Brisk

It was... brisk setting up for Market yesterday. No, to be honest, it was f---ing cold. Snowy owl weather. As in, I could see my breath.

Weather varies wildly over the day, this time of year, so I tend to dress for the middle range. In this case, I wore my usual t-shirt and shorts, compression socks, Birkenstocks, with my wool flat cap and a flannel over-shirt, basically the same as last week. Last week, I was warm enough to ditch the flannel by the time the van was unloaded. This week, I was seriously wishing for long pants and wool socks.

Fortunately for me, I'd forgotten the cooler for Farmer's Market produce on the kitchen floor, so when Denise called to ask if I wanted her to bring it down, I was able to add woolly sox to the trip, which kept my toes toasty until the sun finally hit my booth.

Day started super busy, three sales, over $100, before we even opened (the first before I left for Farmer's Market at 9 am). After that it slowed down considerably, but in the meantime, lots of old friends stopped in to say hello: Braden, who'd been a student of mine in the Craft Center days. Renate and Wilson, a delightful older couple who used to buy plates for their grandkids, now grown. Doug the former folk DJ on KWVA. Cindy, a dorm neighbor from my UO days.

Got another one asking where the signature is on my pots, so once again, I explain that where I learned my pottery, in the Midwest, we stamp our pots. Signing them is for coastal elites with inflated egos, or something. In any case, I'd rather spend my brush time painting pictures on the top of the pot, not on a signature on the bottom.

It's kind of a truism among crafters that, if they say they'll be back later, you'll never see them again, but I frequently have better luck. Like the woman who was really taken with the stegosaur bank, but said she had to think about it. She thought for all of ten minutes before coming back to take it away. And the fresh-faced young redhead who said he'd come back with his friends later not only brought them in to see the booth, all three wound up buying a mug.

Three different people put their fingers in the elephant bank's trunk--unprompted--so I got to do my elephant impression. Two of them were kids, one not. Guess it was a whimsical day. Talked favorite animals with another customer, and now I'm thinking I may need to try drawing a bighorn sheep next firing.

City of Eugene has finally acknowledged that their broken parking meters are a problem. They no longer take coins, only credit/debit cards, but only say that on a hard-to-read screen, so every week I'm out there explaining to disgruntled drivers why the coin slot seems to be jammed. I'd been thinking of printing up stickers, but the city beat me to it. They've taken out the coin reservoir, slid a piece of sheet metal over the coin slot, and put a little sticker next to it saying they only take card while being repaired. I have my doubts about whether repairs will be forthcoming. Time will tell.

It seemed to be a fox day--two tumblers, a covered crock and a french butter dish, all to different customers. That's a thing that happens sometimes, for no discernible reason, I'll just have a run on one pattern. Last week it was bunnies, though admittedly, three were to the same buyer.

Finally distributed all the special orders from the last firing, so I'll have one less box to pack next week. Ended the day with $570 in sales, $35 of which were for Denise's cards, and went from load-out to a church barbecue, where we ate pulled pork, barbecued chicken, German potato salad, corn/tomato salad, and watermelon slices. And I didn't have to cook supper.

Bliss.

You can tell it's fall

Not only by my frozen toesies, but by the fact that I'm preparing for Inktober! This will be the sixth year that I've challenged myself to do a drawing a day for the entire month, with bonus drawings until the sketchbook runs out. I've bound my new sketchbook for the year, using paper projects from previous Emerald Book and Paper Arts workshops.

Note the clever little "6" in "Octob6r."

Magic

I've added a new podcast to my studio rotation. Worldbuilding for Masochists features three SF/Fantasy authors talking with a guest author about some aspect of worldbuilding. So far, I've listened to MJ Kuhn, Cherie Priest, Rebecca Roanhorse, Mur Lafferty and Seanan McGuire.

One of the things they do at the end of every podcast is invite the guest to add a bit of worldbuilding to their ongoing shared universe. Got me thinking about what I'd add, given the opportunity. And I think I have the answer.

Craft-based magic systems.

I imagine fixing a spell into tangible form, for use later, fired into a pot or blown into a bottle, stitched into knitting or crochet. I don't mean en-spelling craft objects--a sweater that keeps you at the perfect temperature, a crock that preserves the food stored in it. I mean making the spell as the act of making the object. The spell holds its shape until the piece is broken, at which point it's released to act.

I'd think wheel-thrown pots or blown glass would hold fairly simple spells, though you could add layers with glaze or gathering cullet or frit to the glass bubble. Coil-built pots could hold longer or more complicated spells, though for real complexity, I'd go with fiber arts.

This also gives us different modes of action. Pottery or glass spells are quick-release, break it and away it goes. Trap a fireball spell in a jug to make a gunpowder-free grenade.

Knitted spells can be released a little at a time. A scarf of healing could unravel a couple of rows for a blister, or the whole thing for a sucking chest wound. The fourth Doctor's scarf could clear the whole Emergency Ward.

I'm not sure how metal-work fits into the system. Perhaps long-term, archival storage that can only be released by smelting it down again? (Although it occurs to me that forging a teleport spell into a sword, as a hedge against it breaking in battle, could be a wise precaution.)

And now I'm wondering about spell books. Tear out a page like a coupon? So many possibilities.

If only I had a plot to go with it.