All Hallows Eve

Happy Halloween everybody! We did remember to buy candy but we're just now carving our pumpkin... Took our Vampire boy to the Champ Tae Kwon Do Halloween party last night. What a great place for kids to have a safe, fun and entertaining event to party independently. I just wanted to give Master Yu a special mention and THANKS for hosting this event and to all of his incredibly ENERGETIC apprentices who have the patience of SAINTS to work with all types of kids. Gus had such a great time we had to go get him before he called us to come pick him up! He loves going to Tae Kwon Do and we love what Master Yu and team has done for our kid.

Took my Raven Flag inserts and my Bad Girls post cards to be printed at Office Depot this year. Normally, I print and trim them myself on card stock on our trusty HP laser printer, but the printer is getting up there in years and I'm trying to preserve it as best as I can! From pdf files on a flash drive the office place was cheap and did them while I waited! These were just one of many things on my to-do list I can cross off for the Bad Girls Show countdown. From here on out, every day is well planned production wise so I will have enough of the right inventory and to make sure everything is tagged, priced and ready to hang.

Seems funny to think that we need to make snow in Alaska doesn't it?! This morning at a COOL and crisp 20 degrees the Snow Guns were blasting away with the first snow making of the season at Alyeska. The cannons help ensure a good base for top to bottom runs on the mountain so we can ski well into the Spring.

Queue the Elves!

This is the time of year I would love to have my own family of Oompa-Loompas. I’d have a welding one, one on the sewing machine, an administrative one, a shipping & receiving team, a pricing and tagging pair and several other Oompa-Loompas who would cater specifically to my every need at any given moment. As art makers wouldn’t that make the holiday season grand?! I’m in the thick of it with making enough inventory for the Bad Girls of the North Show next Friday, November 5. My studio is a mix of metal finishing/drying area, pricing and tagging and even the sewing station. I don’t mind the crowded mix, I mind running out of room to safely hang all of the inventory because that’s when things can get scratched or damaged. I’ve got a small pile of black Ravens (on the ironing board) that need to be repainted because I tagged and wrapped them before they were completely dry…

This year I spent a bit more time planning my inventory for the show. My best guess is that with the economy and money being a bit tighter and gift giving needing more consideration I’ve made smaller, more affordable pieces to sell. Last year I noticed that the large $500 plus sculptures didn’t fly off of the grid wall display like they had the past 7 years –a spouse making a purchase wanted to

check with their partner before making any large purchases. I’ll still have larger works this year but just not as many. I’ll also have the popular Raven Garden Flags! Which I just remembered I need to print up more inserts and get some more clear bags…arrrgh. There have been lots of requests since the Spenard Farmers Market for the Flags. They will probably make a good gift that's unique, bright, fun and under $30. New for this season in addition to the bright Batik color mix, Jana at the Quilted Raven had holiday fabric screened with the Ravens on them! The Quilted Raven sells just the Raven panels in kit form and I will sell the set of 5 flags already sewn. The new fabric is lovely and I will bring some to Bad Girls. For now, the studio is filling up and has Wind Salmon hanging on the fabric racks, my large work table covered with ornaments in newsprint on top of steel sculptures waiting to get tagged and priced and a beautiful stack of Raven Garden Flags waiting for that Oompa Loompa seamstress.

Thought my “Wind Raven” sculpture looked great on Katie’s painting wall at the Gallery (below). She sold a large canvas painting and hung the sculpture to fill the space but we both liked the mix of color and texture and just may keep it there at least until (hopefully) it sells!

Not A Flake In Sight

This weekend we thought we'd see some some snow flakes just in time for the annual Girdwood Community Sport Swap. We did score skis, new boots and snow pants for Gus and new ski coats for both of us all under blue bird skies. Even without the snow we'll take the savings and GREAT Fall weather. The sale was packed and when we walked up early there was a line out the Alyeska Resort Daylodge door 20 minutes before the doors opened at noon. Daddy-O and I didn't even know we had a successful shopping strategy to sleuth the best deals but we did -he and

Gus went for the hardware and I shopped the racks for outer wear with both leading to VICTORY! We were probably primed after watching "Confessions of a Shopaholic" last night -ha! But the savings were worth it because all of the gear and outerwear we bought was for a fraction of retail -and I hate paying retail! Probably the best (worst?) purchase was Gus spotted a pogo-stick from 50 feet out and of course Derek had to demo it as soon as we were out of the building...

Good thing we saved big at the ski swap as I was wondering if yesterday was the 13th!? First, we had to have the plumbers at the house because a pressure relief tank and a valve went out on our boiler -arrggh$$! Then, poor Nimbus had to stay at the vet's office and have $urgery on his front paw because he had developed a split toe nail (the top lifting off of the bottom). The nail had separated from the quick and was exposing the quick(!) and was really painful -though he was one tough dog. He had been licking his foot for a whole day before I noticed that he was doing more with his paw than normal grooming. He's groggy and isn't too happy to be wearing a bootie and missing our daily hikes but is on the mend and feeling better. Sooo, between the plumber and the vets office we were happy to get a good deal at the swap!

