Winter is Upon Us

     Yesterday (Monday the 21st), was the WInter Solstice:  the shortest day of the year.  From here on out, the days begin to lengthen again, so in a very real sense, Solstice, and not January 1st, marks the 'beginning of the New Year'. 

     I had planned a nice little Solstice celebration, complete with burning a small Yule log in our portable firepit, but the weather had other ideas:  it rained!  Fine!  So I came inside, and turned on my battery-operated, cat-safe "candle," and drank a glass of egg nog.  Gotta be flexible!

     As the year winds down, and we all reflect on where we've been and where we're going, I thought I'd finish my blogging for the year with some stray thoughts to clean up some mental 'loose ends' as it were...enjoy my rambling nonsense:

     It occurs to me that every time I think of some new trend in inventions, someone beats me to it--probably because I don't have the means (or know-how, in many cases) to design and create a prototype, and finagle my way through the legal hurdles of copyrighting said idea.  None of these things have anything to do with crafting, so I present them here simply as entertainment.

      I do follow auto circles to some extent, and I enjoy watching races.  I've also followed the development of solar, and seen the very bulky solar-powered cars that race through the Australian outback.  The biggest drawback to solar always seems to have been the inordinate weight imposed by all the battery packs required.

     My thought, going back several years, has always been, "Why not have the photo-voltaic solar cells just drive the motor directly, and eliminate any need for batteries?!"  Lo and behold, on TV yesterday, there it was!  My idea, come to fruition!  Oh, man!  (Slaps self on forehead.)

     One of my previous such frustrations includes, "If we can put men in space, and return them to earth without being 'cooked' on re-entry, then why can't we make a toaster that doesn't get hot on the outside?!"  Sure enough, a few years later, there they were:  cool-touch toasters!

     I'm going to stop voicing my ideas--someone must be stealing them!  ;-)

     Next, I'm going to actually invent something for my cats.  Purrhaps it will let me reclaim my bed at night!  Hee hee hee...oh, I forgot:  the cats allow us to share their bed!

***

     I have the solution to the country's economic mess:  just print more money, and pass it around!  Hee hee!  Our money isn't backed by the silver standard anymore.  It really is not worth much more than the paper on which it's printed.

     So, just print up a cool million for every citizen over the age of 18, and they will all go out and buy stuff, or pay off bills, and the economy will be all better!

(Well, I can dream, can't I?--I warned you, today's blog was for entertainment purposes.  Please don't take me seriously today!)

     Hmm..you know, it's not just the end of a year, but the end of a decade. We're now all 10 years older! HA! I just had to bring that up, didn't I?!  (Ducking)

     In one of my modes, I am a stand-up comic:  I used to belong to a comdey improvisation troupe.  If you have ever watched "Whose Line Is It, Anyway?" on TV's Comedy Channel, you've seen the kind of thing I was into.  In fact, I'll tell you a little secret, here.  "Dizzy Miss Lizzy" actually began as my stage name!  I liked it, and decided to keep it as my online personna.

     Sadly, there is no such group where I now live, and I miss it greatly.  It was a lot of fun...and sometimes, I just run in that mode, and my online friends and acquaintances reap the "benefits."  Some of them may not realize I'm just being a wiseass...a professional wiseass, at that.  ;-)

***

     And with that, I'll close out this blog for 2009.   May you all have a very Happy Holiday, whatever one you celebrate, and a prosperous New Year!

More reasons why about yesterday's post

Yesterday I made a strong case against "Black Friday."  Today, I offer these links, the first one is within Etsy.com's "Storque" blog..and yes, you can read it without having an account...I signed myself out to check... and the second is a link to the page explaining the entire project.

This is about shopping locally, at small independent stores, instead of at big-box chains, which, in spite of people's arguments about "how many jobs they provide," actually do more harm than good to our economy.  This is about bringing production of goods back onto our own shores, and thereby saving and making thousands more jobs than would be lost by loosing the 'big box' stores. 

Read on:

http://www.etsy.com/storque/craftivism/new-rules-support-your-local-economy-6092/

http://www.newrules.org/

Cheers!

Black Friday--Please Boycott!!

Today's post is simply intended to plead with all holiday shoppers to not patronize brick-and-mortar stores on so-called 'Black Friday.'

It is an unfortunate tradition that is very disruptive to families' holiday celebrations.  If really feel you must shop that day, please shop online only!

I was just going to post a link to my Face Book page, so everyone could read what I wrote in detail, but I then realized that not everyone who may read this blog is a Face Book friend, and so would be unable to read it.  Thus, I've just copied/pasted that text here:

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

Ok, people. Here it is: it's far past time to kill he over-hyped, over-priced, obsessive consumer shopping monster that has this country in its grip!


