BRICOLAGE STUDIOS

newsletter signup

2012-01-01T18:17:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! I feel pretty awesome about the progress I made today on the things that I am not wild about doing (graphic work being on of them. :D)

I decided a few months ago that I wanted to make a new banner but had been struggling to figure out what I wanted to do. Today I gathered several seemingly random objects for a photo shoot to resolve that issue.

My trusty ball peen hammer, my favorite drop spindle loaded with fine yarn (spun from Yarn Hollow fiber,) an antique handcarder, some BFL locks, a few pieces of jewelry, a jeweler's saw, a chasing hammer, a few pieces of jewelry, and some BFL locks got thrown on the table on top of some watercolor paper...

...and while the dogs frolicked in the giant snowflakes that began falling with a vengeance today and the Lions lost in that last damn seconds of the game I took what seemed like a gazillion photos of the same thing.

What do I have to show for it? A new banner AND a new business card design (another thing that had been plaguing me.)

So then I finished setting up my long neglected mailchimp account. So if you would like to be added to my mailing list to receive Bricolage Studios news, updates, and show information please follow this link and add your email to the list. I will only be sending out 1-2 mailings a month so no worries about your inbox getting clogged, plus you can unsubscribe anytime!

Happy New Year!!

reflections and musings

2011-12-29T16:53:00.000-08:00

I simply cannot believe that 2011 is nearly over. I just looked back over my blogfeed as I've not had time to catch up and got so caught up at all the excellent Christmas ideas everyone had until I remembered that it had already passed. This year has felt a bit like a dream. So many amazing things have happened, bad things too but I don't care to dwell on those any longer... I guess that is the good thing about a new year starting. Really nothing changes when that ball drops but we all feel like we have a bit of a fresh start.

Proudly standing in my booth at SOAR! :D

In 2012, I'm not going to have a fresh start, I'm going to continue growing and changing along with Bricolage Studios.

I've been putting my house in order bit by bit after all the neglect during first my busy early spring while still working two teaching jobs, the store, and juggling the shop. Then show season began with lots of travel from May through the end of October. Then the holidays had slammed me before I knew what happened. I've even already hung a few of my Christmas presents in their new homes.

Awesome vintage finds from Mom

Most awesome clock EVER! Also from Mom :D

After quitting my day job this past May I was apprehensive about whether I could make it. I'm still not sure, but things are starting to look up and become more clear to me. Putting the house in order gives me time to think and be out of the studio (unless I'm sewing new curtains of course...) The absence of guilt for being out of the studio is erased by doing something around the house that NEEDS to be done and helps put things in perspective. Ever notice how much more efficient and happier you can be when your space reflects the same characteristics?

I've always loved the personal aspect of doing shows far more than the grind of impersonal photographing and listing on etsy and with the addition of wholesale accounts (I love that people can pick up my fibers from a REAL brick and mortar shop :D), I have decided to back off from online business a bit. For those of you who follow me, you've probably noticed more than once that I've tried to set up an update and cancelled at the last second. I'm making a promise right now that it will not happen again.

By this I mean I will not be actually announcing updates, at least not for a while. (never fear, they WILL STILL HAPPEN!) Scheduled updates were not how I started on etsy, and looking back, that is what worked better for me. I used to card and list at my leisure for the shop out of necessity because of working around my job and when that BECAME my job, I hated it. Not the making mind you, just the photographing. Funny thing is, I listed about once a week then so if all goes well, I won't be back off so much as just changing back to what worked best for me. I do plan on eventually starting a email newsletter though! :D

I accomplished a great deal of the goals I had set for myself last year about this time, and most of them were nothing to sneeze at. I'm hoping to continue that trend this year. I know with the amazing connections I have made and with the support of those I love that I can accomplish anything. Thank you all, I feel so blessed.

One picture, two very exciting things :D

2011-12-13T14:14:00.000-08:00

So I've been waiting to announce this for some time now (mostly cause I can't believe it happened!) but, you can now find select Bricolage Studios goodies at The Spinning Loft!!!! Thanks to owner, Beth Smith, for taking a chance on my goods, I'm very excited to be a part of her lovely shop! She snapped a photo of me today after we stuffed a shelf (my very own shelf! ... yes I'm a dork, :D) and I realized that it is the first time that another exciting thing got photographed.

You see, I get asked all the time if I knit my yarn into anything to which my normal reply is, "Well... I'm really not a knitter. I crochet it sometimes!" Well, after lusting after a particular pattern from Tiny Owl Knits, the Orchids and Fairylights hat pattern to be specific, trying to convince actual knitters to make it for me, (yea I bought the pattern and the yarn and was too chicken...) I finally jumped in with the help of my friend Michelle and made myself that damn hat. You can't see it very well in the photo, but I'm pretty pleased with myself. It only took about a week and a half of absolute obsession with it but I did it, baubles, cables, dpns, and all (ask anyone, until a few weeks ago, I had a serious fear of dpns!)

I'm working on another one already. :D

Emmett Otter's Jugband Christmas Update

2011-12-01T18:55:00.000-08:00

What's that you say? Maybe only die hard Muppet fans are familiar with this movie but it has always been one of my favorites.

Next week on Thursday evening I will be having a very special themed update capturing the essence of the holiday spirit according to all the magical characters from Frogtown Hollow. Emmett's jugband, his Ma, and even the River Bottom Nightmare Band (though technically not from Frogtown Hollow :D)

Just curls, batts, fleece mixes, and some hand pulled roving. yaaaaaaaaay!!!!!! (if you're really into it that was a kermit yay. :D)

Speaking of those amazing Muppets. Thank you Jason Segel for setting Disney back on track with perhaps one of the most beloved things from my childhood (and still to this day.) After the turd that was Muppet Wizard of Oz I was reluctant but could not have been happier leaving that movie theater the other night. If you are a Muppet fan, please go see that movie. I giggled a lot and fought off tears more than once at the perfect amount of sentiment and from laughing too hard in a few parts.

Pure awesome.

, December 3 from 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. at the Yarn Hollow Studio at 3041 Broadway SW, Grandville.

2011-11-30T21:25:00.000-08:00

QUICK! blog before the internet goes out again!

I've been trying to blog about the event I'm participating in this weekend for days now. Seriously. If it wasn't that comcast just felt like not allowing me to have the internet, it was the first serious snow fall that we just finally got. Not the pretty sugar snow that falls softly, Oh NO, the nasty super heavy wet crap that makes branches fall all over the place.

Anyhow, THE event! :D Rita, the amazing fiber rockstar behind Yarn Hollow, is holding her second annual open house in her studio this weekend and kindly asked me if I'd like to be a part of it.

There will be several other fiber artists there as well, including my wonderful friend Gloria of X-stream Fibers with her super gorgeous scarves. My pal Heather who is lucky enough to work for Rita (super jealous! :D) will also be selling her wares. I'm very excited for this event and to meet all the other talented fiber artists who will be there. Hope to see a lot of YOU there as well!

December 3

10 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Yarn Hollow Studio

3041 Broadway SW

Grandville, MI

Mid November Update

2011-11-16T15:04:00.000-08:00

Remember that update I mentioned a few posts ago? It's almost here! :D

Tomorrow night, Thursday, November 17, 2011, I will be having a shop update at 9:30 PM EST

What's gonna be in the update?

Handspun yarns:

Handpulled roving from my hackle:

Signature Bricobatts:

Depending on how the rest of the photographing goes, there may be a few extra goodies listed!

Wanna see more previews? Look here!

bree-kuh-lahzh

2011-11-15T12:40:00.000-08:00

I often get asked at shows first how my name "bricolage" (bree-kuh-lahzh) is pronounced and then almost immediately I'm asked what it's meaning is. Bricolage has a lot of meanings but for me personally the following definition is in the context of what I do.

bri-co-lage n: a construction achieved by using whatever comes to hand; also: something constructed in this way

I've had the pleasure of meeting Jillian, the editor of knittyspin at the Ann Arbor Fiber Expo the past two years. This year when she came to my booth, she said she had something really dorky for me and after digging through her bag for a moment, she pulled out a word of the day calendar page. I'm sure you can guess the word of the day. :D

Being a bit dorky myself I thought it was sweet more than anything that she saved it a few days to give to me. It had some interesting history about the word bricolage that just confirmed that when I chose my business name, I chose something that will be evergreen for me.

the following is taken directly from Workman Publishing's Page-A-Day Calendar:

According to French social anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss, the artist "shapes the beautiful and useful out of the dump heap of human life." Levi-Strauss compared this artistic process to the work of a handyman who solves technical or mechanical problems with whatever materials are available. He referred to that process of making do as bricolage, a term derived from the French verb bricoler (meaning "to putter about") and related to bricoleur, the French name for a jack-of-all-trades. Bricolage made its way from French to English in 1966, when Levi-Strauss's The Savage Mind was translated from his native tongue to ours.

I like the idea of bricoleur roughly translated meaning a jack-of-all-trades. I certainly don't fit into any one category and am constantly learning different techniques and media from jewelry/metalworking, to spinning, dying, sewing, felting, carding, and some occasional printmaking. I guess you could say I'm a bricoleur in my own studio.

something to blog about :D

2011-11-14T20:19:00.000-08:00

First, I'm having an update Thursday night. Time TBA with photos in my future sneak peek post!

What will be in that update? New handspun, signature batts, hand pulled rovings from my hackle, and some other assorted goodies. :D

Second, I had the pleasure of having lunch with my friend Kathy, the Warped Weaver, a few weeks ago while she was in town. She is a very talented weaver who also spins, felts, and is a true bricoleur* like myself. She came to visit when I was vending at Castle Farms wool festival where she purchased a few of my felting batts (which are heavy on Icelandic and Romney wools for their excellent felting capabilities.) Well, as so often happens in the craft world when you sell supplies, I rarely get to see what has been created from my work, so I was very pleased that Kathy had brought with her the lovely cobweb felt she had created from those batts. She let me snap a few photos so I just had to share at least one! :D

Cobweb felt by Kathy, The Warped Weaver from Bricobatts

I also was very excited to receive my first diz commission through etsy. Up until recently I had only been doing these for friends for fun. A few months ago I listed a few that I had made for the shop along with a custom listing. I was very pleased that my first custom order came from a lovely lady who I'd "met" through Tour de Fleece this summer in laigrai's group. It is such a creative joy to make these little buggers because it is yet another area where I can combine my passions between metal, fiber, and color to create something extra special and one of a kind. I really like to incorporate logos, text, and the overall feel of a person's shop when I get these requests. I hope I captured the soft, elegant style of sofTrope's aesthetic in this custom diz. Of course, you can be the judge if you visit her shop, I'm sure you'll find some irresistible goodness there!

Like what you see? Visit the shop to see how you can get your own custom made diz!

*bricoleur: what you'll read about next time!

Chasing Whimsy Part III: From New Hampshire to Tennessee and home again...

2011-11-13T20:09:00.000-08:00

My solo adventure began the moment I left our cozy hotel room the Saturday evening after packing up my booth from SOAR. Michelle, Rita, and I all went to dinner at a little Irish pub. We thought it was a good idea until our food took what felt like years to come out to us. As if that didn't already make me run quite late indeed to get on my way, the thought of driving 16ish hours through the night was one that I was not too keen on. I was exhausted and felt much happier about sitting around chatting with Rita. She kindly pushed me out the door after an hour or so. Sometimes it is good when your friends aren't so subtle with you when you NEED to do something.

After a small fight with my borrowed GPS I was on my way. Barely 2 hours into the drive I was too sleepy to go on and slept in a McDonald's parking lot for a bit. Back on the road a few more hours and I could not go on yet again and stopped at a rest area for some much needed sleep.

Hours later and I'm running low on podcasts, McDonald's wifi to the rescue!

In the meantime, my good pal Mandy from college has called me to say that her and another friend are hanging out in Gatlinburg until I arrive so that we can hang out. Gatlinburg is CRAZY! It is like a mini Vegas with all of it's lights and tourist attractions, I felt like I was suddenly in another world, which was made even more strange the moment I pulled into Arrowmont School of Art and Craft which was a tiny incubated world in and of itself.

Joanna's sample pieces

The Red Barn, where I stayed

Entryway to the classrooms. My class was just to the left of this lovely fountain.

I quickly dropped my toolbox in the classroom where my classmates lingered long after the orientation I had missed, threw my bags in the room and met my roommates and was promptly whisked off the local brewery by Mandy and Dave.

We had beer.

Did I mention it was happy hour?

mandy peering around the beers!

Lots of beer. mmmmmm... :D Much needed after that looooong drive.

There was an exhibit up from the Enamelist Society who had had a conference at Arrowmont not long before from what I understood. I snapped a few photos of my favorite pieces. Unfortunately they didn't have any cards for the actual artists out but the exhibit was really a treat.

awesome fold formed piece

loved the shadow in this piece

Enamelist Society Exhibit

The class was AWESOME Joanna Gollberg was my instructor and it was basically about trapping objects. I had soooo needed to get back in the classroom as a student. I felt like my work had become really stagnant so some new techniques and instruction were really great for stimulating my creativity. Joanna was such an amazing teacher and every single person in that class was just phenomenal. My roomies were super great and also happened to be in the class with me. Just being around so many different women allowing their individual styles to shine through using all of the same techniques that I was using was truly and experience. Despite being in the classroom and eyeballing everyone else's bench, I was in awe when we put everything out for some show and tell near the end of class.

our amazing classroom!

We even had a bear pop its head into the room! If you look at the picture below, we were all sitting around that front bench area for a demo when this when a not quite full grown black bear got a little bit curious. I think we may have startled it just as much as it did us because it took off immediately.

The bear came in in the door just to left of this photo!

Our last night at Arrowmont was one that I will not soon forget. I've never changed locations so many times in one evening but my favorite was probably the cantina across the street. I enjoyed a few Negra Modelo's and munched on some pretty awesome nachos with several of my classmates, including my two favorites who also happened to be my roomies.

My roomies and I :D

Fiber even managed to sneak back into my life during a week of metal. I came across a stack of business cards for the Smoky Mountain Spinnery which I visited on my last full day in Tennessee. What a lovely shop it was! The owner was a very sweet woman who shares the space with an Angler shop so there was something for everyone. She carried lots of really unique items in her shop as well as several types of wheels. My favorite things that she had were handmade stuffed animal alpacas made from pelts. Their sweet expressions were so whimsical and hilarious and each one had its own fiber activity. One had a large dyepot it was stirring with blotches of the dye on its fur, another was knitting two socks at a time, tooooo cute! :D I really admired the owner for her eye and also for the fact that she told me she had started the shop all on her own with no loans or anything several years ago and still seemed to be going strong. If that isn't chasing some whimsy, I'm not sure what is.

Such a great trip. The ride back wasn't so bad, the fact that all of the views I had heading north were gorgeous certainly helped.

view from the hill I slipped down one night

After two weeks away, I came home with 6 pieces that I was really happy with and a so many amazing experiences. I'm so fortunate to have friends all over the country that I am able to see when I travel and the opportunity to travel and meet so many new and incredible people. It makes you feel so much less alone as an artist and allows me to continue to know that I am chasing whimsy every day.

WIP on my bench

all my finished pieces

Chasing Whimsy Part II: From Michigan to New Hampshire

2011-11-07T20:36:00.000-08:00

Phew, finally have a few minutes to blog. :D

I last left you dear readers with my tale leading up to my super amazing trip at the beginning of October. I hustled about, stayed up far too late, accomplished those 42 batts I spoke of and thankfully already had my car packed up (because I'd never unpacked it from my previous show!)

My pal Rita of Yarn Hollow met me that Monday morning the week of SOAR and we took off on our joint adventure caravanning to New Hampshire together. At the time Rita and I barely knew each other and I could not have asked for a better travel companion and roommate for this trip. I had never travelled further east that Sandusky, Ohio so this in and of itself was a great treat and adventure for me. We stayed the night in New York with Rita's best friend from school whose family was incredibly inviting and wonderful hosts. So appreciated for the money saved and great hospitality.

