The Joys of Christmas Money: BOOKS!

I have to confess, I'm a really lucky lady. Not only because when I look around, I can be honestly grateful for my husband, my dogs, a beautiful warm home, dependable vehicles, some relatively good health and a multitude of other things, but because of one wonderful holdover from my childhood:

Christmas money!

Yup. I still get a check in the Christmas card from my folks, and one from Mr. ShellHawk's dad. I am so lucky!

I can honestly say I look forward to my Christmas money every year, because I use it to fund my book addiction. Yes, I have a Kindle (I got a new one for Christmas from Mr. ShellHawk to replace the old one, which was having battery issues), but there are certain books which must be read in the wonderfully tactile, old-school manner of turning pages. My recent purchase of Thug Kitchen's new cookbook is one of those, but there are other references I've wanted, and only real pages will do!

This year, I hopped on to Amazon to make a number of purchases I'd been wanting for anywhere from a few months to a few years. Some of them were more technical knowledge, something I feel I'm lacking and would like to remedy, some are biographies of potters and sculptors, and some are books on the value of handmade things.

One of the newer ones I've wanted was In the Potter's Kitchen, by Sumi von Dassow. I've been curious about making things for the kitchen, and this recent release looked like a good place to start.

Another technical book is Pioneer Pottery, by Michael Cardew. I've been told this is one of the go-to books for technical knowledge of clay and glaze composition, etc., and this is one of those things I'm going to make part of my studies this year.

Since I, like many others, am enamoured of Japanese (and Asian)ceramics, picking up a copy of Inside Japanese Ceramics: Primer of Materials, Techniques and Traditions, was a no-brainer. The simplicity and beauty of those old ceramics just sucks me in, and I can't wait to start this book!

Among the other technical books: Chinese Glazes: Their Origins, Chemistry and Recreation and Simon Leach's Pottery Handbook.

I try to balance technical studying with learning about the great artists--the trailblazers, really--upon whose shoulders I stand. California in the late 1950s through the '60s and '70s was a hotspot for ceramics experimentation, and as a result, we learned about the Americanized version of Raku. I use that version for my jack-o'-lanterns, as a matter of fact! One of the trailblazers was Peter Voulkos, who was my teacher's (Yoshio Taylor) teacher. Since that particular potter's lineage is so close to me, I feel it's a crime for me to know so little about Voulkos, so I picked up Clay's Tectonic Shift: John Mason, Ken Price and Peter Voulkos, 1956-1968.

I re-purchased my copy of The Gilded Vessel: The Lustrous Art and Life of Beatrice Wood, which had been gnawed on by my tiny little puppy, Sam (now 3 1/2 and 86 pounds small...), when he was a pup. I'd never heard of Lucy Rie before I ran across a reference to her in Ceramic Arts Monthly magazine, so I thought I'd get a biography on her. Lucy Rie: Modernist Potter is on the way! And since I already purchased a book by him, I thought I'd pick up a book about him: The Last Sane Man: Michael Cardew: Modern Pots, Colonialism, and the Counterculture.

Lastly, I got one book on the value of crafting by hand: The Craftsman, by Richard Sennett, and one book completely outside my usual field: Animation From Pencils to Pixels: Classical Techniques for the Digital Animator, by Tony White.

All these in addition to the business building books I got to learn how to run the ShellHawk's Creations Etsy store better and more effectively!

Yes, it's a tremendous amount of reading material, but if you only read ten pages a day, every day, that's roughly a book to a book-and-a-half a month! That's a bunch of new knowledge every year, isn't it?

And really, learning new things has always been one of the strongest drives in my life. Since I am not a college graduate, and going back to college would mean a couple of years' worth of remedial-level algebra (because I am not math girl, and I can't even remember basic algebra) to get through my AA degree, I need to expand my knowledge in other ways. So, this works!

I can't wait to dig in! Now, where to start...

Dreamer

Over the years, I've had to admit that I'm a dreamer. I blame my reading habits. And my movie habits, too come to think of it...

For instance, every time I read Sunshine, by Robin McKinley, I dream of becoming a baker (in addition to being a very special kind of heroine, who always does the right thing at the right time.), getting up early every morning and creating incredibly addicting confections for an adoring crowd of regulars. Hey, I like baking, so why not, right?

Of course, reading her books The Blue Sword and The Hero and the Crown make me want to be the plucky heroine who winds up saving--and subsequently wisely ruling--her country. But I digress...

War for the Oaks makes me want to go back to my 80s years to play guitar and be the lead singer in a band. Dealing with the Queen of Air and Darkness would be a bonus. Of course, it also feeds into my Jessica Rabbit fantasy of becoming an incredibly well-drawn torch singer. (P.S. I am also considering a career as a Ninja, klutziness notwithstanding.)

