Onward through the Fog

Our Summer fog has arrived. Quite a few mornings, the "pea soup" floats through our neighborhoods or hangs over our heads for anywhere from a few hours to several days. When the sun does come out, it can get warm, comfortable, and very, very pleasant.

Well, the epinette des Vosges #3 is done! It's a lovely sounding, small, and very light French-style zither. I'm thinking of calling it "Jacques et Jillienne".

As long as I've been making instruments, I'm still excited when I first string one up and pluck the first note. Nearly every instrument I've made has surprised me by making a joyful noise. (In 35+ years, I think there's only a couple that didn't sound good to me.)

On another note (pluck), it's now less than a week until I hit the road for Bellevue, Washington, for the Bellevue Art Museum ArtsFair. It's a two day journey, then four days of hard work. Thursday is setup day, then Friday and Saturday are 12 hour booth days (9:30am to 9:30pm), and Sunday is around 8 hours in the booth. Then there's 4 or 5 hours of tear down. Whew!

No sooner do I get back, then I have to get ready for the American Craft Show in San Francisco. This is the 33rd Year that the American Craft Council has put it on in the City. The venue is at the pier warehouse buildings at Fort Mason (Herbst and Festival pavilions), by the Marina, almost in the shadow of the Golden Gate Bridge. I'm at booth 401 (Herbst pavilion) and will be there August 15-17.

Then, no sooner is that over, then its time to get ready for the Sausalito Art Festival over Labor Day weekend. This is a new one for me, and everyone tells me it's a great and fun show. I'm looking forward to it.

In between the shows, I'll be working on the restoration of an 1885-1900 era Pennsylvania German scheitholt. More on that later. I'll also be doing some small carving work on spoons, spurtles, and more whistles. These are fun little carvings that don't take too long to do, and are good projects for the short weeks between shows.

Onward through the fog!