Porcelain Jewelry Display a New Look

The 2011 Art Fair season will begin for me next month with the annual West Michigan Potters Guild Springfest.  It is time to reorganize the storage bins,  be sure the table covers are freshly washed and make sure the inventory is in order.  I have packed away the Christmas holiday items and the snowflake pins, made a note to make more snowmen pin/pendants for fall and started the glaze fire for new spring necklaces and earrings. 

For several years I have used Styrofoam boards covered in dark leaf green velveteen to display pins and pendant necklaces.  The first year I did art fairs,  I packed each pin in tissue and put it out for display in a case or pinned it on a large white mohair shawl at the beginning of each show and rewrapped it and packed it up again after the show.  Set up and tear down took forever until I discovered another artist who had her work pinned on cork bulletin boards.  The velvet covered boards were a lifesaver.  They are getting tired looking after all the seasons of use now and it is time for a new look.  Out with the green and in with an even more  neutral color to go with the cream colored table covers and the light wood shelving.  I have found a new velvety fabric to cover the boards for a fresh clean look.  That is my project today and when I have them covered, I will have some fun arranging a fresh spring collection of pins, and pendant necklaces.

The 21^st Annual Springfest Show and Sale is less than a month away.  Saturday, March 19^th at The Church of the Servant 3835 Burton Street SE in Grand Rapids Michigan.  Come and see all the different ways clay can be turned into beautiful and useful objects.  The Dinnerware Show will again be featured.

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How Many Piercings?

            People without holes in their ears are people too. How many piercings do you have?  At a summer art fairs there is a parade of people and it is common to see multiple tattoos and multiple piercings. It may be hard to believe, but there are still many people who don’t have any of either.

              Some people have tried but are allergic to metal in their ears, or have had bad experiences of one sort or another.  Some have just never gotten around to it and some don’t even want to think about being poked and pierced.  Some aunts and grandmothers grew up when pierced ears were frowned upon (yes, once upon a time) and have never wanted them. At nearly every show I hear the comment “Your earrings are so cute but I don’t have pierced ears”

            So few artists make clip earrings that people don’t expect to find them.  I enjoy being able to tell them that a whole spinner of earrings in my booth is just for them.  Or maybe they have pierced ears but need a gift for a mom,  a grandmother or aunt who wears clips.  Often they are so happy to find them that they buy a handful.

            For a long time, I made my own cards to put them on.  I printed out cardstock cards and glued a plastic thing on the back that hung them on the display spinner.  That was a lot of work  and they wilted in the humidity and looked a mess after a rainy art fair.  The plastic cards I buy for the rest of my earrings just have tiny holes for wires or posts to go through so they didn’t work for clips. 

            Then it hit me.  Why didn’t I think of this before?  I have a hole punch and with some effort can punch through the plastic to enlarge the holes for my clip earrings.  Now, I don’t have to make my own cards, I have saved myself lots of work, the display cards won’t sag in the rain, and I have a new look for the clip earring spinner.

             We don’t realize the amount of time spent on these housekeeping details until we have to do them.  It is always a relief when I figure out how to simplify this part of my business.  I was going to say “non-creative” part of my business, but often the display and marketing part turns out to be very creative, if not very “arty” and then again sometimes it is just something obvious finally hitting me in the face.

            To  see examples of my clip and “non-clip” earrings please check out these sites:

http://alicehuntstudio.com

http://www.etsy.com/shop/AliceHuntStudio

VALENTINES DAY ON ETSY & ….

 Next week is Valentines Day.  I have been rearranging my Etsy Shop to feature hearts and the color red.  Some of my items were photographed with a red rose and look especially like Valentines, those have been especially fun to work with.  I have lots of heart items,  earrings and pendant necklaces as well as some red bird earrings, and some red spring tulip earrings and necklaces all on the first page of my shop. 

I have discovered that if I put a photo and a link on my “Fan” page http://www.facebook.com/pages/AliceHuntStudio/329394373735       of facebook, it also appears on my personal page and Twitter too

 http://twitter.com/#!/alicehuntstudio  I don’t know how that works but I am glad it does.

