Getting on with it

 

The delivery arrived...how he managed to get the ton bag and two small pallets of slabs down perfectly in the 40+ mph gusty winds I don't know!

 Very skillful.

I have been listing more items on Etsy...my work this time.

The red dumpy candlestick is on, the small biscuit jar..for small biscuits?!..will go on tomorrow.  Just like fleabay, little and often works better than a huge number at once.

This afternoon we had a birthday present to send to a friend, so that was the first job on a trip to Ayr. Then banking followed by a cuppa in our favourite bookshop...and  an up to date map..and a book of course!

A quick hop to a local supermarket for food shopping and then fuel from Sainsbugs....£1.48 a litre, not so bad as some places.  We decided that from now on we will shop more often and travel by bus as we won't be able to carry so much. We have been doing a main shop once every fortnight..but that is only possible when using the car.

So unless we have a journey that has to be done by car, bus it will be...and bike once more pleasant weather arrives.   It certainly hasn't been pleasant for the past couple of days. Strong and gusty cold winds with rain sleet and hail.

Tomorrow we have bricklaying and oggin spreading to do... hopefully there will be pictures!!

Cards

 https://www.etsy.com/uk/GwynnethRixon/listing/1042578752/trees-4-original-linoprinted-cards?utm_source=Copy&utm_medium=ListingManager&utm_campaign=Share&utm_term=so.lmsm&share_time=1627130179429

Not sure what I did there!! 

Stocktake done, some renewing started and one card listing done..I might reduce the price of some bigger prints later. 

These are what should be showing at the top- but they should also show on the Etsy link on the side bar.

And I updated my website as well...I will have to ask my brother if I did that correctly...we have it arranged that he can edit that as need be. I am very good at forgetting one last step...I must write down what that is!!

https://gwynnethrixonceramics.co.uk/news/16-restocking

Another hot day!

 Last night's sunset. Every one a beauty at present.
One good thing about buying online...free packing for the next order out!

 Two orders posted today, a wee red jug to Glasgow and a drawing to London.
This is the latest addition to Etsy.

I must get my website ticking over properly.
Brother has sorted it to make it easier..word press made it far too complicated!!  If I can get sales through that and the dreaded fb as well as this blog, a little from everywhere it will be good.
Etsy make it easier, but like any shop they do take a chunk of the sale...fair enough, they do provide a service.

It is hot again today, so like yesterday indoors or in the shade now, and do things outside earlier and later.
We rethought the bed planting yesterday and decided that all the brassicas go in the new bed with a finer mesh over them to keep the cabbage white butterflies off...and also the leek moth as I think that that has reached this far north .

Taking it easier

Or trying to! At least Pirate had a siesta today.
It is another hot sunny day with cold easterly winds thanks to the high pressure system over Ireland.  There is rain further South but we are getting drier...
We joined the home haircut brigade ..Pirate trimmed a couple of inches off mine last week and today I trimmed his whiskers!!

Not a bad job...and difficult to keep him still...I worried about nicking lips and ears!!

One half full of plants and seeds..I am willing them to GROW!!

We keep on with outside jobs, thinking of those we are leaving until it is too wet or cold to work outside..but the warm dry weather carries on, so far. It is a relief to have it and we must learn to relax and appreciate it.

Now he is doing some bike maintenance to loud music..and I must go and post some more work in my Etsy shop...live in hope!!

On sale...at last!

One listed, now the wording has been sorted, the rest shouldn't take too long

while watching the ceremony.....

The Closing Ceremony of the Commonwealth Games was both moving and entertaining in turn.
I've been glued to the laptop, watching different sports..or listening out for what I wanted to watch while being busy on other tabs!!
Before the Ceremony I got a sheets and towels wash through, and they dried beautifully in the sun and brisk breeze.

At intervals I added cards to the Etsy shop.

Luckily the dry washing came in before the Ceremony started, already dry,for as soon as it finished, down came the rain!
The house is clean and tidy (ish!) for The Oily One and a workmate should be here for a couple of nights this week.

Things can be too tidy..there is a small bag of mini pegs for hanging cards, somewhere....I've rigged up lines of thin twine on a wall to peg up the latest big prints to dry out of the way. It has been taking weeks, despite having been well blotted. Pegging it up will mean less chance of smudges, and more room in the house as they lie on a pasting table in the living room.

Can I find those pegs?

Here is the print..Old Hedge, Storm Brewing, Girvan Valley

cards on Etsy

I've had a sale!...only four cards, but incentive to put a few more in the shop.

I'll gradually put more in, more likely to get noticed than all at once.
Here's hoping for more sales!

ebay vs etsy?

your thoughts?

I find etsy easier to list on..but early days,perhaps thats just me.

