11-11-11

Freedom is never free. - Author Unknown

Today is Veterans Day, a day when we honor all of the men who have served in our nations military. Hopefully it is a day when we reflect on how blessed we are to live in freedom and consider the sacrifices of all who have served to give us that opportunity.

My husband is a former Marine. Soon after we married, his reserve unit was called to serve in Operation Desert Storm. Even though it's been many years now, it is all vivid in my thoughts especially on a day like today. I remember getting the news that he would be leaving shortly after Thanksgiving, the difficult goodbyes, the anxiety of not knowing where he was or how he was, the long weeks with no news at all...and that was only on my end.

I know conditions were difficult at best for him over there. He doesn't talk much about what happened, but from the photos he brought back and some of the stories he has told us....I can't even imagine what it was really like.

I recall sitting alone on the floor of my living room watching the first bombs begin to drop over Iraq, seeing the grainy images of tracer fire across the sky. I remember friends and family who called (by phone...these were days before email, cell phones and texting) with words of comfort and support.

I believe our best friends broke land speed records to be with me that night, and I know my dad made a trip from Virginia. I have memories of the two of us sitting and watching as war began to unfold. Thankfully, it was over so much more quickly than many of the wars in our past. I remember the great joy and relief I felt when the news came that the war had ended - just six months after he left, he returned home.

I think of how very blessed I felt to have it turn out the way it did. I think of the many long and bloody conflicts in our past. I think of the families of so many that never returned.

Today, I would like to salute him along with all the others who have made the difficult sacrifices necessary to preserve the freedom we all enjoy. Thank You Tim - I love you.

Tim and Ben about 1995

Dance Around the Garden...

wings whispering through the air...

This is a recent glass piece I created. I really need about 10 more pieces for upcoming shows...I need to get in gear!

I'm learning this time of year is extremely busy for festivals and shows. I thought I was getting ahead of things this summer, but maybe not so much : )

I have a show this coming weekend, the next weekend and then the first weekend of December. I'm also open to scheduling more if opportunity arises.

So, I just have to create whenever I have a minute here or there...

I had a great time in Anderson this past weekend. I met some really nice people among the customers and the other vendors. There was an adorable older lady that did these incredible smocked dresses. She told me that the smocking alone took her 3 - 4 hours. Her prices were far too low to even cover the cost of her time. She said people wouldn't pay more...

Friday Night at Mistletoe Market

Tonight was the first night of Mistletoe Market. My mom went down to Anderson with me and helped me set up for the show. She had already taken my big box of pendants home with her this week and spent time organizing them into categories, colors, styles, etc.

This was a huge help when putting them on display...oh, she did that too! Thanks Mom for all your help! I loved having you with me.

We got to the museums about 2:15 and were finished setting up just about the time the first customers came in at 4:00. There was a pretty good crowd there tonight. The event was very well organized. I enjoyed meeting the people who had been sending me advance emails in person.

A colonnade at the entrance of the museum

A fountain outside the museum

My booth

A few new enameled copper pendants

Mistletoe Market

This weekend I will be at the Eighth Annual Mistletoe Market at the Anderson County Museum. This officially kicks off the holiday season for me as far as shows go, and I am excited to be doing a show I haven't done in the past. If you are planning on going to the MM this weekend, please stop by and visit my booth. I've been working since the summer on Christmas pendants for this and other shows coming up this month. Below is the information for the Mistletoe Market and a few photos of more holiday pendants.

The Eighth Annual Mistletoe Market hosted by the Friends of the Anderson County Museum will be held November 4 & 5, 2011 at the museum. The Mistletoe Market, a juried show, marks the start of the holiday shopping season in the upstate and features artisans and crafters from all over Upstate SC and Georgia. This year’s market is the largest to date with thirty-four vendors. The Friends will host a “Sip & Shop” with refreshments on opening night, Friday, November 5, from 4pm until 8pm. On Saturday, November 5, the Market is open from 10am until 5pm. To allow parents time to shop uninterrupted, ACM will have a program for children under eight years of age at 10 a.m. and at noon. Each program will last approximately one hour. The children will make turkey centerpieces to take home for their Thanksgiving table. For more information about the Market, you can call the Museum at 864/260-4737 or contact Catherine Luplow, Market Coordinator, at acmmarkets@hotmail.com.

November Days

It is hard to believe November is upon us already!

It is a downhill run now to Thanksgiving and Christmas. I adore this time of year! I love the quickly changing season, the chilly air, the bustle of the holidays.

I also love this Robert Frost poem about November. Although, I'm sure it probably has some deep literary meaning, i like the imagery he uses to capture the feeling of November. I've posted it before, but it seems so appropriate today. Maybe I'll post every November first.

My Sorrow, when she's here with me,
Thinks these dark days of autumn rain
Are beautiful as days can be;
She loves the bare, the withered tree;
She walks the sodden pasture lane.

Her pleasure will not let me stay.
She talks and I am fain to list:
She's glad the birds are gone away,
She's glad her simple worsted grey
Is silver now with clinging mist.

The desolate, deserted trees,
The faded earth, the heavy sky,
The beauties she so truly sees,
She thinks I have no eye for these,
And vexes me for reason why.

Not yesterday I learned to know
The love of bare November days
Before the coming of the snow,
But it were vain to tell her so,
And they are better for her praise

Time and Love

Gifts of time and love are surely the basic ingredients of a truly merry Christmas.
- Peg Bracken

This past weekend, I spent some time on another batch of Christmas pendants. I made more of the snowflake pendants, experimenting with different types, textures and colors of glass. I also made more trees. I love playing around with these, seeing how many variations can be created on a theme. I did a few that were tack fused rather than doing a full fuse. This just means that I don't bring them all the way up to 1550 degrees, but rather hold them at a lower temperature. Tack fusing allows the glass to melt together, but it retains more texture and shape. You an see tack fusing in some of the pendants below.

