Penny Sanford Porcelains

Penny's Pink Perspective

Feeling all Pink and Purry.  Perchance it from Photographing Piles of Porcelain on Pink today?  Perhaps working with all Perky heart-shaped Porcelain today? 

The Pounds of heart yo-yo Praise has decidedly Put me in a Positively Pink Perspective. 

Penny the Purry Pink Pampered Porcelain Princess.  (Help, I can't stop!)

I am overwhelmed and delighted you like my free pattern and tutorial.  WOW!  I am rather taken a-back from the response!

Many pink-tinted thanks to Craftzine for choosing my novice tutorial to share with the world!  Crafty Beats also touted the heart yoyo toot (tutorial).

Now to share some background on my original line of porcelain ornaments and jewelry.  The first Nature's Angels were released just before Christmas, 1996.  "Maple" and "Oak" were my first two designs.  (Another time, I will prattle about the inspiration to sculpt an original line of porcelain pieces when I had never sculpted before!)

The concept is that G-d is always around us, sometimes in the presence of His Guardian Angels.  So when a tree does a shimmy, leaves fluttering, branches swaying....it might be the wind, but it may also be your Guardian Angels moving around.

The journey God has taken me on in the last 15 years (since I opened my studio, Penny Sanford Porcelains) has been so amazing.

Of all the honors and experiences and blessings and opportunities, the most rewarding and fulfilling gift from God has been my husband Gordon. We are embarking on our fourth year of marriage. 

I can't tell you how marvelous it is to be blogging and editing photos while Gordon is across the room working on one of our websites.  His terrific geeky computer skills are the perfect compliment to my artistic pursuits, making our collaboration something only G-d could have authored.

 

I'll continue to Post some Pink eye-candy throughout the evening as I Purr along P reparing for tomorrow's Power Point Presentation in Port Gibson.  (pink grin)

Heart Porcelain Designs

We're in the process of shooting fresh new photos of my porcelain designs.

This is the first heart-shaped leaf I ever sculpted into one of my Nature's Angels, the Redbud.  The angel is carrying a branch of Redbud blossoms.

Redbud blossoms are tiny as you may know, but the overall effect of thousands of those teeny blooms make a spectacular hot pink show in the spring. 

We love redbud trees here on the farm!

The brooch can be worn on a chain as a necklace.  These look great on an omega chain.

The ornament can be displayed on a stand year round.  We have ornament stands for $2.65 on our website. 

If you are already a collector of my porcelain pieces, you know that I work on every piece, putting in the final sculpted details.  I also sign each piece before it is fired. Once fired, we polish the porcelain to give it a soft gloss finish that is often described as the look of white chocolate!

I'll post more photos of the heart-shaped leaf collection tomorrow after we shoot more photos.  They make great gifts beyond Valentine's Day (think wedding, Mother's Day, etc.)

Photo shoot at long last!

Today was fun!  We re-shot photos of my porcelain sculptures of historic buildings, "Portraits in Porcelain".  We hope to mail out a brochure this week.  Gordon was very patient to show me some more of the gadgets and magic stuff on his camera.  Soon, Gordon will make a .pdf of the brochure and make it available on the Penny Sanford Porcelains website.

This may sound deceptively easy, but would you believe that I have never gathered all my building sculptures together for photos?

(I am a bit surprised at just how many historic structures I have done, most beginning as fund-raising projects for historic preservation.)

I'm VERY thankful that we have been busy for 12 straight years, but it means I have to squeeze in time to actually sculpt a new design.  Time to photograph and promote...?  HA! I wish!

We've just never been able to get ahead of orders enough for me to actually put the finishing details on each "Portraits in Porcelain" piece followed by firing, polishing and outfitting with hanging tags and limited edition ribbon!

Well, it took almost the whole month of December, but piece by piece, we managed to squirrel away one of each of the historic building designs for today's photo shoot. I have only two more pieces to finish, fire and photograph tomorrow, and we will be almost ready to print brochures!  Yippeeee! Hmmnnn...make that three....no, four more pieces tonight.  *wilted grin*

The next squeeze-a-piece-in-each-kiln firing goal is to have a set of every ornament, tile and brooch I make for a magazine that wants to photograph them for their Christmas 2007 issue! 

So before I finish a few more pieces of porcelain tonight, I will post that photo of the January Bell Quilt Block pattern that I drew and started yesterday.  It will be tomorrow before I can do any more work on it, but the pattern IS coming!

Being able to share non-porcelain projects with you guys and getting the feedback you have been giving me by email has given my creative muse some much needed oxygen!  I'm having a blast thinking of projects and patterns to share in this blog!

