Birth of the Blues

Birth of the Blues has been sung by greats such as Nellie Lutcher, Louis Armstrong, Keely Smith, Shirley Bassey, & my favorite: the trio of Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr & Dean Martin.

If you haven’t listened to the Rat Pack with Johnny Carson (subbing for Joey Bishop at the time) go search it out on YouTube.

This trio of pieces shouted out the name they wanted! The Rat Pack was larger than life and the blues speak of the ups and downs of life. Hopefully my three pieces pay worthy tribute to both.

Multiple blues, hints of green and some tan tones on the patchwork of majolica clay. The tallest piece is roughly 10 in. high.

I hope you'll come see them in person at one of my upcoming shows or studio tours. - Janet

Oh, they say some people long ago
Were searching for a different tune
One that they could croon
As only they can
They only had the rhythm
So they started swaying to and fro
They didn’t know just what to use
That is how the blues really began
They heard the breeze in the trees
Singing weird melodies
And they made that the start of the blues
.
And from a jail came the wail
Of a down-hearted frail
And they played that
As part of the blues
From a whippoorwill
Out on a hill
They took a new note
Pushed it through a horn
Til it was worn
Into a blue note
And then they nursed it, rehearsed it
And gave out the news
That the southland gave birth to the blues!

Why you should NOT buy a Fitbit Flex...

I know I usually write about pottery but I'm as into fitness almost as much as I am the creative arts so I wanted to share a bit about my experience with Fitbit. Many of my friends have been considering getting a Flex so writing here is easier than talking / emailing eac.

The Fitbit Flex is a tracker you wear on your wrist that keeps up with your steps. It syncs to the computer & you can compete with your friends, keep up with your diet, calories and much more. (www.fitbit.com)

Fitbit has a number of products. I started with a "One". The One clips to your belt, pocket or bra and does pretty much the same thing as the Flex, just not as conveniently. The Flex is waterproof so you can shower and swim with it...the One, not so waterproof.

The One has some advantages. It keeps up with floors, which is kind of fun. It gives you the time. You don't have to be near the computer to see your steps / miles walked as it has a display screen. The Flex lets you tap it, shows series of lights so you have a really broad idea of where you are in reaching your goals. However, most have the Fitbit app on their phone so that's not a biggie for many.

Anyway, as said, I started with the One and loved it. For my birthday my husband gifted me with the Flex, something I had wanted badly. Had to wait two months as it was back-ordered so the anticipation was even greater due to the wait.

I noticed immediately that my step count dropped. I "assumed" at first that the One had been incorrect. Not so. I was consistently off up to 4,000 steps.

After much back & forth with the nice folks (and they are) at Fitbit they sent me a replacement Flex. Told me to toss the old one. Wow, nice, didn't have to hassle with sending anything back & I ended up with some extra arm bands. Woo hoo.

However, the problem wasn't fixed.

I kept playing and finally figured out the Flex doesn't like treadmills.

My options, per Fitbit support, were to manually enter my steps (why have a Flex if I have to manually enter??? and calculate what I did, plus what wasn't counted, or take the thing off...) OR wear it on my waist-band. However, I wear sweats, no hooks for a band, no way to attach it.

So, I'm back to the One. I love the One, but hate that I just blew $100. That's a lot of clay!

I really, really want all my friends to avoid the Flex & please spread the news. If the Flex was off by a few hundred steps, no problem, I'd just make myself work a bit harder to reach my goals knowing I was actually going over. My goal is 15,000 steps a day, that's close to 7 miles. Sorry, hard enough to reach that without adding extras (although when I can I bump up to 20K).

I was going to try their Aria Wi-Fi Smart Scale (need a new scale) but nope, not going there. Will have to see if I'll replace the One if it goes out on me. Love competing with my friends, kind of addicted to keeping up with my steps, too. Maybe by the time I need a new One I'll be over the burn from this experience.

(Just in case your curious, right now: Flex band shows 7199 steps, the One shows 10627).

One more comment: I spent some time on the Fitbit Community dashboards before sending something to Fitbit. I'm not the lone stranger on this one, lots of others having similar issues. I think they need to do a bit of tweaking, maybe allow for some user-defined adjustments...

