Mydwynter Studios

Apologies

2009-04-28T12:41:29Z

SENT Tuesday, April 28, 2009 FOR REAL

Hello all-

Apparently the RSS feed is a wily and unpredictable mistress, because it seems to be sending out updates even if no new updates are available. I could understand when it happened about a week ago, as I revamped the tagging system. But last night all I did was erase entries and move them over to my personal blog, yet it still signaled the RSS to fire.

In any event, I apologize for the trigger-happy nature of the system filling your inbox with years-old entries, and I hope that no other changes I make will cause the same embarrassing reaction.

Sincerely,
Bran

Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes

2009-04-21T04:13:21Z

The Mydwynter Studios site (both blog and forum) will be going through some big changes over the next week, so please don’t be alarmed if things go awry as I renovate. The chaos is temporary, I assure you. In the meantime, I hope that you all are having a relaxing, joyous, and safe holiday season.

-Bran

Barbarians and Ruffles

2009-04-21T04:14:52Z

Today I’m working on the design for some workout pants (trousers, for you Brits, not underpants) for bellydancers, and whomever else wants them. They–and some other reclaimed t-shirt clothing I’ve been designing–will eventually be put up on etsy. I’ve got a nice cup of chamomile tea, and I’m about to start a pot of chili a-simmering.

Once I finish the current step for these pants (working on ruffles), I think I’m going to work on a current custom tattoo design. I was hoping to get some prelim. graphic design stuff done this week, but since I won’t be getting my other computers from West Virginia for yet another week I have a bit of a reprieve.

ON DECK: Research the hair of Alphonse Mucha’s women
TODAY ON TV: Ep 101 of “Mad Men”; Terry Jones’ “Barbarians”

Back on the Horse

2009-04-21T04:18:24Z

Well folks, it’s been a long ~3 months. Here’s what I’ve been working on:

In December, the last time I checked in, I had just finished making my various-winter-holiday cards. I also teased that I had photos of a commissioned project, but I couldn’t post them in case they made it back to the person for whom it was being created.

Well, the present was sneakily transferred to the wife of the recipient, and given as a Christmas gift, and (so I was told) much enjoyed. Here it is:

This was a blast to work on. I particularly enjoyed playing with the way the spirals didn’t just have to echo the form in two dimensions, but could flow in and out of the pockets and holes within the skull. Great fun.

After that, I headed out on a long, long trip hither and yon.

I flew out to Seattle, where I spent a month making many lists and weaving lots of trim on a mini inkle loom. As usual, I spent my time hanging out with all my friends out there and being inspired by Seattle’s particular mix of health, hipness, and love of originality. I finally made it to a yoga class taught by one of the guys out there, ate at one of my favorite vegan soul food restaurants, and attempted to play a game of frisbee golf. (Which is, as was clear to those who were playing with me, not my favorite past time. As sports go, I would much rather be playing baseball, or football, or a wicked game of badminton.) In spite of the latter, I had quite a nice time there.

Then I moved on to Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, where I proceeded to be knocked upside the head by a major respiratory flu. Being ill for a week seriously threw off our plans for the month, which were to make what I am calling “Yurt: The New Class”; where I camp at Pennsic, we Celts often use yurts as our temporary round houses. One of my friends who lives up there is basically our “yurt guru”, so it only made sense that if I wanted a yurt which a)would break down small enough to be conveyed in a car, and b)was more efficient than our current versions, I would go to her. The three of us up there worked our tails off (especially our yurt guru, to whom I owe a big pile o’ thanks and many, many presents). One thing I learned? When working with hickory, you get some serious tear-out which might not only be irreparable with a belt sander, but also irreparable with a nicely-sharpened hand planer. Yikes.

In any event, the delay due to illness cost us the deadline, so I’ll be heading back up in July. In the meantime, one of the things we did finish completely was the cherry wood door frame, which I’ll be carving (intricately, it seems, according to my sketches) and fitting with a door. Photos on that will be posted once it has been completed.

This month I went down to the last weekend of the Florida Renaissance Festival and over to Mississippi for the SCA’s Gulf Wars. I was much inspired by these two events, and more on the results of that inspiration are to come.

Here’s hoping the nascent Spring finds you well, and the new-green buds bring you some growth of your own.

Cheers,
Bran

…and tomorrow will be beyond imagining.

2009-04-21T04:30:58Z

The past week was a but nutty, but full of a whole lot of accomplishment. I can post some pictures after Christmas, so as not to ruin a few surprises. However, I did also manage to create and produce my own Winter/Yule/Christmas/Hanukkah, etc., cards.

I hope you all are having a safe, warm, and lovely holiday season.

“…ain’t it a blessing to do what you want to do?”

2009-04-21T04:21:11Z

Ahoy-hoy…

I’m in MD this weekend for the Holiday Sale/Open House at Art of Fire. Va and Darrell and Mary and I have converged upon Va’s parental homestead for the evening, and at the moment are still striving to regain the feeling in our extremities from such a very, very cold day in the Celtic Annex (read: un-insulated garage). We are looking forward to seeing some great people this weekend. Will any of them be you? We’ve got all the usual suspects, and some new ones, including “Crow” cookies jars and “Ceilidh” cassarole dishes. More info is up at the Dancing Pig website.

Anyway, that’s what’s going on on the pottery front. This show was last weekend and this, and it will be followed by two weeks of stock building before Va and I take off for Hamilton, ON, where we are planning to spend the holidays. (Darrell is staying home to make stock and host the indians. No, really.)

But wait, there’s more:

-In addition to making stock these next two weeks, we are working pretty steadily on renovating my apartment above the pottery studio. The decorating scheme so far is a melange of Celtic, Roman, and Halloween chic. Kinda. Hell, it’ll be eclectic but tasteful. Not unlike myself.