Here are TWO websites to help in this endeavor:

http://www.adbusters.org. and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buy_Nothing_Day


I have been annoyed in the extreme with corporate 'rushing of the season' for many, many years. This year, however, came the straw that broke the camel's back--and I'm GOING TO NAME (corporate) NAMES!!


KOHL'S is REQUIRING ALL of its employees to work on so-called "Black" Friday. That's bad enough, that they (and all other brick-and-mortar retailers) are SO greedy that they cannot even allow thier employees to have the entire Thanksgiving weekend holiday in peace and quiet with THEIR families.

 No, they have to take it a step further, and open the freaking store at FOUR A.M.!! I'm sorry, but NO ONE needs to be shopping already at THAT hour! It's the middle of the danged night for pete sakes!! If anyone seriously has to shop (doubtful) on THAT day... they can surely do it just as well during the store's normal operating hours!

 This means that every single person who insists on going shopping that day is RUINING SOMEONE ELSE'S HOLIDAY!! There is no more plain and simple way to put it than that.

FURTHERMORE--there is a ripple effect...for many families, this means curtailing or cutting short their own holiday plans to accomodate the outrageous, obscene work schedule of the retail employee in the family. My own plans have been affected, even though my kids are adults with their own families. However, my husband and I are spending the holiday with HIS mother this year--3.5 hours from home. We won't be home till Sunday. Ergo, I need someone to care for my pets, and administer meds ON SCHEDULE to one of them.



Thanks to KOHL's extreme family UN-friendly policies, my daughter will now NOT be available at the appropriate times to do this....forcing us to seriously impinge on and alter our own plans. She is the best (and really only) option for this; she lives near, our animals know her, and she knows their routine. (And no, I cannot afford to have them boarded, so don't even go there! )
You'd better believe I just sent a scathing e-mail letter off to KOHL's corporate! I even told them that I was struggling to maintain civility as in truth, I had NOTHING ladylike to say about the matter.



WHY NOT just start the shopping season on Monday? Let FAMILIES have thier 4-day Thanksgiving weekend. In my opinion, anyone who thinks it is that necessary to go shopping that early should be taken out to a field and horse-whipped! That is unbridled consumerism at its very worst, and about as necessary as watering the lawn in a rainstorm!


GET A GRIP, people! STAY HOME!! BOYCOTT BLACK FRIDAY!! HAVE SOME RESPECT FOR THE STORE'S EMPLOYEES! LET'S KILL THIS MONSTROUS TRADITION THIS YEAR!

PLEASE RE-POST THIS ANYWHERE AND EVERYWEHRE YOU CAN--BLOGS, YOUR FACEBOOK PAGE, TWITTER, CHAT ROOMS YOU ATTEND...WHERE EVER! LET'S PUT A STOP TO THIS CRAZY NONSENSE FOR ONCE AND FOR ALL!!
 
Thank you!!

A Not Altogether Wasted Monday...

I finally finished my kitty cat coasters, and by the skin of my teeth, at that.  I ran out of sealer spray just as I finished the backside of the last one!  WHEW!

Here's how they came out: 

     As you can see, I went ahead and did mixed sets.  Even though my poll is not expired, it was running 50-50 between all one color and mixed sets.  I am on the hunt for more of this thin pine, and when I find some, I'll add some single-color sets to the offerings.

    If anyone of my readers KNOWS of a source for this very thin knotty pine (originally used as packing material), within a20-mile radius of my location in the far eastern side of Contra Costa County, California, please let me know!

    I'm fairly pleased, but there were a few minor issues with the paint and the wood grain.  It happens.  Not a lot can be done about it, but, after all...minor imperfections are all part of  100% hand-made items.  It proves no robots or other fancy machinery went into the manufacture!

    Next, I have to spray the new mousie ornaments I've finished...but that will involve going and buying more sealer first.  Ahh... interruptions..gotta love 'em! Good excuse to stop by Peet's for a mocha???  (hee hee hee.)  Actually, had to go out anyway--stop by P.O. and ship out an order; go to bank; might as well pick up the spray while I'm out and about.  And in reality, I guess I don't really get to go to Peet's, as it's 3 miles in the opposite direction from my main errands.  Oh, well, was fun thinking about it.  LOL

    That's that for today.  Back to work and off to errands!

Cheers!

  

Finishing up

Good Morning. 


   At least I think it still qualifies as morning...that's an unusual phrase for me to use.  LOL  Actually, it is 10:30, I just got up about 45 minutes ago from a delightful Sunday sleep-in, and I'm still in 'waking up and becoming functional' mode. 


