Mostly Art

Live Miniatures!

2012-01-17T10:40:00.000-08:00

Today when I went to the front page of Etsy, I saw this blog post of interest:

Photo by Steve Belkowitz for Microcrafts

What a clever idea! I'm thinking of making some containers for miniature live plants to see if this could be a new product line for people who possibly weren't interested in miniature pottery before.

As far as live plants go, I am a murderer of such things and will need a little help in this department. I currently have only one Spider plant given to me about a year ago. All other house plants have been either neglected or over-watered to death... I might see about air plants. What could I do to them?

Other news...

Well, we have our feet fully into the new year now, and though I didn't make any particular resolutions, I have wanted to keep my "year in miniature" on track. Over the past few weeks I have been giving high-fire Porcelain a try and found I really like the looks of it with the most recent set of items. I listed the new things on Etsy yesterday, and should know if other people like the Porcelain items by the end of the week.

My personal dollhouse town is still in the fantasy mode. I have spent many hours browsing around Etsy and eBay getting sparks of ideas, and am pretty sure I will be making the Bar/Tavern/Hang Out first. In my mind I have it all mapped out, even a way to have lit candles on some of the tables... whether any of these plans will really work or not, I will have to wait and see :)

Tiny Taste of Halloween in Miniature

2011-10-29T14:37:00.000-07:00

I've been in a Halloween mood all week, had a great party to go to on Thursday, and another is scheduled for tomorrow! While waiting for a ride yesterday morning I decided to browse all of the Halloween items in the Scale Miniatures section of Etsy. There were over 800 listings! So much to choose from, I only made it through the first few pages to set up this treasury. Think I'll go back and browse a little more tonight ;)

Just Hanging Out...

2011-10-28T06:21:00.000-07:00

During the month of September and into the first part of October I finished the dolls I currently have, then made clothes for everybody. Some of the dolls have more than one outfit because all scale dollhouse dolls aren't the same size. I made an outfit for a particular doll, then it wouldn't fit, so it became part of the wardrobe for another doll instead.

In October I took a break from my personal dollhouse world to make miniature flowers and get back to some of the miniature pottery I had started way back in May. I'm not sure how often I can play with my own miniature community for the rest of the year, so everybody is just hanging out now...

These girls are Heidi Ott dolls. They are very different in size, can't share clothing. The girl on the right is slender and sort of tall, the one on the left is short and sort of stocky built.

These dolls were from a set of Porcelain dolls that weren't finished, and had clothing glued on. I learned how to finish a doll with these, and their clothing is some of the first I made (got much better at it as time went on). The furniture these dolls are sitting in are by InsideOutMinis on Etsy.

The doll on the left was a young boy in the Porcelain doll set. I thought it looked too feminine to be a boy, so finished it to be a girl instead. The man on the right is a very short man by Heidi Ott. The shirt he's wearing was from a kit. The mens shirts I made after that (from a pattern I'd made) came out much better fitting and looked more realistic too.

These dolls are from Hanna, and the only ones that have names and personalities so far. The lion is dressed because he's more like the character Harvey from the book/movie, and will probably be a sidekick character to someone once the bar/lounge is a place for everyone to hang out in. This picture is showing my favorite clothing from all that I made so far. At first, I didn't intend for Francesca to wear anything so tailored, but the dress is "arty" in the fabric pattern, so it works out to be a part of her wardrobe. I really, really like Vincent's clothes, they fit so well and are classy looking to me too.

The doll in casual clothing is the tall man doll from Heidi Ott. He originally had a blond crew cut hair do, but I didn't like that so changed it. His hair is tied back in a pony tail right now because I haven't decided how to cut and style it yet, I may leave it the way it is.

The older man doll started as the Gary doll from the Dawn doll set. His original hair was just formed from the plastic the doll is made from. I also redid his face so he wasn't so cartoonish. He's a little too tall right now because the only shoes I had that would fit him have heels giving him another 1/4" (four inches) in height. I will eventually get him some flat shoes to make him closer to scale.

Tragic Fairy Tale...

2011-09-06T20:34:00.000-07:00

I remembered these two fairies the other day, and thought they could have a place in the "Land of ____" once it gets going. There will be a place for my fantasy sculpts on the top shelf, to the left of the rest of the community. I started day dreaming about how I could display these things, and had decided I could have a few real plants that have long tendrals to drape and flow along the shelving. It would make a nice forest area for the fairies, and since I am too short to play with anything on the top shelf anyway, this should all be good in the end.

These two fairies were the first I finished. They were never for sale, because they weren't good enough, but I still liked them just fine. I had put them in a plastic box (not air tight apparently), and had them put away for the past few years. When I opened the box to see these girls again, it was a horrifying sight! The fairy on the left used to have a nice Peacock feather skirt which is nearly all chewed away, and her hair is partially gone too. The fairy on the right has faired much worse... her hair is almost gone, there were feathers in her headband, and even her clothing has holes here and there.

So I googled moths that eat wool and got pretty creeped out. I spent much of this weekend looking for any other signs of these fairy eaters around my house. I dismantled an area that had collector magazines and a few books because I saw too much dust in the rack that held them, I'm about to take apart the whole wall of books on that side of the room because it looks pretty dusty around the bottom shelf holding record albums.

(getting cleaning obsessed a little, but that can't be bad?)

The good news from the holiday weekend...

The miniature Barbies have clothes! I can put them away for now, because I am still trying to figure out pattern making for the regular dollhouse dolls. The proper dollhouse dolls are not quite as tall as these, but they do have a more stout figure, so trying to make patterns fit has been a little hard. I am about to decide I don't need to have a real pattern for anybody else. I just hope I can figure out how to make the clothes removable so they don't have to wear the same outfit every day.

Now I will be off making some miniature flowers for a few days and maybe glazing some pottery pieces I have in bisque stage. That reminds me... while I will still be making some miniature flowers for my vases and a few to sell on their own, (MostlyArt on Etsy) I have also decided to sell the "Bloomin' Easy" flower making kits by Bonnie Lavish in my PrincessOzma shop. (they aren't in there yet, but stay tuned...)

Why I Need a Pattern...Revisiting Barbie

2011-08-31T12:14:00.000-07:00

I got out my Barbies a couple of days ago to put together a play kit for someone, and was just delighted to find I'd kept some of the clothes I'd made. This is why I need patterns for the miniature Barbies, and then on to the dollhouse dolls afterward.

This first picture shows the enormous size difference in a regular Barbie and the miniature Barbie I'll be working with to learn how to make clothes in 1:12 scale. I love the dress I made for this Barbie. It was made from an old handkerchief, bead findings, and beads for the buttons. Once I have figured out the size difference in patterns (somehow), I can start inventing patterns of my own off the basic shapes.

These two dresses were made from patterns and handkerchiefs. The Bolero on the left doesn't fit all that well, should have used a clinging fabric for this.

This fashion doll is larger than the Barbie, I had to make up the pattern for her dress. It was made from a hankie too.

I love this fabric! It's so soft and flowy, I can see it working great for the miniature doll clothes too.

This Summer dress was made from a hankie too. I think I had a pattern for the basic dress then added the print from the sides of the hankie coming around in front for accent.

I totally love the outfit on the right! The blouse and pants were from hankies too. The handkerchiefs just have so many possibilities with the various trims and prints on them. Then the plain white ones were usually used and laundered so many times that the fabric is so very soft, softer than any fabric you can buy.

Still working on ideas of how to get basic patterns in dollhouse scale... I want my dolls to have contemporary clothing that can be removed (need fasteners and proper openings), too bad the miniature Barbies didn't come with wardrobes...

August 28, Commercial Break...

2011-08-28T12:24:00.000-07:00

August 30,

Edit to say: Whew! All of the miniatures I have listed right now have moved back to Mostly Art on Etsy. The next post here will be back on topic with the miniature doll clothes project.

At the risk of being viewed as "flakey" on the subject, I've decided to move my miniatures back to Etsy. Most of the miniature artists have already gone back, the rest have plans to go back soon. I have been a "hold out" during all the turmoil, wanting to give ArtFire a chance to take off and be something great, but a few things have happened this Summer to make that vision seem nearly impossible to achieve in the "Dolls and Miniatures" category there.

First, ArtFire decided to do away with the free selling accounts. This was the start of the miniaturists going back to Etsy. Most didn't even wait for the free-trial to try out the "Pro" selling accounts with all the special features. They left as soon as the word was out about free accounts going away.

The second thing that's happened just recently (the last couple of weeks), is ArtFire is involved with a new payment service called ProPay. This is a very expensive service for sellers to have, and since most people are used to PayPal, having it (PayPal) take second billing on the checkout pages as "other", and confusing for people to figure out... well, I can't see that will be okay with the majority of buyers for quite a while.

Everything new online takes a lot of adjustment and people in general don't like change. (me included) I have been with PayPal since they were new enough to be not only a free service, they offered $5 bonuses for everyone else you could get to join. I've never had any problems using PayPal, not as a seller or buyer, they would have to do something really drastic to get me to not want them as my main online payment source.

The third thing weighing my decision to go back to Etsy is all the people who didn't want to move with me in the first place. Etsy is much more fun to shop on, because there are just so many more items, more to browse, more energy... with so many of the miniaturists leaving ArtFire now, it could take years for them to attract enough new miniaturists to make a good category over there. I think I am finally convinced the wait will be just too long.

It will be quite a bit of time involved in moving the miniatures back to Etsy, because the listings on ArtFire are mostly new items since I left Etsy last Winter. The information isn't on Etsy anymore, it will be like making brand new listings. So... I'm giving myself a week to do this, just an hour or so a day until it's done.

♥
Thanks for listening to my rambling...

Ta Da! First dress completed

2011-08-24T20:00:00.001-07:00

I finished the first of the miniature Barbie dresses last night. This girl also got some red lipstick and red shoes to match her dress, because the dress itself is so fragile, she likely won't be changing clothes too often.

I think this fabric would be called Chiffon. It's very sheer and frays so easily, that it probably wasn't the best choice for my first piece of scale dollhouse doll clothing. It was actually a vintage handkerchief, but the intended purpose wouldn't be good for that because it isn't anything like Cotton, or even Silk. I thought the pattern was nice for the dress though, and am happy in the end that I did start with something more difficult to work with.

The dresses (and other clothing), should be much easier with Cotton or Silk. This dress will only fit the miniature Barbies because they're more slender than the dollhouse dolls. I made the dress to be removable, but it's likely to be this doll's permanant clothing anyway.

Dressing Miniature Barbie Part 1

2011-08-23T16:27:00.000-07:00

Saturday, I began the miniature doll part of my project. I decided to start with the miniature Barbies, because the dolls themselves can't be altered much, and they all had a dress that could be dismantled for patterns. These Barbies have the big toothy smile, and you can't really change the face character when it is this mold. I decided to just leave the faces the way they are but change the hair. They all got a haircut, and the hair is getting tamed down some with the plastic wrap. I did have a tutorial on how to change the style of Barbie hair completely with boiling water or something... maybe I'll do that later, for now, I'm just going to make them all some new clothes.

