Gratitude 2

stamina for the Belsnickel craft show--- well my back gave out yesterday and now aches where it never ached before, but I survived the 15 hours yesterday and the 12 hours today.

success--- We have heard if you make 6-7 times what you pay for the booth, then it is a good show. We did 9.6 X. Yesterday was good. Today was great. 22 of our pieces have new homes.

Diner food after a 15 hour day---



add to that, a huge piece of banana cream pie.

Friends--- nine of those invited showed up, including two who live in my neighborhood.

Bribes--- "I will give you pie, chocolate, and beer..." was the phone message waiting when we got home from the fifteen hour day. message to SK--- We got your stuff, and your marriage is safe for this one sold...



sleep--- last night I slept straight through, 8 hours.

Our neighbor at the craft show --- Kristen Von Hohen and her mom were upbeat and joyful. The ceramics and their smiles made a long time easier to take. And they graciously sold me a vase filled with hope.. "I will fill it with flowers next year," I told Mosaic Woman...

taking on Der Belsnickel

I've been at this blogging stuff for over a year and I have failed to mention that I am a Pennsylvania German. My one grandfather spoke the Dutch to his best friend. Anyway...

My people are given credit for this character, Belsnickel... St Nicholas in furs is what it means and unlike the more modern Santa, this guy showed up earlier, just before bedtime. Treats in one hand, a switch in the other. This guy is said to be a precursor to that naughty or nice stuff. I read that he did give the bad boys and girls a chance at redemption, recite a poem or sing a song and you may not get the switch. Anway...

The 2008 Der Belsnickel Craft Show is happening soon, November 28-29, 2008. Yes, I finally get some time off from teaching (first day off since we started in September) and we will exhaust ourselves. The hours are 11AM to 7 PM on Friday and 10 AM till 4 PM on Saturday.

It is a fundraiser for the Boyertown Area Historical Society, which in our minds is a way cool thing to support. It also gives folk to buy some handmade presents for those who have at least attempted to be nice.





and we still have our ETSY shop ... Nutmeg Designs, for those of you who are not fortunate enough to live in the land of Der Belsnickel.

...

mandalas with burning bush

For now, preparing for next Monday's adult group has been going to the first verses of Chapter 3 of Exodus. I have been doing this when I sit in the chair of contemplation to reflect upon my day. Now the last three nights has made me see the burning bush in both of my recent mandala designs (how to design a mandala: 1. draw a circle 2. pray 3. fill the circle in).


The first was clear from the beginning, glowing earth, flames arising. I saw the story in the design and chose glass as I saw fit...





I recently spoke about imaginative prayer, but I most often read the Bible looking for a verse, phrase or word that catches my eye. It draws me in. Then I sit and ponder why those words caught my eye. This time it is a most appropriate verse... Exodus 3:3 --- Moses said "I must go across and see this strange sight..." I try to think what sights have drawn me to them. Am I being drawn by God when this happens. Two times in my life come to mind. I saw a woman walking in a library. That night after no conversation, only that sighting, I tell a friend that I saw a woman. I had never said such a thing in my life before. Now you all know her here as Mosaic Woman. I was so drawn that I overcame all the shyness and introverted nature I could to approach her. Was it holy ground I stepped upon to speak.

The second event happened a year earlier. I am walking on a snow covered path in the Pocono Mountains. I am stopped by an urge to be still and turn my head to the left. Often I will see a bird when I do this, but now a dead mouse rests in the branches of a sapling. I grow closer pondering how this came to be. Tears fill my eyes for the first time since who knows when.

The second mandala was drawn to improve upon the design of the first--- more branching and get rid of that mound of earth. I choose green for the branching. going with the complimentary color, red, for the background. Not seen as what it was at first, I now see it as a better representation of that event by the mountain of God. For in the Bible what caught Moses eye was the unburning (yes, I made up that word and I like it!) bush. Here the bush remains green in the midst of a fire storm of God's visiting spirit.




