Ornaments

At the gallery demo last weekend I took an order for some tree ornaments, and I kicked myself for not thinking of that before, duh!  They were to be red wire and star like. I did a couple trials before I settled on one, and the test ones make great holiday pendants! The first one looks like a poinsetta flower:

The second one is half the size and makes a nice little star pendant for those less into chunky jewelry:

But I finally came up with adjusting another pattern to come up with this 6 pointed star pattern:

She wanted a set of 6, so I was busy making them this week, and because I have orders to fill this is when I started baby sitting a teething 1 yr old. LOL never a dull moment around here I tell ya!

I think they turned out rather well myself. And I found another ideas for holly leaves with red bead berries. But before I tackle ornaments I need to play with the lovely sterling silver wire I got from The Ring Lord:  http://theringlord.com/  They are based in Saskatoon, and have loads of different wire. I'll still need to order my coloured stuff from the States tho, sigh.

Anyway I need to make something really amazing with the silver and see if I can get it into the winter amateur display at the art gallery next month.  I think I have done what I'd like shown with my can tabs, so just need to go nuts with nice wire and semiprecious beads. Wish me luck!

Art Gallery demo/new display colours

 

Sun Oct 3 I did a wire crochet demo at the art gallery. And got to test the new colour scheme for my display. In mini display form. I like the way that the colour turned out, everything stands out better than the black.

There weren't many people who came to look, but I sold earrings and a ring. and a well known local artist was interested in one of my older sets that I have always wondered why hadn't sold. However she didn't have her wallet along, sigh.

 At the time I was demoing there was a stained glass class happening, and the instructor ordered a set of tree ornaments based on a pendant I had crocheted. which lead to Laurie (education director) to suggest I join a few other artists in Nov to teach various ornament making. 5 people who came indicated that I should teach wire crochet. So, I am going to try to teach a class in 2011 sometime. EEK!! So much new stuff to try and do, and all of it at the same time, why can't new happen slowly? I don't like too much change... Taurus I suppose. Anyway it was a rather interesting day.

makin' stuff

I am still trying to create a little free-er, and more art inspired. This bracelet uses several fillet crocheted triangles in different sizes and metal colour, copper, gold, silver. Originally they were layered together as a pendant and earrings. I decided to attach them all together for this asymertical but geometric designed bracelet, after ripping apart a few older pieces that have been in my stock for a few years unsold. I kinda like this new design it's fun and funky and I hope this new direction will sell, time will tell right?

This is what the triangles  pendant and earrings looked like before. yeah my photography has improved a lot in that time too LOL!!

some of my new work is still similar but showing more of the crochet work, less simple chaining.

I am rather liking the lacy disks behind the beads look right now.

Currently I am working on a pull tab bowl using hand spun and dyed wool I got at a farmers market. I'll be sure to show that one off when I am done!

trying new things

I am planning to push my creative boundaries a little. I did my first freeform wire crochet last week while at my Tuesday Makers meeting. I must admit it was a bit daunting, having no idea what stitch was going in next or in what direction I should work. But it is a pretty artsy piece, I decided to add a chain and make it a bib necklace. Wearable art, I am sure someone out there will appreciate it, but I know it's not everyones taste. I might keep it too, but being me I'll have to make earrings too LOL!!

I was at the local art galleries summer salon show this Sat. And it occured to me that I really need to get myself into the fall/winter one. Wondering if I should just do my usual or make more artsy stuff for that. Maybe a bit of both. Hoping I get the time to make a new purse design I've been pondering too.

Well right now I need to concentrate on getting Adaira ready for diabetes camp and prepping for my parents 40th anniversary surprize party this weekend.  Should be a crazy week as usual!!

Tab mania

I have been working on some interesting orders in the last few weeks.  The first is a large, large bag, about twice as long/deep as my usual bags, and it has a divider in the middle and 1 large pocket in each side. I used about 620 can tabs. My daughter at 5 ft 2 is my model.

The other project which is for the same customer is a tank top made of 744 can tabs. She wanted it unlined to wear over any other top. Luckily my daughter the model is the same size a ladies small. The top is a first for me, as far as can tab creations go. And humble as I sometimes am... I think it turned out really well!