These are the princess dresses the dolls came with. I don't see them as princesses or fairies, but since they are all tall compared to the other female dollhouse scale dolls, they may be Amazon women. Maybe they are just model types from the 60s-70s with that clean "girl next door" look they had back then?

Sunday... I got out some full size fashion doll patterns to see the size comparison, and tried to adjust for size. I wasted a lot of time on this, because I thought I had a program that would just reduce pictures by 50% on my computer. That must have been with my first printer though, because I couldn't figure it out and pretty much just wasted the whole day for nothing.

Sunday night, Monday, and Monday night... I tried free-hand reducing the patterns to a scale dollhouse size. For a while, I thought I'd figured it out and made several sample pieces of clothing from some soft Batise fabric. (I didn't want to risk any of my beautiful vintage hankies until I knew the pattern would work out.) The pieces were still too big in some ways, and though I could have altered the clothing pieces themselves with seams and darts, I decided to take a new approach instead.

I carefully took apart every piece of dollhouse doll clothing I had, (there weren't many things, so it wasn't like I was giving up something precious), and made new pattern pieces of this clothing.

I finally decided to make something from a hankie late last night. The top part of the dress is almost finished, then I will add a gathered skirt to it. No pictures yet, I wanted to make sure it turns out first. Actually, I'm almost finished with the second bodice of the dress. The first one, I couldn't quite get the tiny sleeves in and my fabric frayed to almost oblivion at the shoulder. After that, I put very, very thin strips of scotch tape on the edge of the cut fabric pieces before I started sewing. This has been successful, and the second bodice went fairly quickly.

A Year in Miniature

2011-08-20T10:49:00.000-07:00

Today is the beginning of a year long project to make a 1:12 scale miniature town. Only the more I think about it, the word "town" is not appropriate for the world I'm about to create, it would be more proper to call it "the land of____?" like L. Frank Baum did with his 14 book series on the Land of Oz.

This plan has been growing, evolving, and changing direction almost as fast as I can think or fantasize about it. It just became "the land of_____?" this morning. This time the plan will stick, because I have made the commitment with a deadline of a year from today, and including all of the various ideas into one "Land of____" is perfect for me.

I was very late to find out about dollhouse miniatures. If it weren't for eBay, it may never have happened, and I would have missed so much! Many good friends I've met along the way, a growing imagination, and new skills of my own with learning to work in 1:12 scale.

While I have always loved anything tiny, growing up, we all played with Barbie and similar 1:6 scale dolls. As an adult, I did still enjoy playing with Barbie in the way of making wardrobes of clothing for her/similar fashion dolls, and once made myself a project of altering the dolls themselves for the adult women in my family. I made each sister and my mom a doll that resembled them, then a wardrobe to go with it. This is how I found my way to the "Dolls and Miniatures" category on eBay in the beginning.... I was interested in making altered 1:6 dolls as artwork to sell.

That idea passed when I found the life-like fairy and artdoll sculpture made from polymer clays. Especially the work of Julie Mansgergh/faerielady on eBay. Her dolls/sculpts are so life-like, you might even convince yourself you saw them breathing! After I saw these artdolls, I just had to learn how to make them myself. I took a year to learn how, the requisite "make 100 dolls before you try and sell one", but still, it was not to be. My dolls didn't ever get a following, and I still have a few that will now live in my "Land of____?" too :)

While hanging out in the "Dolls and Miniatures" category on eBay so much in my fairy/doll making days, I discovered the 1:12 scale miniatures. It was like a heaven-on-earth time of finding so many perfect replicas of anything you could think of in one inch scale! My first project was going to be a display piece, a miniature version of the real life shop of Mostly Art, down to the last detail.

I purchased a lot that had two basic dollhouse kits still in the boxes. I thought I could combine elements of the two small houses into an empty structure resembling the store when it had been empty, then go from there. After trying to figure out the basic floor plan for a while, (why are 1:12 dollhouses not really to scale, but so much smaller than they should be?), I could see this wouldn't work. I would have had to compromise too much on the design. If it couldn't be a true replica, I didn't want to do it.

Time went on, I still wanted to make some kind of house or roombox, and tried with one of the kits later. I blogged about it here , where you can see it didn't work out either. That was when I realized what I really want to do is PLAY! I don't want my dollhouses or roomboxes to be a display-only piece, I want the whole thing... "it's a lifestyle" to quote a very good friend of mine. I want my dolls to be characters, with personalities that will let me know what kind of dwelling they will live in, what kind of job they might have, what kind of place they may hang out in...

So this year's project, making the "Land of_____" will start with the dolls. I have an assortment of dolls of different kinds/types that are in 1:12 scale. Some are from Heidi Ott, a few proper Porcelain dolls, miniature Barbies, the sculpts I made, two sculpts from another artist (they already have their own dwelling/structure), and a lion/man who I believe will be someone like Harvey, the rabbit/pooka.

Most of these dolls and characters are in need of clothing and/or alteration. So that's where I'm deciding to start this journey... pictures to follow

One Tiny Pumpkin on Great Vine!

2011-08-17T16:51:00.000-07:00

This year's Pumpkin vine had a rough beginning. I had decided to get an earlier start this year, but then the first tiny plants froze. The second set of seeds seemed to take forever to come up, then they didn't really do much of anything until August. We now have a Great vine going in all directions!

The leaves are huge again this year, and the vines are pushing their way through the wild flowers and tall grasses we let grow however they wanted to this Summer. The results were really fun for the cats with so much "jungle", and the only controlled areas are the square areas with Lettuce, and the other patch for the Tomato vines.

Here's the lone Pumpkin... at least I think it's the only one, I haven't discovered any others yet. There are many more beautiful flower blossoms early in the morning. I took the pictures in the afternoon when the blossoms had mostly closed for the day.

Certified Handmade and CDHM Feature

2011-06-14T11:46:00.000-07:00

It's been so long since I posted any news here! I got the Certified Handmade Artisan seal on ArtFire, and a feature in the CDHM iMag for June.

In my ArtFire Studio, the Handmade Seal is on the left hand side page. I'll try to add a picture of it here too.

The CDHM iMag is called The Miniature Way, I am not sure how to show any of it here, so am just linking to the different pages.

The feature on CDHM is linked from the home page of the site on the right hand side of the page this month. That will change in July, so I'll link the actual article Here too. (the picture is an old one from a vacation, I had been swimming, so my hair is usually a little better than that)

I keep a gallery on CDHM to show current ArtFire listings and some of my past work all of the time, so if you'd ever like to see what's going on with my miniature pottery, it will show previews with the new listings. My CDHM Gallery and I still like to use flickr for pictures too.

Nothing much else is new right now, I'm enjoying the Summer "out and about" more than being online like I do so much during the bad weather months. I will try to post more often in the future though.

♥

Some Miniature Pottery Work in Progress

2011-03-31T08:15:00.000-07:00

Today I decided to show a few pictures on the process of making miniature pottery items. The first picture is of some of my frequently used tools and some pieces in their first stage of "raw" clay blanks and the begining sculpting.

Next is glazing day. I decide how I want to glaze each piece first, then make a page with drawings and which glaze is going to be used, which order of the different color glaze coats, or other particulars. This way, I have a record of what I did when something turns out fantastic, or the other way too, if it wasn't so good, I know not to repeat the same glaze combination.

This third picture is a mix of pieces. Some are still in their bisque stage (after the first firing but before the glaze), and some are now finished.

The last picture is some upcycling going on. These rabbits were made in Peru as beads. I am altering them to make them into miniature sculpture rabbits in honor of the Year of the Rabbit. Just a fun idea, it amuses me :)

Fresh Start with Creative Breakroom

2011-03-28T12:27:00.000-07:00

As many discussion forum people know, we've all felt scattered, uneasy, and even homeless since the Etsy Discussion Forums closed down. At first, we all had a great alternative board called UEF (unofficial etsy forums), and it was a great new community growing to almost 3000 members in just a couple of months! It disappeared (lots of drama) a few days ago, and the founders of the UEF board created a fabulous new place that is open to every seller from every venue (buyers too of course!) to gather in a break room setting.

This new board is called Creative Breakroom, and it is very fitting for what it is. I'm really excited about how something so good can come from the "bad" of losing our original home board. Especially with the welcoming of people from all venues to come together in a new community setting! ♥

Hope to see you there!

Change in Direction for Miniatures

2011-02-11T13:35:00.000-08:00

I have been fretting over this situation for the past few months, and finally came to a decision to just go for it...

The shop Mostly Art on Etsy will be for all of the non-miniature items, and my miniatures will be moving to my ArtFire Studio.

The decision for me, personally, means I will have my own online studio that has many great features.

•On ArtFire, the studios have a blog right inside the studio, where you can show tutorials, works in progress, or anything you want really.

•ArtFire manages to get your items into google searches, so people from all over the world can do a search for miniature items, and my items will show up for them on google.

•Buyers do not have to sign up to make a purchase, and they can pay in ways other than PayPal, (Google Checkout and Amazon Payments too).

•ArtFire has member curated Collections that have the chance of being featured on the front page of ArtFire... (I had one of the collections I curated on the front page recently).

•The studio itself looks beautiful! The items are all shown in a gallery list format with large pictures.

•ArtFire has a program to apply for a "Certified Handmade Artisan" status which shows that you have indeed passed a jury panel with your work in progress, showing you really do make the items you sell. I have already begun this process, and will have this "award" to show people who didn't previously know my work.

•There are Guilds to join for people in your same medium of work, or other support networking. These Guilds are being updated to be more useful over the next couple of months.

•The discussion forums on ArtFire are very friendly and helpful. The owner of ArtFire himself spends time answering questions and explaining all of the things his team is doing to improve ArtFire. He is open, honest, and a very hard worker himself. He is working every day to make ArtFire the best site for handmade (vintage and supplies too), and the personal touch of him being accessible, (even by phone), is very comforting.

What is good about this move to the collectors of my work?

All of the above points ♥ And remember... you don't even have to sign up to be a member of ArtFire to buy things.

This move will be taking me a little bit of time to finish. I am working on new miniature items that will be listed in the ArtFire Studio starting over the next few days. The miniatures that are still in my Etsy Shop will stay there until sold or expired. After that, the Mostly Art at Etsy will be for everything else I make... ArtFire Studio for miniatures and possibly a few ornaments.

I will also still do preview pictures of my work before it's listed for people who like to have a peek at what's coming in the next few days. I'll be using flickr and my CDHM Gallery for the previews, just like before.

Thank you!

