I've been so busy the last few weeks I haven't even had time to write a blog post telling y'all what I've been up to! So here... let me try to catch up. This may be a long one....!
In ceramics I'm glazing pieces for HaldeCrate (more on that in a second) and I'm working on my My Favorite Murder line of yarn bowls and mugs (the first run are up on the website now, and I'll be taking some out of the kiln later from their first firing - then they need decals and another firing... I'm hoping to have them up online over the weekend). I've finished glazing all the mugs of a large custom order that I'm working on; I just need to do the detail painting on them and then they'll be in the kiln... I'm hoping to have those done by the end of next week. I'm glazing the August mugs (dragons... ready the first Monday in August, barring any horrific kiln accidents) and already thinking about the September design... I'm also wondering if I should keep going with the mugs next year, or change it up a bit and make it mugs, or plates, or bowls, or teapots... in other words, make it a Piece of the Month rather than just a mug (if you have strong thoughts either way I'd be happy to listen to them). Whew. Is that everything? I feel like I've forgotten to mention something.
In soap, I have a few bars sitting on my worktable that need to be wrapped... I'm hoping to get that done by the weekend and updated by Monday or Tuesday of next week. It's also time, according to my calendar, that I start making soap for the Florida Fiber-In (Orlando! September!) so I'm taking a look at what fragrances need to be stocked up in the yarn and knitting needle design. HOWEVER! I've recently found out that they don't make the mold for that design any more, and my molds are getting quite the use. I think I have six of them, and at least two of them probably don't have more than a year of life left in them. So I'm weighing continuing to make soap in that design until I can't, vs. going ahead and phasing them out now, vs. phasing them out as I need to but trying to change to a different yarn-related design, such as sheep.
I'm also getting ready to release the July limited edition soap, and getting ready to mail out July soap to the people in the Year of Soap. Oh! And as soon as I'm done dyeing yarn and can switch out my work space, I need to finish making soap for the upcoming Midnight Garden HaldeCrate.
In yarn... this week is heavy on dyeing yarn. I've dyed all of the pre-orders for the Midnight Garden HaldeCrate (at least as far as about three days ago... if you've ordered since then, your yarn is still in the queue... but don't worry, it'll all be done by August 15th!). I have a small list of restocks that need to be dyed... mostly in the Andre base. And while I have on my list to start prepping to dye my next "new" colorway (I'm putting new in quotes because it's actually an older club colorway that was voted to be brought into regular rotation)... I have to be honest - I've had "start prepping" for this on my calendar since February, and I keep bumping it back because I'm too busy. So... we'll see how this winds up playing out.
In the HaldeCrate, I'm on track glazing and yarn dyeing, but am a little behind in making the soap set. Fortunately the hardest part of that is the soap, and I should be able to get that started next week! I wrote a blog post yesterday hopefully explaining the HaldeCrate a little bit better... I've been getting some questions about how it works that of course seemed obvious to me since it's all in my head, but that maybe I haven't been explaining very well. So hopefully I did a little better with that. And even though I'm not yet done with August, I already have my eye on October ... you know I have to do something kind of spooky for that!
In knitting.. y'all! I'VE FINISHED KNITTING SOMETHING. I know. I hardly believe it either. I think I talked about this on Ravelry already, but... I've been losing my joy of knitting lately. I don't know if it's because I have so many unfinished projects, or because I spent the earlier part of the year knitting chemo caps for one of my dearest friends (who is doing very well but I am still shook up that this is happening at all), or because I just need a new project to become enthused about. But. These little gloves have been on the needles since September and they're finally done and ready to be mailed off!
In everything else... ugh. I'm busy. I'm tired. I'm cranky. So I'll spare you. Oh! But I was recently interviewed by someone at Shopify on using both Etsy and Shopify at the same time. That article will probably be dull to anyone who's not also a maker/artist/seller - but if you are that person, check it out!
That's all I have time for this week.... I need to hit "publish" on this and get moving for the day. Have a good week, y'all!