Post-Craft Show Reflections

Two days before the show I was sick in bed with a fever, major sinus congestion, head and body aches, along with a throat that felt like someone had made a few harsh passes with a cheese grater through. While I do have regular ailments (migraines, some allergy issues) it's been some time since I've actually caught a serious virus and this just seemed like a perfect case of Murphy's Law in action. The worst part of it cleared by the end of the next day though and I just had to tangle with the congestion on the day of the show.

In this photo you can see the three white pedestals I used to add some height to the display. Two were vintage finds from Etsy and the largest one is actually a cake stand from Target.

To my delight, the craft show went surprisingly well. I was afraid my inventory of prints and jewelry wouldn't adequately cover the surface of the two tables I brought, but in actuality I could have used a third table. I was anticipating one or two sales which I was hoping would cover the $40 entry fee, but I ended up selling enough to cover the investment I made in the EZ Up Tent, a sturdy Samsonite table, and the entry fee. Those items weren't all of my investments for the show of course, but they were the major ones (I probably would have ended up buying most of the jewelry supplies anyway). The overall reaction to my work was really positive and I was invited to participate in two other upcoming area shows.

In the background you can catch a glimpse of the letterpress printer's tray I used to display my earrings.

Several years experience as a customer service agent in a phone center has left me rather pessimistic and jaded when it comes to dealing with people in a business capacity, and that position made me wary of dealing with potential clients at the show. (I still have a day job with the same company but in a different department with minimal direct client contact so things are slightly better now.) Thankfully I found that the context of the show was so different than at my place of employment and I could be at much greater ease interacting with the public.

Here's a sneak peak at the necklace I was posted about two entries ago, along with some other soon-to-be-posted necklaces.

I'm planning on participating in next year's show and perhaps one of the shows to which I was invited later this year. Right now though I just want some time to be free to leisurely create for my own fulfillment again without a looming deadline, although deadlines are certainly motivating. I have been gradually adding some items from the show to my Etsy shop and there are more items to come (I still need to properly photograph some of them)! There are also a few more photos from the show forthcoming, including one of the paper bunting I made.

My print display system consisted of vintage drawers from old sewing machines. You can also see the manila tags I stamped with pricing information.

Panic Mode

The craft show I've been trying to prepare myself for the last six months is now looming only eight days away and panic mode is truly starting to settle in. In comparison to my normal, not-in-preparation-for-a-craft-show production rate, I think I've accomplished a lot, but when I think about setting all of my current items out on the display tables I feel like my booth will seem a bit sparse. I keep on consoling myself with the fact that it will be quality over quantity and I do think that is true, but I will still like to have more items to offer. I'm expecting to pull several all-nighters in order to add a selection of more affordable items like earrings and basic leather cuffs to assist with this issue. As this is the first craft show I'm participating in more than a decade, I don't expect my booth will be the top notch, most high tech, polished, and über-professional one at the event, but I hope it will rise above the amateurish, be creative, and compliment my work.

I've been planning to redesign my logo and overall "look" as I no longer think it best suits my current style, but in the midst of actually crafting work for the show I just haven't had the time to do so. This means that I'll be using my current business cards and I did not get the opportunity to have an official banner printed. So in lieu of a sleek, vinyl banner I made myself one in the form of a paper bunting. I was inspired by the photos Cathe Holden took of various booths at the San Francisco Renegade Craft Fair (oh how I wish we had Renegade Craft Fairs around here!). Almost all of the crafters featured made their own signage in the form of buntings (even the logo at the top of the post incorporates one), so I decided to try my hand at one. My work doesn't really jive with the primary colors and triangular pennant-like shape of the more traditional buntings some of the San Francisco crafters used, so I modified the design a little bit to suit my style and so far I'm really pleased with the result. I still need to string the individual flags to hang them as a unit and I want to create a spacer flag with the image of an old skeleton key to separate the two words, but otherwise it's all done. Last week my boyfriend and I wandered into Creative Inkling, a scrapbooking and craft shop in Lahaska, PA, for the first time and I bought all sorts of goodies including some gorgeous letter stamps which I used on my bunting. In addition to those I purchased some other items I plan on using for my other signage including large manila tags which have vintage postcard typography on them. I'm planning to use those as signs to list the various prices for my matted prints.

