Going in all directions at once!

Good Grief!

Every once in awhile, I find myself going slightly crazy trying to do six or seven... or a dozen things at once!  It's like I get hit with a heavy downpour of creativity and I'm trying to juggle that with regular activities (laundry, meals, shopping, etc) and I start spinning out of control!  Well, that's what's been happening lately, and that's why it's been awhile since my last post.  

As mentioned a few posts back, I got back into making Spirit Dolls... the kind of project that I love because it's totally freeform with very few requirements:  sticks, scraps of fabric, yarn, ribbon, etc. And faces to give them personality.  It helps to have thread, glue, and a place to spread it all out so you can play.

Above, my work table with boho beads in progress

Got myself a new hot glue gun, and it's awesome!

A SMALL portion of my yarn stash... more in the closet!

My collection of wood - twigs, bark, branches

My current doll in progress

So I've been haunting Pinterest for quite awhile, looking for inspiration and ideas... always with questions unanswered and no  clue where to go for them.  Then I posted on a facebook group I belong to called Fiber Arts/ Mixed Media Art, asking if anyone made Spirit Dolls and if they knew of any groups that shared about them.  Nope, so you know what followed... I started my own group and let the Fiber Arts folks know, and now I have 61 members!  If you are on facebook and want to join (for those who haven't already) the group is called Spirit dolls and guides.  

So far, I've posted the names of a couple of books and a tutorial I have used as references.  And yesterday I found a great video tutorial on making Spirit Dolls, and another one on making Boho beads, which I love to use as embellishments.  And now I have a group of friends to schmooze with about making them, woo-hoo!

But that's not all I've been doing - one of my long time tie-dye customers has been buying clothing for me to dye for her and her husband, so that's on the "to do" list with more to come!

Here's a shot of one of the shirts in progress - I still have to overdye with black after tying into a pattern:

And there are 4 more after this, all with the rainbow/black combo... this gal loves color!

Other than that, I have some herb seedlings started in the patio room along with a geranium cutting that I rooted in water... projects galore waiting to be farmed out to handy workers - waiting for checks from the bank, then I can get those started.  Spring cleaning is underway... slowly, but surely!  So now you know why I haven't posted in awhile, but hopefully I will get back to a more regular schedule soon!

Happy Spring, all... and hope you're all well and happy!

What's new?

 Last Friday, my friend Cinde and I headed to Sedona - first for a lovely morning hike along Crescent Moon trail, following Oak Creek.  I only got one photo (which I can't find!) and a short video:

After we worked up an appetite, we headed to The Coffee Pot and feasted on some yummy mexican food for lunch, then headed over to Sedona Artist Market to replenish our inventory and tidy up.

My Spirit Dolls nestled into their new (hopefully temporary) home, waiting to be adopted.  A few bowls also filled some empty spots on the baker's rack:

Cinde also had some empty spots to fill with some of her new Tree Spirits.

I love the wall piece with the marvelous face in the second photo!

Then on Sunday, we were at Arts Connection at Flagstaff Mall, busy helping to put a fresh coat of paint on the walls!  

Co-manager Carol, painting the wall behind the counter

Cinde, with our other co-manager Catherine - Terre's Glass bird feeders hung in the background

A view from the front door... painting almost complete!

Artwork almost completely restored... 

My bowl display and wall art

And my clothing rack, along with mannequin display and my "Swirl" wall art.

To say I was tired yesterday after several hours back in the gallery to set up would be an understatement... we all were!  But I'm so glad we were able to get the job done, and look forward to spending time there in the coming months, admiring our handiwork and how much it enhances the art there!

Red Front Door Store Soft opening!

 

My friend Jana, who has helped me so much this past year to learn all about using Social Media to promote my work, has opened a wonderful new e-commerce site, Red Front Door Store!  I wanted to share her blog post announcing the Soft Opening: https://www.redfrontdoorstore.com/post/soft-opening

Jana used to have in person shows at her home in Buckeye where shoppers could come and browse and buy a variety of hand crafted items.  With the virus this past year, she really missed being able to offer the shows, and Red Front Door Store was born!  I'm excited to be a part of this new endeavor, and hope you will all take time to visit her e-commerce page, see what is offered, and bookmark the spot for your shopping needs!

