Learning to Marble Paper

On this past Friday, with the commitment of strengthening my crafting skills, I ventured to learn how to marblize paper. Gathering with 2 trusted crafters, Monica and Brenda, I invited them to come to my house and I would host our craft day, be responsible for buying the kit, and have everything ready.

My two greatest weaknesses as an artist are reading directions and doing things exact. I have no patience. I like to get the tools and just rip into it. I want to just play and figure things out as I go. This was hard for me.

I bought a $15.00 kit from Texas Arts Supply (Marbling kit by Jacquard). I had to read and reread the instructions 10 times plus, then print out other instructions (from the maven of them all....Martha Stewart), and compare those instructions to these crappy kit instructions that were obviously written by someone who wanted to marblize fabric and not paper (who knew you could do this with fabric?). I went to buy eye droppers and clothespins - the only additional supplies not in the kit. Eye droppers were easy, but clothespins...no luck as I spent 2 minutes describing them to a salesclerk who not only did not know what clothespins were, but still had no idea after my lengthy description. If you see clothespins anywhere, please let me know....I still need some. I mixed all the ingredients, I prepped the paper with one mixture, and mixed a separate concoction for the paint. And I did it. Not only that, but when we got together and tried putting it all together, it worked.

I achieved two things: freedom and capability. Freedom from the fact that this art form is very loosey-goosey. You cannot EVER repeat the same technique as the last the one you previously used, because this is a SKILL. At its finest, you can appreciate that people who do this professionally have come from families that are masters of this art form. They have been teaching and mastering this technique their whole lives. Since I am not an exact person, this type of art was wonderful for me. I could play and just see what happens, because I sure was not going to be able to repeat any of it. I also achieved capability because I faced my weakness of reading directions and going slowly step-by-step. And I enjoyed it. When we had all the pieces laid out and you could see how beautiful they were, I don't think there was one of us who was not just a bit proud.

Alice in Wonderland ...It's What I Feel Like Most of the Time

Finished making another book this morning with the theme of Alice In Wonderland. Alice has been on my mind lately. I ran across these words and it spurred me...

"Who are YOU?" said the Caterpillar.
"I . . . I hardly know, Sir, just at present," Alice replied, rather shyly.
"At least I know who I was I when I got up this morning, but I think I must
have changed several times since then."


I know just what you mean Alice.

Baby Book and Altered Art Bird Book

Cover of Baby Book

Some inside pages - used a lot of vintage wallpaper in this book

I love this image of the girl and boy

These are my favorite pages

This red mesh stuff comes around wine bottles - I think?

Old popcorn bag container

And that's it. I have been using my new redone studio all day today. My words are short, because I am visually worn out. Too dark a day to take studio pictures. Will try tomorrow, because it is really something.

Hope you have a beautiful, restful day.

My Sister Designer for Michael Kors

If you did not read my post last week about my incredibly artistic family, you might have missed out on one important part of the story. When I started my business in 2008, the one thing people kept saying to me over and over again was...

"This sounds so perfect for you, because you are so creative."

And I would kinda laugh in my head. Me? Creative? You must be confusing me with my family. But, after thinking about what some of my relatives do, I know why I like my job. Because I was raised in a household of highly creative folk.



So, my oldest sister, Karen, is the designer for a line called Michael Kors. Maybe you have heard of it? She designs the Michael line. Having worked for the likes of Liz Claiborne, Tahari, Tommy Hilfiger, Jones New York and a slew of others, she has paid her dues and worked extremely hard to get to this point.

I remember her selling clay animals on the driveway of our house in Stamford, Connecticut. Her paintings and watercolors were framed and used as art in our house.

She can draw.
She can paint.
She has an eye.

Kinda hard to think you can beat this. She is the oldest child. And she forged the way for all of us to sort of find our creative spirit.

She does not like to tell people what she does or talk about her job. She would probably be mad that I wrote about her - typical New Yorker. The one thing I have on my side is that she is so busy that she will never see this AND I am not lying here . . . she does not know how to get to my blog. I send her the link, and I get voice mails saying she is trying to get onto it, but can't figure it out.

