Life is funny

Hey Gang,

I know I haven't been posting all that much of the late, nor has there been much activity on my etsy page. This is mainly due to my grandfather being released home under hospice care, and my parents and I are rotating shifts watching him and taking care of him. As such, I'm a little distracted and really haven't felt like crafting things of the late. My head and heart are filled with other things.

I've been working on things to pass the time, but nothing that is really earmarked for etsy or the blog. Most of what I've created has been more to keep my hands busy and my mind clear.

Thanks for holding in there.

-Joe

Bumbling Around the Workshop

So, I'm having one of those nights where I'm cant' sleep because I have projects on the brain. Its not that uncommon for me. :-(  I've come up with some interesting ideas of terrariums, and well, i want to get working on them. BUT, peoples is sleeping and the work bench is a little too cold at the moment to go working. So, while sketching, it occurred to me that I could catch up a little on my blog.

One of the goals that I have for this blog is to show how i make things. So far, I've kind of failed at that. The biggest hurtle is remembering to take photos as I make something. All too often, I think of it as I round the bend towards completion. So, in no patcular order, here are some photos  that I remembered to take as as I worked on projects.

Yes, one of two constant companions. Koko will often only appear when she can warm herself under my heater or there is no food in her bowl.

My "other" work bench, which i really need to get a nice piece of glass to cover since some my daily use is starting to show. The Large red mushroom has glow in the dark dots on it. IT's really cool.

Some of my Concept ideas. And in the back you can see some more of my small pots. More on those later.

Just a hint what i'm working on. I'll put up some pictures later today.

So many paints for such little mushrooms. These are, as of this writing, on sale on Etsy.

Ah, tea. My stimulant of choice. I love these little red mushrooms.  A small change from the other types i've done before. Here, due to size, I've painted the dots on verses  using small dots of clay. Easier, and much more enjoyable.  These too are on Etsy.

Yeah, sleep is eluding me this morning. But, on the plus side, I will be able to see the sun rise. And after our little spat of rain, it'll be beautiful in deed.

GLHH

Latest fun stuff

As long as I can remember, I've always been fascinated by small plants. You know the type, the little things that start growing up in the small crack in the sidewalk,  between the boards in your porch, or the little things that call moss their bedding.  It's that love of small that made me interested in Bonsai at a young age.  I love the smallest of small bonsai, sizes known among bonsai enthusiasts as  mame or shohin. Technical, the smallest recognized sized is a called Keshitsubo ( or Poppy seed size), which is a plant that is no taller than 3". But I degrees.

One of the, many, issues with these small sized bonsai is finding suitable pots.  It's not that they can not be found, it's just that  the larger sizes of bonsai are more commonly  cultivated, and thus a larger variety of pots can be found for them much easier.  Which leads many people to use small cups, odd bowls, mini teapots, half of an acorn shell, etc for this shohin bonsai. And, I think this is the part of the joy of these small plants. A quick google search will show a wide range of both colors and materials of this small world.

For years I wanted to learn how to make pottery so that I could make myself the little pot designs that sprung from my head on a regular bases. But in the last few months that I've been working with polymer clay, it's only been it the last week that I had dawned on me that I could make my pots out of this wonderfully fun material. 

So, with some fun, and in some cases a paint brush, here are some of my funny little potter plants.. I'm sure my mother will have flash backs of the all time that I brought in little plants from the back yard and put them in my window.

The beginning of several pots.. Plus a fun project that I'll show off when it's ready to rock.

This little guy is cute. I just planted him today, so I'm hopping that little plant that's hanging out will be fine in a few days.

Another view of the same plant. I love the feet.

The pot on the right started off as me having some extra clay after a project. This little pot has has this moss growing for a better part of a week. The pot on the left was  planted today. Iphone to show relative size.

Close up. It's really amazing how small those plants are. I wonder how long they will stay that way.

 So, thats the collection right now. I'll most likely be adding more, and depending on how well they do, I might put a few on Etsy. At the moment I'm trying to figure how to care for them in the home, and its not easy keeping something that has less than a thimble's worth of dirt kicking.  But, i'm sure I'll figure it out.
Keep an eye out.

The Plants I love

Just a short little update, since I've been busy on other things.

I've happy to report that I've sold some of my first Items on Etsy yesterday. It makes me very happy, that it dose. The one hic-up has been a nice lady from Canada whom I've muddling through shipping questions for her to see if i can send the plants to there. We'll see.

Just wanted to show a picture of the plants. Some of these are for sale currently, other's will be posted soon as I make sure they are ready to go. I like to make sure that my plants are healthy before I even post them, and thus they are often been sitting around my house for two or three weeks before i even bring them out for pictures.

The conainters on the little card table are plants supplies, and things that I'm planning on using sometime in the future. And the big potted plants are not ever going to be seen on the Etsy site: they be for my love :-)

More posts soon.. Thanks for stopping by.

Darn Rain

Nothing like freezing in your work area.. It's been a bit cold here, and as such, several projects are being put on hold until I get better weather to let them dry out.  Nothing more annoying to find paint that's still tacky two days after being applied 0_o

But, in the mean time, here are some pictures of a gift I made for my sweetie for V-day.

"arrow Head" detail

I'm quite proud of these, as I learned to make the arrows in a single day. Yeah, a single day. My wife has a some arrows that she had gotten in the Amazon some years ago. I studied those for a sold week before starting on her arrows of love. And I started off thinking I had figured it out. 

The whole package.

The hardest part was learning how to cut and attach the feathers to the shaft. I could not find an online tutorial on how to attach the feathers with cord. SO, I had to make it up as I went along. If you look closely, you'll see the progression of how the feathers got attached. The last one was by far that best IHMO.

Another close up of the arrow heads. 

I ran out of time before she got home from work. I was planning on having a nice old fashion "specimen" style tag attached, in the style of something you would see in a museum with some cute mushy stuff on it.

Well, I need to brave the "cold" and get back to working. I need a few more things done for the "grand" opening of my Etsy Shop.

First Post

Ah, the Joy of setting up a new blog.  More fun stuff will follow as I try and keep myself busy and share a little glimpse of the life here sat A.E. Studios...