too many things

Life Stuff

Too many things to do right now; some of the main new things:

1. Try get in-person quotes for air con installation
2. Mulch some of the last new plants that I've moved outside
3. Preserve the many courgettes/marrows I've grown
4. Always laundry

It's a Monday, so O is at nursery for 3 hours while I'm not working (back to 5 days a week in September though). The bulk of my free time is taken by household chores and things I feel I should do before I try to prioritise my creative hobbies.

The Creative Pursuits

I have been able to get to the clay studio about once per week, but this week it's closed on the days I can go due to the UK summer holidays starting. At home, I haven't had much headspace or good chunks of time available to get onto the pottery wheel yet; it'll happen at some point.

Part of my journey towards making a sports direct size mug.

Drawing-wise, lately it's been a bit busy so I have just been doing sketches here and there. I did crack out the watercolours for about 10 minutes while O was out before she exploded back into the house and then tried to use all of the watercolours, mixing all kinds of colours into the paint pans - those will need a clean soon. I do want to get back into it though, I also unearthed a lovely fluorescent pink acrylic paint pot that would be fun to include in paintings.

With textiles I've been slogging away when I can at my dad's cardigan, it's maybe over halfway through now. Just a load of body knitting in stockinette, flat, to get through. And then the button band. And then freedom.

My Kosekofte (mentioned previously), a colourwork Norwegian style coatigan, is underway, but not high on my list of priorities right now.

The Shop Forays

I'm also wanting to restart my shop but I'm having a real whale of a time dealing with Etsy and the fact that they won't allow me to change my payment bank account details; I'm having to delete my account and sign up again; except the account is just scheduled for deletion at some point with no indication of when this will occur. And Etsy won't expedite it. So we're in limbo for a while...

Currently Reading

The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan (Wheel of Time Series)

Finished The Stand (by Stephen King) recently, enjoyed it a lot, looking forward to getting back to The Dark Tower series - I'm up to Wolves of the Calla - but taking a little detour to continue on the Wheel of Time series. Otherwise, I'll forget the storyline if I leave too long a gap. I may also pick up a shorter book as well, once The Great Hunt is finished... I have a lot of unread books on my shelf that I should attend to before buying more 2nd hand books.

mid July developments

 Recent developments / 最近のニュース

Why am I writing like this? I don't know, I study Japanese and I felt like remembering some vocabulary 😌 If anyone out there has any corrections or suggestions (i.e. if I haven't translated something properly) please let me know!

🍯 Pottery / 陶芸

• C was very kind and gifted me a Kiln Crafts Daisy pottery wheel!
• The past couple weeks have been fairly infrequent sessions of getting to know the wheel and how best to work with it.
• I continue to go to the local clay studio and have some mugs to pick up soon, hopefully...
• And on Saturday I'm hanging out and crafting with some other local pottery friends 😌

Pot WIPs

🏠 Decluttering / 断捨離

• I have made some more efforts on the decluttering front by selling a few more things on eBay. Not a lot of cash from that, but a little bit, and some % of charity donation as well. I have more to add but it's all like niche stuff that isn't particularly valuable.
• I've been working through my yarn/fibre stash as well, my dad's cardigan now has two finished sleeves and I'm working on the body portion now. It's not using up tons of yarn but it's making a dent.
• I've started work on my maybe magnum opus, a Kosekofte (designed by Skeindeer), and it's nice to see the little balls of yarn (the main colour is in 50g balls, and contrast colours are stash yarn of varying amounts) get used up.
• I gave away some art supplies and portfolio folders to a local school.
• My next section may tackle the large amount of bits of old art in my office.

Spinning up my fibre stash; to be fair this wasn't stash, I actually just bought this when I bought some orange yarn to knit our friends' kid a tea cosy. But it's spun up now, anyway, and can be made into socks at some point!

👩🏼‍💼Business / 事業

• I don't know how much I've written about it here, but I have always wanted my own little shop (online, mostly). Now and again in life I have tried, having a fairly good go at it around 2019-2020, but I've not really stuck with it. Since finally moving home in 2025 I have wanted to try again but have hesitated due to not feeling ready, being indecisive about platforms, etc.
• I've decided I'll just start, ASAP. Probably back with Etsy to start with, even though really they're not very kind to their sellers in my opinion.
• First off I'll put up my old art and stickers I've made before. I know this doesn't sound terribly appealing in terms of branding, "buy my old stuff so I can buy more supplies!" But I hope someone can find something they like; I think my older artwork is actually more polished and finished than my current work 🫠 I'll be selling older work much cheaper as well.
• I'll link it when I do the thing!

