How to use E6000 glue Tips for E6000

Have you had frustrations with E6000 glue failure? Me, too!

The main things I've learned:
Be sure things to be glued are very clean, free of dust, grime and grease.

Be sure everything is dry.

Use E6000 SPARINGLY! More is not better! The reason: E6000 does not stick well to itself. I put a small amount on the jewelry bail and the matching glass pendant, or a small amount on the glass butterfly and the matching mat board, for example. Next I spread it out very thinly on both surfaces with a small piece of heavy cardboard or a scrap of mat board. After waiting about 1-2 minutes, I press the two surfaces together and apply some weight. I don't move the piece for 24 hrs. to give the bond a good cure time.

I've not had any glue failure after applying the 'less is more' principle with E 6000. I would love to hear any tips or frustrations or comments you may have about E 6000. Or your recommendations about other glues that are 'out there'.

Be sure to browse my etsy shop! I have lots of fun pottery, fused glass, gourds, whimsical acrylic paintings and more. www.jackiesart.etsy.com

Yay! New listings on my website shop!

Oh, what a relief! New listings are up on my website. I still have a couple of stoneware bowl sets to list, but I'm thankful for the new items that are up! Take a peek and let me know what you think.

Mother's Day we are celebrating with our daughter and her family. Her youngest has been sick with throwing up and diarrhea all week so we are praying she'll feel better soon. Maybe she needs Grandma to rock and sing the ABC song to her (even though my singing voice is atrocious, she hasn't ever looked at me and asked me to stop!).

I've been having some fun on Facebook - mostly shocking the younger people who wonder if FB is being taken over by the 50' something crowd! One of my daughters has blocked me from seeing her 'wall'...hmm, is there something I should know that I don't? Or maybe mothers don't need to know everything! I remember that was my attitude when I was 20' something.

Have a wonderful weekend.

PS I've been posting new items on my etsy shop, too!

Sunshine is energizing!

The sun is shining! And it is energizing me! Today I listed a lot of new items to my etsy shop and have more to get done tonight. Then I'll be adding new items to my own website shop, too. And I placed new items at the Canad Inn, Third Street Gallery, Forks Frame Up and Dakota Harvest Bakers. It feels so good to have those tasks taken care of for a short while, anyway.

I've been researching artfulhome.com as a possible place to list my tables, lamps and lamples. It is a juried online shop and print catalog so I've been working on my application. The need for professional photos are creating a quandry for me. Should I invest in a better camera, lights and some backdrops and 'set up' a photography studio for myself? Or should I bite the bullet several times a year and pay a professional to take the photos for me? Anyone have advice for me?

I'm excited to get to work, now that it is spring, on some new tables. I want to use the diamond willow branches that my brother-in-law kindly hauled 350 miles east for me. And I want to do some new ceramic table tops to go with them...lots of ideas.

I'm really missing our little granddaughters. We had so much fun - I just finished putting together a photo album that will help them remember their visit with Grandma!

I sold 5 tatami mats this morning that have been taking up space in my closet for over 5 years. The buyers were thrilled to have them and I was thrilled they will store them instead of me!

I only have 3 times left with my weekly students before we take summer break. We are finishing up with sculpture and I'm really looking forward to that. I love three dimensional work with kids - it is something they usually don't experience!

Granddaughters visit!

Taylor and Haley are here visiting for the week. My kids' art and pottery classes are canceled because of Easter and spring break so this was an ideal time to have the little visitors. They are age 3 and 1. We've been outside to play, although it is still chilly most of the snow is gone, and to the indoor playground. Taylor went with me to the dentist today and thought that was great...she was really good while we were there. Yesterday we went to the library for story time. The story teller noticed we were new and asked Taylor, "What is your name?" "Hannah," Taylor answered. For whatever reason she always tells people her name is Hannah!

She has enjoyed making birthday cakes in my pottery studio - she takes a wad of clay and lays on it with her belly to flatten it. Then she adds a bunch of buttons for candles, we sing 'Happy Birthday' and have a pretend party. She went into the bathroom to wash her hands later as I was putting the clay and tools away. After a while she yells in a sing-song voice, "Grandma Jackie, water is going everywhere!". I rushed in to find she had plugged the sink drain and water was indeed going everywhere, and had been for quite some time! Grand Forks hasn't been flooded this spring but my basement has!

