Right now is rather a crazy discombobulating time for me. This will be the first holiday season when Panopoly Creations is really up and running. I am working hard to get my name out there and be seen, while still trying to improve my product line and online shop offerings, and keep within my budget.

(Crazy Town, by lvhdesigns)

The next two months will see me and my wee wonders popping up all over the place! Here’s a rundown of places you can catch me, both online and off:

· I’m a sponsor of Heart Handmade this month. It’s such a lovely blog, full of great picks and features for craft and fashion.

· On Saturday, November 22, I’ll be at the Holiday Design Bazaar, benefitting Buen Dia Family School, at a.Muse Gallery, 614 Alabama St., San Francisco, from 12-6pm.

· And the next day, Sunday, September 23rd, I’ll travel across the Golden Gate (with eneefabricdesign in the backseat!) and offer my wares at the Sonoma Artisan Faire, from 12-5:30pm, at the Sonoma Veterans’ Hall, 126 First Street West, Sonoma, CA. There are going to be more than FIFTY totally rockin’ artisans and crafters vending at this event!

· Please take a moment to check out all the great artists over at Handmade in California, of which I’m just one small part. It’s a wonderful resource to find local artists and craftspeople.

· On Sunday, November 30th, I’m going to be joining a bunch of lovely ladies from the SFEtsy Team, at our group’s table at Bazaar Bizarre. The fair, located in the County Fair Building at Golden Gate Park, San Franciso, runs from 10am-5pm. We’re going to be switching out our goods throughout the day, so if you don’t catch me the first time, check back later in the day for a whole new group of vendors.

· Then, in December, I’m going to be listed in the Modish Holiday Marketplace!

· On Saturday, December 13th, I’ll be vending at the Root Division Christmas Island Getaway Sale, from 7-10pm, at 3175 17th Street, San Francisco. It’s going to be a great event. Complete with polar bears.

And…that’s it for now! After the craziness of the holidays is over, I hope to get back to having the time to feature lots of other artists in this blog again.

Blogging, or writing in general, is very much a rainy day activity for me. Something about the murmuring sounds outside, the narrowing of possibilities for my day…it makes me more introspective and more willing to just sit back.

But today something very exciting has happened as well, that simultaneously fits my introspective mood! Jena over at one of my favorite blogs, Modish, has written a Handmade Spaces feature about me and my workspace!

And other bits of news:

My Obama magnets got featured on The Obama Craft Project! If you’re in the US, please vote tomorrow!

I’ve donated one of my pendants to the Paper and Stitch blog giveaway, so keep your eyes peeled–there are going to be lots of awesome goodies up for grabs!

Also, Indie Fixx is having an awesome giveaway right now too, with tons of amazing items in the lineup, including one of my favorite vendors from last month’s Indie-Mart, Sprout Studio!

My current goal in my shop is to have 250 total listings (current and sold) and I am almost there! I’ve also been working hard on updating all my photos to give them a more consistent, warm, dreamlike look. Here’s some before and after for you:

Before:

After:

I have a feeling I’m going to spend a lot of time in the kitchen today now…maybe baking bread or pumpkin puree…and probably some good ol’ fashioned cheeseburgers too!

I had lots of fun at Indie-Mart yesterday! It was a beautiful day (just a wee bit windy though!) and I had great company in my double-wide booth with Jen of Mastodon Garden. I got a chance to run around and check out the other booths, which included mostly great handmade clothing and vintage finds, peppered with some cupcake and confection makers, and various other designers, crafters and artists.

Highlights of the day for me were:
· Getting to chat with Tara of Combustion Glass Works, the face behind the Sonoma Artisan Faire, where I’ll be vending next month.
· Sprout Studio’s totally awesome, original display setup.
· Blackbird Photography’s beautiful work (the boyfriend took home one of their pieces), and their adorable kids, who were selling their crayon and marker drawings as well.
· A sweet lady going around selling her “Bierocks for Barack” to raise money for the Obama campain. They were super-tasty!

