Here we go again

A woman comes into my booth, announces I've got a great idea for you.

Okay, here we go again.

Twenty years ago, somewhere on the east coast, she bought a mug. On the rim of the mug was a small blue pig. In the bottom of the mug was another blue pig, looking up at the first.

You see? You give it to your friend, and when they get to the bottom of their coffee, there's a pig looking up at them!

I patiently explain that it's not a new idea; it's been done before. Heck, I've done it before. Back when I started making cat-handled mugs, the original commission had a small mouse in the bottom of the mug, that the cat was reaching for. Positioning the mouse down in the closed space, in such a way that the glaze didn't totally obscure it, was a pain in the butt. I finally decided to place the bisqued mouse on top of the glaze and trust it to stick down as it melted in the kiln, and even so, at least one fell over and stuck on its side.

Finally gave up on the mice, kept the cats. The cat's paw dipping into the top of the coffee was much funnier, anyway.

Total eclipse of the art

Day two of Silverton Fine Arts Festival dawns, and I've yet to see the predicted hordes of eclipse-chasing art buyers. The show invested heavily in its timing and location, the weekend before Monday's total eclipse. Silverton is well inside the area of totality, and the whole town marketed itself to eclipse tourism. They warned us to book our lodging early, as local hotels and campsites were expected to sell out. Don't know about the hotels--it's only a ninety minute drive home, so we're commuting--but word is that, while Silver Falls State park is booked solid, the three parking lots that the Oregon Gardens designated for overflow camping are seeing only three or four patrons each.

Crowds are light but steady at the fair, sales are about average for this day at this show. I'm seeing a lot of familiar faces, including a the daughter of a potter friend who drove down from Vancouver, WA to pick up two more items for her octopus pot collection. Fortunately, I didn't take everything I had in that pattern up to Anacortes, so she was able to score a dinner plate and pilsner glass.

I've seen a lot of eclipse-commemorative artwork. Several of the painters have themed paintings and prints, including the young artist who did this year's poster image. Nicest is probably the cold-cast aluminum (aluminum powder in a resin base) steam-punk styled pendants at a booth across the way. Tempted to pick one up, as they're only twenty bucks, but that's balanced by my aversion to souvenirs. Time will tell.

Potter Dave Parry has eclipse mugs in his booth. Wait, is this a thing? Should I have done that? His decorating style is much better adapted to the subject matter, featuring abstract, vaguely astronomical colored orbs and scribed black lines. The eclipse pattern fits right in. No idea what I could have done; perhaps the Rabbit in the Moon from Chinese folklore?

Nah. Last time I tried to jump on event-based patterns, for a Rhododendron Festival, I ended up with two boxes full of unsold mugs.