Busy Busy and Class Information

Whew! Like a whirlwind is what one might describe the activity around here. No time to even take or post pictures, but I figured I'd better mention what's been keeping us answering the doorbell and the phone simultaneously for the past week.

Hubby's big Fishing Derby and Tournaments are being held this weekend, and entrants are busy signing up. I just checked the weather, and it looks like it is going to be a fine weekend...on the fresh side, but not freezing or raining, so that should make the fish and anglers happy. Hopefully the event will be as fun and as successful as last year's was. The proceeds (after costs) will be divided between the anglers, who stand to win major bucks, and charities. One of the "charities" we'll be supporting is the Manitoba Women's Team Handball ... Gambit is their name. Thanks to them for assisting us in making sure the events run smoothly.

As for Moi, I am up to here in a short-term teaching position, and am trying to help DH out when I can. Clay-wise, I'll again be involved in the Autumn Odyssey on October 4th...a select group of artisans presenting their work in an awesome setting in the Corydon/Lilac District. If you're around, stop by and see the diverse items at Bonnie's.

The following weekend, just prior to our Canadian Thanksgiving, I will be presenting another class at Poco Beads and Creations, in St. Boniface for those with at least a rudimentary knowledge of Polymer Clay. This class coincides with their "pink" time, so I think I will do something in that colour palette for the class. If you need more information about the Saturday, October 11th class, check out their website or give them a call. http://www.pocobeads.com and the number is (204) 219-2528. Poco Créations and Beads, 575 Archibald Street, Winnipeg. Sign up for a limited number of spots available. We'll be using Kato Polyclay and I believe that is one of the few locations in our city where that clay is sold. And if you haven't been to their shop, it is definitely worth taking it in as they have a wonderful selection of beads and jewellery findings. Then, why not go a few blocks further and enjoy a fabulous lunch or dinner at Inferno Bistro. Chef Kirouac always has the best specials and the ambience is hard to match anywhere. I was lucky to enjoy their cuisine at least three times this summer, and even though I had the saumon deux fois, chaque fois c'était une expérience fantastique. Et la serveuse la dernière fois était si gentille.

Hopefully I can post at least one picture this week...

More Buttons for Quilters

A few days ago I visited the home of a gal I met at the quilt show back in April. She had left me a swatch of fabric and now that the garment was complete, she wondered if I could match up some buttons. I made a few sets, and upon looking at the fabric and my other buttons, we decided to use an "unmatched" set of different buttons. The collaboration worked well.

She also wanted to have some buttons for another jacket she had fashioned a few years ago, and the ones pictured here are the ones I made. I also scanned the buttons on the jacket, under the ones she had used originally, so it looks a little strange. I didn't want to take off her other buttons in case these aren't suitable. Her jacket is a lovely composition with all sorts of quilting techniques. The flying geese pattern is one of the few I have done myself. I had fashioned it into a wall hanging. Maybe I should pull it out from storage and make some buttons to decorate it! Like I have time for that. Instead of buttons I should learn how to make time. I shall put that on my agenda for tomorrow

Classes, Classes, Classes

With the fall season nearly here, my schedule is fast filling up with classes, and other polymer clay activities. The items pictured here are a sample of what we'll be doing in one of the classes at the Manitoba Crafts Museum and Library on Saturday, October 18th. The projects for this class include covering a single light switch plate, making some straightforward beads and also covering a papier maché box. Clay and most supplies are included in the class fee. Tools used in the project will be available for loan on this day and items will be baked following their completion.

For information and registration for this class, please contact the Manitoba Crafts Museum and Library. The registration form is available for download there. Their site is http://www.mts.net~mcml/ and their phone/fax number is (204) 487-6117 The studio is located at 1B - 183 Kennedy Street near the Bay in downtown Winnipeg.

It looks like an exciting class and I hope to meet new clayers there.

I've got some other classes planned, and I will be posting information about them in this blog in the near future.

Lovely weather for fish

I am not one to complain too much here, but I have to vent about two things, both of which are beyond my control...one of them is computer problems and the other is weather.

Our computer crashed a while ago, and we are doing our best to get back our email contacts list. I had saved so many important documents regarding orders and so on in that file, that I am super-ticked that I have to go and find phone numbers and do so much stuff in a round about way. Just one more reason to get an external hard drive so that doesn't ever happen again. Believe me, it is a major pain.

And oh yes, the weather. For late summer it hasn't been too bad around here, except for unexpected deluges and wind surges that blow your borrowed craft tent to the ground at a sales event. Picture the scenario: It is early morning with typical rodeo background music...roosters, goats, horses, all creating a very 'country' mood for what looks like a pleasant start to a fun weekend. The tent is in a prime accessible location with the rodeo activities just a hundred yards behind. There are gentle ponies giving rides to little children and Molly (our bichon) is taking in all this with great interest. After two hours of set up we finally have all the items displayed on our three tables and have hung the hanging fish, roosters, boots, and all the other bell pulls strategically from the tent frame. On one table, I have placed about fifteen handmade books, many that I especially crafted for this event. The people are very interested in all the creations, and I have set up a little "observation" area, where people can see me demonstrate how I do some of the work.

It is lunch time and friend husband goes to the concession to get some nourishment. Within five minutes, a squall blows down all my T-posts (with neckwear) and all the books are getting pelted with rain. I quickly cover them with large plastic sheets (JUST INCASE!!) and wait out the downpour. The table cloth is soaked, so we move that table inside and do damage control on the cloth. When hubby gets back, we savour our lunch, look at the sky and decide that the major weather has passed.

The sun is shining, I watched one rodeo event and I've chatted with customers who were very interested in the construciton of my items, and all is well. Unfortunately, some of the rain that fell about two hours earlier has collected in the "canopy" of the tent, unbeknownst to us. We thought we had removed it all. Another storm appears to be brewing, so we begin covering the items again, but alas, we are too late. A sudden gust of wind sends all the accumulated water from the tent top onto my table where the books are, and they are soaked. I am in tears. The wind is really blowing and it begins to rain really hard, the tent pegs are coming loose and the tent is collapsing all around.

We frantically gather our stuff and throw it into the car. We disassemble the tent. We are soaked to the bone. And cold. And miserable.

We decided to call it quits, as the forecast was for more of the same weather for the rest of the weekend. Fortunately, we sold enough items to cover the cost of the weekend's booth fees etc., but lost out on the opportunity to enjoy the rest of the rodeo. And yes, several of the books pages were warped beyond repair when the tent roof water dumped on them. I will be able to salvage the covers and re-bind them, but all the time it takes to make them cannot be regained. It is a good thing that polymer clay is not affected by water, so the other items like jewellery, buttons and wall hangings came out unscathed.

I have accepted all this and gotten over it. What I can't get over is the man who was walking by and laughing at our misfortune. Some people, huh?

Little Red Book

I tried something new on this book and was anxious to see what happened after it was finished. That huge "purply" part was originally a detailed inlay but unfortunately after sanding, it lost most of its features. It looks kind of eerie, like some monstrous sea creature with two squarish eyes.

The inside paper is nice though; it's astroparche in a muted shade of coral so it blends nicely with the covers. I purchased several colors of the astroparche when I was in Grand Rapids, MN about a month ago. After visiting my favorite wool and yarn shop in the old school house there, I spied a paper place just across the quadrangle. It didn't carry all that much in the way of specialty papers, but it did have lots of this type which I have used in my books before. It is archival, and somewhat translucent so it provides a nice surface for any type of pen. Of course, the book is "unwritten"...I shall leave the contents up to whomever gets it.