News From the Nest

As with all of you at this time of year, the Nest is in a bit of disarray as the Hallowe'en stuff prepares to make its yearly appearance, school is in (which means learning and teaching for me), my booth opens, and any manner of chaos that can come a-visitin', will!


The open house I had a week ago Sunday went very well, especially considering I don't yet have a mailing list. (Note to self: build mailing list!)


As you can see from the pictures, the house looked like a Hallowe'en tornado had blown through and deposited Hallowe'en-y things everywhere. These pics were taken at about 1:00a.m., as I was finishing up entering my stock into my inventory sheet.


Of course, I don't have an "after" shot, where everything was beautifully displayed. I was just too busy to snap any pics the next morning! A final vacuum was done to pick up the German Shepherd dust rhinoceri that were galloping madly around the house, kitchen clean-up and hors d'oeuvres made and set out, bathroom cleaned, and all the last-second minutiae taken care of, with some help from Mr. ShellHawk. (He made a wonderful plate of caprese salad that was beautiful and as yummy as only home-grown tomatoes can be!)


The neighbors I invited who hadn't seen me making things in my garage were, I think, pretty surprised at not only the volume of work I had on display, but I think at the quality, too. I think some of them were expecting to have to make polite noises at some fairly cruddy and amateurish pottery, but instead, there were some honestly impressed looks on some of their faces. 
One friend didn't buy any of the Hallowe'en ware, but did purchase five of my Raku pieces, and five of my favorites, at that. 
Someone else bought several of the pre-matted photos I started offering this year, so I have hopes that they'll be a popular item at my booth on Apple Hill this season. All in all, we had a great time!


In other news, Jack Skelington was shipped off to his new home.

My friend Dean's three-year-old absolutely loves Jack Skelington, so when Dean asked me to make one for her, I was delighted to do so.
From Dean's email:

My daughter Olivia (3 yrs old) was so excited when she saw the box with a Jack Skellington face on the front.

I'm attaching 2 photos and a video when she opened it up. She carried it around the rest of the night and I had to put it on her nightstand

when she went to bed. She wanted a candle in it but I couldn't find one. She told me to get one today at Walmart for her.

Thank you so much! I'm going to put a flicker LED candle for it and display it in the window the entire month of October.

 Can I express how great it is to be a part of her Hallowe'en tradition? How cool is that?


Makes the late nights worth it, that's for sure!


Oh, and? I was listed on "Etsy Finds" the other day. Woo-hoo! (Look in the section that says "plan menu.")


Great things come with Hallowe'en!