stephanie lee - Semiprecious Salvage

pickles and yarn

Tomorrow morning, after a week of girl's camp, the ponies will be home. I predict super tired, kinda cranky, very dirty girls. Showers, naps, family movie, maybe a walk in the golden moonlight. Maybe not.

Today I'm packing for Arizona. (I'll be leaving my family for three long weeks.)
Today I planted three bushes that, in a few years, will give a little more privacy to our front deck.
Today I'm making some pickles and dilly beans and planning a dinner for two of chard, more beans, and a bit 'o local, organic beef. Our monthly allotment of meat. Her name was Paula.
Today I'm letting the house be quiet.
Today I'm thinking that friend's calling you out of the blue is a pretty sweet thing.
Today I'm sharing my momma's new etsy shop. This hand craft was the first I ever learned to do at the tender age of 5 or 6 (and I have since used it in my jewelry work in more recent years). This woman, in all my life, has never been seen without a crochet hook in her hand. I'm pretty sure it only happens in church because she needs to hold the hymnal and all. She spent 6 weeks in a clinical medical research study where she'd'a-like-to-have-died and gone to heaven what with being locked up and having nothing to do but crochet and read and watch tv and listen to books on tape. This is her paradise and it could have only been improved upon if someone would have kept her very well stocked with nuts of all variety (her favorite) and soup. While she was there she made exactly 500 crocheted doll dresses "for 12" dolls (just in case they think they were little dolls)" she says, finishing the 500th dress at midnight on the eve of her departure from the facility. She has crocheted literally hundreds of afghans for charity and humanitarain efforts over the years. I could go on and on telling yarn after yarn (snicker snicker) or you can just read for yourself. I promise you, she is so much more fun than you'd think a hook-addict would be. :)

I know I'll be getting a pair or two of these for baby girl konetski when she makes her appearance in early December.

Fridays are a good day for random thoughts, dontcha think?

 

Last week I gathered with hundreds of enthusiastic registrants of Pipe Dreams in the virtual classroom where we dove in to indulge in this short (week-long) online metalsmithing project class. We had a blast and the students created amazing work!

Check out a teeny, tiny sampling of the skilled student work!





Awesome work, eh!?!

I'm keeping registration open and the class accessible for the time being so if you missed out before, you're in luck now! All the class content, including instructional videos, are up and ready for you to peruse at your own pace. If you deserve a little summer play date with your creative muse, you can read the details and register here.

Would you rather join me in a brick and mortar classroom?

I'll be in Phoenix, Arizona teaching three plaster based classes at Art Unraveled. Though the classes are project specific, I'm going to be ambushing you in the most playful way with techniques you can apply to more variations than you can shake a stick at. There is still a bit of room in all three classes so if you are hankering to get plastered with me (in the most wholesome way, of course). I'd totally LOVE to have you join in on the fun!

On July 31st I'll be teaching Half-Wit where we'll be making plaster bowlface-hold-a-majigs. You know, in case if you ever get lonely in the studio and need another loon to keep you company.

The next class there will be a two-part plaster book making class (yes, a plaster book), Illusion of Heft on August 1-2 from 9-12 am each day. I am so in love with how these books feel. They are beefy and yet not heavy...but still super sturdy. Because they are made from (mostly) plaster, the surface is so luscious for painting, drawing, collaging, rubbing your hands across, whatevering. yum yum.

My last class of the event will be a wickedawesome Santos sculpting class starting the evening of August 2nd and finishing up on August 3rd. If you have ever wanted to experiment with sculpting but have been unsure of where to start or intimidated by the process, let me tell you that THIS class is the class that will break through all of that and hand you the manual of easy sculpting in the palm of you hand. You'll be a plastering whiz in no time! If you can't make it to Phoenix, I'll also be teaching the Santos class (a slightly extended version) in Layton, Utah on August 10-11th. My beautiful hostess, Lorraine, is opening her home studio to serve as a classroom for full on creative exploration and, let me tell you, that girl is a total creativity conduit!! Email me for the details of how to register for this workshop. I'd LOVE to spend some time with you this summer!

