Aardvark Art Glass

There was a caterpillar in the bottom of my coffee mug this morning:

The last time that mug got outside was Saturday at the Farmer’s Market. Then it was in a suitcase, then it was on my bench until I brought it home last night. So, unless the worm crawled in while the cup was in the store, it’s possible that that creature had nothing to drink but coffee for the past three days. Here is a picture of him on a paper towel:

He’s kind of pretty. He was alive but, unlike people who drink coffee for three days straight, didn’t seem real motivated to stay that way. I left him on the back porch where he could either crawl somewhere and mellow out or stay out in the open on the towel and get eaten by another creature. Or batted around by a cat or maybe a possum. I don’t know–whether he lives or dies I sense I’m in for a figurative ass-bite from something. I hope he’s not one of those worms that live in the web-bags that hang from trees. It’s going to be really hard to use the neighbor’s lilac tree as a bean trellis with one of those worm bags undulating on it.

In other bug news, insect artist Wesley Fleming stopped by our house on his way to the Racine Art Museum and points East. He’s got a show at the museum, remember? Starts in June, I think. Anyway, Wesley needed a place to crash so did a demo for us in exchange. Even using my set-up, which works fine for me because my beads are big and not very precise, he made a beetle:

and a spider:

Freaky. The beetle cracked but it’s still a valuable member of the cast because it shows the process. It’s in the case next to my perfect beetle. Someday, someone will come in and appreciate that crazy-ass punty hanging off the back leg. Maybe it will help them make their own bug. I’m kind of glad the piece is frozen at that particular moment because I would have forgotten all about that punty.

Bug demo not withstanding, I’m still struggling with my ants on a Twinkie. These are a lot better than the first ones, I think.  I used the smaller torch this time.  That helped as did not really caring what real ants on a Twinkie should look like. I think this is another one of those idea beads that would garner more praise were it in pipe form.

Well, that’s it for the bug round-up. I’m going to run home and see what happened to that caterpillar.

Well, that was successful. This show was kind of a test drive for new, weird product for the store. I have no idea how many people came in but we sold a lot of stuff. We sold prints from Larriva, Frankenkitty, Cappysue and  creepydolls.  Also the squirrel paw earrings. A bunch of bookmarks and some of Robin’s T.P. Since people seem to like the weird shit I think we’ll be doing another show in October.  If anyone wants in on the next one, get a hold of me. You may actually sell something.

I was really busy so I did not take that many pictures. I’ll be getting some from Robin soon. Robin Crider was there, by the way, as was her daughter Amanda. They are great folks–thanks to them for coming all the way from Hamilton, IL.

I’m getting kinda slammed with the Etsy and the store and the Farmer’s Market. Since it was winter on Saturday I didn’t go out but the week before was great. Get this-I sold a frog on a ham bead to a gal with green hair. She wanted it for a friend who collected frogs and cured meat. Can you imagine?Fucking weird. I never thought Id sell one of those at the market. And you know what? I didn’t get a picture of her and her purchase. (If you’re not down with the Regretsy thing you may not know that they have a gallery on their site where you can post pictures of customers enjoying their Regretsy-related purchases.)  Green hair girl and frog bead would have been the best picture ever. Perhaps now you can vicariously experience my self-loathing at not getting a picture of the only person in the Universe (besides myself) to whom the frog on a ham bead mattered. When will I learn?

I’m off to make fish or take a nap. I don’t know which.