Artist's Blog
Archive Nine
April 22, 2008
Every time I ship something I have to be prepared for the shipping companies
to surprise me. Today I was shipping a Resin Peace Pole the way I always ship
them but the cost was 350% higher than it was a week ago. I refigured it several
different ways, but the computer kept saying the same thing. We finally
discovered that the shippers had changed the length that they consider to be
oversize. We kept feeding different lengths into the computer until it stopped
saying "oversized." I cut four inches off of the box and now the shipping charge
was only 30% more than it was a week ago. I didn't have the heart to pass all of
that on to the consumers. I raised what I charge for shipping that pole only 16%.
April 13, 2008, Sunday
I'm still working long hours, but broke away for a while this afternoon to see
the brother of a friend play the recorder. It was an afternoon of chamber music
featuring him on recorder. He told us that the third oldest and the oldest (from
the 13th century) recorders ever found were found in latrines. It occurred to me
that if someone in your house kept playing one, where better to hide it? I
actually like the sound of people practicing instruments nearby. I personally
would not object to someone playing a recorder in my home. Especially if being
practiced by a musician as accomplished as him - advanced degrees in music, many
years playing with a top symphony orchestra for a living (not on a recorder).
But, as instruments go, it is one I can imagine housemates wanting to hide.
Sitting in the audience pretending to listen to music gave me time to think of something else to do to a peace pole that would make it a lot more difficult and a lot more expensive to make, but is something that I want one of for my own yard. I also want to show photos of it on this site - another reason to build another anvil, buy tools and work longer hours on something for which I probably never will recoup my investment. Sometimes I describe peace pole making as this guy's excuse to buy tools.
April 3, 2008
I was watching the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on C-Span as
they discussed political developments in Iraq. Behind one of the speakers was a
guy wearing a pink crown with the word "Peace" written on it in sequins. It got
attention, but discredited him even in my eyes. I'm not worrying about how he or
others express themselves. I'm thinking about peace poles. What do others see
when they see peace poles? How can I make sure that peace poles are viewed as
being the opposite of pink
sequins?
I've been so busy working on peace poles that I have not resumed posting things here after the winter lull. I have been posting things almost everyday on this site, just not in this blog. I have been designing a new crown for a peace pole to fit the needs of a specific location. So on another page most days I have posted photos and/or descriptions of how it is coming. I should have thought to put some of that in this blog.
March
7, 2008
What if on the pole it said, "May peace prevail on earth, dude."
I'm snowed in. Perhaps it's cabin fever.