Do You Remember, September

Yesterday Dave and I fired a kiln, so we went up to the studio to babysit it. On the way, we stopped by the clay store and got some clay and new glazes. I replaced a couple of my underglazes that had dried out and I got a new low-fire glaze called Red Velvet. (Doesn't that sound nice?) I didn't get much done at the studio, but I did manage to sort through some old pieces that I want to sell and I glazed a couple of pieces and I cleaned up a bit.

I've been working at the studio on some of my old, unfinished pieces.

That's looking down onto my workspace from above.

I've been using this tissue paper transfer technique to put some old-school tattoo designs on this rather plain calavera:

After transferring the design, I paint it in with underglazes.

She's nowhere near finished, but I put her in the kiln anyway, to set this stage and to burn off the pencil marks that were getting too distracting.

I was trying not to overdo it at the studio because shoulder has been bugging me.

I don't know if I wrote about my shoulder and going to see an orthopedist who told me it's not my shoulder but my neck so now I have to go see another doctor who specializes in necks. Anyway, it's a neck thing, I guess. I've been waking up with my neck and shoulder in pain and my whole left side from my jaw to my toes feeling like it's about to cramp up. Yesterday I took ibuprofen all day and then at night, I found a strange way to support my neck and shoulder while I slept. It helped enough that I was able to get some sleep and when I woke up my shoulder felt better. Because I'm not too bright, I took advantage of that to do some sewing (which irritates my shoulder). 

I spent most of the morning and early afternoon today working on a new bag. It's turned out bigger than I wanted--halfway between a tote and a handbag--but it will be fine for carrying books and such. I got the lining of the bag and the outside sewn and I sewed most of the strap--though I just realized that I didn't top stitch it, so I'm going to have to take it off the bag (it's only pinned in) and do that next time I'm able. I'm trying to decide on whether or not to add a flap to it, like a messenger bag. I like to make these things up as I  go along, so there's no pattern or anything. (In fact, it mostly turned out the size it is because that was how much fabric I had left. If I had less fabric, it would have been smaller.)

In non-crafty news:

I met with a new therapist on Friday and I'm going back on Wednesday. She's a Jungian; I think I'm going to like her.  The person who recommended her to me told me that she is good with dreams. I am too, so that's good. In fact, I had a doozy of a dream last night: I was dyed blue from head to toe. I was house-sitting for someone else and they had a huge house, like one of those stupidly huge houses that you see on television. I was wandering around the house and I kept finding rooms that were for show and rooms that the family actually used. I went into the bathroom and there was a small empty tub and a larger pool that was already filled with warm water. I got into the pool and it washed almost all the blue off me. When I looked in the mirror, only my forehead was still blue.

Obvious, right?

I've been falling asleep to episodes of Daniel Tiger on Amazon. (I'm about halfway through season two.) When I'm awake, I've been watching last season's episodes of Great British Bake-Off. (I thought I would miss Mel and Sue and Mary Berry, but I like the new hosts.)