The Thingie Revealed

I'm back from Art and Soul. It was an amazing adventure, as always. On Saturday, I left my room at 8:30 and didn't get back til after midnight. There was just too much to see and do! I had a class on Saturday from 9-5 with Thomas Mann. Then, I had my booth to set up for vendor night. And, of course, I had to shop everyone else's booth before the doors openend.  After that, we had Vendor Night from 7-10. Then it was time to load up the van, and do a little socializing.

I've been reading the Vintage Rescue Squad blog for quite some time, and was thrilled to finally get to meet Sue and her sister Michelle. Sue is a junker extraordiaire -a girl after my own heart!

I also meet the fabulous Julie Haymaker Thompson through my friend Elizabeth.  Julie's work is fresh, and hip and has an old-school primitive vibe at the same time. Julie herself is a breath of fresh air. I can't wait to take a class with her in the future. Elizabeth has posted her "Steampunk Lily" class project on her blog. It came out beautifully!

So now that I'm home,  I can post more pictures of the thingie. (Spoiler alert - If you're attending an Art and Soul retreat in the future, and don't want to know what the thingie is - then read no further!)

It was a teapot! I decided to do a memory-jug style treatment on it. I ordered Laurie Zuckerman's memory jug cd for myself two years ago, and finally got to create my first piece. I've been collecting bits and baubles for ages. I was amazed at how many I had that fit the Wonderland theme.

I have so much more to tell about each of  my classes, but it will have to wait for another day.  

Off to Wonderland

I am leaving in the morning to attend the Art and Soul Retreat in Hampton, Virginia. I'm registered for two classes with Thomas Mann and one class with Linda and Opie O'Brien. I had the pleasure of taking their "Who's Your DaDa" class in 2008. This year I'm taking "Alice Meeets the Dali Mama" with them.

This is the setup for my booth Vendor Night on Saturday. I hope you'll come by and see me if you're attending Art and Soul. I'm going to keep this post short, because I have to go upstairs and pack up everything in the booth so it fits in my van. -sigh- Thank goodness for my amazing helpers, especially Janet Moss and my mom. I couldn't do it without you guys!

Art in the Park and the "Thingie"

My booth at Hurkamp Park and my fantastic helper!

This weather here in Virginia this weekend has been absolutely gorgeous, and I got to spend the day outside enjoying it yesterday at Hurkamp Park in Fredericksburg. I have a tent at Art in the Park this weekend. I don't know which I enjoyed the most, the customers or the four-legged-friends they brought with them. Fredericksburg is a very dog-friendly town. My daughter and I considered bringing our own poochables  but decided it would be difficult to help customers and keep track of our happy-waggy girls at the same time.

The show runs again today from 11-4. I hope you'll come out and see us if you're in town. There are fourty-seven vendors with a wide variety of art. I have the good fortune of being located between North Carolina watercolorist Walter Creech and local art-quilter Lori McCown.

As soon as I get home from Art in the Park today, the mad rush is on to get everything together for my booth for vendor night at Art and Soul in Hampton. I'll have photos and a list of the items I'll be carrying later in the week. (These items are completely different from the items I have at Art in the Park.)

In the meantime, my "thingie" arrived in the mail, and I'm using the objects above to embellish it. Art and Soul attendees have the option of receiving a secret "thingie" in the mail to alter and bring to Art and Soul for display. We don't reveal what the thingie is until everyone arrives with their decorated object. It is always amazing to see how much variety is achieved using the same object as a starting point. This year's them is Art and Soul in Wonderland, and the item fits perfectly with that theme.

New Jewelry Work

It's been a long time since I made jewelry, and I've really missed it. As usual, a looming deadline is what drew me into the studio. I had a tough time deciding what I wanted to focus on, so I made a little bit of ephemera-based jewelry, and a little bit of old-school beaded jewelry.After I got into the groove, it was hard to stop.

Each piece is part of a set with coordinating earrings and necklaces. All are currently available at LibertyTown in Fredericksburg, Va.

(Above) Pendant made from a vintage fuse tin, a button, and murano glass. The tin still opens and closes.

Large gray freshwater pearls, brass findings, crystal and czech glass.