📚 Current book / 読んでいる本

The Stand by Stephen King

early July things

 

I started making mugs! I get closer to my goal of making a giant sports direct dupe mug. My next steps are just continuing to throw mugs, practicing throwing with bigger pieces of clay and learning to make a variety of handle styles, so I can reach the Giant Mug goal. I also eventually want to practice doing more underglazing (basically painting underneath a translucent/transparent glaze, like this black design shown on the mug image above) and on-glaze decorating techniques (painting on top of a glaze, not done it before).

Here's a less successful but still interesting pot. It's not so successful because the wax resist somehow got on the upper area of the pot (the light line near the rim). Also there's some glaze mess on the inside of the pot, because I messed up the glaze application initially and then roughly cleaned it before re applying a different glaze; there was still some residue of the first glaze and instead of combining, somehow the two glazes didn't get along so there's a big unglazed spot on the inside... 

However! I actually find the new glaze itself very interesting colour and texture wise, I'm not usually into blues but this one has a lot of variation within it, so I'll probably try do some more pots with this glaze. I'll see how the next result comes out, I wonder if some of the variation is coming from my haphazard prior glaze dipping and subsequent messy cleaning.

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I have a few more pots that came out of the kiln, none are particularly noteworthy to be honest. I am getting better at throwing bigger, taller things, though. I have put 4 new mugs up for their first kiln firing, so I'm looking forward to see how they get on (fingers crossed the handles stay on).

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In craft news

• I'm continuing to use and destash my yarn!
• I sold/traded a couple jumper weights of handspun yarn that I'd made because I didn't have solid plans on what to make with them, and I have enough works in progress/queued specific projects to get on with.
• I'm working on my dad's cardigan and making good progress. It looks like I'll still have a whole other jumper quantity of yarn even after finishing it though! So I might make myself a cardigan or sell/trade the remainder.
• I did buy a jumper quantity of pale coloured Sandnes Garn peer gynt yarn for a Kosekofte which has been a knitting goal for quite some time. For the colourwork contrast colours I will be using a bunch of handspun and leftover yarn, so it still sort of feels like a win in terms of stash.
• I suppose if there's leftover then I can use the rest for some mittens or other small accessories, or sell the peer gynt yarn.

In game dev/art news

• Continuing to try learn to code and doing a bit of shader and in-engine (Unity) learning at work too. Hit a wall with one of my tutorials so I need to ask someone about that soon.
• Continuing slowly but surely with the dress up pixel artwork.
• Done some watercolour painting recently as well as some general sketchbook drawing which has been fun 😌

Late April / High Spring

Currently Reading: Vicious by V E Schwab
Currently Playing: Slay the Princess (Switch)

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Art

Art and sketching has been happening! Do I have anything to show for it? Not really, all kinda scribbles and suchlike. But it's continuing so that's good enough for me. I need to make a plan, really and connect it with the next section which is:

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Game Dev

I mentioned previously that I wanted to make a dollmaker/dress up game prototype as my first Thing. And I did get started on it! I then hit a point where I actually need to do code to continue. So realistically what I need to do is one or both of these things:

1. Do some coding tutorials
2. Find a very specific tutorial on how to make a dress up game in Unity or another engine of my choosing

We have finally sorted out my 'goals for the year' at work and I linked them up to this project so I hope I'll be able to set some time aside for working on this. Actually I'll make a point of requesting days tomorrow so the ball keeps rolling.

I'm often struggling lately with how to keep improving my skills with the somewhat limited time/energy levels available. I know I can push through and try to do more in the evenings when O is asleep, but it's not necessarily sustainable long term and I do want to also be able to enjoy reading books.

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Textiles

I had pre-ordered 200g of some merino DK yarn recently as a treat and it finally arrived so I eagerly started work on a simple shawl (not using the Sophie Shawl pattern... but basically that pattern if you want to look), and it's been okay except for me needing to rip back and reknit about five times because I increased on the wrong side (obviously was counting incorrectly) and then couldn't get the i-cord edge to look right on subsequent attempts.