Happy Valentines Day to all ! ! !

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The Necklace in My Head

I have this exhibition necklace I have been working on for several years.  I can see it in my head……

I could see it when I gathered wild grape leaves to make impressions in clay.  I could see it when I finished sculpting the grape leaves and grapes and made little grape beads in porcelain clay.  After careful and thorough drying to be sure there would be no steam build up inside the pieces to make them explode during the first firing, they were bisque fired. 

The bisque pieces were beautiful when they came out of the kiln.  Pure white on white sculptures.  They were so nice just they way they were I was afraid to mess them up.  What if I glazed them and the colors were not what I envisioned in my head?  Panic! 

Since I had made the components for four complete necklaces, I decided to start by glazing just one.  I have learned that if the glazes are not just right after the first firing, I can carefully layer more glaze and underglaze and fire them again.  It took a lot of experimenting to figure out how to make it work as most potters will tell you once a pot is glazed you can’t get more glaze to stick.  But they say necessity is the mother of invention.

After several attempts to get it right, I put the one necklace in the kiln for the last time and turned on the heat to let it fire.  Then I waited for it to reach glaze temperature, over 2.000 degrees and then cool down.  When I emptied the kiln, disaster struck.  As I lifted the kiln shelf that was above the shelf the necklace was on, one of the supports stuck to the bottom of it just long enough to be lifted above the necklace where it let loose and fell breaking the grape leaves.  I was so devastated, and mad at myself,  that I could not work on the remaining three bisque form necklaces for a whole year.

I was so glad that only one necklace had been under that kiln shelf!  NEW RULE ,   the necklaces can only be put on the TOP shelf !!!   I began again very timidly.  The colors were much too pale the first time.  This allowed me to layer more colors and glazes but took a lot of time and since I work with small items it take a while to fill the kiln even for a glaze fire, so another year or so went by with several firings getting the glazes right. 

Finally, all the grapes and leaves were the colors I had in my head and I could add the finishing touches with China Painter’s Gold.  This was a labor of love, and since I had come this far with the pieces I wanted to be sure it was perfect.

Again the necklaces went into the kiln.  ON THE TOP SHELF !!!

And again, they were so beautiful I was afraid to start putting them together.  How would I assemble them to create the necklaces that were in my mind’s eye?  I began to sort through the amethyst and peridot, fluorite and serpentine beads in my bead drawer.  Seed beads and pearls were also selected.  I ordered some special head pins with green swarovsky crystals.  How many strands of beading wire would I need to use to get the effect I had in mind? 

I have started to put the beads on the first wire and string it through the grapes that are attached to the leaves.  Will two more strands of beads and grapes be enough to create the full effect that I can see in the necklace in my head?  And when I get the right fullness of grapes and beads on the collar of leaves,  how will I secure all the strands together and finish the sides and back of the necklace and clasp it?

To see more of my work please check out these sites.

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http://alicehuntstudio.com

Getting Started and Then Finishing

I have been thinking about this blog for two weeks.  How do you blog about Studio cleanup? I started with the question, “What do I want to accomplish this year?”  That led to a whole list of things besides art work that need to be done.  If I could only go through every drawer and closet in the house and clear out enough stuff to make room for the new things I want to create. And, if I could just get around to finishing projects I have started I could get them out of storage and make more room too.  The hard part is getting started. 

I have had the idea and the fabric for two patchwork bedspreads for over ten years now.  I should get them made before I have to repaint the bedrooms !

I think the hang up has been that I don’t know how to finish off a quilt.  I have decided to charge ahead and cut the fabric and sew the pieces and worry about that when I am finished piecing the quilt.  I hope I can find an experienced quilter to hire to put the batting and backing on and quilt it on a big machine. 