Hope to see you on ArtFire for Miniatures! ♥

It Will be Mardi Gras Soon!

2011-01-31T10:48:00.000-08:00

Love all the royal colors of this celebration!

Lets Get the Party Started!

Curated By: MostlyArt

ArtFire.com

Handmade

Rabbits Are a Great Theme

2011-01-15T19:28:00.000-08:00

The Year of the Rabbit is going to be fun for making collections on ArtFire! So many to choose from...

Year of the Rabbit!

Curated By: PrincessOzma

ArtFire.com

Indie Design

Valentine Treasury for Team MIDS

2011-01-14T22:40:00.001-08:00

Seeing Red in Dolls and Miniatures on ArtFire!

2011-01-14T17:07:00.000-08:00

Such wonderful browsing to find things for this collection of Red!

Seeing Red in Dolls and Miniatures!

Curated By: MostlyArt

ArtFire.com

Unique Gifts

Til We Meet Again Thea Marie...

2011-01-05T22:23:00.000-08:00

Thea Marie Bauer Littlefield
d. December 31, 2010

Dear Thea,

How do I say goodbye to you? You've been more than my BFF since we were 12 years old. I still remember the first day we glommed onto each other and didn't let go. It was the first day of school in 7th grade. We knew each other in grade school, I can remember you sitting in front of me in the 4th grade in home room. You wore your hair in one long braid down your back, and that horrible Mrs. Merritt would pull on your braid telling you to stop talking and pay attention...
It wasn't until the first day of Junior High School that our friendship really started though. They did things alphabetically back then, we were together in everything that first day. All the same classes, got seated next to each other, shared a locker... I can't remember a time during those first few years we weren't together, or talking on the phone.

Every big "first" was right along side of you... first kiss, first boyfriend, first "real" relationship... sometimes you were the leader, sometimes it was me, but we were inseparable. Even dated guys who were best friends in High School so we could double date for everything...

Remember our theme song? I Am Woman... when that song came out, we got the 45, played it over and over singing at the top of our lungs. Had our picture taken together outside of a women's restroom... read Cosmo like it was the Bible... checked with each other before making any kind of move in anything, then every detail discussed forever afterward too.

This is from a Summer vacation with my family, we were about 14 or 15...

On a Carrousel...

OMG! I think we are 30 in this picture! The Summer before you got married...

The Wedding Reception...

Had to crop this one, whoever took it was looking down my dress, showed everything!

Not a good picture, but the only one with you and your babies...

Wish I had more pictures... this was taken at your Dad's ranch, and can be representative of you riding off into the Sunset...

Until we meet again ♥
Love you always,
Joyce

Year of the Rabbit and Chinese New Year

2010-12-18T16:18:00.000-08:00

This morning, I was reading my friend Hanna's blog, and saw her wonderful white rabbit.Hanna's White Rabbit Her rabbit is meant for an Alice scene, but he's truly fabulous and worth sharing. I then headed over to Etsy and saw the front page was a treasury about The Year of the Rabbit, for Chinese New Year:

So by this time, I'm thinking of Chinese New Year, and how it takes me down a road of sentimental journey. During the late 1960s and all through the 1970s, my parents celebrated Chinese New Year with a group of friends and a couple of their siblings. Now that I have finally seen the show "Mad Men" (just this week I watched season 2 on DVD from the library), it makes it all the more fun to remember these events.

The house was decorated so beautifully for the party, all the food and dishes were in the theme... Us children had a special night during the Chinese New Year party too, because we either got to take the TV into one of the bedrooms, or got to go out for dinner and a movie. This picture is from the 1970s, I can tell by my Dad's hair, guys were wearing long curly hair for a while in the 70s. My Mom made these clothes by hand, silk and silk brocade. Her dress was ankle length, isn't she gorgeous?

Here's a little information on Chinese New Year from wikipedia:

Chinese New Year
THE YEAR OF THE RABBIT, 2011

02/03/2011 - 01/22/2012 (Metal)

According to the Chinese Zodiac, the Year of 2011 is the Year of the Rabbit, which begins on February 3, 2011 and ends on January 22, 2012. The Rabbit is the fourth sign of the Chinese Zodiac, which consists of 12 animals signs. The Rabbit is a lucky sign. Rabbits are private individuals and a bit introverted. People born in the Year of the Rabbit are reasonably friendly individuals who enjoy the company of a group of good friends. They are good teachers, counselors and communicators, but also need their own space.

According to Chinese tradition, the Rabbit brings a year in which you can catch your breath and calm your nerves. It is a time for negotiation. Don't try to force issues, because if you do you will ultimately fail. To gain the greatest benefits from this time, focus on home, family, security, diplomacy, and your relationships with women and children. Make it a goal to create a safe, peaceful lifestyle, so you will be able to calmly deal with any problem that may arise.

Beads! Beads! Beads!

2010-12-18T15:24:00.001-08:00

I was browsing the art of the Beadweavers on ArtFire a couple of days ago, and made this collection. This particular art is not only very beautiful, it is a skill that takes a good amount of time to learn, and produce this amazing work.

Beads! Beads! Be...

Curated By: MostlyArt

ArtFire.com

Fine Art Photography

Miniatures in Red on ArtFire

2010-12-09T12:38:00.000-08:00

This collection made it to the front page of ArtFire on December 9!

Beautiful Reds in...

Curated By: MostlyArt

ArtFire.com

Craft Tutorials

All Through The House...

2010-12-08T16:48:00.000-08:00

Saturday was the "Shop Local" Day

2010-11-29T02:53:00.000-08:00

It had been advertised on the radio that we should shop local on Saturday, to support our own community here in Denver. A few years ago, I took the handmade pledge as far as gift buying goes, but still do need the occassional art or craft supply for projects I make myself, so that's where I planned to give my local support this year. At the neighborhood "hobby" store.

I have mixed feelings about shopping these big chain stores because they don't really support "our" economy very much. They do have local employees, but nothing they sell is actually produced in the US. The big chains also put small businesses "out" of business over the past 20 years or so. There are no local small, individually run arts/crafts/hobby stores left in Denver. That's still very sad to me, and today, even more so after my attempt to shop the big chain for supplies on Saturday.

The big chain stores came to town, offered everything any artist/crafter would want for their hobby or art, at prices much lower than small shop owners could do. Not only that, but they had "all" the supplies you'd ever think of wanting under one roof. The small business had no chance against this. Now, years after everyone is used to using the big mega markets, they are phasing out, or have already gotten rid of most of the hobby/supplies people wanted. I realize that online shopping probably took a big chunk of this business away from them (eBay), but there were still those of us who would go out to get that one thing we needed right now for a project. There are still millions of people who don't shop online at all, they still needed these stores to offer art/craft supplies and fabric.

So I was, and still am disappointed to find out that the hobby/art/craft supplies are no longer available in my city. This particular store is selling mostly home decor items and fake floral. The other big craft store already went to home decor instead of art supplies a few years ago. I've never shopped there, but have heard Walmart used to carry all of these things but got rid of them over the last few years...

Living a handmade life has gotten a little bit more difficult when you have to rely on the internet for the most basic supply items :(

If anyone out there is brave enough to try having a brick and mortar store, today would be an excellent time to open a hobby and/or art supplies shop! ♥

What About ArtFire?

2010-11-04T06:43:00.001-07:00

ArtFire is like a grown up version of Etsy. It's been around for a couple of years, but I only started taking a real interest in the site lately. While Etsy has a huge membership, and I am still very emotionally tied to the site with my main shop, and the discussion boards, I am feeling the pull toward change.

ArtFire is not so much geared toward current trends as Etsy. The owner started the site for his mother to have a good place to sell her artwork, so it isn't about what's the latest style in Brooklyn. That part is very good for those of us who are in a totally different place with our art/craft, and those of us who are mostly in a niche market with a small collector market.

I've opened up two shops on ArtFire. One for my miniatures and other handmade things, the other for vintage and supply. I'm keeping the names of both the same as the two Etsy shops, and I'm not leaving Etsy right now either.

Hope you'll drop by and see me there!

Mostly Art on ArtFire

Visit MostlyArt's ArtFire Shop

PrincessOzma on ArtFire

Visit PrincessOzma's ArtFire Shop

Thank you! ♥

Nukkekoti the Magazine

2010-10-21T04:32:00.000-07:00

I am very, very late posting about this!

Many months ago, my friend Hanna wrote an article about Etsy for Nukkekoti, a Finnish Miniature Magazine. She interviewed me, and Susanna of the Etsy shop suskita, Susanna features mostly miniature food and kitchen items.

This article brought me many buyers from Finland, and I am forever grateful. I just wish I had posted about it while the flurry of attention was happening, because it was truly the best time I've ever had playing the role of a miniature artisan.

Thank you Hanna! ♥

New Issue of AIM is out!

2010-10-01T04:42:00.000-07:00

Great online magazine written by miniature Artisans, for miniature Artisans and enthusiasts.

Click on the picture, or you can get there here: http://www.artisansinminiature.com/issue10.html

Memory Box for a Sock Hop

2010-08-08T01:16:00.000-07:00

It all started with this Pink Poodle made by Hanna, of hannajaleijona on Etsy. Every time I saw this fanciful poodle it sparked a memory of a 1950s style Sock Hop party I'd been to with my niece, Samantha. I have made a couple of treasure boxes before, but never a memory box with a theme. This was so much fun to collect items for, and finally put it all together. Her birthday is today, I hope she enjoys this memory box as much as I did building it.

The cover of the box has an old 45 RPM record of "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" by Cyndi Lauper. It looks like you could take the record out and put it on your stereo, but in the end, I had to glue the edges of the plastic cover down.

First look inside. There are little boxes and envelope type things with magnetic closures on the inside of the "book" shaped box. Inside, there is a picture of the dancing going on, tiny little Sock Hop HO Scale dancers, another box on one wall, an elegant lady gazing in the mirror on the other wall. (she doesn't really look Sock Hop-ish, but I wanted something on that wall and found that pin in my vintage jewelry drawer).

You can click on any of these pictures to get a better look inside. This first one is the main "room" of the box.

The inside cover wall before we open up the compartments.

The first item is a scroll that tells the story of how this all came about. The way the Pink Poodle gave me the memory of this particular dance party every time I looked at her, and how much I had enjoyed the party. The tiny little one inch size book is a BIO from Hanna's Etsy Shop, about the artist. The bottom left cabinet doesn't have removable items. It has a pair of red shoes, and the quote "Put on your red shoes and dance." from a song by David Bowie, and the last envelope has a pair of teeny-tiny socks, and a doll sized string of pearls.

This box is on the inside main room wall. You open it up and see a tiny trophy and a star saying "dance contest winner", which she was! Samantha won the dance contest that night!

