Fairy Garden

I said I'd do a weekly installment for a few weeks on gardening.  This week, I'm going to suggest a few things that might be perfect for a garden to attract the wee folk. 

Moss Mousse Mix from Fluffnflowers

Gardening moss?  Never heard of such a thing.  But when I read the listing... cool!  You can use it to fill in unsightly cracks in your driveway, between stepping stones on a walkway to your door, or make a pretty little rock garden with fairy houses in a bed by your front door that will require very little maintenance.  I LOVE this idea.

Beautiful Celosia Flamingo Feather Seeds from Smokymist Gardens

The seller's daughter says these look like fairy wands.  I must agree.  Wonder if they'd grow in my moss garden?   Best thing:  they're annual.  (I really hate things I have to buy every year).

Fancy French Faerie Door by TaraLinnea

Tough call, here... there are lots of really cool fairy doors on Etsy (try a search some time... they're fascinating to me).  In choosing I wanted:  1)  Something that can go outside, 2)  Something that didn't look like a dollhouse door, something sort of organic and fae, and 3)  Love to feature one of my fellow FAE team members.  This pretty door by TaraLinnea fills the bill perfectly (although I had a hard time choosing from the several in her shop!)

Tree Man Stoneware Pot by Jillhoutz

I went on a hunt for a green man.  You can't have a fairy garden without a green man.  I was actually surprised at the lack of green man plaques (what I initially intended to feature here) on Etsy.  But this... this is PERFECT.   Want to grow some mint in your fairy garden without it taking over the garden?  Put it in here.  He'll take good care of it.  I absolutely adore the earthy, natural look of this pot. 

There are lots of other treasures on Etsy in this theme.  Take a look for yourself!

Student Work

Yesterday I taught my first wire wrapping workshop with a lady I know from craft fairs (she does face painting) and two of her friends. They had some experience tinkering with wire but, in her words "we always end up gluing it." I'm proud to say none of these were glued :) They are all stones that they had and wanted to do something with. Turns out most of their problem was that they were using half-hard wire. Maggie was so excited "I finally made something pretty!" and that's a great feeling, for me and for her.

I think I have contributed three more addicts to the wiring world.

I'll probably be getting together with these ladies on a regular basis to teach various techniques. I also have an opportunity to join a gallery that is opening here in White County and to use the facilities they intend to have for teaching crafting classes - and participate in learning other crafts (the company that is opening it is a pottery company and I think I'd love to play with clay on a wheel - everyone knows there's no end to my creating ambition). Frankly, I feel like somewhat of a newbie myself so I'm not sure I'm qualified, but I am eager to share what I know and partake in that incomparable feeling of a creativity-charged atmosphere. Anyone who's taken an art or craft class with other willing participants (meaning, not in high school) will know what I'm talking about.

Craft Envy [EBT Carnival]

The Carnival theme for Etsy Bloggers is: What item from another seller's shop do you secretly wish you had thought of first?

Well... it's not that I secretly wish I'd thought of this stuff. It's more like, I wish I had time to dabble in similar crafts. Mostly. So here's a feature of some of my favorite insanely talented people on Etsy whose crafts I wish I could play with. Except the first. The first qualifies absolutely and completely for the actual question here, since I do some similar stuff.

When I saw Karla's shop at Thyme2Dream,
I confess I swooned. I'm a Renaissance and fantasy fangirl and if I was wandering around a Renaissance Faire and found a booth with her stuff in it I'd spend half the day there. It was really tough for me to choose a picture of ONE thing I love in her shop. Then I discovered her brilliant circlet-making husband at PernCirclets. They are definitely on my top 5 list of Etsy heroes. What I envy the most here is that when you see one of her listings, you know instantly who made it. I think I will never have that trademark style.

The rest of these are simply masters of crafts I wish I could do. I waded through most of my 99 pages of favorites (!!!! at least I got to weed out the dead ones) to find them for you.

