Wrap-up

This is the time of year that bloggers get all introspective and philosophical about the past year and their goals and plans for the coming year....

Bah!
One more down - bring on the next.


2010 feels like it was rather short on creativity for me.

Well, it is a little hard to follow two years of designing and building our own house, (Which, by the way is still not completely finished) but I feel like last year was quite sloth-like.

Oh wait, there was that fun little thing I did outside.... the front yard, that was it. I landscaped our front yard. A little creativity went into that - I hope. (the way I creatively veered from the landscape architect's plan 'just a little bit') That deserves a post of its own, I have lots and lots of pictures.

For now, mostly just to remind myself that I really did do something last year, here's a few random things that I made:

A picture
to hang on the wall.
Bit of a departure for me.

I call it an accidental landscape.

I really liked the way this sheet of clay turned out so tried to do something that didn't involve chopping it up and making beads or boxes or whatevers out of it.

I was going to mount it on a canvas and frame it but couldn't bring myself to cut off the edges. They're the most interesting part of it IMO. So I built a clay frame and let the edges drape, or rather flop, over the edges.

After I had shown it off at my guild meeting, pronounced it finished and hung it on the wall I realized it's not quite finished yet. I think it needs something growing out of that rock-like bit in front. We'll see what happens. (maybe something'll grow by itself if I wait long enough - hmm too much time in the garden Jem)

A planter (sort of)

Here's what you do when you're given a lovely Peace Lily but don't want to look at the ugly plastic pot it came in and it doesn't need re-potting yet, and/or you don't have a nicer pot, and/or you're just too lazy to re-pot it.
You make a polymer clay 'plant sleeve'. That's right, it doesn't have a bottom, no real function at all except decorative.
And I don't have to re-pot it, at least until it gets completely root-bound.

A tumbler.
I had a chance to try something new at our open house at work this November. I actually made this!:
Although I do refer to it as "the tumbler that Liz & Mitch & Malcom made with me sitting on the bench getting in their way" here's proof that I did have some hand in it's creation
(Note to my Mom: you can click on any of these pictures to see them bigger - don't worry she is NOT touching that molten glass with her bare hand - it's a photograhic trick only.)

This is what that bucket of water is really for: cooling off scorched fingers when you stubbornly do exactly what you have been adamantly warned NOT to do.

Many thanks to Liz and Mitch and a big hug to my friend Deb Groom for taking all the glass-blowing pictures.

And don't worry, the glass-blowing was a one-time thing. I'm not taking up any more hobbies.
(uh-oh I just put that in writing, didn't I?)