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Friday, February 8, 2013

pottery and iPhones...



One of our 'previous' cats - Teela.  She was a tiny little thing,
barely 5 lbs. but she was feisty and ran the house for years.

I've spent the better part of this week working on our pottery project as well as talking to 'Apple' people concerning our new iPhone. Both Monday and Wednesday mornings were spent in the studio getting our ideas and clay together for our chess sets. And both Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons were spent talking in person at the Apple store and then  on the phone with an Apple rep. I can't believe it's Thursday already.  This week has flown by.

The reason for the consults was due to the fact that we upgraded recently from an iPhone 3 to a 4 because the upgrade was 'basically' free and the new phone is supposedly a little faster, has a few more bells and whistles, etc... but basically we did it because we could.  Well, nothings ever simple.  It took more than a few 'helping hands' to get all my apps, photos, etc. transferred from one phone to the other. There were reasons... security ones that had to be addressed due to some problems I had had about a year ago with someone fraudulently using my credit card. But I will say that all the Apple employees who helped us were terrific... friendly, knowledgeable, and very efficient.  It just took time.

As for the pottery, we're slowing getting there.  I have my first 6 animal figures done... to represent the King, Queen, Knight, Bishop, Rook, and Pawn. Now I will start making a small mold so that I can do the 16 pawns the same. I've had to 'revise' my original idea so as to keep making these small animals in the method I wanted to use... may be called 'gestural'?  I'm not an art major so I'm guessing here, but it's when you do the basic figure without detail... more or less letting the form or movement dictate what it is. So instead of a cat theme, it's turned into an animal theme; dog, cat, bunny, rat, snake, and bird.  Most of the figures are done in 1 cubic inch of clay... or less. The rat is a bit big... so I may have to scale him down some. But it's not easy sculpting in such tiny amounts. They can't be bigger than 1.5 to 2 inches or the chess board will have to be too big...







Anyhoo... for the most part, the week has passed. And passed quickly.

There's something else... and it has nothing to do with anything, but it comes to mind this afternoon.  For the last few days I've kind of been draggin', feeling a bit down (which is not like me) and haven't really known why. Guess I could be coming down with something, guess it could be a symptom of 'old age', etc.  But whatever caused this melancholy to come and sit on my shoulder apparently departed this afternoon as this    evening  I feel good...  

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!


18 comments:

  1. Its funny that the smaller the cat ...the feistier they are. Our Alpha female for years was Georgie ....a tiny feline who would not let anyone get to the food tray before her and even up to the year before her death aged 21 would stand for no nonsense even from the largest of the others. Our Phoebe is tiny...less than 5lbs but she will chase Rusty, Bilbo and Sid round the house while hissing at full volume and face them off.
    I LOVE your chess pieces ...will they shrink when fired? ...and as for iPods ...I still have the simplest of phones ....no good with technical things. xx

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    1. Yes, Angie, I too have noticed that the small cats seems to be able to take care of themselves quite well... and most have been female.

      As for the chess pieces, yes, they WILL shrink when fired. Our biggest worry is how many will get broken in the kiln. This is a college campus and several classes use the same kilns. Keep your fingers crossed!

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  2. Look at that detail! Golly, I couldn't even draw, one of those animals free-hand. Let alone sculpt one. Wonderful!

    Glad your down-in-the-dumps-feeling left.

    But....

    Take lots of tender care of yourself, for a bit, just in case that 'feeling' was telling you, that your immune system is down or something. I do so like to "listen to my body." :-) What can it hurt, right?

    "Auntie"

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    1. Actually, Auntie, they aren't very 'detailed', but you can tell what they are... and that's what I was going for.

      And I too tend to 'listen to my body'. It seems to know what to do and how to take care of itself most of the time (and without drugs - meaning meds).

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  3. I like your chess pieces.
    Which ones will be pawns, bishops,etc.?
    Have a good weekend.

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  4. This wasn't the original plan, but as is, the dog will be King (I know...??), the cat - queen, the rat - bishop, the snake - rook, the bunny - knight (I may give him a little flag), and the bird - pawn.

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  5. I love these tiny little creatures, Rian...what talent!

    It is good know that you weren't down long and that now you are feeling good again...yea!!! I think that we all have days where we just feel achy and tired...winter blues maybe???

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  6. I adore your chess pieces, Rian. Take care of yourself and if you don't feel better soon You should see a Doctor.

    The big building in my header photo is a Nature Center.

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    1. Thanks, Pam. I'm better already. It really wasn't physical... although I was tired. It's just that I wasn't *up* and couldn't figure out why.

      What a neat Nature Center!

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  7. Apple employees are just the best. Hope your new phone gets all worked out and can serve you well.

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    1. yes, I agree. So far my experience with Apple employees has been good!

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  8. Well sometimes we have to feel "bad" in order to appreciate feeling "good".

    Your little creatures are adorable.

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  9. Holy smokes I am impressed....

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  10. I really love your animal chess pieces, Rian - so original and attractive. I look forward to seeing the finished product. I have no experience to share on iPhones, as so far DH and I have resisted all temptation to get a smartphone. :-)

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