July 10, 2009 - Studio Stuff

I've been at lampmaking for 5 years now and I rarely throw anything away. About once a year I clean things up but like any artist's studio there's not a lot of reason to keep things too pretty, except to clear space for working. This week was slow so I've been cleaning. I decided to take a few pics before the cleanup for the fun of it.

I have tons of shades. Some were damaged but most are from trying different combinations of colors on the Step lamps. I save all the paper scraps too. Because I use a lot of small pieces for my compositions I try to use the leftovers as much as I can. But they pile up fast and I can never find that one color I'm looking for. I need a better system.

I was thinking the other day about stuff. When you're young you can't get enough. You want everything. I'm a designer so I've always craved beautiful objects, rarely able to afford them. I can't say I have that much that I covet but there are a few pieces that are special. As you get older you move to the opposite end of the spectrum. You have way too much stuff and crave to get rid of it. But if you have space to fill you fill it. It used to be people used garages for their cars but I've noticed that most garages are full of stuff these days. When my neighbors bought the house next door they totally remodeled it. It was pretty small and they had a larger than average lot. So they added on a new section to the house including a double car garage, rare in my neighborhood where a lot of houses actually share driveways. I don't even have a garage. But ever since they've finished the house the garage has been completely full with their "stuff." This seems pretty common. Got space, fill it up. But of course all they talk about is how they want to get rid of it some day. And we do start parsing it out. Garage sales, donations, college kids. But it never seems to make much of a dent.

There is a psychology to cleaning that I've figured out over time. When you get rid of clutter it actually clears your mind. I've been cleaning out the basement, clearing the pathways through the "stuff." It's been a mess for so long that I'd gotten used to it. But now that it's cleaned up I come down and take a second look, breath a sigh of relief. It feels good. I've noticed the same is true of noise. I tend to like hearing noise when I'm working or at home. It's either the TV or the radio. I also keep the radio on in the car all the time. But I've found that if I turn off the radio I can't help but immediately give a sigh of relief. It's palpable. I can feel my body immediately relax. I'm amazed how simple it is. Then I look at all the people walking by or in their cars with cell phones or iPods attached to their ears. If they only knew. m

July 4, 2009 - Pops for the 4th

Well, a different kind of popping. Here are some amazing photos showing the instant a soap bubble pops. The photos are by Richard Heeks. Enjoy and be safe today. m

July 2, 2009 - It's been too long

Sorry. Got so caught up my happenings to get a new post out. That implies that something big was happening and it wasn't. After the Lakefront Festival I was just tuckered out and needed to get a lot of little stuff done. If you did visit the festival thank you, and thanks to all my customers and their kind comments, even if they didn't purchase a lamp it's always good to get feedback. The sales were good considering the tight grip folks had on their wallets.

I came home to summer. Then a week later it feels like fall. We were in the 90's the week after I got home. Not the kind of weather anyone really likes. But Sunday was wonderful. I got up early and took a bike ride through the city. Stopping at some of my favorite spots to finish a book for my fast approaching book club— "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society." First the Terrace on the UW Campus. The weather had cooled off a lot and it was very blustery. Not fun for biking but great for sailing. I sat under a huge oak tree, read my book and watched dozens of sailboats out on the lake. Contentment.

After reading the afore mentioned book, my club discovered that you can win a trip to Guernsey Island which is off the coast of England. We've decided we're going to win. The winner can invite 5 guests to join them. As it happens our book club has 6 people. So it's clear we are meant to win. We've all marked it off on our calendars and I've renewed my passport. It's only a 4 day trip, two of which will be traveling so it's nothing extravagant. So I'll be traveling in October.

And I recommend the book. Basically it's about a group of people who survived the German occupation of the island during WWII. I was not familiar with the Channel Islands or the fact that they were occupied. The story is told in letters from one character to another just after the war. The Literary Society was formed as a means of escape from the harsh conditions. The members, some of whom had never read for pleasure, came to love books and supported each other in a number of ways. The characters are quite a mix, from eccentric to heroic, I have no doubt this will become a beloved BBC series some day, and I look forward to it. Yep, you get your happy ending with this one.

On a completely different note, I'm a graphic designer (always looking for work by the way), and I found this YouTube film which uses type as characters. It's called TXT Island. Check it out.

