in the works are into sketch mode now.

And finally I'll be sewing - I'll be hand embroidering the borders of cloaks and machine sewing the cloaks themselves. I still want to do a new corset for Renaissance Faire, and I want a new skirt also. I have had the fabric for that for a couple of years, I just need to actually make the items.

Well - it looks like I'll have a busy year. Guess I'd better get going on my art front!

Now It Gets Interesting...

Football. You either love it or hate it, but I love most sports and football (American style football) is one of my favorite sports. The local professional team has been playing VERY well this season, and the game that we played yesterday was a crucial one. And we won....decisively won. So, Sunday will see my DH and I glued to our television again, watching our beloved Minnesota Vikings go up against the New Orleans Saints. This will be a telling game and the winner of this one goes on to play in the Super Bowl. My friend Seth will probably be rooting for the Saints - he has roots in New Orleans. But I'll be hoping for the purple to prevail and for our home team to win the division and, in two weeks after that, the Super Bowl. Go Vikings!

While I was watching football yesterday, I did take advantage of the time to take out the old embroidery from my cloak so that I can iron on new patterns on Wednesday and begin the new embroidery. I'm much happier with the new style and look forward to progressing with this project that has taken much longer than it should have. I also will saw some silver for my cloak pins on Wednesday so that I can solder things together later in the week. So far the week's projects seem to be on-track. What are YOU going to be creating this week? It's Monday...time to think about it! Even when you don't have the time to create in reality, you can still think about projects and the steps you will need to take to accomplish them. Think creatively.

Perspective and Perspective

So...I'll start on the trash, then open the store, then pick up a jewelry repair, then go to the office supply store, then go to my box supplier, then clean up the old house before the repair crew starts work on Friday, then ... Yesterday was actually quite successful and everything on my list including testing the new transfer pens on my cloak, repairing two skirts that needed some ripped seams resewn, and doing three loads of laundry were completed. And the new transfer pens actually work! I have slightly altered the embroidery that I am doing because I now can get a very successful and detailed transfer onto the fabric. It's turning out very pretty - I got 1-1/2 of the elements embroidered last night (with MANY more to do) and it's working well. Call me happy - that's one perspective - a personal perspective.

(picture courtesy of Reuters)

The other perspective is a world view. In so many respects this world is collapsing. The infrastructures and politics that were made to benefit people are benefiting the people who are in power and skipping the ones who really need the help. The actual earth itself is fighting to stay alive and in the thoughts of the people by dumping unseasonable storms across Europe and - the latest - the earthquake in Haiti. The poor have become even poorer. If you feel moved to donate to aid organizations who will be helping Haiti out of its newest hell, I can personally recommend Americares . I got to know them after Hurricane Katrina - they were one of the first on the scene and one of the most effective. I know that they get their donated funds to where they can do the most good. So if you feel like sharing some of your personal wealth with those who have been devastated, you could do worse.

Richer/Poorer

Well, I'm now richer in terms of time to be able to spend on my personal projects today (after a full morning of errands that will take me throughout the cities). But I'm also poorer because I registered for Bead & Button classes and the PMC Conference yesterday. I am only taking two classes at Bead & Button this year. I thought about a third one, but really didn't have the cash to swing it and decided to just do the two that were most interesting to me. So, I'll be working with an old acquaintence - Gwen - on making photopolymer plates, and with someone who I've never met to drill stones. I'm really looking forward to both classes.

My "spare" time over the past couple of days has been spent refining some new designs for some new cloissonae work. That will progress more today, and I will also test the new fabric markers that I got in the mail. Cross whatever fingers you can spare for me that these will work. They are my last resort and if they work I can transfer my designs and get my embroidery finished on my cloak so that I can start my DH's cloak. But, before I can play I have to get some errands finished. So...I'll start on the trash, then open the store, then pick up a jewelry repair, then go to the office supply store, then go to my box supplier, then clean up the old house before the repair crew starts work on Friday, then....then....then.... Get the picture? LOL.

