Metal Treats @ EcoFest

Have I really been in this studio for three years already? My how time flies when you’re having so much fun!!! I still remember the first week of October in 2010, when I was just trying to get moved into this space, and how thrilled I was to find the whole community center full of people who’d come to that year’s EcoFest. And here we are in early October again, with another EcoFest on the horizon. From the flyer, it looks like many of the same activities and groups will be there again, along with some new ones. Much like my art work, where I keep returning to some favorite themes while continuing to add new ones to the repertoire.

The photo at the bottom of this post shows what my studio looks like when it’s set up for a workshop these days but, on Saturday, it will be converted into a showroom for the day! If you’re in the area, do stop by: I love having visitors at my studio. Bring some items to recycle or share, as noted on the flyer, as you explore the EcoFest events. Then come upstairs to check out the art jewelry and other small adornments I’ve created. See what I have available for an early Holiday-season shopping opportunity, and talk with me about what all else is in the works. Find out more about the workshops I have scheduled for the next few months, as well as ones I might add to the schedule this season or in the future. (Gift certificates will also be available, for anyone who’d like to allow the recipient to choose the items or class they want the most.)

Oh, and something else I did this summer was to repot the aloe vera plants I’d brought up from my family home in Florida: I’ll also have a bunch of baby aloes (and some, not-so-baby) looking for good new homes. Yes, they remind me of “home” but another reason I keep them going is because of how useful these “burn remedy plants” can be for moments when someone (you or me…) isn’t devoting their full attention to handling something hot from a session under a torch or in a kiln!

It seems I’ve been rather quiet lately….

… online, at least. I’ve done some metal clay work, but haven’t had extra time to write about it. Sigh! But, fyi, here’s but one of the many other things I have been doing, helping to turn an empty city lot into an Urban Edible Teaching Garden. Click on the links to access panoramas of the garden before and now, respectively … which I’d like to simply embed here but I’ve still have not figured out how to make GigaPans appear in WordPress. Another sigh.

Although there’s lots more to do in the garden—we are extending the season with cool-weather crops and exploring others that we can over-winter there—we are breathing a big sigh of relief now that we made it though our big fall “Celebration”! The weather for it, yesterday, was perfect!

It was open to the public, but we specifically invited the various groups whose support has helped fund the project, so it was a big deal for us. It was even reported in several local papers! I hope this link to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s article will work!

(Third sigh. My concern about the link’s working is because the P-G has just begun limiting online access unless you have a subscription, but they say they are allowing links from “social media” so I add the link with hope! If the photo of two women in the asparagus bed (which accompanies the article) shows up here, I’m guessing the link to the story will work too. O the joys of technology! The good news is that the photo was taken by Tony Tye, and it was both a surprise and a real treat to run into him in person again.)