Additional Pursuits

During shelter in place, I frequently found myself with a desire to create without a lot of creative energy. In late 2019, on a thrift store extravaganza with Carolee, I had found a golden retriever latch hook kit. I found this to be a soothing pursuit for the times when I wanted to make something but don't have any idea what to make.

As a child, I had a deep interest in rocks. I always wanted a rock tumbler, but finances didn't work out that way. In celebration of our keyniverary, my nesting partner got me a rock tumbler and I immediately started to work on polishing rocks. I have yet to get a respectable shine on my stones, and still feel like I have much to learn.

While looking up information on optimal rock polishing techniques, I discovered the name for this pursuit: lapidary. I looked around for lapidary classes and ended up joining the Mineral and Gem Society of Castro Valley. I made it out to the workshop and began to learn how to polish a cabochon. I got about halfway through my first two before the shelter in place order for the COVID-19 pandemic came down, and look forward to returning to the workshop someday.

I got an itch to start working with resin after a Kickstarter artist I backed for something unrelated started working with it. I'm not yet sure if resin belongs in Valiant Attempts rather than Additional Pursuits. My initial experiments have been stressful, with the time crunch of pot time being a true frustration. I often feel like I am just making sparkly trash. I still have resin on hand, and I have some projects I'd like to try, so for now my resin works will live here.

Following the expected and unexpected deaths of family and friends, I went looking for ways to memorialize them. I took a class at The Crucible on making beads using an oxy-propane torch. I like the process quite a bit, and working with glass has allowed me to experiment with encasing cremains of my loved ones into jewelry. I'm still very much in a learning process with glass, only having 30 hours of experience with it, but I'd like to continue my work here. While I have space in my garage to put in a ventilation hood and torch bench, that's a larger project than I'm prepared to tackle at this time, so this is a slow-going process, limited by scheduling at The Crucible and my finances.

Christmas is my favorite holiday, and each year I throw an ornament painting party in advance of the holiday. I first started painting ornaments in 2006, and my designs have become progressively more irreverent. I often sand or carve the porcelain to give it a different look before I paint it. In 2014, I created a full nativity set for my friend April using various tropes from horror and fantasy.

I worked for a paint-your-own pottery studio for several years in the early 2000s. I enjoyed spending my off-hours availing myself of the free paint time, and settled into a giraffe-like pattern I've painted on dozens of different pieces over the years. It's meticulous and meditative, two of my favorite things.

I've enjoyed coloring books since childhood. I have a sizeable collection. I usually color using Copic alcohol markers.