I am so horrible at sewing that my son insists on sewing on his own buttons. Still, I'm pretty sure it's something I could learn, given time. And a sewing machine. Which I asked for for Christmas several years ago and did not get. So I am still thread-challenged.

If I COULD sew, I would sew costumes. Mostly Renaissance costumes. It would be a long, long time before I could sew anything as gorgeous as the stuff in Spooky Kitten Couture's shop, though. If you've got a touch of Rengeek go look. Another favorite costumier is Damsel In This Dress, partly because the name is just brilliant. :)

I'd never heard of needle tatting until I discovered TotusMel's shop (and blog!) and she's the undisputed queen of tatting in my mind, although I have found a few other shops recently that do more with beads and I LOVE it. This is definitely on my to-learn list, and I definitely want to make Victorian-looking stuff with lots of beads.

There are some leather mask-makers on the 'net. I don't think I'd get very gung-ho into leatherworking, although the stuff IKOW Designs is doing with leather and maille is stunning, so I'd probably play with something like that (I want to try some leather bracers with scalemaile overlay). I wouldn't mind being able to make amazing things like these Knights Templar bracers, at Mojo Leather, either.

One thing I have wanted for a very long time is a good camera(long enough that the camera I once wanted was 35 mm. but is now a digital SLR) , the knowledge to use it well, and opportunities to walk into nature and capture its mysteries. So naturally, Nature's Art is my hero. Their nature photos are breathtaking.

I'm sort of a hippie at heart, so I've always loved macrame (except those ugly plant hanger thingies, which seems to be what most people think of when you say macrame). I still have a gallon ziploc full of hemp, and I can do a basic sinnet (plan to try it in wire one of these days!). Macrame has come a long way since the 70s, though, as evidenced by Glass Dancer's absolutely gorgeous "micro" macrame. Anything tiny and intricate catches my fancy. I'd love to learn to do this one of these days.

There's a lot done with seed beads that's too busy for me, but I love peyote cuffs. I had long admired Sand Fibers' work, and then I featured Time2Cre8's Obama cuff on my blog. She offered a trade, and I am now its proud owner, and made a friend in the process (Mary Lou is a gem!). I'm venturing into this arena a little, with 3 cuffs under my belt so far (they take a LONG time), which I'm sure I will blog about soon. Mary Ann has been helpful getting me off the ground here. She's great! The cuff at left is hers. Go look at the wondrous creations in her shop, or check out her blog or the amazing Etsy BeadWeavers' blog.

My hubby offered me another crafting class this year as my Christmas present, and if I'd done it, I'd have chosen lampworking. But I thought, I know how to do some metalsmithing from last year's class, and don't have the tools to do it - I don't need another class and no tools. So I asked for tools. I still would dearly love to work with glass though, I've thought it was a magical process since I saw glassblowers working at a living museum in Ohio. But I still spend lots of time perusing the lampworking on Etsy, and there are a lot of brilliant people (I'm partial to these lined large-hole beads) but partly because of the luminous, intricate quality of her work and partly because the photography done here is AMAZING, Elysium beads is still my favorite. I'm planning on purchasing one of these mini works of art in the near future to put on a viking chain.

When I first opened my Etsy shop, I intended to do some calligraphy and illuminated manuscripts, as well. I hadn't counted on getting COMPLETELY obsessed with chainmaille and wire, so I haven't spent much time on this, but it's still on my to do list. I can do some calligraphy fairly competently, but what I really want to learn is the gorgeous illumination. Basically, what Bygone Arts is doing. You can get any text you want illuminated for an incredibly reasonable price.

I know, it's a lot of stuff. I doubt that I'll ever be the master of any of these crafts that the people I've featured are. And that's cool.. I want to dabble, use some of these things to complement the crafts I'm already doing. I'm a compulsive learner and creator. I could probably find a lot more crafts I'd like to learn some day but these are at the top of the list :)

Carnival: Crafting Through the Years

What's a blog carnival? Every other week EtsyBloggers street team has a choice of two themes that members can write about. This week I chose "Something you did as a child that you will always remember." Rather than writing about one childhood event, I'm going to talk about crafting I remember doing as a child.

