Winter Storms

Apparently winter has decided that it's time to get serious about weather, and we're getting some really wretched storming where I am in Virginia.  I expect this means that my friends to the north are busy getting very very snowed in.  (Our precipitation started with snow, and now there's torrential rain, and we're suppose to get more snow.)  I expect I'll be trapped inside for a while, since my road is going to ice over for sure.  In light of that, I'm preparing a blog post for everyone else stuck inside!

Last time I posted cool things that I adore, I stuck to jewelry and metal pieces.  This time, I've got something else in mind.  I don't talk about it much, but when I'm not making jewelry I do lots of other things, and some of what I do I call "fiber therapy" which basically means that when I get exhausted from working in metal, I go knit something according to a pattern.  My mother is also a quilter, so we have a lot of fabric around the house too.  Essentially I've cultivated a love of fiber, even if I don't make art in it.  So, today, I present a fiber showcase!

 

I found this artist on Etsy, and fell in love with her work.  If you've never heard of a cabinet of curiousities, they were Renaissance collections of natural objects that were slightly bizarre, like cuttlefish, prawns, and coral.  I'm sure collectors would have killed for a taxidermied platypus.  Anyway, Jessica Polka also blogs, and both her Etsy shop and blog are under the title Wunderkammer: A Handmade Cabinet of Curiosity.  I absolutely adore the way she presents her work, with the specimen tags, which just goes to show how much impact the little details make.  And the fact that she sells crochet patterns for her pieces?  Really really makes me want to learn, for pretty much the first time ever.  (I admit, I am unreasonably intimidated by those little hooks.  My brain refuses to process the idea of making things with them.  And not even a pair!  One!)

 

This piece is by an artist named Hine, who I also found on Etsy.  I covet one of these.  It's not only totally awesome, but also functional, as it's a felt camera that is actually a camera case.  I, not having a camera that would fit, would use it as a wallet, and it would be the best wallet ever.  I have all intentions of actually buying one of these when my current wallet wears out, because I can't imagine anything cooler.

Anyway, I did make it out to the studio some this week, which was absolutely wonderful.  There's nothing to give you extra drive like having hard deadlines and then being denied time to work.  But I've been making excellent progress, and my piece should be done and shipped in time for my dear friend's wedding.  (I solemnly swear I will take and post pictures before I send it, as well as at the wedding, which I'm looking forward to tremendously.)

I've also been gearing up to make a slew of production pieces, because I've stumbled across Spring Bada-Bing and decided that I should definitely attempt to be a vendor at it.  So wish me luck and much productivity, because you can't sell stuff you haven't made yet!

Since it looks like I'll be snowed in tomorrow, at the very least, I've promised myself I'll work on some sketches for a new body of work.  (I am so thrilled about it that I can't talk about it yet.  I'm sitting tight on this one until the first piece is done, and then I will babble incessantly.)