The Winter Blah's

This time of year is rather uneventful. Oh, we're creating items daily in anticipation of spring shows, but with the gray skies and cold temperatures there's just not much going on. This is when we start feeling the "road trip itch".

We'll be scratching that itch in a few weeks. We'll be in Dallas for Artscape at the Arboretum in March. In fact, I just learned that several Missouri artists will be there! Check it out at http://www.dallasarboretum.org/Learn/artists.htm. Skip and Racheal Matthews create wonderful copper art that comes to life with colors created by heat. Steve and Susie Hoskinson create amazing hot air balloons from lightbulbs. And Suzette Nesbitt creates stunning jewelry. We're looking forward to seeing these friends and fellow artists in Dallas.

Hummingbird fact for today: Despite their diminutive size and high metabolism, hummingbirds can have surprisingly long life spans. Three to five years is average but some banded birds have lived as long as twelve years.

Our Winter Un-Feathered Friends

The view from my side window just now.....

Our Winter Feathered Friends

While hummingbirds are definitely my favorite bird followed closely by orioles, I also enjoy the birds of winter. I make my own suet and have several feeders with different kinds of seed as well. With the outside temperature just a few degrees above zero, the activity at the feeders has certainly picked up. Some of these guys are almost as colorful as the summertime birds-the bright red of the cardinals and the stunning blue of the jays. We also have several different kinds of woodpeckers, and each species is a colorful delight. The cats' window seat allows them a good view of all the activity at the feeders; they chirp and chatter at the birds while the birds are oblivious to the cats. We call it kitty tv.

Just got the word today that I will be at Silver Dollar City in Branson for the entire fall craft festival that runs September 11 through October 30. We really like it there. The staff is extremely helpful and visitors to the park seem to be truly interested in the work of the artisans. It also gives us the opportunity to get better acquainted with other Best of Missouri Hands artists. It does make life a little difficult for Terrie, though, because the place we stay doesn't have the best internet access and she's taking on-line classes working toward her BA. Luckily there's a nice little bar close by with wifi. Apparently she can tune out the bar noise when doing her class work because her GPA is 4.0.

I need to get serious about making art for our March run to Texas. We were accepted into the Artscape Show at the Dallas Arboretum March 20-21. All work in this show has to be nature related. My functional copper art should fit right in.

Hummingbird fact for today: A hummingbird's iridescent colors are artifacts of the moment, changing with the relative positions of feather, viewer, and light source. This is especially true of the highly specialized metallic colors.

Hummingbirds and Christmas Trees

I've been creating my garden art for 7 years. I estimate that I've made well over a thousand hummingbird feeders utilizing repurposed glass. A lot of those feeders have been made from fancy liquor decanters. A lot of those decanters came with fancy glass stoppers, which I've just thrown into a box because I had no idea what I could do with them. Then I had a Duh! moment. A lot of the glass stoppers are hollow with an opening, just like their larger counterparts. Wrapped in copper and decorated with leaves and red beads, with a copper "feeding" tube, these stoppers are just the right size for non-functioning ornaments in the same style and motif as my feeders. I had a glass hummingbird bead on hand (imagine that), so I made this ornament, complete with bird, for Terrie. It is now part of her collection of everything hummingbird.

Know how boring it is to hang around the pharmacy waiting for your prescription to be filled? The HyVee Pharmacy in Parkway Center in Osage Beach, MO, has rectified that with a very nice shopping area. And in this gift shop you can now find Ozarklake Distinct Decor hummingbird feeders! Stop by and say hi to April.

Hummingbird fact for today: Life in "civilized" landscapes is not without risks for hummers. They encounter pesticides, free-roaming cats, air and water pollution, and continuing loss of habitat to urbanization.

My Latest Creative Challenge

A customer came to me with a special request. She had some old insulators that she had saved from the old family farm and wanted them made into something special for her sister. She wanted it fairly plain and simple. Well, I've never tried to make anything that doesn't hang, so the first challenge was engineering "feet" so it would hold all the glass pieces and sit level enough for her to add tealights. I used one long piece of heavy wire to make the basic frame, wrapping around the base of each insulator and dropping down into coils to make the three feet. I'm rather pleased with the end result and we'll find out tomorrow if the customer is pleased. Her request to keep it simple allows it to be used as a centerpiece that can easily be decorated for most any occassion or season.

One last show before the holidays. We'll be in Hermann, MO, at the German shopping experience, Kristkindl Markt, at the Festhalle. We get to wear German costumes and generally have a very good time.

Hummingbird fact for today: A feeder holding 8 fluid ounces of sugar solution will fill the daily energy needs of 40 to 60 birds, a more than adequate supply under most circumstances.

They're Not Hummers But They're Cute

It's been nearly a year since Izzy came into our home and it's nice to see that she and Ozzie are now best buds. Izzy is the first female cat we've had and she's definitely more lap-kitty than 7-year old Ozzie. It's great to go away to do a show and come home several days later and have the cats look like, "Well, gee, why are you here?"

Big show in Columbia, MO, this coming weekend. If you're out and about, stop by the Missouri Theatre in downtown Columbia and see all the fantastic art at the Beaux Arts Bizarre.

Hummingbird fact for today: Though their intelligence makes hummingbirds more challenging to trap than most other birds, it also seems to minimize the stress they feel during capture and data collection.

Identical but Unique - The Great Challenge

A few months ago a new customer requested 8 feeders, all made utilizing the same inverted globe that used to be a citronella candle in a previous life. We have several of these candles in two color schemes and he wanted 4 in one color and 4 in another color. I thought I had reached my creativity level when I managed to make 8 of these feeders, idential but unique.
I was wrong. My creativity was to be challenged yet again. Last week we were contacted by a customer who wanted 14 identical but unique feeders. Because each is to be a gift for a family member, he wanted me to use the same bottle. My art is one-of-a-kind; I use no jigs or preconceived concepts of how a feeder will look. I think I met this challenge. Making identical unique feeders is challenging and fun for a while. But I much prefer just picking up a piece of glass and letting my creativity take me where it will.

Hummingbird fact for today: Feeding stations in warm areas, including the Gulf and Pacific Coasts and desert Southwest, may have a year-round hummingbird clientele, but in most parts of North America, hummingbird season is all too short.