-Over the past few weeks, I’ve started work on the leather jacket back piece. It’s a Hanuman design, with Buddhist art influences and some crows thrown in. (Would you honestly expect me not to involve a crow or two in this project? Really, with me you can almost count on it.)

-Also, I’ve been researching representations of both Hermes and dogs on Archaic Greek pottery for two new tattoo designs, but I’ve post more on the subject when I have some more research under my belt.

-In DC just before Thanksgiving, I was inspired to start tap dancing again. “To what end?” you (probably didn’t) ask quizzically. My answer? To try to revive the tradition of tap dancing as an integral part of burlesque performance, in the DC area. I find it almost impossible to believe that no one has done it yet; it seems like such an obvious thing. Am I wrong?

-Does anyone out there have any books to spare related to Buddhist art and iconography? I find that there’s a disturbing hole in my collection.

Hope all is well with you, and in these crazy December weeks, please try to find some time to enjoy the way winter can bring a little clarity along with the cold. I continually find it…useful, even what I see wasn’t what I was expecting.

Cheers, all.

Meanwhile…

2009-04-21T04:31:54Z

…we continue to make stock for faire.

Because it will most likely be too hard to keep up, we won’t be making Halloween mugs, alas. We might try to work on them for next year, though, with some more planning.

However, we have started making our skull and pumpkin jack-o-lanterns, which are A Blast to make. Well, they are to me. Va has made so many over the years that she claims she’s “over it”, which is yet another reason why being the new one on the block is a good thing.

My favorite so far: a pair of skulls I carved last night, the boy one with a Jack Skellington grin and a bowtie, the girl one with eyelashes and lips and a hair bow. I find them adorable. If you can come out to faire this weekend, to see them and others, please do!

Okay, if at first you don’t succeed…

2009-04-21T04:29:31Z

…be thankful there will soon be another glaze kilnload.

So the last batch of test tiles? Not so much. The red underglaze I was trying to use ends up not really being red as much as…well…rhubarb-coloured. Not really what I had in mind. Ew. So back to square one on that note. And the new green? Ugh. See, the glaze on the Green line of pots has been getting kinda strange since the move, and while it’s technically fine, we think there is room for improvement. So we are trying to work out some alternatives, and it’s taxing Va’s many years of experience as well as my fresh-faced enthusiasm and research-philia.

And we’re still trying to pin down the glaze for the new Ceilidh pots. There are a bunch of options, but none yet jump up and down and go, “pick me! pick me!” So that’s to be worked out still.

And I’m still working on that buttery yellow, and a rich chocolate brown that doesn’t look like a leftover from a batch of 1979 ashtrays. (ugh, again.) So this all means that I’ve got to make a “metric butt-ton” (technical term) of test glazes before the next kilnload goes in on Tuesday.

Tomorrow morn, I have to fix a decorative sculpted face I made a few days ago; it shrank as it dried, and the supports it was sculpted on didn’t, and therefore it cracked. I want it to be ready to go into a bisque kiln whenever there is space; there are two that I’ve finished, and you never know when one will fit jenga-like into a kiln, so I really want to be ready. They are both planned as big centerpieces of decoration when I plaster and paint the walls in my studio; I am planning to incorporate some Italian carved plaster embellishment on one of the walls, and the faces are a big part of that. And, good lord willin’ and the creek don’t rise, I will be working on the walls soon. Right now we’re still working on the elex and plumbing up in what we’re starting to call “The Crow’s Nest”, and while that’s cool and all, since this is me we are talking about it should really come as no surprise that I can’t wait to get on to the aesthetics.

You thought you wanted to know, eh?

2009-04-21T04:37:17Z

So, lessee. It’s another jam-packed day of fun our here on Tul Creggen, haus of strange work and stranger slack. We’re scurrying to get ready for the Western PA Faerie Fest this weekend, as well as Potomac Celtic Festival. Split stock means we have a lot of work to do. In fact, it means that other things get pushed back until loads of pots are in the kilns, and the only thing we can do is wait.

That being said, waiting is not something we are going today. I finished up making a batch of glaze, and I’m about to go out to the studio to glaze another kiln of pots. I’m thinking of devising a rating system to evaluate the relative difficulty of glazing some kilnloads over others. The rating system will not only help me support my geeky reputation, but will allow me to winge more effectively. See, some kiln loads are a breeze; mostly mugs or bottles, which mostly go smoothly and require very little fiddling. Then there are kilnloads like today’s, which big huge bowls and berry bowls and other pots which require extra steps and finesse (which it seems sometimes has gone out to lunch leaving me going, “hey! come back here! i’m gonna mess this up without you! hey!” Anyway, having a short hand for when Va gives me the news might be entertaining.

B: So, what kind of stuff is it today? A, B, or C?
V: I’m afraid it’s D today, mon amie.
(Not that Va says “mon amie”, but I’m extemporizing here.)
B: A kilnload entirely made up of butter-keeps and teapots? Omigawd. Okay, that’s cool, but I’m picking the music. “Temple of the Dog” it is.
V: ohwailywailywaily! Why do you hate me so!?
B: Mwahahahaha…

So while the current bisque kiln cools off enough that I can glaze it later, I’m going to spoil myself by going out to the studio now and making some new glazes to test. I’m working on a rich red, a buttery smooth yellow, and revamping the green. Yay!

-end geek transmission-

Welcome! Failte!

2009-04-21T04:26:27Z

Thanks for checking out the blog of Mydwynter Studios, where you can keep up with all the goings on in its life and art!

Please check back often for show schedules, pictures, and details about what I am working on now. And please feel free to squawk back to me–the little Crow, the Coppercrow, the Bran–and let me know what you are thinking.

As they say in Irish Gaelic, Failte!