Buttons and Baubles

‘Twas ten days before Christmas and all through the state, artists sold baubles in time for the date.

It seems that my fellow artists in South Carolina have been working hard at being Christmas elves during this final seasonal push to make a living at art. Generally at this time, it appears that production craft artists have the edge on fine artists - with scores of small gift items at the ready. Nevertheless, in keeping with the economy, the season, and to give a big “Thank you,” to friends and patrons, I’m throwing a studio party this Saturday, replete with lower cost craft items and discounts on fine art.

As usual, I’m a bit later than my peers on this - but the date is still a personal improvement over the January “Russian Christmas” sale of the previous year. Friends surprised me by turning up at that one. Perhaps they were rested up from the holiday season.

The newest items are hand made, one-of-a-kind buttons. I made about a hundred of these in various shapes and sizes, with both overglaze and underglaze decorations. A number of them were fired twice with gold and mother-of-pearl enameling - what could be more button-like?
I thought of each button as a miniature round canvas - painting them with both abstract and decorative designs. With a teaching schedule that ran to the end of last week, many of these had to be made after work in the wee hours of the evening. I was doubtful that I would make it but here they are freshly popped out of the kiln today.