----

Here's the entire exchange we had just in case you want to see how they tried to work with me (until it bombed & then it's gee sorry you wasted $100). You'll have to start at the bottom & read up to get it in sequence...

__________________________________

Hello Janet,

Thanks for your time and patience with the Flex.

We appreciate you have checked the device setting in your account and we hope you keep enjoying your Fitbit One.

Feel free to contact us back if you need more help in the future.

Sincerely,

Flor M and the Fitbit Team

Reply directly to this email, or click #805383 to update your case via our online support portal.

I think that being off by 3,000 to 4,000 steps is excessive, especially
since I have it on my dominate hand, set for non-dominate & I make sure
to keep that hand moving.

Hope your feedback dept. will read through all of the exchange below,
not just our current conversation.

I have nine-ten friends who were following my experience before they
decided to go with the Flex... love the One, can't recommend the Flex.
Gave you high marks with them re: customer service, attempting to fix
(although ultimately, no fix, just a waste of $'s for me).

Janet

Hello Janet,

We appreciate your patience with your Flex.

We are always striving to improve the Fitbit experience. We have forwarded your feedback to our product department. Sometimes we will have to manually log some activities since all Fitbit trackers are optimized for walking, running, and general household and lifestyle activities. It will not be as accurate for activities like walking on a treadmill, but will record that your were active if you wear your tracker during a non-walking or running activity.

Though your body is in motion on exercise machines, these motions are not recorded as accurately as your tracker records running or walking. That is why we recommend to log manually your activity.

Feel free to contact us back if we can be of more assistance.

Sincerely,

Flor M and the Fitbit Team

Reply directly to this email, or click #805383 to update your case via our online support portal.

Thanks, but I don't have a way to hook it on my waist when walking and
it defeats the purpose of having the Flex to hafta manually enter
activity. I walk at a pretty good clip (3.5 & up mph) so slow walking is
not part of the issue.

Janet

Hi Janet,

We're sorry to hear that you're seeing a difference in how many steps your Flex is tracking comparing to your One when walking on a treadmill.

Fitbit's trackers can potentially miss steps if the user is walking on a treadmill desk at a very low speed. Our engineers have determined that Fitbit trackers will provide greatest accuracy if the user is wearing it clipped on their mid-section and walking at least 2 miles per hour. However you may still miss some steps.

Also, keep in mind you can manually log your activity, this will provide a most accurate information. To manually log your treadmill activity please do the following:

1. Log into Fitbit.com.
2. Click the "Log Activity" circle near the top of your Dashboard.
3. Click the blue "Browse" link to the right of "Find an Activity to Log".
4. A window will open. On the left side of the window that pops up, you will be able to search for an activity by category. More specific activities will then appear on the right side of the screen. Scroll to the desired activity, then click it once to add it to your activity log.
5. Once you enter the duration and start time of your activity, click the pink "Log Activity" button. Your activity details will be added to your logged activities.

Thanks for your patience with this and do not hesitate to contact us back if we can be of more assistance.

Sincerely,

Flor M and the Fitbit Team

Reply directly to this email, or click #805383 to update your case via our online support portal.

Been using the new Flex for a week or so. I am giving up on it.

I figured out the problem --- the Flex doesn't like treadmills. I'm off
by thousands of steps consistently & by comparing both accounts (One -
janet... & Flex - janet....m) I've been able
to pinpoint that even through I make sure to swing my arms, pump them,
make sure not to hold onto bar with the Flex arm, steps just aren't
being counted when I'm on the treadmill at the gym or at my home.

So, I'm going to stick with the One and give up on the Flex.

Really frustrated because I love the idea of wearing it on my arm as
opposed to having to clip something on a belt or bra.

Janet

Hello Janet,

Thank you for providing us with your information.

Your replacement black Flex is now being processed. Your confirmation number is 2TNKCWV.

Once your order ships, you will receive a shipping confirmation from our order system. You can view the status of this order by clicking the View Order Status link in the confirmation email. This link also provides your tracking number. You can expect that your order will arrive within 5 - 7 business days from the date of shipment.