Thank you, and I hope you will share this information with family, friends and co-workers as well!

 

Playing with dolls

 A few years back, I tried my hand at making a few Spirit Dolls... something I think I came across on Pinterest - my favorite rabbit hole! 😉  I think I made about 4 or 5, but they weren't big sellers either at Arts Connection or at our annual Open Studios tour, so I hung them in my studio and moved on.  But recently, my interest came back... my thought being this might be something that would be of interest at Sedona Artist Market Gallery.  I sent pictures to the gallery manager, and she said "sure, bring them!" so I dug out my supplies and started making them again.  

This reminds me of when I was  a kid - during the summer, we would spend time with my paternal grandmother, who was a quilter.  Grandma Doane let me raid her fabric stash for scraps I could use to "make" doll clothes, which was pretty much wrapping them around the doll and tying them with another strip of fabric... fast forward, and I think my time "Playing with dolls" stayed with me, and I'm right back there playing with scraps of fabric, yarn, ribbon... you name it!  Here's the first one I finished recently:

I named her "Dancing in the Moonlight" - I used a crescent moon earring for a pendant, and have added some star sequins to her "hair".

Here's a closer view

This is "Lady Bountiful" - I actually made her a few years ago, but did some more work on her this week to add to her appeal.  I had scraps of fabric collage I made a few years back, and decided she needed a small purse.

This is another one I made a few years ago - the one I sent a photo of to the gallery manager.  I call her "Colorful Soul", and she makes me think of Mardi Gras... festive!

I have my stash of wood branches, fabric and yarn, as well as some other "faces" that I bought from Lyn Belisle of EarthShards.com.  Lyn says "The evocative Shard Faces originated in old sculpture gardens and cemeteries and were carefully and respectfully captured in clay with a press mold".

I do hope to make some of my own faces using push molds for future projects, but will use up the ones I got from her first.  Meanwhile, the never ending fabric stash will keep me going for a long time to come!

Time flies!

Good grief, it's been over a month since my last post!  Time does indeed fly, and I've been keeping busy getting ready to put some of my work in Sedona Artist Market Gallery, preparing to roll off as co-manager at Arts Connection, doing my income taxes (for the first time in over 30 years!), working up some crochet rope bowls and more.

Here is my booth at Sedona Artist Market Gallery:

And my friend Cinde's display - we actually now have 4 of the Arts Connection artists there!

Cinde does extraordinary beadwork, and my faves are the "Tree Spirits".  Each one has a name, and they combine dead wood with her lovely beading and molded faces she has made which give them wonderful personalities.  I left this photo in the original size to show off the details of her work... it still doesn't do them justice, but at least you can get an idea of what she does.

The crocheted rope bowls are at Arts connection going through the jurying process to see if they are accepted to come in to the gallery.  I've completed 4 so far, and love how they are coming out, but decided to see what the jury committee think before I go any further.  Here's the latest:

Oh, and one more very important thing I have to report since my last post: my husband and I

have received both of our Covid-19 vaccines!  The second one laid me flat for part of Friday, but I

expected it, so was prepared to just rest, nap and act like a sloth... today, I feel great!  And now that we are close to 95% immunity, I'm looking forward to being able to do some things I haven't done for close to a year, woo-hoo!

In closing, I am going to share a meme I saw online that I think is very inspirational:

Let's all embrace the sentiment!  See you next time...

Crochet Bowl project, Sedona Artist Market and more

 As I mentioned in my previous post, I have begun experimenting with making yarn bowls, using the same cord for a foundation that I use in my fabric wrapped bowls.  After trying the wrapping method, I decided to try a crochet design, and find that I can do these without too much pain in my shoulder.  This is the first one I made:

I love the shape, and it was a good first effort, encouraging me to make more.  But somehow, the next few efforts were not coming out right and I ended up ripping them out and finally changed the yarn to a blue and brown worsted variegated yarn, and made a small adjustment to the pattern I was following.  Here's the pot in progress:

I actually thought I was done when I got to this point and put it aside to work on something else.  But

I had a feeling I wanted to do something more to it.  This morning, I decided to break out some of my "Homespun" yarn, which has been in my stash for quite awhile.  But I love the copper color, and thought it would enhance the look of the pot if I wrapped it around the exposed rope for a few rows.  Here it is now:

I'm pretty sure I'm done now, but I'm going to give it another day or two to be sure I don't get

further inspiration!

