Candace and Some New Glass Creations

Candace got to go to Squam Fiber Arts Camp with Corrine of Dosfishes

Here are a couple of photos from that trip. Corrine has more to tell about her artistic adventure on her blog.

One of Corrine's workshop mates in a photo op with our Candace.

A tired little stitcher.

I'm going back to an old venue south of here called the Girdwood Forest Fair. I haven't done it in years as the drive is super long (100 miles to Fairbanks isn't long in my book) but I have to drive past Anchorage out Turnagain Arm to the little festival in the woods near Alyeska Ski Resort which I think will be an 8 hour drive at least. 

It's the kind of festival with tie dye and hula hoops and lots of music and folks romping through the woods. There are pathways that wind through the trees and forest bringing you on an artistic shopping trail.

It was many years ago that I came up with something that would be perhaps more affordable and appealing to the younger crowd. The "Girdwood Whorls" were born. "They're drippy, they're trippy, they're Girdwood whorls!" Now I've been selling them as Rainbow Whorls and just plain whorls ever since. I also had made up little mushroom beads that I haven't revisited in quite awhile. I think that was the only item that got lifted from my booth back then, one of those mushroom beads. I've had really good luck in that department or really bad inventorying so that I don't notice if something's been taken!

As in most shows these days there seems to be a saturation of jewelry and I've been trying to branch out with other items that may go well in addition to my lampwork jewelry such as my beaded vintage image bags and "glinchies" ( inch glass tile magnets) and  vintage image tags.

I did want to come up with something new and since I have a goodly stash of copper wire at my disposal  I  have made up these wonky flowers that will hopefully make a hit. These are my Forest Fair Flowers.

The one on the left looks like a friend of Candace.

This is what they look like coiled up and hammered.

Then I'll put them on an adjustable leather cord.

I'm actually cutting the glass while it's hot to make the petals.

Tying Shoes~ An Unexpected Lesson

I took my 100 mile trip into town Saturday to set up at the farmers market. I had one and a half hours of grey skies and rain while driving to decide if I really wanted to set up or not. My helping husband was off on a fish wheel launching expedition in Chitina that will yield us fresh Alaskan soon. (hopefully)

As I neared town however it started to clear up a bit to my disappointment as I had been thinking about all the things I could accomplish if I wasn't going to be set up. Then I noticed a steady breeze and that made up my mind. Breezes are the enemy of an outdoor booth set-up.

After much running about doing errands and a bit of craft shopping and lunch with my son I found myself at Barnes & Noble bookstore with my feet propped up at the big circular fireplace reading Somerset publications and getting an inspiration fix. Yes, it was that kind of day outside! Never did get above 50 F all day with clouds and a drizzly breeze.

A couple of older men nearby were involved in a bit of old fart windbag politics discussion and as they were winding up their conversation one of them looked at my shoes (one of them was untied) and started in telling me that I must have never learned the right way to tie my shoes because one was untied. I blamed the goofy shoelaces that they are making these days that never fail to come untied numerous times a day for me. "Oh no", he argued. "You just never learned to tie them right. I've been doing a study on shoe tying these last three years and have concluded that about half of people learned to tie their shoes wrong and you're one of them. Your parents probably told you to double knot it to keep them from coming undone but that's unnecessary if you just tie them right to begin with!

I must teach at least 2 or 3 adults how to tie their shoes the right way every week. Do you want me to teach you?"

Well I was a little hesitant but then quickly said "Sure, why not?"

(At this point he wanted me to place my foot near his lap and I had a fleeting thought that he may be a foot fetishist and this was his ploy.)

"Show me how you tie your shoe." and I quickly employed my method that I'm sure I had learned from one of my parents.

"See!, you learned the wrong way, what you're doing is a granny knot and your bow will always end up pointing from toe to ankle and will come undone. If you do it the right way the bow will lay side to side neatly and will not come undone easily. What you're doing after making the loop is going over with the tie and you have to do it the opposite of how you learned, go under and then you'll have it."

It was a little awkward to tie it the new way by going under rather than over after over 50 years of shoe-tying but I've got it now and am testing the validity of his claims.

When I was still fresh with my new knowledge and amusing story I headed to the restroom and who do you think I run into? - The only person in my life that I have ever taught how to tie a shoe, my almost 27 year old son! There he was standing at a book rack with his double knotted shoe laces. I had a chance right then and there to right the wrong I had inflicted on him and teach him the right way to tie his shoe laces. I saved him another 27 years of shoelaces coming undone that I had endured.

Wrong Way

Right Way!

( These pictures have been artfully enhanced so you can't see how funky these sneakers actually look)

Craft Cram Part Deux~ A Hodge Podge With the Mod Podge

And then I ventured into the realm of collage for pure play.

I like that this was my own photo from our trip to Burma.

Anemone picture from a Dover book printed on vellum

Vintage illustration of a Dutch girl holding flowers

I started this piece last year and cut off the parts I didn't think worked so well.

I had a stash of root vegetables on hand.

Pre-painted paper from a color swap.

More experimenting with stamping.

Vintage photo from a blog giveaway.

Not sure why I had to give this seventies era gal a turnip head but she was asking for it.

Must be the diseased blood slide that sets it off although the little guy in the corner kind of looks like a fishy.

Make sure and smell the roses.

Somehow this works, not that there's rhyme or reason to it.

( not any that I'll reveal anyhow!)

Craft Cram

New *Numinosity* earrings with silver ear wires.

*Numinosity* earrings with nickel free brass ear wires.

Chunky Ocean Jasper and labradorite with Moody Underwater lampwork beads.

Citrine chunks and labradorite necklace with vermeil toggle.

My friend Jenny of JSchlo Jewelry was talking about having to cram in some craft making this week for a new craft market in her neck of the woods. The term "craft cram" emerged as it is something  those of us involved in art shows and other selling venues occasionally have to face.

I did my own craft cram this week as I had shipped off  quite a bit of my inventory in many directions to various galleries and shops leaving me somehow with an array of a mostly darker, moody color palette for me to sell at my own booth. 

I ended up making 31 pairs of earrings from the raw glass  at the torch to finish.  I managed to make a couple of chunky necklaces from some of the large moody underwater looking beads that I was holding on to. Sometimes I feel that I have to go through my stash and try to use up supplies that I may have bought years ago and breathe  a new life into them.

You may contact me through this site or my Facebook fan page should you desire to own any of these pieces.  I'm still working on a shopping cart, hopefully will have it up soon. all you need is a Paypal account.

Smoky Moods

Smoke.... 

many great associations, smoky lapsang souchang tea, a campfire, barbeque, good scotch, a mellow sax, a certain kind of singing voice but the Alaskan forest fires have once again filled our skies with haze with 80 forest fires burning currently, most of them in the interior. This is so common for our summers here, occurring after several days of hot weather and some lightning strikes, most don't come within miles of any human habitation.

Because I did a color post recently I am moved to do a more monochromatic post today to match the sepia toned atmosphere pervading our neighborhood.

                Normally you can see the majestic mountains from up here on the deck of the 

Garaj Mahal. (do you see my sweet little teardrop trailer?)

                        I used vintage photos printed on muslin to embellish these little bags.

These side by side faces fascinated me.