Lovely Stories

recently i've discovered a wonderful new podcast from themoth.org. folks get up on stage and tell true stories without notes. it is soooo wonderful! i've becomed very intrigued with the NYC playwright Edgar Oliver~ what a wonderful unique person! he's really too complex to even begin to explain, but he is very inspiring, i think.

Slow Days....

boy, September has been off to an amazingly slow start sales wise. i listen to Marketplace on NPR with such trepidation lately... sighhhh. at any rate, it has allowed me to get a lot done, and start getting stock ready for the Holidays! yay! hannah has been coming in twice a week to make batches of wild soap (new fragrance blend of frankincense and myrrh with golden sparkles in it!) she also made a bunch of buddhas.. prompting her to start singing "golden buddhas fill my mind...."

rainy days.....

we've been having hurricane rains come through lately, it has been very very slow at the shop this week! but i have been able to get a lot done, including getting a lot of soap wrapped up and Hannah made a new batch of wonderful lip balm (most of which is now labeled! yay!)

i've also been working on a bunch of new card ideas.....mmmm. stay tuned! above is one i've been so excited to make, i finally got my japanese maple leaf punch--i've had the lovely red vellum for some time now.

my first design project!

oh, this was so exciting! last week i had a very enthusiastic customer come in my shop (which is always great) and like it so much that she called me the next day to see if i would design a logo for her new project--a scarf felting project! her description of what she was going for was so wonderful, i sat right down and sketched it out, and she came in a few days later and LOVED it! i was so thrilled.

best of all is that i'm trading my services for one of her wonderful photographs. it features a lot of green moss and reminds me of my dear friend Ariel. plus, i found out later that the picture was actually taken in Napa California where Ariel took me on my most recent visit! too cool!!

check out more great photos at annwilkinsonphotography.com or annwilkinson.etsy.com

her new project is called "Carpetbaggers felting Project" toooo cool. i'll post links to that as soon as she gets it up! the scarves she makes are amazing.

with the Goats!

one fine evening last week Hannah invited me out to take photographs of her animals and family (Jasper). it was wonderful! Jeremy went with me and i had a blast trying to chase them and get a good shot. they were all actually very photogenic!

Hannah makes wonderful goatsmilk soap from Rosie's milk and other fine ingredients. she is constantly coming up with ways to make soap from local and natural ingredients that will not disrupt one's endocrine system. it makes my shop smell wonderful and gives me an excuse to buy paper to wrap them in.

"flora" ceramics

So busy the past few weeks! it was Jeremy's birthday week and i also had my aunt brenda in town for a visit. she is not only very fun to be around, but she's my best patron! luckily we fired a kiln load full of things before she got here.

i've been continuing my series of flora impressions with more queen anne's lace, some neat weed that had wonderful little leaves.. yesterday i did two great platters with some tiny white clemetis from my grandparents porch and some memosa leaves--which made a very strange and soft impression. i also did some platters with re-created lotus blossoms after they fell off my plant. very curious as to how they will turn out!!!

Metalsmithing Class

this week i started a little jewelry class for cutting, forging, and soldiering metal! a local lady teaches at her home studio which i very nice and perhaps even messier than my studio! very encouraging. last night was my first class, a birthday present from my parents!

i got to use a roller that allows you to transfer patterns from objects (leaves, sandpaper, cheesecloth, onion bags, etc) onto your metal of choice. i can see getting very addicted to this tool! i opted for a cheesecloth gauze on brass circle and sandpaper on copper for the triangle that was supposed to end up on the bottom. i didn't like the design from the beginning, but it was the assignment, and my triangle looked very silly (although nice texture)... so i took them home, took them apart, added some lovely little vintage german glass beads on gold, and voila! i also etched "lurve always" on the back and plan to give them to my mom :)

can't wait to go back!