I busted my butt in the couple weeks before, making enough new items to fill my tables and shelves. Courtesy of the ever-supportive Orin, here’s some photos of my display!

Sorry I haven’t been around here much, y’all–things have been crazy-busy.

In fact, I’m just popping in to give some event announcements! Please come by and say “hi” if you can!

SF Indie-Mart
Sunday, October 12, 12:00-6:00pm
Thee Parkside, 17th & Wisconsin St., San Francisco
70 designers, plus live music and DJ’s, beer, BBQ, and cupcakes!

Sonoma Artisan Faire
Sunday, November 23rd, 12:00-5:30pm
Sonoma Veterans’ Memorial Hall, 126 First St. West, Sonoma, CA
Organized by a fellow Etsian, the current list includes 30 amazing artists and crafters, with more on their way!

Bazaar Bizarre
Sunday, November 30, 10:00am-5:00pm
San Francisco County Fair Building, Golden Gate Park, SF
One of the biggest events of the year! I’ll be sharing a booth with 7 of my fellow SFEtsy Team members.

Meanwhile I’m adding new material to my Etsy shop (and getting my Dawanda shop up to date) all the time!

I want to show off my latest creation for sale, but first: Etsy Five time!

StitchWicked is first today, with her awesome design-your-own camera bag! I’m featuring this item first because I actually ordered it myself for my boyfriend last winter. It’s still holding up strong, and the pockets and padding are just right for a serious or hobby photographer. Here’s a photo of the bag she made for him:

This tiny little critter home by purplepetunia is one of her many little miniature fancies. Her pieces seem to inhabit a fairy world all their own, and I love getting those little peeks into it.

TimothyAdamDesigns makes all kinds of different metal art items made to look like vintage cameras, including this great magnet. He also creates really unique jewelry displays and other awesome stuff.

This amazing mug by etcArts is such a work of art–the artist’s attention to detail in all this shop’s work is what really sets it apart, along with a good eye for design, and a wonderful set of glazes.

owlyshadowpuppets‘ creations are so original and fun! Etsy is really suffering a dearth of great dinosaur items, and this T-Rex definitely helps fill the void.

And lastly…today I started listing my new line of Animal Friends on Etsy. Here’s the first, a baby sea lion:

Not literally. I kind of wish. But no.

No, but yesterday I did have an opportunity to visit IMCO Ceramics. What’s great about this place versus your typical ceramic supply store, is that they mix all their own clay on site. There are bags of dry clay being carried around on forklifts in the parking lot. Their facility is massive; it looks like it used to be a dairy farm before they took it over in the 60s. It’s right on the railroad tracks on the outskirts of town, and it’s dusty with lots of faded signs, and it’s beautiful.

I am excited to really start gearing up for the holidays soon, so I took a big leap and bought 150 pounds of clay in three different varieties. This is a leap because I ‘ve been using the same 50 lb box of clay since April. But I am really hoping to start cranking out ware until I have arms like a lumberjack!

(Lumberjack tee, by timberps)

I’m not very happy with the clay I’ve been using–Laguna’s B-Mix with Sand. It doesn’t shrink a lot, and is very reliable, but it’s hard for me to work with. This is partially my fault; I asked the advice of the salesperson at my local ceramics store, and told her I was handbuilding. It is true that I handbuilt all my work and never use a wheel, but my work is small and so it doesn’t need all the extra support that large handbuilt work often does. So I have moved on and gotten some new clays:

Firstly, some porcelain. In the near future, I’m hoping to be making most of my pendants from the porcelain, as well as, probably, my buttons and beads. Porcelain is such a fine, smooth clay, and very strong, but it’s also notoriously hard to work with. We shall see–I’ve never used it before!

I also got something similar to my current clay, only with less grog. (Grog is basically sand, used to strengthen the wet clay). I’m hoping it will be a good standard clay for me, when I don’t need anything special.