The next item is a necklace I made for the creative challenge thread on artfire, the theme is/was wind. I used thicker wire to crochet the sodalite and blue lace agate into a bar, and then made a cute, whimsical red kite

to float into the sky. I may donate it to the kite festival this month.

So my next order is another black purse, I love the orders, but could wish they wanted some colour! after that I'm doing a green purse with all different shades of green, a nice change!

Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation walk

Today the whole family, all 7 of us ventured out for a 1.5 mile walk in the pouring rain. Why on Earth would we do that?  A very imporatant cause, the 1st annual Juvenile Diabetes research Foundation walk.  Our family named ourselves Adairas Strange Striders. Our goal was $1000.00. Let me just say our family and friends ROCK OUT LOUD!! We raised $3075.00!!! oh yeah, that was 1/6 of the total brought in. Huge thanks to Erik The Viking (ETV) who donated a huge huge amount that almost made me cry, Ricks office matched all the donations made by Ricks co-workers, which proves that Stark and Marsh chartered accounting is the best accounting firm ever, just so you know.

They had bounce houses set up inside the rec center for all the kids, which was great. And a barbeque lunch before the walk. After the walk there was a brief space and then another barbeque supper and an information meeting for parents and type 1 adults. Seems like everyone is going for the insulin pumps, we might have to talk to Adaira about that.

On the diabetes and Adaira subject...  We met in Saskatoon last fri with Dr. Best, the pediatric endocrinologist, and after 2 years of hell, he thinks maybe she's getting too much insulin, so he reduced it drastically and this week she's been pretty good save the morning she was so tired she forgot to take any insulin. (we later discovered midnight DSI play to blame for the tiredness)

In other news I finished the shell of the mega tab purse, and the necklace orederd from the home party, and the million bead custom order necklace as well. My challenge theme was Earth on artfire this time and

Here is my bracelet:

So that's how it's been. I'll try to blog more often, honest!!

BUSY week, orders illness, dentists oh my!

Wow has it been busy around here! Lets begin with the bad news shall we?:

1)Adaira is STILL sick, missed all last week of school, and is still home today, Tues. Sadly we found juice boxes downstairs as the culprit this time. How does one convince someone else not to self-destruct? And she isn't a teen yet, OMG what will the future look like if this is 12!!
2)The rain hasn't stopped and today it is also snowing, changing between the 2 off and on all day. The weather is nice for all the farmers, but it is a bit wearing on the mood around here.
3)Took Kaylen to the dentist this morning, and her teeth are excellent, ecept one must have cracked at some point and was rotten, her molars have deep, deep crinkles, naturally and needed caps. So I was thinking maybe it'll be a week or more. Nope thay had a cancelation in an hour, so we had lunch and were reading a magazine when they called us in a little over 1/2 an hour later. she got the caps on and had the tooth pulled. But then we couldn't get ahold of our ride home!! Luckily/sadly my teacher friend Jackie had the day off due to a bomb threat.

4) as we waited for Jackie, my phone rang. My son Geran is throwing up at school. So my afternoon has 2 sick kids and 1 with a sore mouth. I have a small pharmacy of meds here.

5)This is the second week I have missed my makers meetings!!

Ok and now the GOOD news:

1)I start babysitting tomorrow for $! friend Jaime has had me booked to sit for when she found a job, and she starts tomorrow. I only get the kids in the morning, and a bit of late afternoon as they go to pre school and kindergarten in the afternoons.

2)Tax season is over!! I get my husband back, and am no longer a "tax widow", ahh a 2 parent home.

3)The lady I re-made the bracelet for a few weeks ago wants a matching necklace. And is happy to wait until I go to the city next week where I can find the right bead mix I used.

4 and 5) I did my first home show at my husbands friends place this weekend, and did rather well, I had a lot of stuff on the sale rack, but people still bought a fair amount of new stuff, including some of the flower sets I made with Elaines beautiful beads. One lady bought a lot and custom ordered a can tab purse, a necklace , and a can tab tank top. The top I have never made, the possibility came up in conversation. 

                                                                                                                                                           6) Another friend ordered a purse from me. No rush as she has to save up for it.

7) I think I can be ready for the bellydance performance in June after all.

8)I finished a new style purse in a gorgeous coloured verigated aqua green cotton.

