Drip

Holy ceiling batman...wait, that should be holey ceiling. Indeed, we woke up Sunday morning to the ceiling of our bedroom dripping water. Now we knew there was a leak somewhere in the roof above us, but it never seemed to make it all the way through the drywall and we could never find the source in the attic. This was all before we experienced this most recent rain storm, set to continue for the next entire week mind you. Sigh. Anyway, we are lucky to have a contractor friend who walked us through the best way to deal with this at 6:30 in the morning. Then I had the pleasure of climbing into the attic repeatably throughout the day to empty the bowl catching water from the now painfully obvious leak in the roof. This behavior will have to continue until the sky stops falling long enough that the source of the leak on the two story, tile roof can be located and fixed. Sound fun right? Yeah, I'm all sore from all the climbing and crawling this morning, but at least I do in fact have a roof over my head, so complaint over.

Do you remember recently I mentioned a large order request which I replied to with a rather large shipping quote and rather long completion time estimate? Well, I thought I had scared them off, but apparently it was just that they had 'thought' they had responded and it didn't go through. So I spent much of Sunday evening sussing out the details on that. I am still waiting for further correspondence as the last thing I had to debate was she intended to pay for everything when they are ready to ship and I think that won't work for me. I figure I should at least get some payment up front on an order that is likely to take me at least a month to complete. I keep thinking about spending all that time working on it only to have her change her mind because I took too long or something. Anyway, I think I didn't get a response only because it was really late in her time zone and she likely got off the computer, so hopefully we'll get that all worked out today so I can get to work on the single largest order I've ever had...or not.

One last thing this morning. On Saturday while the kids were with Grandma, we went out to eat, a rare occurrence, and on the way back, we stopped at Michael's. I had sold all the 'For Japan' medallions and I felt like I could sell more, if I had the bits to make more. So I dug through the clearance bins and came out with a few more dragon charms. I went ahead and re listed the medallion as soon as I got home. I haven't yet sold any more, but now I can sell as many as there are people who want one to help donate. I sent all the money I had already raised to the Red Cross on Saturday morning after the fourth had sold and I hold I get to do that again.

So today, it's working on the beginning bits of the large order, just in case everything works out. They are pieces I make often so if it doesn't work out, I'm just ahead of the curve stocking the shop and I'll move on to remaking some other pieces. Of course if things do get worked out for the large order, you may have to say goodbye to my creativity for  spell, but I think we'll all live.

Well, What Do You Know

What a nice and unexpected day. I began the day on task remaking a sold mask like a good girl, but something has been nagging at me for days. I wanted to do something for Japan. Sure I could have just donated some money, but I wanted to do something a little better and yesterday morning it came to me. Don't just donate a portion of sales of existing items, but make something just for Japan as a small token of support and donate the entire sales amount. So, I came up with this medallion. I worked extra quick to get it done, photographed and listed even before I started homeschooling for the day.

During school time I got an order for a custom mask and a choker that must be made and shipped out in time for next weekend, so right after school I went to work on those. I was also humbled to see how many people had re tweeted my message about the 'For Japan' Medallion on twitter. It was also quickly added to two treasury collections on etsy highlighting donation listings for Japanese relief efforts. It was really important to me that it didn't get lost in the shuffle. We used to host Japanese exchange students every summer as did my husband's family, so we have a lot of friends there and the first gifts I received from those students began a lifelong love of their culture, both the historic and the modern. Not to mention so much of our entertainment is a product of their creativity.

Then it was off to an open house for my daughter at the bookstore when I got the email that the medallion had sold(yes, I check my phone everywhere) and it was my 1500th sale as well! The medallion is re listed as I have enough materials to make 3 more of them and the more of them I sell the more I can donate to the Red Cross. So if you don't have donation fatigue yet consider picking up a medallion or one of the many other handmade bits on etsy whose proceeds are being donated. Alright the PSA is over.

So today, I have a mask to finish and necklace to start. Hopefully, I'll also being taking breaks to remake the medallion as well and I almost forgot today is the blogs third birthday as well! Happy bloggerversary to me! Well, crap...I had planned to start some sort of giveaway today and end it with the Wunderkammer's 2nd birthday which is about a week or so away, but I completely dropped the ball, lost the plot, forgot all about it. So I guess instead I'll just wait for the my 5th anniversary on etsy, which is next month, to do a little something special for those of you that read my ramblings. Yeah, then I can actually plan something rather than toss it together at the last minute. Since it is today though I send out a hearty thanks for reading, commenting and generally supporting me and my art, Thanks!!!

William Dohman

Whilst lurking the forums, I ran across a lonely post asking for "blog love". Being curious by nature I clicked through to his etsy page and I fell in love with the many colorful images in the photos there. So I decided immediately to give a little exposure to this brand new etsy photographer on my little street corner.

William Dohman creates prints from his travel photos from India, Japan, Holland, Germany, France, Czech Republic, Greece, Spain, ect. Though he makes his living as an architect, he loves to share his travel photos with others and I'm glad he does.
Coming from the Midwest, he was shocked by the amount of street life and culture in other parts of the world. He could not sketch quick enough to capture it all so he was lured to photography. "Too many Americans are quick to assume that the United States is the best county, many of whom have not even left their respective state boarders. I show these photos to encourage others to travel the world and become aware of dissimilar cultures."

When he is not making things he is finding new things to create. "If I am not doing photography or architecture I am either painting or drawing. I have also taken up road bicycling. I find it's a great way to sort my ideas and thoughts while getting a great workout and exploring the city I live in."

Here's one of his beautiful photos along with William's description:

In Japan, tradition states that if you fold 1000 origami cranes, it will bring you good health and good luck. When someone is suffering from a severe sickness or injury, spouses, parents, children and other family members and friends would fold 1000 cranes to wish for the person's recovery. The paper crane has become an international symbol of piece through the work of a young girl named Sadako Sasaki and her battle with leukemia.

"I would love for everyone to list the ten places they want to visit before they die and actually try and plan them. It is a lot easier and cheaper than a lot of people think!"



Obligatory biography:

William Dohman fell in love with photography while traveling around the world, studying architecture. India, Japan, and the Netherlands were so unlike his West St. Paul roots, he felt compelled to document everything he saw, from kite strings to street life, broken playgrounds to the Taj Mahal. India was the first time he used a manual camera, and he was hooked—through trips to the Netherlands (where he studied at TU Delft) and surrounding countries, as well as a post-grad study of Japanese architecture. His obsessive snapping prompted his fellow travelers to remark that they didn't really know what he looked like, given his face was constantly behind the camera.
William finds his most striking images are ones of everyday life, objects, and hidden details—not the classically beautiful ones perpetuated by the media, but rather the ones most people tend to overlook. He frames them with his lens for examination, most often finding that the everyday people, places, and remnants are what truly express the life within a culture.

So go and visit Williams store, heck go visit mine too. I could always use a little more love!