Once you receive your replacement, please go to the following help article for instructions on how to set up your replacement device:
https://help.fitbit.com/customer/portal/articles/1186076

Please recycle your defective unit through a local electronics recycling program.

Let us know if you have any additional questions.

Sincerely,

Flor M and the Fitbit Team

Reply directly to this email, or click #805383 to update your case via our online support portal.

Thank you very much. Yes, that is the correct information.

Janet

Hello Janet,

Thanks for troubleshooting this issue with us.

We are sorry to hear your Flex is not tracking your information properly. We would like to get you back on track with a complimentary replacement.

We see that you purchased your product from the Fitbit.com Store. Please confirm the following details:

.....

Once we receive your response, we'll be able to continue with the replacement process.

Sincerely,

Flor M and the Fitbit Team

Reply directly to this email, or click #805383 to update your case via our online support portal.

3rd reply (in case you need to look at other responses /connect the
info). Currently my One account (Janet McGregor Dunn2 /
janet.... shows 12,643 steps while the Flex account (Janet
McGregor Dunn / janet@.....) is only reflecting 5,946.
This is AFTER I did the restart of the Flex per instructions below.

I tested the Flex on the treadmill this morning. I walked 2 miles
exactly. I came home from the gym, logged in --- it shows I have walked
1.28 miles this morning (which includes all the extra walking to /from
gym, etc.). I am resetting the Flex right now but wanted to provide that
info before doing so. The One shows 2.52 miles walked. (5768 steps vs
2936 for Flex).

Janet

I just set up an account for my One. It's janet..... Janet
McGregor Dunn2. I'll keep it going for a while. Today have only walked
4001 steps per Flex, 4675 per One. That will increase just as soon as
they both finish charging...

I'll reset my Flex when I go to bed. Am a little competitive & my most
competitive friend is kicking my butt at the moment, can't lose a step :-)

Janet

Hello Janet,

We are sorry to hear you are still having issues with the accuracy of your Flex.

We would like to know if you have a second account paired to your Fitbit One. If you do, please provide the email address linked to that account so we can check both information.

You can restart your Flex, this should fix any issue it may be experiencing. To restart your Flex please do the following:

1. Plug your charging cable into the USB port and insert your tracker into the charging cable.
2. Insert a paperclip into the small pinhole on the back of the charger.
3. Press the pinhole for 3-4 seconds.
4. If you see lights on your Flex, let it charge for a few hours.

Flex will count your steps when you're walking with your arms stationary, as we do want to give you credit for this activity. This includes walking while pushing a stroller or shopping cart, or holding on to a treadmill. That said, because your hands are not moving, your step count may be a bit lower while you are not moving your hands but you are moving your body.

Let us know if you have additional questions.

Sincerely,

Flor M and the Fitbit Team

Reply directly to this email, or click #805383 to update your case via our online support portal.

No, not resolved. We're still communicating.

Hello Janet,

We are sorry to hear that you are still seeing a difference in how many steps your Flex is tracking comparing to your Fitbit One.

We would like to check the account associated with your Fitbit One. Please provide the email address linked to your Fitbit One account. If you do not not have a second account we recommend to open a temporary account to set up your Fitbit One. Once you have both account please wear your trackers for at least a day and compare the information on both Dashboards.

Flex is a motion sensor on your wrist. There are many instances where your hands may be moving, but your body may not be, such as playing the drums, cooking, or even burping a baby. Flex may count some extra steps here and there to give you credit when it thinks you are active.

You can improve the accuracy of your Flex by changing the Dominant Hand setting on your Devices page (http://www.fitbit.com/settings/device), which can be found under the gear icon in the upper right corner of your Dashboard. Changing this setting to "Dominant" will decrease sensitivity of step counting and should reduce the over counting of steps when your body is not moving. Using the "Non Dominant" setting will increase the sensitivity of step counting, and can be used if your Flex is not counting enough steps.

Please let us know if changing these settings doesn't improve the accuracy of your Flex, and we'll be happy to continue investigating the issue.

