Dragonsglass

Why you ask? Because I have been working in the studio. On conditioning the clay and baking sheets for the next window and making canes. My cane mojo seems to have returned with a vengeance.

So, yesterday I made a cane that I *was* going to reduce at my guild meeting on saturday. I had gotten taged to do a large cane reduction demo. Well, that dang cane just sat there on my clay table and taunted me so much I couldn’t handle it. Today, I gave in and reduced it. Pictures for y’all.

Yep, it turned out right nicely I am thinking. Back to the clay room for either a purple hibiscus or a colorful lizard. I need a large cane for Saturday

after touching clay again at my guild meeting, I did get a chance to clay ALL DAY on Monday. I had fun making my “tropical nights” blend and decided to make a variation of the blend with varied sized stripes. Here is the blend.

Then I decided I wanted to try to make a Maniguette style bracelet using my favorite blend. She was nice enough to translate the pictorial tutorial into English for this language challenged clayer. Of course I don’t have the PCE Extruder and disks so I had to back up and punt. What I ended up using is a piece of bamboo cut to 1/3 as the “trough” to shape the top. I think I will find or make a new trough that isn’t as deep as the bamboo one. I even amazed myself with sanding the pieces all the way through all of my grits. I haven’t sealed it with any finish, it is just buffed to the 9’s. I guess I should shut up and just show you the bracelet eh? Well here it is.

I think I will make a few more of these in different colored blends. I can also see a few different things I would like to try besides the back filling or for that matter WITH the back filling to adapt it a bit more. Maniguette has beautiful things on her blog, drop by and see all her pretties!

Yes, I pretty much finished getting things put away and weeded out. I had my guild meeting this morning and made a nice skinner blend then came home motivated to get enough done that I can clay tomorrow. I will admit I still have to go through two boxes that contain the file cabinet items and shred what I don’t need, plus combine two large rubbermaid containers into the yarn container, but besides that, it is all done. I will deal with that this coming week as I am taking pictures of things to put up for sale.

I need to introduce one of my studio mascots. (one of eight) Zuma is our giant “pear” cat. Her favorite position is flat on her back or twisted into a pretzel shape. As I was taking pictures of how the clay room looks now she came in and promptly flopped on the floor and posed for me.

Starting from the doorway you see my closet stock. In there I have my beads, items to cover, large canes, and one double rolling cart with items all neatly in the drawers (not labeled yet).

Next you can see my tower of clay and clay table. I am weird, I am a left handed pasta machine user. (no, I am actually right handed but when I started claying I had a bad right shoulder and now, I am not comfie using the PM on my right side) Already laid out are some sheets I created over a month ago, waiting for me to create something with them.

Next…the computer corner. Soon the desktop will be gone (though I will hang on to the monitor to hook into the notebook) This is where I have my inspiration board, some items I ahve gotten in trades and swaps, the anodizer is tucked down in the shelf unit along with some of my clay dvd’s. The file cabinet is hidden by the two boxes I still need to go through.

Finally, my book case wall. This has my clay books, my Anne McCaffrey books and my beloved dragon collection. Sitting at the base of the book caseare the two boxes full of items I have weeded out to sell. Nope….not telling you whats in them. You will just have to wait.

I am sure that I will be doing some tweaking on where things are stored or how I have things set up, but for now I am pretty happy with how it looks. I do have a small table that I can set my photo cube on for taking good pictures, my easel is tucked under the clay table along with the canvases, in case I want to paint. It has been a hard road getting this room all set up, but one I am actually happy that I took. The energy in the room feels wonderful and I have a feeling that the energy will translate in to happy creating. Until the next post, happy claying!

I swear it seems like all I am doing is moving items from one place to another and am no closer to being able to sit down and clay. I will admit I *did* get a few things in place. Another thing I did manage to get done was to get my shelf of dragons up. I am happy with that

There are dragons from Linda Weeks, Kathy Davis, Eva Eriksen, Pat Osmundsen, Moe Taylorson, Christi Friesen, Fae Moon, and one I made (and kept to remind me why I don’t sculpt)

I emptied three boxes and got magazines, books and some videos up on shelves. Today I put up a table and set aside the items I will be selling and the items I will be getting organized and labeled. I do have a computer working in there but for some reason Bertha does not want to connect with the internet. This was the last straw for me with her. As I am sorting I will also be burning stuff off her HD that I want to keep and then I will wipe her clean, put a new OS on her and offer her to who ever wants her. I will admit she is a good computer, for a PC, and deserves a good home. I am just happier using my MacBook Pro.

So here are pictures from yesterday. Does it even look like I made any progress? Oy.

I keep hoping that it will be done when I wake up but nope….so I guess I need to get off the sofa and get into the room and back to work. I hope everyone has a clayful day!

This is turning into long labor! I seem to have more stuff then room, even with the added storage I got. Guess there will be a “great studio sale” after this birth is over.

I started in bright and early this morning totally backwards, by bringing stuff in and then going “DOH” when I realized I needed floor space to build the desk and shelf unit. So I took some pictures before the great construction began. Here is the partially loaded room.

After moving things to the walls I attacked the desk and cabinet, got them built and set where I think I want them. I got the computer hooked up first thing and then got my clay table in place and my cabinet that holds my clay right next to it. My next step was to bring in more stuff. Not that I have put anything away yet, but hey…at least I know I will have too much stuff to put away.

I finally ran out of steam about 4pm this afternoon and took the after construction pictures. Here they are.

Tomorrow I will start in getting my supplies all organized and labeled. I have enough drawers, containers and shelves. I just need to get items on/in to them in a neater manner then I have been doing. And maybe, just maybe I can get a wee bit of claying in. Who knows, I may even find my jewelers saw blades! they have been MIA for three weeks. Happy claying!