I have to say that I didn't expect the surrounding to be so beautiful on our drive. I am always reminded very quickly how absolutely FLAT lower Michigan is whenever I get more than about 4 hours out of state. It seems so sudden that mountains, rocky embankments and quaint valleys replace the corn fields and cow pastures that are so prevalent in the Midwest.

Sixteen plus hours of driving in two days may seem like something to dread but I can honestly say between podcasts to help "pass the time," my traveling companion just ahead of me the whole way, and how gorgeous this great country I live in is, it was quite a treat.

We arrived at our hotel Tuesday evening in time to devour burgers from the hotel restaurant and take over our hotel room with wet fiber we had dyed last minute for the show.

Wednesday we set up our booths. It was so nice to have gotten there the night before and to have the entire day to get our spaces setup for the coming days.

This would become my booth in a mere 5 hours.

A shot of both Rita and I's booths before we got down to business.

Rita in the middle of setup with tons of tempting and gorgeous braids. If you have never spun one of her gorgeous braids do treat yourself to one... or twenty. :D

The market opened Thursday morning and I will be the first to admit, my stomach did a serious flip flop when the countdown came down to the last seconds and the doors open. It is an amazing thing to got from the buzz of nervous chatter between vendors to the whoosh of exciting customers rushing in before they had to get to their first classes.

I think this shot is actually the end of day one... I'm so happy so many people love my batts as much as I love making them!

because there were WAY more batts at the beginning of the day as you can see here....

...and here!

The people I was able to meet at this event were incredible. Eating meals next to mentors you have followed in magazines and books, chatting with superstar wheel manufactures in your booth, having equal fiber superstars compliment your work, and realizing that despite their "star quality" in the fiber field, they are truly awesome laid back people who are just as excited about your craft and that alone links you in ways that are not understood by your non fiber friends, spouses, etc. There is something really incredible about being completely immersed and surrounded by like minded individuals who don't care that every time you pick up a braid or batt of wool your first instinct is to press it right to your face and drink in the scent (yes I know, this is crazy to those of you who are not into the wool thang. :D) An event where you will see several people carrying around so many shopping bags you would think it was the Black Friday of fiber. A place where you will meet some amazing customers from all the way across the country you never dreamed you would and are so pleasantly surprised to turn and see them and feel like you've know them for years. Tearful hugs with a perfect stranger who has touched you because they realize your passion and show the same support and encouragement you would only have ever thought your own mom could provide (she is certainly my biggest fan! <3)

Finally, Interweave Press/Spinoff Magazine put on the show and were some of the kindest, personable and supportive people I have ever met. Their main concern was the happiness of each and every person involved in the event. Sarah Rovelli, the Advertising Manager with Interweave, personally came around on several occasions to each vendor to make sure things were running smoothly and went completely above and beyond my expectations of a show coordinator. I would not trade my experience for the world and had my best show to date at SOAR. I hope to run into the amazing connections I made there often in the future and I know I will continue to meet amazing people on my journey as an artist. Some of those people in the week that followed SOAR.

Next time: Chasing Whimsy Part II: From New Hampshire to Tennessee

chasing whimsy part I

2011-10-20T15:12:00.000-07:00

I've finally arrived home after a wonderful two week adventure.

Let's preface this adventure with the last minute scrambling that seems to always happen to me before a show. This time of course it was compounded with the enormity of the two week trip I was about to take from Michigan to New Hampshire and then New Hampshire to Tennessee and finally home again.

I had just finished up with Northern Michigan Lamb and Wool Festival where I was greeted with a nasty cold starting just as I was packing up. That being said, the following week I was fairly useless and had a hard time getting much done until about Friday. I scrambled to meet my goal of at least 50 batts for SOAR and came up with 42 (not too shabby!)

Earlier that week my husband had introduced me to the joy of podcasts. I downloaded several for the trip but couldn't resist listening to a few during my mad last minute carding session. I was absorbing the incredibly funny and insightful "Joe Rogan Experience" with Kevin Smith as his guest when two words really struck me from Kevin Smith. Now we all know Kevin Smith as the creator of such films as Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Clerks, Mallrats, and the list goes on... Silly movies? Yes. Intelligent man behind them who is seriously insightful and inspiring? Also very true. He was speaking about how he started living out his dream and to be honest, without going back I can't tell you EXACTLY what he said but he left it at, "... I've been chasing whimsy ever since."

Now that is a powerful statement.

I've been mulling it over and thinking of it often these past weeks and I will not soon forget it. My whole trip I just kept thinking, "Wow, that is EXACTLY what I'm doing RIGHT NOW!" It is an incredible thing to be even attempting to live out your dream and I hope everyone has the opportunity to do so. With a few drinks in me I've rambled on about it with great emotion too. WHY is everyone droning on from day to day hating life? Go do something about it. Do I have any money right now? Certainly not. Am I happier for it, you can bet I am, because at the end of the day, I have no regrets and I can die tomorrow knowing that I tried. How many people can say that?

Next time: Chasing Whimsy Part II
From Michigan to New Hampshire

Beer and a lakeshore...

2011-09-29T21:55:00.000-07:00

Could you really ask for anything more?

The hubs and I had sort of a staycation for our second anniversary. I can't believe we've already been married 2 years!

We went down to Cincinatti and repeated our first anniversary trip to Brew Ha Ha. Caroline Rhea was headlining and was quite funny indeed. We drank lots of delicious beers from microbrews all over. My favorites were some from Goose Island out of Chicago that I had not yet had the pleasure of trying. While I did take some photos, most were quite blurry because it was dark... :(

We were joined by our dear friends the Benson's once again as well as both of their daughters and their sig. others this year. A good time was had by all and a cozy wonderful hotel bed awaited us after all that hoppy goodness as we somewhat stumbled back (all walking for us as the roo was safely parked in the garage next to the hotel. :D) We stayed with the Benson's and Jess did my hair which was a previous post. :D

Once Joe and I got back home we settled back in and I got some work done but I'd been itching to visit Saugatuck again (I dream of living in that area someday with a flock of various fiber bearing aminals.) So, when we hadn't gotten off our butts for a few days, I printed the directions next to Joe while he puttered on the computer and said, "HEY! Let's go, huh?"

We wandered downtown Saugatuck for a bit and went to a few galleries I'm HOPING to apply to get my work into. Did I have ulterior motives for a Saugatuck visit? Maybe. But beer and food were definitely on my mind. We did discover a lovely little spice shop that smelled absolutely heavenly while we were there though. :D

I had probably the most amazing French Dip sammich ever at Saugatuck Brewing Company. Joe and I split a sampler because it had been 2 years since we'd been and they had lots of new beers on tap. Super tasty stuff I say!

Did I whine after dinner and say that we cannot be next to the Lake Michigan and not let me go wading at least for a little bit? Um... duh. We went to a dune park and ended up walking off dinner on a helluva hike through the woods and down a dune but when we finally reached the water it was magical.

When we finally ventured back to the car Joe noticed a little message in one of the dunes. Hard to read in the picture but it says, "Will you marry me," in sticks. Pretty romantic to see when you are enjoying your anniversary. How fun to think of the happy couple that must have been there within the last few days... maybe even hours before. <3

All in all, I was thrilled to be reminded why I still live in the state I grew up in. Michigan is so full of natural beauty, it is where so many of my loved ones are... and damn do they know how to make good beer here.

blogging intentions and a great reorganization...

2011-09-28T21:05:00.000-07:00

While I've had the best of intentions to blog, even remembering to not only bring my camera but pull it out and snap some photos, I have been too busy to get it done.

Seriously. I think I have about 5 posts in my head right now. Here is one of them. :D

One of the major things that has been bogging me down is that my studio was a WRECK! I finally started the reorganization and regretted it instantly but now that it is done there are absolutely no regrets. It went through a great metamorphosis. A very full carload and several trashbags later and it is a dream room. I even took several photos of the stages it went through. A fair warning though... when I just uploaded these the early stages put me in a state of panic that I feared would result in a heart attack... it's a wonder I made it through the real thing.

So the studio started out in this arrangement, but pretend the mess on the couch is on the floor basically... and well... yea, it was a mess. you get idea... (I neglected to get and 'actual' before photo.)

and then... as well all know, things get worse before they get better when you are rearranging/cleaning.

and worse...

yup.

sometimes it gets even worse again...

and then it finally starts to improve.

we're almost there!

Mooch was there for moral support. He likes the change.
Are you ready for it yet?
Here it comes!

Revamped carding station with MUCH better lighting above ^ as seen in the previous photo. It is blinding and wonderful to be able to actually see what I'm carding. :D

I'm a big fan of owls, hence the artwork and vintage love above my carding station. :D I was called Hootie when I was little. I still have a cousin who insists on calling me it. I secretly love it. :D We won't get into where Hootie came from though... The owl print on the left if from Marmee Craft. I'm lusting after a few more of her owlie prints.

Jewelry Bench area with my inspiration board redone with room for pinning up projects (that is another post! :D) New lighting above here too! Thanks dad! yay! My Black Apple prints of my "alter egos" ever present down here.

Sewing Station!!! Probably the only messy area at the moment because it is a catchall for wool until I get done with shows and can start sewing again. (yet another post.....)

So there is the tour! I took loads more pictures but they were seriously scary town!

Man, it feels soooo good to have it all done! I've finally put my wheel down there at least for the winter time so I can get all cozy on the couch, put hulu on the ipad and just spin away the winter hours.

OH! btw... SOAR is next week! If you are in the New Hampshire area you should definitely come and shop the spinner's market!

Did you know?

2011-09-20T11:51:00.000-07:00

That Bricolage Studios has a facebook page?

It is right here.

Wanna be in the know?

Like it. :D

Northern Michigan Lamb and Wool Festival!

2011-09-19T20:05:00.000-07:00

NML&W is coming up this weekend! I have to say I am really excited for this show. It was my favorite fiber show last year in my first year as a vendor and I have been looking forward to it since it was over last year.

The festival is located on the Ogemaw County Fairgrounds in West Branch and they are absolutely BEAUTIFUL! Because Autumn is creeping in, they are especially beautiful with all of the colors beginning to change. Last year there was amazing kettle corn outside too. :D

I'm busy preparing lots of goodies for the show including batts, handspun yarns, fleece and locks mixes, experimental spinning/felting packs, and tons of other wee add ins like hand dyed silk cocoons and carrier rods. Of course there will be some signature Bricolage Studios jewelry there as well!

You can check out my 2011 Schedule tab for more information. Hope to see you all there!

Days....

2011-08-30T18:12:00.000-07:00

Lots of things take days, some several days, some things takes a few years.

My friend Jessica dreaded most of my hair for me the other day and cut me some cute bangs. It took pretty much ALL day! Totally worth it though and I never could have done them on my own. :D
I crocheted a dread wrap for myself today from various different yarns. Some of them were my own handspun, some were from fellow spinners.

My dreads are nearly done but will take probably about a year to look really good. I'm looking forward to that. It took me nearly two years to grow my hair to the lengthy that I felt they would look good to make and a whole lot of debating to decide to do them finally.

You know what takes a few years though? Making 300 sales in my etsy shop. I'm just a few away now and it feels really good. Of course, the lucky person who is my 300th sale is going to get a free gift but for everyone else, in celebration, there will be a sale! FREE SHIPPING ON EVERYTHING for anyone within the lower 48 states! No exclusions on this one so it would be a great time to order a batt club. :D Free shipping runs through Sunday! Coupon code: 300freeship

Oh and by the way, there just might be another brichaus update this Friday. ;D

the yarn that had direction and didn't quite know what to do with it

2011-08-25T21:22:00.000-07:00

I'm not one to shoot photos of myself. My profile picture on facebook has changed a total of maybe 3 times in 6 years. I just don't typically like pictures of me. Today, however, I finished a freeform crochet hat. That always deserves a photo shoot. Have you ever noticed how something looks different on you in a mirror compared to in a picture? Well, at least for me it is a good indicator of whether this hat is meant for me or not. I think it just might be. :D

Looking silly modeling my newly made hat

View from the crown

Poor hat.... it had been sitting, neglected, for almost a year in a project bag and my fingers had been itching to do something that did not involve technology for at least a little while. I remembered why it had been sitting too... I felt like I was ruining some absolutely fabulous yarn that I'd made from some lushmommy fiber nearly two years ago I'd say... Other tidbits include some of my own fibers in yarn form, some handsandnotions fiber made to yarn, and a little bit of yarn from long ago closed shop evonnewee. I am strong believer in handspun yarn that has a lot of character telling YOU what it wants to do so I just kinda went with it. I began to doubt it's direction and had put it into hibernation (I saw that as someone's description of giving a knitting project a break and found it a rather apt term!) Now that it's all done I don't know as I ruined anything... just made it super funky, which I suppose is not such a bad thing at all.... just different.

today I made a....

2011-08-22T18:12:00.000-07:00

Treasury! Lots of pretty things that embodied the way I am feeling about the transition between the seasons that I am already feeling so strongly more and more each day.

I just noticed the first few leaves changing the other day, and could smell the last dregs of summer wafting across the fields as I drove to Allegan this weekend to meet some friends at the Fiber Festival.

Speaking of fiber, I got some. :D

Cormo - Winterhaven Fiber Farm

CVM Polypay x - Sheepy Thyme Farms

BFL Romney Suffolk x - Lamb Lane Farm

Shetland Lamb - Windswept Farms

It will definitely be a good week of picking, washing, and dying. Check the shop often for new items!

SALE SALE SALE

2011-08-18T20:10:00.000-07:00

Yup, you saw that right, I'm having a sale. 10% off of your purchase in the shop until 7 PM tomorrow. Sale excludes SAL's (spin along's) and Clubs.


One of many new items added to the shop this week!

Speaking of SAL's, there is just over a week to snag a spot in the Audrey Hepburn SAL!

Sneak Peeks for the update!

2011-08-16T19:27:00.000-07:00

Just some peeks and previews of what is going into the update tomorrow, Wednesday August 17, 2011!

I picked through lots of alpaca, wool, and wool locks today and am working on washing and dying them as I type. Teeswater lamb, teeswater ewe, CVM cloud, and huacaya alpaca are all pictured here.

Joining them in the shop will be the return of Neps n' noils (of the wool and silk variety!) Some new lock and fleece mixes, and some mixed up variety packs.

Also going into the shop are some brand new bricobatts! Here are some peek of the batts that are fresh off the carder from today!

Laguna Peek - makes me think of the she-ra lagoon my sister had when we were kids. :D

English Breakfast Tea - This batt just seemed so prim and proper, like a wee little teacup and saucer just waiting for tea time.

Vintage Kitchen - yea... I really love this colorway and remake it often. :D I'm apparently not the only one who likes it though!

Mail Pouch - Reminiscent of faded barn ads, hay bales, and overalls.


Bedknobs - This magenta just popped on top of the mustardy gold, like Miss Price's worn afghan on the travelling bed with it's magical knob!

Update will start at approximately 9 PM EST. Hope to see you there!

PUBLISHED!!!!

2011-08-10T11:56:00.000-07:00

Do you ever hesitate to share good news until you know it is FOR SURE? I have been holding off blogging some particularly good news because I wanted to wait until the book was in my hot little hands. Some close friends and family already knew this but, I've been published.

Did I submit to a magazine? Nope, I went ahead and took the jump forward right into a book. Lark Books are one of my two favorite publishers and they have been putting out books for the past few years that are part of what they call their 500 Series. I'm constantly stalking their get published page and happened upon the submissions for 500 Felted Objects over a year ago and I FINALLY have the exciting satisfaction of holding that book in my hands. I am seriously bubbling with joy because it still seems so unreal to be published in a book with such a multitude of talented artists, especially when they are people whose work I have admired for some time now (Andrea Graham and Lisa Klakulak to name a few...)

The book comes out for purchase September 6, 2011 but you can preorder it on amazon! I'm on page 322 if you are wondering. :D yay!

wow.... so excited! :D

and ANOTHER thing!