So I have a lot of orders to fill, and a job.This calls for chocolate!! 

Is That A Challenge!?

I have created a couple things for challenges recently.

The first one my friend Elaine (aka Tooaquarius, check her blog link <--) wanted to see how different each of our styles of jewelry making would look with the same beads. So she gave me a few and she kept some of a batch of her beads and we decided bronze/copper pearls and turquoise to go with. and here is my set:

And this week I started a thread on Artfire as a 2 week challenge:  http://www.artfire.com/modules.php?name=forums&page_no=1&op=view_topic&tid=5051  The theme is what inspired you to your current medium. For me that is a simply chained out 5 strand copper wire necklace with a bunch of brown and amber beads. The original was all glass, but I used some pearls, and semi precious stone as well.

My Artfire thread I am planning to continue as an every 2 weeks challenge, if anyone else is interested in continuing with me. As a basic shop I can't join any guilds there so this will get me some regular people to get to know as well as get the creativity going for a bunch of us. Now what will the next challenge theme be, hmm....... any suggestions?

swirlies and the re-do bracelet

Elaine of Tooaquarius is an excellent polymer clay artist and a good friend of mine. As such I use a lot of her work in my own. Anyway she showed me how to properly make swirly lentils, so one afternoon the kid and I were playing with clay, they make pokemon figurines and I did a few swirlies.

The other thing this week was a customer from a fall show bought a braclet she absolutely adored, (tells me it's her fav and that she gets compliments everytime she wears it.) But she caught it on something sharp and wanted it repaired. She mailed it in a plain evelope no insurance, and the post office machines ate it. All i got was a half shredded envelope and a part of a note. Luckily the note had her work phone number so I could call her. She asked me to remake it and said she'd pay. The first time i made it took days and days, so I wasn't thrilled but what do you do? I made the original 3 years ago, I have gotten a lot faster and completed it in a day!! what a great measuring stick for my growth as a crocheter!

So now back to the orange purse which had better turn out well after all these interruptions in makeing it!!

Easter 2010

Easter has come and gone for another year, PHEW!! My family and their extensions always get together good friday and rent the hall in Eastend to colour eggs together while the men play poker. 40 dozen eggs folks... and I think 16 or so kids.



wouldn't be fun without greenish blue digits after either!

Before the eggstravavganza we had supper with my folks and my brothers family. we got all 7 of the grandkids on the couch for an adorable photo moment.


Ok so aside from Easter the first United Church had a weekly rummage sale. I haven't gone for awhile. but the past one my pal jaime went to and called saying there was a bunch of yarn I might like. She picked me up and I got all this for $6. Sweet!

Speaking of whom I also just finished her purse order for her mom, zipper and all!


I also did a custom pair of earrings for a lady who is in my knitting and crochet group and recently our Tuesday makers meeting.



So that's what I have been busy at the last week!

Makers

Ok so recently i joined a local group of knitters and crocheters who meet twice a month at the library. I am the only crocheter so far and I crochet odd stuff, but it's a great group!
And I joined a weekly crafters group meeting on Tuesdays called Tuesdays with Laurie: Meet other makers http://swiftcurrentmakers.blogspot.com/ at the art gallery, which is in the same building as the library. We have met 3 times and on 2 of them there was a film crew for the local TV stations. It's a lot of fun and although new there's a variety of crafters including Elaine of Tooaquarius http://www.tooaquarius.com/. Laurie Wagner whi is the education co-ordinator of the gallery is the head of the group, and she does amazing work needle felting, there are 2 collage/asemblage artists, a painter, and several people who have stopped it to look and say hi but don't stay and craft with us.
Now my church has a group of crafters who want to meet on Fridays, so I will be a busy lady with 3 different crafting groups. Should be fun as they are all quite different.
Well I do have a 2 day show this weekend I suppose I should get off the 'puter and do something today... although a good soak and a book is tempting too...