Sincerely,

Flor M and the Fitbit Team

Reply directly to this email, or click #805383 to update your case via our online support portal.

I've been wearing the One on my wrist next to the Flex for two days.

Yesterday:
Flex 10003 steps
One 13716 steps

Today
Flex 9609
One 14049

The One is consistently giving me way higher steps than Flex --- also
fairly consistent with what it was doing when the One was on my waist &
Flex on wrist.

Tomorrow I'm going to wear them both on my waist next to each other.

I will do the 100 step test a few times to see if they're close. Given
that's not really going to be the way I walk, run, move through the day
I'm not sure that's really a good gauge or accuracy, but will try to do
a number of different tests, some running, some with more hand motion, etc.

Janet

Hello Janet,

We're sorry to hear that you're seeing a difference in how many steps your Flex is tracking comparing to your Fitbit One.

Flex has been tested extensively against our clip-based devices like the Fitbit One and Fitbit Zip. That said, because Flex is specifically designed for your wrist, if you move your body a lot and not your arms (or vice versa), you may get a slight difference in activity than you would see on your clip-based trackers. Additionally, since you’re more likely to wear Flex 24/7, you may count a few more steps.

This is no different than any wrist-based tracker on the market. For most people, there may be no difference at all between clip and wrist based trackers or it may be within a few percentage points difference. That said, if you have a lifestyle where you move your hands a lot such as playing the drums everyday, you may see a few extra steps on your Flex as we do want to give you credit for this activity.

Thanks for checking the settings on your Dashboard, this way you can select which hand you want to wear your tracker. Also, you can perform a test. If you'd like to test your step count, please do the following:

1. Put your Fitbit on your hip or torso.
2. Pause for several moments. (We want to make sure that the mounting of the tracker is not affecting your step count. Pausing should prevent this).
3. Walk 100 steps, making sure to count a step each time one of your feet hits the ground).
4. Pause, then check your tracker to see your step count.

Fitbit trackers should be at least 95% accurate for step counting, which allows for a 5 step margin of error for every 100 steps.

In regard to the Fitbit Connect Software, we believe this issue should be resolved uninstalling and reinstalling the software. You can do this following the instructions available in this link: https://help.fitbit.com/customer/portal/articles/1084265-how-do-i-uninstall-reinstall-fitbit-connect-from-a-pc-

Please let us know if these steps did not resolve your issue, and we’ll be happy to troubleshoot further.

Sincerely,

Flor M and the Fitbit Team

Reply directly to this email, or click #805383 to update your case via our online support portal.

Original message

I have had my Flex for a week or so. I had/have a One. They are WAY off. I've been wearing both & today they're 4,000 steps apart. The Flex is consistently 1K or more steps less, is not accurately keeping up with steps. I often forget to put the One on when changing clothes so the discrepancy is even further off.

I've been tracking & commenting on the Community board here: http://www.fitbit.com/forums/topic/GN77LDH3XFY2B.

I put it to sleep & wake it up simply by tapping my hands to music when I'm driving. It turns off & on (sleep tracking) as I toss & turn.

I don't really care about the sleep tracking so no biggie. However, the difference in tracking steps is really frustrating.

I've tried changing hands, putting it on my dominate hand while having it set for non-dominate (which got me a bit closer), but I don't want to wear on my dominate hand due to the work I do.

I updated it to see if that might help. No luck. Suggestions? I'm getting ready to give up on it & just go back to the One. It's fairly accurate. I wouldn't mind a few hundred steps off, but this is way, way too many.

One last thing --- for some reason the Fitbit connect pop up is not loading when I start up my computer since getting the Flex --- and every time I use it I have to log in. Then I have to log in when I get to the fitbit website.

[[3ce0fa2059ab9aba61809cadd6f86509109c6d31-141353714]]

Firing a load... pins and needles

I am firing my first full load of glazed Lizella pieces. I'm on pins and needles and will be until I open the kiln. I have some pieces in there that I really love. I'm concerned that the glaze may have seeped too far into the clay, that I might not have let it dry enough between glaze coats, that the glaze may not interact with the clay the way I want, that I may have the glaze on too thick in areas...