This last picture just has words to show that I really was dancing too, that is me in the background, Samantha in the foreground. I do not know who she is dancing with at the time this picture was taken, she danced every dance, with anyone who would :)

The new A.I.M. Issue!

2010-08-01T12:48:00.000-07:00

The August issue is out today! Can't wait to read it ♥

AIM for August

http://www.artisansinminiature.com/issue10.html

First Pumpkin has made an appearance!

2010-07-20T11:42:00.000-07:00

We're having a proper Summer this year, and the pumpkin vine is really starting to take off! I'm going to go put a marker at the ends of each branch when I get finished posting this, because it seems this beautiful, strong, and magnificent vine is growing about a foot a day now :)

First pumpkin about the size of an orange.

Growing high too... this picture is from the southeast end looking north-ish

A busy bee doing his job :)

July 17 it got up to 100 degrees... pumpkin vine did not like this very much :(

Leo doesn't look to be enjoying 100 degrees much either...

Stay tuned! I'm going to start taking pictures as the vine grows "real" pumpkin looking pumpkins, and the vine takes over the back half of our cat habitat. (don't worry, they have all kinds of fun places if the maze jungle gets taken over by a humongous vine)

Look What I found!

2010-07-12T15:27:00.000-07:00

In my own backyard! I have never seen one this big in person, well, I know he's dead, but still! He must have died of natural causes because I see no evidence of cat play here... funny that he also appears to be hollow? Maybe that's normal too, will have to google it later, right now I'm headed for bed :)

Peru Bead Project

2010-05-25T00:27:00.001-07:00

In one of the past chapters of my life I was really, really into beads. I have so many wonderful beads from those days, not enough of anything to sell as a destash, but still a huge collection. One day, I was going through the cabinet that houses these beads and saw a box of handpainted beads from Peru. I was thinking what fantastic artwork is on these beads, little stories on the Lentil beads, (one picture on the front, another on the back), that I should think of a way to use some of them in miniature scenes.

This first picture is not what I ended up using, but just a collection of the beads I was going to try and work with.

My intention was to make tiny vases from some of these beads, so I began working with the clay to plug up holes and make some kind of base.

After this first group had been fired once, (a few twice with the new glaze added), I decided the whole idea was "cheesy" and didn't look that great, so I shelved the idea for a couple of months.

I've probably mentioned in blog posts before about how slow I work, and how frustrated I get without being able to "keep up" having at least 10 new listings a week... Well, after another project that was supposed to be fast compared to my usual sculpting fell through, I decided to revisit the Peru Project. This time, I only used the Lentil beads and some little Llama shaped beads. I am now loving this project again!

This is after the first fire with the holes plugged and some simple bases made:

Now for the finished first set of miniature vases and Llama sculptures:

I think they are so cute now, and plan to make other "sculpture" to go with the Lentil Bead vases later on. Everyone who bought something from me this week will get a set of one Llama sculpture and one Llama Lentil vase. They can imagine their dollhouse family took a trip to Peru and these were souvenirs of the trip :)

What's new? Actually, old news...

2010-04-24T11:51:00.000-07:00

I have neglected this blog so bad! The only news I can think of is actually old now. There was an interview with me for American Miniaturist magazine that was published in February. My friend, and miniature team blogger, GoldenUnicornMiniatures, put a notice on the team blog. The pages aren't legible, but that's okay, I sort of talked too much and they printed more than I thought they would 0.0

http://teammids.blogspot.com/

Other than that, I have been pretty busy treating my miniature making like a real job since the beginning of the year, and not being online nearly as much as I was in the past. I have had a few requests to show "work in progress" pictures and descriptions/tutorials, so maybe I will be doing some of that here real soon.

Owl in Cowl

2009-11-18T01:09:00.001-08:00

I used to buy a lot of tiny glass ornaments for the shop at this time of year, and a stray box of owls that had never been put out for sale showed up recently. They can't be sold now, because they aren't old enough to be vintage, and I didn't make them myself.

So while reading the discussion boards the other day, another of the long threads complaining about how Etsy loves owls and cowls for the front page... an idea started sort of swimming around for these tiny glass owls I'd found. How about a good luck charm? An owl with a cowl is sure to be good luck towards getting on the front page?

I'm thinking it would be along the same lines as the worry dolls. The story goes, if you give the doll your worries before going to bed, the worry dolls take your troubles away while you sleep. So if you placed an owl with a cowl good luck charm next to your computer, and asked him nicely to "wish" you on the front page, doesn't it stand to reason this would work?

The prototype owl with a cowl is pocket sized, stands just under 1 1/2" tall, so he won't take up much space on your desk. Now all I need is a volunteer to try this out. I don't know if it will work for me, so need to get an impartial tester. If you'd like to be the judge of this possibly amazing new good luck charm, let me know in comments.

Thank you

Mama said there'd be days like this...

2009-09-28T00:13:00.000-07:00

I was so pleased with myself for getting so much done this weekend, and then...

Yesterday, the glaze firing went perfectly. See the firing cone on the left, this is exactly how it is supposed to look at the end of the fire. Bent over lightly kissing the floor of the kiln. The items from this first firing came out gorgeous, a new glaze I used really surprised and delighted me on one little Sake set (will have proper pictures later), and pretty much everything else turned out just the way I wanted it to also.

Today's firing....the cone on the right completely melted to the kiln floor and even took off a layer of the actual kiln when I removed it! I have never seen anything like this, and can't imagine how I over-fired by this much. I am the "kiln sitter" for the small test kiln I use for the miniatures, and normally, I am watching/paying attention to the actual hours besides using a wind-up timer. Must have lost track of time some how...

Good firing...

Bad firing...

The bad news to me is, most of the best vases were in today's "bad" firing. The good news is...I think most of the pieces can be saved with new glaze and re-firing. Not sure though...because the clay itself turned into something else. The little trays I had with the melted glass warped, and the glaze on almost everything sort of melted off. Will be giving it a try tomorrow and hope for the best.

Miniature Cats and Their Afghans!

2009-09-15T11:20:00.001-07:00

I am very slow getting this post up, because I've had it on my plans for weeks now! Earlier I showed my fabulous cat family that my friend Hanna made for me in miniature, but I hadn't shared that now these precious babies all have their own afghans (just like the real cat family does), made by Frieda of Willowscreations.

These pictures are not the best, and I will also be recovering the furniture in plain colors later, but this is the best I can do to simulate a real scene in my livingroom, (the real livingroom), as it often is with the cats and their own personal afghans.

You can click on these pictures to get a larger version! Just found that out right now, when I tried it :)

Frieda makes all sorts of lovely crocheted miniatures, and you can see a few from her shop in this Etsy mini:

Hanna makes all kinds of animals, and you can see in the Etsy mini for her here:

Dollhouse Project

2009-09-15T10:02:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I decided to finally put together a dollhouse kit I've had sitting around gathering dust for several years. The kit is called The Buttercup, and looked really easy if you follow the instructions and put it together the way it's supposed to go.

Looks really cute, doesn't it? How about the inside...look how it could be! I wasn't planning to make a shop out of this kit, but it would be great this way.

Well...first I did start putting it together the proper way, with the instructions. I got it basically put together, then got out a dollhouse scale doll because a couple of things were bothering me about the shell of this house. First, she had no way to get upstairs, because there was no stairs, and even if there were a set of stairs (which I decided to steal from the other dollhouse kit I have still in the box), once she got there, she couldn't stand up! So even though I'm a complete novice on building a dollhouse, I was going for a remodeling job right away. This is the start of my changes...

I let it sit this way for a couple of days, kept looking and thinking about this, and finally decided my altering just wasn't going to work, so I took it apart. The mangled kit pieces are back in the box now, and I got a new plan :)

One night when I was browsing the miniature listings on eBay, I found this fabulous roombox/house!

Isn't it fabulous? I won! I have this little house now, and though it won't be a living room/kitchen/everything room....eventually I think it's the kitchen, it's a great way for a beginner to start! I will use this as my livingroom setting for now, and build on to it later.

Next post will be a long awaited picture of the cat family with their own afghans :)

Attitudes change, but it's still a thrill!

2009-08-19T03:23:00.000-07:00

I used to say that you know you've made it as a potter (ceramic artist) when someone decides the piece you sold them is worth more than they paid for it, and they sell it at auction. My views on this have changed since I became a miniaturist, because now I don't want people to resell the things I make, I want all of the best doll houses in the world to feature a piece I made :)

This post is about my old view though, because while browsing the pottery category on eBay tonight, I saw a listing for pottery that I/we (husband and I) made. It was a thrill to see it for sale, and I had the "We have arrived!" moment ♥
Only that pottery line only lasted about a year, so we arrived long after we already "went" on that.

My husband had his own full size pottery business with many regular commissions. His style was sculpture on functional pieces. His main account was for the Indian Hills Trading Post in Indian Hills, Colorado. This is the sign going into Indian Hills, and most of the tourist trade items had some version of these Indians on them.

A combination of things caused my husband to quit making his pottery. The main reason was when the Trading Post burned down and his biggest account was over. Around the same time, we closed the shop Mostly Art, and moving all the store fixtures home for storage took away any space for studio work. Still, I tried to get him interested in some kind of pottery work again, so thought of doing a line with him. For a brief time, about a year or so, we were going to be the Artus and Anna Van Briggle of our generation :) I was really into glazing with Arts & Crafts style matte glaze at the time, and figured his sculpture would transfer well into the style too. We never really got going with this pottery line though, only a few hundred pieces. His heart wasn't really in it, and I missed working in miniature.

This eBay listing has better pictures than I have of these vases, but I'm going to put my pictures in here too, because the listing won't be permanent.

The seller in the auction left off the "B" in his title of the listing, so he didn't know that "B" was really part of the name. The "B" stands for Barmore (me), and the actual bee is still my signature. My father-in-law had a hand in naming this pottery too. Van means "from" in Dutch, and Sterk (my husband's name) is also Dutch for "strong", I thought it was a great name for our business at the time :) a combination of our names that really said something too. Well, maybe the Barmore part doesn't really "say" something, it's Welsh, and I don't know what it means, but there is a place in Wales called Barmore ;)

Years later, I found out that I was copying someone else with a very similar name to mine with the bee signature. I had a mini-vacation at the Broadmoor Hotel (who also made Arts & Crafts pottery many years ago) and they had little fabric bees all over everything (bee for their "B" and Barmore and Broadmoor sound much the same). I think it's funny that I copied without even knowing I did, so kept my bee too ♥

**************

Next post on this poor neglected blog will be about miniatures again....probably about the doll house I started putting together a few days ago.

Fabulous Feline Family!

