Three weeks and counting

Three weeks ago, on January 18, Rissa told us it was time to say goodbye. It has been so very hard not having her joyful greeting for me when I come home but it is even harder for my husband, who is retired and has the empty house. We are grateful for the time we had with our little angel and know we did the right thing by her. But oh how I miss my little girl.

There is never enough time when you love something.

One of the hard parts of adopting a rescue animal is that you don't know all their history and they are usually older animals so that when you bond, it can be for a shorter time period. I'm learning this personally with a little rescue dog we adopted in May 2008. She was about 5 or 6, a toy poodle who had been mistreated and was very shy about people. But when she bonded with my husband and myself, it was a fierce bond the likes of which I'd never experienced. We became her world. Not just because we fed her, but because we didn't hurt her and I think that was a new experience for her.

Suffice it to say, I have never had a dog like Rissa, and I knew she was older so I would be lucky to have her 9 or so years assuming she lived to the same age as my other toy poodles, who lived to be 15 or 16. That was not to be.

Last July she was diagnosed with breast cancer. We did surgery and chemo (yes on a dog, but sometimes you have to do things that in the past you would have thought ridiculous). So the time frame slipped to the point we were looking at having her maybe another 2 years or so. Now it may be today that we lose her.

I don't regret adopting her but I am angry with the short time she was given to us and I only hope we made up for the abuse she had in the first part of her life. It hurts so much to love them and know they will leave you all too soon. I understand why people are leery of adopting an older animal because of this exact situation but they need us, oh how they need us. And they will give back more than you can imagine.

I love you Rissa and I will do what is right for you, that I promise you, little girl.

Season's Greetings to All!

See a need, fill it.

Having lost quite a few pets over the years and currently having a terminally ill dog, I realized that there may be a need for small affordable pet creamtion urns for cremains. So I am going to offer porcelain urns as part of my art inventory. It may not be a pleasant product but I think it may fill a need. My supplier for the plain glazed urns will be Maryland China and I will keep a few of their urns in stock for china painting names, dates, artwork etc. Inquiries welcome.

Moving out of my artistic comfort zone

I started working on a fleabit gray on the Chaney striking-out arabian sculpture, which is a favorite of mine from Animal Artistry in the UK. I've never done a fleabit gray, let alone one in a fired finish, so this is a real stretch for me! He's not done yet but here are two in-progress shots.

New items in my Etsy shop!

I've put some new items in my Etsy show and will be adding more during the holiday season. I'll also be stocking some local stores with my items (Rockwall/Greenville TX) and will be taking custom orders. Here is a link to my shop: FireHorse Designs on Etsy

Cheryl

New fused glass items coming to my Etsy shop this weekend

I have three kiln loads of goodies that will be uploaded to my Etsy store this weekend, November 26-27. The link is Etsy Shop for FireHorse Designs


Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!

Cheryl


FireHorse Designs, makers of Pottery, Ceramics & Fused Glass, since 1980
www.appaloosas.org
http://www.firehorsedesigns.org/
Etsy shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/firehorsedesigns
blog: http://firehorsedesignxtx.blogspot.com/
FB: http://www.facebook.com/#!/FireHorseDesigns

Fusing again!

Now that the weather has cooled off some, I'm working with the kiln again. Yesterday I made some fused glass cabs and also played with an electric engraver and some dichroic glass. Here are the results! I plan on making more, in different colors and patterns, to list to my Etsy store for holiday shopping. The first photo is of a bracelet made from tourquoise and black cabs. The second is a necklace made from etched dichroic glass.