Meanwhile, I'm ramping up now to put some of my inventory in Sedona Artist Market at the end of this month, and I'm really excited about the opportunity!  I'm busy dyeing rayon Ruana jackets 

                      

and gathering some of my coiled fabric bowls together.  I bought a new clothing rack:

This is just right to display my jackets, along with some of my rayon tunic tops and Easy breezy dresses!  And I have a small baker's rack  for displaying some of my coiled rope bowls:

Here is one I finished recently using fabric I dyed with the "Desert Sky" colors I used for the jacket above: 

These colors make me think of the bright blue sky with wisps of clouds and the glorious sunsets we get here in Arizona!  I also used these colors to dye some scarves for my friend Jana to add to her Red Front Door Store inventory, which is open now online:

You can find her e-commerce site here.  We're getting together later this week so I can give her the scarves, along with some others, to add to my collection that she is offering on her site.  Love friends who collaborate!

My next post, I should have photos of the displays at Sedona Artist Market, and I will share those along with (hopefully) pix of yet another variation I have come across for making hand sewn bowls... never a dull moment, and always more things to try!

Lastly, I am happy to announce that Bruce and I will be getting our first Covid-19 vaccines tomorrow, and I'm so glad!  Hopefully, this will give us the added security of knowing we are a little safer from this horrible pandemic, and maybe we can venture out a little more often, once we have both doses and wait the prescribed time after the second dose.  Something to look forward to this year!  Stay safe, all...

New Camera, New bowl technique, New opportunity, Passing the baton

 Well, as I mentioned in my last post, I wanted to try getting back into doing some video tutorials, but the camera I was using bombed on me.  So we found another one (lovingly used) and I gave it a test drive with a video tutorial on how to Drizzle Dye a silk scarf:

You can view it HERE

It was fun to make, so I hope to do more in the future.

On another note - I belong to a group on Facebook for bowl makers, and someone posted a photo of a yarn wrapped bowl... a technique I have tried in the past, but was never able to get the hang of it.  All I could find was written instructions with illustrations, and I just didn't get it!  But the gal who posted the photo said to look for videos on youtube, and sure enough, I found 2 that got me started.  Here's my first attempt:

It's a start, but I wanted to keep going, so I started a second one - this uses cord like I use for my fabric bowls, and I decided to try a smaller diameter:

I really like how this one looks, but alas!  The wrapping of the yarn is a repetitive motion, and I  have an old shoulder injury that has flared up as a result, so I can't work very long on this without experiencing pain in the shoulder!  So for now, this one is on the back burner.  I'm also looking at tutorials on how to crochet bowls, since I do like to do simple crochet projects.  I will post updates if I get time to give that a try.

On the Opportunity front: My friend Cinde, the amazing bead artist, and I will be going to Sedona next Friday to check out Sedona Artist Market, a possible new venue for selling our work!  I will post more about that soon.

On another note, I have been co-managing Arts Connection Gallery at Flagstaff Mall for nearly a year now... a year of challenges - being shut down for 3 months by Covid-19; struggling to re-open with about half the number of artists, as so many were concerned about being in public and contracting the virus; re-opening first for 3 days a week, then 4, 5, and finally 7 days a week with artists working 5 to 7 shifts during the last 3 months to keep our doors open.  It's been extremely challenging, time  consuming, rewarding but a real drain on my energy.  So I have given notice that I will be rolling of at the end of February, and one of our talented Watercolor Artists, Catherine Sickafoose, has agreed to step in.  I will still be showing/selling my work at Arts Connection, but if I add Sedona Artists' Market as a venue, that will mean a need to increase my production time and available inventory, so it's shaping up to be a busy year so far!  And with that, it's time to head to the studio and get started!  Stay tuned...😉