2009-07-19T05:53:00.000-07:00

I finally have the answer! When I've filled out interview questions, or surveys that have the question, "what is your most treasured possession?", I never know what to say. I have usually just said photographs, but in this day and age, even photographs can be replaced. This cat family, (my family), is to be treasured as the most valuable possession I have, and I am still a little overwhelmed at the enormity of this gift ♥

This fabulous feline family was created for me by my friend Hanna. The thoughtfulness of this is just so huge, I cannot even express myself how touched I am. My human family never quite grasps how important my babies are to me, they all kind of joke and tease me about it. Well, maybe the baby books are a little over the top....but for Hanna to think of doing this for me, making everyone in miniature, is just beyond special. And she caught their personalities too! The miniature Isabella couldn't be more perfect, looks just like her, mini Valentino has the smile the real Valentino keeps on his face, Ingrid is oh so elegant, Leo has the same big eyes, Shirley with her short little tail that is almost manx like...

:::inserting a million smiles here:::

Hanna has recently opened a shop on Etsy with other miniature animals she is making, and "this and that" of other miniature items. You can see her shop here:
Hanna's Shop

She also has the most exciting blog talking about her life with miniatures, you can check it out here: Hanna's Blog

Featured Artist: MaidOfClay

2009-06-29T14:04:00.000-07:00

I just read this fantastic blog interview with one of my all time favorite artisans, Felicia Nilson. (as I just wrote this sentence, I realized I may have spelled Felicia's name wrong earlier today, I'm so sorry if I did! will go see if I can edit my post)

Here's the link to the interview:
http://phydelle.blogspot.com/2009/06/handmade-artists-maid-of-clay.html

There is so much there! Even a video of Felicia working :) I have been a fan of MaidOfClay since my early days of Etsy, because she shares my love of Arts & Crafts pottery, and much of her body of work is in this style. Gave me an instant connection when I saw her shop.

We both belong to the Mud Team of Etsy, and have had many conversations over the past year or two about the pottery we love, and I thought of her shop first for a recent gift I needed.

Oh! I also own a very cute bunny dish that holds my paperclips on my work desk, and one of the gorgeous lady pendants that is hanging in front of me right at this moment. I am inspired by this lovely woman/artist, and was thrilled to read the fabulous interview.

You should read it too!

Ceramic Erin: Survey: potter John Bauman

2009-06-22T12:46:00.000-07:00

Ceramic Erin: Survey: potter John Bauman

I just read this fantastic survey on the blog linked above. I just love this guy's words ♥ Wish I could express myself so well! I especially liked this part:

"We notice everything pottery. In the background scenery of a movie set, in a commercial on TV, we'll notice the pots.
If we walk into a strange place and there happens to be a hand-thrown piece in the room, little else occupies our mind – at least until we’ve had the chance to pick that piece up, feel its heft, and look beneath it. It calls our attention like an overheard conversation that sounds more interesting than the one in which we’re currently engaged...
"Oh, excuse me. Did you say something?”

So true! So true!

The whole article is worth reading. Good job, and what a great guy too!

New Issue is out!

2009-06-15T05:49:00.000-07:00

The new issue of Artisans in Miniature is out! Great online magazine, best read (for me anyway), when you download it in Scribd

Artisans in Miniature Artisans in Miniature All About AIM New directory title page MAY's AIM MAGAZINE!! Magazine Help & Information Magazine Archive... Join the AIM Association... Fair date page 2009 Contact us... Helpful Links...
AIM...

"An association of professional international artisans,

dedicated to promoting a high standard of excellence

in original handcrafted scale miniatures."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The 'Summer' edition of the AIM magazine is now online...!Website last updated: 02.06.09

Online AIM magazine - Summer 2009 - Issue 13

'NEW LOOK' AIM DIRECTORY, now it is even easier to find your favourite artisans!!!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bringing you the best in Dollshouse Miniatures, Miniature Foods,Scale Miniatures, Miniature Flowers, Food in Miniature, Miniature Dolls and Figurines, Miniature Paintings, Dollshouses and Accessories, 1/12th, 1/24th, 1/48th, 1/144th, AIM online Magazine, AIM, Artisans In Miniature, Free projects, Free fimo projects, Half scale, Quarter scale, Miniatura, Kensington Dolls House Festival, AIM Directory, Dolls houses... So why not bookmark us today?

New Member's pages added for...

Lili Goczal
Wilga van den Wijngaart
Barbara Stanton
Sandra Croft
ChristaChayata
By Annemarie Dolls
Susanne Russo
Anya Stone
Literature In Miniature
Piskies & Poppets
Jane Harrop
Dorys Barahona
Philippa Todd
Jenny Wren
Costume Calalcade
Linda Cummings
NJD Miniatures
Cristina Alberti
Beatrice Thierus

Remembering Slavko

2009-06-08T08:15:00.000-07:00

Every now and then someone passes through your life that truly touches your soul. Slavko was one of these special people. I am not good about putting my feelings into words sometimes, but wanted to have a permanant post somewhere as a tribute to this very special man.

He will be personally missed by many of us, and I hope his art will continue to inspire millions forever.

Slavko's website
Slavko on Etsy
Storque article on Etsy

Miniature Teapot Project

2009-06-05T01:03:00.000-07:00

Many years ago, I worked for a mail order company making miniature objects of all sorts. One of the projects I had was hundreds, and hundreds of miniature teapots. My husband made me molds of the teapots so that I could make many of them at once. The teapots for the project did not have to be functional, only cute, so what I did back then was just make the basic teapot from a mold, then paint the bisque piece with colorful designs in acrylic.

Fast forward to my new obsession with all things scale miniature, and finding these molds was a very exciting day! This time, I plan to make the teapots properly, with real glaze and carved designs. Not as easy as I thought it would be...what happened to the claim that slip-casting was fast?

I broke at least a dozen of the clay teapots when I first tried to carve on them. The handles were the first to go. I wanted the teapots to be "true" scale, knowing that the handles on the basic teapot would be far too thick and wide for a hand to actually get around if it was really in scale of one inch = one foot. So the first two that did make it to completion have new handles. My second breakage came from trying to make the spout functional. I broke a lot of spouts this way, and finally figured out to just chop off the molded spout and make a new one.

Still, the first two teapots did not end up functional. The spouts cannot pour on the two teapots in the left of the picture. The second two teapots were not designed to have a real handle, (the molds had a formed handle I just painted to give the illusion of a handle), so I made holes for a wire handle to go through. I have not been able to get a non-kinked wire handle on these two teapots yet. I have tried 3 different kinds of wire so far, but they have all been too tough to manipulate once they are on the teapot. I have some very thin copper wire that will be the next experimental handle on the two teapots in the right of the picture. I am using the #3 bugle bead as a handle on the wire to be more like a real teapot. These two teapots are functional :)

This is one of those getting side-tracked days. I started out thinking I would be taking pictures and listing the vases I made last week. That was really a couple of days ago...because the side-tracking from that was deciding some of the vases really needed flowers first. So I put off picture taking and started making flowers. Then, I just couldn't stop thinking about, and trying to fix the wire on the two teapots that need a separate handle.....that's how it goes so often. I don't stay focused on the task at hand, and feel all over the place on what I "should" be doing, and go do something else instead.

(new listings will be done soon, at least the poor neglected blog got a new post today ♥)

I have been tagged!

2009-05-21T23:50:00.001-07:00

I have been tagged by De, of De-Lightful Minis. Here is her blog: http://delightfulminis.blogspot.com/ I'm sorry for taking so long to fill this out De, I got side-tracked the day I was going to do it.

So this is how tag works:

1. Name and link back to the person who tagged you.
See above. Be sure to visit De's blog. She has been making a dollhouse at the speed of light, is so organized that she really does blog almost every day with the new things she's doing, and she mentions other miniaturists often with her updates. That's really a nice touch, no wonder she is gathering up so many blog awards lately ♥

2.List 6 unimportant things that make you happy. That's harder - if it makes me happy is it really unimportant? (this comment was a direct quote from De's own tag, but isn't it true?)

•My littlest one sleeping with me
•Morning coffee
•Songs coming on the radio that make me dance/sing
•Seeing the sunrise by myself, like I got a special gift all my own
•The chance to play in a Summer rain shower
•The color yellow

3. Tag 6 bloggers and let them know by leaving a comment on their blogs. Off to go tag some friends.

Note: If I tag you and you don't want to participate, I won't be upset. I understand that we all have busy lives and you might not have time for this. ♥

Crystal Cave!

2009-05-21T22:55:00.000-07:00

I have been using a crystal rock for background in my pictures for the past couple of years. One reason is because everyone is such a good photographer on Etsy, and they all do "arty" type pictures. I don't have the best imagination for art photographs, nor the skill to take such fantastic pictures as so many do. I did like the look of having this particular crystal rock in pictures though, and it serves other purpose besides being pretty.

It helps show scale of things, or it did, before I show you this Crystal Cave :) It helps me adjust the color of the shots since they almost always come out of the camera darker than they should, and the crystal turns pink. If I can get the pink out of the crystal, it's usually a pretty good chance all the other color is close to reality too.

I'm just joking around about not being able to use this crystal for scale anymore, because there is apparently only this one Crystal Cave in the whole world. Or maybe there are more that just haven't been discovered?

Giant Crystal Cave

A sort of south-of-the-border Fortress of Solitude, Mexico's Cueva de los Cristales (Cave of Crystals) contains some of the world's largest known natural crystals—translucent beams of gypsum as long as 36 feet (11 meters).

How did the crystals reach such superheroic proportions?

In the new issue of the journal Geology, García-Ruiz reports that for millennia the crystals thrived in the cave's extremely rare and stable natural environment. Temperatures hovered consistently around a steamy 136 degrees Fahrenheit (58 degrees Celsius), and the cave was filled with mineral-rich water that drove the crystals' growth.

Modern-day mining operations exposed the natural wonder by pumping water out of the 30-by-90-foot (10-by-30-meter) cave, which was found in 2000 near the town of Delicias (Chihuahua state map). Now García-Ruiz is advising the mining company to preserve the caves.

"There is no other place on the planet," García-Ruiz said, "where the mineral world reveals itself in such beauty."

Read the full story of the new discovery.

Pretty Tulips

2009-05-16T14:48:00.000-07:00

Found these two pictures in my camera when I was getting ready to take pictures for new listings. These are my neighbors tulips, my favorite shade/kind of tulips. These are the type I have in my mind when I'm making tulips for the tiny vases, and it is normally the color scheme I prefer to do too :)

Back to taking pictures of the miniatures...

Not the best carpenters...

2009-05-12T19:02:00.000-07:00

Oh my gosh, I can't believe how long everything takes! Silly me thought this cat fence would take 2-3 hours in an afternoon. Well, we are on our third day if you count shopping for the materials, and we still have a lot to do tomorrow.

Just making a note here, because I am tied up with this fence project, and not doing any of the work I should have been doing at night. I have been too tired, not very used to physical labor anymore, so it is wiping me out.