Then there are all the boxes of family photos collecting dust bunnies under the bed.  They need organizing and I want to digitize all of them by scanning them into the computer or taking close up photos of them and downloading them into iphoto so I can clean some of them up and print them out to make family story books for the grandchildren.  I especially love the photos of my grandparents when they were dating.  My grandmother was a beautiful “Gibson Girl” and my grandfather’s hobby was photography so we have lots of  photos.  He printed some out on blueprint paper or something as many of them are not sepia tone but shades of cobalt blue.

When I bought my Mac a few years ago, I signed up for the one on one training at the Apple Store and learned all about iphoto for editing the photos. I also learned how to edit music. The stereo’s turntable in the living room doesn’t work anymore and I can’t listen to records.  I had purchased a turn table from a catalog that assured me it would play my old LPs into the computer where I could edit them into CDs.  Nothing is ever that simple.  The guys at the Apple genius bar and the trainers were able to make it work and after several training sessions, I learned how to do the editing.  Thankfully, I took serious notes on how to do it. I was known as the lady with the notebook as I would make them slow down so I could write down every step.  I started to edit some favorite Christmas records but never finished.  So, another New Years project this winter is to finish the CDs I started to make and begin to work on some more favorites.  Now where did I put that notebook of instructions????

There are the recent family photos that I want to edit and print so I can get them out of my camera and computer,  the family videos too,  both the new ones that are digital in my computer waiting to be made into DVDs and the old VCR ones I wish I could edit…. and that leads me to another gadget.  I bought a DVD/VCR player/recorder that is supposed to “tape” from the TV, play DVDs, play VCR tapes and be able to convert VCR tapes to DVDs.  When I try to set it up all I accomplish is to get the TV/Cable setting so messed up it takes us all day to find our way back to being able to watch the TV.  I wish there was a genius bar for this machine.

Getting back to my art studio……..  I have this exhibition necklace I have been working on for several years.  I can see it in my head…… but that is anoher long story I will share in the next blog.  This one is already too long. 

Alice

 http://alicehuntstudio.com

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WELCOME TO MY ALASKA JOURNAL

         Our trip to Alaska this summer was the trip of a lifetime for us.  I kept a daily journal while on the trip and have just finished writing a blog for each day and illustrating it with our photos on Flickr.

         Don and I each took a lot of digital photos.  We had more than 2000 when we downloaded all of them to the computer.  The fun of digital photos is that you don’t have film to be concerned about buying and developing.  Whenever something catches your eye you can snap away with the camera and what doesn’t work can be deleted later.

         I never dreamed it would take me ‘til Christmas to finish all the blogs, but it has.  Blogs automatically date themselves on the day they are posted, so the dates have nothing to do with the fact that our trip was the end of June and first three days of July. 

         If you want to read the whole story from start to finish I recommend that you skip down to the beginning of this linear story in reverse and work your way back up.  My photostream on Flickr is likewise backwards and at the moment, December 21^st 2010,  the ALASKA photos are at the top of my photostream. 

         The ALASKA album of photos off to the side of the page, starts with the first day at the top if you click on that to see them.  Either way, clicking on a photo will bring it up larger.  The photos in the album section are very small otherwise.

         Flickr is a wonderful website of photos by photographers around the world.  You probably have to sign on to see all my photos.  I highly recommend that as it is free and simple to sign up.

         Please enjoy my story and photos and leave comments if you want to.  I enjoy hearing feedback.

Alice

To see the best photos we took on our trip,

please look up alicehuntstudio   on Flickr or

 try the link below. (you may have to sign up, it’s free

 and it’s easy and there are so many fun groups of photos to

 see from all over the world I think you will be glad if you do.)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/36275350@N06/

ALASKA DAY 15 Vancouver to Denver to Grand Rapids and Home

         We gathered with our tour group and guide at the designated spot on the ship and waited for our turn to leave.  Our bus was waiting for us and we were off to the Vancouver airport.

