Pauseibilities

05/19/2025

Permanently closed

10/17/2024

I made a video last week when we ressurected the giant laser for some community service. It's been more than a year and one of the two tubes shattered. Big blue laser beast is back in hibernation for the winter now. Here's hoping I'm strong enough in the spring to fire it up and run it more often in 2025! I still have dreams!

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/kYiCx7t6cKUo7evh/

09/18/2024

I'm very slowly dipping my toes into engraving again. I had these blanks in the shop and offered to donate and engrave them to the annual Heidi Keen Classic Barley Bar Relay in Palouse, WA for Palouse Days. I got in the groove and made some for Palouse Caboose too. It felt good to use my skills and equipment, even if it took me much longer to do it than it used to.

01/13/2024

Popping in to provide an update for what's going on here. Sorry for the silence. My health took a turn this year and through lots of perseverance and testing, it turns out, I have a rare form of muscular dystrophy AND Sjogren's, which is an auto-immunne disease. I'm not crazy. Apparently my muscles aren't built properly and can't process potassium the way they are supposed to. I'm legit "allergic" to physical exertion (exercise) and the cold. (Not technically allergic in the medical definition but that's how it acts.) It's going to be a long road of trying to figure out my new normal and I've definitely had some bad days. However, I'm trying hard to not let it keep me down. I'm still the cheerful sunny person you know and love. Over the past few months, I sold off my other business of supplying materials to fellow laser engravers, cashed in my retirement to pay bills and avoid selling the lasers, and we've rearranged the house to accommodate my illness and my son's needs. The workshop is packed full and ready to be rearranged this spring when it's not so cold outside. We just made a home for baby Glowforge in the house and I'm working on setting up a desk now for the child and I. Over the next few weeks, I'm also meeting with a potential partner for the coffee shop so we can start hashing out details. I know it's taking longer than anyone wanted but my body needed to sleep, so I embraced the pause - and focused on me. I'm looking forward to overseeing operations but not doing it myself, so we'll see if we can make it happen.

Lots of Love, Shishona

06/28/2023

https://fortune.com/2023/06/28/morning-coffee-effect-placebo-caffeine-frontiers-in-behavioral-neuroscience-study-finds/

If you want to feel ready for action, caffeine alone won't cut it.

06/25/2023

Surprise! I've got some artwork on showcase at the Palouse Arts Council PopUp Gallery this weekend. These pieces were made in 2019, before we moved to Palouse and COVID hit. I took the photos at Idler's Rest in Moscow, Idaho, edited them for the laser, and then engraved them for a 3D perspective. While you are at it, check out the brand new website I've been scrambling to pull together for this weekend and all the great pieces on display for the Gallery and Main Street Artwalk.

Shishona was born and raised in Montana but moved to the rolling hills of the Palouse in 2007 and thus she will stay. In 2021, the family and businesses moved from Moscow to Palouse the Town. Shishona loves books, rocks, wood, and anything that will go in a laser. She is a maker, helper, scientist,....

06/21/2023

"I never set any goal for what’s next. Time will push you forward and things will run and develop according to their own rules. In fact, you can’t help making plans, just like reality can’t help but interrupt those original plans. An artist is not a company, and we don’t have to run all the time. A pause is good, in fact."

For Art Icons, a new conversation series with famous living artists, Cao Fei spoke to Artnet News about her new exhibition in London.

06/21/2023

Did you know my very first medium sized topographic Idaho is on display for Palouse Main Street Art Walk? It's located in the Historic St. Elmo Hotel Building. It's 35" tall and 26 layers of 1/8" wood. Each layer is laser cut and then assembled together by hand, like a puzzle. This original creation will never be sold. It's my learning piece and has lots of flaws. It's also my travel and display piece so it's been through a lot but it's never had to brave south facing sunlight for a full month, so I decided it was time to put a CrabCoat on it. Usually, I use a mineral oil blend product for my indoor art pieces but this needed some serious UV protection. The topcoat sure did make the different wood grains pop! I love working with the natural coloring of woods to provide the variation.

06/07/2023

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=807019674121473&set=a.384344273055684

05/21/2023

Ruan worked super hard today to make this happen. He's been begging for S'Mores for weeks. What is your favorite summer activity?

Here on the Palouse, we skipped spring and went straight to summer. It's been smokey from the Canadian fires. It's only just begun. I figured, we better get this in now because the burn ban is going to come early this year.