I did get flower making supplies all set out last night with the intent to make a few for vases that were finished last week. That's as far as I got though, looked at the things and decided to go to bed instead ;)

Will hopefully get back on track with normal things by tomorrow night. The cats are going crazy, wish I knew what they were all saying. I have a feeling it's something like "no, no! you are ruining everything!" as they watch from the windows, and cry and cry....

I am telling them it's a castle being built just for them, and nobody else has such a fine thing as they will have when it's finished.

Thank you!

2009-05-09T16:25:00.000-07:00

I received a blog award from De, at Delightful Minis

Thank you De! I really need to get out and catch up on my blog reading now too :)

Weekend Project

2009-05-09T14:57:00.000-07:00

I live in the best neighborhood in Denver. Not richest, unless you count your riches differently than most people, which I think I am doing by this statement. The house itself is just an ordinary 1950s Ranch style, nothing special, but it's where it was built that makes it the best home I could have living in the city. This picture (not taken by me, but by the Denver Examiner), could have been taken practically next door to me.

Having this stretch of wilderness has what some people consider a "down" side to the neighborhood, but to me, it's wonderful. What people don't like is the wildlife the nature brings. Actually, these animals were probably here long before the houses. We have foxes, coyote, deer, raccoons, squirrels, crows, birds of all types really, and the occassional mountain lion. There is also a pond just on the other side of the creek where geese live all year long, and are most likely prey to some of the other animals.

My next door neighbor complained of the raccoons coming in her house and making a mess last summer, and finally trapped him/her and took the raccoon to the humane society. This was upsetting to me, because it was at the beginning of the summer, and she could have been making orphans of some baby raccoons. If it had been my house the raccoons were coming into, I would have closed off the cat door for a while. Can't control what other people do though...

I haven't been worried about the fox population, because in one of the neighborhood news papers, they had a picture of a cat and fox laying in the sun together one time. I actually saw a couple of foxes last summer in front of my house, that was about sunrise. They're so graceful and pretty, and there have been no reports of them doing any harm to anyone except for the occassional squirrel, (which in my opinion is a public service).

My husband saw a small mountain lion over by the creek last year. I don't think she wanted to be there though, she must have been following the creek and lost track of time or something. I'm sure she went back to the foothills pretty quickly, as they don't really want to be around cities or people.

The deer aren't that common, because we haven't had any harsh winters lately, so they aren't short of food in the foothills. I do remember one year the elk were coming down into the towns in huge numbers because they were starving. That's one good thing to say about mild winters, good for the animals. The city complains about having to use water reserves though.

The only scary thing lately with the wildlife is the coyotes. They have had no fear of people the last couple of years, and have even attacked a couple of times. People who need to worry about them the most are people with dogs. Apparently, the coyotes are attracted to the dogs when people are out walking them. Many coyote have been spotted in our neighborhood the last couple years, but no attacks right here.

That brings me to my weekend project (finally, you say?) I want my cat family to be able to actually "be" cats and get to go outside and play during the summer, but I also need for them to be safe. We have rules, and a curfew, but sometimes they forget, and stay out too long, or wander too far.

The first day of the season I allow them out is on their birthday. This year, they were all very good about staying close, and coming home on time for the first 3 days. Then yesterday, I had a major panic attack with Shirley. She is supposed to be home by 11:00am, but she not only didn't come home on time, I didn't see her all day. By about 5:30 or so, I started walking the neighborhood and talking to people. By 6:30, I was sure something terrible had happened. I called the dumb friends and when I found them closed for the day, went online to their site and started looking at their "found" animals from yesterday. They had a cat that looked very much like Shirley, so much so that I was sure it must be her. That should have brought relief, to know she was safe at least, but it didn't, because Shirley has asthma and has a lot attacks she takes pills for.

I was a crazy cat lady for sure leaving 2 messages at the dumb friends asking them to call me back and let me know if it was Shirley they had, and if so, she needs her pills. Nobody called back, and I decided they need me to work there and be the "soother", I could answer the phone and talk to people who are worried about their lost baby. Going to go tell them that sometime this week...but in the meantime, Shirley came home! She was fine, just hungry. All I can figure is she must have been trapped in someone's garage or something.

So the project this weekend is, TA DA! Found this site to make an enclosure for cats to stay in their own yard. This is the site: Cat Volunteer Resource Page And this is what the project is all about The project

And lastly, the picture of the plan:

I am pretty sure I can reach the bottom part of the chicken wire, and love working a staple gun, so looking forward to doing this tomorrow. Best of all, my babies will be able to go outside again and be safe while being there :)

Yes, I am one of those...

2009-05-09T12:50:00.000-07:00

I admit it, I am a crazy cat lady. Everybody knows how much I love cats, (I normally don't even use the word "cat", because they are really babies to me. One of my aunts named this cat after me because she said her eyes reminded her of my eyes. I can't see the eyes in the picture she sent, so don't know how true it is. I assume the cat has light grey eyes though...

My very first cat was a family cat that my younger brother and sister coaxed into living with us. He was neglected and wild when he first came to live with us, but he also started my love of cats. Even back then, I realized cats are far superior to humans, and should indeed be worshiped the way the Egyptians did.

The first cat I decided was really my baby was this one, his name was Addison. He was the first to disappear and break my heart too. I only got to live with him a little over a year, but it made me very rigid with the next cat, who never got to leave the house his whole life.

I have a weekend project that has nothing to do with arts and crafts, but everything to do with my cat obsession. I have a cat family. The mama and her four babies. She had these babies practically on my lap 3 years ago, May 5. I never felt so honored in all my life! That she would trust me so much to want me totally involved with this from the very start. I barely left the couch the first 3 days of their lives, and instead, made a nest for the family next to where I normally sit, and guarded everything for mama Isabella so she could get a break once in a while.

Now that I have posted the background a little, the next post will be about my current project. It concerns this little one...

Experiment Results, not pretty...

2009-05-05T08:00:00.001-07:00

I fired the flamingo experiment last night, and it doesn't work. The floral wire turned black, and the filgree bead base not only turned black, but one totally disentegrated.

So now we know...the armature has to be a wire made for high temperatures in order to work. These pieces were in a little box I built just for them, so they didn't ruin anything else in the kiln. Good thing!

The next post will be more cheerful, with pretty pictures ♥

Off to glaze today...

Storque article

2009-05-02T09:48:00.000-07:00

This is just a quick note to put in a link for the recent Storque article on Ceramics and Pottery. Great introduction for anyone who'd like to know a little about the process.

http://www.etsy.com/storque/reviews/ceramics-and-pottery-facts-and-fancies-part-1-3869/#comment-100360

Hey! What's taking you so long?

2009-05-02T03:17:00.000-07:00

I'm not going to have any new work this coming week, and decided to blame it on this piece. Well, it's not really her fault, but she did contribute to my snails pace the last couple of days.

When I have a mermaid or lady on a piece, I make the head first, get the basic facial details done before attaching it loosely on the edge of the vase or bowl. The head of this mermaid was ready to attach to the little tray I was planning for her, when she popped off the pin I was using and landed on the mess of clay bits on the floor (am very messy as you can see in the pictures).

When I found her head, I didn't realize my fingers were wet, and I obliterated all the detail of her face, having to start over....so, I just attached her head the way it was and have been working on the detail from here.

As for no new work this week...I decided to just slow down, and enjoy myself. The flamingo experiments are finished, a few more plain frogs, basic vases waiting to be carved or decorated, and another lantern is almost done. I may be able to get these new things ready for listing before next weekend, but I'm not going to be in a panic if I don't.

More Experimenting

2009-04-29T02:41:00.000-07:00

Haven't gotten the clay mess out yet today, because I was playing around with a new experiment first. I need to make the flamingo sculpture stronger somehow, but don't think I can skip the wire armature. Late one night, I thought of using the tiny floral wire instead of the armature wire that is meant for firing (in the right of the picture is the kind of wire made for kiln firing), because it would give me more room for clay, and is also 100 times easier to form into shapes.

The other part of the idea was to use a large metal bead cap for the base of the flower frog. Of course, I couldn't find one in my junk that was the right size, but did find these filigree beads :) Using pliers, tweezers, pin tool, and lots of squishing around of the metal, I finally got one in half ♥

So my plan now is, to build the clay around them, (oh...there is a third little flamingo made onto a regular clay base that's already been fired. this part of the experiment is just to see what happens with the green floral wire), I will build a box around these pieces in the kiln so that if anything weird happens by using non-firing metal armatures, nothing else in the kiln that day will know about it :)

Sorry the picture is not that good, did not take the time to set up all the photo stuff. Going to get out the clay and move this project along now...

Such a thrill to see...

2009-04-28T00:59:00.000-07:00

It is such a thrill to see yourself talked about, or see a picture of what happens to your work in the new home. Today I'm going to talk about two very special women who have done this for me. I am signed up for google alerts, and that means when my name (Mostly Art) shows up some where, google sends me a link to go see what it is.

The first time it happened was a picture from Stephanie, PetitPlat, with this picture she had all set up with holiday flair...

Stephanie makes incredible food and decor items herself, as you can see in this picture. You can learn more about her on her fabulous website her shop on Etsy her gallery on CDHM and various other sites you can find in the profiles of these sites.

All of the work in this photograph was done by Stephanie except for the tiny black and white vase that she bought from me. If you go nowhere else, in these links, at least be sure to see her website, http://www.petitplat.110mb.com/ because it is really nice, and has a very good representation of her work.

The second special person I would like to talk about today is Hanna, who has the absolute best blog I have ever been absorbed into! I started reading a few days ago, and it has kept me wanting to read more and more backward, like a really good book you can't put down, but must if you want to get anything done that day.

Her blog has gotten many awards, they are all over the place! And each and every award she gets for this blog is truly earned! I will put the link in here now, but hope you don't go and get lost in it until after reading the rest of my post today :::smiling::: Will put it in again at the end too... Hanna's blog (it is also on the side of this blog in the list of blogs I collected to keep up with)

Here are the first two pictures that google told me about, after this, I have seen them on my own before google told me.

It was so exciting to see my little vases in room settings, just like a life-size house! Aren't her rooms and furnishings fabulous? It looks so cozy, like I would just love living in these rooms.

She puts so much thought into every little detail, and much of this work is her own. When you read her blog, you will see her projects as they go a long. If you haven't caught the miniature bug yet, Hanna will draw you in! ♥

The second two pictures are fairly recent, like in the past few days or week. It is still the same big, exciting thrill to see my work in settings though! Thank you so much Hanna, for doing these pictures, and writing your blog. I love all of this ♥

Hanna's blog link again is: http://hannajaleijona.blogspot.com/ make sure you don't have to be anywhere anytime soon, you will not want to stop reading once you start!

Now I must go and get some work done today too...