Enchanting Snowflakes

The first fall of snow is not only an event, it is a magical event. You go to bed in one kind of a world and wake up in another quite different, and if this is not enchantment then where is it to be found?
- J.B. Priestly

Halloween Creations

I'm posting a few pendants created for Halloween for Kristin's Share Your Creations Party. Halloween brings back such wonderful memories for me! I love this time of year.

This is my booth at a local October evening art festival.

A Booth in Progress...

It seems like My booth is perpetually changing. I am still working on the display piece in the center of the table. I junked the paint trays and s hooks because the pendants were difficult to pick up. I figured out that I could use heavy duty foam core boards with thin strip "shelves" to hold the pendants. I glued dollar store chip clips to the back to attach the boards to the curtain rod suspended between the two metal folding shelves. The angle of the boards pretty much keeps the pendants from falling.

I really liked the chandelier I used the other night at the evening festival. It just added something to the booth, but I don't often need light at these things and so I can't see dragging it along all the time. But, I happened to run across a cool faux chandelier at Hobby Lobby. I combined it with some black and white paper lanterns that I already had in my stock. I thought it added a little whimsy to my booth.

Trees for the Forest

Here are a few more Christmas Pendants. I put another large batch in the kiln last night and can't wait to see how they turn out. I experimented with some new glass, and I hope it worked, but sometimes it just doesn't do exactly what I expect.

Christmas Baking in a Very Hot Oven

When I was a child, it seemed like Christmas took forever to arrive - not so much anymore! It really doesn't seem possible that another Christmas season is almost here. It is October!

Now, don't get me wrong, I adore Christmas...everything about it. I love that we have a time each year to pause and reflect on the birth of Christ so many years ago! I am so grateful that He chose to humble himself and become a man. It hurts my brain to consider His humility and the boundless love demonstrated in His death on the cross for me.

I know some people get upset by the slowly expanding length of the Christmas season, but I don't even mind that. More time to celebrate!

I have several shows and events scheduled for this time of year, one at the beginning of November is called the Mistletoe Market and is being held at the Anderson County Museum of Art. After that I have a few other smaller events and then I am doing Holiday Fair for the very first time. It's a big 3 day show at the beginning of December.

So, this weekend, I decided that I'd better get busy and start creating some of the Christmas pendants that I started a few years back. Working on them, kind of reminds me of baking trays of decorated Christmas cookies...cutting the shapes, deciding on the right decoration, putting them in the oven and waiting for the magic to happen.

Okay, the oven is 1550 degrees and the "cookies" are completely inedible...but it's kind of the same.

A Much Bigger Crowd at Night!

There were so many more people downtown last night for the Friday night special edition SLAM (Saturday Local Art Market). Of course, the nighttime version of SLAM required an added element to my booth setup - lighting.

I found a cool Chandelier at Hobby Lobby, and thankfully, it was 50% off this week. I also added one of those clip on lights that I picked up at Home Depot, a string of clear Christmas lights, some rechargeable tea lights, and some solar powered paper lanterns. I was really pleased with the way everything looked. Of course, it did take a good bit longer to setup than normal. I was grateful that my mom, dad and husband got there to help me!

I had also been tweaking my display a little bit, and it was mostly successful. I still need to work on it a bit. I replaced the paint trays and s-hooks with boards that have narrow wood strip ledges. The black paint was chipping off the boards a little too much, but the pendants stayed on the little ledges, and people were able to pick them up and put them back easily - much easier than the s-hook thing. Sp, I just need to use a different material for the boards and I think I will work fine.

Fashion on the Town

Tonight and tomorrow night The Saturday Local Art Market is participating in Fashion on the Town. I couldn't be there tonight, but will be one of the vendors tomorrow. I did make it by there a little bit later to check out the setup. I thought it looked great! Its a perfect night tonight, cool, but not cold, and perfectly clear. I thought SLAM had such a nice vibe at night. The lighted tents were beautiful. There was even a guy playing a steel kettle drum. I am looking forward to being a part of it tomorrow night!

Highfalutin Work

Creativity is a highfalutin word for the work I have to do between now and Tuesday.
Ray Kroc

I've written before on how much fun it is to design a logo. I was looking at some old notebooks from work and found some initial sketches for a logo designed a couple of years ago. I thought it was interesting to see how closely the final logo matched the first scribbles.

October Eves!

“Listen! The wind is rising, and the air is wild with leaves,
We have had our summer evenings, now for October eves!”
Humbert Wolfe

So, it's October! I love this time of year. I love cool days, blue skies, golden leaves, football, sweaters, and Halloween...everything that is fall.

Someone asked me if I had any Halloween pendants the other day. I hadn't made anything, so this past weekend I spent time working on a few. It was fun to do silly jack-o-lanterns, and black cats for a change.

It brought back memories of all the fun Halloween nights I had growing up. I spent weeks thinking about and preparing my costume for the night. One year I created an elaborate Raggedy Ann costume, complete with red yarn hair, and striped socks. This was back before costume stores came to be, at least in our small town. So, we had to come up with our costumes using things we had around the house. It really required a heap of imagination in those days.

We were always so excited. I clearly remember waiting impatiently for it to get dark so we could set out on our candy quest. I have wonderful, warm memories of cool nights, paper grocery sacks filled with candy loot, popcorn balls and caramel apples.