         After much waiting in line we were given a very thorough checking by the security people.  To prevent setting off the alarms I took off both barrettes and was holding my long hair up when they decided we all had to be wanded instead of going through the metal detector.  I couldn’t straighten out my arms for the lady because I was holding up my hair with one of them. Then the gilt edged Bible in my suitcase showed up as a suspicious dark rectangle and they halted the line.   All this time I am holding up my hair and waiting to get my barrettes back.  If I let my hair down I will never get it back in the barrettes with out my hairbrush which is packed away who knows where, probably in my checked bag that is already gone!  Oh the trials of long long hair!  Finally the lady wanding me went  over to the ex-ray lady and made her open the bag to see what the dark object was.  After a few minutes of consultation they finally decided that it was just a Bible after all and let us through.  And gave me back my barrettes.

         Up in the air over Vancouver, I began to take photos out the window.  I got some good ones of clouds and the airplane wing and cloud patterns on the earth beneath. 

         We had to change planes in Denver and had a short lay over there.  Our planes departure was delayed because of thunderstorms in the area and there was a long line of planes waiting to take off.  We were finally cleared for takeoff, just before sunset.  As we lifted off we could see a rainbow ahead.  It looked like we were going to fly right through it.  I was able to take a photo of the bright colorful spot in the clouds and also shot some photos of thunderheads and rain with the sunset glowing through.  As we flew past the storms the light faded and my pictures became too grainy to keep.

         As we flew over Iowa around 9:30 local time I began to see tiny bursts of what looked like dandelion puffs beneath us when we were near the towns and cities.  The announcement in the airplane said we were 30,000 feet up and that there were  fireworks displays visible below.  It was Saturday night July 3^rd and many towns were doing their 4^th of July fireworks displays a day early.

         Eventually we came to a place where the whole ground below was lit up with the lights of communities and then a large solid mass of lights.  I suspected it was Chicago and soon the announcements in the plane confirmed it.  There was a curving line where the lights stopped and all was solid darkness.  That was the biggest clue to me that it was Chicago.  As we continued east I could see this dark curve extending eastward along the Lake Michigan shoreline.  At one point I could see the lighted line of Chicago curving around the whole south end of the lake towards Gary Indiana and actually saw the shoreline of Michigan too.  From our high in the air vantage point we could see Michigan, Chicago and Indiana lights all at the same time.

         We landed in Grand Rapids around 1:00 am.  By the time we found all of our luggage and got in the car it was 2:00.  By 3:00 am we were home and falling asleep.  It was a wonderful trip!

To see more photos of our flight  home, please look up alicehuntstudio   on Flickr or try the link below. (you may have to sign up, it’s free and it’s easy and there are so many fun groups of photos to see from all over the world I think you will be glad if you do.)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/36275350@N06/

ALASKA DAY 14 LAST DAY AT SEA

         This morning we had a meeting with our tour group to discuss the plans for leaving the ship and riding the bus to the airport in Vancouver.  She gave us instructions about when to put out our luggage and where to meet as a group for our departure.

         We packed our bags again and managed to find room for all the gifts we had bought.  Then we went out side on deck as it was a beautiful day.

         There were many photos to take on this last day at sea.  We were sailing past Canada now and the coastline was dotted with many islands.  The steep hills, or mountains were covered with spruce trees and very green.  The sky and sea were very blue and there were some interesting cloud patterns as well to make the photos interesting.

         We spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying the fresh air and sunshine and taking pictures of the beautiful scenery.

To see some of the best photos we took today, please look up alicehuntstudio   on Flickr or try the link below. (you may have to sign up, it’s free and it’s easy and there are so many fun groups of photos to see from all over the world I think you will be glad if you do.)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/36275350@N06/

ALASKA DAY 13 KETCHIKAN

We had a leisurely morning, breakfast at the buffet again and back to our cabin where I took some photos so we could remember what a well designed compact little space it was.  The mirrors on opposing walls really made the space seem bigger than it was. We chose to take the inside cabin and use the savings to sign on for more extra excursions.  We were glad we did.

         Our City Tour of Ketchikan began right after lunch.  The first stop was to the fish hatchery where we saw salmon hatching and some live bald eagles that had been injured and were being cared for at the hatchery.  I took photos of a rushing stream that furnished fresh water for the hatchery.  Our guide showed us some wild berry bushes and berries that were ripening.  They looked like raspberries but were bigger and less flavorful.  The natives harvest great quantities of them and the bears love them too.