Personal Favorites this week

2009-04-26T05:43:00.000-07:00

Last week was one of those weeks where I felt like I didn't get much accomplished, but it may be because I was playing around with experiments rather than normal things. I am very pleased with 3 of the pieces I did complete this week though, and they are all items that didn't need flowers. The flower making mood never did show up the last couple of weeks, so the pieces that needed a little something, got straw flowers, or flowers I made some time in the distant past.

Both the lady vase and mermaid vase got new glaze. I was very pleased with how the glaze turned out, and the girls themselves. Both have sweet faces, and that's always a gamble working small. I never know where the glaze will land for sure (how it pools), and sometimes it changes the faces to not be so pretty. I do like these a lot though ♥

The lantern is my favorite, favorite for a long time. I liked it when I was first making it, but now I really do. I thought I wanted the glaze to turn out more of a matte dark green, but the combination of glaze I used made the top a little glossy. I like the way the color worked out much better this way though, so it was a happy accident.

The further porcelain experimenting happened yesterday, when I found out you can do one fire treating the porcelain like earthenware. It didn't shrink, and it seems to be like a regular low-fire clay body firing just once. The sample pieces I used did not have any carving in them though, so the verdict on "one fire porcelain" is not really complete. I'll make a few new pieces with some detail to go in with my next regular earthenware glaze to see what happens.

Experiment in Porcelain

2009-04-22T02:18:00.000-07:00

Well, I guess I have a list of pros and cons for porcelain. I was, and still am, excited about it as a medium, but don't think I will be using it much for miniatures. At least not the kind I am sculpting designs into, because I found that it melts! The design does. I only made one carved bowl for the glaze testing, and am glad it was just the one, because you can barely even see the leaf design I had carved, and the skinny top rim disappeared completely!
The "pros" of porcelain to me are...it only took a little over an hour more to fire than usual, it is very easy to work with, and the glazes do more things (fancier), than the low fire glazes. The "cons" are what I already said, the detail disappears on miniatures.

I could also see that my glazing technique would need "tweeking" if I were to use porcelain. Some of the samples had tiny pinpoint marks, and that could have been from cooling too fast, or putting it on too thick. Any new glaze needs to be figured out though, (at least for me), and takes a little adjusting to get the result I'm looking for.

I also got to see where the shrinkage happened with the glaze fire. When I had only done the bisque, it didn't look all that much smaller to me than before it was fired, but after the glaze...it is quite a bit smaller.

So here's what I think.....porcelain (for me) will be wonderful for making ornaments and jewelry, maybe full size pottery if I get around to do some, but for miniatures...only if it's a plain piece that I would just like the fancy glaze on.

Back to earthenware for sculpting :)

Porcelain in the kiln!

2009-04-19T19:33:00.000-07:00

I played around with the porcelain yesterday, and far into the night. So far, it wasn't showing a noticible amount of shrinkage compared to earthenware, and it is such a dream to work with!

The porcelain carves really easily without chipping, if I make a slight mistake, like a crooked line, (happens ALL the time with me), it is so easily erased! The porcelain turns back into clay instantly, with just a drop of water on my paint brush. I can see myself being able to produce twice as much work if porcelain works out in all other ways ♥

I made a whole bunch of pendant type pieces with stamps to use for glaze testing too. Everything is in the kiln tonight doing a bisque fire, and I'll see what porcelain does all the way to the end this coming week...

So fun trying new things!

What a difference a day makes!

2009-04-17T20:35:00.000-07:00

Once I got back to work last night, things just started flowing :) It seemed every piece I picked up, the design just came so easily! The lady vase and mermaid bowl might be the best ones I've done so far, except I have decided taking these "work in progress" pictures are also a really great thing. Now I can see things that still need work, the camera is great for this! May be a regular thing to take these types of pictures...(will not always post about it though).

I also got a small block of porcelain clay in the mail from a fellow Mud Team member today :) Am anxious to try it too! Here's hoping tonight's work has the same magic going ♥

Work in progress this week

2009-04-16T21:10:00.000-07:00

I was accused of being just a "hobbiest" on a thread the other day, and this week, that's exactly how I feel too. Things are going really slow, not much to show for the week as far as getting new pieces completed, but I thought if I had it all together in a picture, it might look like I have more done than I thought?

The Jeannie bottle pictures in the background are for inspiration. I worked on the tiny Jeannie bottle one whole night so far, but it isn't going to be exactly like the "real" Jeannie's bottle. I couldn't get all the elements into it and still be in scale, so it will be my own version. I may put it aside for an upcoming challenge on the Mud Team, and finish other things this week instead.

This piece is my favorite of what I've been doing. I think I have about 4 hours in it so far. It will be glazed in dark green, probably matte glazes. I really like it, and this is my first time doing piercing on a miniature piece. It wasn't as hard as I expected, and nothing broke and had to be repaired :)

Best Article Ever!

2009-04-08T17:13:00.000-07:00

I had to bookmark this article after first reading it over on an Etsy forum, because it is worth looking back on any time I get discouraged.

The title "It's not the economy." could have been featuring ME! I mean, she could have been talking about me as the star of this article, the shop owner who didn't "get it".......too late for that particular shop, but I'm so impressed with this article/view point.

Here's how it starts out, just to grab you...

Havi Brooks February 23rd, 2009

It’s not the economy.

So the other day I saw an enormous “going out of business” sign on the window of a neighborhood store. Oh. Sad face.

“Due to the current state of the economy, we are unable to continue ….”

I didn’t even need to read the rest.

But you know what?
Let’s talk about this.
Okay. I’ve walked past this very storefront at least twice a day — every single day — for the past year. And never noticed it.
Seriously. I could not, for the life of me, have told you anything about it. Nothing. What it is, what it sells, or even what it’s called.
Hmmm. And now they’re going out of business.
It must be the economy.
Right?
So I spent about ten minutes in the store. Talked to the owner. Poked around. And realized that I loved this place. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t known about it, because it was my kind of thing. I even bought something.

And I still don’t know what they’re called.
That’s how bad the economy is.

A name that’s not memorable — or located anywhere you could read it. A store that’s invisible. But it’s the economy.

I asked what the rent was, because I’m Israeli and don’t have problems doing things like that. Turns out that it’s just over $1200 a month.
On a street with an insane amount of foot traffic. A street that supports yarn stores and hipster cafés.

In fact, the café I sat in — on the same block — was packed. As were most of them.
You know, because the economy is so crappy.
Yes, the economy is crappy. You know what’s really crappy though?

That otherwise smart, goodhearted, well-meaning people start a business out of a labor of love, and no one tells them about the part where you have to learn how to run a business.
Which includes stuff like being visible. Telling me what’s special about you. Being as you as you can be — out loud — so that your Right People (hello, I’m one of them!) can tell people about you.

The fact that these wonderful people who start businesses don’t know how to do that is understandable. I mean, argh, it’s not as though someone sits down and explains it to you when you start your business.

http://www.fluentself.com/blog/biggification/its-not-the-economy/

Totally Missed This!

2009-04-06T16:26:00.000-07:00

I was on the front page of Etsy with my Love Letter Vase on March 16, but didn't even know about it until today. Thank you craftcult!

Amusing myself

2009-03-14T08:49:00.000-07:00

I don't have enough to fire a bisque load yet this week, but took a picture of one of the miniatures I made anyway, (in case the full size one sells before I get the tiny one glazed).

This full size love letter vase was for a Sweetheart Challenge in the Mud Team last month. Yesterday, I decided to do one in miniature too. The tiny one isn't an exact replica, but pretty close. If I still have the full size vase once the mini is finished, I'll update with a new picture.

I'm Back!

2009-03-09T20:33:00.000-07:00

For all of December, January, and most of February, I wasn't able to work. Most of that time, I wasn't even living at home, but now I'm back! :)

I have new work in my etsy shop, new things waiting for their pictures to be taken, and more work in progress.

Easy Way to Start!

2009-03-09T20:24:00.000-07:00

I watched this video the other day from Ceramic Arts Daily on an easy way to make hollow clay beads. This shows an easy way to make a "base" for your ceramic vases in miniature.

From the link:

November 7, 2008

Video of the Week:
Making Hollow Clay Beads

by Barbara Hanselman | Read Comments (10)

If anyone was looking for proof that ceramics really does cross over into all sorts of creative endeavors, this week's video is that proof of that assertion. Barbara Hanselman demonstrates how to make hollow clay beads using a few dowels, a small amount of clay, simple tools and a bit of imagination. Even if you don't want to make beads, this is a great technique. I first saw Mitch Lyons use it (watch for his video coming soon) to make full-size vessels. So give this technique a try and let us know what you come up with!— Sherman Hall, Ceramic Arts Daily

I don't make my basic forms the same way as her first example, but the second example is one I use frequently.

Good video if you are interested in the process of making miniature ceramic vases! ***** (that's 5 stars) :)

Miniature Fairies Too!

2009-03-09T20:22:00.000-07:00

I haven't been keeping an extra gallery for my miniature fairies and dolls lately, because I haven't made any new ones for close to a year. I do still have a few for sale in my shop , and here are a few of my favorites:

I call this one "Phoebe's Necklace" because the inspiration came from an episode of the TV show "Charmed" and the character named Phoebe. I loved the necklace she had, it was roses on a hemp cord that was really long, and she had it around her neck a couple of times then trailing down like you would a scarf.

This little sleeping fairy got rave reviews from being in many etsy treasuries. She was really sweet, about 4" tall if she were standing (if I remember correctly). Was sort of sad when she sold.

This desert fairy with her dragonfly (also a sculpture in his own right, and poseable), is the largest fairy I have ever made. She would be about 5 1/2" tall if she were standing. In scale for a dollhouse if someone dressed their dollhouse in "nature" things like fairies :)

This sweet little winter fairy would be about 3" tall if she were standing. She got a lot of attention last winter by getting 4th place in a "Winter Wonderland" contest. I know 4th place doesn't sound that hot, but you should have seen the other entries!

My next posting will be back on topic of miniature pottery or similar talk....just wanted to mention I do make other types of miniatures.

How do you get from here to there?

2009-03-09T20:21:00.000-07:00

This conversation was on a discussion board a few months ago. We all tried to describe "how we get from here to there" making whatever item it is we each make. I did my bit on how I make miniature pottery.

