One for me, One for you....

Patty and I finally sorted through the buttons that she scored at Stitches East....this is my pick of buttons from the stash she scored...




My Line is now on display at the "Unknown Artist"

The weather outside is frightful!!!  I've consigned my scarf and hat line to the Unknown Artist Boutique in Annapolis Maryland.

http://www.the-unknownartist.com/

 Items will be there until the end of March.  If you see anything in my Artfire shop that you want, please send me a message and I'll see if it's still in stock.  Special orders are ALWAYS welcome and watch this blog and my Facebook page for new items for my 2011 line!!

Scenes from the ALS Artisan Boutique

here are some pics
My booth














Kristen & Cameron













Susan













Cindy













2hands indie market...
....Allyson

Rkia's Flower Garden

My girlfriend Rkia made up some flowers for the ALS show from handmade felt. They are gorgeous!!!...colors are much prettier in person and her attention to detail is impeccable!!!





Mixed Media Nuno Scarves....

Just a sampling of what I've been working on lately. Renew, recycle, reuse.  These scarve are accented with reclaimed silk fabrics from scarves and clothing and a little bit from my scrap pile.  It's still a nuno, on a base of featherweight chiffon fabric, but I laminated additional silk treasures on top creating a super crinkly effect.  I'm really enjoying this technique and love that I can reclaim the remaining silk from a scarf with a hole, or a blouse with a stain.

2 Hands Market was very nice show!!

I had a great time at the market...I would definately do another show with this group.  The event was well organized and advertised. 

http://www.2handsmarket.com/ 

Esther's finished totebag



Tuesday night at Northridge Knitters...Esther's first felted handbag is finished!!!  The whole group was super proud of her and Esther couldn't wait to show it off to her family and friends. 

Esther is finally done with her tote bag

I'm so proud of her!!!....I'm going to felt the bag for her soon...she's one of those Red Hatters...she wanted to put red straps on it and I said NO WAY!!!...it would ruin all the work she's done.  So up next...one for her Society events. 

Quiet Waters - The Blue Heron Room

I was in a great room with lots of friendly sellers...I had more fun at this show than I've ever had!!  Here are some of my new friends and favorites from the show. 

My booth...#1 right near the parking lot entry door.

















Cameron and Kristen of  Quirk and Bach Pottery http://www.quirknbachpottery.com/














My girlfriend Ryki who came to help me out on Sunday..shopping as usual :)













Joe's booth...Crabtown Photography...one of my booth neighbors (we were both in the promo photo shoot)...he taught me a few tricks about my new camera!!!  http://www.annapoliscrabtownphotos.com/















My other booth neighbor Lori of Dalango Creations. Beautiful Fused glass jewelry. We had soo much fun and I hope to have her as a booth neighbor again!!! http://www.dalangocreations.bizhosting.com/














Susan Gist, metalsmith of Ezria Designs.  http://www.ezriadesigns.etsy.com/













Cynthia of SweetWells...beautiful hand painted glass functional items. http://www.sweetwells.com/SweetWells/Home.html








Promo Photo Shoot at Quiet Waters Park

Quiet Waters Art and Music Festival...is just 2 weekends away!!!



http://friendsofquietwaterspark.org/arts_festival/home.html
Elise Miller, Truly Unique By Elise
Donna Brooks, Picture Windows
Joseph Gruver, Crabtown Photography

Trash to Treasure

Ok...I'm playing.  After a season of fiber project you end up with a bunch of little bits of fiber that are not worth organizing.  Throw them in a bag, sort them out by color scheme and turn some trash into treasure.  My trash to treasure fiber batts are always used on my felted soaps. 

http://www.1000markets.com/users/trulyuniquebyelise/collections/12508/products/2359

And finally some virgin carded merino/silk, silk caps, angelina, handdyed cotton schrim...stay tuned :)




The basic display layout...


WHEW...done....I had to figure out what to do with all those darn candle holders Dottie worked on :)...

I kinda like how the new gridwall hat holders make it look like the hats are floating in the other corner.  I also decided to bag the waterfall handbag holders.  They take up way too much room and I think the straight long pegs work nicer in this configuration.
ACCOMPLISHED!!! All packed up and ready.  Now I can FINALLY play with that french silk I got in NYC with my bff Lori!  Patty will be happy I have her remote office desk setup for her upcoming visit :)

If you're thinking about setting up a new studio, I really recommend gridwall.  I started out with 4 walls, 2 corner shelves and some pegs and have been able to expand the system as the need arises.  In my case, I break this down and take it to shows with me, but in the off season it's the greatest system for organizing projects, especially with the ability to EASILY move shelving around whenever your needs change. 

