It has been a crazy few days. The Potters Market was a huge success both in general for the Market and for me personally! While I was working, I had come up with a dollar amount that I was striving for, and my actual sales DOUBLED that number! So I am quite thrilled and very happy that all my work paid off. Having help from my assistants KT and Brendan really helped, along with the moral support of Jeremy, *the awesome-est roommate/brother evar* and of course my sweetie Alex. It was a success, it was a ton of work, it was a lot of fun, and whew! I am glad it is over for another year.

I am starting to wind down and am looking forward to spending time at home and with friends for the holidays. I have a just a few days left before the end of the holiday rush to get a few more things listed on Etsy, in particular... I have some new ornaments and tiles listed in the Galleria, and will add a few more soon.

I had a fun day yesterday in Cleveland at an engagement party BBQ... it was a gorgeous day for it, and I had great company there and on the drive to and from Cleveland. Good times! Today, I made up for my day off with a mostly work filled day. I am getting my beads made and crossed off my list, slowly but surely. I have some big news to share tomorrow! whee! Heading out for dinner in a minute, but I wanted to share the Extra links for the week now.

Working from home, and creating my own schedule (which can often consist of: work-all-the-time except for eating and sleeping) creates days that can vary wildly from what I try to plan when I start my day. Today I woke up planning to glaze all day and then fire a big kiln. As I was glazing, I started to get distracted by two jars of Raku glaze that I bought, and started to plan a trip to the supply store to get some items I need to start this new process. I even thought for a few fleeting moments about setting up the kiln outside and giving it a test this afternoon!

Well, things changed rapidly as the morning evolved, as they sometimes do for me, and a dear friend needed some help, so I ended up spending most of the day at the hospital, helping her get patched up from a fractured ankle. She was in amazingly good spirits and we had just about as much fun as you can have in an emergency room. Of course, I kept her entertained by describing details of the Raku firing process (wha? what do you mean "captive audience"? hehe)

If I have learned anything in the past year, it is the value of friendship, and the importance of taking time out whenever possible, to reach out to good friends, especially in times of need. I know I had my friends picking me up when I was down at some of my lowest points over the last several months, and it is something I had not experienced so strongly before. It is quite an awesome thing. And today did not go as planned, by any stretch of the imagination, but it was time very well spent.

Oh, and the pictures today are of the new watch I made, using a leather cuff kit from Tandy Leather, a watch face, two of my small square gear Steam Stone links, and a few beads. I really love this watch, its super chunky and a bit steamy and masculine. Get the correlation? Time Out... wrist watch.. get it? Oh I am so clever when I am sleepy, huh?

A very quick blog entry today, because I am off to start my weekend of crafty awesomeness! I just wanted to thank you all for commenting on my posts yesterday, on LJ and on Blogger and my email. WOW! I really just expected a few little nudges of support, but I got a flood of encouragement. Thank you, I appreciate it and I am super energized by it! Gracious thanks!

 

I do not know what creativity I will find today. There is clay and thread and needles and buttons and fabric in my future, this is certain. Plus some exciting thoughts and words and rhetoric to wrap my mind around, hopefully while my hands set to work with the tools and materials before me. Good work and good friends await me, and that makes for a happy Melanie. Thank you for all being my muses, and helping me find the courage and motivation to get back to work!

Hello my friends! I have been away and it is good to be back. My little hiatus was very fulfilling on both personal and professional fronts. I did much talking and thinking, listening and feeling. And I have returned feeling very positive and ready to make some big changes in my life and in my career. And the help of wondersome friends has helped me figure some of these things out...cutting through some of the grimy haze and seeing things more clearly. I am really feeling the Steampunk inspiration lately (again), and visualizing the studio as a bit of a factory, filled with interconnecting gears and pulleys and machinery.

 

I think the main realization I have made lately is that a factory cannot run on one gear alone. For so long i have felt my work is solitary, even with all the great support that has been around me. I have a hard time asking for help, and letting people in, and I tend to overburden myself. I am learning that this is not healthy, and it is not necessary. In fact, I am finding much joy in thoughts of sharing some of my processes with others. I sometimes forget, in the daily grind of my factory, that the life I lead is pretty unique, and rather charmed. I am fortunate, and I want to share the creativity and imagination that I live with every day.

 

But I am rather shy at times, and just like a lot of people, I get unmotivated and self conscious. And I have been rather low in motivation for the past two months, career wise, after Bead & Button, and with all the life changing things going on in my life. But it is the start of a new month today, which I will call Awesome Artful August. And I do not usually reach out and ask for help much, but if you could, my dear friends, respond here with a little nudge of support...just a little word or two to get me going, and for me to look back upon later when I need to nudge myself...something to grease the gears and get the machinery moving...I would greatly appreciate it.