2011-08-07T22:04:00.000-07:00

You thought jewelry and fiber were it for the update tomorrow? Well, you would be wrong! Tomorrow's update will also have a new offering to the shop: ready to ship AND custom diz offerings! Here are some custom diz I have already made for some super amazing fiber pals!

above: Custom diz for Drucilla Pettibone. Photos courtesy of and taken by Drucilla Pettibone.
Check out her handspun yarns and gorgeous photographs here, or for some vintage beauties check out her other shop here.

above: Custom diz created for Laila of laigrai & friends. You can find her shop with all of it's gorgeous hand dyed delicious fiber goods, vintage fare, "& friends" here. (I took these photos quickly prior to shipping this one out, laila's pictures are way more lovely!)

What else will be in the update Monday?

2011-08-06T10:23:00.000-07:00

Jewelry! I keep holding off in hopes I'll have the monies to pay a photographer to get some killer pictures of my jewelries but that is pretty unrealistic. Timing keeps not working out for the alternative of using my sister's camera so, I'm gonna improvise and try a new setup. In the meantime, here are some teaser pictures that Faun kindly took for me when we were sharing a booth at Midwest.

Amazing Wednesday and Update August 8, 2011

2011-08-05T13:24:00.000-07:00

A few days ago I had a most exciting day of work. Every job I have had since college I have worked alone. Behind the register at the store I was the only one there, teaching by myself at the college and the art center, and of course working alone in my studio. Wednesday I was able to work with two amazing women whose talents and excitement for color, yarn, and fiber I quite admire. Joe and I had a huge BBQ at our house last weekend for my birthday and while we were chowing on some excellent foodage and all of our respective kiddos were playing, Dani, Gloria, and I hatched a plan to get together on Wednesday at Dani's and do some serious carding.

Adele and I met up with Gloria and the boys in kzoo and off we went to Dani's. A backseat full of kids and the back back of the roo (subaru that is :D) stuffed with our woolies and my drumcarder (oh and snacks, can't forget snacks!)

Gloria was a machine on that carder! She took to it with such fervor! Look out everyone because she made some of the most gorgeous batts I have ever seen and it was only her second time using a carder! While we're speaking of Gloria, she is the mastermind behind not one but two lovely etsy shops. Purplecitrus is filled with lovely pins from fibery goodness and hopefully some fabulous supplies like these babies she made me for my birthday from some of my accidentally felted locks. Her other shop gets me in trouble with the gorgeous scarves and bags she makes! (check it out here at Gloriakirk!)

Dani and I have been joking for about a year now about sharing a booth and calling ourselves brichaus (if you don't know already, Dani is the amazingly talented fiberista behind pumpkinhaus.) We met by chance while I was vending at a fiber show and have been buds ever since. We had gotten together at her place at the end of June and played a little dueling carders that day (I tried out her vintage coarse louet and she tried out my strauch 205.) There was definitely a little bit of brichaus born that day. This time around I had my fiber with me too though and we both carded a mess of batts using bits and pieces from both (plus a wee bit of Gloria's stash) as we passed our goods between each other. I carded to the point where I lost track of time and the amount of batts I made! I couldn't even believe it and was terribly excited that we'd finally been able to fully collaborate sharing fibers and our carders. So this coming Monday, August 8, 2011, I will finally be releasing the first of hopefully many in the future in the brichaus line of batts.

So nice to finally have some coworkers. :D

New Spinalong (SAL) Audrey Hepburn on sale July 29th!

2011-07-28T14:59:00.000-07:00

"The most important thing is to enjoy your life—to be happy—it's all that matters."
— Audrey Hepburn

I know I've been absent from blogging... but I'm here to tell you all that I will be offering a new Spin Along starting tomorrow July 29th! So far I have hosted two spin alongs with the most inspiring Jim Henson and then Roald Dahl. I recently was at my local library and the theme for my next SAL became very clear when I ran across a beautiful coffee table book that was filled with intimate portraits of female icons, Audrey Hepburn among them. It was a tough to narrow down who the first one would be but Audrey became the frontrunner for me quickly. Not only was she a fashion icon, Hepburn also did great philanthropy work with UNICEF through the end of her life which is terribly admirable. She was never like the throwaway celebrities of present day and remains a Hollywood icon.

SAL's will go on sale in the shop tomorrow, July 29, 2011, and will be for sale for 3 weeks. As always the SAL will be hosted on Ravelry in my group here. You may choose from the following five different films for your themed batt.

I do hope you will spin along with us!

dying for midwest and spinning for me :D

2011-06-05T09:29:00.000-07:00

I dyed about three pounds of fiber last night after the heat finally subsided outside. I held off hoping it would cool down and at about 11 P.M. it was like somebody flipped the humidity/heat switch outside and it became blissfully breezy and nice. You betcha I threw those dyepots on the stove! I had so much yumminess to dye! I bought two new fleeces at Michigan Fiber Fiesta while my mom watched my booth. A stunning crimpy beautiful CVM fleece and a few pounds of Jacob. I had never worked with either of these wools before so it was really lovely to go through the regular process, pick, wash, wash, wash, pick a little more, (ever notice how so much more comes through once it is clean!?) dye, rinse, and my FAVORITE part, once the water is spun out spreading each bit of fiber out onto the drying rack. The Jacob was so poofy and lovely and the CVM with it's lovely crimp and softness is outta this world! I can't wait for it to be dry so I can card it into some more batts for Midwest Fiber and Folk.

What is laid out on my table is really exciting me too: teeswater, teeswater lamb, suri, the last of my super crimpy BFL fleece and the BL lamb, silk noils and hankies, and some wool neps. Those are what is on my agenda today to dye up along with some banana fiber and cotton sliver that will soak while I do some lesson planning.

I was so antsy to card what was still wet last night that I ended up carding myself a batt from what was left in my stock to take the edge off, lol! Can't wait to spin it to start my day of work! Man it feels good to say I'm working and have it be something I enjoy.

Update tomorrow!!! 5/27/11

2011-05-26T14:59:00.000-07:00

"Nothing is more the child of art than a garden." - Sir Walter Scott

Hey all! I've had one serious long break from a good update. One reason is, I've been very happily working in my flower garden. It is has grown in size immensely since the first Spring we lived here in our darling home in the city. I've always wanted to be more of a country girl anyhow so it was only natural to plant a HUGE flower garden. Well, after approximately 40 mosquito bites (they love me, it doesn't matter what I do...) and two hard days of work, I'm happy with it and quite inspired. Inspired to create some fiber goods based upon all the beautiful blooms that are finally starting to happen after a Midwestern snowy winter, followed by one of the most waterlogged Springs that I can remember (it is raining now... again btw!) So tomorrow in the shop at approximately 5 PM EST you will find all kinds of fibery happiness at my Garden Party Update. Hope to see you there!

Have you checked the schedule?

2011-05-15T19:59:00.000-07:00

I've added a few shows to my schedule for 2011!!! I just got back from Fiber Fiesta in Greenville, MI. Met a lot of lovely ladies there and it was a great small show to kick off my show season for the year and play around with my booth setup.

So what is next? Well I'm pleased to say that I'll be traveling out of state for the first time to vend at Midwest Fiber and Folk Fair in Grayslake, IL. I'm sharing a booth with my friend and amazingly talented fiber artist, Faun of Hands + Notions and couldn't be more excited! We'd love to see you there!

Roald Dahl Spinalong!!!

2011-05-01T19:20:00.000-07:00

Have you heard? I'm hosting another spinalong!!! The Jim Henson SAL was such a blast and everyone who participated seemed just and wonderfully excited as I was. :D So excited in fact that they even had a fabulous suggestion for my second one. This time we'll be drawing influence from the delightfully imaginative mind of Roald Dahl.

It is unfortunate that this man's name is not often immediately associated with his genius work. He was one of the first authors to make me begin to devour books. You may be familiar with some of them. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, Matilda, The BFG, The Witches, and The Fantastic Mr. Fox just to name a few. There are LOADS of other wonderful works by him and I'm sure I've left out someone's favorite here even. :D The SAL goes on sale tomorrow Monday, May 2, 2011 and will be on sale through Monday, May 23, 2011 and I will be limiting it to 15 SAL participants. Join us on ravelry to share your spins and be included in a chance for a giveaway! So head on over to the shop and choose your favorite (not limited to those listed!) for me to create you a one of a kind chocked full of texture Dahl inspired fiber batt!

a lot of things

2011-04-21T14:32:00.000-07:00

So much has been going on around here with life and with Bricolage Studios. Those of you familiar with me or even just my blog know that I have been trying to juggle two different teaching gigs, a full time job at a convenience store, and life with general while still trying to make Bricolage Studios all that I know it can be. At the end of this month I will be taking a HUGE step in the direction of more focus on Bricolage as I am FINALLY quitting my job. Excited. You bet. Anxious? Scared out of my mind? Hell yes.

Why did I suddenly feel capable of taking the plunge you might ask? Well, to be honest I was glugging Pepsi's and any other sugary caffeinated beverage I could get my mitts on to keep me going which recently made my body scream, "NOOOO MORE!!!" I have been sick more times in the past year than I have been in the two years before this combined and when I started having some serious stomach pains realized two things. One, I need to lay off the caffeine, and two, I need to take care of myself and cut something out. Since most of my stress came from dealing with the day to day at the one job that I was getting the most regular paycheck the decision was not made lightly or quickly but I truly feel it was the right one to make. I have wanted nothing more since I decided that I would follow my dream of being an artist than to do just that. I remember reading somewhere that even if you never catch your dreams, at least you'll have the experience of chasing them. I'm ready to really chase my dreams. I'm submitting to books, adding more shows to my schedule, adding to my existing jewelry lines, and creating one of a kind jewelry like this again.

Not only am I going to be vamping up the etsy store, I am also going to have more time free to actually work on... well, my work. I am very excited for show season this year and will be updating my schedule as it unfolds.

In the meantime, I'm counting down the work days (5 if anyone was wondering,) until I'm done with the store with great anticipation and looking forward to following my dreams.

200 sales?!? Nearly there!!!

2011-02-04T13:38:00.000-08:00

Hey all! As off this afternoon I am 2 sales away from 200 in my etsy store! There will be a free surprise gift to whoever snags lucky #200!!!

Thanks and love to everyone who has supported me to this point! I wouldn't be where I am without you!

Jim Henson Spin Along!!!

2011-02-01T21:17:00.000-08:00

"The most sophisticated people I know - inside they are all children. " - Jim Henson

Tomorrow (i guess later today since it is just past midnight at the moment...) February 2 I am putting up listings for my very first Spin Along! After much internal deliberation the answer became perfectly clear. I must do a Jim Henson spin along. Jim Henson was such a genius. Far ahead of his time and so inspirational to me from the first time I became glued to the television for my old favorites. I grew up with Fraggles, Muppets, and of course like most kids Sesame Street.

I actually was not exposed to his fantasy films The Dark Crystal and The Labyrinth until I was much older. Probably a good thing because they may have creeped me out like The Neverending Story" movies did (and continue to do but that is a whole other post...) Basically, I was able to appreciate their wisdom and the beautiful conceptual art the characters were based on from Brian Froud (a wonderful genius of an artist as well.)

Please do join me as I will be hosting this Spin Along at my Ravelry group found here. Batts will be inspired by the participants choice of theme ranging from the dark and philosophical works to the bright, feathery, furry fun of the Muppets.

"My hope still is to leave the world a bit better than when I got here. " - Jim Henson

Now those are words to live by. Happy blizzard if you are near my neck of the woods. What better time to cuddle up with some wool and start spinning right?

things are brewing...

2011-01-20T14:42:00.000-08:00

Unfortunately they aren't dyepots until tomorrow! I haven't had a chance to dye more woolies in WEEKS!!!! However I do have a few announcements not the least of which that my reception at the coffee shop is a week from tomorrow. Not really any prep for it as I'm not sure if it is gonna be much more than a meet and greet, try stuff on sort of thing but I'm looking forward to it.

In other news, I've closed the shop for a wee bit. I really needed to step back and focus on a few things that I've been trying to catch up on. I'm excited to be providing fiber for an Insubordiknit workshop with Jacey Bogg's in a few months so I've been busy prepping tiny little sample batts and goody bags for that. I also have a few swap packages and blog prizes to send out *she says as she hangs her head in embarrassment for the long delay on both counts.* I took tomorrow off so I have a glorious three days of no work to hopefully manage to get all of that completed.

I start teaching my art appreciation class again next week. I'm a bit nervous as usual when I am going into a new class. I almost think it is worse than beginning to take a new class. Maybe it's because I fumble over my words and more often forget what I am actually going to say when I'm all nervous in front of all of those people. Thankfully I only have 24 students this time around as opposed to the 31 I ended up with last time. This is another cause of the shop being closed for a bit so I can prepare for the changes I'm making this semester. I'm really excited to try to implement more hands on work in class along with contemporary references and videos. I felt like my class responded best to those activities as opposed to me yapping on for hours for the lecture portion.

The MAJOR reason I shut down for a few weeks is because I am also working on various different new product offerings for the shop, some of which I had hoped to release some time ago but have yet to get some solid headway. There will be new fiber and fiber supply, TOOLS for the spinner, knitter, all around fiberista, AND some scrumptious new batts and yarns. Stay tuned for some previews soon! In the meantime since I hate to post with no pictures (which I painfully did in my last post!) I leave you with a shot of one of my pieces that is up at the show currently.

P.S. any unsold work will be heading to the shop. Details to follow! :D

today I....

2011-01-15T21:01:00.000-08:00

Slept in.

Had two lovely phone conversations. One with a new friend and one with a dear old one.

Cleaned part of my studio. While if someone else walked in, it may not appear tidied, you wouldn't believe the difference it made on my workbench. (there is empty space!!!)

Watched a movie with my family while eating pizza. (what else on a saturday night right?)

I have lots of catch up work to do except unfortunately now I'm too tired to make anything, BUT....

Tomorrow I will.

2011 Schedule

2011-01-09T21:17:00.000-08:00

As I started thinking about specific goals for myself this year, I realized I still hadn't updated my show schedule to be for 2011. It is now right here. :D

I am really hoping to be able to get into a few music festivals this year in Michigan so I'll keep everyone posted. I also might be doing a few art fairs, I just feel like fiber shows are where I want to be this year.

In the meantime, I've got some new ideas and lots of ambition, if I find some time somewhere in there, look out everybody!

I can has show?

2011-01-09T20:13:00.000-08:00

My show is now up for your viewing pleasure from now until the end of January at:

Brownstone Cafe
18 1/2 Michigan Ave W
Battle Creek, MI 49017-3604

Stop in for the best coffee in town or a lovely spot of tea. :D

There will be a reception on Friday, January 28, 2011 from 4-6 P.M. There will be postcards with all the info. available later this week if you'd like to stop and pick one up.

one small bag

2011-01-04T15:42:00.000-08:00

My beginnings as a jewelry maker began as I'm sure most girls did, stringing pony beads. I did this for a long time until I came upon the discovery that there were bead stores. Not the little section at Jo Ann's but entire shops filled with beads, baubles, clasps, and toggles for me to create more "sophisticated" jewelry. Gone were the cheap plastic beads which had entertained me for hours. They were mercilessly shoved aside for those pretty little glass flowers and tiny fairy charms.... and a slightly higher price tag. No longer could a few bucks buy me a gigantic bag of Big Value beads, oh no.

As you may have imagined it only got worse. My tastes changed, I learned more and then it became, "Only semi precious stone beads!" and, "If it is glass it must be vintage or handmade, no exceptions!" Well at this point I would marvel at the end of a bead binge shopping trip. It was unbelievable how much money I had spent for such a small bag of goods!

All this to say that today, long past my "beading phase," I finished creating the last few pieces for my jewelry exhibit at the local coffee shop. The show has been scheduled for about 2 years at this point. They were scheduled so far out that I thought, "YEA! I have so much time to put this together now!" Fat chance!!!! I have changed my mind about what I was going to do for this show at least 3 times and therefore never really got started on what I was ACTUALLY going to do until basically the last few weeks. Big mistake with Christmas and all... Anyhow, I ended up creating pieces from deer antler and Icelandic sheep horn slices with mixed metals. The focus was on texture and allowing the natural shape of the organic slices to tell me how they wanted to be assembled. I am VERY pleased with how it all turned out and I will certainly post pictures of everything after tomorrow when I will be hanging the show.

