Thinking of Wine

It’s funny how art seems to take direction all by itself. I began this, a free-from peyote bracelet as a special order for someone who wanted a free form in purples. When I realized I did not have an appropriate center bead I had to make one. I was going along trying to get this finished before I leave on my trip when I realized it began looking like grapes to me. Now, perhaps that is because I want a glass of wine, I don’t know. I’ll have one but not until I have finished with the clasp portion. Anyway, like the vase I did recently I had no real plan. I picked out the beads I wanted to use and went from there. I had a couple of leaves left over from the vase and decided to put them on. Then I went back and added a couple of grape clusters since it already appeared to have taken on that theme. Presto! I am waiting for final approval before I make this to her requested length. If she likes wine I think I am in! Happy Friday!

Designer Shoes

Do you have an addiction to buying shoes? Are you bored with everything you see out there? Well, I have the perfect answer for you. These shoes by Mathieu Missiaen at NDEUR SHOES are hand painted and I guarantee you don't have these in your closet...yet. Go by and see more at http://ndeurshoes.etsy.com or you can check out his My Space page at http://www.myspace.com/ndeurr to see his paintings and other works of art or just to find out more about this fascinating young artist.

PERFECT HOSTESS GIFTS

With the Holidays and Thanksgiving just around the corner I have been looking for suitable hostess gifts for all those parties and dinners coming up. This shop has the perfect answer. Made from a variety of luscious locally harvested hardwoods these utensils are gorgeous, practical, artistic, and handmade in coastal Maine, USA using. This is a hostess gift to be treasured and what a wonderful way to express your appreciation. Heron Cove Wood Carvings has been been a woodworker for over 35 years--a boat builder, carpenter, cabinetmaker, and woodcarver. Stop by his shop at http://heroncovewoodcarving.etsy.com get your shopping done early!

Beading Masks

With Halloween coming up CUBE Gallery http://www.thecubegallery.com/is currently seeking submissions for their first juried show of masks and hats. Since I am in that gallery already with my jewelry I have decided to try my hand at a beaded mask...no easy task. I am using free form peyote stitch so far. I will be using some gemstones and pearls as well but I have not decided which as of yet. The primary colors in the mask are going to be purple,gold and green and I am hoping it is going to be wearable as well as artistic.

It will be a 3/4 face mask coming down to the tip of the nose. perhaps if things go really well it will cover the entire face. I looked for some sort of book to guide me but could find nothing. I will also be making some hats, but this piece is the real challenge. I am hoping to have it done by the end of next week! Ideas, tips or suggestions?

PASSION FOR ART,SILVER AND SCISSORS

Gergana lives in Portland, Maine and works in graphic design. Although Gergana has a "day" job her art is not simply a hobby to work away those cold Maine winters. It is a passion for her and a major part of her life that began as a child and has taken many forms throughout the years.
As a young girl Gergana was often seen with scissors in one hand and crayons in the other. Trading in her childhood supplies she has graduated to more sophisticated tools but is still bent on cutting things up and putting them back together and does just that in a style that is all her own. You an see the items pictured here and many more exquisite and fascinating pieces at http://www.bg2770.etsy.com/

When she is not working Gergana enjoys the bountiful beauty in nature in Maine by going on a hike or riding her bike. She also enjoy movies and music and loves to travel.

Gergana states that one of her biggest challenges is "too many ideas and mediums to play with and not enough time to explore them all." With her talent and interest in all forms of art I would keep my eye on this talented lady, who knows what comes next?!

WOUND AND WIRED

Judy, a Portland, Maine artisan by night and a librarian by day has a true knack for twisting things up in a fabulous way. Pictured here are 3 of the items from her Etsy shop located at http://www.judyb.etsy.com/. She works primarily in sterling silver and occasionally incorporates semi precious stones such as the blue one pictured here with turquoise. Pounding the evenings away she creates beautiful and truly unique pieces of jewelry including earrings, bracelets, rings and necklaces. Hers is a style I have not seen anywhere else which makes me love it all the more. You can check out her profile but she does not have much to say about herself, with talent like this I guess not much is needed!

STAINED GLASS AND OTHER WONDERS

Let the sunshine in! These fabulous works of art are done by Coco of Maine. Coco grew up in New Orleans, was a military wife for over 30 years and is a mother of 5 children. She has traveled extensively within the U.S. and abroad discovering and absorbing the native values and artistic expressions indigenous to each location. In addition to her beautiful glass works she has talents in many other areas such as decorative folk painting , carved candles, soap, clay, needlework, fountains, basic carpentry and refinishing, various types of sewing, and jelly making...whew! Remember now I told you she is also a mother of 5.