Yikes.

I'm not a worry-wart type so I'm not going to spend the next few days fretting and worrying, but it's going to be in the back of my mind.

Every kiln load is a learning experience. I don't want this one to be a bad learning experience!

It's kind of funny. I can remember when I first moved from paint to clay. I was so timid. I felt like every little scrap of clay that dried out was money down the drain. The cost of glaze seemed prohibitive. I was amazed at the cost of kilns, brushes, tools, books, classes.

If a piece didn't turn out well I was bummed. I saved my mistakes thinking maybe I'd figure out a way to fix them someday (ha ha).

Now I have a pottery garden comprised of plants and all those mistakes, broken pieces, pots with pitted or runny glazes and other strange experiments I simply didn't like. I reclaim clay when I can and add it to the soggy area next to the studio when I can't (it's amazing how long a piece of dried clay will retain its shape!). My glaze collection, along with all the additions, is extensive and I only think about cost when I do something stupid like drop a bottle or forget to put a lid back.

Lizella is making me feel like a first time potter again. Who'da thunk it would be such a big learning experience?

This first load is low-fire. I'm working on finishing up the next load which will be mid-fire.

Breaking the clay rules

I typically stretch or completely break all the "rules" when playing with clay.

I remember one of my instructors over and over correcting my tendency to paint rather than place glaze on pieces. "You PLACE the glaze, you do NOT paint the glaze" she would say in horror. I think if she could have slapped the brush out of my hand she might have done so.

I grew up painting with acrylics, oils, water color. The idea of NOT painting with glaze was completely alien to my nature.

It still is. I paint, I don't lay my glaze on pieces. So there.

Another one I was taught and ignore is the idea that you let your glazes dry between coats. Three even coats, blah blah blah. It makes sense when you're working on most pottery creations. You want even coats, you don't want thin areas, weak areas, blobs.

However, I blend and paint. I want my glazes to mix. I want uneven results. I often use 10 or 12 or 20 glaze colors to achieve the look I want. Of course, most of the time I make sure that there's plenty of coverage to protect the finished piece. Sometimes I want the clay to peek through so I deliberately expose or scrape off some of the glaze.

I don't dip my pieces. I paint and get into every little crevice with a brush or some other tool. It's painstaking sometimes but I don't want a solid color anywhere on any of my pieces. Sometimes I miss a spot because I use a lot of texture and layer my clay so there are often little areas that are hard to get into.

At times I look at a difficult piece before I attempt to glaze it I tell myself I have to think more about the glazing process when making a piece because getting into all those little creases and hidey-holes is going to be impossible. I don't listen to myself.

So now I'm working with Lizella, a Georgia clay, as I wrote about in my last blog. It is not a clay that lends itself to my penchant for glazing wet layer upon wet layer. The clay is more brittle than many (OK, all) I've worked with and it absorbs the glaze, weakening the clay. I've already chipped off some pieces while glazing because the edges were saturated with glaze and weak.

I'm learning. Luckily the pieces that have broken off weren't important to the piece and I was able to sand the edges and blend. And no, I'm not telling you which ones I chipped! You'll never know when looking at them.

I'm glad the breakage happened where it did as I can tell it would be fairly easy to have a piece break in half! Especially the way I man-handle everything when I'm glazing. I get so totally into what I'm doing that I don't think about things like fragility when I grab a piece and flip it over.

I've also had some of the additions, like the little balls I add or the flute, come off when glazing. I stick them on when making the piece with clay mixed with magic water. For all the times I've made pieces with other clay I've never had anything separate or not stick.

With the Lizella some of the pieces fall off and separate during the firing process. Some drop off when I'm glazing when they get too wet. Again, aside from one piece I'm puzzling over, all have been fixable, or leaving off whatever fell off doesn't affect the end result.

Today I'm heading back to the studio to finish up some glazing. I had to let some pieces dry overnight as they really were getting too wet to handle.

I'm not sure I'm going to survive my Lizella experiment! I love the idea of using Georgia clay, I love the way the clay is so versatile when it comes to range of firing temps. I think if the end result makes me happy I'll probably learn to adapt.