I know you have some of these fantasies, too. Admit it!

Yesterday, I watched a documentary on Amazon, called, Advanced Style. It's about a group of over-60 women living in New York who still have an incredible sense of style, completely ignoring the youth-worship of American fashion magazines.

Ari Seth Cohen had started the concept of Advanced Style as a blog, but it eventually became a book and the documentary, both of the same name.

Of course, it makes me want to become an elderly fashion maven.

Yes, a few of the women are a bit nutty, but they still hold a certain amount of grace and class. They remind me a bit of my heroine, Beatrice Wood. They've hit that age where their hormones are no longer enslaving them, their children don't need them so much, and they pretty much no longer care what people think of them. They've hit that magical age, when women can be unapologetically themselves.

Speaking of which, I've recently realized (again) that I am not the person I wish to be. That I need to make some changes-and I want to make them. I used to have far more of a spiritual practice than I do now, and I felt a little bit more balanced when I did. If you've been reading this blog for any amount of time, you'll recognize balance as my main challenge. 

I tend to be a person whose speeds are "full-throttle" and "off." Not a whole lot of in-betweens.

So I picked up a set of CDs to help myself along.

Pema Chodron is a Buddhist nun, older, and with a great sense of humor. She's definitely seen a lot of life, and since she's American, she has an ability to connect with Westerners' daily life challenges and put them in a larger perspective. I'm looking forward to listening to these talks over and over again.

Maybe we can call it an early New Year's Resolution.

News From the Nest

It's been busy at the Nest. I'm pretty sure I've mentioned this before, and quite recently, but it remains true. I'm busier now than when I had a full-time job, and I'm still looking for one of those.

Some folks have contacted me for special orders of my pumpkin pots, which is great! Even better is that I've managed to throw some larger pots without them collapsing, so once I can do that consistently, I'll be offering them in my Etsy store. It shouldn't be long. I've also been working on some small, hand-carved pumpkins that I'll fire and either paint or glaze; I'm not sure which one I'll do yet. Maybe I'll do some of each. Since both Pumpkinrot's beloved Bean and Ghoul Friday also do tiny pumpkins, I made a conscious decision not to look at their little guys so I'm not copying their designs or faces by accident. It's kind of tough to avoid similarities, since jacko faces can look very much alike, but I think they hold my style, rather than others'. I'll do a reveal soon, and you can let me know if I've succeeded.

The reason I decided to make some tiny pumpkins is in preparation for a show I hope to be accepted into in September. (It's the Folsom Fine Arts Festival, so there's a chance my stuff won't be considered "artsy" enough, but I'm crossing my fingers.) I wanted small, inexpensive things that folks can buy in addition to my larger pots, and I think if I make enough of them, they'll move. I'm working my ass off to make sure I have enough different products to fill a 10'x10' stall. If all goes well (i.e. if I can get a few people to help me), I'll set Stewie up in the back of the stall as a draw. I'm hoping they have electricity so I can plug him in.

Teaching has been going well. Last week I put together an idea/resource guide for them as a handout, since it seems they needed one, and I found out that the Parks and Rec department has a projector that I can use and I can hop onto their Internet. So, I got to show a couple of videos to them last week, and plan to show them another one today: Beatrice Wood: Mama of Dada. I'm pretty sure I've mentioned Wood in these pages before, but for those who don't know why she's such a hero of mine, it's because she was already forty years old when she started to learn ceramics and she continued to work in her studio until she was 104. She passed away at age 105. (Considering my grandma is turning 101 next month, I'm hoping that continuing in art and ceramics will keep my mental acuity up for a long time, in case I make it as long as Oma!)

I'm in process of writing my Hauntcast segment right now, too, and managed to justify buying a book I needed for research. (I've had a bit of a shift in attitude about book purchases. Since I've made a major effort to get rid of many of the books I've been schlepping around for the past thirty years or so, I'm very picky about the books I purchase these days. They have to meet certain criteria, and this one fit the bill.) I had another topic in mind initially, but wasn't able to find as much research material on it as I would like, so I'm bumping that topic onto the back burner for a couple of months until I can find what I need. July's segment topic has already been decided; I just need to get it written up and recorded in the next couple of weeks. I'll probably be asking for your help in finding that elusive information for my August segment, so stay tuned!

Lastly, please remember the postcard giveaway that's going on right now! Rules here. I include my postcard from My Postcard Printing in every package of pumpkin love I send out to people, so they have my various haunts right there for them. I only have one contestant right now, but I'd like to see more. Good luck, all!