Lazy Daze - it's come and gone...

Hello again! The Lazy Daze festival has come and gone - there is so much to tell - and so much to show! I have quite a few new projects that I completed right before Lazy Daze that most of you never got to see - I'll get to those shortly.

But first I'd like to thank everyone who made this all possible with all their love and support:

• Aunt Lindsey - my wonderful aunt who got me into this mess in the first place! ;-)
• My parents
• Tim, my big brother - for his unconditional support throughout all my ups and downs, and his beautiful work on my business cards.
• Bethanne - for all those late nights we spent together planning for this day, and for her fantastic photography work .
• Michael - my go-to guy for everything, and my pen turner.
• Christiana
• Jonathan
• Sarah - my logo designer and sign maker.
• Aunt Valerie
• My Grandparents in North Carolina.
  
• My cousins Mary Daniel and Hayden - you guys did a great job on my price cards!
• My Grandmother in Colorado - for that polymer clay book that first sparked my imagination.
• My Grandparents and Auntie Linda in Oregon - for being three of my biggest fans right from the very beginning.
• Tom - for helping a first time festival-goer with her canopy and tables.
• Barbara - for all her great advice - you can be sure I'll bring those plastic tubs next time! ;-)
• And, of course, I want to thank all my readers.
• And lastly, but not least all the festival-goers who stopped by to take a look at my work.

And now I'll finish where I left off with my last post nearly 2 weeks ago: Lazy Daze - it had been in preparation for about a year and it finally came to an end last Saturday - a rainy end I should say - but I'll get to that in a moment.

I had originally planned to take off the last three weeks before the festival, but instead I was working right until the very last minute. It began with my projects taking a lot longer than I first anticipated. As I started to develop my style in decor, I found that to reach the quality and detail I wanted I was going to have to cut out many of my planned designs. So my goal of at least 100 items quickly dropped to 50 and finally settled at 41 two days before the festival. A far cry from what I wanted, but I believed the extra time spent in detail would pay off. Working quickly has always been difficult for me - I want everything to be the absolute best it can be. So this experience has been a good one for me. I learned many important lessons, the main one being that true art just can't be rushed. But I also learned how to speed up the creation process by spending more time with the initial design work, so when I got out the clay the design pretty much fell together without any reworking of the original design.

So, there I was working until time ran out - a last minute sculpting project, pens, painting, and finishing - I lost count of how many 4 hour (and 2 hour!) nights I got! Then there were business cards to print, prices to decide on (my least favorite part) and of course packing. Then to make things more complicated there was a 6 hour power outage Wednesday, the day before I left for North Carolina.

Somehow all was finally ready.

Friday morning - one last look at everything to adjust prices. Aunt Lindsey had a lot of good suggestions. It is always nice to have the input of someone who wasn't involved in the creation process to get a buyer's perspective.

Late Friday night. We had convinced my youngest (and incredibly talented) sister Sarah to draw another of her fantastic trees and make me a sign. Here she is adding color to the sketch she had started that morning.

Almost finished - it's about 12:30 am on the morning of the festival - who said anything about needing sleep! A little later that morning, after a few hours of sleep, we were all back at it: a few finishing touches added to the sign, price cards were punched out by my cousins, Mary Daniel and Hayden, Christiana ironed my tablecloths (they had become very wrinkled during packing). Then we rushed out the door to the festival site.

Here I am all set up - and relaxing, one of the few opportunities I had that day. The setup was a team effort. Having never put up a canopy before, we recruited the help of Tom who is experienced in this area - a great help for any first time festival-goer! My sister Bethanne and I did the final arrangement of my work. It wasn't the table setup I had planned on, but because of the tilt in the pavement, we were forced to move everything to the back of the booth.

Vases and pens - each one unique.


More pens.


Tree Wings Studio - this sign certainly was an eye catcher - thanks Sarah.


My cousins Hayden and Mary Daniel, and my sister Sarah doing a bit of rock climbing.


A clock, vases, candle holders and a few Sunshine pictures.

Soaking wet tablecloths after three rains - it was about mid day when the first storm rolled in and the sky didn't clear again until early evening.

Curling price cards and a gutter brimming with rain water.


Rain ran right through!

And my price cards continued to curl in the humidity! The misting tent set up in the space behind me began producing fog - it was a little weird to see it rolling through the booths.

Rain discount anyone? One last try at more sales.

It's after 5:00 and the sun is back for one last look at a day that ended very wet - time to pack up. So, the day ended much as it began except everything was wet and there was one less item to pack - my Blue Trilliums Vase found a home! Yes, all day and only one sale (I did better than some). So many people had come through (they had expected at least 50,000 - I wasn't counting, so I can't say for sure!) but many of the artists had few sales - festival-goers just hadn't come to buy. I was glad to know it wasn't anything I'd done wrong - my prices weren't out of the ordinary and many people complemented my work. It's just many were not willing to spend a lot of money. After a while I felt I was there for Show and Tell, but I can't say I was really discouraged - I'd beat near impossible odds, competing with some 600 to 700 artists for this one day in this one little spot. I'd made some very unique art in an area very new to me in such a short time. ...And I'd had a fantastic time in North Carolina with my Aunts, Grandparents, and cousins - they made this adventure so very special for me.

So now after that long and rainy story you'd probably like to see what I was selling. Here they are:

Autumn Swirls Vase


Burled Wood Vase


Butterfly Cameo Vase


Red Poppies Vase

Time Fades. This was my last minute sculpture project. A very fitting one don't you think? Time really was running out!

Sleepless Time. I really like working with these poppies.


Classy Clock


Blue Trilliums - this dainty vase was my only creation that found a new home last Saturday.

Black and White Kaleidoscopes Vase - yes, I'd planned to have three of these, but short time, a lack of clay, a power outage, and a sanding problem left me with only one. (I'll have the others finished shortly.)

Blue Skies Vase


Amber Winds Candle Holder - I just love the glow of this candle holder.


Toucan Tree Vase


Exotic Bloom Vase


Fuchsia Flower Vase


Green Leaves Vase


Speckled Lily Vessel


Dogwood Tea Lights


Dragon Fire Candle Holder


Dragon Slayer Flask



There sure is a lot of detail in this piece - one of my most time consuming projects.


Fiery Red Dragons

Hearts & Roses Set - also one of my last projects and a whole new direction in style - a ton of fun to design!

The picture.



The dish - this piece is my favorite in the set.


And the pen - Tumbling Roses.

Love Grows - hearts are everywhere in this piece: the roots form hearts, blooming hearts hang from the branches, and even the branches over the bluebird's nest form a heart - everyone really liked this one, but it has yet to find a home.

And now my Sunshine Clay Pictures:

Plant Me Where The Sun Shines


Sunshine On My Strawberries

Country Sunrise - people oohed and aahed about the detail of this one - the individually sculpted corn kernels and the hand twisted barbed wire - but this guy also didn't get a new home. Wouldn't you just love to take a bit of country sunshine home?

Individual Slim-line Pens - swirls of color, classy kaleidoscopes, and intricate canework. A collaboration of clay and wooden pen making. I have to thank my brother Michael, an exceptional woods craftsman for his beautiful work on these pens.

Classy Pen Set


Brain Storm Pen Set


Wall Street Executive Pens

And now you've seen it all and didn't even have to experience any rain!

So, what's next for me? Well, I have 40 items that still need homes. Most of these will be listed on Etsy and some I think will go on display at Everything Art Gallery. And after that it's on to new projects ...And who knows what will be next - another festival - maybe! ;-)

Thank you all for joining me in the creation of these pieces and making this an experience I'll never forget!