Keeping my fingers crossed that the pieces hold up when I glaze fire! I'm doing a low-fire load first, then moving onto all the pieces I made for mid-fire.

Photos: All the pieces pictures are glazed and await their final glaze firing. We'll see. The one that looks pink & gray is royal blue and black tulip --- there were a whole lot of tiny, tiny crevices and pockets so I'm kind of expecting to have to refire it.

Playing with new clay

I finally got around to experimenting with some Georgia clay, Lizella. I have some favorite clays and have, over time, adjusted to their peculiarities. I had moved from mid & high fire to low fire years back because I like glazing the bottom of pieces. With higher temps you can't put pieces on stilts when you glaze fire as they slump over the stilts.

While Lizella lends itself to a wide range of firing temps from low to mid-fire, I like the darker brown-toned clay that you get when mid-firing (cone 6). I grabbed a bunch of high fire glazes when I picked up the Lizella with the intention of firing high.

One of the biggest adjustments I'm having to make is that I've grown accustomed to making low-fire pieces that can be glazed on the bottom. My designs flow down under. I keep looking at a finished wet piece and realizing I won't like it without glaze on the bottom! Habits. Ingrained.

But I do like to stretch myself so I'm sticking with it.

To semi-force myself to stick with it (cause I know I'll ultimately adjust and like), I bought a bunch more Lizella, more glazes and a couple of other mid/high fire clays last time I was up at Davens. Now I have to keep going!

Luckily for me, Lizella has a great firing range so when I "goof" and make a piece that simply MUST be glazed on the bottom, I can still fire it at a low enough temp to do so. However, I'm working hard to remember when I'm in my creative mode so I can make some mid-fire pieces.

I posted on Facebook a week or so ago that I was playing with Lizella. My FB friends are great --- a number of them who use Lizella added comments, gave suggestions and even posted some pieces for me to see. Art people are some of the nicest people in the world!

I just pulled out my first bisque fire load and will be glazing pretty soon. I learned that Lizella doesn't adhere to itself when wet as well as the clay I was working with... I have to re-fire one piece because part of it didn't "stick" to the other. That's part of the frustration and the fun of working with a new clay.

Strange day in the studio...

OK, not THAT strange! Probably more of an eye-opening, reflective type day.

I went out yesterday to check on my completed kiln load and to do some glazing or maybe even creating.

Kiln was at 420, too hot to open still, but where it should have been. Hot enough to keep me from being tempted to open the lid and peek!

Walked over and looked at things to glaze. Nah, not feelin' it.

Went to my glass, finishing table, dorked around a bit with some things. Nah, not feelin' it.

Moved over to the creating area, took one look and said "yikes" in my mind. Definitely not able to feel it...

When I go through my creative whirlwinds nothing goes back where it belongs. Stuff piles up, stacks up, lands wherever and stays there. I make a huge mess. I was looking a super huge mess.

Soooo, spent the day cleaning up just that one corner.

I realized something about myself during the process --- I do need organization. I've always considered myself a pack-rat type, fine with stacks and messes. I can't even claim to know where things are like some messy people!

However, I have a breaking point.

When I'm in the "zone" nothing matters, I just go full tilt. When I stop, I must clean and organize before I can start again.

I feel cleansed or something along those lines... kind of like cleansing the palate after tasting a good wine! It's energizing to create in an area that is organized.

Today, just as soon as I complete this and put on my messy clay clothes, I'm heading out to my clean corner to start the process again. Ideas were tumbling through my mind as I cleaned up and I'm going to go MESS UP MY STUDIO!!! (Oh, first, I'm going to unload the kiln ;-)

Glazed...

Today was a glaze day. Lately a lot of my pieces have been multi-step processes. I've been putting one or more glaze colors on the pieces, letting it dry overnight, then wiping the excess off getting the piece totally soaked, of course. Then letting it dry again overnight... Then adding my final colors. Sometimes I do that last glaze coat and decide it needs some touching up so I let it dry overnight, then touch up. It's a long process, but I love the results when I layer up a variety of colors.