Maybe I'll add a vintage section to the etsy shop?

etsy shop preparation

portrait session for cards..hope to get some on there tonight

followed by...

Snow over Barbieston..from a view just outside Drongan where we live...thinking about possible snow next weekend.

Thats the last of the larger prints on etsy for now, off to do some smaller images.

posting and keeping on

More cards in the Etsy shop.

Took a few of the new Seasonal ones to a cafe in Prestwick, but the new owners are not interested really...so I just left some seasonal cards and all of the images of the cafe .  Some will be good enough to sell elsewhere. I doubt if I'll see any sold by January, so I can gracefully retreat from there and try a cafe in Ayr.

Which has far better coffee....and exceedingly good food...and art on the walls....

Keeping on keeping on at home...looking forward to starting box moving next week. Sorting papers and filling the shredder and recycling and rubbish bins.

Keeping the Pirate going,but he is finding all this stress hard work.

I'm finding it hard to raise enthusiasm for training be it gym or the turbo trainer..I'd love just to go out and potter on the bike, but the thought of getting cold and gritty and wet.....we're missing the worst of the storms, but it still gets pretty miserable.

printing...

Making seasonal cards using a photo from our working visit to Skye last January. Funny how it can be easier to see the value in an image after a while...
must put some on Etsy tonight.

keeping warm and working

 We've been lucky to be able to forage for firewood, getting some beech..from a fallen tree that fell across the road a couple of years ago. All the really good stuff went, but we don't mind using smaller wood. It keeps us warm and doesn't spit like other wood!!  Better that we use it than see it just burnt or chipped by the roadside.

The trip to Ballantrae was worth doing, I've earmarked a couple of images to return to when the weather and light are better! 
You don't have to have bright warm sunshine...I've put some Atmospheric Ayrshire cards in my Etsy shop!

 and also some Spring Flowers to keep us hoping....

Yesterday's local foraging on foot didn't yield much...as after ten minutes of sun, the wind suddenly blew up strong and chucked hailstones then snow at us!
I know you're supposed to do a minimum of twenty minutes walking a day...but I'd rather not do it in these conditions!!   Then five minutes after we got back home,the sun was trying to tempt us out again...ready for the next heavy hailshower!!!

keeping the ball rolling

I'm seeing views on my listings and the shop, hooray!....

Now a cousin has apparently bought something....but it is still showing....
oh dear.. hopefully her grandson can help sort the problem.

The Pirate hasn't been feeling too good...getting too enthusiastic plus getting a bit chilly one day.  Getting back to himself is a longer haul than he realized.
At least he IS going in the right direction!

Spring Flowers....just to prove that the year is going towards Spring!

Still Winter weather, as it should be, in Winter!!

new cards on the way

I'm using more of my drawings and photos.   Still no linoprints YET....I need more time!!

Some of these will be in my Etsy shop very soon.

still chilly

It is still chilly and although actually colder than yesterday it feels warmer. This is due to less wind, so a lower chill-factor. The sky is a hard clear blue, with a few fluffy clouds just starting to appear. The forecast is for even colder tonight.

More office work today- I've weighed twenty pots with packaging, now to work out the postage and packing costs to add.
I've posted two mugs on Etsy, the others will get "drip fed" onto the shop.

I've just had a tenmoku glazed milk jug added to a treasury too. High time I learnt to do this myself, but computer time detracts from making . Although this cold weather gives me a chance to do more 'admin', there is a limit to how much I can stand doing! I'm envious of the makers who have partners willing to do this. If nothing else I'd get to drink my coffee whilst it was hot!!

I'll draw and list the shapes and glazes I'll be making for the different shops and galleries in North Wales, today, keeping the 2D work going and co-ordinating eye, hand and brain. That will be proof of design work too, if I apply for membership to other associations or galleries.

Now to make lunch and then the drying clay should be ready to knead and re-bag.

Ta Daaaa!

Funny, I returned home from the Area AGM of the allotments' society...and The Carpenter and The Oily One had thought that I was away, doing next Wednesday's trip..... so they'd made supper for two, fair enough.....and left a mound of washing up and food left out!!!!

Having cleared up the kitchen this morning, and added a jug to my Etsy shop, I finished the glazing and kiln packing that I'd started yesterday. Just need the cone beast to dry.

Today it has been raining since the early hours of the morning, with a few breaks.
It isn't as chilly as it has been- about 15 degrees C when it stops- but this wont put much sugar in the fruit crops.

I need to do some seed sowing, both in and out of the greenhouse, but I think that can wait for the weekend!

getting noticed

One of my milk jugs has been chosen as part of a feature on Etsy- Welsh Treasury-

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4d52799a33618eef4c572ab4/welshest-wales?ref=pr_treasury

one step at a time!