After the ski swap we went down and checked on our favorite family of Beavers who have built this huge dam and lodge right behind the Girdwood Elementary school. Because of Nimbus' surgery, we wanted to keep the dogs out of the dirt and the

school was much dryer and paved. You can cross a foot bridge that takes you on a path through the woods as part of a very cool interpretive trail. We've aways said that the Gwood school is located in one of the most beautiful settings a school could have. Below is a picture of the Beaver Dam and the other picture shows the lodge. The video speaks for itself...!

Crack That Whip

I've been working in pairs this week, first it was for a Guild order. Even though the catalog states "each is unique and will vary slightly" keeping to the original design is very important. To take the pressure off making a perfect sculpture that is representative of the photo the customer sees from the original, I make two and my stomach isn't in knots! Making two at one time lets me choose the one I want to ship and leaves me another for a future order. There is always so much pressure I place on myself when I have a special order or commission and I've found working in a series or pairs helps ease the self imposed stress. I've also been working in pairs so I have enough pieces for both Katie's Gallery and the Bad Girls of the North show coming up, one for her, one for Bad Girls. I've been super inspired lately and in the photo below there is a very cool Octopus that I just had to make that's also going down to Katie's Gallery today. An art girl has to have some fun, right?!

I've also been back and forth to SteelFab this week and "Bicycle Bloom," my public art sculpture, is coming together! All of the bikes are cut out of 1/4" steel plate and have been placed on the flower center. We added the misc. sprockets for placement and I will have plenty of embellishment parts. We'll weld those on in the final stage. After the bikes are welded in place the whole flower head will be wheel abraded and the 6" curved steel tube will be welded to the flower cap center. The stem tube had to be shipped up here and will make the sculpture about 20' tall. It was important that we placed all of the bikes in just the right place so each bike had 4 points of welded contact. I'm meeting with the crane operator at the site to confirm the install plan and talk about how we will negotiate some overhead power lines that did not get buried this year...

With a good couple of days plasma cutting last week I've had plenty of parts that needed welding. I was able to weld up a couple of "History Fish" or "Gilperfish" as I sometimes call them. One is for Katie's Gallery and one is for the Bad Girls of the North. Bad Girls is just around the corner and opens Friday, November 5 from 4-9 and Saturday 10-5. This year I'm a bit sad because Will who normally is so much fun to set up with and is such a good sport (not to mention a STRONG back) is turning 21 that weekend and he and his girlfriend are flying to Las Vegas to celebrate. Yay for him and boo for me, not only am I getting older but I'll miss his help. Hard to believe it's Bad Girls time already I better get busier!

Come With Us on A Fall Walkies

Nothing better than a hike in the fresh mountain air in beautiful Girdwood. Tauzer Schnauzer has to take the short route due to her arthritis but Nimbus can't get enough so we take two daily hikes.

During our hikes and walkies Nimbus LOVES to submerge himself in whatever water he can find -however shallow or COLD!

At the higher elevations, snow is on the mountain peaks & glaciers and that means time for the Resort to pull the snow making machines out. Once the temps drop the snowmaking machines can start creating a solid base at the lower levels of the resort to keep us skiing into the spring.

With all of the berry picking done Moose Meadows waits for a blanket of snow so we can cross country ski and hopefully I take Nimbus Skijouring!

Plenty of new construction in Girdwood. The new paved road is for nine new hi-end residential lots just below the Challenge Alaska building. There is more information about the real estate on the Resort's web site.

Almost all of the container plants and flowers have died due to the last couple of frosts EXCEPT this one which flowered this week! I didn't even know that these vines (sorry, I don't know the plant's name) flowered. I've been putting off wintering the deck pots because they are still growing. Think I'll wait till the first snowfall...

Giddy-UP!

Dan, SteelFab Estimator and I are troubleshooting a set of prototypes for my 1% for Art sculpture "Bicycle Bloom."

Now that the cold and flu virus has left my body, I hopped back on my production pony. There was a lot of work to catch up on and plasma cutting to do this week. The best part was being able to get my 1% for Art Public Sculpture, “Bicycle Bloom” back in the production queue! It’s been a very long process taking a tremendous amount of patience on my part because it was a year ago this month that I was notified of my sculpture proposal being selected for the site. The sidewalk was finally poured, the base structure has been completed for the sculpture and I was able to initiate yet another new quote from SteelFab. Unfortunately, the delays caused my original two quotes to expire and become obsolete. I built in a contingency dollar amount and it’s a good thing because due to the delay and rising costs all around, my new estimate

will cost me at least another $1,000+ dollars. I didn’t want to have one more quote and production schedule in place until the sidewalk was complete and all the parties involved gave me the final go-ahead. It’s been a real team effort on this project –quite a bit different from how I’m used to working. Normally, I think of a design, lay it out, trouble shoot issues myself, solve any design problems and fabricate it all by myself. Due to the size of this public outdoor sculpture the majority of the fabrication needs to be professionally fabricated by SteelFab. Early on, the sculpture also needed to have a set of structural engineering plans by Franklin & Associates designed, submitted and approved for strength and desired visual appeal. Things like the elevation plans, footing details, welded collar design, percentage of curve, base plate mounts measurements and design, structural integrity, weld placements

etc. are items I had no idea of how to draft up nor could I have even attempted those printed plans. I have appreciated the knowledge base that has helped me to produce this sculpture so far. I was even able to score some bicycle component parts for the sculpture's embellishments. Thanks Bicycle Shop! The butterflies are still there in my stomach but at least I feel confident that I have assembled a qualified team who wants a safe, successful, and creatively unique sculpture to come in on time and on budget.

