Looking back just a bit

It was a busy time

of making, baking, and fighting the never welcomed viruses of the season.

I was hopeful about the baking part… I wanted to make Christmas cookies with the grandkids, my father in law’s traditional nut rolls (thank you to Bob and Kathy for sending nut rolls!) and assorted pies and other goodies.

It. Did. Not. Happen. Thank you Jackie, for the amazing berry cheesecake for Christmas dinner!

I was off to a late start designing and making this year’s annual ornament. Caught a nasty virus that had me down for over a month during my busiest making days. After building the needed energy and endurance, ornament production was shifted into overdrive!

It had been a flurry of ornament design, stamp making and production of this year’s almost record breaking making season! I’ve made over 250 ornaments this year, mostly celebrating our mountain towns along with family and friends!

It took a while to finalize this year’s design and quite a bit more deciding on color combinations to work with the great crystal beads I found to dangle within the ornament and add a bit of sparkle! I began cutting and shaping them with the town names of our first holiday faires. I am so happy to see past customers each year, knowing that they are adding to their collections! I’ve made annual trees for our small Santa Cruz Mountains town of Boulder Creek since 1991 and am awed by those who have been collecting my ornaments for many years. It is such an honor for my work to be a part of many familiy’s holiday traditions! I’m also happy that these can provide a small welcome memento to new neighbors in the small towns in our valley.

I was a little afraid of the space between the teardrop cut outs and the edges of the tree. I was pleasantly surprised that the narrow edge really didn’t cause much of a problem. I laid unglazed terra cotta tiles on top of the tree shapes to allow them to dry slowly and flat. The problem with warping was pretty much solved as long as I was patient! (Of course, there were some that warped when fired and they will chime brightly in our garden!)

With hours and hours of time in the workshop, I was kept company by many Hallmark Christmas movies, keeping me in the spirit! It really was assembly line time around here. The kiln was on every few days, with some kiln loads fired as soon as cooled batches were unloaded!

I had a hard time deciding on glazes again this year. I found these great crystals in a couple of nice sparkly colors to dangle within the tree shape. I chose a rustic traditional Christmas palette for the golden crystals and another with the more fanciful colors reflected in the second crystal.

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Well, another year of my porcelain trees is complete and I’m already thinking about the design for 2019. Maybe, I should get an extra early start on them this year. You never know what surprises, good and not so good can affect your best plans!

Wishing you a Very Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year!

Cheers!