All this to say that today, long past my "beading phase," I have sat in my studio and created a whole new line of jewelry to be debuted this week. I packaged each piece into a tiny ziploc bag according to size and type and then placed them all together in a ziploc bag. Hours upon hours of work and it all fits into one small bag.

nearly half past december. WHAT?!?

2010-12-12T18:13:00.000-08:00

I've been on a terrible blogging hiatus. No time really. Wrapping up classes, trying to make and buy Christmas gifts. I took a class today, work of course and oh yea, I've been all over the place. Literally. Last weekend I travelled to the OOAK Show and Sale in Chicago with my mum, sister, and darling little niece on the train. The 3 and half of us always go to the Ann Arbor Art Fair each year and OOAK Show. I always look forward to these precious days where I am surrounded by some of the most important and loved people in my life in a completely art saturated environment. I saved my pennies this year for Chitown knowing that there were a few artists I just couldn't go home without owning one of their pieces.

My first major purchase were two beautiful little pouches from Robyn of shibangdesigns. I met her last year at the show in the etsy pavilion and bought one of her small coin pouches that also happen to fit smaller cameras (like my own!) I loved it so much that when I was perusing her shop before we went and spotted another beauty, I asked her to save it for me so I could snag it at the show. Of course I couldn't just get one though and ended up getting one of her "cosmetic cases." I'm sure it will end up being for crochet hooks or even occasionally used as a clutch when I'm feeling fancy. Here work is so lovely and extremely high quality. I'm a real sucker for it because she not only screenprints and sews everything herself, but dyes the wools that she uses for the fabtastic floral designs.

At the Ann Arbor Art Fair this year I fell in love with Adam Egenolf 's stunning crystalline glazed pieces but his booth was so busy I couldn't even do my handle test of his mugs. Anyone who knows me or has been to my house knows that I have an extensive handmade mug collection. Every art fair I attend, another mug (sometimes two) comes home with me and thanks to the bars and hooks I acquired at IKEA over the summer I can continue a bit longer without finding a new means of display (oh and don't worry each one gets plenty of use too!) I know where each one came from and they were all picked for a very specific reason and are never purchases unless they feel JUST right in my hand.

Anyhow, back to the Egenolf's work. I happily discovered that he was also at the OOAK show and after much debate decided I would rather have one of his "Grab Glasses." It is so comfy to hold onto and is the perfect water glass for me down in my studio.

My major purchase was from Sarah Chapman. I have admired her work every year we go to the show because on top of having a unique style and being extremely talented, she uses awesome textures, patinas, AND, most importantly to me anyway, cold connections. We all know my love affair with riveting so it is always nice to see someone else using these under appreciated means of joining metal. I had such a lovely chat with Sarah and picked out this little beauty after a bit of debate between it and an equally grand piece with a trilobite fossil inside of it. In the end the allure of this piece having the window on both sides won me over.

But alas, I did not return home without a mug. In fact, the mug was my only non selfish purchase as it was for my husband. This massive mug from Zach Medler just screamed Joe and there were so many other great pieces to choose from. I especially loved a small covered jar that had a little couple block printed on it with an umbrella and rain coming down. His surface decorations with block printing were so different than anyone's I had ever seen which was quite refreshing indeed.

The trip wouldn't have been complete without obtaining one of my favorite guilty pleasures. Chicago Mix popcorn from Garrett's. Whoever decided that caramel corn and cheese popcorn should go together was an insane genius. MMMMMMTASTIC!

So yea, I was selfish. Sometimes, one needs to indulge, especially when the next three weeks are going to be nothing but gift making, buying, and working. Anyone else splurged lately? :D

Next time, my amazing experience tie dying with the farmers at Special Dreams Farms.

productive time in the studio

2010-11-21T16:30:00.000-08:00

Isn't it amazing how there are just times where you mosy into your studio space just to putter and you end up having a storm of creativity? It seems like lately I've been "having" to go down there so I almost dread it but tonight I just wanted to play. I didn't actually finish much but many ideas happened and lots of photos were taken.

I did some serious carder maintenance. The poor thing hadn't been taken off the table in a while so it was a bit scary under there. I can't believe how much texture I use that gets completely lost underneath!?!? I a bit embarrassed to show that picture. :D I did however snap one of my my carder after it was all cleaned up.

Then I carded! I only carded a few batts but they were both a blast. I made one that is very in the holiday spirit. When I pulled it off the carder it was one of those "ooooooh," moments. It is called Decked Tannenbaum and it is packed with sparkle and texture. This one is gonna go in the shop update tomorrow! (11/22/10)

I also carded a batt using my own fibers as a base with some lushmommy and handsandnotions fibers to fill it out. I mixed some of sara's (lushmommy)"sunned mushroom" mix of fiber she dyed me with a wee bit of some special fiber that Faun of handsandnotions dyed for me, a smidge or two of my own fibers plus a whole lotta texture to create a very earthy batt to go with my gorgeous SAL batt from Laila of laigrai that I got the other day. She included the most adorable little woodland mushrooms with the batt so I thought it only fitting to use the sunned mushroom mix. :D VERY excited to spin this up tomorrow night.

I've also finished a few yarns recently. I finally conquered my fear of n plying. I had had to learn how in a spinning class and did so poorly at it (not a good idea to try when you are still kind learning how to spin!) that I refused to try again. I never thought about the fact that it could be done with a chunky fun yarn that I like so I decided to give it a shot with the thick and thin single I made out of hobbledehoy's garden compost batts. I have a very tiny fiber optic Christmas tree and I think this yarn will look way better than the finger knitted garland Adele and I made last year for it. :D I'm actually really looking forward to getting the decorations out this year. It has been so hard the last few year to get in the spirit living with a super scrooge...

The next yarn is going to go to a dear friend for a special project(s) she is going to be working on. I spun a handsandnotions batt called Estella over a core and added in some poofy beehives coils with some of my hand dyed BFL. There are TONS of vintage notions (lace, flower motifs, etc.) and some afghan salvage all spun in as well. I had a blast with this yarn!

Finally, I wanted to show another peek of what will be part of the update. :D I have dyed up so many silk carrier rods and cocoons and will be debuting them in the shop tomorrow. Here's the "motherload."

Phew! That was a big post! Update will start tomorrow between 4:30 and 5 PM EST Hope to see you there! :D

New item offerings for update November 15!

2010-11-08T19:39:00.000-08:00

So I've been talking about new item offerings in my shop announcements for some time. Well, now that things have slowed down a bit, I am finally getting them ready and will be posting them next Monday!

First of all, there will be several new fiber offerings and combo. packs. Here is a little preview of what will be coming to a shop near you (or at least your fingertips) in full color!

I have also been scouring my favorite local thrift stores for super goodies for the next brand new offering I'll be putting out into the world. I don't want to give it all away now but here is a little sneak peek as to what it might be:

I am super excited about these and have only shared this delightfully silly idea with a few people. :D

Are you excited yet? Because on top of it all, I might just have a few items finished to finally go into the "Wear It" section of the shop. Now that is exciting news since it has been empty the entire time I've had the shop. Good intentions but no time really... Now that temperatures are finally dropping (I think anyway... it is supposed to get up to near or over 70 tomorrow! It's NOVEMBER! can we say what the hell Michigan?) But it isn't unbearably humid and hot and the snow isn't flying so no real complaints here, just confusion. At any rate, the "drop in temp." means I actually like to sit with a pile of yarn and partially made garment in my lap.

A few new yarns will be hitting the shop next week along with several new batts. Previews to come Friday here and on flickr!

Finally announcing...

2010-10-26T19:05:00.000-07:00

THE WINNER!!!!

Miss Laila, come on down!!!! Your name was randomly chosen out of a tiny box by my husband! :D Because the pins actually consist of 3 colors I will be using all three to create the Sullen Storms colorway. I can't wait to see it on one of your beautiful creations!

This giveaway was much smaller in participation than my last one and all of you have been so supportive and wonderful in the short time I've known each one of you.

Kate, thank you for being one of my first jewelry customers on etsy. It may not seem like a big deal but it really meant a lot to me, the jewelry world is tough out there on etsy. It was that much sweeter that you were a repeat customer. I hope you and your friend are still enjoying your candy bracelets very much.

Dani, Christina, and Dru, and Laila, you all are completely awesome fiber friends. I am completely floored by your support. Despite only having met two of you, I feel like I actually know all of you because of all the kind words, supportive notes, suggestions, and really just a way to be able to express ideas to people who actually "get" what I'm trying to do.

That being said, I'd like to offer a small gift to each of you who were not the prizewinner to show my sincerest appreciation for your participation and support. I think I actually have everyone's address so just pop a little comment here if your addy has changed since I have had to send anything to any of you... probably Christina? and dru, I will get those moths out to you then, sorry I'm a slow poke, I wanted to make sure I had them packaged very carefully. :D

Thank you all so much for your color suggestions as well, I will be making some variation of each one so look for em' in the shop!

Next time: pictures from Fiber Expo!

i bet you thought I forgot...

2010-10-25T20:00:00.000-07:00

BUT I DIDN'T! The blog giveaway winner will be announced tomorrow! Sorry I've been so busy I haven't had a chance to randomly draw someone. :D

one seat over

2010-10-20T17:33:00.000-07:00

Joe and I went to dinner the other night at one of our favorite local breweries, Dark Horse Brewing Company. We usually prefer to sit at the bar but it is often packed in there so we were quite pleased to find that there was plenty of room for us there. We sat down with the seat on my right open and the one to his left. I know, stupid right? Well Joe is tall so I thought he'd wanna sit and the end to be able to stretch his legs out. Silly man of course sat 3 seats in instead. So after joking with him how silly it was, I sat down to and we resolved to move should anyone else want to sit down.

A very nice couple who clearly frequent the brewery more than we do since everyone working there knew them (I'm not entirely sure they weren't the owners...) came in a bit later, so I asked if they would like us to scoot on down. We had a little small talk, joked a bit, and discussed what beers we were drinking and then went back to our conversations with our spouses.

Soon after we were discreetly told by our bartender that our first round had been taken care of.

I had one of their yummy homemade lime sodas for my second drink as I was driving and was shocked to find out a few moments later when we were ready for our bill that someone had taken care of the entire thing.

We're sure it was the couple that paid but we weren't supposed to know. Shocked, I tipped the bartender/waitress the twenty bucks I had in my purse.

Such a small gesture from us that resulted in a reaffirmation of my faith in human kindness all because we moved one seat over.

A large thank you from the bottom of my heart to that couple.

giveaway ends wednesday 10/13

2010-10-11T15:32:00.000-07:00

see post 100 for details!

AND, just so you know that I'm not wasting this gorgeous day, I actually sat outside to write this post while the dogs chewed on sticks. The colors are getting to be so beautiful!

and then I had a puppy photoshoot! .... I wish I could have caught Dillion with his "stogie" in his mouth. Joe walked outside and Dillion greeted him holding a piece of a very small branch that looked like a giant cigar in his big doggie mouth! I did manage to snap a few of my cute canine companions playing on this rare Indian summer day. (I was wearing a tank top!)

they are happily playing inside now... right underfoot of course. :D

Shop Update Monday 10-11-10

2010-10-10T21:45:00.000-07:00

Sneak Peeks :D 10 batts going in the shop tomorrow in all.

Chicago, puppies, rainbows, and wool

2010-10-09T16:08:00.000-07:00

As promised a wee post about chicago.

At yarncon I got to hang out with my fiber friend Dani of pumpkinhaus where we both got to meet the lovely Laila of laigrai. It was so wonderful to meet with these incredible ladies with whom I have so much respect for and common interest. Dani doesn't live too far from me so we can pal around anytime, but Laila came all the way from NY to do the show so it was kind of extra special for us all to get together. Both of them had absolutely gorgeous booths at Yarncon that I wanted to buy every little thing from. This of course was what I forgot to photograph but we did get some photos snapped of us outside of the Pick Me Up cafe.

I also got was so lucky to stay with my pal Julie while I was in Chicago. It is so nice be able to catch up with old friends and to be able to see little parts of places like Chicago you would never even stumble upon without the help of someone who knows the place. We went to China town for dinner Friday and went into the Hoy Poloi gallery located there. Lot of really cool stuff but all that came home with me was a silly little eye poppin monster and some Tim Burton playing cards for Joe. Julie got one too which led to a hysterical photoshoot for the benefit of our dear Hillary who would have been in on it were she not oceans away. This may be my favorite one...

Prior to the weekend of Yarncon I was feeling pretty burnt out so it was nice to be smacked in the face with something as rare as a double rainbow on my drive to spinning night. The "double" was very faint but as you can see one of them was incredibly bright.

After relaxing most of the week, I began to itch to spin finally. I had missed that urge since I had kind of been forced to do so over the past month to build the meager inventory I managed. While at Yarncon I couldn't resist getting one of Laila's gorgeous batts but since it was only about 2 oz. I decided to pair it with one of my own. I tore them both into strips and drafted them a bit together. I was a bit worried at first but I think I am happy with the results so far.

Very fall festive I think, mostly mossy woodsy looking. I also had someone who thought he was helping.

Thanks for the cuteness support Frank.

psst... HEY! you're gonna miss the GIVE AWAY!

2010-10-09T15:50:00.000-07:00

I mean seriously people, possibilities of free things don't come along every day. So if you want a chance at one of my Cosmic Poppy Shawl Pins, check out post 100. All the details are there. :D

Still open for a bit but I've only had two comments so far and wanted to make sure that it wasn't just my lack of blogging as of late that was causing the hold up.

At any rate, I've finally been able to breathe a sigh of relief as I finished my back to back to back weekends of shows. I'm quite happily sipping one of my favorite Michigan wines, Leelanau Cellars Great Lakes Red if you were wondering, and trying to catch up on the internet side of things. Funny how time gets away when you are INSANELY BUSY!

So for a quick recap of things:

First stop, the ol' alma mater of Adrian. I had a terrific time though sales were slow at Art A Licious. I I have participated every year the festival has been held and it honestly has gotten better as years have passed. Sharing a booth with Starr is of course always a treat as well. :D Plus! I made this rockin' hat for my friend Kendra while sitting in the booth, she is the model of course.

Next stop, West Branch, MI. Northern Michigan Lamb and Wool was such a wonderful show. Nice people, plenty of setup time and easy to access the building to do so which is always a plus. I did wonderfully at this show and did I mention how nice the people were? Jill had a booth next to me and mom was there for cheap help. Many laughs over the weekend on the beautiful fair grounds. It was rather windy, chilly, and rainy or I would have gotten some pictures of the already turning colors in northern Michigan.

Do you like my giant bag of popcorn and bottle of squirt... yeesh you'd think I would think to take things like that out of these pix by now...

Finally, Chicago. Oh, Chicago. That will have to be another post I think. :D

100 posts (GIVEAWAY!!!,) 2 shows down, 3 pepsi's, and 8 dyepots

2010-09-29T21:16:00.000-07:00

My word! What a few weeks I've had!

Art a licious while fun was a bit of a bust. I always do this show because it is one of few times where I like to go back to my Alma Mater. Always a fun time and the show has improved over the past few years. Starr was an amazering booth partner as always and it was lovely to catch up with friend and go to the tea pantry in Tecumseh.

Last weekend was Northern Michigan Lamb and Wool in West Branch. I had a really great show for the first time but grossly underestimated my time to replenish stock.... hence the 8 dyepots and 3 pepsi's The woolies are cooling a bit now before I rinse and put em' out to dry for some serious batt making tomorrow evening.

I scored a few really nice fleeces at NML&W ( a teeswater x and a Border leicester lambie fleece) and I got my beautiful horn to be made into jewelry soon. I am thinking that horn and antler pieces will be my January Brownstone show pieces... more on that later. :D

And finally, I had hoped to have a beautiful post full of pictures from the past few shows in this post but instead, you get the cliff's notes update of the past few weeks. Sorry folks. The most important thing, I think anyway, is that this post marks my 100th post and I'm having a second giveaway! The only real request I got was for jewelry so I have decided to go with it.

