Far Away

I've been distracted from work because we're going to Greece on Saturday. It'll be an adventure, especially since our host, Georgios, doesn't speak English and we don't speak Greek. When he was here we had an interpreter. I hear that his daughter speaks English.
I bought a phrase book . That ought to give the locals a few laughs.
Jim's traveled to Europe a lot, but I've never been out of the country.
This could be my one big trip and I plan to enjoy every minute of it, even the tedious airport parts.

Earlybird

I noticed that I've been on Etsy for a year now.
35 sales, not too good.
When was selling ceramic statues at shows in Florida, one artist told me that I was all over the place, that I needed to pick a few and concentrate on those to make money. I sensed that she was right. Previously I had made dozens of mermaids for a shop in San Francisco. I got tired of that.
I prefer to be all over the place even though it's bad for business. I've never been good at making money.
I will do it this way because I love thinking of an idea and working toward that picture I see in my head. I realize that's kind of arrogant to assume that people will want to buy what I make. Come to think of it, having a blog is arrogant, too. I read that 90% of blogs go unread, so this is kind of a diary. I know of five people who read it. (hi, Kathy).
Well, I feel better now.

4th of July

I had to research to see if I could drill holes in pennies. What I gathered is that unless I intend to defraud, it's okay. Does telling people that pennies grow on plants fraud? Fortunately, no one cares about pennies except for numismatists. Not a lot of people pay attention to my stuff anyway.
It was surprisingly easy to drill holes in them. I just used my regular wood bit. A couple of them from the seventies are solid copper. At some point they became copper clad. Copper must be selling high. People are stealing copper plumbing out of houses.

Bird Party

This is my second Kokeshi doll. I had one when I was a girl. They are traditionally made out of wood and highly stylized. I'm enjoying making them because I'm always trying to get away from overworking detail in my pieces.
She will be feeding birds and it will be called "Bird Party". I've always loved lines of birds on electrical lines. One will come in for a landing and the whole row will move over.I told my kids that they were bird parties. Clay doesn't lend itself to reproducing birds on wire, so the Kokeshi will be feeding them on the ground.

Lucky Ducky

I was stopped at an intersection this morning when I saw a Mallard and nine little ducklings crossing the road. The speed limit was 45 and I worried about their safety. It was a pretty large road and I looked around at the other drivers. They were all concentrating on the ducks. Mom and the babies jumped to the curb in front of my car. I think we all let out a collective sigh of relief. It was a sweet moment.
Statue? Hmmm..