         Next, our bus took us to a museum that had some very nice exhibits of native art and craft work.  There were totem poles, woven baskets, bead work a stuffed bear and many useful hand made tools. 

         The last place we stopped was an outdoor collection of totem poles that had been brought together and mounted on special posts to preserve them from rotting.  They were lifted above the ground on protective pedestals but you wouldn’t notice unless you knew where to look.

         Back on board the ship there was information hung on  our door about the plans to meet with the tour guide tomorrow to discuss the trip home.  We were all shopped out,  tired and hungry.  We enjoyed another good buffet dinner and a restful evening.

To see photos of Ketchikan, please look up alicehuntstudio   on Flickr or try the link below. (you may have to sign up, it’s free and it’s easy and there are so many fun groups of photos to see from all over the world I think you will be glad if you do.)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/36275350@N06/

ALASKA DAY 12 JUNEAU AND MENDENHALL GLACIER

          A rainy morning.  Our activity today began with a catamaran jet boat ride to see whales.  We saw lots of them, and learned that they migrate annually between Alaska and Hawaii.  The whales appeared above water so quickly and dove again before I could get a photo of them with the still camera. I did get some shots of seagulls and sea

lions, and many photos of foggy shoreline with spruce trees.

         After the boat ride we went to see the Mendenhall Glacier.  This glacier was best approached by bus.  The bus took us to a nature center where we saw exhibits about the glacier, wildflowers and a stuffed brown bear and a wolf.  It was all very interesting and educational. 

         We stood in the doorway to the nature center and looked out over the glacier and the lake in front of it. The lake was filled with large chunks of ice that had broken off from the glacier.  There was also a waterfall near the glacier.  It was a rainy day and the fog coming off the glacier made for interesting photos.

To see my best photos of the Mendenhall Glacier and the jet boat cruise, please look up alicehuntstudio   on Flickr or try the link below. (you may have to sign up, it’s free and it’s easy and there are so many fun groups of photos to see from all over the world I think you will be glad if you do.)

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ALASKA DAY 11 SKAGWAY

         We began the day with a tour of the Jewel Gardens.  I was expecting a botanical garden a bit bigger than this.  I know, I am spoiled having lived near one of the best gardens in the country, The Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis.  Everything seems small and less cared for after hanging out there for several days a year for nine years. 

         They did have some pretty flowers and I took some flower close-ups.  The gardens weren’t much bigger than my own back home, but they did have a feature that mine don’t have.  There was an electric train set up that was pretty amazing. They must put it away  for the winter, but there it was chugging around the track and through the tunnels in the rain.  It was a cute set up and I took several photos. 

         After the guided tour, they served us a nice Tea inside with a good selection of scones and cakes and chocolates.  We found a few more items on our gift list in their shop before boarding the bus to return to the ship. 

         We dropped our purchases off in our cabin before getting on the Street Car Tour.  Skagway is very small and most of the shops are filled with expensive goods for the tourists that come on the cruise ships.  There were lots of jewelry shops featuring the same kinds of things that were in the jewelry shops on board ship.  Then there were some very nice shops selling Alaskan made fine art goods also pricey.  The street car guide was a very theatrical lady in Victorian dress and a big hat with flowers on it.   She was very entertaining as she told us stories of frontier days in Skagway

Again, we returned to the docks where the ship was and waited for the train to pull into the station for our train ride to the top of White Pass.  The cars had large windows, but the lights on the ceiling reflected in them and made it difficult to get pictures so after a few miles I went outside to join a few other passengers. We were in the last car and  could stand on the little porch on the back.  From there we had a clear view of all the scenery behind the train and occasionally off to the side.  Most of the time the left side of the tracks were so close to the mountain and with the speed of the train everything was a blur, but on the right side and straight back there was some spectacular scenery.

