Inspiration

Today I went out with Becca for an afternoon of fun. We went to a couple of indie shops that were so very inspiring...they made me want to start knitting and sewing and crafting. NOW! They were two very fun stores and I am more than happy to be able to support both of them today. I bought some covered-button bobby pins (so cute...when the light is better I'll take a picture of them) and some yarn. Because lately I've really wanted to knit and these gorgeous (affordable!) yarns are going to be so fun to work with!

Here are some pics of the places. The yarn shop is called Never Enough Yarn. Click on the link to go to their website. The owner, Pam, is very friendly and there is such a welcoming feel to the place. She not only asked for our names and remembered them the whole time we were there, but she told us to go on in and get water from the fridge and chocolate from the candy bowl. I think I may ask her to adopt me! You can tell she has a great rapport with her customers and I can see why. I would gladly come back and take classes or purchase yarn from her any time.

(check out that dress form! Awesome!)

This lovely shop is called The Purple Fern. She not only has a website, but an Etsy shop too! So if you're not local you can still share in the fun! I wanted to move into her store. She makes a lot of her own stuff but also does consignment. Very awesome! I loved practically everything in her store (which is amazing because I'm pretty picky!) and adored her decorating/displaying techniques. Look at this button mural on her wall...um...I want to do that!

And look at how these necklaces are framed and displayed...I love it!

I want to make some of these button brooches!

And I love these reversible wrap skirts.

Look! Ceramic stuff! Well...there are some wooden things too. But ceramic stuff also!

I would LOVE to own a little shop full of lovely handmade goodies. Ahh...it would be so nice. :)

Photography moment

Home for Thanksgiving break! Ahh...so sweet it is. :) So far I've spent a lot of time sleeping, visiting with friends; I enjoyed an early Thanksgiving dinner with my Bible study, went to church, went out separately with both my sisters and even got a little Christmas shopping done for the sibling whose name I drew out of the hat this year! On the agenda today: visit my sister again before they leave for Massachussetts for Thanksgiving this year, stop by the office to visit my boss and co-workers, and then off for an afternoon of fun and catching-up with my dear friend Becca. It's going to be a great day!

These photos were taken at Harpers Ferry on Sunday. I drove Holly out there for some hang-out time and it was so nice. The weather was great, it was sunny and not too cold. We walked around, I took lots of pictures of her and then we stopped in at a pottery shop (because I'm obsessed) before we went home. I think I've established that I love Harper's Ferry, and I hope I've also established how much I love my younger sister (and how much I enjoy taking her pictures! Thanks for being a good sport, Holly!).

Catching up

Well, I haven't written in awhile. I've been sick...I caught the flu. Not sure if it was H1N1, but it was enough to get me very behind on my homework. I was sick for a week and I'm only beginning to feel better since yesterday. I don't realize how much I take my health for granted until I get sick...then I can't wait to feel back to normal. Luckily this past weekend was warm and sunny...I always feel better when the sun is out.

So I had my second critique last Monday. I was feeling pretty ill but I went anyway. We had to design a table service of three cups, three plates and three bowls (along with any other pieces like pitchers, casseroles, etc, that we might want to add) and they all had to have a common theme. I made a set designed around a pie plate. All the edges are wavy. Unfortunately I never made the pie plate because I was sick and didn't get to go in and work very much. When I was already in the middle of the project I got a card in the mail from my sister with an article about dinnerware that was designed with portion control in mind. It's called Thinnerware and I fell in love with it. I decided I was going to change my whole theme two days before the project was due and make my own set of thinnerware (Hey, I was a nutrition major...I needed a set of these for myself) dishes. So I finished my first pie-themed set and started throwing new plates, bowls and cups for my thinnerware set. I got all of the plates made and trimmed and that's when I started running a fever and decided to go home and come back later to finish the bowls and mugs. Well, I never went back later so I ended up turning in my original set (so glad I decided to finish it!) along with the extra plates and article from Thinnerware.
I made an A. :) Hurray! But because I was sick and am already a week behind on our next/final project (can't believe this class is almost over! I think it's absolutely tragic!) I'm going to just keep the plates and not worry about finishing the others. I have too much to do in too little time to try and complete everything. Perhaps someday I'll have a chance to finish my thinnerware service. I eat in a dining hall anyway. I can't bring my own plates in. :(

