Art-O-Market

Yesterday at the Art-O-Market was fun.
I think my favorite part of these are meeting the other vendors.
And bartering!
I got an amazing little book from the adorable Bookwurm...oh i don't have her card on my so i can't post her site.

I met two amazing kids who said they were "big fans of your work downstairs".

It made my week. month. year.
almost enough to make me want kids.

it was so much fun that i'm helping rania of goshdarnknit fame set up *next* sunday too.

another person asked if i was the woman that makes the smores dolls. i said no. i may have said no too quickly because he appologised and i felt bad. it's a huge compliment to be compared to her (www.papercrane.com)
I had to look at her shop again because then i became worried my stuff was too much like hers, but it's not.

i mean, i guess the tone is similar but subject matter/execution is totally different.

i think....

anyone?

Yesterday I was honored to be the featured seller on tina seamonster's blog
http://www.ilikeseamonsters.com/

which was awesome. I also had a shift at Art O Matic where I sold a doll (someone contacted me about buying one after the show opened and sent her sister to fetch the doll)
so that felt nice, i think. That was the first astro-NOT i've sold. I've sold a few batty's and one ghost at a previous craft show and etsy. No one has yet to buy handsome devil. maybe i need to make him more debonair?


Sunday sean of scenic artisans has put together a market so I'm going to try to sell some gocco prints there as well as finish some more dolls. They don't seem to be selling on etsy, so I have to unload them somehow.

Tell-tale signs of spring

My first tell tale sign of spring is that i always always ALWAYS get poisonivy on my chin. Always.
This year is no exception.
I think sadie must find it and then bring in the oil on her fur, because she does like to rub against my face as i'm trying to sleep, watch tv, do my taxes, what have you.

Art O Matic is open! And i think it went fairly well. I've had at least 4 people contact me about my dolls, which is nice. I do think they probably represent better in person than on etsy.

I'm not sure what to do about people actually buying the things in person. We can't remove them from the installation prior to the show closing...that I understand. But I kinda feel like I need to have some assurance they'll actually buy the thing before I mark it sold so i'm not missing out on a sale, just because someone may have had three beers so my stuff looks good then, but they're not really serious about buying.

Anyone with more experience want to help a girl out? What would you do?

With taxes done, Titus and Artomatic open, I need a new deadline....
Goal for this week: Better Etsy photos! And hopefully list one or two of the gocco prints I've done.

photos from my corner at art o matic












here's a close up of the bear



and this is the guy kc and i saw at the stooges show

new painting

worked on this the last two weekends.
i call it "narcoleptic cowboy".


i have to re-do the face.

Nice tin

It could be the fact I'm so tired, but I was in CVS buying some stuff and looked down and saw this tin and thought "that's a lovely design"

(um whoops)

i made some gocco prints tonight.
even 'tho i have grant and taxes deadlines looming.
the grant is due tomorrow. yipes.
the prints came out only ok i think. i tried to switch colors on the screens and ended up fucking the screens up a bit. i don't have the hang of it yet.

i started white (and used way too much ink which sucks since that stuff if hard to find now)
and then tried to make it darker.
i should consult rania who is a genius with that thing.

but I feel pretty sure that I have at least two of each that are show worthy for art o matic.
meanwhile, my dining room is a disaster

be glad you're not my roommate.

sadie was underfoot through some of the process and sums up the evening by yawning as i was trying to ake her picture

she is now lying next to me snoring.
while i'm being lame and blogging about my cat, here's this picture too. she likes to burrow under the covers and play.

A day in the life in pictures

three weeks ago, I purchased a little tiny greenhouse from Ikea. Last week I planted some seeds (mostly left over from last year, mostly zinnias, two morning glories, some basil) here they are now:
there was a small mushroom looking thing growing in the big pot of basil, but today when i returned from work it was gone

then today at work, I had to sew a different head on babydoll. the doll's body needed to be lightweight (i'll explain later) but the baby needed to um...not be white. , so i introduce you to frankenbaby


the reason the body needed to be lightweight, is because i needed to make it squirm on its own, so i found a remote control toy to take care of the motion. in hopes to strengthen the radio wave reception, i sewed an antannae to the baby's belly


another project of mine was the meat pit titus feeds to tamara which has her boys inside.
the pie in question is a 20" diameter pie with a thermal plastic crust

which breaks away to reveal



here's a close up of one of the faces

growing

something in my room smells like clay.
i can really only smell it when i'm laying in bed.
i almost don't want to investigate what it is because i love the smell of clay since it was a big part of my childhood.


i bought a small greenhouse from ikea and started some seedlings. I'm kind of amazed how fast the little seedlings grew in the house.

