Art Fairs

I used to do a lot of art fairs and shows. I haven't done many recently - long story. What I forgot about is how hard sometimes the information is to find for someone who is new to doing them.

I received notice yesterday that it is time to jury for the Michigan Guild of Artists and Artisans. DH and I have belonged to the organization for about 20 years. We originally juried in as a team - designing and creating some very unique wooden toys. It's been a long and fruitful journey for us as a design team but we have put our business to rest about two years ago. It's a shame and it is greatly missed - by our clients and us. But, we still belong to the Guild and although we have previously juried as a team I also joined as a separate entity quite a long time ago. Well, I have a very low "wait number" - new members are assigned a number while they wait for inclusion in the Ann Art Art Fair. I've received notice to jury and a list of the fairs.

Hmmmmm, I need to get a body of work together and get it photographed by January 12, 2011. I know what I need - but can I make it happen in time. So NOT sure about that. I'd need a booth shot and everything and I do not have items to fill booth. I know the ropes and traversed them for lots of years. Can I create the cohesive body of work? Oh hell yes. ACK! - too many decisions...

For the newbies trying to figure all of this out - gosh it was hard at times - I've found another one of those "treasures" to add to the blog list for you.

Art Fair Insiders

There is good information there - for newbies who want to do art fairs and old hands who might want to get back to it!

It's Almost Here!

Not really! I love to see the costumes...but alas we don't have many kids come by because we are so rural. Luckily we do have a very active Lions and Kiwanis club and they throw a huge party for the kids at the high school football field. They even have the fire trucks and give them rides around the track. Great fun for the kids and when they leave every kid is given a bag of candy. I apologize for the lack of posts and will get back "with it" soon.

Gaffer Experiments

Deb Batten and Mallory Hoffman turned me on to Gaffer Chalcedony a long time ago. I have other Gaffer Glass and have been doing just a smidgen of playing lately. These are the results of my play. The oblong one is Chalcedony over black/ encased/ with black tips. The one that was squeezed has kind of a kitchen sink approach. The base was Hyacinth, and there is chalcedony (not used to it's advantage by any means), a green lustre, black, and I think a dense black - then it was all encased. It has potential...I need to leave a few of the ingredients out.

One of the things I have to tell you is that this glass works like butter. It's not that it is soupy - it is not. Maybe honey would be a better descriptor. But what I want to tell you is that hands down there is nothing that goes on the way their clear does for encasement. Yeah, I know you can't mix those COE's up. Well, don't. But this clear wraps around in nice little neat circles one on top another. You could stop there and let them stand up and they'd be these optical waves of what is underneath them. It would be a great bead. But, when you heat this encasement up it smoothies itself out and lays flat over it's core - evenly - cleanly - without scum. It's so smooth and skinny no one might even guess that you had added that one extra step. Sometime when you are encasing a Effetre' bead or something else you begin in the same way and pretty soon you are dragging up bits of the the wonderful design you made underneath. Not with that Gaffer, it just tends to stand up in those ridges and slowly melt down in to a perfect flat encasement.

I've been doing beads for over 17 years and have not ever run across how juicy and phenomenal it is. If you haven't tried it call those Gaffer girls up and pick some some rods. You won't be sorry and they are a great help when you can so don't be shy.

I'm going to keep experimenting and I'll post those results here when I get them. Also, if you have an cool combination ideas - post them for me on the blog and I will try to work it out pretty good if I have the glass on had.

Any suggestions will be most graciously accepted.

Sharon

Bwaahahahahaha - It's coming!

I've started on the "Nightmare Before Christmas Tree". Today after I put some more bulbs on it I'll take the first photos. It's just I like the twinkle so much that I could have those kind of lights up all year long. This tree is kind of a nod to my quirkiness and a way to accomplish it! I even have a vulture for it. Hopefully I will get around to making a veil for the skelton - I've bought netting and lace to do that. Hmmmm, I wonder what the kids will think they they arrive for Thanksgiving. By then I will have Fhairy Strands back in my hair and this tree will be complete. Uh oh!

In keeping with the season here come the holiday jokes!

