Crazy thinking

Showering for some reason always seems to open my mind up and I never know where it will go.  Sometimes I have some really creative ideas and sometimes they are just weird.  This morning was a weird line of thought.

I started thinking about when and if my Mom moved in with us and whether or not I would have to take her to church.  Would I go and sit with her or just wait in the car?  Really, I thought, I would have to go in with her.  I don't attend church and I haven't for 40 years or so.  I am pretty much an atheist or at the very least on the hairy edge of atheism and agnosticism.  I imagined the Pastor asking me if I believed that Jesus Christ was my savior and I would have to say a definitive no.  Then he asked me if I believed in Heaven.  Again, no, I don't.  Then he asked do you believe in a soul.  Now here is where I began to digress into a off the wall train of thought.  I said."Well, if I did believe in a soul then wouldn't all living creatures have a soul?  Wouldn't not just mammals but all creatures have a soul?"  I mean what makes mammals special...just because we are one?

What if humans where not mammals?  What if we laid eggs?  I thought well wouldn't that solve some issues today, because then if you didn't want your egg, you could just give it to someone else to sit on and keep warm.  Really, you wouldn't even have to do that because you could just keep it in an egg warmer.  You could really take this right on down into crazy town if you wanted.  Just keep extrapolating....


So all that in the shower today.....

Sleepware Pjs Nightgowns

I am going to reveal a private thing....I don't like to sleep naked.  I don't know why I just don't.  I never slept naked as a child.  Then when we had kids I wanted to have something on so when I ran into their rooms at night I was covered.  This means that I want to have something to sleep in.  Notice that I said "sleep in".

What I often find when I go and look for something is that the manufacturers believe there are three demographics out there: young children who want to have teddy bears, stars, and hearts on their pajamas, young woman who want to be sexy so nothing really covers you and when you turn over your boobs fall out, and old woman who are always cold or want something utilitarian with lovely tender flowers and roses all over it.  

I used to wear night shirts and at only 5' 8" they barely covered my ass, so I quit with them.  I have looked at the separates where you can get a camisole style t-shirt and match it to some long pants.  I don't want long pants.  They are fine for the winter but then I wouldn't want the camisole top to go with the long pants for winters.  At least let me have short sleeves for that.  

My prefered pj is a camisole style t-shirt or lightweight short sleeve and shorts.  For whatever reason, manufacturers have decided that if you want a camisole or abbreviated style top you must also want an abbreviated bottom.  What is the deal with a one inch inseam.  Why bother with that, you might as well just wear a thong.  I don't want bermuda shorts but isn't there something in between? How about 4 inches.  

Now that I have the style settled, I want cotton knit.  Why?  Because it stretches and moves with you and it is cooler than silky polyester.  We are sleeping in these!  Here again, I want an adult print.  I don't want little bears or giraffes.  Even sold colors would be nice.

I have found some places where I can buy these at $50.00 a  piece.  I don't pay $50.00 for a t-shirt I wear during the day, why in the hell would I pay that to sleep in!!!!!

So that leaves just buying regular t-shirts and shorts.  I can do that but they are usually a bit heavier weight and I really don't want to look like a refugee when I am going to bed.  I know that sounds silly but in some weird way I want to still have some attraction for my husband.  It would almost feel like I was saying.."hey babe, we are old...I don't really care anymore"...I am not quite that old yet.

Okay that may be my generation or something weird going on there...don't read too much into that. But hey, maybe I need to start designing pjs!

Wow, I have not been very diligent in writing my blog!  Nor have I worked on my website in quite a while.  On my to do list.  It is interesting in that websites seem to be so static but I have been using my Facebook Page to write small posts.  Now I am beginning to believe that there are so many posts flying around that it is difficult to see what is going on.  Everyone is screaming for attention.  Maybe that will mean that the blog which can be more in depth about an idea will get more attention.

I am trying to get back into the swing of things.  Over the Holidays I marked down a great deal of work for our annual home show, https://www.facebook.com/pages/Under-One-Roof-Tally/1454205338176629?ref=hl.  I sold very well and I can't help but wonder that when you give your work away at close to the cost of material....wow it sells really well.

For those of you didn't know last year I got intrigued by clay.  I made several things, which I liked and even sold a few things.