Thoughts and Processes

Yesterday was filled with semi-accomplishments. The fabric pens that I purchased won't work on the wool of my cape, so I found an on-line supplier of a transfer pen that had been recommended and ordered something that has a good chance of working properly. So...project number 1 didn't work. But I did get my sterling disks cut out, got the office supplies purchased, did a preliminary sketch for the "Straight Road" project, went grocery shopping (and actually remembered everything on my mental list - Yeah Me!!!), and got five more boxes for future deconstruction. My friend at my box supply shop apparently had her car trashed by someone who slid through an intersection on our lovely and icy streets. And then she was unable to find where the night shift had put the starting cash for her cash drawer. So...she gave me the five boxes I had chosen for free as a New Year's gift. I'll be back on Tuesday, so if she decides that she wants the money for them, I'll be happy to pay her then.

I need to get my perspective down for my "Straight Road" project. It's off right now, and that can drive both me and any potential viewer a bit crazy. I'll try working a "perspective box" on the block-out and see what can be tweaked before I start with ink and wash. And, Shruti and I are beginning to nail down our expectations for the ISGB challenge project that we want to do. It's starting to look like it may work thematically, as long as we can pin it down enough so that the two of us from opposite sides of the world can work harmoniously. After all, I can't just run to New Dehli, India if I have a question or concern - LOL. But, all in all, it was a great studio day, and now I have to go back out into the cold and return to work today (sigh). It's really too bad that I have to work to be able to play, but there's the reality of my life and I'm quite sure that this reality is shared by almost everyone who graces me by reading this blog :-) Have a creative day! Valar Valuvar.

Studio Day 52

Ideally I will have 52 studio days this year. That's not very many, is it? 52 days in which to accomplish many things. I have four cloaks to sew and embroider (and I am NOT a good embroiderer and am very slow at it). I have six enamel projects in my mental pipeline, some of which are in the process of being sketched out and finalized, others of which have barely made their whispers heard. I have at least two beading projects to do this year - both of which are quite unknown as of yet. One for Beading For A Cure, and one with my friend Shruti. (Note to self...better Email Shruti and get our subject matter under serious discussion-LOL.) I want to draw more. I want to paint more. And I still have a house to clean and a craft room to reorganize. I asked for more days off for a Christmas gift. I was given one extra day. I will use it - most absolutely will use it. But I sure would have liked even more days.

But for today, my inner spirit is singing. I have the ability to spend 5-6 hours on projects of my choosing and I will be sawing silver, finalizing images for two different enamel projects, and figuring out whether the fabric pens that I purchased on Sunday will actually work for transferring my embroidery design to my current cloak project. If it does, I can get back to work on the embroidery and that will make me quite joyous. So....this is going to be a great day, and day 52 of this year, as we count down towards the last day of the year, will only be good!

Reality Approaches

The holidays are over and the bills are starting to come in. I was very careful with my spending over the holidays, but I did order specially milled wool for a cloak for my DH to the tune of $200+ (I got 10 metres of the wool, 60" wide - very very pretty stuff). So I'll be paying this bill off this week. Next week I register for two classes at Bead & Button Show - it'll be the least I will have spent on classes there in many years, but I'll have to pull that money out of my classes/workshop savings stash. And I want some new enamels to restock some colors that I have less than a teaspoon left of. But that one I'll have to save up for.

I have a piece sitting in my head. I have friends who are authors and who talk about "plot bunnies" that they have wandering through their minds and that bounce around so much that they need to be released to the paper via the pencil. I have art pieces in my head that are begging to be made. The two that I've had perched for a while are my "Houses of Gondolin" set and my "Straight Road" pictoral. The "Straight Road" piece has really been occupying my thoughts a lot and I finally broke down and asked DH for the loan of some of his art books so that I can get the foreshortened perspective of the main character down properly. Tomorrow, during my studio day, I am going to give myself an opportunity to draw a preliminary of this piece. I'm not quite sure yet how it will go together, but I know it will work itself through before it finally gets put onto copper with enamels. What fun!