   I worked out in the studio until after 10 last night, finishing up several of my mouse ornaments.  They will be ready for their photographs today.  I also finished 3 sets of the kitty-cat coasters, and they will receive their sealer coats today, then be photographed.


    As of this moment, I have made 3 sets of 4 in assorted kitty colors...and am now all out of the recycled wood I was using.  So far, I have had no luck in tracking down a new source of this same kind of wood.  It seems that things are now packed exclusively in cardboard or wrapped in paper, and not protected by thin wood.  The hunt goes on.

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

  Okay--started post this a.m., put it on hold ... it is now 3:30 p.m., and I've finally finished all I can do for today out in the studio.  The mice are finished...got the antiquing done.. now they must dry 24 hrs. before I can spray the sealer, and THEN, several hours later, they will finally be ready for photos...so, I was considerably ahead of myself this morning.  (Overeager to be done?)  See?  Told you I'm not a morning person.  Brain does not work well before noon.  LOL

   While there is much more that I could be working on out there, I've had to quit for the day, as the antiquing process involves some pretty heavy fumes, (from the solvent used to wipe back the antiquing...sort of like a paint thinner kind of smell), and I was getting a headache.  So I picked up all my paints, to get ready for tomorrow, when our 'regular' business partners will be here to work, and I can't have my painting stuff in the way.

   In fact, I still smell it, so some must have gotten onto my sweatshirt...I must conclude this blog and go put the shirt outside to air out! 

   However, my new mice and coasters should be up sometime this week, so keep watching!

Cheers!
 

The Year is Flying By...

Holey Smokes! Can you believe it's already November???? Every year about this time, I ask, "WHO put grease on the calendar?!" No one ever 'fesses up, though. Sigh.  Must be that "Murphy" guy!  LOL




.......and here we are, already into the second week of November!  Yow!  Well, folks, I've finally found my missing stencils, so I can now get back to work making more of my recycled wood coasters.  Woo Hoo!


   Here are a couple of photos of ones already  made:
                                                 

These are square, irregular thickness pieces of knotty pine, salvaged from packing material.  Go green!  ;-)

I also plan to offer some with kitty-cats.  The one pictured below is but a single one that is a prototype. 

 Please visit the poll in the sidebar at top right, and help me choose which color kitties would be most popular for the new coasters!  ;-)  I'm sure I'll do at least a few of each, but having an idea of which color should be the highest quantity would be helpful.  Thank you!

Halloween and Fall Thoughts

     Happy Halloween, or Happy Samhain, whichever it may be for you!

     While I am not so fond of the end of summer and the coming of cold weather, I have always liked Halloween.  It is and always has been my favorite holiday, as it sparks my creativity, and I can let my imagination run wild to create whatever quirky ideas may come forth.  I'm not into the Hollywood version of guts and gore, but I do enjoy the creation of  spooky and mildly to moderately scary scenes.  I was for a few years, involved in the production of a Haunted Theater back in the day. 

    We members of the  Pacifica Spindrift Players  had decided that "everyone and his brother" does a haunted house theme...but we...well, we are a theater group, and we have a perfectly good theater...so what else to do  but created a haunted theater?!  I was involved for the first three years of this production, prior to moving from the area.  It ranked among the most fun things I've done in my life. (While I've provided a link to that group, sadly, it does not seem that the haunted theater is being done anymore.)

      Carving pumpkins, painting my Halloween ceramics, helping my daughter decorate her house for Halloween  (no kids on our street), all are things that occupy my thoughts at this time of year.  Baking?  Eh...not so much.   I did more than my share back when my kids were young, and cooking is not one of my favorite things to do.   That said, I do have a good stock of holiday recipes upon which I can rely when the budget gets too tight to shop for gifts...definitely the case this season!

     Holiday cards...I'm going to 'mail' all my holiday greetings via e-mail this year.  That will be both budget-friendly and eco-friendly,  saving both postage and paper!  Only a few people who either do not have internet access, or whose e-mail addresses I do not have, will be sent paper greetings through the Postal Service.

    Gift wrapping this year?   Use up any leftovers of purchased wrap I already have.  When that runs out, I'll go to plain white tissue paper, and/or recycled brown paper bags.  Gift tags?  Handmade from holiday cards received in prior years. 

    Although I am a California native, my parents were New Englanders.  They also lived through the Great Depression of 1929.   Hence, I was raised with the frugal Yankee values of, "Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without."  This was instilled in me from childhood, and explains why, when I was home sick from school one day, I shed oceans of tears over the 'terrible waste of food,' when my mom had gone to the store for cough medicine for me, and a few small grocery items. 

