guests in the shop

I often throw out an invitation to those people who express an interest in making something out of clay. not necessarily coming up for "lessons"...just a simple project they had in mind.

a couple of weeks ago while working at the bookstore with my friend greer...i commented on her clay pendant and then carried on to say that if she was interested in making them...it could be a pretty simple project. being 23...done with college, light on the domestic obligations and pretty ambitious.. she got right to work.

instead of using my stamps/texture objects...she borrowed my lino cutter and picked up some pink erasers and after querying her friends about their 'spirit animals' proceeded to carve a load of beautiful rubber stamps.

when she arrived here...we rolled out a slab and she got to work....and did a mighty fine job.

it's always fun and a little strange to have someone in the shop working alongside me. how nice to be able to chat a bit with a person instead of the dogs. i usually have on just music or a book on tape or a tv show. leif rarely visits the studio for more than a few minutes...i'm not sure why. i'm considering removing a work table and putting in a small couch but that might facilitate entirely too much relaxing and cat nap taking and daydreaming. we'll see.

This time of year the studio starts getting stacked up with finished pots, pots that didn't quite work out, freshly thrown ware, dried work and general clay mess. Tea mugs and wine glasses and snack plates don't make it back to the kitchen at the end of the day.

Slop buckets get backed up as I fall behind with clay recycling and this is the season for knocking things over in the shop because it's just too cluttered.

I also notice that the stacks of misc. in the house get bigger and dishes linger near the sink longer. This morning I realized that I have subconsciously been avoiding work emails and phone messages..hmmmm. I am a firm believer that chaos breeds more chaos, like a bad virus.

So..back to scheduling 101 for the next 3 weeks. Get the monkey off my back and the boxes that I "cleaned" out of the closet either back into the closet or off to the goodwill. I straightened up in the studio yesterday for an hour and got my floor clean the way I like it. I work better when I'm not surrounded by mess but that is difficult right now.

I adore the holiday season in general but work wise it can make me a little nauseous.

May the force be with all of you "makers of things" with orders to fill and shelves to stock.