I'm still working on a jumper for C (almost done, but needed lengthening) and a cardigan for my dad (only just split for the sleeves and have to knit downwards for the body). 

I'm also gradually spinning through my sheep fleece stash, one little bit at a time. This fleece I'm working on is really spiky as the sheep seems to have spent time around some brambles... it's quite unpleasant to process but I'm not ready to give up yet. If I can spin it all up I'll maybe dye it and knit C another jumper.

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That's all, just a quick check in from me!

April check in 💮

Currently Reading: The Eye of The World (Robert E Jordan)

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I got sick in March and the plan fell by the wayside a little - I'm not going to feel guilty about that since I need rest time too...

But I have been more consistently drawing since getting better!

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Pottery has been less consistent due to being unwell (I don't want to make other pottery folk sick) and plans changing/childcare needs increasing... but that's ok, I'll get back to it when I can. I do have a few things that have probably gone into the kiln for a glaze firing, so I look forward to seeing what they look like when I next get to the studio.

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Knitting wise, I finished a big handspun jumper project - from sheep fleece to yarn to jumper - and I didn't like how it looked on me! I was very sad. And then I gave it to my mum for her birthday and she seemed happy with it...

I liked the yarn I made but hated the fit of the jumper (too big) - I had already tried about 3 times to make different projects with the yarn and had had enough of it.

I have a cardigan WIP and a jumper WIP, for my dad and C respectively, and they're not particularly exciting to me, but the cardigan is at least using stash yarn and I'm trying to work on using what I have so that's good. After these 2 projects I do have one more gift knit I want to do, another jumper for C - but in a fatter yarn, so hopefully it'll be a little speedier to complete. And then I want to make clothes for myself again!

I would knit for O but she doesn't like to wear jumpers anyway.

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Today is a Monday, so I have a couple hours to get some things done if I want. I'm keeping it low pressure though because there was a lot on during the weekend.

the wheel turns again (it's march 🌿🪻💐)

It's nearly spring! 

And with that comes me continuing to think about my recent goals, how they're getting on and how I can make them work. 

Art improvement was the main one. Despite doing art reasonably often these days, I've felt a bit shaky in my art ability, especially in my job, which feels competitive all the time, at least in my head (saying more about myself here, although in general the wider games industry is competitive especially in art and design disciplines).

To be honest that's more of a mindset thing but making my art practice more consistent isn't going to hurt!

O is asleep so I just did some planning, mapping out my free time and then seeing where would be good to have art focus time. There's a little gap after work 3x a week and another block of time on a Monday morning I can use. This focus time only equates to about 2.5 hr a week but that's because I have left a lot of 'flexible' time in since life admin, chores, illness etc. often appear and get in the way.

I don't want to be too strict and then just fail. 

Next step is probably to plan out a project to work on as I think that will help me have some art focus. I was planning to make some prototypes in a game engine with art involved too so that might be the plan. Plus some sketching to warm up each time would be good.

should/could be painting right now

[A bunch of disparate thoughts/paragraphs, not particularly cohesive here]

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O is at nursery for a few hours and I'm off work, so I could be getting better acquainted with my watercolour paints that I bought myself in January. Yet instead I'm doing a little bit of knitting, organising my room a bit better and thinking about walking to the shop to buy something different for O to eat for lunch...

To be fair, I have managed to get a bit more sketching done in the evenings, although it's digital art. Nothing wrong with that of course, and it's much more convenient when the lighting's rubbish indoors at night. But I need to make more of a concerted effort to get on with watercolour and traditional artwork. Just because I like it, too, not because it's better in any way!

A recent sketch, playing with the symmetry tool in Procreate (software for ipad)

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I've done a bit of cleaning up in this room. Recently my parents have been organising their own belongings, and whenever they visit they bring a bunch of my old stuff with them which I had left with them over the years, between houses and towns and so on. A lot of sketchbooks, art supplies, some wool fleece, metal etching plates which have been drawn on... So bit by bit when I have the time I process this stuff and see what to keep, give away, recycle, or (last resort) bin. I don't think I've thrown much if anything in the bin yet. Lucky for me, sheep fleece is compostable and arty paper and such is recyclable.