My tuplips outside look weird and stunted. Most likely from the super mild January.

glimpses

a glimpse into my home:

a few weeks ago, i was late to work because i saw someone throwing these shelves out:


super cute, no? they were super skanky and dirty and do admittedly have a little water damage, but they were totally what i was looking for. now i need to reconfigure the stereo (maybe swap out the body for just a cd player/tuner) so i can keep the record player and a small portion of my records in my living room.

a glimpse into my work life:
i have to make two heads stewed into a pie. we didn't have the time or money (you'd be surprise how expensive it is to cast a head) (or maybe you wouldn't....i don't know) so i'm building these two from the skull up. they actually turned out pretty well. more finished photos later:

contests!

I entered the WaPo's peeps diorama contest. deadline is today.

Mine is the Birth of Peepnus

signed up

I signed up for Art-o-matic today.

Because apparently i enjoy entering my work into places where no one buys it.

batteries

I got home last night ready to photograph and list two things on etsy, and my camera was d.e.a.d.

so i bought new batteries on my lunchbreak today, so tonight i'll post some stuff.

wireless internet is so addictive. nice cozy warm laptop on my feet. it's nice.

new job

if anyone in the dc area, philadelphia, chicago, or kansas city missouri know of any public art management jobs, be a dear, and let me know?

please?

as i evesdrop on my boss and his assistant about the new season and my stomach churns acid and i grind my teeth down to nothing.

i have to remember to post new stuff on etsy tonight.

new uses for dried flowers

these petals
are now this necklace


i think i may have rushed the lamination process too fast, and the petals blanched out under the heat.

I have another stash of petals and i'm going to make sure they're high and dry before i laminate them.

found!

I found a super cute set of shelves in the garbage thursday morning.

at first i wasn't sure if it was trash or an eviction, but the more i think about it, i believe it to be the latter.

especially after scrubbing the shelves for a good half hour with oil soap. they were *filthy* and obviously kept somewhere dank. there is some water damage, but i'll post a photo soon 'cause they are *ADORABLE*

Top Design on-line challenge

I'm done!
here's the shirt prior to cutting it up:

here is the shirt in its new life:

i even used the button-strip placket thing on the front of the shirt as the closure for the pillow instert (here's the back)

I submitted it to the site, I guess now i wait and see if they choose it to even show. I imagine they'll get a lot of submissions.

pillow re-do

i'm almost done with the pillow challenge. it's coming out OK i think.
I have to go to work for a while today and hopefully will finish it tonight or tomorrow.

pictures soon to come!

Top Design

If I were a better seamstress, I might be tempted to actually kill to be on "Project Runway". The challenges are fun and interesting and above all, challenging. I was looking forward to Bravo's TOP DESIGN since it's probably the closest to what I do for a living (challenge-based reality show-wise anyhow)

But I find Top Design to be kind of a dud. Which is a shame since I love Jonathan Adler. Like, a lot. I always go into Tabletop in Dupon Circle to fondle his ceramics. I stop shy of actually purchasing any as visions of malicious kitty Secret Agent Sadie LaRue knocking them over runs through my head.

The one great thing about Top Design 'tho are the weekly challenges.
Last week's was kinda....well....weak, but this week's is neat. Take a piece of found fabric and fashion a pillow-cover with it. I would think that taking something out of your stash is probably cheating. They suggest cutting up socks or ties or a fed-ex envelope.

I have a beautiful Guayabera shirt that i might sacrifice for this. it's too small to wear. or maybe the shirt i bought in a thrift shop in jersey city new jersey with a really funny print of a tiny man all over it.

Thank you!

Thanks to everyone who came by Dr. Dremo's today for the Counter Culture Festival. I'm going to be posting new and unsold stuff here and at magpiedc.etsy.com in the next few days!

love
beth b.