     Mom did not drive, and the little store was only a block away.  However, it was pouring rain that day, and by the time she got a few doors from home on her return, the paper sack had become so waterlogged that it broke.  All the groceries fell out onto the sidewalk.  The bottle of orange juice smashed, as did the bottle of cough syrup.  Mom scooped up as much as she could, and ran to put it on our front steps, which were sheltered from the weather.  Then she ran back, and got as much of the rest as she could.  As it happened, the loaf of bread ended up on the step below the broken bottle of cough syrup.  Given that the medicine was inside a box, the broken glass was contained, but the liquid seeped out of the box, and dripped down onto the bread.  You must realize this was before bread was packed in plastic bags--the packaging was cellophane--easily torn, and not liquid-tight by any means.

     Now, I don't know how many of you are familiar with the cough syrup that was branded as "Pertussin";  that's what she had purchased.  If you don't know what it is, the smell is something on the order of turkey stuffing, as it has a good deal of the herb thyme as part of the ingredients.  There sat the loaf of bread, soaking up 'eau du thyme,'  while my 10-year-old self wailed from the top of the stairs about the waste, the terrible waste. 

     Mother, needless to say, was annoyed on a number of levels.  She salvaged what she could, grabbed a broom to sweep the broken orange juice bottle from in front of the neighbor's house, and prepared to return to the store to replace what had been lost.  (I think maybe she waited for a break in the weather...that part of the story is less strong in my memory.)

    That was a bit of a long-way-around of stating that I am no stranger to 'green' and 'eco-friendly' habits.  It's always been just something I do.  Only nowadays, it seems to have evolved into a fad and a buzz-word.  That concerns me, as fads are all too often passing fancies that do not stay around.  With many fads, that is just as well.  But when it comes to responsible husbandry of this rock on which we all live, a 'passing fancy' is not okay.

    Cheers and may you all have a bountiful, wonderful and safe holiday season.

Winter Is A-Cumin' In....

   The first signs of cold weather are here.  While we have mostly either evergreen trees, or those that loose their leaves without first turning color, there are other signs that the season is turning.  For one thing, we've had our first big rainstorm, and then this week, two days in a row of howling winds, with gusts strong enough to do serious damage to trees, and even to the landmark San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.

   Cooler weather, however, severely impacts the ceramics business.  For one thing, the ceramic clay itself is much slower to 'set up' in the molds, and when it has set up and the excess dumped out, it takes much longer for the piece to become solid enough to remove from the molds.

  On the painting end, the paint is much slower to dry, and glaze, especially, takes 'forever' to dry in cool weather.  I've had to resort to turning on the space heater in my studio today, and I hate doing that, because they make the electric meter spin like a doggoned helicopter!

    The pumpkins have been out in the stores for a week or two now;  Halloween costumes, too.  Another sign of Fall is the ripening of the pomegranates on our tree.  Now, I am 'sure' there is something useful to do with pomegranates besides eating them.  (Funny, don't you think, how things you loved as a kid don't seem so appealing to your adult self?)  I used to love pomegranates.  Now, not so much. 

  Perhaps something to do with getting sick on the undiluted juice that was just sicky-sweet?    So much for attempting juice-making with them.  I think maybe they used to also be used as dye for yarn or fabric, but since I neither spin yarn nor do weaving, that option is out. 

   A whole treefull of beautiful red fruits, threatened with the green waste bin.  No, no!  My Yankee-bred conscience won't allow that!  Think!   Aha!  Solution:  pick them, and donate to the after-school program at the karate school.  Problem solved!  (And they were very grateful!)

   My thoughts turn belatedly to crafting Fall decor for Halloween and Thanksgiving.   Something inside me just refuses to experience or prepare for a season months ahead of time...doing that finds me burned out by the time the actual holiday arrives. 

  I get disgusted beyond polite words at seeing Christmas items out on display in the stores already!  It is just not right!  Let Halloween and Thanksgiving have their fair share of time on the calendar, please.  October is for Halloween; November is for Thanksgiving.  I do not care to see Christmas displays prior to December 1st.  (Okay, okay, the day after Thanksgiving if you must!)  Who's with me?
  

    And now, I must return to my studio to finish that stubborn slow-drying glaze!  Cheerio!

Discoveries

Hello, Crafters and other friends!


    As I've stated many times, I'm a "Jill of All Trades."  I love variety and trying new things.   One of my many crafting forays was an attempt at soap-making.  Mind you, I did not have a 'scratch' recipe... I purchased soy-based soap 'melts' into which could be put fragrances and colors.  I made several one year for my grandsons' Christmas gifts.  They were quite amused to get little bars of pink soap, scented like bubble gum and with a tiny plastic pig encased in the middle.  AHA!  You have to actually wash your hands to get the toy! 