Who wants a shawl pin?

I mean really, who wouldn't? :D

To win one of my shawl pins , please suggest a color combo and a fancy name for it in the comments here. I will randomly draw a winner who will receive a pin in their suggested colorway and I'll add it to my line.

I'll leave the window open for commenting for about two weeks so suggest away!

Thank you dear readers and wish me luck at Yarncon!

the newest addition to our little family :D

2010-09-12T13:01:00.000-07:00

and what is this? post 99? next post will be announcing a giveaway!!! :D

a scrumptious dinner indeed!

2010-09-11T12:40:00.000-07:00

so I was toodling around etsy the other night and ended up on the storque blog where their guest curator Ele of Kitchenist blog had posted a most delicious looking recipe for savory broccoli cakes. I vowed I would make them the next night with dinner.

Joe was running a bit late getting home from work so I had plenty of time to get these all whipped up and have dinner on the table by the time he finished his paperwork when he got home. I felt like such a good little domestic wifey. Oh, and don't think for a second this happens all the time. In fact, Joe cooks far more than I do and had just made a very wonderful pork loin the night before accompanied by some perfectly cooked carrots and smashed taters (one of my most simple favorites from the time I was very little.)

I am terribly stressed out right now because of the once again lofty goals I set for myself and my current lack of motivation. Getting a little creative in the kitchen was just what I needed to ground me a little bit again. Plus I got to use one of my favorite mixing bowls! Usually this vintage beauty is reserved for looks only with its other two nesting buddies but I couldn't resist using is for the photo opps!

I halved the recipe that was given because I knew the three of us wouldn't go through 12 of these "biscuits" in one evening. I don't like to stray from recipes the first time that I make them but I did make one small addition to it with a good tablespoon of dill weed.

I highly recommend this recipe, very tasty, especially when warm as it has been much cooler here. I've been quite ready for Autumn to arrive this year. Winter on the other hand could stay at bay for some time and I'd be pleased.

Are there any recipes you've recently discovered?

Well back to the studio!

something has been bothering me for some time....

2010-09-04T17:31:00.000-07:00

and I thought maybe making another piece would help.

You see about a year and a halfish ago, a friend asked me if I could make a necklace for his girlfriend for their anniversary. "Of course!" I said because he is an old friend and despite having only met his girlfriend a few times I felt totally comfortable doing it... at the time. I had made my mom this pendant for her birthday.

This is the piece my friend saw which led him to commission the piece for his girlfriend. His only real specification was hearts because there was a significance in their relationship. It was their 5 year so he asked that there be 5.

So what did I do? I designed, I fiddled, I showed him a few ideas and chatted to him about a few. Unfortunately he is a ways away so he didn't actually see the work in progress. Because he had raved to me about this piece, I felt like the commission should have the same materials, so I incorporated an antler slice into it as in the one for my mom and came up with this.

I was actually thrilled with the finished product. I don't much care for hearts because they are usually so trite, so I made them kind of stylized and got creative with placement, not only cutting a tiny one directly into the antler slice, but cutting a hidden special one into the back.

Well, my friend seemed to like it a lot BUT, still did not mention one VERY significant thing about his girlfriend. SHE'S A VEGETARIAN! So a few weeks later when I spoke with him, of course I asked him how their anniversary was, how she liked it, etc. I knew by his tone it was not good. This necklace will never be worn. It will sit in a box because while a wonderfully sweet gesture from her boyfriend, she is put off by it. Special, but not to wear. I can't really blame her, but I still feel awful about it. I tried even to talk to them about it, to set things right, make a new piece, or rework the current one with another material in the place the antler and received the, "No, no, you didn't know," " it is special still," "I don't want to put you out." End of discussion.

I have a whole bag of antler slices that have been crying for attention because these two pieces were such a joy to make but the aftermath of the second puts a pit in my stomach every time I think of trying something. It also made me think... ya know, it is a NATURAL THING for deer to shed their antlers, just as sheep and goats sometimes lose their horns in gripping headbutt battles or even just because they need to. I'm am fairly certain no animals were harmed to create these pieces. In the future if I purchase any more, I WILL BE CERTAIN THAT THAT IS THE CASE! Needless to say it still bothers me. A LOT.

Well not today my friends. Because I challenged myself. Here before you is a brand new one of a kind piece in my antler slice series of art jewelry and I adore it.

It still needs a patina to "age" it a bit, but my liver of sulphur went bad so it will have to wait till the new gel type comes that I ordered (very excited to try that btw!)

Hopefully I can get my hands on some sheep horns soon, I think they'd make for really interesting mixed media pieces with some wool incorporated with the metal.

P.S. any thoughts would be welcome.

a personal challenge

2010-08-31T20:42:00.000-07:00

Busy weeks coming ahead.

4 shows in the next two months.

Reroofing our house this weekend.

Starting teaching again at both the college and the art center.

So what am I doing?

I am implementing a self challenge. Every day unless I am away at a show, I will make a new one of a kind piece. It doesn't have to be extravagant. I just have some ideas bouncing around in my head and while I love my poppy and candy lines very much, they get to be a bit blah after I work on them all evening. So, every day I will make a piece and I will post. Hold me to it. Seriously. But not too seriously because I might have some double shares in certain posts. I really need to keep away from this computer so I can get some work done. I just keep falling down those rabbit hole searches on etsy that lead to more and more fabulous things. Inspiring, but doesn't really help me get any work done.

Look for a star tomorrow here. You are sure to find it... if not there is Thursday. :D

Best Day Ever

2010-08-23T19:12:00.000-07:00

I had such a wonderful day today. My mom had been wanting to have a day out with "her girls" meaning my sister, Carley, Adele, and I. We had all been wanting to go see the Chihuly exhibit at Frederick Meijer Gardens in Grand Rapids so we decided that would be the perfect destination.

After a short sidetrip to the Fulton Street Artisan Market so I could visit my new friend Heather of the Paper Peacock (<---check that link for her etsy shop) to snag some more of her incredible hand sculpted porcelain buttons we wandered to lunch and finally to the gardens, but not before Carley popped a few wheelies in her stroller with the help of her mommy. :D

I was like a little kid at the gardens, so thrilled to finally make it to a Chihuly exhibit. I had been rather upset that I didn't make the short drive to Kalamazoo at the KIA a few years ago when they held one. All of that glass was incredible!

The children's area was great fun and also a wonderful way to cool down if you stood near the fountains the kids were playing in.

Of course there are other great artist's work exhibited there. Some of Deborah Butterfield's horses were prominently displayed and a few of Tom Otterness's sculptures remained there from a G.R. wide exhibit a few years back.

Each time I go to Grand Rapids I think of my friend Hillary who is currently in Morocco as a Peace Corps Volunter. Seeing this sculpture made me miss Hillary even more because the last time I was this close to one of his sculptures was on a visit to see her. I do believe some silly pictures are floating about the interweb of us with our friend Julie and some finger puppets perhaps? Soon my friend will be home and I will be so glad to see her again.

Anyhow, a lovely day indeed. Such a rare occasion to be able to get us all together, it will definitely be a cherished memory.

Introducing: Batt of the Month Club!

2010-08-20T16:41:00.000-07:00

I have been having a small internal debate about whether or not I could handle doing a Batt Club. This Fall I will be cutting down to four days a week at the store (thank goodness finally!) This was made possible due to the fact that I will be teaching another section of Art Appreciation at the local community college which happens to take place in the afternoon on Thursdays. I am so thrilled to have the morning time on a weekday when I'm all by myself at home to create. No distractions and then off to teach! I know I'm still going to have my hands full because I'll also be teaching at the Art Center of Battle Creek on most Thursday evenings. No complaints here though! A whole day full of art and teaching, two things I love. How could one be upset?

Anyhow, that brings me back to the point. Since I will have more time that I can use to create art, I can use that time to custom create batts for anyone interested! The clubs will be a 3 month "membership" where you will receive 3+oz. of fiber and other goodies each month. All natural fibers will be hand dyed almost exclusively by me using Greener Shades Dyes. I am going to start off with 10 spots and if enough interest is shown I may add a few more in the future. Immagonna post one to get it up there but please convo. me on etsy if you would like me to reserve a spot for you! You can find me here.

After a bit of a fight with Gimp, I finally finished a batt club picture that I can live with. (to be honest this may have been holding me back starting a club more than the actual time it will take me!) After trying several different font colors I settled for these two because they were the best I could do. I know some of the text is difficult to read but I am just not a graphically inclined person. Give me something tactile and I'm all in though! :D

thank you blogger

2010-08-16T18:53:00.000-07:00

for putting a spam comment blocker on. I'd much rather have no comments than 2-4 spam comments from Asian porn sites.

so thank you blogger, you made my blog night.

First Annual Harsen's Island Bluegrass Festival

2010-08-14T12:15:00.000-07:00

Hey all! I'm doing a show tomorrow with my wonderful friend Starr (the one who designed my logo) tomorrow at the First Annual Harsen's Island Bluegrass Festival. If you are in the area come check out some art and bluegrass! http://harsensislandbluegrassfestival.eventbrite.com/

We will also be seen together in September at the Art-A-Licious Art Fair and Festival in Adrian, Michigan. http://www.artalicious.org/

P.S. anybody noticed how near that 100th post is getting? I've only had a few responses to requests for that giveaway. Jewelry seems to be the consensus so far. Get your suggestions into the comments!

new stuffs a brewin! giveaway ideas?

2010-08-07T14:33:00.000-07:00

Things have been very busy and exciting here for me with Bricolage Studios. When I set out to make a go of being an artist, I knew it was going to be an awful lot of hard work and recently I have been trying to remind myself of how much I have accomplished when things seem hairy or I'm feeling like maybe I'm doing something wrong. Here is a small list of the big ones for me anyway:

1. I have been creating and teaching classes at the local art center for almost 3 years now
2a&b. I have team taught a college level course AND providing the class runs in the fall will have the opportunity to teach it on my own
3. I have done AT LEAST 5 art/craft/fiber shows for the past two years, some with a fair amount of success
4. I have branched out on my own and been able to teach a few private workshops which were a lot of fun
5. I have reached over 100 sales in my etsy shop, which is actually nearer to 150 now with a majority of those sales having been within the last 7-8 months.
6. I have designed and executed several new jewelry lines
7. I have set up a home studio that function quite well for me for most of my needs.
8. I have done all of these things while working a full time job and also managed to spend time with family and friends on top of doing all of these things
9. I bought a house with my now husband, got married 2 years later, and have made it my little family's home with a rather large flower garden out front (this was always a very important to me, must be all the women in my family that love their flowers so.)
10. AND, perhaps most importantly, I have done all of these while maintaining my sanity, though that was debatable.

I could go on to say that if I can do this, I don't understand how people say, "i just can't seem to find the time," but I won't get into that whole subject. I know that I am driven individual and it takes that drive to be successful at anything. I've gotta say this being a working artist thing is tough and there are times I think that quitting would be easier, but where is the fun in that?

I love every part of what I do. I might dread picking through and washing a greasy OM and VM filled fleece (OM = organic matter which is just a nice way of saying poo/urine really and VM = vegetable matter so all that hay, straw, grass, burrs, sticks, etc. that sticks in the poor little sheepies fuzz) BUT, I find it very gratifying in the end once I have it all dyed up that I can blend it, spin it, and make something out of it. There is just something incredible about knowing that you had your hand in on nearly every step of a process. I mean sure, I didn't raise the sheep or shear it but someday... :D I think that the whole concept of handmade was lost on people for a long time and now that there is a wonderful shift back to it happening, the more you do, the more it is appreciated.

So anyhow, now that I've rambled on I'll get to that new stuff I was talking about. First of all, I am VERY pleased to announce that I have been accepted into YARNCON in chicago. This was a really big deal for me. I have never done an out of state show and in CHICAGO?!?! WOOHOO! I had already begun work on some new items for the shop including: hand dyed silk hankies and cocoons, OOAK freeform knit and crochet wear/accessories, more OOAK fiber and metal necklaces, handmade custom metal diz’, and some non fiber related jewelry. I also had a happy experiment the other night when carding up some batts for Friday's shop update. I was picking some fiber open in my picker box and wondered, "Could I blend fiber directly in here?" So I tried it and the answer was YES!

And so, fiber mixes were born. More coming to the shop in next week's update. Keep a look out for all of these new items that will be filtering soon. They won't be huge updates because I'll be beefing up my stash stock for my upcoming show but you will certainly get a good preview of the items.

Also, please hop on over to the 2010 schedule tab. I have updated it a bit with websites for the shows through the rest of the year. I will start posting my 2011 shows as soon as I know more details about them. I already have a few lined up that had early sign up (some new ones even!) I am also looking into vending at a few different music festivals in northern Michigan. *fingers crossed* :D

OH! and don't forget, for my 100th post I am doing another giveaway, please leave comments with your suggestions for that!

nearing the 100 mark

2010-07-27T16:09:00.000-07:00

I just realized I am rather close to the 100 post mark. Perhaps another giveaway is in order? Howzabout some idears for giving? Jewelry again? yarn? Leave em' in the comments so I can narrow it down and post the announcement. You can go to the shop to browse around for those ideas too. :D

Objects and Elements = Amazing :D

2010-07-15T14:45:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! I just wanted to shoot a quick blog out there to say that my talisman piece I shared with you all a few posts back is featured on the Objects and Elements blog today. Objects and Elements is the online store/blog etc. for Susan Lenart Kazmer's book, findings, etc. with the exclusion of her new line for Michael's Industrial Chic. Recently, they had a reader challenge/submission. They had so many wonderful entries they have been featuring one each day rather than one gigantic post and today it is me! So hop on over there and check out today's post and all of the other beautiful pieces people have made with the Industrial Chic line. You can find it HERE and if you miss it today, just look at the July 15, 2010 post. They are so kind and supportive there and even sent me a very nice personal email to let me know when my piece would be featured, not to mention their kind words in the actual post. Thanks to all of you at Objects and Elements, you are all truly inspiring.

Days 4, 5, and 6 TDF and some Ren Faire fun

2010-07-10T20:29:00.000-07:00

Some superfun ladies and I are all participating in the Tour de Fleece over on Ravelry during the Tour de France. Basically, every day they pedal, we treadle. Kinda nerdy but very motivating and a blast to be participating in my second year now. The team I am on is Laila's of laigrai who is an amazing fiber artist and super fun gal. Anyhow she devised a point system within our little group that feels like an amazing chuck e cheese prize counter so I've really been trying to spin a yarn a day. So far I'm doin' pretty good, but we're only on day 8 now. Here's some eye candy of days 4-6

Today was a really jam packed day of activity for me. I still haven't gotten a chance to spin but I did get to see one of my teammates Dani of pumpkinhaus (the second photo of yarn above is made from one of her fabulous batts) at the Ren Faire Adele and I went to today. Adele got a beautiful butterfly painted on her face. I took the window of opportunity while she was occupied watching the joust to snap a few candid photos of her. :D

When Adele and I got home, I got stuff ready for tie dying. She was outgrowing the ones we had done about a year ago and I wanted to get some onesies dyed for my niece so it was a perfect activity... right after we had an epic super soaker battle in the backyard.

Now that's how to spend a summer Saturday. :D

just a quick one

2010-07-06T17:35:00.000-07:00

I got featured in a little treasury on etsy today. It is a really pretty one, I'm not sure my little pendant was quite worthy. You can check it out here while it lasts and you can of course just look below because I always try to get a little screenshot. I was pretty thrilled that it was one of my jewelry pieces. Will this be the one that makes the front page? Fingers crossed on my end to get my first front page one.

All right... enough, I need to do lesson plans...

this makes me happy

2010-06-28T19:42:00.000-07:00

A close friend sent me this webcomic via facebook.

image courtesy of xkcd.com

http://xkcd.com/260/

monday post of wonderment...