These original paintings in the traditional Austrian Alpbach style double as Shaker style boxes and are extra strong and durable so they are as functional as they are enchanting.

Treat yourself and maybe a friend and visit her shop. There is so much more to see and you can find out a lot more about this wonderful Artisan and her family on her profile bu going to http://www.ByCoco.etsy.com

PHOTOGRAPHY

I could not resist! These photos were taken of my lilies by my daughter. So now onto the ETSY folks...

Crown of Storms is the one to look at today. You can find them at http://www.crownofstorms.etsy.com and you should stroll by and take a peek.

I love the toad he reminds me of Monday morning! And can you tell my fave flower is the Lily? The winter scene is what I am looking forward to. This shop has great diversity in subject matter as you can see. They also have a huge clearance section starting at $2.50. Yes you read that right, 2 dollars and 50 cents! With Christmas so soon and oil prices so high here is your chance to get some great one of kind gifts. Be sure and check out all the other FAB Maine artisans on my blog...Happy Shopping!

Acrylic Paintings

Home is where the heart as goes the saying. Laurie, a Maine artist will create a painting of your house for you by custom request. I was thinking although I don't live there anymore it would be nice to have a painting of the home I grew up in. I love to drive by there every chance I get. I can still see our underground fort (long since filled in), picture my old room from the front window. I sit parked and daydream of days gone by in the carefree world of my youth. It would be a delight to have that right here in my home and the new owners would probably prefer it as well!

She also has original art as well as prints for sale in her shop of some beautiful Maine landscapes. One of the features of her work is the gallery wrap canvas she has this to say..."For those who are unfamiliar with gallery wrap canvas, it has a wide (approximately 1.5-inch) edge that is painted, so you don't have to deal with the added expense and hassle of framing. The painting will wrap right around the edges of the canvas. Your painting will be finished with a protective layer of varnish, and will arrive wired and ready to hang." This is really nice because the additional cost of framing can be outrageous. Wen I did it for a living people were amazed. They would bring it a print that they paid $25.00 for and spend over $100 easily for the frame. Stop by her shop and take a look at her landscapes and cityscapes. You can find her at http://www.viridianart.etsy.com

ART IN MAINE

I live and work in Maine and I love it here. In an effort to help out fellow Artisans and Crafters from Maine I am going to be featuring all kinds of local work; knit, crochet, paintings, pottery, lighting, clothing, just to name a few. Check back often or better yet just subscribe to the blog. There is a lot of wonderful talent here in Maine and my goal is to show you as much as I can in the upcoming months. Buy handmade!!! Many Artisans accept custom orders and they are very reasonable. Wouldn't you rather give a beautiful, quality handmade item than something mass produced? I will even feature patterns if you have the time and energy to make gifts yourself. I am going back to a desk job full time in an attempt to keep my bills paid so I may not be writing every day although I will certainly try. I was hoping to take a full year off but with the economy today I am not selling quite enough jewelry to live on. I am sure that is true of some of my fellow artisans so I hope this will help us all!

New Gallery Opening

A new gallery is opening in Portland, Oregon. CUBE Gallery at 4136 SE Hawthorne Blvd. in Portland, OR 97215 opens Sunday July 6, 2008. The gallery opens on the 6th at 6PM, thereafter the hours are 10 AM to 6PM Tuesday through Sunday allowing the two artists and owners, Kimberly Kent and Shannon Bodie a little time to pursue their passion in creating some the art to be displayed.
Although involved in a variety of mediums, Kimberly specializes in encaustic painting which can be seen on the web at http://kimberlykent.squarespace.com/ There Kimberly states "My current work represents the expressionistic landscape. Born of intimate plein air studies that bear the torch for my larger oil and encaustic paintings. Working in plein air allows me to see the natural world with all senses, not just my eyes. To experience nature as the precious gift we were given and have the responsibility to protect."
"Shannon Bodie has been working in graphic arts for over 17 years. After study as a fine artist, she joined Lightbourne in 1994 and became partner in 1999, where she continues Lightbourne’s reputation of outstanding service and award-winning design." (from lightborne.com). The web link to the gallery is http://www.thecubegallery.com/ and is not a complete site at this time but they are working toward that end.
In addition to fine art, jewelry, and pottery the gallery will offer classes in a variety of media.