 

Show me a little steamy support here?...

So just a quick update here on the happenings here at the Studio. Woot, with a picture of a Bat pendant that I made last year. Yeah it was a one of a kind and sold it long ago, probably around Halloween. I think it's cute, I always meant to make more. Maybe someday I will. I am showing it as an ode to the Dark Knight movie I saw yesterday. It was lots of fun to go to the movies with friends, I cannot remember the last time I saw a movie at the theatre. Might have been Harry Potter. Yeah. I need to get out more!

 

And so I am! Thus my lack of blog activity lately. Just taking a little break. And my camera is not co-operating so I don't have pretty new things to show. I am keeping very busy around the studio, and working to balance family and friend time with work a little better than I have in past months. Having a lot of summer fun. In fact, I am taking the rest of the week off! I will be spending a few days on the other side of the state meeting a beady friend that I have known for years but have never met in real life! That is exciting, I hope to share many creative ideas with her! So I wish you happy and warm summer days, and I will see you again soon when I have some new work to show and fresh ideas to share.

Hee Hee! Yesterday was a fine day. I feel like disappeared for a while into a lovely little sanctuary. Thank you to my dear friends for opening up your home to me and to so many others. Your kindness is greatly appreciated. Someday, I hope to return the favor, and welcome friends to my home with such hospitality. You inspire me.

 

Ok, lets tie this post's images and video together here... It is not as random as it seems. Above, a picture of a juicy pair of berry earrings that I designed for the new summer issue of Simply Beads Magazine. mmm I love raspberries! One of my favorite summer fruits. They remind me of two awesome children (whee! Big and Little *B*!) I was fortunate to spend some time with them this week and weekend, and I adore how they gleefully pick raspberries from their back yard, and even though the berries are so very rare and limited, they offer them selflessly to all the guests in the room. Very generous indeed!

 

The video below reminds me of these two girls, and the time I enjoyed crafting and drawing with them. I hope they will get a chance to watch the video, it makes me smile, and I think they will too! This video, I found while searching for an XTC video, for a gentleman, who ironically, does not like raspberries, I recently discovered. Hm. Well, I will not hold that against him, I suppose. The video is not XTC specifically, but Dukes of the Stratosphear, which is a pseudonym used by XTC to record briefly in a different style in the height of their popularity. The song is Vanishing Girl.

Ahh, I have returned home after an impromptu overnight visit to the parents' house for an Independence Day break. There was the promise of grilled food, a quiet refuge from the fireworks in my neighborhood (oh noes...scared Zoey!), and the appearance of my brother, who is in the process of moving back to Michigan (yay!) so I could not resist the time spent away with family. Of course, I did bring work with me, and surprisingly did a great deal of it. Hmm, imagine that! But now I am in a good place to do some playing with clay.

 

Above, a picture from last year, of my Goddess Tiles in process. I have had the itch to carve a new tile lately, and to do something different. I have a general idea for the tile, but not really the specifics...no sketch or anything. I rolled out a couple of slabs last night and I think I will just attack them with my tools, and see what happens. Something different, like I said. The plan in the log run is to have two new designs for a fun project that is NOT related to my business so much, something fun to do with friends. So, Project Raku begins today! It does take a pretty good amount of preparation, so I am excited to dig in. I will keep you updated as it progresses!

 

Today, I am feeling tired of being caught up in my own mind. Today, I feel my hands and mind reaching out to others. I think of my Dearest friend of many years, who is struggling through one of the most tumultuous times of his life, and my heart goes out to him, even though I know I cannot help him or change things for him. I wish him the best. I think of my brother, making his journey back to home after many years, to face a new challenge and a new job and home. I am excited for him. I attended the wedding of two dear friends this afternoon. It was wonderful to see them so shiny and happy, it warmed my heart. I wish them much health and happiness together.

 

I think of my many new friends, some of whom are struggling with creativity and finding time to express their imaginations because of the limits of home, school, work, and life. I realize that I am so fortunate to be able to do what I love, to be creative in my work and follow my vision, with very little limitation. I sometimes forget this, as it has just become part of my daily existence. Meeting people who struggle with it really make me recognize how lucky I am. So to all of you who are at times held back from the art you want to make by your real life tasks, I want to reach out and encourage you: I hope your duct tape roses bloom wildly, your bronze castings come out perfectly, your words flow freely, your beads dance harmoniously, your clay squish happily, and that every day is an explosion of color for you.