In Lee Family news, Pony #1 didn't pass her driver's permit test. Totally suprised us both. She'll take another stab at it when she gets home from girl's camp this week. She left today - a day early - for the 4th Year's overnight hike/campout before the rest of the group arrives tomorrow morning. That's when I'll take Pony #2 up where she'll learn how to make fires, dress wounds, tie knots, cook lumberjack food, and pull respectful pranks. The buttcrack of dawn will be here in a blink. To say she's excited is totally an understatement what with this being her first year and all. Her camp buddy and she are in the bedroom chatting away as we speak...despite the fact that I've told them a half a dozen times that it's time to go to sleep. Ahh, whatever. They can catch up on sleep this winter.

While the ponies are away, I'll be putting the final details (i.e. last minute cramming) on my prep for my Art Unraveled and Utah classes. I was telling theman that it would be so cool to be standing in this moment with all my prep done and money stashed away so that he and I could steal away to our favorite campground in the Redwoods at the coast while the girls are at camp. Just the thought of it makes me....sigh. I try to asuage my ache by reminding myself that it's still summer...the campground would be crowded and we like it all to ourselves anyway.

I console myself with tonight's batch of Black Currant Rhubarb Jam with pickin's from the garden. Best use of my black currants I've found to date. You should see the color...and the flavor is as close as I can get to the feeling of being flat on my back on the river bank staring up at the stars in the Redwoods in summer. I'll take a jar and a spoon to theman and hope he forgives my underdeveloped time management skills.

 

the cake will tell all

 

**beautiful**

So there's picture of an ultrasound on the text messages of my phone. It's your typical black and white inksplot that's supposedly looks just like a baby. I've never been able to identify more than a head on those things but once the real thing emerges into the world, I totally know what's what and what to do with it.

Calm down. I'm not pregnant. That ship sailed two ponies ago (though it's not for lack of trying). BUT...I am going to be a grandma! My oldest step daughter is pregnant with her first young'n and tonight we will be attending our very first "baby reveal" party. The other beautiful step-daughter is making a cake and when the cake is sliced there will be something that indicates the gender of 20 week incubated little baby Konetski.

Yes. I'm going to be a grandma. Yes, I just turned 35 last week. No, I'm not the world's youngest grandma but it will be interesting to see how it feels. I'm the lady who can't finish her sentence when a little baby passes in view. I'm the lady who can totally tell a hungry cry from a "get me out of this car seat" cry from across the store and if that cry comes from a baby less than a month old (yes, I can tell that too), then my woom-bah flutters and I start gently bouncing the watermelon I have propped on my hip. I'm not sure what grandma's do but hoping it doesn't start with a hair cut and roller set.

while I wait

She's a week shy of 8 months old and still leash bound. She's still pooping in the house if we aren't careful (a result of a lack of freedom outside). 15 feet of black woven cotton tether her to me every time she goes outside. Unless, of course, she happens to escape and makes a bee line for the fence that is supposed to keep her separate from the cow and the horse. I've been talking to the old hooved girls and asking if they wouldn't mind helping me out a bit. "Just a quick kick to scare her home, please? Don't break anything...knock a tooth out if you must...but just please help me keep her wanting to stay home." They are too busy being annoyed and presenting pup with the broad view of their south ends. As if that will make her go away.

Inspite of class after class and even having a private trainer come out to the house, she's determined to create bad work. She needs to work. I have TONS I want to do with her to satiate her desire, her high-intesity NEED to have a job. But I am limited in that until we can get over a few hurdles.

It's almost embarassing. I think of myself as "not one of those people who let's their dog get away with anything" and so to have a dog that does what she does is challenging. We have the trainer coming out again soon. She's going to guide us in the responsible, effective use of a remote citronella collar. She is confident that it will work wonders and i am hopeful that she is right.

I've grown to love this dog so much. She has the brightest eyes of all! She knows exactly which garden beds are a no-paw zone and she loves to sit next to me - within the confines of the fenced in garden - and pick strawberries with her dainty little snout. She's fascinated with the bucket that i keep my vine clips in that hold up the cucumbers to the fence where little mushrooms grow. She drinks from the bird bath somehow, intuitively...midboggling to me...knowing exactly how much weight she can put on her paws to not knock it to the ground.

I can tell that she's going to be one of the best dogs ever - she and my Sadie Lou. In the meantime it's about patience. It's about sitting in the open field below while she sniffs and jumps and dances around me. I shiver as a cold summer rain storm rolls in and the dusk light washes everything is a vivid smokey gray. The only thing between me and being totally in love with this perfect moment is that leash. Patience. Patience.