And lastly–the one I’m perhaps most excited about–I got some gorgeous dark red clay. Sort of a darker version of terra cotta. I cannot wait to see how my glazes look on this stuff!

All in all, it was a very successful trip, and I briefly spoke to the head honcho there, who told me he might give a tour of the facility if I can get a group together! So many fun things to work on and think about…I don’t know where to begin!

Still am printerless. Bleh.

I have actually been managing to make new things, though, despite the heat. Working on custom orders and lots of fun new things for the months ahead!

The latest addition to the Etsy shop is this pendant:

I’m pointing it out in particular because it’s one that I feel almost viscerally emotionally connected to; I seriously considered keeping it for myself, but decided I would rather share.

Now, on with my Etsy picks for the day:

I know phantomwise best for her amazing works in black and white, particularly her in-progress Tarot deck, but when she does use color, she uses it with a deft, subtle hand, as evidenced in this cryptic mixed-media print.

It was so hard to choose just one print from atwhim’s many fantastic, succinct little creations, but when I saw this, I knew it was the one. It’s the simple cleverness that really does it for me.

I was recently delighted to find out that stoopidgerl is not only a fantastic photographer, but can also do the most amazing, beyond cute things with resin, such as capturing real sprinkles inside! How can I not love that?

This is just one example of the many fascinating creations made by yaelfran, who is deservedly well-known in the Etsy community for making unique, adorable items!

This nightgown is just so rich and elegant! I can picture myself lounging aorund in this every day if I could! OnTheInside creates lots of great handmade lingerie, for the elegant woman in all of us!

I tried to have this edition done in time for Labor Day, but didn’t quite succeed. My internet access from home is still experiencing lots of problems.

I’m going to be filling some custom orders and making an oversized teacup for my grandma (shhhhh!) tomorrow, hopefully, as soon as I get some shipping done…

belleandboo is pretty well-known for her art prints, but I didn’t know she made stuffed dolls too! This one in particular is really cute.

I really love the way that hadleyhutton utilizes the resources of mixed media, often using ink, watercolor, encaustic and pencil all in one piece. The effect invariably is something ethereal, intangible, and more than the sum of its parts.

This print is part of a three-piece series based on the story of “Little Red Riding Hood.” I have to admit that I am a huge sucker for charcoal art–it is just so subtle and textural. I am also a big fan of artquirk’s illustrations of buildings in European cities.

amyjjewelry specializes in jewelry made from various fare tokens; this is by far my favorite.

As a maker of rings made from “unusual” materials myself, I’m also on the lookout for more of “my kind.” I got to check out scabbyrobot’s neato leather rings firsthand at Renegade SF, and I can testify to their unique beauty and comfort. This one is such a gorgeous color, too!

Apologies from six days away from the blog. As I said in the last entry, the 26th was my birthday (!!!) and I had a lot of work to do preparing to take a day off. It’s satisfying and terrifying to need that much planning for one day away from crafting!

I’m currently working with a bunch of Etsy folks on possibly having a holiday craft fair. I will of course be posting updates on that as things develop, but for now there isn’t much to say. I’ve contacted a few venues and have gotten no response so far. It’s very frustrating, but I will try my best to be patient.

Speaking of craft fairs, I will also be sharing a booth with several other members of SFEtsy at Bazaar Bizarre, at the San Francisco County Fair Building, Sunday, November 30th. I will be there for the second half of the day. Hope to see you there!

I was going to call this entry “Buttoning Up” but it’s been way too hot to think about buttoning anything up at all! I’m totally slacking today because it’s so warm. This weather makes me all droopy.

But anyway, after having the poor little bisqued guys sitting on my shelf for a while, I finally got a big batch of buttons (so many b’s!) glazed and fired, and they’ve been finding their way into the shop this week. I made some more of the little shanks, plus some neato new designs, based on some vintage buttons I’ve been collecting. Here’s a sampling:

The Etsy Five feature will be returning either tonight or tomorrow!

(I’m big with the alliteration today, aren’t I?)