(no subject)
Nov. 3rd, 2012 12:08 amChecking in here a bit. First of all, thank you for the birthday wishes :) My bday was pretty low-key; I went out to supper with ![[profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
smcinpdx, amberite, teaotter, and heron61. mlerules, who is down with the respiratory plague, was at least there in spirit. There was lively conversation and great food, and I need to be social more, dammit.
Recovering from Day One of vending at OryCon; I only got about four hours of sleep last night, and was basically going full-tilt from 8:30am to 9pm. Tomorrow I'll get more sleep, and there won't be setup or teardown. I'm glad to be in there, though; they generally have a pretty full dealer's hall. On the down side, I didn't get in as a vendor at PantheaCon yet again. I know they like the Doubletree and all, and there aren't that many affordable hotel options in San Jose, but PCon has long since outgrown that venue, IMO. Hopefully I can at least get in as a presenter; my new book is due out in December and I'd love to plan a West Coast book signing tour around that time.
I'm also seriously itching for some outdoor time. I started October with a cold, and then later on spent almost two weeks sick with food poisoning. So I'm ready to not be sick, and to not be overburdened with work because I'm trying to make up from being sick. I think I'll get a hike in next week, in between making up for my birthday not having skating as planned, and going to first aid/CPR training, and getting prepped for wilderness first aid training on the weekend.
I'm also way behind on running; between sickness and weather I haven't run in almost two months. If OryCon pays well enough this weekend I'll get a gym membership going again so I can use the treadmill. I just feel so out of condition; hiking and even walking have been harder, and I miss the ease of movement I have when I'm fitter.
I've also been thinking about being an artist. While I generally stick to critter bits as my primary medium, I make a wide variety of things with them--costumery, ritual tools, pouches, etc. And I'm always trying to expand my repertoire, too; I have soooooo many ideas of things I want to create! Like I recently came up with fascinators made with leftover single fox and coyote ears from my other projects; I had all these perfectly good lone ears where the other half of the pair had been damaged or AWOL, and I couldn't find good matches for them. I'd seen fascinators made with animal skulls, but never ears, and in one very long day of crazy crafting, the critter ears fascinators were born.
Honestly, I like being somewhat of an artistic generalist. While I focus more heavily on the ritual costumes these days than I used to, I think I'd go positively batty if I only made headdresses, or only made tails, and so on. Really, my best artistic flow is when I have days uninterrupted with five or six projects going on at once, adding a little paint here, waiting for the glue to dry there, get some stitching done on this one, etc. And it's best if they're all different things--a good lineup would be detailing a wolf headdress while adding layers of paint to a blind bag My Little Pony custom, meanwhile waiting for the glue to dry on the fabric backing of a vintage piece of fur that's going to be made into a pouch, and periodically adding layers of sealant to the paint on a handmade drum, all the while waiting forsmcinpdx to leave so I can take the Dremel to a stack of antler slices that are waiting to become a set of runes.
Maybe it means I won't ever perfect the art of a photo-lifelike headdress or the most flawlessly carved set of runes, with nary a shake in the lines. But I love being able to stretch the creative muscles, and I love not getting bored. There have been times when I've been stuck making the same thing for hours, if not days, because I had to prep a bunch of things for an event, or had a bulk order, etc. While I love my art very much, and even something so simple as stitching a belt loop to a fox tail has its own drop of Zen, I thrive on variety. Yes, the art is a business, but it's still art first.
smcinpdx, amberite, teaotter, and heron61. mlerules, who is down with the respiratory plague, was at least there in spirit. There was lively conversation and great food, and I need to be social more, dammit.Recovering from Day One of vending at OryCon; I only got about four hours of sleep last night, and was basically going full-tilt from 8:30am to 9pm. Tomorrow I'll get more sleep, and there won't be setup or teardown. I'm glad to be in there, though; they generally have a pretty full dealer's hall. On the down side, I didn't get in as a vendor at PantheaCon yet again. I know they like the Doubletree and all, and there aren't that many affordable hotel options in San Jose, but PCon has long since outgrown that venue, IMO. Hopefully I can at least get in as a presenter; my new book is due out in December and I'd love to plan a West Coast book signing tour around that time.
I'm also seriously itching for some outdoor time. I started October with a cold, and then later on spent almost two weeks sick with food poisoning. So I'm ready to not be sick, and to not be overburdened with work because I'm trying to make up from being sick. I think I'll get a hike in next week, in between making up for my birthday not having skating as planned, and going to first aid/CPR training, and getting prepped for wilderness first aid training on the weekend.
I'm also way behind on running; between sickness and weather I haven't run in almost two months. If OryCon pays well enough this weekend I'll get a gym membership going again so I can use the treadmill. I just feel so out of condition; hiking and even walking have been harder, and I miss the ease of movement I have when I'm fitter.
I've also been thinking about being an artist. While I generally stick to critter bits as my primary medium, I make a wide variety of things with them--costumery, ritual tools, pouches, etc. And I'm always trying to expand my repertoire, too; I have soooooo many ideas of things I want to create! Like I recently came up with fascinators made with leftover single fox and coyote ears from my other projects; I had all these perfectly good lone ears where the other half of the pair had been damaged or AWOL, and I couldn't find good matches for them. I'd seen fascinators made with animal skulls, but never ears, and in one very long day of crazy crafting, the critter ears fascinators were born.
Honestly, I like being somewhat of an artistic generalist. While I focus more heavily on the ritual costumes these days than I used to, I think I'd go positively batty if I only made headdresses, or only made tails, and so on. Really, my best artistic flow is when I have days uninterrupted with five or six projects going on at once, adding a little paint here, waiting for the glue to dry there, get some stitching done on this one, etc. And it's best if they're all different things--a good lineup would be detailing a wolf headdress while adding layers of paint to a blind bag My Little Pony custom, meanwhile waiting for the glue to dry on the fabric backing of a vintage piece of fur that's going to be made into a pouch, and periodically adding layers of sealant to the paint on a handmade drum, all the while waiting for
smcinpdx to leave so I can take the Dremel to a stack of antler slices that are waiting to become a set of runes.Maybe it means I won't ever perfect the art of a photo-lifelike headdress or the most flawlessly carved set of runes, with nary a shake in the lines. But I love being able to stretch the creative muscles, and I love not getting bored. There have been times when I've been stuck making the same thing for hours, if not days, because I had to prep a bunch of things for an event, or had a bulk order, etc. While I love my art very much, and even something so simple as stitching a belt loop to a fox tail has its own drop of Zen, I thrive on variety. Yes, the art is a business, but it's still art first.