Very Cool Thing #1:  Off to the bead show with Daughter.  Son-In-Law watched Ms. Lady Belle so Daughter could have a day out.  Grandson with his Daddy.  That leaves me and Daughter to some very quality time combing through beads and catching up with each other.  She drove.  I will make necklaces for her from the beads she chose because she drove (the DC Beltway and I66.  She's a very good driver).    The small pile of sterling silver on the right hand side cost as much as everything else.  Oh – but it is so pretty.  The metal looks soft.  Had I stayed away from the sterling, I would have been well within my budget.  As it is, I really didn't go too much beyond (and anyone who goes to bead shows knows that it is an emotional thing – never mind it is business.  Why be in business for yourself if you can't enjoy it?!)  I added up the damage today and somewhere between 7 and 12 necklaces I will break even.  Since there are many more than 12 necklaces here, not to mention bracelets and earrings, I'd say it was a very successful outing both business-wise and personally.  Can't ask for more than that!

Very Cool Thing # 2.   This morning I arose and began tagging things so I know how to price my work (you see the tags in the picture above).  And I didn't stop there.  Nope.  I made another bead hanger for my bead room and put them where they belong.  I will say that I need more drawers, though, for non-strands.  Which is dangerous as out of sight in a drawer usually means out of mind for totally visually oriented me.  So I will have to devise a system that will allow me to use all these lovelies in an orderly fashion.  I will put it on my project list as soon as I find my notebook, which seems in the last 10 minutes to have evaporated.   Here are pictures of my room (that blinding white space is a window to the outside world where eventually I want to have a small screened porch with French doors instead of windows).

For those of you who know about these things, that is an original paint Mobo Bronco sitting in the middle of the picture.

Grandson notes that he is okay with sharing "his" room with Nanna.  This was Daughter's room and the year she and Grandson lived with us, it became his room.  His stash of toys and books are on the wall to the right of Mobo there, so he still has "his" space.  But much like his Mom, he doesn't give up "his" easily.

Very Cool Thing #3:  Here is Traci from my AnnMarie Garden class with her 2nd torso.  She has fallen in love with making these and students got a full bag of clay, so she brought her leftovers back and made her 2nd piece.  Look at the work on the right side (facing camera).  Isn't is absolutely gorgeous?  If you would like to learn to make torsos, either through AnnMarie Garden's classes or private/group lessons, send me an email at TammyVSculptor@hotmail.com.  I'll be most happy to work with you.  Classes run $160 ($170 for non-members at AnnMarie Garden) plus $40 for materials.  Studio time is available on a fee basis if you just can't wait to make more!  Mask classes, possibly offering a finishing in Raku firing, will also be offered this fall.

Very Cool Thing #4 (why stop when you're on a roll?) I am starting to put up my work in my house.  Oh, there were a few things up before.  But mostly others' work that I have accummulated over the years – and a lack of walls to hang things on.  I started in my first floor bathroom – where better to put things you want to contemplate?  I hung Fallen Angel, a raku piece that has failed to sell which I love and decided to keep.  You can see her in the mirror.  Next to the mirror are 2 Wylde Women which I don't make anymore.  I saved these two from the last 7 or so because I really like them (and don't understand why they weren't sold other than that they wish to stay with me.  Wish granted).  Below them is a candleholder Fairy (with lavender in her holder) next to the pixie, which I bought out in Virginia long before I was doing clay work myself, which is the Fairy's inspiration.  I very much enjoy my bathroom!  It also has a clay door surround (shown here) that I made several years ago practicing what I learned at a week long architectural tile workshop at Peter King's Stonehaus Studio in Pensacola Florida (go ahead, I dare you to click over and not get lost browsing his beautiful works!).  He designed the gates to AnnMarie Garden.

Very Cool Thing #5:  I am systemitizing my business and finding that I can alot about 2 hours a day and more than meet my requirement that good systems be in place by year's end so that I am ready for the hay days that are coming in 2010, when I will make hay whether or not the sun shines.

  thought for the day:   I'm shocked by the number of artists who give up promoting themselves because they sent out 500 postcards one time two years ago and never sold anything as a result.  (You can almost hear the whining that goes along with that.)  Anyone in advertising or marketing will tell you that it takes seven exposures before people get your message and act on it.  Seven!  …I'm giving you permission to contact your mailing list on a monthly basis…But, and this is a big but, you only have permission if 50% of your messages are thoroughly interesting and contain information of value to the recipients…Ask yourself:…If it came to me, would it encourage me to act?  Alyson Stanfield, I'd rather be in the studio:  The Artist's No-Excuse Guide to Self-Promotion