My friend Katie and her Gallery were featured in a segment on KTUU Channel 2 News last night! “Day Trippin” (on www.gotoak.com) featured the popular tourist area of downtown Anchorage on 4^th Avenue. Here is a link to the video that gives you an idea of why we love living here. Way to go Katie!!

Below is the finished sidewalk and mount for my sculpture...waiting for a beautiful steel Bloom! I read this quote in one of my art books and thought it was appropriate for me this week:

“The trouble with most of us is that we would rather be ruined by praise than saved by criticism.” –Norman Vincent Peale

Foggy With a Chance of Ferrets

We’ve went through a whole box of Kleenex, two bags of Ricolas (cherry honey is my favorite) and at least two gallons of OJ this week at my house. My poor head has been in a fog. Nothing like a good head cold with flu-like symptoms to keep a girl from gearing up in full welding attire. I’ve had a wicked head cold with a flu chaser ALL WEEK. Arrrrgh. I finally felt up to working in the studio half day yesterday and worked on some fun fiber art projects using iron-on transfers. I’m smitten with transfers of any kind. Working in clay I loved experimenting with decals and found Keith Phillips decal work to be inspirational and Ang had some fun examples too. I’ve also had success with using Gel Transfer Medium with laser prints onto copper and metal, though it can be a bit tricky. I’ve bought and tried several varieties of iron-on transfers for fiber pieces but have not had any luck finding a product that worked in a laser printer. Most

transfers are made for the low heat of ink jet printers but are unable to retain the hi-resolution I like from my HP laser printer. I did find some Color Copier Transfer Paper by TrasnferMagic that was supposed to be able to run through color copiers. I printed my hi-res images out on my laser printer and took them to the Office Depot to run through one of their color copiers that was listed by TransferMagic as OK to use, but three of three attempts failed and all stuck or jammed on their fuser rollers! The TransferMagic product DID NOT WORK as was claimed and could have caused major damage

in all of the “approved” copiers we tried. The Office Depot store manager was so helpful and found a way to make hi-res ink-jet, iron-on transfer, color copies on an HP Photosmart All-in-One Premium Printer. He opened up a package of Office Depot iron-on ink-jet transfer paper and ran my hi-res laser copies through the display model HP ink-jet color copier and viola! Hi-res images that can be ironed on fabric. I’m going to do some fun appliqué wall art quilts using the printouts and now I can make as many as I want because I was so impressed with the ink-jet/color copier that I bought one!

OK, I wasn’t going to Blog about this but I just can’t help myself -and besides I did take a quick picture. While waiting in one of the customer chairs at the Carrs/Safeway Aurora Village pharmacy this week for a prescription to be filled, a line formed with other customers needing to pick up their medications. A guy standing right in front of me was FEEDING some sort of animal that had JUST CRAWLED OUT of the hood of his jacket! The guy was feeding a Ferret a nicely cubed piece of fresh cantaloupe that I know just had been picked with his grubby fingers from the salad bar. Half of us waiting at the pharmacy were completely grossed out but others were completely OK with this and wanting TO PET THE DAMN THING. Sorry, but what the hell, am I the only one that thinks this is so wrong?!

Paparazzi Paradise!

Hands down last night was one of the BEST First Friday openings I have ever been to! Last night was THE event to attend and Anchorage's whos-who was there! By mid-day, Katie had her Gallery ready for business and a good PARTY was inevitable. Helping to do a few last minute labelings after fetching lunch for Katie and I from Urban Greens, I was able to take a few pictures of the Gallery before the doors opened and the people poured in. David McFadden was there putting the finishing touches on Katie’s custom library ladder to reach art in high places and Marcy from AK Starfish Company had her merchandise ready for the crowds that were inevitable. The sound system for the band was set up and the caterer had delivered the food all before schedule –now when does that ever happen?!

The stars aligned, the crowds knew it was going to be a good time and the ART was ready to shine. Customers were even patient at the sales counter and sales were record setting for a First Friday event. I helped work the “beverage area” up front which was the second hottest spot after being at the back of the Gallery near the incredible band, Stray Dogma. Sorry, I didn't get a chance to get better pictures of the large section in the back of the GalIery where the band was playing and there is even more ART. It’s hard to say what exactly the BEST part of the evening was because so many things were just perfect, the unique and creative collection of ART, the food (everything including fresh figs!), the music, the friendly and happy people, the lighting, the downtown vibe, seeing Katie lavished with hugs and smiles, good Raspberry Wheat Bear Tooth BEER, velvety merlot, or even customers happily buying art?! I have never seen so many people at a First Friday event in Anchorage and been so proud to see Katie reap the accolades and attention she so deserved. That girl deserved a good PARTY!