I finished up the piece on the left today, will be starting on the one below tomorrow. First I covered the entire piece in a dark brownish glaze, let it dry, wiped off the excess. Then I glazed the tile patterns using blues, aquas and other colors. I let them dry then wiped off the excess. Then I glazed the entire piece with a tan-ish glaze, making sure to leave some of the browns and as much as possible of the tile colors showing. Well, guess I'm not quite finished --- tomorrow I'm going to touch up some of the tile colors to make sure they pop a little.

I haven't quite settled in on the colors I'll use for the piece to the right. Usually I have a good picture in my head when I start making the piece but that one has been evolving. I keep thinking blacks, tan, brown but then my mind shoots over to red, yellow, blue, primary colors. I may fire the one above and let the one below sit for a while until the right colors "speak" to me...

The studio is a mess! I go like crazy for a while, then have to take a break and neaten up so I can start the messing up process again.

Playing around with a lot of glazes and using more than one kind of clay means I have a whole lotta test tiles floating around! I used to leave them laying out, grouped by color type (blues, etc.) but now have one of those plastic drawer sets where I keep them. For starters at least! By the time I've been out there in the studio glazing for a few days it looks like someone took the test tiles and threw them up in the air, let them land wherever!

Clay Dreaming

I wonder if I'm the only one who wakes up in the midst of building a pot? Some good ideas have come during the night as I slept... Sometimes I simply complete a piece I've been working on during a dream. Once in a while I come up with a color scheme for glazing a piece that's been sitting on a shelf awaiting inspiration.

This morning I woke up in the process of puzzling on building a coil pot. A HUGE coil pot. I stayed with it in that quasi-half-awake state for a bit, thinking about it. Then went "eh, not gonna happen" and moved on to thinking about my day. I think that may be the first time I ever remember deciding against what my subconscious mind tossed out at me during the night or waking moments.

I believe that idea may have come from some stellar coil pieces I posted a few days ago by 童建銘 on Facebook. I guess they've been rattling in my mind. They are fabulous. I'd post them on here but I need to check on copyright issues before sharing photos of someone's work. If you click on the link in the first sentence it should take you to a photo on Facebook but you may need to be signed in.

Here's his Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003955542787.

I'm going to zap him a message and get permission to post --- you must see some of his pieces.

Well, first cup of tea is complete, time to move on to the list of things-to-do that I made after deciding not to do the dream pot.

My new pottery trees

In my last post I was tossing around ideas on how to show off my new series of hanging pieces. I've pretty much stayed with pieces that would sit on a shelf or table in the past although off and on have made wall pieces. Since I only had a few I usually just used a wooden plate stand to show them off or hung them on the ends of my shelf. With so many now I had to come up with a more "dignified" way to show them off.

I painted the shutters I mentioned, and the frames but it just didn't work for all the little pieces.

"Tree" is to the left, you can see the smaller one off to the right.

Cathy Spitz, who is teaching me how to do stained glass, found a couple of very cool "trees" at a local place that she uses to display her stained glass hangers at shows. It's made of welded metal, some rebar and other added metal, is slightly rusted and a creamy off-white paint. I loved her trees!

I finally took my butt over to the store a few weeks ago and... of course, they were closed. They're only open Thursday through Sunday. Long trip for nothing.

What made the trip that much more frustrating is that I got almost there, realized I needed gas, pulled into the gas station only to discover that I'd left my credit card and drivers license in my work out back-pack. I had to drive all the way back home, then drive all the way back over to learn they were closed. Ha. And yes, if I had known the name of the store I would have called before the trek. Possibly. It really never crossed my mind that a store would be closed during business hours.

I did go back the following week and found two perfect pieces to hold my hanging "dangles" (my term for the small ceramic pieces). I bought one large one and a small one. I would have gotten two big ones but didn't like any of the others.

Top of the large tree. Stands maybe 6 feet?

Turns out it's a good thing I didn't get two large ones --- they don't break down and the one I bought barely fit inside my vehicle once I've packed my shelves and pottery! Because they're metal I have to wrap the entire thing, too. Ah well, I think they look good. Usually my hubby is able to help with set up but he's been having some rough times so I had to do it alone on the way up. My son helped on the way home.