I glazed all my jars and serviceware and my matroyshkas and they're going in the kiln tomorrow. Hopefully I'll have something to show for all the work I've done. I got my mugs out of the kiln and boy are they ugly! I was very disappointed in them. But I think I learned some things and hopefully my next set of things to come out of the kiln will be better. One lesson I learned: Don't try to make striped things...especially if you're in a hurry. Mine came out really wonky and ugly. :)

I'll try to get some pictures of the better ones up here soon. But for now, I think I'm going to fold my laundry and take a little nap before class this evening. This flu still has me a little wiped out.

21 years old today.

I got to go home for my 21st birthday. It was great to see my family and eat indian food and chocolate cake...sure beats all the fried food at the dorm! :) My sister gave me this necklace that she bought from a jewelry maker that she met at a craft fair in Ohio. It's made on a domino. I love it! I was never able to find stuff with my name on it when I was younger. You know, like pencils and pens and note pads...stuff like that. My siblings all had school gear with their names on it...I never did. So even as a twenty-something I still get a kick out of getting stuff with my name on it. Especially when it's creative like this. :) Thanks, Jacqueline!

Visits home are always too short. I'm looking forward to my next one at Thanksgiving!

Russian nesting dolls

I made these this weekend. Each are thrown and then hand-painted with slip. They sort of fall into the category of pots with lids because each one comes apart. Now that I think about it though...even though they're all narrow enough to fit into each other, I'm not 100% certain that they are all going to fit while wearing their lids...I'll have to check on that tomorrow! Our new project is a table service. We each have to make 3 plates, 3 bowls and 3 cups. They all have to have a theme that ties them together. I have no idea what I'm going to do with mine. I'm still sketching and trying to figure that out. I've made one bowl that came out somewhat decent. I'm hoping to make much better ones though before our next critique. I want to get another A! Oh, I want another A so badly!
Anyway, I went ahead and made these this weekend because I know that I'm going to get crazy busy with my table service and I wanted to make these before I had no more time to work on them. I got the idea during our last critique. They were fun to make. Very different from anything else I've made so far...I loved carving their features and then painting them. If you EVER have a chance to take ceramics...DO SO! It's absolutely amazing!Update: Just wanted to add that they all fit inside each other! I tested them tonight. Yay!

I made an A! I am so incredibly happy!

So I was really nervous about this second critique. I spend hours in the CAC this past week between glazing and throwing and painting...my back has been hurting from all the hunching I've been doing this week. And my hands are drying out and cracking a little bit from working with the clay and the glaze so much. But I don't mind. I made an A!


These first two pots I don't particularly care for. I like the other ones a little better.

This one has a lid now, but it wasn't dry enough to trim last night which was when I took these pictures. It looks better now.

This was inspired by Diana Fayt's work. She has a blog. Google her and see what you come up with. Her work is beautiful. This is a shoddy imitation of her work.

I decided not to put a knob on this one. I kind of liked how it looked without one. Plus, I was running really late for BCM (Baptist Campus Ministries) and decided not to mess with making a knob at 10 past 8 at night when Bible study started at 8:37 (yes, exactly at 8:37 pm) and I still needed to go home and change and I was also picking up a friend too.

I was seriously very nervous before the critique tonight. I was the 3rd to the last person to go and by the time I went I was feeling a bit sick. I was sure he was going to give me a B or lower. But he looked at them for a few minutes and then said, "wow, these are good. You can tell you've put a lot of work into them." And then after class I went to find out what my grade was and he said I got an A. If I knew how to do a backflip I would have. But I don't. So I didn't. But I was VERY happy! I was not expecting that good of a grade.

