You're gonna miss me

I came across this You Tube video from Lulu and the lampshades and it made for instant happy. I don't remember how many times I pressed replay! :) Just had to share with you...

I got my ticket for the long way round

Two bottles of whiskey for the way

And I sure would like some sweet company

I'm leaving tomorrow what d'ya say?

When I'm gone/when I'm gone

When I'm gone/ when I'm gone

You're gonna miss me when I'm gone

You're gonna miss me by my hair you're gonna miss me everywhere

You're gonna miss me when I'm gone

I got my ticket for the long way round

The one with the prettiest views

Its got mountains its got rivers

Its got sites'll (should be woods, whatever you like) give you shivers

But it sure would be prettier with you

chorus x2

third chorus is a bit different ..

You're gonna miss me by my walk you're gonna miss by my talk

And I know you will miss me when I'm gone.

Happy weekend, everyone! :)

Hello Etsy

Earlier this week they announced the availability for tickets for the 'hello Etsy' conference in September in Berlin, Germany.
I couldn't be fast enough to grab a ticket as I just don't want to miss this event!
Not only the content looks fantastic but I also can't wait to meet lots of creative, likeminded people!

There are 4 big themes at the conference:

The business: the nuts and bolts of establishing and running your micro-enterprise: Here we look at finance, legal, and time management.
The big picture: the why and how of human-scale economies. Here we explore a broad range of ways to improve the world.
The product: what you make and how you make it. Here we explore production, materials, presentation and function.

The market: getting your product or service out there. All businesses need customers, how will you reach yours?

This summit is NOT only for Etsy sellers/buyers, it's open to all those who are interested in running their own business and sustainability.

I think it will be an amazing experience and wouldn't want to miss it for the world!
Besides, I have never been to Berlin so I might just add a few days extra to explore the city and surroundings. Anyone has tips for visiting Berlin?

Perhaps I'll meet you there? Hurry and get your tickets here!

Testing, testing 1, 2, 3

I have this love/hate relationship with making my own glazes.
At the academy of fine arts, we used to make lots and lots of samples and while all I wanted to do was clay, we were 'forced' to make test tiles. Ugh!
I know it's a learning process that we had to go through but it is so time consuming that it kind of turned me off to make my own glaze. I never really intended to be an Alchemist and get to know the secret world of ingredients so it was more of a pest then a pleasure...
But when I set up my studio, I decided to buy all the ingredients so that I could experiment if I ever got the urge or need...


The urge is kind of a statement so lets just say that it's the need that calls for experimenting right now. I made these porcelain plates and glazed 'em with transparant glaze from the brand 'Welte'. Since I don't own a spraying room, I apply all of my glazes by hand which is rather time consuming but it also adds to the charm of the profession.
To cut a long story short: I really, really, really dislike the glaze I use. I have never managed to apply it evenly as it just sucks itself into the poreus bisquefired piece so quickly that I'm hardly ever satisfied with the result. No matter how thin I make it, it's horror!


So here is where the bare ingredients come in handy so that I can test and make my own transparant and more fluid glaze. I got out my glaze recipes from art school and sweet Anne also send me a few to try out. Thank you, Anne!


I need to be really organised and write down each and every recipe and number all the samples so that I know which recipe to use after they are fired. It's a chore but hopefully one with satisfaction in the end. *sigh*


The hardest part of making your own glaze is waiting for the fired results...
Even though I know they will all be transparant, it is still exciting as there are so many different kinds of transparant.
Besides, with one of the glazes, I used my gut feeling and changed the original recipe by replacing some ingredients and that is really triggering my curiousity.
I'll have to wait until thursday when I unload the kiln. The patience a ceramicist needs to have...

Flickr Favorites

1. Banquette, 2. one cherry,
3. May Your Days Be Merry and Bright., 4. Glückskäfer

It's the first Tuesday of the month so we play by theme if you like. Jennifer Rose provided the theme for this month: shiny! Thank you, Jennifer!
Do you have a fun theme for next month? Don't hesitate to let me know!

When I think of shiny, I automatically think of gold and silver tones. But I decided to think out of the box and find shiny things in a different color! I kind of like the green/red combo. I think it's fresh and fun. Which remind me that I bought red fabric for a skirt and green fabric for a shirt the other day. Now to find time to sew.

Porcelain plates

unfired

fired & glazed

Please ignore the pinkish glow as it's not there.
It's the sun that does that to my pictures - I dislike photographing when it's too sunny...

Merry go round

Every last friday of the month, I jump on the 'Merry go round'. What is the Merry go round exactly? Each month, a group of craftswomen from around the world join together and give their reponses to the same question/challenge.The question this month was 'how do you juggle your time and/or how do you wish you could juggle your time'.
It is actually a very, very tricky question for me as I'm one of those people who always feels there are too little hours in a day an too little days in a week and I'm very, very bad at managing my time.

image by zkamalee

For this post for example, I wasn't organised enough to get it ready in time for you to read with your morning coffee or tea nor did I take a picture to accompany it. And that's not because I'm lazy but because other things took over my week.
I spent Easter Monday with my partner and we walked a bare foot trail (FUN) , Tuesday Elza D. and Celeste B. came to my studio to play (MORE FUN), I visited my friend Mariana on Wednesday evening (jip, MORE FUN) and I dragged myself to sewing class on Thursday evening (not so fun as it's so slow). Add 4 days of day job work to this week and running my on line business and you know that there is little time to manage here.

I have one list and that states the things I need to make.
No more, no less.
That list is never empty.
Never.
It tick things off and I add things.
And when the list gets messy, I copy it onto a new sheet.
It's nearly the only handwritten thing I do since I dislike my handwriting.
I don't do housework very much.
It feels like a waste of time.
But I love it when it's clean so I force myself once in a while.
Although I dislike doing it.
I ship two days a week.
That saves me heaps of time.
I do the wrapping, my partner goes to the postoffice.
I wish I had some sort of control knobs.
They would be needed to prevent procrastinating.
Or wasting time on the computer.
But I love to be able to decide in a blink to go sit on a sunny terrace with a beer.
I can do that because I don't do time management.
It always fits in.

Control knobs by Elston2001

Because I post so late today, I decided to check out the other merriers posts and share with you some of the things that caught my eye...

• I am learning to set bounderies to people who try to make me busy with their affairs, ’cause they have unwisely/in greed/deliberetly taken on too much. (Monika)
• I’ve decided that I will put a few limits just because otherwise I get sucked in and I forget that I should be using weekends to do stuff with my son and husband. It is not all about work. (Mariana)
• Blogging. This really encourages me to create new things. I want to have something to share with my blog readers each day and thus, I work at finishing off new pieces. (Ruth)
• I find that minutes turn into hours, hours turn into days, and days turn into years, and all in the blink of an eye. (Samantha)
• I enjoy having a full schedule, but just full enough tho be happy and well rounded. (Bethany)
• I try not to kick myself too hard if I don’t get everything done. I just move it over to the next day and highlight it! (Laura)
  

Want to know more about what the other Merriers wrote about time management? Hop over to their blogs. Please bear in mind that the members will be posting at different times of the day, depending on which world time-zone they are in :)

Laura at Blue Terracotta
Monika at Red2White
Ruth at Birdland Creations
Kim at Vilt a la Kim
Sara at Crafts of Texture
Samantha at Vintage is for lovers
Mariana at Florcita
Agathe at Le Bar du Vent
Jen at Painted Fish Studio
Bethany at Dirksen Dabbles

What's your weather like today?

via the Violet hours