Wheel Throwing- Night one

One of my goals for the new year is to finally learn to throw pots on a wheel- like it or hate it, I want to learn it. In order to achieve this, I signed up for the Wheel Throwing I &II class at Kentucky Mudworks which is a ceramics studio right outside of downtown. My first class was on Monday night and I was the only beginner in the class, everyone else was there for the intermediate part of the class. It took me a good hour of the class just to be able to center my clay on the wheel, I was really struggling for awhile. After I got comfortable centering my clay things started going a lot smoother and by the end I had one symmetrical bowl (and five other pieces that weren't very good, but I kept them for practicing other things on later.)

Christmas of the Cowl

In my mind, 2012 will go down as the Christmas of the cowl. I love cowls because they are warm in just the right spot and can be worn in multiple ways depending on your mood and the weather. Of the cowls I made this season, the Burberry Inspired Cowl from the Garter Girl was by far my favorite. Chunky yarn, large needles and huge cables make this project fly; I used two skeins of Cascade's Baby Alpaca Chunky (if I haven't mentioned it in the past, this is one of my favorite yarns to work with) and finished the project in under two days.

Annual New Year Post

Well it's the start of a new year which means it is time for me to set the New Year's resolutions that I might or might not keep. Either way, I think it is good to stay with tradition and at least set some goals so I don't wander through 2012 completely aimless.

Let's start with last year's resolutions...

1. Organize a free public showing of Handmade Nation followed by a panel discussion.
OMG, I actually did this. Not sure how effective it was in encouraging creativity in Lexington, but it did help keep me on track for the early part of the year.
2. Organize mend.- Quarterly events focused on fixing things that are broken instead of throwing them out.
I had one mend event with a very slight showing, got frustrated and that was the end of that.
3. Volunteer more (also more cross promotion of local organizations.)
I volunteered about 85 hours this year which might be my worst year ever in terms of time spent helping others. I did a little cross promotion with the shop and events, but for the most part this goal got lost in the shuffle.
4. Obligatory goals- read 50 books, see 50 bands, watch 50 of the 1001 movies
Yikes, I totally missed the mark on this one. I saw over 100 bands this year, but only read about 30 books and while I didn't keep track of the movies I watched this year, I am willing to bet I didn't see more than 10 of the 1001. I did join a book group which was a 2010 goal so strap that on and average everything out.
5. Do one thing every day to make my world a better place.
What kind of abstract bullshit is this? I don't have any idea if I met the mark on this sucker. I had a great year so I will just assume I did this.
6. Let people know when they do something I find wonderful and/or inspiring.
I totally did this. At the beginning of the year my compliments were often returned with a questioning doubt and by the end of the year people seemed more accepting of my feedback which makes me feel like I succeeded in this goal.

Now for 2012
1. Obligatory goals- read 50 books, see 50 bands, watch 50 of the 1001 movies
2. Start blogging again, if only once a week.
3. Do a 365, well 366, photo project working on style and digital manipulation.
4. Set up a series of specialty fiber classes and workshops as part of the shop move this summer.
5. Learn to wheelthrowing (for Christmas and my birthday I asked for gift certificates to Kentucky Mudworks and I am planning to take their awesome beginning class starting in February.)

Sunflower

A few months ago I pulled out several of my toy cameras and started shooting film again. Unfortunately, this came with the realization that film processing ain't what it used to be. Getting my film processed the way I want, when I want is a thing of the past, now my non-traditional processing requires mailing my film to a far away lab and hoping for the best. At first I was frustrated by this, but over the course of the last few weeks I have been experimenting with different methods of shooting and transferring images. While I still like to keep the digital side to a minimum, I am using more and more digital transfer and acquisition methods. Whike I am waiting for my film to be processed and scanned, here is a digital image taken with a frankenstein version of my camera.

Morning Sunflower- Nikon dslr with a holga lens and a blue soft surround filter.

Day 29: Journal

June is almost done and with July fast approaching, I decided now is a good time to set a new month long goal. I have been reading a lot about modern information overload (which of course only adds to my personal overload) and have decided that for the month of July I am going on a media diet. Basically I want to cut out all of the unnecessary time I spend staring at screens so the plan is to spend none of my non-work time on a computer and even though I need to use the computer for work, I am only allowing myself 15 minutes of facebook per day and 15 minutes of personal email.

Instead of wasting my free time online, I plan to fill it with reading (only fiction), exploring, talking with friends, and creative activities. I also want to keep a journal of my month so for today's creative act I gutted an old book and added blank pages to make a new journal. The tag pictured is one of several I found in my dad's shop when searching for the right sized drill bit. I am pretty sure it's one of those tags you punch through an animals ear, but since there is no chance of that happening I grabbed one to make into a bookmark.


Next week I am on stay-cation and one of the first tasks I have planned for my time off is to build and paint an Adirondack chair so I can sit outside, not on the grass, and enjoy my morning coffee. This used to be my morning ritual and it was a lovely way to start the day so I am bringing it back.

Day 28: Salt Scrub

For the last several years mosquitoes have avoided me, but my body chemistry must have changed because this year I seem to be a mosquito buffet. To remedy this I decided to make a salt scrub that would double as a repellent for those little creatures who feel the need to bite me. This simple scrub is 3 parts sea salt, 1 part oil, and a bit of lemon eucalyptus and citronella essential oils. It doesn't smell great, but it smells way better than chemical bug spray and it will do the job.

Day 27: Extinct Mediums

Another day where I follow the theme, the last time in this challenge. This yarn is a combination of reclaimed scraps and a tape of the Dalai Lama speaking on the four noble truths that I liberated from southern thrift store hell. Despite tape being on a spool, it is remarkably difficult to get out of the cassette in a smooth motion, the entire spinning session was a war with the tape. On the plus side, the yarn is pretty soft and very workable which is something I wasn't expecting.