Pipe Dreams starts today (there's still time to get in on the fun!)

Beautiful day. Beautifull weekend. The beets and tomatoes and green beans are growing an inch a minute and I have jar upon jar of pickled produce on the mind. That time will be here in a sneeze's instant. I'm plotting my church of the garden produce where in we will offer up a prayer of thanksgiving in my kitchen sooner than later. No special dress code enforced. Pastor Vinnie presides over the congregation nightly with hose in one hand, beer in another, clothed in Oregon-appropriate shorts and birkenstocks. His shirt flung over the fence because, I guess, it's important that he wears it when passing the rabbit cage on the way to the garden...?...even thoug it comes off as quickly as the garden gate latch clicks. He's a mystery, that blue-eyed dreamweaver of mine. A simple mystery. Yanni, Crash Test Dummies, and Alanis all cohabitate on his play list. I'm probably over thinking it all as I am wont to do.

(what we won't do for a good shot!)

Pipe Dreams starts tomorrow. I'm leaving registration open until further notice because this little class is the perfect vacation for those of you who imagine a week sequestered in your studio knee-deep in creative play a dream holiday.

 

The house is a total disaster. It's just what happens when I get tunnel vision (like preparing and putting the final touches on an online class). It's like the ponies think I don't notice the obstacle course of STUFF in the hall that sprouted up like an earth-consuming mushroom as a result of their spontaneous room switching. (remember doing that? Changing bedrooms? Dad used to let me do that whenever I wanted. It was just me and him and the dog in that big old house for a lot of years. I guess I had to keep things interesting.)

While I'm mostly confined to the bridge of the online classroom ship, I'm still taking breathers out in the rest of my life. The puppy wrangler and plant waterer parts of me are feeling a bit lonesome for the "whip this place into shape" part of me. My organization addiction kicks into high gear when things are such a mess. A consistent slower idle would be nice, but I'm not yet sure how to maintain that level of engagement in the all of it all. Little by little and sometimes big by big.

water for my birthday

I'm feeling so alive, inspired, empowered. I don't know how to even put it in to words. I have so much I want to tell you about my weekend at the World Domination Summit. While I'm drawing out the threads of thought and drafting a pattern of how to knit them all together in a beautiful shawl I'm also celebrating my 35th birthday today. 

There's a lot around turning 35 for me. So much of it is unexpected. So much of it just part of realizing that I'm in that beautifull middle place. There are so many wise women (and men) still dancing around on the planet who have lived so much more life than me. They radiate so much kindness, so much aliveness, so much compassion. And the youngers...the ones who see 35 as a long-future mark in time...I love that I am able to walk on the path and leave tokens along the way to tell them "you are doing amazing. Keep the faith."

This is a tender time for me. A tender time when I feel stronger than ever. The vulnerability I want to honor and the innate buoyancy of my spirit intersect here, at 35. As I stand in that split second pause between the inhale and exhale, I see myself with so much more compassion than ever before. This picture, taken by someone I care deeply about, purturbed me for a while. She said it was beautiful. I was certain she was just being kind - not realizing her filter of me is not clouded by my own self-judgement. (too often I mistake my clouded view as fact.) Yet I look at it now with much kinder, more compassionate eyes. That is me. My long fingers, my upturned lip, my stub nose, my long jaw...my mothering heart, theman's beloved, the buoyant spirit, someone who will help you choose the right pectin in the canning isle so that you are overthemoon happy with the results. I am beginning to embrace the incomplete wholeness, the gritty-filmed brilliance, and the experience of what it means to live in gratitude in the face of plenty to be annoyed about. This is life. This is my life. And it's a pretty dang good one.

In honor of my gratitude for being alive on this planet, I'm inviting you all to the party of all parties. The theme of the party is gratitude through giving something we all take for granted. Clean water. I was moved to tears many, many times when I heard Scott Harrison, creator of charity:water, speak at the World Domination Summit. His journey through compassionate giving and building this beautiful charity are inspiring beyond words. If I were to be totally honest, I would have to admit that I'm not usually one to give to charity. I admit it. Not because i don't WANT to help, but because i'm never certain that my small donation will have much impact (a typical response when we live in a country of cheap goods at high prices. We may be a bit out of touch about how far our dollar can go to providing basic needs for those in developing countries). When I saw the transparency of charity:water - how not once single penny donated goes to admin (unless you specifically donate to admin intentionally) - I was inspired to "give up" my birthday in hopes that you, my dear readers, would be inpsired to join me in sharing our abundance and showing our gratitude for the often overlooked blessing of clean water by making a contribution to the efforts charity:water is so beautifully engaged in. I feel honored to be able to help in this small way to decrease the 4500 children a day who die and the 80% of illnesses caused by water borne illnesses.