I took lots of photos of mountains with railroad tracks. 

         Once we arrived at the pass, the engines did a switch around and came and joined the train at the back.  The train then went back down the mountain and we were in the first car.  I went inside then because the view was blocked and the air was full of diesel smoke.  At one point as we rounded a bend, there was a mother bear with a cub beside the tracks up ahead and I just caught a glimpse of them before they tumbled off to the side to get away from the train. 

         When we reached Skagway again we boarded the ship and walked around a bit and went to the buffet.  There were several other very nice dining rooms on the ship but we enjoyed sampling all the wonderful things on the buffet so much we never did go to any other one.

To see my best photos of Skagway, please look up alicehuntstudio   on Flickr or try the link below. (you may have to sign up, it’s free and it’s easy and there are so many fun groups of photos to see from all over the world I think you will be glad if you do.)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/36275350@N06/

ALASKA DAY 10 GLACIER BAY BLUENESS

         In the morning when we reached the upper levels where we could see outside we were happy to see blue sky and calm blue water. 

         The weather had cleared and it was going to be a good day for glacier viewing. After a big breakfast at the buffet we put on our warm layers and took our cameras up and outside to take photos.  It was like being in”Blue Heaven”.

         The breeze at the front of the boat was still chilly as the boat was moving and the air was cold in spite of the bright sunshine.

         The plan for the day was to see Glacier Bay.  We also saw Icy Straight.  The captain took us to see an extra glacier today because the weather was so beautiful and we missed seeing the Hubbard glacier yesterday.  According to my notes, we saw Margerie Glacier, Johns Hopkins Glacier and Lamplugh  Glacier.  We also saw whales, a young eagle, seals and sea otters.

         I spent most of the day up on deck in the sunshine taking photos.  Don took a lot of photos too.  I have over 400 photos to select and edit.  The great thing about digital cameras is that you don’t have film to buy and process. You can just click away whenever you see something that looks interesting.  If it doesn’t turn out it is no loss as you can just delete it.  Consequently I take many more photos than I would with the old style film camera.  Photos of blue sky, blue mountains and blue water can start to get repetitious.  But, I LOVE BLUE.

     I have selected 36 of the best photos that tell the story, to put up on Flickr for day 10.

         To see all 36 of my best photos of the fantastic blueness of Glacier Bay,   please look up alicehuntstudio   on Flickr or try the link below. (you may have to sign up, it’s free and it’s easy and there are so many fun groups of photos to see from all over the world I think you will be glad if you do.)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/36275350@N06/

ALASKA DAY 9 LOOKING FOR HUBBARD GLACIER

We awoke to a cold and rainy morning.  After a delicious breakfast buffet, we went to some talks about the glacier we were going to see today.  The naturalist told everyone to go to deck 7 for the best viewing of the glacier.  So everyone was up on deck 7 making it very crowded at the railing.  I walked around and found a great spot on the sports deck.  We saw lots of ice bergs but it was too foggy to see the glacier and the ship eventually turned around.  I took some photos of the icebergs and the fog.  The water was full of chunks of ice and the fog was interesting, but it was not a huge photo day.

We went into the shops on board the ship to look around and we watched the crew build the champaign tower for later in the evening.  I think it was going to be served at midnight or something.  After a big delicious dinner in the buffet dining room, I went back to the room and fell asleep and didn’t wake up until seven the next morning.  I guess after nine full days of traveling I was worn out.

To see all my photos of  fog and icebergs, look up alicehuntstudio   on Flickr or try the link below.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/36275350@N06/

Alaska Day 8 Boarding the Diamond Princess

After breakfast I took a few more photos around the grounds of the Princess Lodge at Kenai where we had been staying for several days.  There were some very pretty flowers and the always spectacular scenery from the deck overlooking the river and the mountains. 

We were to board ship at 11:00 am after a short bus ride.  There weren’t many photo opportunities on the bus as it was raining and raindrops on the windows didn’t make for a good view.  I did get a photo of  the mountains and a glacier valley before we arrived at the tunnel.  The only way to reach Whittier Alaska is to go by railroad tunnel through the mountain.  The tunnel had been modified for use by busses as well as train and I got some interesting shots of that adventure.

