I’ve always been an obsessive keeper of written journals. This, despite the fact that not only do I never go back and read them, I’d never let anyone else read them. In fact, Sean has explicit instructions to BURN all my journals in the event of my death.

Image-centric journals however are a totally different animal. I go back and look at them all the time and I don’t care who sees them.

As a bonus, it’s something to keep me sketching on days when I’m not working on a longer piece.

This one was more of me trying to come up with design ideas for the pottery class I’m taking.

And this one I started while we were up north last weekend. I’m not wild about the way I ended up inking it. That left hand puff of smoke is too dark and I think the pens I used for the outline there are too thin.

But hey, I will take a note and hopefully not make the same mistake next time.

Haha! I find the word “sodding” to be hilarious. It doesn’t even need context. Just sitting on its own, it’s fucking funny, case closed.

And bonus? I’ll be way more motivated to post regularly now that this place is so spiffy-looking. Also, because my entire life is currently in physical upheaval (selling a house, buying a house, living in transitional spaces), I’m temporarily staying kind of in my studio so new work will come pumping out of there shortly.

Meantime, here’s a sneak peek of a comic I’m working on right now.

And here are some surface design sketches I’m working on for a pottery class I’m taking with Krystal Speck.

Wood grain. Big surprise. Can I help it if my heart is an 80s rec room?

Meantime, I bought a swage block for spoon-making. Here’s my first effort. There are some rough spots but I am overall ecstatic about how well it turned out. Sawed copper that’s been enamelled with many layers. My camp kit will soon become a reality!

A few new flasks I’m putting in the shop these days.

Historically, flasks have been my biggest Christmas seller but these days people are all about the wallets. I’ve got quite a few orders in the queue. Those and my puddle earrings. Have I mentioned what a total runaway success those have been? I don’t think I’ve ever made anything that’s done as well as those little earrings.

On the one hand I’m surprised because they’re just simple circled. On the other hand, I absolutely get it because the colours are so  beautiful I can’t stop staring at them. So smooth and glassy and bright!

What are your holiday plans? This week is the week of the party for me. I had one Saturday and one Sunday. This week I have one tonight, one Thursday and three on Friday. Plus, two instances of work-related food celebrations!

If I can give one tip to employers it’s this – don’t underestimate the motivational power of a free lunch. Maybe my personal financial instability is what causes me to straight-up thrill at free food, but I am actively looking forward to the work week as a result of this information.

Now if only I could convince them of the value of a Friday beer cart…

Block-dyed with the Bruce Peninsula…

We spent this Thanksgiving (way back in October) up north with my best friend Karen. We met when we were about six years old and bonded over a bag of Teddy Grahams. You can hear her singing here.

There was a lot of just hanging out on this trip. The weather was so beautiful, how could we resist paddling around the river and drinking beer on tiny islands…

Much guitar too.

And eating.

There was a bit of work too though. Chopping down tree stumps…

And Sean panelled the cabin!

Happy Thanksgiving north, south, east and west.

That’s all for this post but I’m hoping to have shots of some new stuff up. I just bought a new, much larger kiln in anticipation of a 2015 show so expect it to get all enamelled up in here before the year is out.

I’m dying to do it in silver but that’s a whackload of sterling so I’m going to have to save up a bit.

This is one of those times. I recently worked on a piece about the kind of harassment many women and LGBTQ folk are subjected to regularly. It ran in the Spec today and you can check it out here.

Fortunately the stars have aligned for today so I can tell you about this purse I love so much I might not sell.

Nice heavy moosehide.

This guy’s big and bold and brass in the hardware department.

OK MAYBE I’ll put it in the shop…just have to see how much more of this leather I have left. Because I think I’m overdue for making myself something.