2010-06-27T21:33:00.000-07:00

There are lots of exciting things happening here in the basement studio of Bricolage Studios. So many that I wanted to post some super sneaky peek pictures of the happenings.

Saturday this past weekend was spent with a friend. I think we both needed a "day off" from everything. For the most part we sat around and chatted but at one point I jumped up with excitement and said we were going to do a project. "Are you ready?!" I exclaimed. I think I may have startled her a bit but once we got started it was a pretty cathartic and exciting exercise.

image courtesy of amazon

I had purchased the book Hot Textiles by Kim Thittichai about a year ago after checking it out from the library and was so fascinated that it completely shut me down. "I can't do this!" I thought, and so the book was sat aside. There was one project I remembered quite well in the book was handmade beads from various synthetic fibers and a bit of copper wire. I had recently found my stash of sheer nylon (or polyester?) fabric and I always have a bunch of old aluminum knitting needles at hand so these beads were born from my hand.

These were almost too much fun and went so quickly! I keep talking about how I need a little more spontaneity in my work and these totally delivered. Notice the little Geek Squad bug in the background. :D I love that my 6'3" husband drives this wee little thing for work, lol!

working while you work

2010-06-27T19:39:00.000-07:00

It's no secret, I hate my job. The day job. The only one I can't afford to lose.

I have been currently weighing the pros and cons of work and how I have tolerated it this long.

Image courtesy of amazon

When I came across the book The Artist in the Office I giggled a bit at the concept... but then had an "AHA" moment. This is what had made work tolerable. The fact that I often did non work related things while working. I only really skimmed the book because I don't work in an office so many of the silly activities didn't apply (randomly dancing with a coworker near the copy machine being one of them... I work alone all day and no copy machine exists,) I realized that this was something I already did a little bit of. When I'm at work, I get amazing ideas for new jewelry lines, sculptures, and other artwork that I would like to create. I ALWAYS have my sketchbook in my purse so that I do not lose one of these ideas by not recording it immediately. (Amazing how short our memories can be sometimes...) This is one of the small things that makes my workday tolerable.

Also, I make a lot of lists, especially when I have huge deadlines looming, like a show in 4 days that I can't be working on anything for because I'm at work. I can breakdown the things I need to do when I am no longer stuck at work and it comforts me.

I even remember one time where I had not properly tied a skein of yarn. When I went to spin the excess water out of it, it entangled itself in the worst kind of rat's nest. I took it to work with me the next day because I knew the thought of it would drive me absolutely nuts all day. I gradually got it untangled throughout the day and then used two full cases of two liters to wind the skein around. It worked quite well. :D

Currently, I need to get a pretty massive amount of fiber dyed. It will take me several hours just to pick through and wash the fiber, then I'd still have the whole dyeing process to go through. A friend of mine, Dani, over at pumpkinhaus, recently did a whole lotta solar dyeing AND posted amazing pictures on her flickr page as a tutorial. I had planned on doing this this weekend but the mosquitos were awful and I didn't get the wool ready in time to dye. Now I feel pressed and began looking up tutorials to see how long it typically takes, etc. I came across someone's blog who just left them in her car while she was at work. Absolutely. Freakin'. Genius. I could dye every day of the week I'm at work! It is always so damn hot in my car when I get out in the middle of the afternoon, it's sure to work and I don't even have to worry about bugs getting into it or the dog trying to drink the dye bath water! I almost think I should feel guilty about this one while I'm at work...or not. :D

By the way I did notice another thing that those who work in an office do that I occasionally need to do. Filing. Though I'm not sure theirs includes getting rid of the burrs on the edges of a copper pendant. Which reminds me, jewelry update tomorrow in the shop!

How do YOU sneak art into your work day? Don't worry, your secret is safe with me. :D

disgruntled...

2010-06-24T20:14:00.000-07:00

you know those adorable little magnetic things with all the different faces with specific emotions that you can "select your mood." Mine would be on the disgruntled one RIGHT NOW!!!

argh...

with how busy I have been, the house is in disarray. This means I cannot find things. SO, when my camera battery died just as I was about to take pictures of all of my jewelry for my big update tomorrow, do you think I could find the charger? all is not lost though. I did eventually find it (of course it was in a place I had already looked a few times and I just somehow missed it) and it is now charging. I am still hoping to update tomorrow, I just probably won't get sneak peeks out like I had hoped.

we won't even mention the royal eff up on the city of battle creek's part with my water bill the ENTIRE two and half years Joe and I have lived here. well I guess I just mentioned it but we won't get into it.

yea disgruntled would be my mood.

on the lighter side of things...

I do have a few pictures of the pieces I was going to post today that I took in my booth so enjoy the pretty baubles!

Also, I did get some weaving started which I am VERY excited about. if all goes well with it I might even be able to dedicate a wee little blog about it this weekend.

I am having an impromptu yard sale this weekend AND am going to do some solar dying of a bunch of the fleece I have acquired in the past month or so. I think I figured it out and I have over 20 pounds to pick, wash, and dye. The feels kind of nice to know that I have all of that at my disposal. Which leads me to my next topic. MASSIVE FIBER UPDATE NEXT FRIDAY JULY 2!!! Seriously. There will be locks, firestar, and batts aplenty. All hand dyed by me! Yay!!!

Also Saturday I am going to a roller derby double header in kalamazoo. Should be an exciting adventure and might get my mind off the one terrible thing going on right now...

all this beauty...

2010-06-20T21:26:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite 'bands' would definitely have to be the married duo of Deb Talan and Steve Tannen, a.k.a. The Weepies. I absolutely adore their music and only discovered them because I loved Deb's music so much that I craved more. (new album in August btw, I'm chomping at the bit and already snagged their single which I NEVER do...) One of their lovely older tunes is called All This Beauty and I think of it often when I witness something so simply and naturally beautiful. Listening to their music makes me get that deep down feeling of what it is like to fall in love all over again.

it's been a while

2010-06-20T21:21:00.000-07:00

You must be thinking, "Yea, it has been a while since she posted something." While this is true, it has also been a while since I was featured in a treasury. I was pleasantly surprised today to find that one of my poppy shawl pins had been featured in an all poppy treasury put together by classyandsassycharms.etsy.com
You can view it while it lasts here or just take a looksie below. :D

My lack of posting has really just been because I've been sooooo busy getting ready for these shows the past two weekends. I am happy to say that I will now have about a month's break before my next show venture. Plenty of time to dye lots of fiber, work on my new jewelry lines (and the old ones too of course,) and get some one of a kind work done.

"New lines?" you ask. Why yes, new lines. To be completely honest, I didn't start spinning just so that I could make myself fabulous yarns. I started spinning with every intention of incorporating that handspun goodness into my jewelry. I started a handspun line about a year ago, and while I was happy with the concept, I wasn't entirely pleased with the design. I began reworking it on paper several months back and only recently was able to execute it into it's newly revamped design. I debuted it at the show this weekend with just a few pieces and got an awful lot of compliments and a even sold a few. I didn't get any good photos of them yet but I did get some good photos of my new booth setup for art fairs. I typically only have my jewelry at the art fairs but am beginning to wonder if I shouldn't put my yarn in also... something to think about. Any thoughts?

I did get a few good pictures of my two new "talisman" pieces. Who knew that something as simple as a neckwire from Susan Lenart Kazmer's new Industrial Chic line of components could be so inspiring? Of course everything Kazmer does seems to inspire me. :D

I am having so much fun with these pieces! Spontaneous things are happening again which has immensely helped in the hibernating creativity department. I get in such ruts sometimes... Anyhow, these have also helped me to use some of my discarded designs and prototypes and make them into something I treasure again. Sometimes it is so disappointing to create something you love so much, only to have it be passed by when you introduce it. Very few people walked by these new pieces without admiring them so I know I've done something right by them now. Warm fuzzy feelings all around.

preparing...

2010-06-01T19:59:00.000-07:00

Wow! so I get this weekend off, start teaching Monday, and of course working all week long at the crummy job but then, OH THEN, begins two jam packed weekends of shows.

June 12 - Fiber Arts and Animal Festival (FAAF) at Sidetrack Ice Cream in Marshall, MI
June 13 - Fulton Street Artisan Market (FSAM) downtown Grand Rapids, MI
June 19 - Art in the Park downtown at Mill Race Park Battle Creek, MI

Wanna be able to choose from some of my goods in person AND shop for other super amazing handmade wonderfulness, then YOU need to be at one of these three places. :D For more info please check out my "Schedule 2010" link below my banner.

By the way, each and every one of these shows are located very close to good eateries (specifically Microbrews which are my personal favorite.) In fact, Dark Horse Brewing Co. is just a stone's throw away from the Fiber show on June 12th and they are having their famous Crawfish Broil that day.

So anyway, please come out and support us hard workin' arty/crafty folk. Stimulate some of this mitten state's economy and shop local hey?

Oh, and by the way, go see my show at Brownstone North. I promise tags and artist statement will be up tomorrow down there. :D Proper photographs to share will follow very soon also.

BROWNSTONE SHOW

2010-05-30T20:11:00.000-07:00

Hi all,
Just popping in to say that well, I got something done.

I've had a lot of panic stricken last minute stuff lately because I've been so busy. Well I have known that I had a show in June at Brownstone North starting in June but have not had much time to work on it.

I am happy to say it is finished.

So if you are in the battle creek area, and want a good cup of coffee, stop at Brownstone North Coffee Shop and check out my show okay? :D Brownstone North 269-962-0006. 1504 Capitol N.E. Suite 120

how excited am I?

2010-05-29T15:48:00.000-07:00

VERY! why do you ask? Because an experiment I began the other night with a metal base choker from Susan Lenart Kazmer's new line of components, Industrial Chic, is now this.

It had been a very long time since I just sat down and played around with my jewelry without a real purpose in mind and I couldn't be happier with this talisman piece. Every little component in it was either something I'd been holding onto forever waiting for the right project (the antique key that came from a tin of buttons from my great grandmother's house specifically,) was thrifted, came from something broken (a clothespin spring!) was a component from a prototype that didn't quite work, and of course there are some of my poppies in there. Also included is a small bit of my handspun yarn and a gorgeous golden silk cocoon coming out of one of my hand formed copper cones.

This piece just gave me so much freedom to play! I've been going through cycles lately ranging from stuck and don't wanna work on my small production lines to working like mad on them, neither of which has been a very healthy working state (as in fingers nearly bleeding because I try to do too much.) While I love my work, I needed that spontaneity back and once again Susan came to my rescue. I absolutely adore her work and the way she presents it. When I first saw her book, Making Connections, it was a major reason I was able to get back into metalworking without having all the equipment I'd left back at school. She is just such an inspiration. My students must get so tired of me talking about how fabulous this book is... of course I think nearly all of them end up buying it if they don't own it already because they fall in love too.

I actually didn't know that Susan was coming out with this line of components (you can get em' exclusively at Michael's) until I read it on the Objects and Elements blog the other day. It is such a unique line and offers so much, even to someone who would rather do the metalsmithing for themselves like me. The little lockets and frames are especially cool with their clever mechanics and tiny catches, and I think we've already established I'm a fan of the chokers. More of these pieces are coming for sure.... I think they will be just the thing to showcase some funky yarn and fiber components.

Stay tuned for some sneaky peeks of my coffee shop exhibit that goes up next week. :D

i'm doing it... again

2010-05-19T19:37:00.000-07:00

Every time my studio gets too messy to work in I think it must be the way that I have it layed out. Not that I don't put things away properly or that I am just so busy and working on so many things that it all gets put off until the point of overwhelming. Because I know it is a combination of things, I know that my studio will continue to evolve as I get further and further into working. My mom recently relocated her studio from my old bedroom in their house to this fabulous space my dad created for her in the basement. It is seriously cool and while it has a bit let wall space for putting all of her great storage, it makes up for it in the fact that it is just so damn cool. Anyhow, because there was less space, she didn't have the need for this craft table that I think is going to be the perfect new home for my carder.

This is the little corner so far. It still needs lots of work and reorganizing BUT, I think once it is done it will be a much better working environment for me than the catchall folding table that was smack int he way of everything that I had been using temporarily. I had to take everything off in a hurry because said table is one that I require for shows. Speaking of shows here are the photos from over the weekend.

I am so thrilled about my displays. I know I talked about em' before but I just really feel like I've got it now. I feel this every year when I change my display setup but I really mean it this time, for realsies. They are adaptable for both fiber shows and my art fairs AND they fit WAY WAY WAY better into my car without having to worry about breaking glass in my cases that were given to me. I really feel like my jewelry needs to be out to be touched and the cases made them seem untouchable for some reason. I am such a tactile person and it definitely comes through in my jewelry with all of the textures and contrast in materials.

I can't wait to get back to work in the studio once I get things in order down there. I am getting organized here, REALLY organized. At least on the fiber end of things I am. I read somewhere that you really aren't supposed to have a clean workbench. I would have to agree, whenever I clean up I can't find anything. When I'm losing entire hammers that I was just holding it can be a bit problematic to getting any work done. :D

Well back to work for me, I wanna be able to get back in there by the weekend... I'm hoping it is nice so that I can set up my entire outdoor booth and snap some photos for a few last minute show entries. So much to do.... it is definitely going to be a busy summer.

slowly coming back...

2010-05-17T19:11:00.000-07:00

I had one VERY busy weekend!

The annual Spring into the Arts art walk was this past Friday evening. I was a featured artist at the temporary gallery and gift shop for the Art Center of Battle Creek. There is some crummy road construction going on directly in front of the art center so we are very lucky to have this bright, large, high traffic retail location for the summer. SOOOO many people came through which is always wonderful to see, especially when I begin to wonder if this down gives a hoot about the arts. People were very supportive and receptive and so interested in all the demos. I of course was riveting, it's what I do. I brought several pieces that were ready to be assembled so that I could just hammer away and managed to finish 10 of my poppy pendants. It was a very nice time and going for a beer and some appetizers with the hubs afterward to our good ol' local brewery (arcadia) didn't hurt matters.

Anyhow, I had to make it an early night because I had to drive to Greenville the next day for my first show of the season. The Michigan Fiber Fiesta is in its first year so I wasn't sure what to expect. The venue was great, I had a nice time, AND I made a little money so that is always helpful. I took some pictures of my humble little booth with my brand new displays. (shutters scored from the neighbors garbage!) Unfortunately I haven't uploaded the photos but I will post them soon. I can post the picture that one of the people working the show took.

Not a very large picture but you can ate least see how my new box displays look. My dad was VERY helpful and put them together for me the weekend before. My wonderful husband also helped me in my last minute scramble to get everything together and painted some of my displays for me. :D

After the show I got to spend some time with my good friend Kendra before she moved the next day from the town that the show was in. It is always so nice to have a place to stay (especially a free one,) after the long day of a show.

Sunday Joe and I decided to make the haul over to Benton Harbor to check out a brewery we'd been talking about trying for a while. The Livery was a really fun place, despite the fact that it seemed we were the only people who weren't locals (everyone knew each other by name,) we really felt like comfortable and had a wonderful time sampling some beers and some of the hard ciders while watching the hockey game and eating some delicious brewery grub. :D It is always so fun to check out a new brewery and I definitely needed it after the last few months of stress. I finally got to some laundry today, it is a wonder everyone hasn't had a fit as I haven't really done any in weeks...

Joe and I also stopped at one of our favorite wineries on the way in Coloma. Karma Vista has some of the most excellent wines. Unfortunately and fortunately they don't distribute. I say that because I truly feel the quality of their wine is at the level it is because they take such care in only creating it for themselves to sell, but boy it would be nice to be able to drive 5 minutes to the store to pick up a bottle of their fabulous Watusi Red rather than the near hour and a half. All in all a good weekend, now I'm just back to work AND on jury duty the next two weeks. BUMMER!

Off to finish that laundry now, don't want the natives getting restless because they don't have clean skivvies.

very small changes

2010-05-08T16:44:00.000-07:00

Hey all! Just wanted to say that there are a few very small changes in the graphic department over here. I revised my banner so that is has my new logo on it!! I think I may still need to tweak the background color but I can only handle so much of the "graphic art" before I am frustrated to the point of ruining things. I also changed my avatar on my etsy page to my beautiful little flower logo Starr did for me!