I seem to always take pictures as an afterthought and only when the lighting is bad, but I've included a few shots of my new trees. I took them while setting up for a show in Cumming, Georgia. I wish I had paid for electricity as the lighting was pretty bad. I talked with them about the lighting -- they were upset and apologetic. Someone had set the lights wrong and there wasn't a darned thing they could do about it. My pieces need light.

I put a piece of rebar between two of my shelf sets to hang some of the larger pieces. It was a happy accident that I found the bar, plan to buy another so I can do this again.

Little tree and one of the sheers I mentioned. Two shutters, too.

I backed the rebar hanging area with a stone colored sheer (straightened it out before the show started!). I backed the smaller shelf with a similar sheer to give me definition from the booth next to me. Not sure how I feel about the sheers. I like that they don't take up much space and they let light through. Not so sure that they look very professional. We'll see. Most shows I do are outdoors so they won't be needed.

I plan to paint my shelves to make them lighter as I mentioned in my last blog. I've been searching the stores for just the right color and texture...bringing home paint samples.

Anyone still reading? I was thinking as I typed that this may be the most boring series of blog posts ever! How many people are interested in the trials of getting a booth "just right"? 

Changing my display...

Well, it struck me that now that I'm doing more hanging pieces I am going to hafta figure out how to nicely display them.

In my booth it's fairly easy, however, in an indoor show I'll need free-standing "hangers" to display the pieces.  Given they're all different sizes it's going to be an interesting challenge. For me. Maybe not for some of you!

I have been wandering through websites, booth displays, and how-to articles for ideas. I have also been looking at what I have on hand. I want a tasteful display that is lightweight, flexible (as in, fold-able, easy to transport) and a good fit for my shelving and overall "look"...

I spent the morning sorting through the things I have stashed in the garage and out in the studio. I have a number of tall and short shutters that can be connected or painted. The big ones are not exactly lightweight but they are flat. They might look good painted, standing up at the back of the booth. The short ones would work on top of a table but you can't see through them so I'm wondering if they would block too much. On the plus sides, I can use both sides, they fold flat and I could paint them any color.

I have dowels --- thinking about adding some cup hooks to the back of my shelving, hanging a dowel and using it. I would need to also hang a back onto the shelves to avoid having the hanging pieces clash with the pieces sitting on the shelf. That would also only work when I have room on the back side of the shelve for people to walk. Maybe I'll save that one for an outdoor show. I rather like that people can see my art from both sides so not sure if I really want to go that route.

I also have a number of old window frames without glass. I am toying with making a free standing contraption. Not sure if I can convey the picture in my mind but I'll try. It would have a center pole with frames branching out, hinged somehow so they'd fold together. When standing they would form a Y (well, close enough, more like an X minus one leg ;-) with the pole being at the middle. I think that's an idea I might carry up to my Dad's for some ideas and help!

I like the idea of using the frames and shutters as it kind of fits with my basic design. You can see how I've used them in the booth shots I included, but they hang from the tent frame, something I won't be able to do in an indoor show.

I have three different size shutters, that's the medium tall thin one in the bottom picture. The smaller ones are hinged and can stand alone on a table. The larger shutters are about the same height as the tent walls.

I have a maybe five or six pieces of free-standing driftwood sculptures that I've used for smaller hanging pieces. They look good but you can't hang much and they can break --- plus I've found a lot of people ignore what's hanging on them and want to buy the driftwood!

I also have some stands that my Dad made for me --- you can see one in the bottom picture next to the window frame.

I'm thinking about changing the color of my shelves, too. Right now they're black. I like them black, but black absorbs light and my pottery does best with a lot of light given the way I mix colors, add glass, etc. They used to be natural wood but they looked a bit unfinished. I wish I'd stained them, but the idea of black worked for me back when I did it.

So, I guess I'll be outside playing with displays if they rain will hold off. I'm a notorious last-minute person. My next indoor show is next weekend so for a change I'm kinda-sorta ahead of the game...