Actually, this whole week was a good week for my classes. I made As on all my tests and quizzes. :) But this one made me happiest by far!

Majolica

My teacher threw a bunch of plates and let us paint them! Even though I can't draw or paint at all it was still a really fun class.

My second critique is tonight! And I'm nervous. Although that could have less to do with my critique and more to do with the fact that I have a new job orientation this afternoon and I'm trying to finish my last-minute portfolio so I can switch majors. But I'll talk more about that later. :)

For now, I have to run. My next class starts soon and I have so much to do! I'll be back with pictures of the things I had critiqued!

Night time

It's been raining ALL week! I'm normally not a fan of the rain, but I think I've been holding up well this week despite how cold, wet and dreary it is here. As I was leaving the CAC the other night after finishing glazing my mugs (I got them all done! Yay! Can't wait to see how they turn out once they're fired!) I was just struck by how beautiful it was outside. Sure it was cold. Sure it was dark (after being a very gray day). Sure it was raining. But still, there was something about the light and the water and the colors that just seemed so lovely to me. So here is my attempt at capturing it.

I've never been able to figure out how to take photos at night. Someday I should really take a photography class. It's going on my To-Do list!

My newest jar. :)

This is the largest thing I've made so far. Trying to center 5 lbs. of clay is tough when you don't know how to do it. My arms and hands took quite a beating while I was trying to figure out how to do this. I threw the lid upside down on a plaster bat and then I threw the knob separately and used slip to attach it. Since then it's been trimmed and is now waiting to be fired...hoping it will help bring up my grade since all my other jars look rather terrible. I have two more large-ish jars to trim this week. Hopefully I can do that tomorrow and be able to throw a couple more as well to have finished on Monday. Wish me luck as my next critique is this Wednesday!

It's beginning to look a lot like autumn!

Everywhere I go!

I love love love this time of year! Even though it's very cold, it makes me so happy!

A trip home!

I went home this weekend because I needed to get my car inspected. And I needed to get my big girl license, as one of the guys from Bible study put it (I turn 21 in less than a month!). And I needed to figure out my life because I'm changing my major and I need to pick out classes for next semester and I had NO CLUE as to what to do. In the end I got my car inspected and have some idea of what to do next semester...but unfortunately I didn't have much luck at the DMV. Social Security is down till Tuesday so they can't do anything with licenses until then. Oh well, I'll have to do it some other time. Two out of three isn't bad!

In addition to doing those things I just needed to see my family. And I needed to have my retainer adjusted, which I got done on Friday afternoon when I got into town. Not that anyone wants to know that. :) After that my family went to a hotdog roast at my sister's in-laws' house. It was a lot of fun and I got to see friends I haven't seen in quite awhile! The next evening I went to my sister's house for dinner and got to see the Bible study guys and my dear friend Becca for awhile. The visit was not nearly long enough, but at least I got to see them. :) The rest of the time this weekend was spent with my family talking, going to the store, snuggling with my niece, watching The Jungle Book and carving pumpkins. Seriously, we didn't buy the Disney's The Jungle Book OR carve pumpkins until I was 19. I'm catching up on all those kiddie activities now that I'm 20. :) It's great fun!
Here are pictures of the weekend!

I carved the smiling one with the teeth...I think the reason mine got teeth is because I worked for dentists for 2 years. :) Adam carved the one with angry eyes. >:
This little puppy is Abby. She is our other Havanese (Jude's girlfriend) and she is a ball of energy. She's a riot!
And she LOVES pumpkins! She and Jude kept running over and eating the pumpkin guts (I just had to call them that, lol). They couldn't get enough!
I make the weirdest faces when I'm concentrating on things. When I was younger I did ballet and made the funniest faces while dancing. I find that I bite my lower lip while I'm doing ceramics too. Does anyone else do stuff like that while concentrating hard on something?
My *not-so-little* little brother. He came out and carved a pumpkin with me. :) Thank you, Adam!
Holly preferred to just document the whole process on film. She is actually taking a photography class and was doing homework for it. So she missed out on the pumpkin carving fun. :( Maybe next time.
I love going home. Being away makes you appreciate your family and friends and hometown more. I am so glad I live close enough to go home every so often and be with my family.

