The Art of the Maze

Here  I am on the road to  completing the "Maze book with Rod -edged Bindings", yet another of my hand made books.
 That's a a complicated title, isn't it? Simply stated, this is what is known as an accordion style book which uses metal rods along the edges  as a means of attaching each page another. Yes, these are pages, blank as of this moment .Later, perhaps it may contain my calligraphy about some theme that inspires me. 
I cut out each of my ten pages  from mat board, cut into four inch squares.Then comes the hunt to find tiny little metal rods , no thicker than the diameter of that board. The cover is slightly bigger, decorated with  that fancy paper  you see peeking out. Each rod is covered in book cloth, which is then meticulously glued to each side of my standing page. Holes are pushed out with a Japanese  hole punch, a nifty little device that I had to borrow to make this project.Finally, each page must be sewn to another, both top and bottom to make that binding frirm. Very elegant to look at, I think.
 I'm part of a group of extremely talented book makers, who are generous with time and materials as we all take turns teaching a new book to the others.We artists work so much alone, it can be very inspiring, as well as informative to observe how we all interpret the same book in our own style.This is a work in progress. I will see what turn the maze next follows!.

The Art of Letting Go

I sold "The Red, the White and the Blue"  platter  this week. I was so happy when the customer said " I'll take it." Aren't we are in business to sell? The justification of all our hard work; the recognition of our talent? Yes, of course.
So why do I feel a sense of loss ? Well, I genuinely liked this piece, feeling I achieved what I set out to create, and then some. We don't necessarily have success from an idea to its reality .
 People say, " Well,  you can just make it again." Not always. Ceramics is a tricky business. You follow all the rules and the piece cracks, or the glaze isn't clear. As I tell my clients, there Is always the element of magic involved.
Perhaps  my lesson is that I must remember there is an art to letting go of one's special creations. To know that it makes someone smile when they look at it, this has got to be the real payment. How do you other artists feel about this subject?