NCECA in Phoenix

I laid awake all last night in our hotel room in Phoenix thinking over my experiences at the NCECA conference the last three days.  Besides being lucky enough to win a couple of nice door prizes, I met up with a friend I met at Anderson Ranch a few years ago and had lots of shared experiences with our daughter, Amy.  We met quite a few new potters, listened to some interesting lectures and discusssions, watched demonstrations by other ceramicists and potters, and learned about new tools from vendors.  All in all it was a wonderful time - I hope to make good use of some or all of the new information in my work and with my young students.  Hopefully, they will benefit from my time here, too.

Gourd clock photos

I finally got a few photos taken *actually my hubbie did it* of two of my mini gourd clocks. We had a busy weekend with our oldest daughter home, with her two little girls. They are one and three years old and both of them are happy, joyous toddlers. We LOVE having them here!

Today I'm continuing my cartooning unit with my art kids. We learned about Charles Schulz and Roy Lichtenstein the previous two weeks. Today our artist is Keith Haring. After learning about an artist we are sketching in note books. Each student will have a collection of cartoons by the end of our unit. They will then pick and choose features that they like and put together their own, unique cartoon character. Hopefully, they will use the character in a short 3 or 4 panel comic strip. It has been really fun for me to learn about cartooning and some of the artists who are famous because of the cartoon or comic strip look of their work.

I hope to get the mini-gourd clocks listed on etsy after the Valentine Art Show on Thursday.

Oops! Disaster slops all over!

Oh, my gosh! My ice cube ornament completely fell apart! I left it outside overnight - it was minus 18 degrees (F) and brought it in the next day to take it out of the container and marvel at its beauty. The whole thing burst water out every where! Only the very outside shell was frozen and the inner part was cold water. What a mess...funny, though!

Hopefully, my kids today will have better luck as they will get a warning! I sold a felted landscape today so that was fun...sales are fun and certainly day-brighteners. Hoping you are having a bright and sunny day, whatever your weather!

I'm slowly getting more and more etsy listings...check it out. And slowly my shopping cart on my website is coming into being...maybe in another week or so. Santa, if you are listening, it would be an awesome early Christmas present!

Australia

We went to Australia, the movie, not the country (been there, done that!) over the weekend. We all really enjoyed the movie, but I wasn't expecting it to be about Aboriginal people...I thought it was a love story, without kids! Anyway, when we were there a few years ago, we learned a little bit about the past treatment of Aboriginal peoples by white society and the government. It makes me cringe to think how often people all around the world have been and still are, treated as less than human, by the rest of us. And how dare we consider our civilization and way of life as the be all and end all of civilization? We allow our babies to be killed before they are born - how civilized is that? I just don't get it.

I did get some art done this weekend - had 10 kids here to learn a little bit about Salvador Dali (we were at the SD museum in St. Petersburg two years ago - fantastic!). Each child did an acrylic painting of a dream or dreams that they could remember...it was fun!

Our youngest daughter came home, for maybe a month or so. She's been making art in Fargo and is now busy applying to MFA programs across the country. She makes beautiful pots, check her out at amyuthus.com. We both should have shopping carts on our websites in the next week or so. I'm excited for that.

I was fortunate enough to have an etsy mentor look at my etsy shop. She gave me a lot of good suggestions that I'm in the process of implementing. I hope to get a lot more listed throughout this week!

Happy Advent all - may God bless you this week!

No before Christmas show and sale...

Well, the Dec. 6/7 show didn't work out. It was too short of notice for most artists that I contacted. One of the painters suggested having a Sweetheart Sale on Jan. 31. We'll try for that and with our target audience Valentine's Day shoppers. We'll work on it next week and see if it'll be a go or not.

We had a house full of company for Thanksgiving - lots of fun to have family here. The oldest was my dad, 79, and the youngest guest was our 13 month old granddaughter. Every towel in our house was used - I was surprised to find the linen closets empty when everyone left and we started doing laundry.

I have been dismayed because the acrylic spray that I used on my clock and Wino wine charms has remained tacky after 10 days of drying time. I called Krylon and they sent a Min - Wax product that I am supposed to use on top of the Krylon. Three coats with a natural brush and it should take care of the problem. I wish I didn't have to spend the time brushing that stuff on. I guess Sculpey clay has a lot of oil in it that reacts with the Krylon spray - they've had other similar calls. I think they should have a caveat on the can that it isn't good to use on Sculpey.