A little outdoor fun. :)

Last Sunday I had just about had enough of dorms, of towns, of college...so I called up my dear friend and asked her if she wanted to go to the state park just a few miles away and she agreed. I was in the car 5 minutes later to pick her up.
It turned out to be just the thing to cure me of my city blues. The weather was just right for climbing hills and rocks and boulders and by the end of our little visit I felt completely refreshed! Ahh...the great outdoors!
Here are some pictures from our trip!
I love these tree roots.
I'm pretty sure I took this while precariously perched on a ledge in a sort of cave. The place we visited seemed to be like a rock forest. Seriously, I felt like I was in Lord of the Rings. There weren't any real paths like you would find in a regular park. Basically we just got to run around in a forest full of trees and enormous rocks. It was amazing!

This tree is growing right out of the rock. I thought it was so cool!

Me trying to spider crawl up the rock walls...I wasn't very successful.

The overlook...so beautiful!

I loved the railing at the overlook. So cool!Looking down.

I love the colors in this picture. It's like a combination of my favorites: greens, browns...and the rocks are gray of course but they have some blueish and purplish tints to them.

It felt so old. And kind of mysterious. But that was probably just me trying to romanticize the place. It made it more fun. :)

My dear friend...since middle school actually! You can't tell from the picture, but she is pretty high up in the air.

It was such a lovely afternoon. I am such a blessed girl. I am not nearly grateful enough for the blessings in my life. I have a wonderful, supportive family. I have dear friends. I am able to go to college. I have access to a car and am able to get away from college when I've had enough and escape to the beautiful outdoors. :) I just can't begin to number all of my blessings. Most importantly, I have a Savior who loves me so much He died for me and continuously forgives me for my sins and gives me so many wonderful blessings. It's almost too good to be true, but I'm so thankful that it IS true!

Old project...

I made this skirt back in August. It is loosely based on the circle skirt from Chic and Simple Sewing (aka: most awesome sewing book ever!). The way it is different is that the one in the book has a gathered waist while this one does not. It has a zipper closure. This material is rather heavy and it would look terrible gathered. It is still pretty much a circle skirt though. It was pretty easy and quick to make, except for my zipper. I have so much trouble with zippers it's not even funny. Mine always end up looking really wonky! Speaking on wonky, that is exactly how I would describe these two photos. They're both pretty equally bad. The one on top is missing my feet...the one on the bottom is my reflection in the mirror. Our mirror has this funny thing on it...I don't want to call it a residue, but perhaps that's what it is. It won't come off though. Kind of strange, huh? Anyway, I only wore the skirt once...just to take this picture actually, because I was waiting for the weather to cool off before I wore it. Well it cooled off. So much so that now I think it's entirely too cold to wear a skirt. Even with tights (trust me, I've tried). We went straight from summer to late autumn here. I guess that's okay.

It seems sort of 'fallish' to me because of it's muted colors and the fact that it's plaid...lately I've got a thing for plaid. And I kind of like the 'lumberjack' shirts that I've seen around lately. Not that I think I would look good in a flannel lumberjack shirt, but I know people (including my little sister) who pull it off very well. :)

Anyway, I got my sewing machine back! Hopefully there will be some sewing action going on around here. I blame it on fall...my urge to craft seems to have finally found me. Last fall I hardly did any crafting...and I regretted it. One of the things I love about crafting is that it helps me to slow down and be in the now. By being both physically and mentally engaged in a task I can let go of the things that have been occupying my mind and just release some energy in a productive way. It's hard to do that while I'm at school. I guess it's why I am loving my ceramics class so much. It has the same affect. And it's quite a workout too! Boy my arms have taken a beating these past couple of months. I don't mind a bit though. :) I guess when you find something you enjoy you don't mind the little pains that come with it.