Scattered Seeds, Shattered Needs

Yikes!  One more day until set up at Scattered Seeds and I am still working 12+ hour days.  It's incredible...the amount of work involved in preparing for a "BIG" show.  I have stuff all over my dining room, living room, kitchen, not to mention that my kitchen counter is not visible having been taken over as a work station for sanding, staining and drying my pieces after they've been washed and buffed. If I ever have a studio, having a 'work sink' will be one of the gotta haves. 

I think I have enough light switch covers made to light up the entire city. Well, nearly. I have about fifty. 

It is so difficult to predict how many of any particular item to make up for a three day sale, especially if you haven't been in the particular event for a long time (say ten years).  And it is being held in a new  (for me) building so I am just not quite sure what the set up will be like.  Last time I was in a long but rather narrow 'booth' although I am pretty sure the new layout for Scattered Seeds is all for 10 by 10 foot areas.  I can do both types of  set-ups as my 'props' are pretty adjustable, consisting of a number of tables, three repositionable backboards, a couple of easels and sufficient covering material to blanket Mount Everest.  I bought draping material last weekend at a local JYSK (sort of a Pier One type store, only not as eclectic) and although the drapery length panels are too long to cover my backboards, I am not going to cut them, just in case I NEED  to use them later on to fashion window draperies in a little flat if I should be ousted outta my residence.  (Yep...show prep does have psycho-social, need I say marital, ramifications.)

Life is very difficult just before a show and among other things dysfunctional at this time, food preparation has slowed to a stop.  In preparations for the crunch, I made a huge crock of soup the other day, whipped up a couple of ready-to-be dressed salads; and sandwiches and wraps are in the freezer so that meals can be made (or should I say thrown together) in between sanding or drying sessions.  The only thing that isn't condensed  in my life right now is sleep (wish that could be done) and dog outings.  Instead of taking Miss Molly for a walk, I am doing the back yard thing, where I walk her in about twenty circles around the back yard.  Heck, she can't see anyway, so her walks are not excursions, but rather just an opportunity for us to have a little fresh air and get a tiny bit of scenery change from my work stations in the house. 

Yesterday afternoon while I was buffing outside, I realized it is starting to get really cold out. (Glad that sentence didn't read 'in the buff outside') I had a tuque on and actually required mittens to be out for thirty minutes of buffing at the wheel.  I don't know what I will do when it gets really cold... I refuse to buff indoors as the dust created is just too much to deal with.  I suppose I should invest in a dust vent...but don't know where I'd put it.  I do wear face protection to keep the stuff out of my orifices, but the polymer dust and cotton from the wheel does collect on surfaces.  I have noticed that the old school desk on which I do my buffing has  almost taken on a different patina, with the 'old school etchings' in it a different color from the rest of the wood.  I do dust and scrub it down after each session at the bench grinder, but my guess is that after numerous buffing sessions, many of the particles have become  permanently engrained in the wood. 

Well I am off to my  begin my last day in preparation for the show.  I am just doing a few smaller pieces today as I have quite a pile of buttons and jewelry bits that need to be tagged and priced.  Hopefully I will get it all done by Thursday.

So...with that...I am off to work.   

And yes, I know this is an older picture, but it's kinda where I am at right now...no time to upload newer pictures.  Thanks to the gals in Arizona who took this during my demo there last January...This was one of  the sets of covers of I used for demonstration purposes. I had many in different stages of completion, much like where I am at right now in preparation for the Scattered Seeds show. The little insert on the front cover is  from Tina Holden's Batik and Shimmer tutorial, which I did not  demonstrate, but did include it as a focal point on one of the books used for demonstration. 

So if you would like to attend, Scattered Seeds is being held this weekend, Friday through Sunday, at the Assiniboia Downs Exhibition Park and I will be in Booth #152.  Friday and Saturday hours are 10 am to 9 pm and Sunday is from noon until 5 pm.  Stop by and say Hi! and see what I've been doing for the last few months!

Curtain Up, Light the Lights

rockin' light switch covers

The song finishes with everything's coming up roses and being the optimist that I am, I hope it's true.  Although's  it's been difficult to post the last few days, I'm working steadily on getting ready for the fall season's shows.  We've had 'weather', civic elections, work, and all those other things that are part of life and the time has just flown by, with Halloween here in a few days. I haven't even had time to plan my costume...or Molly's for that matter, and she does come first, lol. 

I've tried to fit in some clay work in the in-between times, but it hasn't been easy.  For some reason, this show season's just kind of HAPPENED, and I am not prepared! My inventory seems to be smaller than usual this year.  I even had to turn down a big show because I didn't have enough stuff to fill the booth.  That being said, I am gradually increasing production of things that have been moving well, mainly the light switch plates and other 'affordable' items.  I've taken to buying boxes of the plates as that way they are a little less pricy and if I get in the mood, I can make a dozen or more.  These neutral-colored rock ones are quite popular, and even though I enjoy making them, I find them a bit tedious. So every once in a while I shift the color palette to much brighter things, like these tropical ones.

colorful palette 'subtropical' plates

With the horrible weather we've been experiencing the last couple of days, our climate is anything but tropical but  maybe that's why I made them.  Actually, part of my inspiration for those was at my last book club meeting about a week ago.  The hostess of that get together lives in a building that has an enclosed atrium that reaches all the way up to the top floor, probably sixteen or more levels.  Although not at the very top, she lives above the full grown trees  and her outer balcony, which actually is enclosed, looks out on the lush foliage below.  Her balcony space is decorated in a very south-sea fashion, like a lanai, and it's all so warm feeling.  She even has the natural 'music' playing to complete the setting.  The bamboo curtaining sets off her one side from the neighbour's and she is on a corner, so the privacy is complete.  I'm thinking the first or third of this triad would go well there.

It's funny how the opening of this fall's show season is so much like preparing for an actual stage production.  I've purchased a few new 'props' to help display my stuff and hope they'll work.  Some of the shows I'll be in are new for me and the spaces allocated are not quite boxy regular shapes, so I'm thinking that having 'portable' racks that can be moved will do the trick.  I bought a clothes rack on wheels that I'll used to showcase my longer hanging things, and am going to use my 'womanakin' that I purchased at Winner's a couple of years ago.  Standing about three feet tall, she has no head and arms, but she wears a sequiny-beaded dress that's very flashy.  I've come up with a way to insert some 'arms' that are just right for hanging ornaments and other pendants.  I still have to come up with a way to position her at eye level so the objects can be viewed more easily. 

All this staging is starting to make me hummmm, would that tune be Bali H'ai, or Shangri-la...