Karen...you set the bar.

Handmade Books That Will Make You Quiver With Delight

Now tell me....do you get as excited about seeing Cherry Blossoms as I do?

Do handmade books make you squeal with delight?

Maybe. Maybe not.

But maybe if you look at this very talented bookbinder you might change your mind.

I was glancing through Facebook one day when one of the artists I love the most, Charlotte Lyons, whose website you can visit here, happened to have a picture of this artist's work on her page.

I opened it. And low and behold....the world of Katie Gonzalez and her company, Linen Laid Felt opened up before my already teary eyes (yes, teary - I did mention I love the Cherry Blossoms, no?).

I did SOMETHING I never do. I ordered something right then and there, I contacted the artist, told her I wanted a custom book, and we talked and I was elated. How often does this happen?




I ordered a book for Lucy with a special inscription on it that says, "The words of Lucy Hughes" or something like that. I want to be able to write down all the funny things she says and what better place to put them in than a book of this quality? And how much did this cost me? A mere $40.00. That's right. Now why in the world would you not invest in this type of craftsmanship?


So here is how you can contact Katie Gonzalez:

BLOG: http://linenlaidfelt.blogspot.com/
ETSY SHOP: http://www.etsy.com/shop/linenlaidfelt
or become her friend on Facebook: www.facebook.com/LinenLaidFelt
and lastly, email her, which is what I did....linenlaidfelt@gmail.com


Hope you enjoy checking out her blog and reading about her as much as I have. Truly, I love handmade things.

There is Nothing Like Her Spike Earrings

I am excited to introduce others to the artisan work of Houston local, Vandi Hodges.


I will be at TOOTSIES this Saturday, April 3rd doing a Trunk Show with Vandi and her collection known as Via Vandi.


Here is what is unique about Vandi's work . . . almost everything is available in both Sterling Silver and 24 Karat Gold Vermeil. What is Gold Vermeil? It is a process where you start with a silver base and put at least 2.5 microns of Gold over the Sterling base. And most people use 14 Karat Gold or 18 Karat Gold. Not Vandi. She uses a 24 KARAT Vermeil that is 3 microns thick and this makes the gold more durable and also a much richer color.


Her SPIKE earrings are the first two pictures. Want to see how they work? Well, put on your imagination cap. The front of the earring is the small piece, and it has a post behind it . . . this post goes thru the ear. The spike fits into the back of the post (sort of magically I might add). It's an earring in reverse.


This design is the PRIMARY reason I wanted to represent Vandi. I love good design and incredibly unique, in addition, is getting very difficult to find in the jewelry industry. Better to see these on an ear. Hopefully, you're own.






You can see more of Vandi's collections at the following retailers:

• The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
• The Houston Museum of Natural Science
• Kuhl-Linscomb
• www.viavandi.com

Now Finishing Book Number 8......and Loving it!

I was so busy this weekend. Who isn't busy on the weekend...this is not a unique statement, I am aware.


Here are some bookmarks that I whipped out this weekend on my....
SINGER
SEWING
MACHINE








And I worked on this book -
Known now as Book Number 8 - A Travel Journal for Paris. . . . I am a bit discouraged by my photography. I just cannot seem to get the idea for how to photograph books and the pages.
I love the Hermes ribbon on the bottom of the book.

I also got surprised with 5 bags of stuff from friends. My friend Katie gave me tons of the things below - 3 LARGE bags full. My mom gave me a whole bag of old cards, and my sister, Tara, gave me a ton of old millinery items.





One of the things I did was cover some egg cartons with paper, so they could hold a lot of "the bit and pieces," as my organizer Denise would say.


When you are on a tight budget and really need to organize, you try to use anything you can to make ends meet .


I did not even buy my new sewing machine, I traded it by putting a couch on CraigsList for a client.


Feeling positively thrifty these days, and that makes me feel good.


I am also saving like a mad person to
be in my expanded studio by April 1st.


Cross fingers, say the sign of the cross, and whatever else you can do!
See you soon!