Getting Down to Business.

This won’t be the most visually appealing blog post (have I even had many of those yet?), but I have to ‘get down to business’ and make some semi-important to some people announcements.

Firstly, and no matter where you’re located you can go ahead and get excited, I am having my second—and final—sale of the year.  I decided to jump onto the Black Friday and Cyber Monday bandwagon and have a little promotion of my own.  If you buy two or more pieces in my shop you are entitled to free worldwide shipping.  So, this is the perfect opportunity to pick up some gifts for the ladies in your life, or just for yourself—I don’t judge.  

Secondly, although I’ve nearly written off doing ‘the craft shows’ in Edinburgh after a trying first year, I will be participating in two more events before the year’s end.  The first is the Out of the Blue Drill Hall’s Xmas Arts Market on 3 December.  Details can be found here.  The second event is the Christmas Craft Fair at the Columcille Centre, Morningside 10 December from 11am-4pm.  I will be sharing a table(s) with other members of our shared pottery studio, so there will be plenty of ceramics to check out at both events!

And lastly, I will be flying to my home state, the wild and wonderful West Virginia, to enjoy the holidays (plus another month of freeloading) with my family and friends on 13 December.  I will remain there until 31 January!  I plan to keep my Etsy shop up and running for the majority of it, so expect to see prices in USD and any other relevant changes such as postage. This random WV picture was borrowed from here in my sorry attempt to make this somewhat attractive.

Sorry for the multiple blocks of scary text—I’ll be sure to put ‘make blog prettier’ somewhere on my laundry list of New Year’s resolutions…     

New Attitude and (More Importantly) New Porcelain

Well, as we’re nearing the end of October (really?  already?!) I’ve come to accept that warm weather is not in my near future and have since chosen to embrace the oncoming winter.  In a big way.   I mean I already sang a damn Christmas carol (Johnny Cash’s Christmas-y feeling, if that counts). 

So yesterday morning I posted an Etsy treasury with a ‘cosy’ theme to further entrench myself in the holiday spirit despite my inner voice shrieking, “It’s too early for that crap!”  Not that the items in the treasury are crap—au contraire!  (Nobody said that while I was living in Paris, by the way, and I was sad.  But then I ate a demi-baguette and forgot the whole thing.)  I especially love that print by caitlihne who also happens to be located in the UK.  

Along with welcoming winter with open arms, a big ol’ man sweater, and obscene amounts of coffee, I’ve welcomed some new porcelain into the studio.  And oh my, do I like it!  It is higher firing (1280º C) than the other porcelain I was using which is now considered ‘discontinued’…pretty much forever.  I love this new porcelain too much to go back—it’s a much brighter white but not a stark white.  I hope everyone else will be as smitten with it as I am, and I’ve just listed three new pieces demonstrating its beauty, so you all can now check it out!  More to come!

see it in the shop!

see it in the shop!

see them in the shop!

Stage One: Autumn Denial.

This is the time of year when I’m usually quite excited and welcoming of the change in season—autumn has always been my favourite with its own particular smell and light along with comfortable temperatures.  However, after spending my first summer here in Scotland, I’m feeling a little ripped off.  When did the summer happen?  Was I taking a nap when it came and missed it?  Did it forget to stop by and say hello to me?  

It’d be nice to have the strength to simply accept that summer’s gone never to return until next year and avoid complaining for the sake of my blog.  But I don’t wanna!  [stamps feet like child]  I’m going to have a nice whine and post a couple pictures from a trip to Nice, France back in 2009 instead!  Now where did I put that time machine?

It's Alive!

Oh boy…I think I saw it twitch.  Nope.  It’s definitely dead.  Oh well, time to revive it.  What shall I use?  Something relevant to my work/life?  N to the O.  I’m-a use a squirrel.

Bam!  There.  Now that my blog is officially back from the grave with the generous help of Mr. Squirrel, I can apologise.  I'm sorry for abandoning my blog for the entire summer (if you can call it that here in Edinburgh anyway), but with a squirrel like that out your window, is it really possible to get much else done other than admiring all of that damn cuteness?  Excuses, excuses.

I understand that there’s been no bated breath surrounding the return of this blog, but I feel better if I just say the old ‘I’m sorry’ bit so I can move forward with fresh intentions.  I do that a lot on here though.  Maybe I’m noticing a trend…

I pretty much neglected to post anything on my spring/summer collection 2011, and now we’re already into autumn/winter!  Time is really flying!  And I do have some news:  the. big. kiln. is. operational.  So I can finally begin firing actual ceramics in the more classical sense. 

