How long does it take you to make that?

I’ve just updated my show calendar, which has it’s own page here on the blog.  I am going to have to do a bit more fiddling to make the layout right, but for now I’m frustrated with the tool and have to move on.  I was a little disappointed that not all the shows I wanted to take part in would have me, but I’m excited to be part of two new to me shows and two returning goodies.

I’ve always loved craft shows.  I love going and I love taking part.  I’ve been working on new product, complete redesign of my booth, new packaging, new signage and the list goes on and on.  I can’t wait to see it all come together, since right now everything is either still an idea or somewhere on the road to done. I fully expect to still be tweaking all kinds of things right up to the last minute as that’s just the way I am.

Last night I was working on some new post earrings, that will be debuting at Handmade Harvest.  I had to move some things around to have just enough space to work.  One tray in particular has about twenty or so pendants that the final layer of sealant is curing on.  I was trying to remember if it had been 72 hours yet when I realized it would be wise to just write down the time I finish at!  Such an easy solution.  Of course my next thought is these aren’t really done.  You see they have this little void in the centre that I want to add a little sparkle and resin to.  That means these “done” pieces will have about another three steps and five more days before they are really done.  I had a flashback to a wonderful sign I saw at the Pottery show one year.  It was two pages long - regular 12 pt font! I stood there and read through and it detailed, and I mean detailed, from start “I dug the clay out of the ground” to “I set up this table full of mugs”.

Back to my tray of pendants, I started trying to count out steps on my fingers, what to call a step, hmm, lets see…

-I found the vintage button - I made a mould - I conditioned the polymer – I moulded and then further hand shaped and sculpted – first cure – I added a base colour – I added three layers of metal paint to sections - I custom mixed more polymer – textured it – sculpted it as a bezel to the first piece – second cure – I colourized (3-5 layers) – I highlighted – I sealed three layers…and more to come.

So lets call that fourteen steps, but some of those are really multiple steps, each with different amounts of time doing and lots more time waiting.  This is why it is so hard to answer that favourite question of craft show attendees: “How long did it take you to make that?”  It’s a fair question! One I sometimes answer with a smile and a hmmm, then tell them something else entirely about the piece or the process.  Mostly because what the heck time shall I count.  These pendants have been a work in progress for about two months now and they aren’t done in my mind yet.  

Really I take the question as an invitation to chat about my work, so please, don’t stop asking it! Just know, I’m not being intentionally vague or flippant if I say 2 months!

Here is where I should be showing you these pendants I’m going on and on about, but they ain’t done so instead



Rufus has not learned yet that a good studio kitty should stay off the worktable and keep his hair to himself!