Relic baby. (With a copper and mother of pearl "belly button")

Resin pendant with leaf and butterfly motif.

Pewter swallow with amethyst Swarovski crystal on ribbon.

Cherry blossoms and hummingbirds.

Bird pendant with crystals. Hand-strung and knotted.

Quilt Archaeology

This post comes to you thanks to my friend The Amazing Alice who is not only crafty, but organized! Last January, I finally got around to doing a big studio clean-up. At the end of all of my hard work, I discovered that I'd accidentally thrown out a bag of vintage linens. I was especially sad to lose the cutter quilt, that I'd used as the background for Heartfelt, and the rest of the feed sack that I'd used for Seed Sower. I told my sad story to Sister Alice, and a few weeks later, she gifted me with this gorgeous cutter quilt. (Alice actually gets rid of things on purpose!)

You can see how delicate the old fabric was. In some areas it was practically falling apart in my hands. When I looked inside the openings in the fabric, I could see that there was another quilt layered under the first one. I gently removed the green floral border, and then began the process of removing the knots so that I could peel off the top of the quilt to see what was underneath.

This is the quilt that I found underneath. The first quilt top fit a double bed. The quilt underneath was the size of a single bed. I'd like to think that a young bride extended the size of the quilt when she got married.


Guess what was used to extend the quilt? Feed sacks! I was so thrilled.

After I removed the feed sacks, I got to see the original twin-sized quilt. I folded over the back so you can see the black and white floral print  fabric that was on the other side.

I can't wait to use it in a future project. In the meantime, I folded each of the pieces very neatly and put them in a clear plastic bag, so that there is no possibility that this treasure will get discarded.

Collaborative Jewelry Work

Elizabeth Woodford and have been working on a collaborative jewelry set to donate to the LibertyTown Patron's Show in May. We decided on an ocean theme, and then combed through each of our bead stashes to assemble a group of beads to work from.

Elizabeth created this stunning bracelet. I borrowed this photo from her blog, where you can read more about her creative process, and see more images. She had to rework the piece several times to get it just right. I did some reworking myself, mainly due to the fact that I had to come up with something that would be a suitable companion to Elizabeth's gorgeous piece!

I decided to do one of my salt shaker pendants, and add a little more beading than usual. I had purchased a mermaid bead from Green Girl Studios when I was on vacation in Ashland, North Carolina and this seemed like the perfect  time to use it.

She is dangling from the bottom of the salt shaker, along with a variety of beads from our collective stash. I added a beaded section on the top of the salt shaker. I like the effect, and intend to explore the idea further in the future. I added chain to the very top, to coordinate with the salt shaker and mermaid, and then added a splash of beads on the bottom half of the chain. (You can click on the image for a closer look.)

The middle photo above also shows the earrings. They have shells with a variety of beachy beads spilling out of them.

There are still tickets available for the patron's show. Tickets are $150, and each ticket guarantees the ticket holder an original piece of artwork. (Or, in this case, three original pieces!) I hope you'll consider coming down to join the fun! For more information, you can visit the website at http://www.libertytownarts.com/.

Running with Scissors

Whew! The last few weeks have been crazy busy. Seriously crazy. Seriously busy. I was working three part-time jobs and trying to squeeze in studio time where I could. All of them were great opportunities, and I'm really glad I didn't have to miss out on any of them. Here are the art projects I managed to squeeze in:

Pictured below is the beginning of my fat-book pocket-skirt swap for Art and Soul. I can't reveal any more right now, but it's coming along, and I'll share the whole book with you when I get back from A&S.

I also completed this piece, "See The Show" which is part of my circus series. The background is a copper printing plate, with gel medium transfers. The 3-D objects are brass candle holders, brass charms, a vintage baby doll and an antique rubber stamp. The title of the piece is stamped in gold at the bottom.

This piece, titled "In the Kitchen" is currently in the Food for Thought show at Liberty Town through the month of April.

I'm so grateful that things are a little quieter now. I never got the house decorated for Easter, but there are worse things in the world, right? Easter bunny did get to do a little shopping, so there will be brimming baskets in the morning, followed by a fun day at Grandma's.


And who knows, maybe Easter bunny will get the urge to do a little decorating while the eggs are being hidden tonight!