Only the smaller scale pieces will become available online soon, and we’ll see as far as adding larger vases and such in the future.  Also, I will be shipping a small collection of work in a couple of weeks to a lovely shop in Portland, Oregon, Sword + Fern!  The owner, Emily, is an absolute gem and fellow jewellery artist who writes a fantastic (and frequently updated!) blog here. 

So if, by any chance, anyone is in the Portland area, definitely check it out—I wish I could!

Preview!

Here’s a little glimpse into an upcoming line featuring precious and semi-precious stones.  They’re just so gorgeous I couldn’t resist posting a couple photos and giving everyone a heads up as to what is on the way!  I’m very excited to be incorporating natural stones into my jewellery again as that is where I first began.  I love working with them, admiring them…shopping for them.  Okay.  I love shopping.  It’s come out. 

I feel better now.   Lots of pretties coming soon! 

Cake or death?

I chose cake, and if you’re not familiar with the Eddie Izzard-ism then shame on you.  I’d go through the whole, “I’m sorry I’ve been too busy to blog” spiel, but with a huge image of cake in your face you'd probably ignore it anyway and scan the rest of this for the word “cake” and maybe “recipe” if so inclined.  I have been too busy to blog though, honest.  Just not too busy to make that cake.  There is always just enough time to make cake and then, of course, devour it in a blind, unthinking fury. 

You’ll be happy to know then that the CAKE is EASY to make and even easier to eat.  You might even have everything you need on hand.  I almost did myself—just lacked the double cream and cocoa powder. 

The recipe is for an American mayonnaise cake which is very dense and moist with no need for eggs or oil (and can easily go vegan)!  I didn’t mess around with the ingredients much (or bother to figure out the conversions, sorry!) just added instant coffee to enhance the dark chocolate flavour.  And here's where it gets decadent—I made chocolate ganache for the topping.  It’s so simple and took this cake from great to incredible. 

You can thank me later.  Or slap me.  Maybe both.

New Shop!

I have a lot of stuff.  Nobody mentioned that if you get into making jewellery that you somehow morph into a super power hoarder and will accumulate towering mounds of jewellery components and findings in five minutes flat.  That’s what happened to me.  In five minutes flat. 

                    

So, in order to allow myself to continue onto my next jewellery endeavor, (i.e., porcelain jewellery) and feel good about it, I had to make sure that I didn’t let all of those fine items sit in various storage bins for years.  I decided that a new Etsy shop would be the remedy.  I know a million people have their reservations about opening two shops on Etsy—I did the research, one million even.  But I just sort of shrugged and got to work on it straight away.

So, here she be!  The new sister shop to clā contemporary, clāSTOK.  clāSTOK will pretty much feature all items created from surplus stock at a ridiculously low price.  Seriously—it’s low!  As in every piece costs under £15 with most under £10.  No joke.  You can't possibly still be reading this...go!  Check it out! 

I'm a lot pushier in writing. 

Out with the (not so) old

That’s right!  I’m getting a head start on spring cleaning beginning with the studio.  I’m having a huge winter clearance sale in preparation for all of the new lovelies swiftly on their way to my shop.  Don’t believe me?  Think I’m full of beans?  I can prove it!  Not that I needed to.  I know you’re not a hostile bunch…for the most part. 

Here’s the proof you were all certainly demanding in any case:

The above are porcelain rings and one bangle bracelet that I’ve hand-thrown on the potter’s wheel, carved, and are now in the “bone dry” stage of the process.  They are extremely brittle at this point—definitely not ready for wearing!  It’s so amazing how durable they’ll become after firing.  Clay is such a fantastic medium, and I find its potential nearly limitless. 

This would explain why I’ll be coming out with many fresh, new pieces and clā contemporary will finally be expanding beyond jewellery.  I can’t even seem to keep up with my ideas at this point—I think being out of a pottery studio for so long has caused a tremendous amount of inspiration buildup.  Be sure to tag along as I explore every last one.  Or at least a few.  This could take a while…

Things are warming up…

My first event of the year will be Pamp Up the Volume 2011, a charitable event benefiting Save the Children UK and Marie Curie Hospice Edinburgh taking place this Thursday, February 24 from 14.30-late.