Scrimshaw makes a comeback in Maine

In the 1800's whalers spent hours upon hours creating these beautiful, timeless pieces made out of Whale bone and teeth and other marine animals. You can see more about this lost art at http://http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrimshaw. Today, although difficult to obtain there are still a few artisans that use preban ivory and other natural materials as well as cast their own materials for their art. This scrimshander, Linda Layden does both devoting hours to hand etching her pieces in the traditional black and white and color. She not only has these coastal scenes but has a variety of animals, and nature scenes and offers jewelry, bookmarks, notecards, boxes and more. You can see her work at http://www.lindalayden.etsy.com

Cheap imports vs. Handcrafted

After reading this through please drop some feedback to the questions at the end of this post.

I decided to give this a try. Each day I am going to list one item at 1/2 price and change the item every day so that the item is on sale for one day only. I am hoping to encourage folks to stop by and see what is on sale for that day which will also keep people aware of what's new. The thing is that because of an agreement with the jewelry stores I deal with I have to list the retail price at my on line site. The crocheted items because I don't sell those to the jewelry store yet I can list at wholesale which I already do so those will not be included in the sales. For the bracelets like the one pictured I get on the average $25.00 and they take about an hour to do including stringing time. The basic bracelets are at $23.00 and they go up to $33.00 if they have some sort of spendy lampwork in them.

Some have asked me why I don't use commercial lampwork as my prices could be lower. I prefer to support other artisans knowing how difficult this market is with all the cheap imports available. Also, I want to give my clients the best product I can produce and something they are not going to see on anyone else at the next affair they attend. But it is difficult at best to compete with "made in..."Even on a very popular high end street in Boston the answer I got to most places I went is that they can get it imported a lot cheaper and still sell close to the same price and make 4-9 times their investment rather than just keystone. There are those out there who prefer better products such as the ones made by artisans here in the good old USA. It is just a matter of finding out how to get our goods out there to them. Jewelry is difficult to photograph well and pros cost over $100.00 per hour which at this point is too much for the likes of me! I sell very well when I can get it into the consumers hands, when they can see the quality of my work and materials I use. The jewelry store here in Waterville, Maine has purchased over $3500 from me since the middle of last October and she has sold all but a very few pieces so I know there are buyers out there for what I do. Generations Lampwork http://www.generationslampwork.etsy.com told me that she does not make much jewelry anymore because she has to compete with the cheap, mass manufactured imports. It really is a shame as she does exquisite work. I am sure the same is true with many in her field. Still, as I said there are those out there who would rather have something unique, original and handcrafted. Where are they and how do we show them our wares is the question. On line is good for some things but like I said getting good photos of jewelry is hard and it can be expensive.

I would like some feedback on these questions:

1. Would you rather have an item that was handcrafted and more unique or something less expensive that everyone can own?

2. For those who have purchased handcrafted jewelry online, what factors went into your decision to make the purchase on an item you have not actually held in your hand?

Slow but Steady

I expect to be able to finish that piece today. I started painting again yesterday, I have not taken out my brushes in a few years. I used to paint nearly every day then when I moved to Maine I stopped for some reason. I began with Sumi-e in 1985 under the direction of Claudia Suen in Hawaii. I continued with Chinese Brushpainting and also tried my hand at pen and ink, watercolor, pastels, etc. I did well at the pen and ink and Sumi, the rest well I dabbled every now and then I think just to prove to myself that I still couldn't do it. Anyway I seemed to have a natural talent for the Sumi. I sold many, taught in the public school system and at private galleries, and then stopped one day. So as I said in the beginning I have picked up my brushes again. To be truthful I ran out of wrapping paper, had some bags that I use for jewelry and thought it would be a good idea to slap some ink on them and see what happens. That is to come in a few days. For now I want to finish this piece of jewelry I have been working on. I am just in awe of the beauty in these stones. They have so many color variations in each one. It was hard to find the right pearls to go with them and I am not adding as many as usual because I don't want to detract from these jaspers. The carnelian I used was faceted and reflects the light so nicely. I love making jewelry. The colors, the sparkle, the different stones...no wonder it is taking me a while to do this piece. The first layer of the paintings are just about dry so I had better get on with my day. I need to get these done and the materials put up so I can continue this necklace