  That bit of gift-making experimentation over with, I packed up the supplies and put them away.  In the meantime, we moved.  To say that chaos ensued would be a world-class understatement!  Eventually, I got my new art studio up and running, but it very quickly got taken over by our full-scale bisque ceramics operation.   All my other crafts languished in various closets and cupboards.


    (Creating ceramics is an extremely dusty enterprise, and dust is incompatible with all my other crafting ventures, e.g., jewelry, scrapbooking, soap, needlepoint, etc.  The dust is very, very fine, and sifts into literally everything.  A closed cupboard offers no protection.  If you have ever sanded wood with a power sander, it is finer dust than that; if you have ever done sheetrock sanding, it is finer dust even than that!)


    As this year's budget is on the tight side, I again thought about the soap, and since I now have granddaughters about the age the grandsons were during my first attempt, I thought to unpack the soap stuff, and do a reprise.  Well don't you know, I tore apart my craft cupboard in the studio, and no soap making supplies were anywhere to be found.


    I did find some candle-making supplies, and instantly learned that candles should not be stored in a room that reaches over 100 degrees F. on a regular basis (when the kiln is running).  Ooops!  Well, of course, I did know that candles should not be stored in hot places, and we carefully keep all our holiday and emergency candles out of the attic.  However, at the time my art studio was finished and things put inside was before I acquired the kiln and began the ceramics business.   By the time we installed the kiln, I had completely forgotten the candle-making stuff was in there.  Grumble, grumble...I know now!


   Among the other things I found, however, were some stenciled coasters I had begun making years ago, and which got packed up with all my other crafts for the move.  I had completely forgotten about them as well.  However, now that I've re-discovered them, I'll be putting the final finishing touches  and listing them in my Etsy shop.   As to whether there will ever be any more of these made depends on my being able to find similar material. 


   Many of my crafts are 'upcycled' from things originally with a very different purpose.  Not quite "scrap crafts," though; I don't make reindeer from egg cartons, for example. The wood from which the coasters were made  began as packing material to prevent bailing wire from cutting through paper-wrapped bales of wood-chips.  (My elder daughter used to have a couple of Guinea Pigs, and we used the wood shavings for their cage litter.)  However, since I no longer purchase bales of wood chips, I no longer get these pieces of thin wood.  It is not sold in that thickness at retail.  The only such thickness is found in balsa wood, strips of thin plywood, or bass wood, intended for hobby model-makers, and the cost is prohibitive.  The search goes on.

   I have also found my stash of sewn-on sequins in assorted shapes, which I use to decorate some very special Christmas stockings.  These stockings are very labor-intensive, and I usually just make one pair every now and then for special friends.  That said, however, I am now stuck on the problem...once again...of not being able to find the appropriate raw materials.  They use old-fashioned nylon stockings (not pantyhose) with a seam up the back of the leg, and also mens' old-fashioned thin silk dress socks.  Trying to find either item nowadays is, well, let's just say the proverbial needle in a haystack has a better chance.

   I have a lot of work cut out for me still as I continue to search through my cupboards, looking for my soap-making supplies.  Who knows what other forgotten crafts or supplies I will find as I search?  It's a regular first-class detective mystery!

   
     


 

Not Quite Crafts...

      By now you know this blog is mostly about my crafts.  Today's post is not.  I do have some vintage items I'll be putting in my online shops from time to time, so I thought I'd share a few of the pictures here.


      This first one is an abstract poodle pin, given to me by a school chum when I was in high school.

     I don't really know anything about the maker, whose mark is seen in the lower left photo, above.

    The next item is an antique GOP elephant pin.  I've no idea whether it was just a "party pride" pin, or related to a specific campaign.  I've not been able to find out.  All I know is that it was with my great-great aunt's stuff when she passed back in 1963 at the age of 86, so it's definitely very old.

    For your enjoyment next on the menu are a couple of vaseline glass bowls/candy/nut dishes.  No clue as to vintage, maker or pattern name (no marks on the undersides!)  They came to my mother from a great-aunt of mine.  They are both intriguing shapes, but I've never really been fond of this yellow-green color glass.  I'm more partial to deep, rich tones, like cobalt blue glass and ruby or cranberry glass.  At right above, shown in normal lighting, and below left, under a blacklight.

      The next one is taller, and is shown below right, in normal light, and below center, under blacklight.

   

And that's all for today, folks!  Thanks for stopping by to look at my curios!