There are so many fabulous pampering activities planned including therapies, raffle, and shopping (what’s more therapeutic than shopping?) to make for the perfect ladies’ night out.  And, of course, who can resist when it’s ultimately for a good cause?  There’s so much going on, just click here to get all of the details! 

Next up will be the out of the blue Flea Market this Saturday, February 26 from 10.00-15.00.  All kinds of bric-a-brac, home goods, clothing, music, etc. will be available—I have to keep reminding myself that I won’t be there to shop!  I’m having a studio cleanout of sorts, so there will be a special-made line of items for those on a budget. ;) Do gorgeous sterling silver earrings for a fiver speak to anyone?  Click here to know more! 

Entry to both events is free, so why not stop by? 

In other news, the ceramic studio is coming along nicely, and I wish I could explain just how excited I am without abusing the exclamation points.  Yes, there is that much excitement.  2011 is looking pretty promising…

Tasty treat!

From booking events to designing my spring/summer collection, life has been a bit hectic, but that’s no reason not to try new snacks!  I’ve been craving all food Japanese lately and could easily watch Japanese cooking videos on youtube for hours if I let myself.  I said “if I let myself.”  I don’t do that.  Ever.  During one of my brisk browses of said videos I found an episode of Cooking with Dog:  How to Make Skewered Tofu Dango (Japanese Sweet Dumplings). These videos are a little on the strange side but informative nonetheless.  

This led me to discover the magic that is glutinous rice flour.  I was able to pick some up at my local Chinese supermarket (which has a built-in travel agency oddly enough!), and I am so happy I did.  It is not the same thing as plain flour, mind you—do not substitute one for the other!  The resulting snack/dessert was so nummers it inspired another Food from Thought entry.  The dango that I made differ in quite a few ways from the recipe found on the video which is why I’ll still consider it “from thought”.  You can find my “guidelines” here.  The tofu/flour version is also delicious; however, I think that silken tofu is definitely the way to go, not firm (it has a slightly gritty texture). 

As you can see in the picture above, I didn’t have the patience to skewer my little dumplings—or take a decent picture for that matter!  I had to gobble them up immediately.  So if you don’t bother with presentation, although I do think it is one of the most amazing things about Japanese cuisine, it’s a pretty quick treat and not ridiculously bad for you like the brownies I’m going to make later…

Enjoy!

Pottery News

I couldn’t be any more excited—I will soon be in a new pottery studio!  And quite literally new…it isn’t even completely renovated yet!  I met up with the lovely potters that I’ll be sharing it with a couple days ago and chatted about the plans for the studio.  If everything goes well, I’ll be throwing again in a week!  This has sent me into full-on pottery mode, researching glaze recipes and plotting ideas for a new line.  I was admiring some microcrystalline glazed pieces, and this one absolutely stunned me with its beauty! 

The potter, as mentioned in the photo, is Bill Campbell and apparently a crystalline glaze wizard.  It’s not an easy glaze to master!  Another fabulous potter in a similar vein is John Tilton.  He has some incredible crystalline pieces that I would love to steal, er, buy.

I’ll post some pictures of the studio as we get set up and keep you updated on any upcoming pieces.  We won’t be firing any work until around the end of February once we’ve gotten the kiln room ready to go.  I guess it’ll be a while, but I just couldn’t help but throw (pun intended!) it out there. 

Happy Anniversary!



Silver Stack Necklace



Vintage Snakeskin Button Ring



Baby Brass Locket with Pearl



I can’t believe it!  It’s come so quickly!  Yes, it’s my much anticipated three-month anniversary together with Etsy.  In that short period I’ve become very much infatuated with Etsy.  It’s so addictive.  There are just too many amazing artists/designers/crafters out there in the world!  Aside from drooling over a million incredible pieces, I have learnt a thing or two in my time as an Etsy fanatic.  For those other Etsy sellers who perhaps haven’t had the time to do much research (i.e., farting around on blog after blog), I thought I’d write up a little summary of the greatest tips for productive Etsy usage I’ve found thus far.  If you’re not an Etsy seller, skip the rest of this and head over to my Etsy shop—I’ve posted six new items! 