I am oh so thrilled about all of it. :D

Also, I announced in my shop but wanted to give everyone a heads up over here. If you haven't noticed already, I haven't been listing any new items. This is due to the fact that A. I've been too busy and B. I have my first show rapidly approaching (next weekend!) I promise new items will be coming soon but in the mean time I will be photographing all new work before the show and posting on my flickr and some sneak peeks here. If you are in the west michigan area you will be able to shop my goods in person if you can make it to the Michigan Fiber Fiesta in Greenville, MI. It is at Klackle Orchards and you can find all the information here on their website.

All righty... now I must go get some carding done. Maybe there will be pictures later...

I'm gonna go hang out with this guy!

i forgot to mention!

2010-04-29T20:13:00.000-07:00

My super fantastic awesome and many other goods things to be said about her, friend Dani of pumpkinhaus posted a really great tutorial type video on her blog spinning up some of my batts! you can find her blog here. I was sooooo completely blown away and flattered by all of the kind things she had to say about me and my work. Thank you so much friend! Seriously, whoever said that the internet is impersonal is nuts because the support and friendship I have experienced have been phenomenal. So check out Dani's blog and her etsy shop too because her fiber and yarns and are fantastic!!! pumpkinhaus.etsy.com

fiber love all around!!!! <3

and the winner is.......

2010-04-29T19:16:00.000-07:00

Felicia from Sweet Pea Fibers!!! :D

I did it the ol' scientific way, write all the names down, cut em' up, and draw it from a box.

I've already got your addy because of the fiber swap Felicia, but I'll shoot you a message on Ravelry too to see what color you want. I just got a fab. package of fiber from Felicia with all kinds of goodies so it was kind of nice that I drew your name.

Didn't win this time? Well don't fret, I will certainly be havin' another one. Also I'm REALLY close to my 100th sale on etsy. I'm planning on a freebie coming with that so if you buy jewelry, free piece of similar jewelry, fiber, free fiber, you get the idea. :D

Speaking of fiber, while I haven't been posting on etsy, there is a good reason for that. I HAVEN'T HAD TIME!!! Also, I have been preparing for my first show of the season which is rapidly approaching (May 15, Klackle Orchards in Greenville, MI - Fiber Fiesta, the website with info and direction is here.) This show filled up really quick and it is in its first year so I'm interested to see how it is. I see a lot of vendors I'm familiar with are going to be there which I think is a pretty good sign because I'm pretty sure I've bought something from most of them and was very pleased.

Reason number two I haven't posted anything is that I am slowly transitioning to using mostly hand dyed fiber. Up until now I have been using some hand dyed fiber and add ins (locks, woolies, etc.) and some really vibrantly colored commercial top. I have been using the Greener Shades dyes and just started getting some dying done at home. Last night I dyed about a 1/2 pound of fiber in all of alpaca, firestar, and some mohair locks. I'm really excited about this because the alpaca and the locks I bought right from the source, picked em', washed em', and now I've dyed them. Hooray! I'm really pleased with how vibrant these dyes are, especially on the synthetic sheen of the firestar. Here are my results drying.

I'll post some better pix once things are dry.

On another happier note, (I know my last post was kind of a downer,) I just firstly wanted to say thank you to everyone for the kind words and encouragement. Secondly, I wanted to share some simple beauty of spring here in the good ol' mitten state.

This photo was from a little walk Joe and I took at Leila Arboretum. For some reason this year all of the flowering trees and shrubs have seemed extra beautiful.

Looking at these photos I took a few weeks ago really snapped me back into the appreciating the little things way of thinking. It really is the little things sometimes that can cheer us up, make us laugh, and keep us going. A close friend's or even a stranger's kind words would fall into that category, so thank you readers, I leave you with that tonight... the little things.

flat on my face....

2010-04-21T16:50:00.000-07:00

There has been a lot of change going on in my life recently. Most people who know me, know that I am extremely unhappy with my job. It is of course not something that can be helped right now but I have been striving to make improvements in all other aspects of my life. I love teaching at the art center and I just started a new class there. I have another great group of women in my class and am really excited to see what everyone comes out with. Unfortunately I am so busy this summer with shows that I had to cut back on the amount of classes I'll be offering to just a two night workshop (more about that later.)

Another reason I've been very busy the past few weeks is I finally found a dream job, except there's no pay in it, and it is over in two weeks. That job is a little internship at Smartshop Metal Arts Center in Kalamazoo which very unfortunately will be closing its doors in just a few weeks. This incredible non profit center is such an asset to the arts community in West Michigan. I'm in a funk about it all. I just started with them a few weeks ago and have felt so fulfilled leaving there each time (with the exception of Tuesday night when I heard the sad news.) I am trying to look at the positives about even my small part in this organization as it closes. It has been a great experience, but it is difficult to go from the high I had last week of feeling that maybe some aspects of my career as an artist were finally clicking into place. I'm just really torn up about it all and I am praying for a miracle. It just seems so unreal. I am having a really tough time writing this post. I need to get things out and just can't seem to find the words. I'm drained and upset and can't even bring myself to try to get into my own work, which I REALLY need to do.

I just keep telling myself, "everything happens for a reason."

Just surprising and mostly bad news all around. Did I mention my license fell out of my wallet and disappeared the other day? Nobody likes a trip to the secretary of the state...

or that I have jury duty in May? and my first show of the season? and that I have an exhibit at the coffee shop starting June 1 with no work finished yet?

yea I'm doing good.

As far as good change goes, I finally got me a new phone. Yup, I'm done with the bumble bee. Not only does my phone now get consistent service at my house (what a great thing to ask for when you don't have a home phone right?) I actually know who it is that is texting me (before it was a major guessing game,) AND I can send one back! AND it has a camera. WOOHOO! plus it was free because my 7 year old cell phone was eligible to upgrade... who knew?

so hey, make sure you enter my blog give away okay? it's free and will give me purpose. not a guilt trip to do so, just a reminder because 3 people signed up is kinda sad here people. Shall I extend it to next wednesday? yes I think I will. Get your comments in ya'll, because I don't give free jewelry away very often.

tomorrow is a new day and it is going to bring something good damnit!

BLOG GIVE AWAY ANNOUNCED!!!

2010-04-18T21:15:00.000-07:00

So hey all, I said a little something about a blog giveaway a few times in my most recent entries. Well, it's finally here!

The main problem was trying to figure out what to do as the "game" or drawing. The answer came when my wonderfully talented friend Starr finished designing me my very own logo. I have been thinking a lot about the branding of my business and after reading the gem of a book The Handmade Marketplace by Kari Chapin, I really realized that I needed to have a cohesive logo and branding going on. It is so wonderful to have made so many great friends and connections through college and my other life experiences that I now know a wide range of talented people in various different media. Well Starr makes these really adorable My Little Pony buttons from her illustrations and because she knows me pretty darn well and has an excellent talent for making all things whimsical and pretty much amazing, this is what she came up with for me.

What you need to do to be entered into the drawing is to visit Starr's shop on etsy here and then leave a comment on this blog entry to let me know what it is that Starr <3's. She says so several times at the top of her blog and in her banner, so it shouldn't be too tricky. :D Also I would love to hear what you think of the new logo and banners that will soon be popping up in place of my current ones. I'm absolutely enamored with them. :D You have until Saturday the 24th of April to enter and then I will be drawing randomly from all who have left a comment. For the prize you will receive one of my brand new cosmic poppy pendants in the color of your choice. You can view an example of one here.

Plus, you should definitely take a gander at all the adorably wonderful things Starr has to offer in her shop. She's pretty darn fantastic if you asked me.

Thanks everybody! have a great week!

my mum is the coolest!

2010-04-14T17:59:00.000-07:00

So I have really been trying to hone the professional look and branding of my work, tags, biz cards, and most importantly now, my booth display and design. After purchasing my EZ Up, I have been a bit low on the extra cash flow and my mom being the generous mom that she is, got all sneaky like and got me a really nice booth banner all custom designed on etsy by seller zigahelen. She let the cat out of the bag Sunday for a reason I'll explain in a moment but check it out!!

It is a really nice vinyl and came with hanging attachment thingy's and the photos look so beautiful on it! I'm gonna look like such a pro! I mean... I am a pro, right? I was going to get some more photos of my work blown up to hang in my booth but this is waaaay better AND weatherproof. :D

In the next post: Why mom let the cat out of the bag AND the official announcement of how to be in the running for my blog giveaway!! :D

forget rest

2010-04-11T08:38:00.000-07:00

sundays are for disc golfing

photos of new stuff!

2010-04-04T08:46:00.000-07:00

I finally got around to taking some photos of a few of my new favorite creations of late. I plan on actually making something out of these yarns, I'm just not sure what yet. :D

First up was the yarn from my first installment of Lush Club batts from Sara of lushmommy. This fiber was sooooo gorgeous to begin with, it was hard to not end up with something amazing as a final product. Her club batts come with all kinds of fun little add in bits and/or extra fibers to spin in. For this one she made some little loomed flowers out of vintage colored raffia. Too Cute!

The next yarn is made from my small fiber splurge out of tax money from Faun of handsandnotions. This yarn was made from some of her rag bag batts that are part of her Under the Bigtop collection I believe. They were so much fun to look at before spinning, I was almost afraid they would lose some of their fun-ness if I spun em. Well I did it anyway because I just couldn't help myself. :D

I really dig the shot above. :D

and finally, here is a sneak peek shot at some of my new hand dyed batts that I will hopefully be posting tomorrow.

Happy Easter!

my favorite smell

2010-04-03T10:00:00.000-07:00

the first real rain of spring is happening right now.
absolute beauty

it was a very good mail day...

2010-04-02T15:28:00.000-07:00

the mailbox wasn't empty (have you ever noticed how that is almost as disappointing as getting bills?...almost,) no junk mail (at least none addressed to me,) and absolutely no bills. Quite the contrary actually. A small check and not one, but TWO packages.

The first package was an adorable little bag from ravelry. Last October at the Fiber Expo in Ann Arbor a woman came in my booth with the most adorable bag with cartoony depictions of several different fiber bearing animals. Too cute! I of course had to ask about it and came to find that it came from ravelry. How did I miss this pure cuteness? Because it is constantly out of stock apparently. Well the ravelbot let me know last Friday that they were available again so I jumped right on it. I'm sooooo very happy it came today!

(image is from ravelry's website and you can purchase this adorable bag here)

The second package was particularly excited because I hadn't realized that it was already getting to be that time of the month for me to receive my Lush Club batts from my friend Sara at lushmommy. Sara has such an amazing eye for color and makes the most gorgeous fiber batts and dyed fibers. Anyhow, I joined her batt club and this was my second installment of fabulousness from her. I'll post a picture later before I spin up the absolutely dreamy batt.

Now I'm off to find some dinner and possibly play some disc golf with the hubs. Life is good. :D

blog give away?

2010-03-29T19:09:00.000-07:00

so despite my very meager following on my blog, I've been thinking about having a little give away... perhaps one of my new pendants in the color of the winner's choice?

stay tuned for the details. :D

shop update tomorrow!

2010-03-28T21:06:00.000-07:00

There will be a shop update tomorrow.

New handspun

...and, a new batt set, which I am very proud of because they are made almost entirely of fiber that I dyed myself! :D These batts were made of fibers dyed with Greener Shades dyes. The following is taken directly from their website. "Greener Shades^TM is a non-hazardous, non-chrome, low impact, heavy metal-free acid dye for use on silk, wool, nylon, or any animal fiber. Formulated without the use of hazardous metals, these dyes provides superior light and wash fastness without relying on metal compounds to achieve bright and beautiful colors." They consist of alpaca (picked, cleaned, and dyed my yours truly,) firestar, and BFL with some banana fiber from blondechicken and a bit of angelina.

I also found my Bead and Button magazines, so begins the destash very soon. Silly me, I thought maybe they were still at my parents house (don't know why since I distinctly remember them being here) when in fact, I had put them in a bin of their own so that when I got ready to get rid of em' they would still be in fab. shape and all in one convenient location. DUH!

Anyhow, I just wanted to actually get a little sneaky peek up here since I usually don't manage to until after I've already posted new items.

some subtle changes...

2010-03-27T12:37:00.000-07:00

I've really been thinking about how I market myself and what I need to do to get better exposure lately. This stems from a lot of things, not the least of which is that I would really like to make my art and craft my full time job. I've read and own a few books on the whole "cottage industry" and making a living, etc., etc. but recently picked up The Handmade Marketplace by Kari Chapin. I must admit, I may have judged the book by its cover on this one because it was a work of Emily Martin's of theblackapple, who I am a very big fan of, BUT, then I actually perused the book in the store and knew that I needed to have it. It was perfect. Chapin's skills as a writer made someone like me, who is not exactly into the business aspect of things, get really excited about reading about what I needed to do. Chapin also recruited lots of great people to participate in her book in interviews, Q&A's, and lots of pointers. I won't go on to name them, but chances are if you are involved in selling your work on etsy you have heard of a good portion of them. At any rate, I didn't mean for this post to be a book review, but seriously, I recommend this book 100%. My only complaint about it might be that the number crunching financial aspect is only touched on, but, she does recommend some great books that do a better job than she probably thought she could have done. That wasn't the point of her book, so no need to complain about it not being included.

Anyway, this book really inspired me to try to get my ass moving. I purchased a domain name quite some time ago, have a website designed with the help of my mac here, and just really haven't felt like I could go live with it. I'm not completely happy with the site that I designed and I want to get a logo design for Bricolage Studios before I go much further with it so it sits unused. In an effort to fill in for this much needed aspect of my business, I'm using my blog. I have created some "pages" for my blog which you can find at the top below my banner. I have moved my festival and show schedule up there and have also added some information about teaching in its own tab. I put and sort of artist statement under the heading of "About Bricolage Studios" some time ago but never really acknowledged it.

So there you have it. Some subtle changes on the blog to fill in until I can finally get my crap together and have a real website. Part of me wants to just keep the blog and the shop and that is it though... we'll set how things pan out.

Time just seems to be slipping away so I'm really busy trying to get fiber picked and washed so I can dye it while fretting over my solo exhibition at a local coffee shop in June. You may have guessed that I don't actually have anything finished for that yet... More on that later though, I plan on documenting the process here on the blog because I am really excited about this brand new body of work that I will be starting.

bye bye paycheck...

2010-03-17T17:23:00.000-07:00

Hello new EZ UP!

(image is from the site I ordered from http://www.customcanopy.com/ezupcanopies.html )

I had decided when I found out my current class was running that I would be putting that paycheck towards the purchase of a better tent for shows. I've said things like this before but never quite followed through. I'd splurge on this or that in the smaller ticket item arena but never went for the big stuff. Well, after my last outdoor show last year, through rain and wind and sitting overnight on the grounds, it became very clear that I needed to invest in a serious EZ Up. I deposited my check on Monday and after impatiently waiting until my regular job paycheck could be deposited, I was able to purchase one today. Now I just pray that it was all that it said it was and arrives beautifully intact, AND here's the really important kicker, IS IT GOING TO FIT IN MY CAR? This is very important. While I have mastered the art of car tetris, no amount of flipping this line this way and that is going to fit it in if it is just too darn long. Game Over. Poor little Saturn.