And if anyone likes to play games, here's one that stumped me. It's called Circle the Cat. Don't waste the day on it. m

June 18, 2009 - Off to the fair

I'm taking off for Milwaukee and the big art fair. I'm very excited but worried about the weather. We're supposed to get a lot of thunderstorms over the next two days and then it's perfect for Saturday and Sunday. Here's two more new lamps to tease you with. Hope to see you there! m

June 14, 2009 - New Lamps for LFOA

On Friday June 19-21 I will exhibiting my lamps at the Lakefront Festival of the Arts in front of the Milwaukee Art Museum. I thought I'd give you a preview of the some of the new lamps that will be on display. Hope to see you there. m

June 7, 2009 - Hummingbirds

Here's an email a friend sent recently that tells of a rather amazing encounter with a Hummingbird. I thought it was worth sharing as encounters with these creatures are few, at least for me, and I can't help but be fascinated by them.

Katie wrote "The strangest thing just happened. I left my studio door open while going out to check the garden. When I came back, I heard a loud buzzing - there were two hummingbirds flying around the studio, looking for a way out. I opened the windows and shooed both out. Before I could get all the windows closed, one flew back in and plopped on the floor. I thought it was stunned. So I picked it up and carried it outside. When I looked closer, I saw that it had spider webs (from the studio walls) wrapped around it's wings. I brushed off one wing - it opened immediately and started fluttering in fast motion - then the other - and it flew away. I held a hummingbird in my hand. Amazing. What an incredibly alert, beautiful, iridescent bird. OK - my day is complete."

Out of curiosity I did some quick searches to find out more about Hummingbirds in general. Here's a few facts I didn't know:

• The largest Hummingbird is called, appropriately, Giant. They can have a wing span of 8 1/2" and they're found in South America. The smallest is called the Bee Hummingbird with a wingspan of 2". They are rare and found only in Cuba and the Isle of Youth.

• Hummingbirds are the second largest family of birds in the Western Hemisphere.

• When hummingbirds sleep, they go into a hibernation-like state called Torpor. This is a really deep sleep. Their metabolism will lower to one-fifteenth (1/15) of normal. Their body temperature will drop to the point of becoming hypothermic (about 30 degrees Fahrenheit or 20 degrees Celsius). Their heart rate will drop to about 50 beats per minute. Their breathing will slow to the point that it looks like they have stopped breathing. By sleeping like this, hummingbirds can save up to 60% of their available energy. It takes anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour for a hummingbird to fully recover from torpor. Once they are up and about, the first order of business is food. The hummingbirds will eat 25% of their daily intake as soon as they recover from torpor.

• A hummingbird's brain is 4.2% of its body weight, the largest proportion in the bird kingdom.

• Hummingbirds can see ultraviolet light.

• Hummingbirds have no sense of smell.

• A hummingbird's metabolism is roughly 100 times that of an elephant. (I was thinking that since a Hummingbird's perception is so sped up that the time the hummingbird was lying on the floor in Katie's studio must have seemed like ages to the bird)

Have a great week. m

June 1, 2009 - Monday Monday

I like Mondays. Usually things go quite well for me. Mondays usually go well for me because I'm oh so relaxed from the weekend. Monday comes, I'm ready to get something done. Monday is usually my most efficient day. Things click. I have a plan and it moves along smoothly. It's Tuesdays I have to watch out for. But not today. Today was bad Monday. Bad.

First of all I looked forward to going out with friends for a late coffee around 10:00. First email of the day "child sick, can't go." The day begins. I pay bills. Nothing great about that. I finish some lamp bases. This goes surprisingly well. I run errands, one of which is to buy some ink for my printer which has surprisingly run out after only a few color prints. It seems odd. I buy two sets of ink cartridges. It's good to be prepared. I get back and put the cartridges in. And so begins a 5 hour technological mine field. It says it's still out of ink. It won't budge.

I do everything. I do the diagnostics that tell you extremely little. At one point I "reset the printer." Why not? Not good. Now the computer sees the printer but it can't communicate with it. About 3:00 I decide the printer is dead. I must buy a new one because I have needs over the next few weeks. I search for a printer a friend just bought. She did the research and I trust her. It's that or spend hours looking for a printer that you won't know will work until you get it home. So I find the printer. I find the best deal. I find the quickest method and the cheapest shipping. It's on it's way.

But I can't stop futzing. Miracle of miracles I get the computer talking to the printer. It's out of ink. Surprise. Then I think, what if it's the cartridge? What if it's a bum cartridge? And what the heck, I just spent $54 on new cartridges that I won't be able to use with a broken printer. I change one of the cartridges.

It works. It works! I don't believe it.

OMG I just bought an very expensive new printer. I call. It's too late. It's already shipped. Best advice, I can deny delivery. Or should I keep it?

After that, I went for a long walk. Felt better. I start watching this show "I'm a celebrity. Get me off this Island!" or something like that. It's like putting a cage full of angry rats on your head. But it's such a train wreck you have to watch and worse, there are reruns on every one of the big 6 channels I get via my rabbit ears digital black box. So that was Monday. Tuesdays are usually the worst day of the week for me. Wish me luck.