                         

• Put those Google Analytics everybody talks about to use!  You can access them by going to “Your Etsy,” options, and clicking on the Web Analytics tab.  It’s so exciting to see where your views are coming from, etc., and it can be a great pick-me-up if you’re feeling like nobody is really out there.  They are! 
• After signing up for Google Analytics, you can then benefit from using Craftopolis.  It helps you keep track of who’s hearting your shop amongst other useful data such as what tags you’re using are the most effective when people are digging around.
• Speaking of tags, make sure you’re using all of them!  Even if your brain starts hurting for lack of additional descriptive keywords—use your location, write in different languages, anything.  Just don’t let them go to waste!
• Take advantage of the Treasury feature!  I sure do, and I love it a little bit too much.   It’s so wonderful to support other Etsians, and I know when I’m included in one it brightens my [dark, Scottish] day!
• Teams.  Join them.  Participate in them.  It’s fun as well as informative! 
• SEO.  It sounds big and scary, yeah?  It is.  Search engine optimisation is a deep pool of secrets…and lies.  Too theatrical?  Hardly.  Maybe a touch.  But here’s something you can do:  be very precise and deliberate when writing your product titles then reiterate the same words in the first sentence of your item description as well as in your tags (more tag ideas!).  The mystical search engines like it and will like you more for doing it. 
• Did you know that you can insert hyperlinks to other Etsy pages?  This is great for your item descriptions where you can refer your customers to other items that they may like in relation to the current product page.  It’s especially awesome if your shop is massive (not mine just yet!).  If you have multiple shops or want to help advertise a buddy, you could place the link(s) in your shop announcement!  It’s easy…simply type in the URL—that’s all!

I hope that this proves useful!  And, in case you were wondering, cheeky things, Etsy and I are going to celebrate with a nice snuggle on the couch this evening.  Maybe order some Indian from that fab takeaway place.  Nothing fancy…  

Just living life on the edge. Making treasuries…

above are a few pieces in my new Etsy treasury

I just finished my Winter Whiteout Etsy treasury featuring only British sellers!  Not that I don’t want to feature sellers from all over the world, but I feel like Americans are getting most of the attention, and it’s just not fair!  I whine because I am one, and we all know we’re good at whining.  I’m just trying to support my new community having moved to the UK seven weeks ago and finding everyone very friendly. 

My kitchen on the other hand is proving itself a little dangerous.  I managed to singe my arm hairs.  Yes, I’m a lady, and I have body hair.  Moving past that, I’m thinking my New Year’s resolution should have been to work out because it was my scrawny arms that caused my near death experience.  Near death of arm hair anyway—only the stubs remain like a freshly logged forest. 

It was necessary that I move a pot of boiling water over to a different burner as I only have the one large front burner and needed to use it for cooking my sauce.  Having underestimated my strength to execute this seemingly simple maneuver quickly, my arm was exposed to the heat from the front burner for a bit too long, and I smelt something burning.

I glanced down curiously to see that my arm hair was coiled back on itself, burnt.  This might be the first time in a while that I am actually thankful it’s winter.  Long sleeves for me!  It’s a jungle out there.  Take care, everyone.  Take care.

Soup and Squirrels. Not Squirrel Soup.

I was cooking in my kitchen and staring at the cute squirrel couple frolicking in the back garden when I realised I’d yet to share any of my “last night’s dinners.”  The squirrels are completely irrelevant.  Cute.  But irrelevant.  Of course, one could argue that cute is always relevant, but...

So, I’d like to kick start my “Food from Thought” series with a nice soup recipe.  Well, I will be posting more guidelines than recipes.  I improvise all of my dishes and don’t measure anything when I cook—it takes the fun out of it!  I will just list ingredients with some instruction, so it’s completely customisable.  I made this soup a couple of days ago as a starter, and it has a creamy texture with a slight sweetness.  It’s very light, so I wouldn’t recommend it as a hearty dinner soup.  It would pair nicely with a sandwich for lunch though.  Not many ingredients, so it’s easy on the old budget!  Check out said guidelines by clicking here or on the Food from Thought link on the side of this page.  Bon App'! 

Sneaky Peek

Here’s a little preview of what is coming soon to an Etsy page near you.  Really it’s just my Etsy page.  So grab some popcorn and hang tight.  Or not.   You can just go about your business.  I’ll be adding more pieces in a day or two.  Exciting things…

2011 sounds weird…

Happy New Year! :)  There’s something nice about starting off a brand new year.  You feel like anything’s possible.  That thing you couldn’t seem to do all of last year—you can do it now.  Because it’s a new year.  And that’s how it works. 

I wish everyone all the best in 2011!