OK, now to get goofy. Before my theological insights, I was going to call this post a toilet with a view, for both of these are hanging in my bathroom window. Even took a lovely photo featuring the toilet and the two stained glass mandalas over the weekend. For now they will hang there unless someone discovers them at our ETSY SHOP. Then in November (unless sold) they will travel to a craft fair, which I will advertise in due time.

latest stained glass, ETSY, and Hearts

My break between the summer session and the up and coming school year has given me some studio time. Having finally finished the project which I avoided finishing, I went with quick and easy--- 17 pieces that fit into a 5x7 frame...






I took several photos but getting the violet was tough so I have no good photos of the entire piece to post on our ETSY site (nutmegdesigns). This photo failed to get the pale blue in the center.

I then decided to design a new mandala, which when finished was attacked by my own hand bearing an erasure to make the pieces in the design larger, but I did not like the final result and Mosaic Woman agreed and added, "I liked the smaller pieces," so I drew a new circle and went with small pieces...




I may finish this in the next day or two.

I did a search for stained glass at ETSY and 8723 items came up. If you don't keep paying to renew your items they fall down the list... right now I'm at 161 (8 pages in) but by the time you read this.... who knows. Until and maybe even after we have our own website we will stick with ETSY since many a business card has our site listed. [NB: Our website is http://nutmegdesignsart.com and my stained glass is now at Stratozpheres Etsy.

Since last December I have sold 6 of my stained glass while Margaret has sold 9 mosaics on ETSY, the last was by me about 10 days ago. Now 4 of the 6 items which I sold have been hearts. This is one of those strange things about how life turns out. I would never have predicted to be an artist who makes hearts. But I have enjoyed making them and here are links to two blog posts that featured hearts by Mosaic Woman and myself.

up close photos

whole heart photos

blessings of the day...

1. getting to spend a Wednesday with Mosaic Woman, who has them all off.. she was thrown for a loop thinking it was Saturday especially since we went to a library.
2. seeing cormorants at Peace Valley Park while we ate cookies from Tabora bakery
3. lunch at the Duck Deli on 202... me a chicken BBQ sandwich, Mosaic Woman a salad with smoked tuna
4. gumption to water the sad plants in the rain deprived garden
5. time in my studio listening to The Beatles... Abbey Road, the second side is just amazing
6. listening to jazz-- including local trumpet dude-- John Swanna
7. dinner which included green beans, garlic, peppers, zucchini, and tomatoes, all of which I was blessed to have grown
8. and an oatmeal stout to savor while putting this post together.

ending avoidance, avoiding distraction

It is finished....

after weeks and weeks of avoiding, I finished the project without a hitch on the 9th, delivered it to the purchaser on the 16th. It was nice having it about for a week. Here are two views (click to see larger).





So what are the props to get them up to window level, you ask? On the right is my New Jerusalem Bible, on the left is The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD. Not a professional photo shoot, but the only place in the house I could get shots of them side by side.





Speaking of avoiding, it looks like we are avoiding the Olympics this week so we can get back to our normal routine which does not include TV. Thus there is more sleep, more reading, more art, and even more time for silent reflection.

Last night I was taken to the parable about taking the log out of your eye before you take the speck out of your neighbors. At school, it is much easier to see the results of a student and staff power struggle, when I am not the staff and when I have admitted to doing the same. So when I see one and want to make comment, it is best to add in that I too have dug in my heels when it was just a matter of thinking I SHOULD have control over the situation.

Well, I have two weeks to relax and do some log removal from my eyes.

preparing for Har Zion #2

for me (mosaic woman would agree) the fun part of preparing for a craft show, is crafting...



A colleague of mine commissioned two 11x17 inch panels and I worked up three designs. She liked two, so I decided to do smaller versions for her to see in glass. She liked both but preferred the top and asked for two larger like that, and then bought the one below. First thought in my head was... "No, you can't buy it, I need it for the Har Zion craft show in Penn Valley this weekend." Some thoughts just need to float in and float and out.






Below is the third version of this design. No darkness here. I will try to sell this and the one I judged poorly at the craft show. Hopefully someone like this guy shows up and sees the beauty in it.





and then there is the design I came up with on retreat at Wernersville and then worked on the day and night I prepped for a my colonoscopy. Catching the blue greens by camera was quite difficult.