Derfuls

This is Onyx Derful. She is a sprightly friend filled with music and hugs. She is a commission for some one who wanted teal and pink. And Tahdah!
Derfuls like warm soft places and quiet moments. They tend to travel in packs because if one Derful is good, many derfuls are fantastic!

Flower Farm in Loomis, Ca!!

You can now check out my tamer ceramics at the Flower Farm Nursery in Loomis, just north of Sacramento in Ca. I have a few korean Teacups there and a yarn bowl or two. None too monstery to fit the area :)
This is a great little coffee shop, nursery, local artist's store and Bed and Breakfast. Enough stuff there? Yeah, I would say it is just about right. They make a mean iced mocha, too!

RadioLab donation!

Did my end of year totals and donated 10% of total sales ($120) to the absolutely FANTASTIC radio show, RadioLab. Go check them out!!! and thank you to all who bought Ochibos, your money helped to keep RadioLab on the air!!

Renegade Craft Fair in San Francisco! 2 weeks away!

Make your plans to go! 150 hand picked vendors. Some from way out of the area, like Boston and Chicago.
Ochibo and Skeletal Dropkick will be there, selling the wares. so Go! Go! Go! Go!

What 25 LBS of clay can look like....

Before and middle and after...

SkeletalDropkick and Ochibo at IndieMart, S.F. !

Drinks, art, music, what more do you need?
IndieMart

Renegade Craft Fair-Holiday!!

Yipee! Skeletaldropkick and Ochibo will be at the wonderful Renegade Craft fair! Hanging with the kids from Wear Yeti. WHat more can you ask for! I, for one, am quite pleased :)
Keep December 19th and/or 20th open!

Renegade San Francisco!

Before the crowds...

And after...



The San Francisco Renegade Craft Fair was a whole lotta fun! There were almost too many booths as it took about an hour to even sort of peruse half of it and even then I saw people with really cool stuff that I missed. I also met some great crafters from as far away as New York! As in Karen's monsters! Yay!
There were also a whole lotta people there, mostly on Saturday. Word of advice for future fairs: Show up right at opening time, there was barely anyone around until about 1.5 hours after it opened...

PS: that rockin' peacock feather dress is by Wear Yeti, whom I shared a booth with. Go check them out...

Monster o'Mine

This is big. This is huge.

Monsters bags and backpacks are coming to your planet. You must take them to your leader. And also to the mall. And to your school. And to your office.

Monster Lab - ArtsiBitsi

Would it be interesting to see the process of the creation of a Monster? It might surprise you to learn that it does not involve a dark tower, or stolen body parts nor even a serendipitous thunderstorm.

Here are some photographs of my studio after one of my cut-a-thons.

This is my work table where all the pinning and cutting happens.   It features a most excellent, stainless steel table with an adustable height shelf underneath for my supplies.  It fits a nook between two closets, with set of big windows that look out across the woods. My kitties like to lay on the fleece (back left corner of the shelf) and watch the birds come to the feeder.  The feeder is only a few inches from the window, so both the kitties and I get a good look at the woodpeckers and other birds.

The other important station in my studio is the sewing and pressing table.   This is not ideal space, as it's a little crowded and underlit.  And there is nothing really to look at but the material that I'm working on.   Maybe I need to put a mural on the wall. Or some mirrors.   ... Or maybe I just need to concentrate on making straight seams.  :-)

BTW, that's just an ordinary Brother i6000 sewing machine.  It has about 60 different stitches, but I hardly ever use more than three of them.

So here I am basically designing eight monster backpacks at once -- an heroic feat which has not ever been attempted before.  By me.  

Aren't these fun colors?

Every monster needs a colorful fleece skin, and a coordinating lining.  Most of these will have some sort of funkadelic cotton lining. At this point, I am already starting to think of names and personalities to give to each bag.

In addition to the skin and the lining, I also need to cut the feet and arms and straps.   There is about ten feet of strap for each bag.  Here are all the straps, cut to length, but not finished.  When I set down to sew them, it will be a few hours of ironing and sewing.  And a lot of thread.  A lot.  I'll probably have to replace the bobbin on my sewing machine three or four times.

Don't the straps look like guts?  Mwah ha ha ha.

To see some finished monster backpacks, please visit my store at ArtsiBitsi.etsy.com

The workspace of SKELETAL DROPKICK

Here is where I make my mugs and stuff. The wheel, you will notice is spotless... One of the few places that I actually make sure to keep that way. The shelves on the other hand are in a constant state of flux. They usually have some ceramics that are finished, some waiting for a glaze firing and some in various states of drying. And, yes, that is a big old fridge from the 50's back there. It doesn't work, but makes for very stylish CD storage...

Skeletal Dropkick