Contest: Name that Crane

For the last few years, when I make a crane I start from scratch. I may make a cane that will create 3 or 6 or more cranes, but when that cane was done, so was that design. While there is some creative freedom in this approach, it can also be challenging when I have orders to get out the door. And there is anxiety as I package up an order. Will they like this one? I had a few variations that I could easily reproduce, such as a Skinner blend with a metal leaf crackle finish. But the patterned cranes were the ones that many people love.

After having to come up with a reproducible design for the catalog company I began to rethink my whole approach to making cranes. Maybe it would be easier to have several patterns that would be exclusive for one year. The next year, I would have a new set of designs. With that in mind, I have been working on several styles or designs to offer for 2008, and I have come up with a few that I like, and I know I can repeat....at least in pattern, if not in the exact colorway.

The group of cranes at right are called "I Love You" cranes. They were designed with Valentines' Day in mind. But I will only have this design for 2008. In 2009, there will be a new design with this theme.

The next picture is a group of cranes I call "Carpet Ride". When I am laying out the sheet of clay with the cane slices, I am using the idea of an oriental rug. I spent a year working part time selling rugs at an area furniture store. I loved the colors and patterns, and each night when I came to work, I would look through the rugs, to see the newest patterns and designs. Most rugs have a center field and a border. These cranes use that idea in how they are created. This pattern that will have more variety...depending on the canes I have to work with at the time.

Now, you come in. I have a few other designs that I need some help with naming. The right name can romance the work a bit. A story can be conjured up in just a few well selected words. Problem is, I have a nasty cold right now. My brain is in slow motion. Which can be great for getting tedious tasks done, but not so great for brainstorming. I need your brains and creativity. Two designs are wanting for a name.

Every idea I have come up with falls flat. The top group can be called group 1, and the lower picture, group 2. These are not the only colors that these cranes will come in, but they give you an idea of how the pattern can look in a variety of colorways. Submit your ideas in the comments, and specify which group you are naming. You are welcome to submit as many ideas as you can come up with. You have until next Friday, December 28th, at midnight(EST) to come up with an idea and post it in the comments. If your name is selected, in exchange for your permission to use the

name to promote that line, I will send you a crane in that pattern....hanging or sitting, you choose.

I hope your creative juices are flowing better than mine are right now. I look forward to seeing your ideas! And thank you for your creative energy....I need it right now. :-)