You can tithe specifically in honor of my water-sign, cancerian birthday here: (any time, any amount - the site calculates the suggested donation based on my birthday age but you can enter your own amount. No amount is too little.)

Whether you donate or not, I hope you feel the blessing of abundance in your life today. I'm so glad to be here on this planet with you. 35 years and counting. Cheers.

ox

Bam.

(Guess which one is my pony...the one with dimples.)

I always hope to conjure up a more silky, ease-into-it start to a blog post - especially when it's been almost a month since my last post - but sometimes it's just BAM. Here I am.

I'm snacking on celery with peanut butter, stopping every other bite to de-string the stalk. If it weren't for those pesky strings I'd eat celery way more. I think somebody fogged our house with a strange, odorless chemical over the weekend because, you guys, my ponies are cleaning their rooms. CLEANING THEIR ROOMS!! Without my request. They woke up and, like, just had the idea all on their own. And we're not talking surface cleaning. They are full on, hard core, vigilante style cleaning. Going-through-old-birthday-cards-that-have-been-stored-in-a-box-under-the-bed-and-throwing-out-dried-nail-polish-bottles clean. The hall has growing mounds of "get rid of" piles. I don't even care that I look like a spy dodging laser beams when trying to get from my office at one end to the living room at the other end. They have music playing and everything. I'm sniff sniff getting all weepy sniff sniff...so proud of my little organizers sniff sniff!

I've had such a circus of life and head-stuff going on I could write and write and write and still just scratch the surface. This post could go any direction: "life is so amazing" or "what the bleep am I doing?" or "everything's just as it should be and I'm totally chill with it all" or "it's time to dump the whole thing on it's head and start all over". Yeah. It's all part of the circus. It's all pretty good too. I'm not a-feared of looking into the deepest of deeps and somehow manage not to spill my cuppa laugh juice while in the dive. I suppose it makes me hard to read to some folks but theman...theman always sees every layer, every beautiful and wrinkled and festering and luminous and expanding and dying off layer of me and somehow manages to still want to tie himself to my soul. I'm mostly at a loss for words when it comes to trying to express how grateful I am and how unbalanced I'm pretty sure it is - what he puts up with compared to what he receives in return. I grow him a garden and sometimes make dinner. Sometimes I clean the house too. Sometimes I make him apple pie and carrot cake. Other than that....

The Lake Oswego show was an awesome experience. HUGE thanks to everyone who purchased a painting from me! You are the coolest people - coming out in the rain, looking at my work, loving it enough to buy it. I'm grateful beyond words. Frank and Kathy...dang, was it Kathy?...the cutest people of the whole weekend. A retired couple with a zest for life and art. He (an artist) and i had a couple of awesome jam sessions talking about plaster and color and texture and the way we relate to the surface. On the first day I met them he wore a bright turquoise shirt - his favorite color - and visited a while. They came back later that day and bought a painting that matched his shirt. He loved the zing of bright red I had inculded. The next day they popped in to tell me they loved it in their house. That alone made my weekend. I have a few stories kind of like that. The richness of the experience is lingering.

Between my last visit here and now I've been that ball on the end of an elastic attached to the paddle of home. Thrown out and sprung back. Sometimes ricocheting off other surfaces first - like pony 2 turning 12, painting and installing rooster art with local high school art students and their teacher, our annual town celebration (hello small towns), taking my master food preserver certification test, packing my bags for my upcoming adventure at WDS and hanging with my homegirl Laurie in Portland for the weekend, and last but totally not least - preparing for my Pipe Dreams Online class starting the 16th of this month. (it's going to be awesome! You can still register if you want in.)

Bam. Here I am. I'm done with my celery and have moved on to gum and iced tea. I'll be back super soon with paintings for sale, a killer pineapple jam recipe, the current amazing window display of high school student art in our downtown windows, and the top 10 reasons to hand-water a garden.

i've missed you.