idleness, not really

i've managed to become busy in the last few weeks. making odds and ends art with washi tape, painting my toenails in an amazing green-gold polish, gouache painting another shopping bag, potting a teeny tiny cacti baby i found hidden in amongst larger brethren, sewing a tea cozy, knitting an extension onto my stainless steel scarf, watching the avengers (had to catch up on some of the movies leading up to it as well), sewing a linen shoulder bag, restocking my japanese tea, giving meiko a bath, going to a dayspa/hair convention in orlando...

that now, i feel like doing exactly what nala is doing.

new gadget

since lifting my splendid camera from the box and removing all the new electronic wrappings, i've been trying to learn its "ins and outs" and particulars. indoor lighting at night is never all that spectacular, but i couldn't wait until morning to have a go. here are some of the better efforts:

nala, the pretty putty cat.

my thread wall.

a fun discovery while playing around with the iso.

once morning came around i was able to take better lit photos. there's something so perfect about daylight, it's my first preference for photos.

one of the chawan i use for my morning ocha.

we had spinning today, so i brought it along there as well. i'm the fiber guild of the savannahs'  newsletter creator, so it will be great to be able to take photos of our doing's to flesh it out a bit. i couldn't really do that with the old camera, as i would need to bring along several batteries as well. yay for upgrades!

a theme

i tend towards blues, creams, and browns in pottery. i don't think i do this with a specific purpose; more an inclination towards those hues. red is my least favorite color, followed by orange, but i do like pink rather a lot. primary and secondary hues aren't really my cup of tea (outside of yellow), they are just too strong and bright when used other than as an accent hue. tertiary hues and pastels though, those are lovely. give me a yellow-green, blue-purple, blue-green, or red-purple any day and i'm a happy kid. whites and creams allow me to admire the green shades of my tea, one of the nicest parts of drinking it. an explanation for the celedon color would be it's traditional, so you come across it a lot.

my collection of tea preparing pieces (clockwise from top left): bamboo chasen with celedon stand, tokoname kyusu, stoneware chawan for matcha, water cooler (my grandmother's), tea cup for sencha, hand thrown tea cup for bancha, tea chest in the upper right corner, chakin in lower right corner, teaspoon in lower left corner. it's a mishmash of pieces, i know, but i like each one and they make me happy (the only one i have to impress is myself, any how).