Not So Frida

I started work on what I hoped would be my pièce de résistance for the upcoming craft show: a bib-style, intricately-tooled statement necklace featuring a portrait of a notable Mexican artist whose life and work I find intriguing. Although I'm well-versed in drawing the human face, this is only my second attempt at carving and tooling a semi-realistic one in leather (I would consider my first attempt to be the La Catrina necklace). I thought it was going fairly well but when I started on the painting stage I realized that the likeness was only rather vague at best. The jawline should be more square, the arc of the eyebrows is off, the nose is too broad, etc. The image itself is turning out well, but not if I expect people to immediately recognize it as a portrait of a particular person.

I guess I shouldn't be so surprised. Unless you're drawing a caricature, achieving a likeness is an exercise in subtlety. Even a small shift in the contours of the features or a minor, unintentional change that affects the proportions throws it all off. When designing and creating a piece like this in leather, there are so many stages from the original sketch to the finished piece that sometimes things get lost in translation.

(1) First is the pencil sketch which is then inked to determine the final lines (2). Then I take tracing film and trace the drawing onto it (3) to make the re-usable pattern. From here, the pattern is transferred to the cased leather with a stylus (4) after which it is carved with the swivel-knife (5) and then tooled (6).

Normally a slight change from drawing to tooled piece isn't a big deal. It happens all the time so even if I use the same pattern on multiple occasions, each version is bound to be one-of-a-kind, but in this case accuracy is vital to a likeness and I lost it along the way.

I was really saddened by the lack of likeness and I almost abandoned the project. My boyfriend said that I should just continue with it and disregard the original plan: be content with a necklace featuring a vignette of a regal Mayan woman. What do you think?

Another Treasury!

My original illustration Golden Age, Silver Screen was graciously featured in a Treasury by Janine616 dedicated to ACEOs: ACEO Mania

Renaissance-themed Treasury

My matted print DeerWoman is currently featured in an Etsy Treasury created by Bohémienne Ivy along with some other lovlies: Vive la Renaissance.

I've removed the remaining jewelry items from my shop as additional inventory for the craft show I'm participating in next month. They, along with some brand new jewelry pieces, will most likely be returned to Etsy after the show if they do not sell.

Peacock Feather Cuff Bracelet

I'm certainly not the first leather-worker/jewelry-maker who decided to use a peacock tail feather motif in her work* so it's not an original, ground-breaking concept, but as I have several of these feathers poised at my workbench, staring me down with their iridescent eyes as I hammer, carve, and bead it's been hard not to be inspired by them. Still, I hope my version is a bit distinctive and has a different character from the peacock feathers rendered in leather by other artisans. I was really focused on the sinuous lines and shapes formed by the feather whereas the other versions I've seen tended to focus on achieving a more robust texture. You can actually catch a glimpse of this bracelet in its unfinished form posing on my granite tooling slab in this entry.

It is a fairly simple bracelet based upon the general pattern of what I refer to as my tab bracelets but with a little twist. Unlike my other tab-style cuffs, the leather tab upon which the feather is carved is in a subtle S-curve shape which looks really lovely curling across the wrist. I stamped the word "beauty" beside the feather on a gentle baseline curve to echo the feather's lines and to suggest that it too could drift lightly on the air. This also happens to be the first tab bracelet I've used sterling silver chain & wire for the clasp. In the photo below you can see some of the beads I've chosen to compliment the rich colors of the feather. They include a faceted lime green turquoise roundel, freshwater pearls, what I think is carnelian, an amber glass bead, and another small turquoise nugget.

