![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
offcntrWas scrolling Instagram yesterday, and saw that Ursula Vernon (@redwombatstudio) was in Australia and had posted a picture of a black swan. I'd just seen one much closer to home.
In the new rain diversion garden at Saturday Market.
Yup, it's a swan dive into the new Market Season. All the usual features were there: dozens of new members, grey skies, cold wind, rain during takedown. Street preacher with a megaphone.
It was great to be back.
Set-up in slow motion, trying to remember back to the last time I did this, in October. Nothing forgotten at home, and only two mistakes: I put one shelf on backwards, and had to remove the stew mugs and banks to flip it around, so the anchors for my magnetic signs were facing me, rather than the neighbor's booth. And I had to make an extra run up to the OverPark to fetch the fire extinguisher I'd left in the van. Good thing, too. The Fire Marshall came through on inspection not fifteen minutes later, and my neighbor, Cheri, got a scolding for leaving hers at home.
What with the cold and wind, we had a slow start; think I'd only sold one piece by the time Denise arrived at 11:30. Things picked up after lunch, and I sold a few larger pieces, a serving bowl, a couple of bakers, two banks, as well as the usual mugs and tumblers. Had a nice chat with the chair of the Art Student Association at Lane Community College that might lead to me teaching a brushmaking workshop there. I've done it in the past, though it's probably ten year ago by now.
Talked lots of college students. A few bought Mother's Day presents, one got a couple of Denise's watercolor cards to frame as tiny wall art, and a bunch of them took cards and talked about what they wanted to get when they moved into their first apartments next year. One of them said "Minimalism is out. White is boring--we're bringing back Maximalism!" A girl after my own heart.
I have a few new neighbors this year. Three of the neighboring potters, Danny and Cheri and Nicole, are back, but the fourth, Emily, has moved to a space around the corner on East Lawn, and Brandy the lampwork bead maker is now over the wall behind me, closer to the stage and food booths. In her place is Mel, a woodworker from Albany; in Emily's spot is Ed, a metalsmith from just north of Roseburg. Makes me appreciate my end-of-day commute, only 15 minutes up River Road.
Spent a good bit of the day explaining the physics of my Incense dragons. They're basically little updraft kilns--air vents around the base, fuel (incense cone or stick) in the chamber, neck is a chimney, voila! dragon breathes smoke! Only sold one, though again, gave out a lot of cards to students looking toward furnishing their future apartments. I also turned down the guy who wanted one where the smoke came out of its butthole. Quite apart from matters of good taste, the physics won't work. Smoke rises, so unless the butt is higher than the head... you know, let's not go there.
I also turned down a commission for a salt pig. The sample she showed me looked rather like this, a form that is not particularly interesting, but surprisingly difficult to make, if you're not slip casting. Not simple to throw, possibly could be thrown-and-altered or coil-built, but you know? I just don't wanna. I've got so many orders going right now, and this one doesn't sound fun.
Thought we might get through the day dry, even looked like the clouds were thinning, but promptly at 4 pm, it started to rain. Let up a little at quarter of five when I was loading my boxes into the van, but rained even harder while I was taking down the booth and shelves. I'm hoping for a sunny day this week where I can pull everything out to dry. Wouldn't want my canopy to mildew.
Still in all, a good day. Sold a bit over $600, including a fox tall mug as I was packing up.
In the new rain diversion garden at Saturday Market.
Yup, it's a swan dive into the new Market Season. All the usual features were there: dozens of new members, grey skies, cold wind, rain during takedown. Street preacher with a megaphone.
It was great to be back.
Set-up in slow motion, trying to remember back to the last time I did this, in October. Nothing forgotten at home, and only two mistakes: I put one shelf on backwards, and had to remove the stew mugs and banks to flip it around, so the anchors for my magnetic signs were facing me, rather than the neighbor's booth. And I had to make an extra run up to the OverPark to fetch the fire extinguisher I'd left in the van. Good thing, too. The Fire Marshall came through on inspection not fifteen minutes later, and my neighbor, Cheri, got a scolding for leaving hers at home.
What with the cold and wind, we had a slow start; think I'd only sold one piece by the time Denise arrived at 11:30. Things picked up after lunch, and I sold a few larger pieces, a serving bowl, a couple of bakers, two banks, as well as the usual mugs and tumblers. Had a nice chat with the chair of the Art Student Association at Lane Community College that might lead to me teaching a brushmaking workshop there. I've done it in the past, though it's probably ten year ago by now.
Talked lots of college students. A few bought Mother's Day presents, one got a couple of Denise's watercolor cards to frame as tiny wall art, and a bunch of them took cards and talked about what they wanted to get when they moved into their first apartments next year. One of them said "Minimalism is out. White is boring--we're bringing back Maximalism!" A girl after my own heart.
I have a few new neighbors this year. Three of the neighboring potters, Danny and Cheri and Nicole, are back, but the fourth, Emily, has moved to a space around the corner on East Lawn, and Brandy the lampwork bead maker is now over the wall behind me, closer to the stage and food booths. In her place is Mel, a woodworker from Albany; in Emily's spot is Ed, a metalsmith from just north of Roseburg. Makes me appreciate my end-of-day commute, only 15 minutes up River Road.
Spent a good bit of the day explaining the physics of my Incense dragons. They're basically little updraft kilns--air vents around the base, fuel (incense cone or stick) in the chamber, neck is a chimney, voila! dragon breathes smoke! Only sold one, though again, gave out a lot of cards to students looking toward furnishing their future apartments. I also turned down the guy who wanted one where the smoke came out of its butthole. Quite apart from matters of good taste, the physics won't work. Smoke rises, so unless the butt is higher than the head... you know, let's not go there.
I also turned down a commission for a salt pig. The sample she showed me looked rather like this, a form that is not particularly interesting, but surprisingly difficult to make, if you're not slip casting. Not simple to throw, possibly could be thrown-and-altered or coil-built, but you know? I just don't wanna. I've got so many orders going right now, and this one doesn't sound fun.
Thought we might get through the day dry, even looked like the clouds were thinning, but promptly at 4 pm, it started to rain. Let up a little at quarter of five when I was loading my boxes into the van, but rained even harder while I was taking down the booth and shelves. I'm hoping for a sunny day this week where I can pull everything out to dry. Wouldn't want my canopy to mildew.
Still in all, a good day. Sold a bit over $600, including a fox tall mug as I was packing up.
no subject
Date: 2024-04-08 01:05 pm (UTC)I could see that working for a stretching cat without being too distasteful
(That classic cat pose of tail end up, fore body down doing a big stretch)
no subject
Date: 2024-04-08 03:40 pm (UTC)The dragons are also super cute. Has anyone asked you to make a pipe or a bong yet?
no subject
Date: 2024-04-09 05:15 am (UTC)Funny thing about the dragons--when I started making them, I didn't even sell them myself. Got permission from Market to let Andy sell them in a package with his incense sticks, just because I expected people to think they were bongs. (And as a very square non-smoker, I didn't want to deal with that.)
After Andy retired, I started selling them myself, and only once in thirty years has the subject come up.