Sometimes things happen for a reason.....

So I'm getting ready to list some new merino/silk scarves.  I bring the scarf to my desk so I can look at it while describing the colors and the textures and look closer and the gold threads are starting to fall out like tinsel...and falling out quite easily.  So...lesson learned....metallic tinseled cotton scrim doesn't work.  But that's ok...I like this scarf even better without the gold tinsel...looks more organic...your thoughts?


before I tore out all the gold tinsel

while pulling out the tinsel (and letting the old Dyson clean up the mess)....I like it much better!!!  An experiment that ended up working out just fine!

This one is for my peep Jessica xo......

READY....

I'm in gettin' ready mode for the upcoming shows.

Photographing...done....YEA!...I hate that the most....but Roger has done the comparisons on new cameras and I think he likes the Sony the best.  He's done the research, I just wanted a new digital camera that did the best with indoor photography and was smaller than the beastie one I have.

Tagging...Very important.  I know I'm not the only one who goes to a show, looks at items and if there's no prices I may be reluctant to ask the seller.  Maybe it's just me...I don't know.  I want my customers to be able to pick up an item and know how much it costs.  We're not selling cars here :)

So here are some of the final little things I've been working on for the show. 

Next up....SET.....setup the display....configure the gridwall and lay out items to see which way it will work the best.  That's kinda fun :)
Felted Flowers
Camera Cases
Kitty Cracknip...oh yes...it's back!!!!

New Felt Scarves.  A play on texture, these scarves are made of hand carded merino/silk with cotton scrim accents, a few holes here and there and handdyed silk edges. 

More off the "To Do" List

Small candle holders and new clutch bag prototype felted and drying. The felting work for the upcoming show is done! All that's left in the unfinished pile are the handspun skull caps that Dottie finished up in July. I've got to check the length and get the ribbed edge done.  Wait til you see the colors of these hats!


Oh...and I had to show off the felt flowers :)

Hard Hittin' Chili



One of my fondest memories from childhood were the hot dog stands in New Britain.  It was a treat to get take out dogs from Snack-Eateria on Corbin Ave.  Alot of folks from New Britain will argue that Capitol Lunch had the better chili dogs, but we could walk to Snack-Eateria and that old Greek dude could cook up some mean chili.  So in my quest to duplicate that memory, I have come close with this chili recipe, modified from a few Cincinnati Chili recipe's.  If you want the spice list, please send a note asking for the "complete" recipe.  Enjoy and let me know if it brings back memories to those old taste buds!

Checking more off the to-do list

Finally got around to felting up the last batch of soap I needed for the show. I also think I have enough "soap cocoons" to bring back a few "Kitty Cracknip" toys.


 

Dottie's Felted Vessels

The felted candle cozies have been one of Mom's knitting projects for this season, besides knitting the men's hats.

I would start them for her by knitting the bottom of each vessel,  placing each one in a separate zip lock bag with coordinated yarn and texture fibers that I wanted her to use for each vessel.  Dottie would finish them up and give them to me to add the additional texture "pebbles" and "bubbles" and fell them.   


In production right now are about a dozen more of the really short vessels like you see on the red candle below. These are the simplest of all of the cozies because they are solid without texture additions so finishing on them for me takes less time.

Now back to to studio to see what else is on the get finished list.


Latest Wave of Tropical Nuno Scarves

Here's a sneak peak of the latest batch of Tropical nuno scarves and new line of merino/silk warm scarves.   Yes...warm even with the holes in them :)   I'll be listing them soon to 1000 Markets...(it's such a pain listing stuff knowing that it's hot as heck and no one cares about wool right now).




Sneak Peak!! Gradient Color Nuno Scarves

Handdyed silk scarves and fibers in gradients combinations.  More colors coming...back to the dyepot!!!

Tropical Weight Nuno Scarves

I knew I had to have these modeled so you could see the beauty.  Focus is on how the silk scarf crinkles in the wool circles and the organic look of silk/merino dreadlocks.  This collection is best worn pinned at the shoulder...what a super easy way to dress up a plain tank top for the evening. 
Click on title to see them in my 1000 Markets Shop!

They look ok hanging on the clothesline...












Once modeled, you can see how they dress up Stephanie's plain black tank top.