If that is the case, I'm really gonna have to be sweet to the hubs and constantly be borrowing his jeep. This wouldn't be so bad except, A. no cruise control, not so bad unless the show is far away, and, B. i know my car, I know how everything has to go in, what goes where, and how my car just operates. I guess I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

OH! and who knows why, maybe it was just the beautiful weather today, maybe it was the fact that show season is looming and I wanna make sure I have LOTS of stock of EVERYTHING, but my crazy little self decided it would be a good idea to go get some more raw alpaca fiber. Nevermind that I still have well over a pound of the lovely Isis to wash, I decided I'd go for the beautiful blanket of Canute. I'm told he is now an obstacle course champion alpaca. I didn't even know those critters did things like that. I just thought they were adorable creatures who provided beautiful spinning fiber and you know, wandered around being cute... did I mention I think they are adorable. :D

Going out to 4 Musketeers Alpaca Farm in Bellevue, MI was a bit of an adventure in itself today. It is only about a 5 minute drive from work but it just seemed like I was driving forever, you know, when you get to a point where you begin to wonder if maybe you turned on the wrong road because you, "swear it was just after I turned onto this road." Well, I got there okay, but then heard a barking dog, a barking dog right by the door. outside. not tied up. Yea, it scared the hell out of me to have a German Shepherd about 5 feet from me about to attack (or so I thought.) It was at about the time where I was about to wet myself that one of the owners met me outside from the barn with a less intimidating dog and assured me that both of them were all bark and no bite. I was then greeted with several bags of first and second cuts and was faced with a decision. I was going to buy Sunflower too, until the total poundage came to over 8. I had decided I wasn't going to spend more than 50 bucks and that was way over budget.

Anyhow, this bad boy was over six pounds so I've got my work cut out for me. I am going to my friend Kathy's this weekend for moral support and we are both going to be cleaning the heck out of some fiber with each others company, some tasty food, and some old movies. I'm looking forward to it. :D

venting frustrations...

2010-03-16T13:17:00.000-07:00

I'm really beginning to wonder how anyone sells jewelry on etsy. I mean really... The market on there is just soooo saturated that I don't know if anyone even ever sees what I post. I give you fare warning reader that I am not saying this because I think that my work is wonderful and should be constantly sold out, but a rant this will be. While that would be welcome, I don't look for that kind of exposure or limelight or whatever you'd like to call it. At this point in my life, I just miss the feedback. I am so ready for show season to start, simply because I want REAL people to come into my booth and talk to me about my work face to face and maybe, if so enthralled with my charm and captivated by the little things I make, they might just buy some of it too.

I just miss that human connection with my work. I know I'm not creating thought provoking, moving paintings or intricate sculptures but, it still matters to me to hear what people think, good or bad. I get more stimulating conversations about my fiber work because I have a spinning group... but my jewelry side cries out for companionship. It needs someone to say, "HEY! what if you did this?" or, "That is really great, don't change a thing!" without the bias of it being a family member or my dear husband who just says, "neat." Is it neat? or was he just more interested what he was doing on his iphone or current battle on WOW? argh!

So anyway, back to etsy. I love etsy. I REALLY love etsy. But why does my yarn and wool sell while my jewelry constantly must be renewed? Have I just not found the right demographic? Should I pull it and start a separate shop for jewelry? (I really don't even want to think about this option, I'd prefer one shop...) Do I just need a LOT more jewelry on there? and finally... is it all just not good enough? I know deep down that is not true, but we all have our insecurities and when you are thinking about these important questions, that one ends up rearing its ugly head.

That all being said, look for more jewelry toward the end of the week in the shop. What can I say, I like the rejection apparently. More likely, it makes me feel better to have it out in the world with possibility rather than tucked away till the next show or fair.

Thoughts anyone?

Benefit Auctions

2010-03-14T18:36:00.000-07:00

The Art Center of Battle Creek is holding two fundraisers in the form of silent auctions and sales in the coming months. I am very excited to participate in both of them! The first one will be a postcard exhibit and sale with each postcard priced at $20 with all money to benefit the art center. I am thinking that I will create some felted postcards and possibly some dyed or encaustic... I haven't quite decided. I am also participating in a postcard fundraiser to benefit my alma mater's art department. I will certainly be posting pictures of what I come up with as I complete it.

The exhibit and sale I am most excited about is the Artist Doll exhibit and auction. The art center is asking that participants choose an artist (local or world known,) and create a likeness in any medium. It was very easy for me to make up my mind on this one.

After writing a paper on Chagall's I and the Village, I was deeply touched by his whimsical and symbolic works.

But really, who couldn't be taken with him? Just look at him. I only just realized that he passed away the year that I was born... maybe there is some sort of connection there? I also just recently was privileged to see a few of his works in person in the new wing of the Art Institute of Chicago. It is so much easier to be swept away and appreciate an artist's work when you have looked in depth at what has went into just one of their pieces.

At any rate, I am very excited to start on my doll soon. I haven't decided what to make him from but it will most likely be polymer clay for the head, hands, and feet and a soft body over wire armature. I definitely think I need to try to knit a tiny sweater for it. We'll see though. I definitely know I need to find a way to make sure that people know who it is...

Any thoughts?

the sweetest thing...

2010-03-13T13:37:00.000-08:00

it was Carley's first birthday party today. there were presents...

and of course some cake...

it is unfortunate that the last photo is a bit blurry because it is just so classic.

I sure do love being an aunt. Lots of birthdays coming up this week with the family, less messy I imagine, but no less joyful.

goodness I'm terrible!

2010-03-11T12:59:00.000-08:00

Well... I got a lot of work done last night. More than I had hoped actually by the time I found my way back upstairs. I completed two more shawl pins in my Cosmic Poppy line, a brand new pendant design in the same line, worked on another pendant design (it failed but I still have hope,) AND finished a bracelet in my candy line. It was really quite gratifying. Unfortunately, I think I may have worked too long last night and I didn't even get photographs yet!

The kiddo is sick again, and while she's been pretty much hanging out watching tv the whole time it still threw a wrench in the works for me getting things done. Funny how something so small can knock your whole schedule out of whack. Also had to shop for my niece's first birthday. Any excuse to go to the toy store is A OK with me. We have this delightful locally owned store that sells the greatest stuff. They really care about what products they sell so I really feel safe shopping there. I got her the most adorable little things that I really want to play with and knocked out a bit of Easter basket shopping for Adele. An Ugly Doll surprise action figure MAY have managed to make its way up to the counter for my own amusement too... but just look at him!!!

At any rate, photographing will happen tonight with an update in the ol' shop by Friday afternoon being realistic but I'm really hoping by tomorrow afternoon between work and other work (it feels strange to call teaching work because I am really loving it!)

In the meantime, here is what a scatterbrained artist's workbench looks like.

I sure hope I'm not the only one.

a small update minus the sneak peek

2010-03-02T15:53:00.000-08:00

Put a few new items in the shop today. I think the true update will happen wednesday 3/10 and I will DEFINITELY be putting some sneaky peeks before that one. :D

lots of things, and a pendant :D

2010-02-28T16:52:00.000-08:00

I know, I know, serious blogging did not happen Friday... or Saturday for that matter. My only excuse, I've actually been rather busy and got some things done. I spun some yarn for myself, I set LOTS of yarn. Eight skeins to be exact and have begun building up my inventory of jewelry for this year's shows. I've been told that the first few months of the year are perfect for this and I am beginning to understand why. The weather of course sucks so all the more reason to stay in and be productive BUT, also because you are lining up your year at that point for show season. You are applying or getting ready to do so at all the shows, and once they start you SO you just don't have time to get a lot done without some all nighters.

That being said, I've also been working on getting some long overdue projects to friends and family done. It is a very wonderful and unburdening process and every time I finished one of the pieces, I feel that a weight has been lifted.

One of those very projects was this pendant that I finished about two weeks ago for my dear friend Linette. She only asked me to make something for her from this fossil she gave me about 3 years ago...

What can I say, I'm a slow poke. I am very happy with how it turned out though and I sure hope she likes it too. :D

We had a fiber dying party on Saturday at Jill's. She just started carrying the Greener Shades dyes (you can find them in her etsy store here.) I was so impressed with these dyes. They are made without heavy metals and have excellent colorfastness, lightfastness, etc., etc. Basically they are everything wonderful about an acid dye without all bad stuff for you and the environment. Really vibrant colors! Here are a few snaps of what we got out of em' on our first try.

I dyed a few different types of fiber but not very much of anything because I spent the day properly cleaning my now very beautiful alpaca that I had been hoarding. Kathy was kind enough to show me the way that she has found works best and carded all the dirty fiber prior to cleaning it so it went super smoothly for me. Thanks Kathy!!! I will post pictures of my dry fiber hopefully on Tuesday.

There will be a shop update on Tuesday with a sneaky peak on flickr and the blog tomorrow (monday.)

another show added!

2010-02-25T19:09:00.000-08:00

Well, I have officially decided to do another show. Michigan Fiber Fiesta will take place in Greenville, MI on May 15, 2010. It is the first year but I already see some of my favorite vendors on the list. :D

More details are available at the website.

Tomorrow there will be serious blogging. I have shop updates, that pendant I never got round to posting about,.... oh just all kinds of things.

a little surprise...

2010-02-18T14:04:00.000-08:00

Well, I just finally got around to starting to read this round of magazines from my recent trip to the bookstore. Imagine my surprise when the Artful Blogging I had had lying around for nearly two weeks had the little blurb in my "About Me" section referring to their magazine reprinted on their BUZZ page with my blog address below it. I was pretty tickled to say the least. :D

a shawl pin

2010-02-17T16:25:00.000-08:00

Well, after much griping, encouragement, requests, and what have you, I have finally completed a shawl pin. I definitely hemmed and hawed a bit about it myself too because I have never been one to really wear shawls or pins for that matter but I am so pleased with the final result of this one that was made for my dear friend Jill that I will be making more of them. It was made to fit with my line, Cosmic Poppies. I currently only have earrings in this line but I soon will have some pendants and more shawl pins. Of course, I will be posting some pix when I get them all finished. :D

The first photo shows it in use on one of my friend Kathy's beautiful handwoven scarves. Kathy is an amazing weaver, spinner, and all around artist. You can find out more about her from her website here.

The second photo captures a bit more of the warmth of the copper but still is not an ideal photo. The next one I make I will definitely be photographing at home and not as it is about to leave my hands. :D

Well, whaddya think?

Next time: A pendant

phew!

2010-02-13T12:43:00.000-08:00

Well it was a fruitful Friday evening to Saturday morning. I have been meaning to rephotograph my geode piece for some time now to submit it to the 500 Felted Objects book from Lark Books for some time now but, after trying unsuccessfully for about an hour I decided to go with the photos my professor took back in college for me. I did however get some slightly better photos of my pomegranate piece Rich in Antioxidants, to submit.

After struggling with my printer and filling out all the paperwork I finally finished getting everything together which was a good thing because it needed to be post marked by today. I had to mail a few other things this morning too, (like two checks with applications for fiber shows I'll be doing in the fall,) so Adele and I rushed off to the post office this morning just in the nick of time. Now I've just got my fingers crossed that my images and pieces were good enough to be published.

I dusted off the carder and had a rip roaring time with it for the first time in a while and made some batts for the shop as well as a monster of a batt for myself. :D

I actually have used my carder lately, it has just felt like more of a chore than the fun it normally is but I was feeling inspired and experimental so things went great! I just listed these in the shop:

I also have listed another candy bracelet in a new colorway in the shop. I'm calling it "Glee."

In other news, I started teaching my second metals class on Thursday. It is another cold connection class and we are focusing on boxes and lockets. If it was possible, I think I was more nervous this time around than I was during the last class. Some of that was alleviated when I realized that two of the 4 people in my class were in my last class (phew! and a big compliment that tells me I must be doing something right,) and the fact that the other two women are really kind and excited to be there. I am really excited to see what comes out of this class. There are some really creative women and all of them are very motivated. We are covering more advanced techniques including hinges and scoring and folding. I am so thrilled to be able to teach these techniques because when I learned them at Penland a few years ago they really opened a lot of new possibilities for me so it will be really rewarding to pass them along.

Now I just have to:

get lesson plans done for next week
finish my mom's birthday present (which was last month btw)
finish the present for my friend Jill
get a submission ready for Lark Books 30 Minute Rings

and a host of other things....

I had an incredible dream last night where I walked into the basement and suddenly there was this door that I had never noticed before. I opened it and it let to the most beautiful space in a walkout basement. There were so many windows and tons of light coming it and it was completely empty with concrete floors ready for me to make it into a studio. It was so perfect and lovely and all I had to do was move everything from the portion of the basement I have my studio in currently over there. Needless to say, I was a bit disappointed when I woke up. It's nice to dream though... :D and now, back to work!

AARGH!

2010-02-09T15:04:00.000-08:00

The cat is eating the dog's food (because the dog can't seem to keep it in his mouth,) there is a massive amount of snow falling in the great mitten state (my car nearly slid completely off road twice today while I was going a mere 15 mph, ) and I have a sick kiddo on my hands. I scrubbed and scrubbed the floor in her room to no avail... it still smells like sick. Except now it smells like sick, citrus bac-out cleaner (when I was still trying to be enviromentally friendly and usually this stuff works like a charm,) and bleach (when I said to hell with the Earth, I need to get this smell out!!!)

Did I mention I cleared the driveway too? Still another 4-6 inches on it's way and we have gotten at least that much.

Recently, a friend was talking about taking her snow day, I would like to take mine NOW, and by now I mean the rest of the week. I want to stay at home and card, and spin, and work at my bench.

Just so that this post isn't a complete rant ...

I finished a really wonderful book today. It is called Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. I had seen it at the bookstore several times and was quite drawn to it. Unfortunately, I just can't quite bring myself to pay bookstore prices so I decided to wait till it was available at the library. It is set in the 1930's traveling circus and is "told" by a man named Jacob. It was a lovely book skipping between his time working with the circus and what led him there, to what would be his present time as an elderly man in an assisted living home. Excellent read for sure. :D

featured in a treasury :D

2010-02-01T19:03:00.000-08:00

Diana of fiberfancy featured some of my yarn in this lovely little treasury! She creates such gorgeous fibers! I'm especially partial to her hand dyed locks. :D

programmable soda, a yarn ode to tori for linette

2010-01-31T14:28:00.000-08:00

so my friend linette loves tori amos. She knows all kinds of obscure fun and silly facts about her, like who knew that she was good friends with a someone who writes graphic novels (you know, adult comic books,) and that there is speculation that a character is based on her? Another little known fact, (at least in my opinion,) that maynard of tool, a perfect circle, pucifer, etc. has sang lullabies to her over the phone. Don't get me wrong, I love me some tori but I didn't know all those little tidbits. I mean, who knows, it may just be celebrity gossip stuff but I tend to believe the obscure stuff.

Anyhow, Linette started knitting recently and when she came for a visit for a much needed creative day she noticed some fiber I had laid out to make some batts with. It just so happens that when the idea sparked for these batts, I already knew I was going to be naming them programmable soda, one of my personal favorite tori ditties. Well, as you may have guessed it was love at first sight for linette so, rather than listing them, I spun em' up for her to have some handspun goodness for her new knitting ventures. I think I may card up some more because they were such a fun combo. :D

I spun a rather chunky, slightly thick and thin single with an autowrap of purple tatting thread. The colors just scream old fashioned soda fountain. :D

i think something's wrong... and a new yarn!

2010-01-30T17:00:00.000-08:00

Well, I was all gung ho and productive today. I finished my latest yarn (more on that in minute,) went thrift store shopping (got lots of killer art yarn ingredients all for $1 or less,) did some photographing, AND actually had 3 listings all ready to go for my etsy store. Unfortunately, when I went to upload my photographs, it wouldn't work!!! err... It keeps claiming that my photos are not the proper format (they are,) and won't upload them. I tried on firefox and safari both thinking maybe it was my browser AND made sure that nothing wrong with the uploading powers of my computer or any settings in either of my browsers (no!) I was able to upload some images onto flckr with NO problems so I have deduced that etsy is havin' some issues... so much for listing some new stuff.

BUT, exciting news! I finished a yarn that I started last night during a craft group with my aunt. It turned out sooooo great! It's got vintage buttons, lace, bits of sheet, individual black eyed susans from a lovely little trim, some beautiful multi colored tatted bits, and best of all SOME OF MY POM POMS! I really pushed the limit of the size of my orifice on my bulky flyer but i got these babies through there. I am so proud of this yarn. I was going to make a little purse out of it with some solid colored yarn to stretch the yardage, BUT I decided it would be much better as a chunky cowl.

Here it is!

YAY!!! :D