This one is slated to be taken to the show in September. I'm hoping to make a corresponding necklace if I have time.

*Sunny Rising Leather, who has been an inspiration to me in the creation leather necklaces & bracelets, has also tried her hand at peacock feathers as well as just the "eye" of the feather. I also found another Etsyian who makes peacock earrings but I believe he or she layers multi-colored leather rather than carves and paints/stains it.

Violet Charm: rediscovering bead embroidery

I returned from the Innovative Beads Expo yesterday with some delightful spoils. I purchased some of my usual favorites including freshwater pearls and turquoise but also some other lovelies including a number of very rustic, tribal-inspired clay and glass beads. This combined with my recent order from Fancy Linda of some vintage buttons and cabochons, etc. has inspired an almost frenzied desire to craft in me. Mind you, I've already been in a near constant state of blissful i-want-to-make-things-iness but this is just fuel to the fire. If only I didn't require money and sleep then I could actually heed all of my callings to make new things!

I also stocked up on Nymo bead thread and beading needles since I've recently rediscovered bead embroidery and find the hand-sewing strangely satisfying and meditative. I blame my renewed interest in bead embroidery on a bellydance belt I've been working on which involves a ton of hand-sewn beads, crystals, sequins, pearls and genuine tribal goodies like Turkman buttons and medallions. I've had to put that project aside in lieu of working on pieces for the upcoming craft show but I've still had the bizarre desire to painstakingly sew individual beads and baubles into interesting patterns. Bead embroidery does make for great late night crafting projects in comparison to some of my other hobbies since it doesn't require much noise (unless you happen to spill a whole vial of seed beads in the carpet...) versus the constant hammering in leather carving and working with sterling silver. I've started on a series of small, embroidered brooches/fascinators to satiate my sewing compulsion (although I did end up making a pair of earrings too).

In Tribal Bellydance it is common to cultivate a headdress out of a hodgepodge of various elements old and new into an intricate topiary. These headdresses can grow and change over time as dancers rearrange elements, plant new ones, and weed out others. Much care often goes into the arrangement of these temporary pieces and in fact, I have heard them referred to as hair gardens on more than once occasion and I don't believe this is just because fake flowers feature strongly in their compositions. The best Tribal hair gardens are like beautifully designed landscapes with well-placed architectural features and lovely views at every angle. I wanted to create pieces which would be perfectly suitable as compliments of complex hair gardens or as striking focals in more minimal arrangements, but also be elegant enough to wear for other occasions or potentially even on an everyday basis. I'm also adding both pins and alligator clips to the reverse sides so that they can be secured to clothing or hair.

The first in this series that I've completed is primarily in shades of purple, plum, and eggplant and is appropriately titled Violet Charm. Purple was once one of my favorite colors and I accumulated a nice little stash of beads in these hues a few years ago which I didn't want to let go to waste. The embroidery was done on black suede and it is backed in black eco-felt made from recycled plastic bottles. The centerpiece of this brooch/hair-clip is a faceted, glass jewel which is set in a peyote stitch bezel surrounded by glass beads, freshwater pearls, and swarovski crystals. I also added a ruffle I made from some metallic trim and draped two swags of beads across its surface. I think it looks like it could be a badge of glamour. While Cabaret style bellydancers don't tend to have such complex hair adornments as their Tribal cousins (they tend to have their hair down when performing and may only wear a headband or crown) this brooch/fascinator really seems to call for a Cabaret treatment with all its glisten and sparkle. The photos really cannot do it justice. I hope someone who currently adores this color scheme will give it a good home.

The next brooch/fascinator (broochinator? fascinooch?) I'm making is definitely geared towards the Tribal end of the spectrum with a nod towards the more vintage/Victorian/steampunk aesthetic that I love. It will feature warm, brassy metal, more ruffly goodness, velvety ribbon, and pearls. Yay!