BLOWN AWAY!

No, not a storm! But taken by storm! We had planned to have the second Annual Show and Sale at our home in early December (invitations prepared to go out via email today!) BUT.......my sales volume at Port City Pottery for this month has been very gratifying to say the least, and I am knitting away just to keep the stock fresh. Right now it appears impossible to consider having a home show - I just don't have enough new product to warrant it, and Tony doesn't have enough period.

We want our loyal following to know that we both are happy to work with you to create custom fiber or clay pieces to fit your needs. And we welcome you - of course - to PORT CITY POTTERY for a huge selection of fiber, clay, fused glass, mixed media, jewelry, weaving, and basketry. FOUR new artists have joined us too!

See SOLDS on flickr to get an idea and some recent private sales:

Sassyglass and Scarfitup Together!

Another bit of collaboration!

Sassyglass' Andrea Cumming and Scarf It Up have collaborated once again to produce some delightful designs in neckwear. These three distinctly different necklaces - fiber with dichroic glass pendants - will be available at our gallery, Port City Pottery and Fine Crafts in Wilmington NC, very shortly. They sell for $39 each.

Comment below or email scarfitup [at] ec.rr.com if interested or if you want additional information. More photos available here.

Knitting / Knotting with Batik

Back in the Fall, while visiting our daughter and family in Winston-Salem, NC, I stopped by an awesome yarn store and stumbled upon a new idea: a bag knitted with strips of fabric cut from gorgeous batik. Wanting to try something new, I bought a yard of batik (at great expense!) and thought I'd create my own version. Little did I know how laborious this task was going to be!

• First.....cut the batik on the bias into 3/4" (or so) strips.
• Then.....knot the hundreds of different sized strips together.
• Finally.....start knitting!

The idea is to leave the little knot tails showing. They are part of the design (even though they get a little shaggy and frayed!) THIS KNITTING IS NOT EASY!!! It is tight on the needles, hurts your hands, and requires frequent breaks. I ultimately decided NOT to knot all the pieces at once, thereby giving that needed break.

Well...as you can see, it's taken me many months and LOTS of very long breaks to complete this project. I am not the type to leave projects unfinished for long. This is probably the first abandoned project I've had in recent years, and I am rather pleased to say I finished it last night!

I'm addicted to Etsy Treasuries!

Creating them, that is! Oh....I like looking at them too, but I LOVE the challenge of first trying to snag one and then trying to create a beautiful, eye-catching and enticing whole developed around a theme. I turned on my computer this morning, ran over to the Treasury section, and one was expiring in 18 seconds! I jumped right on it, and lo and behold, here is the result:

http://www.etsy.com/treasury.php?id=1175743860556U15788 It's called KNOT, KNOT, Who's there? (with a typo in the title! - DUH!!!)

For those of you Etsyians who are similarly addicted, here are a few tips that I use to snag and create one:

1. Re-order the list so the next expiration times are on top on the first page.
2. If one is close to expiring, hang around. Sometimes the box never appears, so see when the next one is due to expire.
3. When the box appears at the bottom of the page, have a first letter waiting and type it into the box. That box will remain yours indefinitely while you come up with the rest of the title. Once you have begun the title, there is no need to rush. If you got this far, you've actually snagged an open Treasury!
4. Think about themes for a Treasury all the time, and even do searches accordingly to see if there are beautiful things to fill it with.
5. Start with the last pages of the search to give exposure to older items - it'a a plug for all Etsyians.
6. Leave comments on Treasuries that you love!

That's it! Please visit mine today and tomorrow - because then it will expire and BE GONE!!!!