And OMG, I'd forgotten how much flat out WORK it is!   Its been 4 or 5 years since I did a 10x10 booth with the tent, and I'm running around like a chicken with my head cut off.  Today's chore was retrieve the tent and whatever else I need from the storage unit, then clean and check the tent - it HAS been in storage for years, and I don't want to open it up at the show site to find its become a rodent haven...  Meh, this SHOULD take about 20 minutes to get out to the storage unit and load the truck, so that plus the trip to the DMV should be easy enough to sneak in before work.


Noooooo, not so much.  After 20 minutes searching, I finally decide the key to the storage unit is... well, elsewhere.  Ok, so, I stop at the storage unit rental place to find out who I need to talk to, because of course this is a lock thats built into the door, NOT a padlock.  My own padlock, heck, I can deal with cutting it off, but...  Anyway, fortunately, they have an extra key so all my mad speculation about how much a locksmith will cost is excessive.  Ten minutes of waiting while she goes and tracks it down, and I have a loaner key to my storage unit. So, off to the unit, collect the tent, a chunk of carpet, a piece of lattice to hang stuff from, and then its off to the hardware store for a copy of the key.  


Guess what.  They don't have an exact blank, just 'close.'  Twenty minutes of searching through keys to tell me this.  By this time I'm definitely late to work, later than I wanted anyway!  Its a good thing work is super flexible about my hours, as long as I get the job done and give them an honest list of my hours, they're ok with what I do.  So I just take the 'close' key and get the sandpaper I need from the hardware store, and its off to the next chore on my list.  


SO... DMV.


Yeah, I should have known better.  I get there, the room is full and the number on the wall is 57.  My number, when I get it, is 78.  Gah, at least they've got two people working... wait, where's THAT ONE GOING????  Um, ok ONE person working.  Good thing I brought a book.  OVER AN HOUR LATER....  I finally get the new tags.  I really REALLY need to remember to send the stinking paperwork in next time and do it by mail!  

Ack, so much for painting today (work = house painting)!  Since I'm in the same mall, I might as well wander over to the cell phone store and see what my options are for a phone that will let me take credit cards.   Turns out the options are about exactly what I thought, I need a phone upgrade and a data plan.  Sigh.  Ok, I'll have to check the books, but I really wanted to be able to take cards this show!  

Well, maybe... Freddies has the Square, they have the Paypal credit card thingy, so... Hmmm, they don't have any better choices on phone rates.   Guess I'll go back to the cell phone place (tomorrow, its too late now!) and see how much the no-name smart phone is without a contract! Also picked up a cheapo orchid to show off the orchid pots (potted up some kusamonos last night, they look good).  Oh, yeah, got to go back out to the storage unit tomorrow and see if the 'close' key fits, but I know I want to bring the file... that extra 1/8th of an inch on the end of the key PROBABLY won't work.  Its too late now to return the borrowed key, so THATS on tomorrow's list too!

And guess what, I still have to pack inventory, repack the tent, build a new table (the parts have been secured, so this means cutting down the top and putting it all together, not too bad) and figuring out how I'm going to display pottery instead of wood.  Weeeeell, I've got most of it figured out, anyway!  I also need to get to the bank and get change, find the rest of the booth stuff  such as table drapes (old ones in pantry, new ones in the living room), bags (upstairs), find the chair (upstairs), and whatever else I've managed to forget!  Good thing its only Tuesday.

And the art center wants to know if I can help out with set up Friday morning!  UMmmmmmmmm.....

And getting ticked at Facebook...  For some reason when I post something from Etsy, its stats say nobody (and I mean NOBODY) sees the post.  Maybe everyone's just bored with cute little pots, but when I post the link manually, it works and people see it.  So tired of this 'new' money-grubbing version of Facebook!

Ok, so its not totally original, but then, what is anymore?  The thinking I have behind these is they should look like a curl of bark.  The texture is moss in this one, or I've used a rock in a few!  The clay is red (shocking, I know! :) and I'll probably mix it up some on the finish.  Some just iron oxide, some with green terra sigillata, maybe a few with drips of glaze.  We'll see, this batch I cut the hole a bit late and it might cause problems.  Oh well!  

This is the custom pot, its the same red clay as the bark curl.  Yep, you can really see how different lighting changes the color of the clay!  The curl is shot with the flash, the slab with the florescent lights in the room.   

Anyway, the slab should be about 18 inches by 11 inches fired up, it'll just get iron oxide stain.  Its footed, and the paper shreds you see here will just fall off when the clay dries - it's wet in the photo - or burn out in the first firing.  Its a bit hard to see, but its got some stone texturing.

So, the load is done and out of the kiln, now I just have to get them listed and ready to go to the show next month!  Two weeks, ugh, not a lot of time!

Well, I guess I'm finally seeing the summer slump everyone on the Etsy forums is talking about!  My sales in May were great, June, not so much but not too bad, and this month, half way through, and I've had two smaller sales.  Hopefully they're right and this will only last until August or so, then it will pick up.  I know I really didn't START pushing for sales until last August, and September was pretty good.  So, I guess I'll just have to keep building inventory!

Here's a shot of some of the stuff I'm working on... Any suggestions on colors for the little pots?  These are all just out of the bisque kiln, the green is a colored terra sigillata that just adds depth to the texture for whatever final finish they get.   So far I've done a few copper blue/green, a few yellow, a bunch with just iron oxide stain, and some with a fun brown/red glaze.  There's also a couple custom orders I forgot to get shots of, oops.  Going to be busy this weekend on these and another custom order.  The form for it is out in the shop, so it should be easily done this weekend!

FINALLY!  There's still a custom order outstanding, and a couple inquiries that MIGHT turn into orders, but I'm not holding my breath on those.    SO, should have pics pre-glaze on Wednesday!  An impressive herd of little pots for the shindig at the Art Center (Festival of the Arts in Stout Park) early in August.  Argh.  SOOOoo not ready to start doing shows again!  I'm going to have to get the cell phone figured out so I can take Square or Paypal credit card reader, and SOON!  Its down to 3 weeks, yikes!

Weeeeeeeeelll, life happens, dontcha know.  Nothing terribly exciting, I managed to get the buttons made, started some a second batch and forgot to put the holes in them.  They're now in the slip container.  Then realized I have another slab project custom order that I really SHOULD get in this load!  So THATS now made and drying, and hopefully will be ready to fire tomorrow so I can take care of this load then!  I'll have to run down and pull a speed-dry on it, either stick it out in the sun or bring it home and set it in the oven for a while just to make sure its DRY dry, then fire tomorrow night.  I want to take the day and get a bunch of yard work done too, the mowing is getting ahead of me, and the weeding is out of site over the next hill already.  Don't know if I'll EVER catch it up!  The joys of a damp, but sunny and warm summer!  EVERYTHING is growing like crazy except my time!. 

BUT, I'm waiting for a special order to dry enough to clean it up and stick it in!  Buttons, so they should dry fast, but they were being stubborn.  I've decided the 'Frost' porcelain really IS a pain in the neck to work with!  The cutter I needed to use for the order had a nasty burr on the cutting edge and needed cleaned up.  So, the first batch of buttons got smooshed then I spent quite a while fixing the burr.  Second batch the cuts were much cleaner so hopefully they'll be usable with minimal clean up!  Tomorrows project, after I get some house painting in!