i am feeling very lucky today as i entered more
deeply into the world of metal clay by going to the 1st of 6 metal clay open studio sessions taught by certified metal clay artist mary neuer lee. open studio offers the opportunity to play with metal clay in the perfect flexible environment. all levels of students from beginning to advanced coexisting in one classroom means you get to learn through others questions, tools and experience as well as your own. so good.
today feels like wishes coming true as i plunge forward, with guidance, via my imaginings of raw-er earth inspired rings made out of bronze clay. more updates on that in weeks to come as i refine and find ways to add delicacy and intricacy and test the parameters of this happy medium : )

i have been using beeswax a lot in the last few years, (lotions, salves, wood finishes, candles, paper flowers) and i have gotten to learn a lot of it's properties. did you know that unfiltered beeswax has too much of a resinous substance called propolis (with beautiful anti-microbal properties) which will clog the wick if used in candle making and extinguish the flame no matter the size of the wick? i have found this to be the case and have begun to buy beeswax with little propolis for candlemaking from Beekind in Sebastopol Ca.http://beekind.com/ who shared this candlemaking tip with me. the smell is much more earthy perfumy and less honey-like but my candles are much more successful and it is a blonder version of beeswax which keeps the pinks and whites truer on my tiny paper blooms.
hmmm...what to do with all my unfiltered beeswax scraps...? i decide to make my own floral tape (a waxy tape hidden in the construction of my crowns), adding another greener layer to my work. my handmade version is messy and not as workable as the ready made floral tapes (which uses some unknown sticky parafin ingredient) but the scent and natural properties make my heart sing forward with this new experiment. and we shall see if this new invention becomes a workable permenant feature in miss teapot's future collections.

arriving home from my recent vacation i was surprised to find my home strongly scented in mildew, not the warm welcome i was looking forward to.

i love the charm of older homes (ie.my rental of 1954) and their mysterious past lives and residents, but....my winter experience in older homes is often dank and musty. our north facing closet walls always mildew in a wet year and the morning glisten of condensation on all our single pane windows is an everyday affair... as is the mildew that erupts on and around them.

i feel so mad about it that i think..."to bleach or not to bleach? bring me the harsh chemicals"!

i sleep. when i awake i come to my senses and consult my favorite and only reference for concoctions for the care of home and me. "Better Basics for the Home"http://www.amazon.com/Better-Basics-Home-Simple-Solutions/dp/0609803255 always guiding me back to my poison free ways. "Simple solutions for less toxic living" wins again. Hugely empowering, engaging and an informative reference for cleaning green. So good.

tea tree oil, vinegar, borax, water and good old fashioned elbow grease is currently winning the fight over "essence du la mildew" until drier days arrive.

ah.... housekeeping, just the thing to center myself back into winter's nest

after time away.

tomorrow i will be off to another adventure in foreign lands via cruise ship and incredible family generosities. Mexican Riviera here we come! so strange to uproot myself in my incubation and hibernation of winter-land (so important for the resting of me) and enter a warm sunny-land. my brain can't quite compute that yet.

Feeling so grateful for the opportunities of the "do nothing days" of another cruising vacation where i can be alone with my thoughts more of the day and ignore the voice of responsibility. the disconnection feels so lucky.

this time i feel nothing of having a creative project with me like i did for my last vacation (though my yarn and hook for tiny crocheted leaves with surely stow away in my pack when i am not looking : ). my creative motivations feel so extinguished and slow in the winter months. close-knit time with my family feels my only goal this time of year. Four of us in a tiny cruise ship cabin... perfect! : )

my copper clay pieces came back from firing a few weeks ago via metal clay artist Mary Lee Nevers who fired my work. she mentions bronze clay is neat too....why did she have to mention that?...if she only knew of my purchasing vulnerability when it comes to new creative materials....: )

copper clay is perhaps the most fulfilling creative project ever. three cheers for copper clay!!!! (before firing and finished pictured above) i may put some pieces in my spring collection of miss t...if i can part with them : ) loving how i can shape and mold something and finish it into something that looks dug up and raw and ancient. must look into kiln ownership so i don't have to pester anyone else for help with firing and i can carry on with an unlimited mental list of copper metal clay (and bronze :) details and imaginings.

i am beginning what i call "intention tags" for my Spring Collection (a signed tag used to explain my intentions for the creative work that i do). as i was cutting and clipping and punching and stamping and sticking the details of my intentions last night, my son was preparing a dinner of mac and cheese for our family from his new cookbook (Mollie Katzen's "Get Cooking") and my daughter was laying out and cutting a Simplicity pattern for a swimsuit cover-up. warm excited feelings erupted as i was remembering my fond adolescent memories of cooking through Mollie Katzen's "Enchanted Broccoli Forest" and using my first sewing pattern, a Simplicity pattern for a wrap skirt. it felt so dreamlike and lucky to be sitting observing that parallel life happening in my children, like life coming full circle.

savoring their embrace of domestic creativities and competences. encouraging to my "too often" insecurities of slowly, patiently being and seeing with my children through our chosen path of "learning at home". reading, math, science and history all rolled nicely into life skills and the fine art of domestic arts and crafts. home economics is blooming well here in the world of miss t and it's a magical life: )

dollys delight me and so i must recommend a "look see" at a party going on at http://fuloflyfe.blogspot.com. Wanting to live in that captured world of vintage pastels and dolly delights. Simply scrumptious. How do you do what you do? a magical mystery. Happy Birthday my dear fuloflyfe. You inspire me so, in so many directions. You are a joyful blessing.