I'd love to hear how blogging has changed your perspective on your various projects!

Fondly,
Penny

The Christmas Hush

Aaahhhh, a Heavenly Hush has settled over the farm four days before Christmas!  The phones are almost silent. The kilns are cooled and resting. Gordon has most of the computers (but not my laptop) defragging and tidying themselves before a little snooze.  The six dogs are napping, and Rosalie the cat is out....doing whatever she does during the day that allows her to eat like a horse and still look sleek and trim!

The last procelain RUSH order is out the door, and I can take the rest of the day off...from porcelain.

After my last post, several nice folks emailed  to ask about the Biloxi Lighthouse.  It is the only surviving lighthouse now in Mississippi (and I think Louisiana, also....but I'm not positive of that).  There was a reproduction of one or more lighthouses on the Mississippi Gulf Coast before Hurricane Katrina....but they are gone now, post Katrina (August 29, 2005).

Historians believe the Biloxi LIghthouse was the first cast metal lighthouse in the South.  That helps explain why it survived the latest hurricane that was so strong that it was able to move an entire casino barge onto land.

Here is a  depiction of the Biloxi Lighthouse  that I sculpted as a brooch/necklace for the Mississippi State Society Daughters of the American Revolution back in 2004 as a fund-raising piece.  The current State Regent Sharon Nettles (2004-2007) centered her theme for her administration around the famous lighthouse in Mississippi.  The symbolism of the design became even more poignant after Hurricane Katrina.

The special finding on the back of the porcelain allows it to be worn as a brooch or as a necklace.   I've seen ladies wearing them on omega-style chains...looks classy!  Both the ornament and the brooch are still available on my website .  Proceeds from the sale of the brooch still go to historic preservation efforts at Rosalie Mansion in Natchez, Mississippi.

But back to the emailed questions about our venerable little lighthouse:  Yes, the Biloxi Lighthouse is noted for its several female lightkeepers including Maria Younghans who faithfully tended the light for 53 years!  I'm impressed!

Gordon has taken some stunning photos of the lighthouse after Hurricane Katrina, standing as a beacon of hope, surrounded by debris.  I'll share those another time, I promise!  He has some handmade photo notecards and prints available.

 

One more order to fill....

Can't shut down for Christmas just yet.  A long-time collector called asking for a few extra pieces before the New Year, including the Biloxi Lighthouse Ornament.

Built in 1848, this historic lighthouse survived the fury of Hurricane Katrina on August 29, 2005.  To me, it represents the spirit of the hurricane survivors in my home state.

I can't say "no" to a faithful collector of my work, so back to the studio I go to kick up a little bit of porcelain dust!

Tranquility

Tranquility:  quality or state of being tranquil; calmness; peacefulness; quiet; serenity.

Yep, that is where I am today.  The last of the Absolutely-Must-Have orders for porcelain have shipped.  The gifts to the Inlaws in Texas have shipped.  Time for some rest.  Not the rest of inactivity, but the rest found in starting a completely selfish sewing project or in decorating a little...even working on a new sculpture design.

I won't focus on the many continuing orders/commissions that will keep us busy through Mother's Day.  I will focus only on capturing the really good moments of each day in my organic mental back-up hard drive.

By the way, here is the "Tranquility" ornament that was a special commission of the Ogeechee Area Hospice in Statesboro, Georgia.  This commission came in late in the year, and we all knew it would be a near-impossible push to have 500 ornaments ready before Christmas (because I do so much hand work on each piece before it fires).

I was not able to make the desired 500, but folks seem to understand.  That revived spirit and energy will return after a few days of good hard sleep and restoration.

By the way, these are available to the general public and to Penny Sanford Porcelain collectors.  The proceeds benefit the Ogeechee Area Hospice which serves a nine-county area in Southwest Georgia.
          www.pennysanford.com 
(Note to self: gotta learn how to do a link today.)

Hospice employees are special folk providing a valuable service to the community.

Are you familiar with the dignity that hospice care provides a dying loved one?  I've seen the difference between a loved one dying in a hospital compared to  dying at home in familiar surroundings.  Those hospice nurses are heros in my book!

This has me thinking about the friends who have lost spouses this year.  An unsettling number of my friends are facing their first Christmas as widows.  I'm only 44 years old, and these friends are not THAT much older!

I think I will close this post and snuggle with my husband and the two "bed bugs" this morning.  That is one of those delicious treasures in life that is completely free, and yet, it is priceless!   

Gordon has been "Mr. Steady" through all the deadlines and normal challenges of working for oneself.  (Thank you, Lord, for my Gordon.)

More later,
Penny