After getting checked in to our room on board ship, we had a delicious lunch buffet.  We walked around and explored the ship.  After the emergency drill all passengers had to participate in we went back to the buffet dining room for dinner and ate too much again.  We then explored the ship and took more pictures, attended a Welcome to the Ship Show in the theater, and then found a good dance band and danced for a while before going to our room.

Please leave a comment,  I’d love to hear from you.

To see all the photos for this day:    Look up alicehuntstudio   on Flickr or try the link below.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/36275350@N06/

Alaska Day Seven : Glacier Cruise

We boarded busses for Kenai Fjords National Park Glacier Cruise at 9:15 am.

There was a big gift shop at the docks and I bought some more Alaska Christmas and birthday gifts before boarding the boat.  I took photos of the harbor and all the boats at the docks while I waited for the cruise to begin.   Once we were out to sea there we photo opportunities every minute.  We saw lots of wildlife.  Sea otters, stellar sea lions, seagulls, a humpback whale, dall porpoises, puffins, cormorants, common murre (they looked like penguins) , bald eagles, and so much beautiful scenery of rocky shores and spruce trees.  Always the spruce trees.  We watched the glacier “calving”.  I learned that I could not capture either whales surfacing, or glaciers calving with my still camera so I held the video camera in one hand and aimed it in the direction of the possible action and just let it run while I snapped still shots with the other.  Does that make me a crazy photographer?  or just a crazy tourist?  The cruise lasted most of the day and the crew came around serving chicken wrap sandwiches for lunch.  Later in the day after we had all been outside in the cold watching the glacier they made fresh hot chocolate chip cookies.  It was a rainy misty day with no sun,  and being close to the glacier with all that ice,  it was very cold and damp outside on the deck of the boat.

To see all my photos of rocks and spruce, ice and wildlife:    Look up alicehuntstudio   on Flickr or try the link below.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/36275350@N06/

Alaska Day Six The Bus to Kenai

Alaska Day 6 Kenai Peninsula

We boarded the bus at 8:30 am arriving in Anchorage in time for lunch.  Don and I decided to eat our granola bars as we walked and do some shopping.  We still had lots of birthday and Christmas gifts to find for all the people on our lists.  We found the tourist center and a nice gallery called Cabin Fever where we made many purchases. Back at the bus at the agreed departure time, we found our seats and were in for a photographers dream drive.  We traveled on the Seward Highway.  It goes along a fabulously scenic inlet.  Captain Cook thought this was a river it is so big.  It was low tide and there were interesting patterns in the glacial silt as well as large shallow calm stretches of water mirroring the mountains on the other shore.  It was a beautiful ride.

We arrived at the hotel which had a lodge building with two restaurants and a huge deck overlooking a turquoise blue river and millions of spruce trees on the mountains.  Up the hill from the lodge was a gift shop, another building with a hot tub and many building with guest rooms.  Our “room” was a bedroom and a living room.  The living room had a woodstove in the corner and opened up on its own private deck that looked out on more mountains and trees.

After checking in and putting our bags in our room, we went back to the lodge and decided to walk the trail below the deck down to the river.  It was a steep road, much better going down than coming back up.  Once down to the river there were wild roses everywhere as we had seen so many times in Alaska.  We explored the trail and came to a lookout deck beside the river.  After taking lots of pictures we hiked back up the trail and met our tour guide Connie and people from our group for dinner.

To see all the photos for this day:    Look up alicehuntstudio   

on Flickr or try the link below.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/36275350@N06/

Alaska Day Five Mt McKinley

         Don left early in the morning for a fishing trip.  I bought  some breakfast snacks and ate on the observation deck.  It was overcast and so there was no sign of Mt McKinley.  Then I walked around the grounds taking photos of flowers (there were big Alaska lupines, huge white daisies and beautiful pansies) until the bus came at 9:00 to pick me up for the nature walk at Byers Lake.