My mom's a creative, artistic person. I can remember sitting and watching her draw, on rare occasions -- she'd wanted to be an artist but got a not uncommon "I'm not supporting any starving artists!" from my grandfather. For most of my recalled childhood my mom was a single mom, so she really didn't have time to be a "project mom." Most of the things I remember doing with her related either to holidays or cooking, or both (she is an artist in the kitchen, as well). I can recall making Christmas cookies, and ornaments, and we did a lot of those "stained glass" suncatchers that were made by pouring colored bits of plastic into individual sections in a metal frame.

I used to stay with my aunt in West Virginia for about a month during several summers when I was in elementary school. Every summer she had a project for me and my cousins to work on. One year we made pincushions, another we sewed an outfit for ourselves (I'd be interested to see what mine looks like -- if I had any sewing skills that summer they have evaporated! but I do recall choosing a shorts and shirt set in fuschia and turquoise terrycloth. Oy!), and another we made strawberry jam in Ball jars with decorated lids to give as presents. I spent a lot of time painting at my grandparents' house, both paint-by-number sets, which my grandfather loved, and just randomly painting things. I remember painting a red spot on the porch railing so I could cheat at I Spy when I played with my grandfather later. :)

Looking back from when I was a kid to now, thinking about wandering through craft stores, it's kind of funny how trends come and go in crafts the same way they do in other things. Those little stained glass plastic thingies I used to make and bake are impossible to find now. (But the internet will find you anything! The kit above is available here, with others: http://www.hobbylinc.com/htm/cft/cft31009.htm) For a while I did Color Point fabric painting (Seurat would not have been impressed). Mom did that Petal Porcelain where you dip fabric flowers in gunk and set them on things, mostly wicker things. She also did String Art... ha, there's a relic! Macrame came, and went, and is back. Cross stitch has mostly replaced embroidery. And the craze now is Scrapbooking... and jewelry making, with aisles and aisles of the craft store devoted to each.

Am I a fad? I certainly hope not. Jewelry is timeless, though the fashions may change, and people may not be stringing beads so much as a hobby in ten or twenty years, but I hope to be still hammering, twisting, weaving, and soldering. And maybe sharing what I know with someone else. Crafting solo is enjoyable (okay, understatement), but glancing through the things above that I remember, the things that are most memorable are the things I made for or with someone else.

Upcoming Shows

You've Got Maille will be sharing a booth with Hamilton Dry Goods (leatherworking and wooden toys -- they have lots of Civil War stuff), the Austins (hair garlands) and a beekeeper who will be selling honey at Liberty Square Festival in Sparta on September 27, 2008. We'll also be at Warren County Lions Club Craft Show at Rock Island State Park on October 4-5, 2008, with the same group. I'm hoping by the time Candy Cane Lane rolls around, November 4, 2008 at White County Agricultural Building, I might have the stuff to set up my own display or go in with 1 other person with similar items.

For Liberty Square and Lions Club I'll be selling lots of earrings and bracelets, many made of stretchy neoprene rings, and all my Etsy show stock will be on display as well. I'll also be demonstrating weaving chainmaille while I'm there (and not performing -- LLORE will be at both events. See below if you don't know what that is).

For Candy Cane Lane I'm going to go with some more elegant items, I think -- some chokers, lots of wire wrapping and items done in sterling. There will be stocking stuffers, as well. I'm going to be making some chainmaille Christmas tree ornaments out of enameled copper wire - this wire isn't as strong as all metal wire, but that shouldn't matter for the ornaments, and it comes in brilliant, vibrant colors that will be great for the holiday. I'm sure several pieces of maille will find their way to my tree, as well.

Till now I've mostly just given vent to my creativity and have rarely made the same item twice, but for the next three months I'll be cranking out items in bulk for the shows (and putting Brandon to work doing the same!), as well as crafting gifts for my family. Stay tuned for photos of the events and my partners in crime!