Who did Frankenstein take to the prom?
His ghoul friend

Ask Harriete

Wow - Another new and exciting web source for guidance and answers! I've read articles by Harriete but never realized she had a great web presence...I should have known. Look for yourself because you will love the content of Harriete's blog:

ASK HARRIETE

They came! I am so excited. I rifled through the box and browsed them all quickly and picked out my first choice to savor…500 Enameled Objects. As you can see from the pile of spoils I already have some pages marked with tabs. I have several favorites but adore Michele Raney’s “Raven”. As you can see that box is still in plain site in the middle of my front room. I know I should move it – but every time I peek over from the couch when I’m perusing my new book I just get this grin from ear to ear and want to do a happy dance! Thanks Sterling Publishing and Lark Books. I’m pretty sure you’ve made my week – uh, maybe even my month.

Fall & Winter Color Palette 2010-11

It's always a nice surprise to me what's in the color palettes for the season. But, I think the last time I was shocked was when lime green became so popular. Not that I don't love the color. It was a great treat to have something kind of "shocking" to work with. It's not so shocking to see it anymore but when it first hit it was kind of like "Wow, what are they going to blend with THIS color." I kept thinking of Chartreuse Fire Trucks. This fall and winter's color palette has been out for awhile but I thought I'd post it for everyone to see. I'm kind of grooving on the "clay" and it looks like they've hit just about every version of blue so the sky's (all pun intended) the limit there. It looks like designers have a wide open field of color to use this year.

Round-Robin

A round Robin is what I got when I over fed the poor thing who nested on the back of my house this year. How she got herself and the babies in that nest is beyond me, but she did. It's also what the Southeastern Michigan Beadmaker's Guild did this year as a project. It's been fun - it's been trying - but it wasn't the Guild's fault. I did my usual procrastination which is why it was trying...we had two weeks to do our part on each bracelet. It's a great project and the results are going to be fabulous.

What we did - (and I procrastinated on) was this: The Guild provided everyone with a length of chain - a clasp - a notebook - directions - mailing labels - bag - and the box. In case you don't know what a round robin is we are supposed to follow the directions - and move the box along to the next person in the line (always the same person and hence the mailing labels). So, we each assembled our bracelets to fit our wrists. In the notebook we were to put our name and write what color combination or theme we might want to have for our bracelet and attach the first bead to represent that theme/color scheme.

Our only responsibility was attach a lampwork or other bead to each bracelet according to the notebooks in the box - leaving our own note in the notebook as to what we had chosen to attach and why. One bead or attachment, note, back in the mail. Is that hard? No - I have no excuses for having more than one bracelet. Well, except for the fact that the person in front of me sent me five at once. They procrastinated too!

I'm catching up now and have beads made to attach to some of the bracelets. For some others I will have to go back to the drawing board because I didn't like what I had made in the first batch. Now I'm not only late but I'm being royally picky about it too. Frankly, I love pink and purple but have never been much good at keeping them crisp. I get mud or devitrification - which we all know is not a pretty sight.

These are some of the bracelets that are in my possession at the moment. Pretty cool, huh? I'd highly recommend this project to any group.

Tomorrow I am meeting my friend Susan in Grand Rapids. We are doing the Western Michigan Bead Guild's Show. It will be fun. I haven't seen her since this summer - she lives in North Carolina. I'll take lots of photos - I have the camera packed.

Sculptures of Ron Mueck

I've been doing quite a bit of figurative work lately - mostly faces and expressions in the glass pieces. My friend Alita thought I'd like this sculptor so she sent me a link. These are incredibly life like. It would be like running around and being a Lilliputian in Gulliver's Travels. You'd be only six inches tall and everything would look gigantic. I'd love to see these in person.

Ron Mueck is an Australian hyperrealist sculptor working in Great Britain. Mueck's early career was as a model maker and puppeteer for children's television and films, notably the film "Labyrinth" for which he also contributed the voice of Ludo.

Mueck works with a particular type of super-realism that has a long history. He invites people to take a close-up look at his work, to inspect the hairs, freckles and blemishes, to scrutinize the carefully modeled expression and contemplate the difference between artist-made reality and the world in which we live.

Look at the size of the baby sculpture! Moving monumental size sculptures has got to be difficult but then moving something so hyper real on top of it...well, it's kind of wild when you think about it.

Off to class tonight - beads in the kiln and I'll post some bead photos tomorrow.