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I couldn't sleep last night and spent some time thinking about wanting to write a mundane fantasy story about how a nation deals with immigration in a way that is kind to people. We'll see if anything materialises.

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At work we're working on setting goals for the year and mine is to do a bit more work in-engine.

[Game engine - for non game development people - the software used to make games!]

This might mean some coding which is both exciting and intimidating! I want to make a very simple prototype of a doll making game (I used to play on these websites in the early 2000s and also did my own pixel art dolls too) and also I'd love to make some sort of recipe storing thing that I could use for making meal plans or picking recipes. I know all these exist already but I want to make my version 😆

I have been making small inroads towards the doll maker project, trying to explore what kind of style 'base body' I want to use (the body onto which we would put clothes, hair, etc). And again I come across the feeling that art directing yourself is a skill in itself that needs practice! By this I mean choosing a style that feels right (in terms of mood) and is appropriate for the type of thing I'm making, and within scope (what level of quality/complexity should I aim for). The experiments continue, and perhaps I'll share the sketches I've done so far in a separate post!

a monday

Hi all,

I come to you from one of the first Mondays where I have a few hours free time, as O has a few hours of nursery in the morning. It still manages to be a stressful time (at least the beginning) as O still hasn't gotten used to the new nursery so gets upset when we leave her there... But I'm gradually becoming more able to get things done from my to do list. Annoyingly there are still lots of mundane, bureaucratic type things that need doing but we're getting there. I did spend some time doing some drawing and pixel art too!

Now it's post nursery, post lunch and I just walked her to sleep so thought I'd write a little update.

I've been making good on my small goal to play more video games this year and had a good amount of time going through Hades 1 pre Christmas and then have put in a bunch of hours into Hades 2 since then. A modest amount compared to most gamers but pretty good for me!

I've been sketching and pixel arting as I mentioned and honestly have been disillusioned with my own abilities, having looked back on my work from the pandemic and earlier, it's so bad! And luckily there's been improvement since but with clearer eyes I can still see areas that could do with improvement. Yet then I wonder, what for? Is it so I can use my art in ceramics? Do better at my job? Or do something in drawing outside of work? I haven't worked it out yet. Of course it would be good for my work, but I don't think that's a strong enough motivator for a long term art practice. 

I'll continue to mull it over... At some point I'll post about my ceramic progress, which also happens to be underwhelming; maybe it's just the season I'm in! Anyway, a sketch below... I had to concentrate a lot on it and it took a bunch of brain power. A lot of resistance while working on it!

Image reference: Maisie Delaney

quick art, knit and pot update

Edited to add: I think I accidentally published this really late after having written this!

I've done some drawings!

... I can't find all the photos on my phone but here are some...

... And my knitting, I've almost finished an autumnal jumper - just in time for it to no longer be autumn! I'm working on the bottom hem ribbing and then just have the neckline and weaving in ends to do.

Lastly, a quick pottery update. My little guy survived two trips to the kiln!

Secondly, I managed to sculpt on another bust and made a face I was happy with:

And promptly knocked the bust over and smashed in the nose and mouth! So I'll have to go back and redo the face 😭

That's my speedy update. For folks who celebrate during December and new year, have a lovely time (same to those who don't).

littler update

Just stopping by again for a quick update, since I'm trapped under a sick toddler and don't know what else to do. 

November has been a brutal month with the little one getting hand foot and mouth (different from foot and mouth that livestock get!) along with other ailments. Last week we thought we'd turned the corner but she's now picked up a viral infection and given it to me, her dad and both my parents! On top of this, I have a big deadline at work coming up which I have been stressing about since the end of October too... Having to take time off for my or little one's sickness is squeezing it even more. 

But anyway, this is also an art and craft blog so here's some pictures. This is a recent sketch I started of Ariana Grande. I don't listen to her music at all but I like the character designs in Wicked (which I have also not seen haha) so I figured might as well sketch from that. Doesn't necessarily look like her but I like the result and enjoyed working on it. Done a bit more on it since but nothing notable to show. May do more on it later. 

Here's a couple photos of the 'kintsugi' project which we did in a workshop at the local clay studio. It's in quotation marks as it was discussed in class that we were using epoxy glue and mica whereas traditionally many layers of lacquer would be used. 

Anyway, that's my little update. I'll see if I can nap too with little one now.