I had two etsy sales this week so that was fun...Namaste and LOL both sold. I hope to get some more listings up on etsy this week...now's the time for Christmas shoppers to be browsing around.

Landscapes, madonnas & clocks

After an almost - all nighter, I delivered a bunch of new art to the Dakota Harvest Bakery for a mini - show they are having of my work for the next month or so. I also switched out my pottery in the curio there. I'll be displaying tea cups, mugs (large and small), matching pitcher and salt and pepper set and a small herd of buffalo.

On the wall at the bakery, will be five artsy clocks (including three that glo-in-the-dark), several felted landscapes (including a wonderful summer sunset), a felted mother and child wall hanging that I call "Mother's Love", my Creation weaving, a weaving designed to hang in a window that is complete with crystal beads called "Steely Night" and a landscape called "Moonlight on the River". I used metal warp for that one so it is shimmery like the metal trees that I incorporated to embellish the tapestry.

My art kids have been working on a "horse" unit. Hopefully, most of them will finish their paintings this week. They've been practicing drawing horses, and last week concentrated on drawing the head. Most have chosen acrylic paints to use for their finished work, and they are turning out beautifully. We looked at a lot of horses in art as a precursor to the unit. Lots of famous artists have chosen horses as subjects - they are certainly majestic, elegant animals!

Time to pick apples - lots have fallen off the trees already. We plan to make some pies, crumbles and cobblers to put in the freezer to enjoy later this fall and winter. It is great to be able to go to the freezer and get something nummy, but it will be a long day today!

Kelly in Virginia bought my "Is it Wine Time?" ceramic clock this week so it is winging its way to her this weekend. I'm sort of getting into making clocks - both ceramic and with polymer clay - they are fun!

Table + Lamp = 'Lample' and Art + 'Lample' = Cool!

"Lample" - a new word I invented for my lamp and table combination! The first one, with primary colors and apple red, glossy shelves, is nearly finished. It only needs some tape removed and the cord moved and I'll be posting a photo. I'm happy with how it turned out - the light looks wonderful and it is cheery and bright - a fun addition to lots of different spaces.

I've started working on the second lample, too. I painted the globe yesterday with turquoise and amber leaves and it's very pretty, especially when lit up. I'm debating whether to make this lample coffee table height or end table height, like the first one. I know I'll have to make two, so I can do one of each! That will leave me 4 donated globes to think and dream about.

This morning I got out the wood rasps and scraped on the diamond willow until I got most of the dirt off and a small start on removing the bark. I don't think I will scrape it down to the hard wood every where because I like the roughness and the color of the under bark layer. It is a nice contrast to the hard wood, which is very light in color. I'm planning to leave the inside of the diamonds darker, too, so they show up better. Or maybe I should clean it all the way to the hard wood and apply an amber colored stain. Hmm, too many options! I'm posting a photo here of the branch/trunk I'm working on so you can see what diamond willow looks like. It is all very fun and interesting to think about - and very different from pottery so it's a wonderful change of pace.

Speaking of pottery, I really want to get another herd of buffalo in the kiln, along with some mugs, tubers (vases with tubes in the middle to hold up flower stems - the tubes have holes in the bottoms so the flowers can drink from the bowl, or whatever shape I make the pot), and soap dishes...so much to do!

Light globe and glass paint yields visual art!

The donated glass globe painted up beautifully and came out of the oven with narry a crack! Hooray! Now I'm busy getting the wood table top and middle shelf primed - they will be painted a bright red. The legs and additional fittings will be white PVC pipe and caps - I think they will look sort of industrial, bright and cheery against the red wood shelves. My husband, Eric, is helping me with some of this project, so I am grateful for that. I can't wait for it to be done, and all lit up, hopefully in time for the Art & Wine Walk on Sept. 20. I'd really like to get another one done, too - one with copper legs and barnwood shelves (I'm going to my sister's farm this weekend and hopefully will be able to scavenge some from her!) and celadon and copper frosted on the glass globe...visual art made from recycled stuff. I'd like to do another one with driftwood - too bad there are no oceans nearby! I've been trying to list items on sell-arts.com and have had so much trouble. I'm really lousy with computer stuff and lose my patience with it quickly. There are so many other things I'd like to do with my time than sit at the computer! I started on a new herd of pottery buffalo this morning, got two mom and two babies finished so they can dry over the weekend.

I can't figure out how to put labels under my first post so guess I'll do it this way!