TechShop has a new member!

I think I can safely say that Monday was the first day of the rest of my life! That is to say, I started my membership at TechShop, a workshop in San Francisco that gives members access to tons of tools and classes.

I've been dreaming about making some intricate hollow book safes, ala Shawshank Redemption. I haven't finished one yet, but I have started on this beetle book... what do you think?

I've also been experimenting with using book covers and other materials to make jewelry... we'll see!

Putting the "Bizarre" back in Bazaar Bizarre

After a fairly unsuccessful trip to Bazaar Bizarre last weekend, I'm wondering if I should carry through with my plans to try again at another craft fair this weekend in San Francisco? Here's the deal: 

After creating this (if I do say so myself) AWESOME trench coat filled with my crafty wares, I concocted an evil plan to set up shop in front of the entrance to Bazaar Bizarre, an annual holiday craft fair. I would go completely incognito: Suspicious trench filled with crafts? Check! Light brown helmet wig? Check! Aviator sunglasses? Check! Completely ridiculous high-waisted jeans? Check! Once there, I would be photographed and talked about throughout the land, in addition to the obscene amount of merchandise I would sell, of course.

Well, obviously I got shut down by "the Man," a security guard who seemed neither amused by my sales tactics, nor willing to condescend to a pinky swear with me (a sincere promise that I wouldn't sell anything while I waited for a friend to return).

Neverthless, the day was not a total loss: the masses definitely enjoyed my marketing idea, even if not too many actually came closer to look at the jewelry I was selling.

Plus, I was able to sell something, make a few friends, and even finagle a trade with an adorable vendor, Bird Mafia, inside the craft fair proper. I haven't made up my mind yet whether or not to try again at Renegade (another big SF craft market), but there would definitely have to be some tweaks to my strategy... let me know if you have any ideas!

Laura

Rings Fall 2010

So, I'm heading to LA for Thanksgiving, and bringing along some goodies to bring to some shops. I have one shop in particular in mind, so hopefully they want my stuff! I'll be bringing these rings along, as well as double brooches, some wool trees, and maybe some hair clips. Enjoy!

Double Brooches Fall 2010

These babies are one brooch made up of two separate pins, connected by draped chain. I call them "double brooches." Most of them feature a woodcut butterfly, camera, or old meter. I've also just started making some with my own handmade fabric buttons. Enjoy!

APE 2010!

My ring display: pyrex + rice!

After an exhausting weekend selling my wares at the Alternative Press Expo (APE) in San Francisco this weekend, I haven't even begun to dig into all the comics and other goodies I traded for... though I'm really excited about those, too. Alas, they'll have to wait for my next post!

My corner of our booth.

Our 6-foot long table was pretty much full to the brim, especially on Sunday. There I was on the right-hand side, hiding behind my tower of goodies. Julien was in the middle, with a nice old-people friendly (read: larger sized) version of his comic, The San Lukas Arboretum. And Julien's friend Danny held down the left side of the table, selling some beautiful samurai and coi fish prints. On Sunday, we even had another person crammed behind the table: Danny's friend Jon, who had some ridiculous celebrity-as-dinosaur prints for sale (my favorite was Michael Cera-tops). Luckily, our little cooler of beer kept us in high spirits!

As for me, I really experimented with some new things. In addition to making rings, which I had never tried before, I also played around with the idea of having two brooches, connected by draped chain. Besides using woodcut butterflies, I also tried a few woodcut robots and cameras, all attached to my felt flowers. I've been wanting to do this for a while, and got some great feedback, even though I didn't sell quite as many of the double-brooches as I did other (cheaper) items.

A pretty successful weekend, all in all. Next up on my agenda: getting into more brick-and-mortar stores!

Faux-rarriums continued, and stencil explorations

Hey, you! It's been awhile! Since my last post I've been very busy... but I'm happy to say that my line of brooches and hair clips has been doing very well... both on Etsy, and at a cute Alameda boutique, Modern Mouse, that has begun selling some of my items. Check out modernmouse.eleen.com for more on the store. The picture on the left shows some of the other things they sell.

Now to the fun stuff! I thought it might be a good time to share some projects that I've been working on... like the faux-rarrium I finished since my last post. I'm very happy with how it turned out... but now I want to go even bigger!

The one I made has a removable dome that makes me very happy... but I might have to make do without it if I do end up going bigger. The trees are made of real twigs and wool (the grass is also wool).

On a different note, I've been really excited about Ed Roth's kit for stenciling your home, Stencil 101 Decor. Of course, as a renter with anti-paint landlords, I've had to rack my brains for a way to actually use the stencils provided. I finally came up with the idea to stencil my sliding glass doors with the quatrefoil stencil... but instead of paint I used Crayola Washable Window Crayons. The final look isn't nearly as clean as what you would get with spray paint, but  spray paint doesn't wipe off with a sponge either. Next time I might go for the washable window markers, also by crayola and available at Michael's. 

Next up on my to-do list: multi layer paintings in shadow boxes... wish me luck!

My own private Idaho.

I've had it in my mind recently that I want to make lots of little worlds. What first got me thinking was all of terrariums I've been seeing (I even made a few myself). But what about fauxrariums?  That is, what if I made a little world entirely from scratch? 



Then, I saw Phoebe in Wonderland (available in your local video store or streaming from Netflix), which features this amazing "wonderland" that the mother rigs up on a lazy susan  for ease of playing with. It reminded me almost of a smaller, spinning Mister Rogers Neighborhood (which is also inspiring). So I think I might make my own version... and definitely a spinning one.

I've also been looking at the amazing modern dioramas made by George and Jaqueline Schmidt of Screech Owl Design. The link takes you to a tutorial, which I fully plan on using. Here's a sketch of some that I want to make. There will definitely be lots of layers and cut-outs. I'm still working on the designs, though.

After talking to my friend Carla (an amazing artist and crafter) about my plans, she brought up the idea of collaborating on a nice Puppet Theater, complete with puppets. The plan is to start with the puppets, then figure out what kind of backgrounds would work best for us... this should be really cool. I'm excited!


 So, that's what I've been day dreaming of. I can't wait to get started! I'll probably start off by making a miniature fauxrarium first... we'll see what happens, I guess. 


Laura