I am going to get back to that but right now I am working on some pieces to evaluate for an Etsy shop.  I will keep you posted on that.  Most importantly, I am working and feeling pretty good about it.

It is the new year, 2014, wow.  I don't want to make this a resolution to write more often, I will just say it is an idea. 

I have a couple of things rolling around that I would like to think about doing.  One of them is to take a class from Keke Cribbs at Pilchuck.  It is two weeks and expensive.  First of all I have always loved her work.  I love the color, but mostly I love the story aspect of her work.  I love that she is not tied to a medium but to an idea.  I love working with glass but I have a vague feeling that I have been bumping my head on a "glass" ceiling. I am not sure if my feeling is a limitation of my creative ability and imagination or more of a log jam that needs to get cleared out.  I may not be able to fix that all by myself.  That is what makes me wonder that taking the class from KeKe might be the kick I need.  If nothing else it might make the answer to the question clearer to me.

The other thing is that I am constantly being asked to teach classes.  I have done it in my small studio.  But if I do that I am not actually able to work myself.  I signed up to do our local outdoor show this year so that is on my plate.  But that is not my only hesitation.  I have not taken a billion classes. I have been pretty holed up in my studio.  Therefore, I haven't learned all the latest and greatest.  I will have to do some work, experimentation, and testing before I really feel like I can do a good job with that.  I mean I obviously know the nuts and bolts but I would like to offer some information on current ideas.

Well, there you have it, two ideas...rolling around, kind of like marbles.  They are not really going any where exactly.

Building another website

I sure hope I am not in over my head here.  I finally transferred my domain name to my new host.  I had to have help from the help desk, Riccardo.  I did in fact feel a little like Lucy.  I was clearly out of my depth.  However, it is done and my son applauded me for getting that far.  Now I have to build the new site.

Riccardo assured me that I could do it and that their website builder is easy. I stuck my toe in the water this evening and ran back to the shore!  I got one picture in but not much else.  I know I can do it.  I think it is just going to take some time in the chair.

Wish me luck!

New website

I have been remiss.  I have not followed some of the important rules of marketing, networking, or keeping up-to-date; I have not updated my website in ages.  I hate my website. It only allows a tiny bit of information, so everytime I want to add something I have to redesign the whole thing and subtract something else so it won't go over its allotted space.
Yesterday in my frustration, I went to Go Daddy and signed up for a new domain name.  Now today I find out I could have transferred my old domaine name, Lesleynolanglass, to Go Daddy.  So after spending about an hour on the phone with Riccardo, that is what I am going to do.
I don't know how long it will take me but I am going to try and remake the website into something more modern; one that will go to a mobile format as well.  It is hard for us "grown-olds" to keep up with technology!  Bare with me!

How I work

We have a big project going on in the backyard.  It is taking weeks for the workers to transform our modest patio into the palatial castle we envision; well that may be an overstatement but it will be wonderful.  I notice that when it was quitting time, they walked away, the section unfinished and the area left sort of untidy.

You know, it doesn't bother me.  The reason is that I looked at how I work in my own studio.  My work takes days and days to complete.  I find often that I am working on a figure and it is tedious, however satisfying, but I will reach a point where my mind says..."I'm done for the day".  I do not clean up and I do not finish the section; I turn off the radio, the lights, and close the door.

Sometimes before I walk out, I prepare several pieces of silkscreened glass to fire overnight in the kiln.  The silkscreens are left on the counter, the powder needs to be cleaned up and the counter is usually a mess.  But still, I walk out, just like that.

The next day, I know right where to start.  I don't have to think of the next thing to do, I just complete the pattern that I was working on.  Then when it is finished, that is when I might decide, I need to clear off a counter and sweep the floor.  It is as though, I must clear my mind to move on.  Or, I will simply move on to the next patterned figure because I am in the groove now, my mind has woken up, with the help of coffee of course.

I see that is somewhat how these men are working on the complex paver design of the patio.  The walkaway in the evening and jump back in where they left off the day before.

For me, leaving the studio in mid stream helps me jump right in the next day.  It is like a bookmark in a book.  I don't have to get to the next chapter.  In fact sometimes I get to a really complicated or interesting place and realize..."I need to save this for when I am fresh" and I close the book.  The studio is like that too.