How to sculpt miniature vases:

First Day
•gather supplies
•ball of clay
•scraps of paper towel
•various paint brushes
•needle tool
•found objects for molding around or inside of
•rocks glass of water
•exacto blade without handle
•shot glass for slip
•make some clay slip
•Start making shapes for the base of the vase
•Make about 8 or 10 very basic shapes
•Use needle tool to start a place where the vase will
be carved out tomorrow
•Make some extra shapes that will be added to "base"
shapes to make taller, or differently shaped vases
•Use slip to build on some of the base shapes, with
other shapes as they dry to leather hard
•Let everything set over night (or 8-10 hours)

Second Day
•gather tools
•exacto razor
•shot glass of slip
•rocks glass of water
•ball of clay (in case of changes)
•needle tool
•various paint brushes
•needle/razor curled sort of tool
•toothpicks (both flat and round)
•paper towel scraps
•start thinking of exact designs
•can begin refining the shapes with paint brush,
water, slip, and razor blade
•lots of "rest" periods for every piece, if they
get too wet, they fall apart or break
•some pieces will be able to dry enough for final
designs on the second day

Third Day
•gather same tools as second day (probably still all
out from yesterday
•most/all pieces can be completed of the designs on
the third day
•carve or build designs with more bits of clay,
sometimes using slip trailing/carving combined
•allow to dry enough for the bisque fire
(can sometimes fire on the third day)

Fourth Day
•underglaze anything that you've decided needs an
underglaze color
•bisque fire (average about 6 hours in small kiln)

Fifth Day
•Draw images of each vase in record book like a chart
of what you'll be glazing on this date, and what glaze
colors/combinations you use on each piece so you have
a record of what was fantastic and what was a
"mistake", never to do again
•Go through all the sample glaze tiles while studying
each piece to decide how you want to finish the piece
•Write down the glaze combinations you plan to use, the
order in which you plan to glaze also (important!)
•Gather all of the glazes
•Use the "work sheet" while glazing so you don't mess
up the order or glaze color on any of the "planned"
stages
(rarely can I finish glazing and doing the glaze fire on the same day, usually have to wait for the next day
to fire again)

Sixth Day
•load the kiln
•cuss when everything won't stay on it's little bitty
stilt
•pray, pray, and pray some more
•wait until the kiln is cool enough to peek
•cheer or cry depending....

Seventh Day (idealy, usually put this off way too long)
•take pictures
•edit pictures
•list vases for sale

Oh My! How funny :)

2009-03-09T20:19:00.000-07:00

I was going through old pictures trying to find specific "works in progress" pictures (don't have many because it never occurs to me at the time), and found this little Disco Diva Fairy I made.

I can't remember what I did with her, haven't seen her around in years, so somebody must have her.

She still makes me laugh :)

Etsy Anonymous?

2008-09-23T22:03:00.000-07:00

I have to stand up and be counted on this one! How true it is....

gypsycaster says:
Hiya! I'm doing shop maint. but my friend carrymeaway just sent me this and I HAD to share!!!
To all addicted fellow etsians:With the help of other members of our terribly sick etsian community, we have come up with 12 steps to recovery.
1.We Etsians admitted we were powerless over the Etsy addicion that our lives had become unmanageable.
2. We Etsians have come to believe that a power greater than us could restore our sanity (a new search system???). Admitted to ourselves and to another human being that we were spending much more time on the forums than was good for our sanity or our craft.
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of our craft again as we understood it.
4. We as Etsy users/seller/buyers realize that etsy forums/chats do not take the place of a REAL social life....
5. Admitted to Etsy, to ourselves and to other Etsians the exact nature of Etsy's wrongs. IE: Bugs section of the Forums
6. We Etsians humbly asked our family and friends to remove our laptops and computers away from us and return us to our work table
7. We Etsians admit that meals, social events, and household chores should not be dependent entirely on the Treasury schedule.
8. Humbly asked Rob White to remove our unkind forum posts before any buyers could see it and put us on the do not buy from list.
9. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, all the meals we didn't make, all the phone calls we didn't take, all the cleaning we didn't do and became willing to make amends to them all.
10. Made a searching and fearless inventory of how much time we were spending on the forums vs. time spent on our craft.
11. Sought through our family and friends to improve our conscious contact with the outside and real world, as we understood it. Hoping that we have the power to stay away from the forums, chats, shops and treasury.
12. Having had a crafting awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to other craft addicts, and to practice these crafty principles in all our affairs

Posted at 1:41 pm, September 23 2008 EST

Big Deal this 08-08-08

2008-08-05T03:21:00.000-07:00

I love the excitement of these "once in a lifetime" things that happen, and the one coming up this Friday, is especially exciting. It's more than just the one time thing, there are special meanings for the number "8", and there are some extra "happenings" bringing the whole world together in Spirit too. The Olympic Games begin at 8:00 PM on 08-08-08, it was designed that way.

I went looking for some "meanings" about this upcoming event. Told a friend I needed to go see what the Chinese have to say about it, and found something with even more to it that the prophecy I expected to find here.

It's really long, but just grabbed me, right from the start. Here are some excerpts, see if it makes you want to read the whole thing too:

“08-08-08 is a magical moment when the entire world will come together in thought because of the opening of the Olympics. According to ancient tradition, the opening ceremony of the Olympics is a moment when war stops and athletes compete in an ethical manner. 08 08 08 is a moment when there will be a huge concentration of mass consciousness. Please energize this mass consciousness with peace.” - Barbara Wolf www.GlobalMeditations.com

"And there is a physical prosperity aspect to the 8-8-8 as well (see below for more on this). It just so happens that the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing begin at 8:00pm on 8-8-08. (P.S. the Chinese chose this date and time because in their culture, 8 is an exceedingly auspicious number. Think of the 8-sided Bagua used in Feng Shui)
Keep in mind that the August 1st Eclipse was seen in Totality, over the Great Wall of China and the Ancient Silk Route, a powerful symbol of abundance and world trade. Because 8 is the penultimate number of abundance and prosperity this has added significance. With the specific location of all our focus being on China (due to the Olympics) on 8-8-08 - right smack dab at the exact half-way point between two powerful eclipses of change - and with the eclipse shadow falling over the Ancient Silk Route - i.e. The Silk Road - a symbol of world trade and abundant economy - we have an opportunity to focus our intention for a smooth and safe transition to a new global economy. Without a crash and without cataclysm."

Pretty cool, huh? Then there's the astrology thing, which I'm always hyped up around my birthday anyway, and was already excited about having a "blue moon" this month.

The Astrology of the 8-8-8
The Budding Flower is Not yet Visible:
Take Action!

The 8-8-8 occurs on the day of the First Quarter Moon at 13 Scorpio. The exact First Quarter Moon is at 4:20pm EDT. The chart for that time contains a triangular configuration (known as a T-square) which takes the Leo and Aquarian energies described in my previous newsletter and shoots them into the First Quarter Moon in Scorpio. This means that the energy of the powerful Creative-Leo and Lightning-Bolt-Aquarius energies of the Total Solar Eclipse one week prior discharges into the Moon (in the sign of Scorpio) on 8-8-8, activating our emotional nature, our subconscious, our feminine and reflective nature, and the silvery light of deep introspection.

On this day, examine your feelings, reflect deeply and explore your shadow side or pain body. Repressed material may emerge. Process it by taking action which is what the First Quarter Moon asks of you (as described in the next paragraph).

At the First Quarter Moon - the half-way mark between the New and Full Moons - our manifestations breakthrough into first flower. According to Nick Anthony Fiorenza www.lunarplanner.com

So, on 8-8-8, take action toward your goals. When feelings come up, do something concrete - like talking to someone about your feelings and breakthroughs or writing them down, seeking counseling or sessions of meridian therapies such as EFT (for more information on EFT go to www.eft.com and www.emotionalfreedom.com NOTE: Peg Donahue at www.center4fengshui.com is a superb EFH practitioner. EFH shifts your energy very quickly and powerfully.

In addition, two fixed stars that we have worked with many times this year (especially Regulus!) are involved in the 8-8-8. On August 8th the Moon will stop by for a visit to Spica, the star in the hand of the Great Goddess, and the place where we manifest abundance (represented by a sheath of wheat) and illumination (sometimes represented by a lamp). This is the place we learn how to sow proper thoughts and emotions in order to reap positive outcomes and creative joy in our lives. And it’s a perfect accompaniment to the energy of the 8-8-8.

Then on August 10th, two days later, Mercury meets up Regulus while the Moon hangs out near Antares. Mercury has one last thing to say to Leader of Leaders (Regulus the Lion King and Simba the Feline Queen) concerning the Leadership Convention of July. And Moon touches the star Antares - the heart of the Scorpion - to reflect to us the continued need to excavate the Shadow side of our culture and learn to live from the heart - i.e. not solely from the mind (disconnected from earth and other human hearts) or solely from the physical (holding out-of-balance materialistic goals which manifest as greed and corruption). It’s time to tear down the old structures and raise up new leaders to run the new ones.

********

There's a LOT more to this article, and all of it was interesting. Has me thinking I want to do something special to mark the day. Today, I was thinking about making some kind of charm or something....jewelry pendant maybe, out of PMC, then actually do the firing "on" 08-08-08 too. I should see about making several of what ever I decide to do. They will be charged with major positive energy! Probably be the best firing I've had all summer up until now. :)

New Venture

2008-08-05T01:26:00.000-07:00

The past couple of months I've been making tiny flowers and greenery for my miniature vases and pots. I was inspired by many of the Mud Team members who were photographing their work with flowers from their gardens.

My first attempts were from kits, and I think that is obvious by the simplicity of the laser cut paper leaves. The paper didn't take to watercolor very well, so there really isn't much definition or depth to the leaves. The paper that was for the actual flower did allow for painting, and I also added my own touches like mulberry paper centers to look "fluffy" in the center of the poppies.

The Tiger Lily from the kit did turn out nice though, and I especially liked the first vase I used them in. The glaze and carving turned out really well, and I will probably try to get a similar one made sometime down the road.

I have enjoyed the flower making much more once I started using my own paper and imagination. The wild roses are my favorite, like in this vase:

My favorite vase from the last couple of months is the last picture. It took forever to carve the designs, and glazing was a trip too. I didn't want any bleed, but did want the lines to be clear. The inspiration was a vase done by Hampshire Pottery about a hundred years ago. The miniature isn't exactly like the vase they made, but you would be able to see where the spark came from if I had a picture of the original.

Was a Fluke!

2008-08-05T00:32:00.000-07:00

The first entry here was when I was all excited about getting a great new green on a couple of vases. Well.....it never happened again! Was just a fluke. I tried to repeat the glaze mix and layers the same on several pieces after that, but never got the same exact look again.

I have gotten some great glaze combinations lately though, even a few good greens. Like this one, I really like the texture of this piece.

Might finally have it!

2008-03-21T08:04:00.000-07:00

The elusive "Grueby Green"
that potters and sculptors
have been trying to duplicate
for a hundred years. I love mixing glazes and experimenting to see how the different combinations will come out, especially with matte greens. There is nothing as lovely as the deep, rich green used by the early
American Arts & Crafts era, and getting the same hues on my newest minature pottery is very exciting.

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Might finally have it!

Video of the Week:
Making Hollow Clay Beads