In the spring I'm considering doing Mid-TN Renaissance Faire. I'll have to get a booth set up and decorated for submission to it -- we'll see how that goes. I'd have to sell quite a bit to make the drive and the outlay in equipment worth it, but it certainly would be fun. :)

What I'm Working on

I keep running out of rings :) This past Saturday Brandon and I made a choker sort of similar to Rhiannon (see my shop) in bright aluminum with a red inlay diamond, a celtic cross pendant, and red Swarovski beads along the bottom. It came out really pretty and was made as a birthday present for our friend Mary Ann. I wish I'd had time to get a picture of it but I didn't... maybe I can bug her to get one of her with it on, with her gorgeous red Renaissance costume dress. However, as a result I'm out of 3/16" BA rings and can't do the Dragonscale belt I planned on... back to TRL.

I bought the pretty ceramic leaf pendant above from Etsian Hannahfaerie a month or so ago (go visit... her work is beautiful). I originally intended to mix this with titanium and crystal, but I really didn't care for working with titanium, and the aluminum green was closer to the shade I wanted than the niobium was (and cheaper!). And the 4-in-1 drape I intended didn't hang the way I wanted it to, so I went with Japanese, with copper linking rings and a Swarovski leaf (sheesh those are expensive). The leaf-ish shaped unit pictured above will be duplicated on the other side of Hannah's pendant and probably hung from a copper chain, but... is it too much? The more I look at it the more I think it sort of overpowers the pretty ceramic. Maybe it'd be better if I did the maille in all green. Love to hear innocent bystanders' opinion on this so please comment if you don't mind ;) If this turns out cool I will probably submit it to Belle Armoire.

Beyond that, I've gone a little hog wild buying cabochons from a really cool supplier, some of which I will resell and some of which I will use to practice wire wrapping. Stay tuned for pics of that. Seems like I haven't had much time for crafting the past few days, and the near future isn't looking too good either. I think I will steal a few hours Monday.

Upcycle!

"Upcycling" is a term coined by William McDonough and Michael Braugart in their book Cradle to Cradle. Basically it means taking something normally disposed of (especially post-consumer waste) and creating something new out of it.

I'm doing my bit of upcycling today. Well, to be totally honest, it's not quite upcycling in the officially official sense of the word. I pick up "trash" jewelry from yard sales (single earrings, broken brooches, abandoned pendants, loose cabochons) and put it in my "stash" of things from which to create. I hit a few yard sales today and fortunately one person was wise enough to put all their "trash" jewelry out in bags. I think most people assume no one wants that sort of thing, but I did, and I bought it, and came home with a few things I'm kind of excited to use: some filigree items that would've been quite at home at vintaj.com; a couple of cat's eye glass cabs that I plan to practice wire wrapping on; a few cute little charms, some of which used to be earrings; and 3 bracelets worth of beads that I will definitely make use of, including one that is either carnelian or red agate ovals and very pretty.

In true upcycling, people take things that most people consider trash -- cereal boxes, milk cartons, plastic shopping bags -- and make things out of them. Lots of this stuff is "kitschy" and really not my taste, but here's a listing for an item I LOVE:

Water Lily Lamp by Roselover 2

This beautiful thing is $7 in her shop, made of recycled milk cartons, and.. well geez, what more could you want!? Be friendly to the environment, go support her upcycling efforts, and put this as a nightlight in your kid's room or somehing. So pretty :) Go look, that's a link!

Anyway, if you're interested in doing a little fun upcycling yourself, here's a link to a site called Upcycle Art: http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/tetani/upcycleart/htmls/projects.html
They've got soda bottle lamps, plastic bag rope twining (stuff made this way can be found on Etsy too... if I ever get a chance I plan to do an Upcycling Treasury), milk carton CD case and more.

While I'm on the subject, my goal for the month is to stop throwing away my plastics, and take my reams and reams of plastic bags to Wal-Mart. Make this a green month and do one thing to make the Earth a little happier. And maybe create something cool in the process.