         The nature walk was fun.  Byers Lake is beautiful with a narrow path along the edge.  Our guide was kept busy pointing out the wildflowers.  There were blue geraniums, blue bells, purple wild iris, ground cover dogwood, twin flower, devils club(nasty thorns on the leaves and stems) and ground creeping raspberry.  There were interesting tree roots and mosses and lots of ferns.

         As we reached the farthest end of our trail we spotted a loon.  He/she,  followed us back toward the bus as we walked we watched the bird swimming and surfacing keeping up with us as if posing for photos.

         Back on the bus to return to the lodge, we stopped at a high lookout point to see if Mt McKinley was out of the clouds yet. It wasn’t, but we had a great view of a big river bed and a melting glacier at the base of the mountains. 

         We arrived back at the lodge a bit late but in time for me to catch the horse wagon ride where I did some more panning for gold and saw some reindeer.  There was a beautiful mountain lookout with one lone cabin.  What a place to live that would be.  The wagon ride lasted most of the afternoon.

         In the evening Don and I went to Talkeetna on a bus to catch a jet boat ride on a big wide and shallow river.  Many of the trees along the river bank were broken stubs.  They had been mowed down in the spring by the ice jams.  We took lots of pictures including a distant storm,  and an eagles nest. 

         Along the way we stopped to see a replica of a native village.  The cabin had grass growing on the roof,  there was a hole in the ground lined with twigs we were told was a native refrigeration device.  They would put the food inside and cover with more sticks and the cold of the ground would keep the food.  Also there was a little cabin on very tall stilts in which they kept  more food out of reach of bears.  There were furs on display as in all these little villages.  One was a big bearskin with the paws still on.  I took a photo of my hand holding the paw and the claws were as big as my fingers!  The wide flat river gave spectacular views of the sky and we took so many pictures.  I could only select a few of them for my flickr photostream. 

         On the way back to the lodge on the bus the clouds parted and Mt McKinley appeared.  We tried to get a photo from the window of the bus as it turned to face the mountain.  By the time we arrived at the observation deck at the lodge the clouds were closing in again but the top of the peak was still visible above a layer of clouds.

         We ate some pizza and walked around the grounds a bit taking photos.  It was still a light twilight when we went to our room at 11:30 pm.

To see all the photos for this day:    Look up alicehuntstudio   on Flickr or try the link below.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/36275350@N06/

Day Four The Train to Talkeetna

The Boardwalk along the river at our hotel gave us fabulous views of mountains and the river.  We didn’t have time to take too long of a walk.  We had a bus to take to the Nenana River Jet Boat Ride.  When we arrived at the river there were  trappers cabins and we heard all about trapping, had hot cocoa and a sweet sugar topped bread.  We panned for gold again and then we went out and got in the boat.  As with most of the Alaskan rivers we saw there were many sand bars as we turned corner after corner.  Each bend in the river brought more exciting views.  The driver seemed to enjoy going fast on the curves and the boat skimmed across the water like a water ski.  The river was only three feet deep  and was cloudy with glacial melt.  There were no salmon here in this river a thousand miles from the sea.  The clouds started to lift and by the end of the ride we had blue sky and blue water in our photos. 

We arrived back at the hotel just in time to board the bus that took us to the train for Talkeetna. We rode in a Princess Line train car with a glass domed roof.  The dining car was below and our group took turns going below for a delicious lunch.  The ride lasted several hours and we took many photos through the window.  Taking photos through the window was a challenge because of reflections but we managed to get some very good scenic shots anyway.

By the time we arrived at the hotel we had a late supper and walked around the deck but McKinley Mountain was already tucked into a blanket of clouds for the night.  By midnight  there was darkness.  It wasn’t completely dark but much more so than it was in Fairbanks.  I took a photo which shows an almost dark night.

You can see a selection of the photos I took at my photostream on Flickr.

To see all the photos for this day:    Look up alicehuntstudio   on Flickr or try the link below.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/36275350@N06/