November Vending Madness

Upcoming Show Schedule:

 

Cobscook Pottery Holiday Open Studio Sale

November 15-17

Lubec, ME

 

United Maine Craftsmen

39th Annual Thanksgiving Arts and Crafts Show

November 29- December 1

Brewer Auditorium, Brewer, ME

 

 

Looking forward to this weekend's

Cobscook Pottery Holiday Open Studio Sale

November 15-17, 2013

Friday 3-7, Saturday 10-5, Sunday 11-4

North Lubec Rd., Lubec, ME

 

 

 A few bowls and mugs from last weekend's sale at the United Maine Craftsmen show at the Augusta Civic Center.

 

 

 While in central Maine I took a stroll around Hallowell where I lived and worked for many years. Being a holiday, the streets were very quiet.

 

 On his way back to California, Brad Trafton inspired a lot of smiles and singing voices at his Saturday night Water Street Tavern gigs here in Lubec. He will be missed!

 

Big old spruce was removed by Bear and Owl Tree Care.

 

Bear and Owl Tree Care

Brannin sawing the lower quarter of the tree.

 Tossing a chunk of spruce to the ground.

 

 

Brannin Beuhner

 

And this is how the spruce ended up.

The seasonal frenzy has begun. I just returned to Lubec from two days of vending in Augusta at the United Maine Craftsmen Show where hordes of shoppers bounced from aisle to aisle humming Frosty the Snowman and checking names off their lists. I enjoy vending in Augusta because I get to see lots of people that I know from my days of living in the area. This past weekend's show was no exception. Family and friends filtered into my booth throughout the two days and lots of smiles and hugs were exchanged. More than once I was happily surprised and touched by unexpected visitors. This put the Augusta show at the top of my 2013 vending highlights list.

Prep for the Augusta show was a bit thrown off with a kiln error and need for a replacement part. Something to disrupt the normal schedule seems to be par for the course at this point. Luckily it was a simple fix which was tended to today and as I type, an empty kiln is firing to make sure that all is working properly. Tomorrow is the return of the glaze fire in prep for this coming weekend's open studio sale here in Lubec. I had never replaced a thermocouple before but it turned out to be quite simple. A big sigh of relief spilled out me as the glaring red FAIL error disappeared. For now, wires seem fine, and since electronics is not my forte, I am quite pleased! Next week the elements will be replaced, a task that perhaps should have been done a couple months ago. Luckily I ordered the replacements a while back just in case they would be needed. The kiln should be in fine working order as we head into 2014.

Now I am preparing for this weekends sale here in Lubec. Somewhere in my growing pile of papers is a mailing  list. Somewhere is the key word here. If you didn't receive your usual postcard invite from me, this is why; the list somehow grew its own set of little list feet and took off on adventure nowhere to be found. I did my best to remember who has been here in the past and used online whitepages and the local phonebook to recreate as best I could. This was a task not enjoyed! But I did get the postcards out and look forward to seeing folks this weekend. If you did not get a card in the mail, do still stop by! Yes, there will be some of that holiday music (you know, my favorite holiday blues CD), a gift certificate raffle, cheer,  and treats.

In between the Lubec sale and the upcoming sale in Brewer that follows Thanksgiving, I will be throwing, carving, shipping, glazing, and working on a few commissioned projects and proposals. The MFA work will soon take precedence, something that I am looking forward to. I will not be bored these last few weeks of 2013, that is for certain.

Other than show prep, I enjoyed the late days of fall with a few hikes, time with friends, and evenings out with Chris to listen to live music. The air has turned quite chilly. I am starting to feel the urge to hibernate and looking forward to when that will be possible. It's been a bit of a whirlwind lately.