The Demo

Yesterday we did the usual go to church, and I sold a strawberry shortcake to a family who gets me to bake cakes for them at least once a month. Got a message this morning apparently their cousins who were at the party the cake was for wanted them to pass on their compliments. How nice is that? Makes a good start to the day I tell ya!
So after church we had a quick lunch and off I went to the art gallery to set up for my display and demo of wire crochet for a couple hours. It went really well, I had quite a few people come to look and ooh and ahh. Always flattering, even had a request for teaching a class! There was a pottery class in the next room, one of the students came out to get something saw my diplay and was quite impressed, a few minutes later the rest of the class all came out at her insistance to see the crocheted wire jewelry. The one lady wanted to buy a set but didn't have $ with her so I gave her a card and told her I'd be at the gun and hobby show the 27th and 28th. Laurie the amazing gallery education co-ordinator bought a set too, it suits her really well. She's the lady in the wine coloured shirt with the purple and green fluorite set.

And a set of ladies came in and bought some of my rings. I really wasn't thinking sales, so all this was an unexpected bonus, plus I get $50 for the demo. Elaine was there for a while and took a few pictures for me. She rocks, and her demo is next Sun so I'll have to return the favour and shoot a few pics. Crafty friends are the best aren't they?

zombie blog

I keep forgetting to post every day or week, and months later I am sitting here going "well lets revive this puppy" My poor dead blog must be a zombie all the times it's died.
So I have had a lot of interest in my work recently.
I am being featured in a blog on the 22nd and doing a give away from there:
http://naturemanipulated.blogspot.com/
There is a local shop called Eden's Apple and the owner saw me out with my pop tab purse and wants to make a whole sale purchase for her shop. I LOVE this shop it's full of funky cool stuff.
There is now a local crochet and knitters club in town, yay!!
the local art gallery is having me do a wire crochet demo this Sunday! Totally pumped there!
There is a local crafters club starting tomorrow and I volunteered to do a demo for the members once we get established enoguh to do them.
I have 2 craft sales this month as well.
Whew all of a sudden there's a lot on my creative plate!

Kaylen my 8 yr old went on air with her school for a major provincial fundraiser, so yesterday every TV station in the province showed the telethon. They even got to sing with original Sesame Streets Bob. Too bad none of the kids had a clue how cool all of us parents thought that was LOL.
I was so proud of her! She is NOT happy being on stage at all and this was a huge event. She did tell me that she will never perform again but wants to sing with the choir for practices only. This is odd to me as she is normally the wild and crazy extrovert. But maybe it's different at home... which is a good thing, wild and crazy at school can cause problems.
Anyway This should count as a revival, ad I am off to make biscuits to go with the ham and lentil with wildrice soup for supper.

For the love of poptabs

So I made a purse a few months ago crocheting poptabs together (takes 110) . Well lately everytime I leave the house I am getting comments on it, (yay) So I am passing out tons of business cards! I have orders for 2 of them on the go and 2 other people collecting tabs and deciding on colour. Who knew this would be the most popular item of all the wonderful things I have crocheted! I'd have thought wire crochet would be more interesting than a purse, what do I know. Once done the orders, I will be making a bunch of mini purses and or wallets for craft shows. I can take orders on them from there. A full purse takes me almost a week to complete, so making some in colours that might not sell isn't the best plan, in my oh so humble opinion anyway :) I can always just display my purse and show pics of the completed ones, for purse orders.

This week I made a cat collar with poptabs too, I wonder if it will also be popular? I can hope they will be, but will hold off on making more until I know thay are popular. Maybe putting the jewelry aside for a bit will help the creative juices flow better? I guess I will have to wait and see. Licorice was a gracious model here.

Creative Spree

Last week and the week previous I was on a creative spree, everyday I had another idea to play with. It's kinda petered out now, which is good, now I have loads of stuff to list :) I did 7 wire wrap rings, which is new to me and kinda fun. 2 bracelets, 5 pairs of earrings, 3 - 3part sets(earrings, necklace and bracelet), and 7 yes 7 - 2 part sets (earrings and either bracelet or necklace) I also made my very best and all time favourite set ever!! Not bad for a run. My creativity does seem to ebb and flo this way, I'll have bunch of ideas and a compulsion to make them and then it kinda dies off. Because I know this, as soon as the creativity poops out I take all the photos in bunches as well, and then I have a couple weeks worth of listings before I get another creative spurt. I dunno if other crafty/creative folks work this way or if I am just an oddity, and it works for me. Here's a few samples of this spree: