Moving!

or moved.... not sure. To here.

Why you ask? Partly because of this.... which is not to say that I'm so terribly insecure that I cannot make decisions for myself... or even that I agree with Elaine's post. Actually disregard that post altogether....

I noticed that while my Facebook page, MySpace page, Flickr page, Blogger account, etc. were growing, my actual site was getting more and more sparse. Why was I paying for webhosting again? Oh yeah... I can host my blog there!

I think it turned out okay. Let the tweaking ensue!

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Glazed offerings....

Today is a big day. One of my favorite days. What day is it? It's Kiln Unloading Day! Huzzah!

Okay... Let's set the scene : Started the kiln yesterday to glaze fire several welcome signs, coasters and angel medallions for the Greyhound Gang. These are pieces that I've been working on to restock my etsy store, to restock the Greyhound Gang's site, and to fulfill special requests from folks like you. I was especially interested in this load because I tried something a little different with a few of the glazes. Will these pieces turn out as I expected? Let's open the kiln:

ooooohhhh..... ahhhhhhhhh......

First piece out of the kiln is one of the medallions for the Greyhound Gang. Claudia requested a gloss glaze for this batch and I thought this beautiful, rich cobalt blue would fit the bill. What do you think?

Oops. I broke one darn it. They may be dishwasher safe, but not studio floor safe.

Let's see what is coming next:

A Scottish Deerhound with Thistle Welcome sign in red glaze as requested,

The same design in a different glaze. Quite a bit of difference between this finish and the red above it. I love how glaze can really change the entire feeling of a piece!

And another shelf -- My favorite shelf of the entire load! I love, love, love how both of these welcome signs turned out! Here are some close ups:
Don't be fooled by the teeth, she's really saying "Welcome to our lovely home."

A green one...And a blue/gray one...
And a red one too.

Check out this welcome sign using the oval sleeping Greyhound design tile. First one I've made like this and it's a biggie! Stayed relatively flat so I must be doing something right...

Were you wondering, "Where are those coasters?" Here they are. Leafstalk green (as requested).
And Espresso brown (also as requested).

And grape! Also, you guessed it, requested.

Only one tile.tile in this whole kiln load. An angel tile for a special friend who just lost her Greyhound. I'm so, so sorry for you...

Last piece... then time to go into the house, make a pot of coffee, then back to the studio to start on the next load.

I'll let you know how it goes.

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Perception about ND

So the big news in ND is the National Geographic article which pretty much says that North Dakota is dead, empty place. Okay. Whatever.

These "North Dakota=cold, dark, windy, barren, bleak" articles come out every couple of years. I find them tiresome, but I'm still interested enough to read them. I should learn to stop myself.

Granted, after I'd moved out of state, the only time I'd mention North Dakota was when it was prefaced with the word "never". But there are wonderful things about this corner of the state. Except for the ridiculous city ordinance that only allows 2 pets per household, I like this place. When I leave here and travel to "civilization" I like it here even more.

Do you all who live in civilization-- Do you notice all the noise? All the attempts to grab your attention? How do you live in places where the city lights block out the stars? All the illusion of choice that surrounds everything... exhausts me.

I'd rather have the peace of this place.

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Welcome Cockroaches!

Not that any of my Greyhounds would partake in such an un-elegant, un-refined pose as the "dead cockroach."

And certainly not Winchester, "Mr.-100-pound-blur-of-brindle"...

Ah-ha! Caught!

This is my newest welcome sign design. Made from clay, fired, glazed, fired. Hang it inside or out. Find more at my etsy store.

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In Remembrance

Several years ago, Claudia of the Greyhound Gang approached me with an idea. I would create image of a Greyhound angel, then take that image an apply it to a medallion type object that would be one-of-a-kind just like the beloved Greyhounds people are remembering. Here's how Claudia describes what she does with the finished pieces :

When someone you know has to let their greyhound go, you can make a donation in their memory and help hounds. The Gang will send an exquisite, large, four-inch medallion and cord, with a beautiful card to honor your donation. These elegant tokens, created by Sarah Regan Snavely, will express your caring for your friend's sorrow, and your donation will continue to help greyhounds have lives after racing.

Neat idea, huh? I thought so.

So what did I work on today? More Medallions! Here's a photo of the medallions in the wet clay stage. They've been rolled out, image applied, cut out, hole for hanging cut out and now will dry... sloooooowwwwly... so they won't warp or twist.

Here's the finished product and the drawing from which the clay image is based.

If you're interested in sending one of these to a friend who has lost a Greyhound (or other breed!) this new batch of medallions will be available shortly at the Greyhound Gang's website.

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Another silly video of the Greyhound

I know... the videos of my Greyhounds have got to stop... but just this one... okay?

Hint : keep your eye on the Greyhound in the background.

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January 08

Good Morning!Time to get up and work in the studio. Come on, Apollo. Time to get off your bed.
Out we go... Today is the day to make more Welcome signs. The etsy store inventory is getting low and the kiln needs to be full to fire efficiently.

Look at that lovely raw clay! Three Greyhound welcome signs started already! They will find their way to etsy in about 2 weeks -- after they are refined, carefully dried, fired, glazed and fired again. What color will they turn out to be?

Maybe blue like these tiles? Or red or green or turquoise or tan or ..... Any suggestions?

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Christmas 2007

Is everybody having a nice Christmas? I hope so.

We've had an easy, relaxing day around here. My SO is working. Parents visited relatives. I opted for my favorite chore, dog sitting. Yes, Sebastian, the Standard Poodle, is here in Greyhoundville. He's been a good boy, only occasionally barking and even then it is to alert me that his needs are not being met.

We visited the dog park, took a nap, watched the Project Runway Marathon. Now I'm tackling my email inbox -- my #1 goal for 2008 : Keep have all the emails answered within 1 week.

Here's a short video in the continuing saga of "Scenes from the dog park"


Did you see the three tablespoons of snow on the ground? Okay... maybe it's four tablespoons. Everybody seems to think that North Dakota is the land of snow and cold. Let me break this to you -- we have no snow in this corner of the state. Yesterday it rained. Rained. Before Christmas. Christmas being the ONE day that I TOTALLY want it to snow and snow and snow.

So no snow for Christmas, but I did get a new Ipod from my honey.

Linda from Abby Creek Art made a comment about dogs in snow on the Holidaze... post and I must say I can't agree more. Today could have been a sad, sorry day thinking about loss and the passage of time. Instead the hounds and I spent extra time at the dog park. I can't think of anything that makes me happy more than watching my Greyhounds run... and sniff.. and play and just "being dogs."

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Holidaze....

Anybody else feel like it is all too much? Overwhelmed. Oh well. One thing at a time.

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Silly dog stuff.

Made me laugh :

Check out this rug found at Mookiegifts.com

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Bid on this auction!

A few of my greyhound tiles auctioned for a good cause!

http://www.ncgl.ca/greyhoundgang/auction/

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More on etsy -- this time for Greyhounds & Whippets

Added some porcelain pendants to my etsy store today. Four designs. Any suggestions for colors?

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Update...

Feel like I've neglected this blog a bit and should post, but I don't know what to post about... What I do know -

• I'm out of clay and waiting for my order to arrive.
• The Power Mac G5 has an unknown admin password.
• Sales from my etsy store and website have been great -- need to put more pieces up on the site.
• I hate the winter darkness and short days therefore I'm looking forward to the winter solstice.
  
• The library has been very busy.
• Today is cold, gray and windy.
  

Nothing terribly interesting....

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Any Mac users out there?

I've inherited a G5. No idea how this thing works. Why do I feel like I've driving on the wrong side of the road whenever I use this thing? Any helps? Will it get better?

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Happy Turkey Day!

Did you feast today? Well the Grey Matters hounds did too... We had our own turkey day! Our Turkey neck order arrived yesterday!

Now I'm not sure, but I'm thinking that 30 pound boxes of turkey necks wouldn't usually produce fits of joy in most households. Years ago that would have been my response too, but I've had a heck of a time finding a grocer to order these for me. Here's to perseverance -- after a long hiatus turkey necks have returned to the canine menu. Thank you, Meat Guy Kevin!

2 - 30 lb. boxes of necks. Frozen. In one big chunk o' necks. Obviously one cannot feed the dogs the necks in this state. Although they probably would enjoy this-- one big turkey neck popsicle. A salt lick of turkey necks. Perhaps not the best idea to preserve pack order ...

I thaw 'em instead. Sorry hounds. This company packages the necks in large plastic bags within the boxes. I've had necks arrive in waxed boxes also. I take the entire bag and leave it in the sink to thaw.

I'd recommend that you watch any dog capable of thieving off counter tops.

Once semi-thawed I break apart the necks. If I buy larger quantities or want to get this job done faster, I use the bathtub to thaw placing four or five boxes of necks in the tub at one time. But this time, I processed them box by box. The photo above shows one 30 pound box of hen necks.

UUMMMMMM... turkey. Now I get out the 1 gallon ziploc freezer bags.

Why do I do package the neck in smaller bags? It is easier to pull out a small bag of necks to thaw and feed than 30 pounds. I put about 8 hen necks per gallon bag -- that's about 2 meals for my 2 Greyhounds. 2 necks = half the daily rations for one adult greyhound. This is a guideline only, the amount to feed depends on the dog, and necks do vary quite a bit in size.

As I'm working I have an audience.

Now I'm certainly not an expert on raw feeding so research, research if you're thinking of feeding this way. Not everybody feeds turkey necks. Some feel the risk of choking is too high. Touch wood, my Greyhounds are chewers, but I still watch and would not leave one of my Greyhounds unsupervised during this meal. One major benefit is that turkey necks can really keep teeth clean (the Greyhound's Achilles' heel). But there are other things that do that too.

Apollo eating his neck -- don't you just love the way he uses his paw?

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Hey Scottish Deerhound lovers!

Deerhound with Thistle tile, 6x6 inches, gloss gray finish.

If you're looking for Scottish Deerhound art for gifts for friends (or for yourself!) check out etsy-- I've just listed some of my Deerhound tiles. Click here to see 'em on etsy.

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A visit to Deadwood

Lately, we've been watching the HBO Deadwood series on DVD. I recommend them, especially if one is prepared for the bawdy language that is a big part of these episodes. I mean... there is a website devoted to how many times the f___ word appears per minute. So be prepared...

Anyway, we went to Deadwood yesterday. Yes there is an actual town upon which the series is loosely based.

A shot of main street. The building with the tower is the Bullock Hotel -- they claim it is haunted by Sheriff Seth Bullock. Didn't go in, so can't say for sure...

We had a nice meal, walked through some of the shops (many of which were closed since it is off season -- but the ones that were open had a plethora of goods made in china...) Had one of those old-tyme photos taken then walked to the Mount Moriah cemetery in which Seth Bullock, Calamity Jane and Wild Bill are buried.


Here's a view of the town from the cemetery overlook.

You've got to love your neighbors here. They are RIGHT next to you.

Here's a photo of my honey, standing in the cemetery.

The bronze signs in the foreground explain that Wild Bill is buried here (you can see the metal fencing at the top right of this photo). Calamity Jane is buried next to him as per her request and Potato Creek Johnny is on the other side.

There are stairs to the gravesites. The cemetery is on a steep hillside. I wonder how they dug anything up here. So rocky. You can barely see the bronze bust of Wild Bill that marks his grave in the photo above.

And another scene of the cemetery up the hill from Wild Bill's grave.

Many things to do in Deadwood, even if you skip the gambling which is everywhere. I think we'll go back again and tour the Adams Museum and House next time.

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