HER NAME IS JUDY: NEW COFFEE POT PERSON!

There's a new Coffee Pot Person on the block, and her name is Judy! I took her outside today fro a brief portrait session, but we couldn't stay long. They don't seem to bother Judy or our little dog Ceili, but the mosquitoes were absolutely eating me alive, so we retreated to the indoors, where I slathered my welts with that boon to humankind, melalueca oil, aka tea tree oil.

That's probably more information than necessary, but I get chatty when I'm thinking with my fingertips!

And now, without further ado, h-e-e-e-r-e's JUDY!




Judy hasn't told me anything about herself yet. Usually, it takes a few days for that, and some patience. My usual routine is to just stare at them for a day or two, talk to them now and then, let them get used to me, that sort of thing. Eventually, the Coffee Pot People get comfortable, and start talking, and I find out all sorts of things--their jobs and hobbies, personality traits, wardrobe preferences, etc. I must say, some are more talkative than others, and also, I have to tell you that they don't actually talk out loud!

And now I can hear you wondering: What has that first photo got to do with Judy?

Nothing! I was just going into the house, and noticed how the foxglove had wound itself around the handle of the umbrella, and thought it was cool!

Oh, and my little dog, Ceili, has taught herself a new trick. I'm tickled by it, but not sure how happy I'll be in the long run: She has taught herself how to open the sliding screen door to the enclosed deck! She is SO pleased with herself!

RACHEL, GARDENING FIEND

I'd like to introduce Rachel!

Rachel’s ready for a trip to the mall. Or will be as soon as she changes out of her gardening clothes. She has her hair and makeup done, though. She’ll just be a minute—there are a few weeds over there to pull, and the roses have got aphids, and….How about a cup of tea, and we’ll go after dark?

Ee Mai Ling, Coffee Pot Person

One of my favorite ladies:

There was a time, way way way back a long time ago, when personal computers existed primarily in the minds of young geeks with dreams. A lot of people thought they were pipe dreams. Most people couldn't imagine that one day virtually everybody, from small children to elderly grandparents, would have access to a computer and an email account. Email accounts? Don't think they had been invented yet.

So when Ee's parents named her Ee Mai Ling, it was just a beautiful name. It took thirty years for it to become a joke, she has heard it before, and if you have any sense at all, you won't make the quip yourself. Don't go there. Just do not go there.

GRANDMA GERT, NEW COFFEE POT PERSON

Ask many little girls what they want to be when they grow up, and even in this day of liberation and outside-the-home careers, they'll tell you they want to be mommies.

That was even more true when Gertie was a little girl, some seventy-five years ago, but that wasn't what she aspired to, except as a step on the way. She needed to be a mom to achieve her goal: to be a Grandma. It took her a long time, but she's made it, and is tops in the trade, with a never-empty cookie jar, a merry twinkle, and a well-earned reputation for having a sympathetic ear and a mouth that never spills a confidence entrusted to her.

She is, in fact, such a terrific grandmother that every kid within three miles calls her "Grandma", and she holds the title and each child warmly in her heart.

(For the full-size, and higher resolution, image, click on the pictures.)





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DeLILA RETURNS!

One of my favorite Coffee Pot People is back! I've always loved DeLila, but DH knocked her off her shelf maybe two years ago and broke her hat off, and she has stood on a high shelf in my shop ever since. Finally, this week, I took her down and surveyed the damage. It wasn't as bad as I'd remembered, and I still had a box full of the broken stained glass piece I'd made the hat from. A little engineering and a yard or two of copper wire later, and there she stood, as good as new. Actually, maybe better than new.

Meet the ultimate, original, party girl. This girl has got it goin' on, and if you put a candle at her feet, and a tea light behind her hat, she will happily get lit every single chance she gets. (Responsibly, of course. DeLila is full of joie de vivre, but her mama didn't raise no dummies.) Her favorite quote: "If there's anything half as much fun as being alive, I don't know what it is!"

CYRUS, COFFEE POT PERSON

Another coffee pot, well, actually, tea kettle, becomes a garden personality! This is Cyrus:

Cyrus

Do you remember the Black Spy/White Spy duo from Mad Magazine? Well, Cyrus has idolized them ever since he was a kid growing up in Odell, Oregon. It’s a natural enough admiration, given his resemblance to them, a resemblance he deliberately accentuates, with his wide-brimmed hat and dark glasses.

He likes to call himself Cy the Spy when he’s introduced. Unfortunately, most of the people he runs into these days are too young to get it.

His occupation is not so glamorous as spying, either. He drives a cab, one of the black and whites, of course, and likes to tell his fares who among the high and mighty he’s met. For a “spy”, he’s remarkably chatty. Best not to tell him any secrets you don’t want known by one and all—he’ll spill the beans just to prove he’s got them to spill!

HAROLD ANGEL

My first entry. Is it the most difficult? Setting up the blog sure took me long enough!

But I want to introduce the first of the Coffee Pot People, not the first to be made, just the first to land here, and chosen at random. Meet Harold:

He doesn’t sing loudly, but Harold loves Christmas carols! And I’m sure you can guess what his favorite holiday is, whether it snows or not.

Harold started with a halo from the Rebuilding Center, but I haven’t had the heart to tell him that, since that isn’t exactly the traditional way angels earn them. And the halo had a prior life as a towel holder. We won't tell him that, either.

His blue coffee pot body was purchased, lidless, at a garage sale. Those wings are made from two pancake turners and a whisk (Value Village), trimmed out with garden edging (yard sale) and pipe cleaners (estate sale).

His lower body/feet used to be a light fixture (Rebuilding Center), but I put old fuses where the light bulbs would have gone.

His eyebrows came out of my jewelry box (no, nothing is sacred!) and his eyes are marbles set in the little cups tea candles come in, with wire eyelashes.

One of the things I'm asked most often is how I hold all the parts together. When I started, I tried a variety of glues and epoxies, but none of them held up out in the weather. Now I bolt everything. Some Coffee Pot People take a lot more figuring than others, though, and occasionally I've even had to resort to bolts coupled with glue, or even concrete. The concrete comes into play if I need a way to be sure the item won't move, and bolting it doesn't seem strong enough.

I'd love to be able to weld the pieces, but most old coffee pots are aluminum, and while it isn't impossible to weld aluminum, it's not very easy. It's a skill I look forward to acquiring.