Back to my roots

Not a bad thing I suppose, been asked by a couple of good friends over the last few months to join them in business, and I said oh no I'm doing something online, been working on it for ages. But as it turns out. It didn't turn out. Disappointed a little, but it's today, here and now.

Moving on,  I have a couple of other sites since starting on Etsy back in the day, way back like 2007 where I have sold some of my creations. On Etsy the first couple of years they were fabulous I sold paintings hand over fist and was really chuffed. Opened another shop and sold a product called Seed Keeper Kit ..... couldn't keep up with the orders. In fact this was how I managed to help family without delving into our savings too much. That and the Twig Letters I made. It does take a huge amount of time to produce items as an individual, but due to how much time needs to be allocated to being responsive and on top of orders, I finally stopped and began to enjoy my garden more.

For several weeks I have been experimenting with paper clay, one little disaster after another. Which ended up challenging me, and I was down to winning the battle. I found a good solution, and the results are very pleasing. The little sculptures have a thickness and weight that make them substantial rather than blow away in the wind weight.

This weekend we were down in the San Francisco Bay Area, and went to one of my most favourite places to visit The Gardener on 4th Street in Berkeley. I checked out their air plants, whew mighty pricey, the one I picked up that fit in my hand was a whooping 45. I did put it back with a sniffle. It would have looked wonderful in one of my sculptures. Not to worry I shall find a solution I always do.

I also have another project that I am working on Rainbows and Raindrops ..... drift/bleached river wood from The Feather River ...... I think will be rather lovely with my danglers.

I finally finished developing a pattern for stool covers, there is another story behind this and I shall post in a few days the conversation between me and my man driving down the I-70 Highway over this last weekend .... Quite funny. So once I write down the pattern I shall post for downloading. I used roving from Turkey and it's strong and thick enough to be put over a form on a stool. Rather pleased with the results. Watch for the new post with the pattern and story.

On a final note, I gathered the seed pods from my Naked Ladies, they resemble little globs of pink pearls. I keep dividing the bulbs and this year I decided to collect the seed pods. These are wonderful plants which I never realised were Amaryllis Belladonna. What a beautiful name for a wonderful plant. In spring the leaves heave up out of the earth, rather like the Lillies of the Nile plant. Then early summer the leaves all die, seriously die back to nothing. Late August all of a sudden into September these wonderful spears or thick stems bolt skyward. The end result is a most wonderful flower, hardly needs water, no care that I can think of either. I pretty much forget I have them until the cycle happens, and I clear up the dead leaves.  These pink pearls, little gifts I think coming for the holidays to share with special folk I know.