glittergoods

go go gocco

I've had my gocco for about three years now, but this morning was the first time I used it to print on paper (I came at gocco not for paper arts but because I was looking to get into a screenprinting system I could do with one hand while rocking my baby daughter with the other).  I know I'm seriously behind the curve* on this, but the thing is that, although I am in love with the idea of pretty much any hand-printing method, I realized early on that I had to draw the line at too many levels of handcraft with my cards (although between you & me?  You know those old Martha Stewart to-do list jokes?  The ones with things like "Dig streambed, divert river, plant organic heirloom papyrus for use in making handmade paper for this year's holiday cards.  Also invent new method of making the perfect black ink"? I think there might have even been a joke list in an issue of MSL years ago.  Anyway, if I had the time, that would be me, & not in an ironic way, either.).

But these cards?  These are not for me, or for work.  My little sister & her long-time boyfriend have finally gotten engaged, which means that I get to have some fun.  The ordering-gocco-supplies, finally-having-a-reason-to-go-to-Paper-Source kind of fun.  I have no idea if these are anything like where the final design will end up, but I had to have something to test print, now, didn't I?

*the other thing I am seriously behind the curve on is podcasts, probably because I don't have an ipod (yet, those new teeny shuffles are calling to me) & also because usually when I'm at my computer I've got one ear straining to hear sounds of sibling conflict in other parts of the house, so music is not high priority & I don't often have the time to listen even the most interesting long interview.  But I just discovered (I've been doing a little research in preparation for the shuffle, see) kexp.org's (local indie radio station) Song of the Day podcast, & I'm completely in love.  One song per day!  Even I have time for that!

work, progress

I took this picture last Friday, for WIP Friday & also to document for myself that there is something happening around here, that no matter how far I feel like I'm falling behind, I'm still managing to get good-sized orders out the door (this one is to a new store in MN), & maybe also to document that thinking about slimming down my product line might not be the worst idea on earth.

This Friday, I found myself taking this picture:

which is part of an order that I just got out the door to a different store (Naka, in Ferndale MI).  It's great to be busy, but it's...busy to be busy, too.  Between trying to keep my little business chugging along & continuing to adjust to life as a two-school family, I feel like I can't catch a breath.  This, however, did not stop me from going to a meeting today & agreeing to help my son's teacher plan & execute some sort of mathy quilting project with his kindergarten class.  I'm sure there's some late night looming in my future where I'll be sewing like a frantic zombie, but right now the whole idea is completely irresistable.  I confess that I don't understand how it will help them with the whole math thing, but that's what the teacher's there for, right?

In the midst of all this, I of course managed to find some time to play with resin.  This ring was the test case for an adjustable sterling setting, & I'm very pleased with the results.  (Yes, Scout, that's some purple glitter you're seeing there.)

This is yet another incarnation of the glitter dots, a sterling pendant.  I'm also experimenting with coating the original dot pendants with a layer of resin, & I'm not sure which one will win out.  This one is a little more jewelry-like (& therefore more expensive), the other one is all about the glitter.  I'll probably end up rolling both out at my next show & seeing how it goes.

With all the work happening this week, it was nice to get a little payoff in the form of the latest issue of Country Home (Oct 06).  They'd asked me to send some of my knit-themed cards for use in their fancy concept kitchen for the Kitchen/Bath Industry Show, & my cards appear in the shot of the bulletin board in the October issue (p.139).  You have to know what my cards look like & then also squint quite a bit to make them out (I put notes on the photo in my flickr account for the curious but non-squinty), but, yay!  This was my first copy of CH, & I have to say, I'm surprised at how appealing I actually find it (I have a subscription to Metropolitan Home, which, admittedly, is an apparently perpetually-renewing gift subscription & not one that I actively seek out myself, but still, the person who gets it for me is not entirely wrong).  It reminds me of MSL, except made by people who might wear rumply clothing every now & then.

This weekend I'm planning on sewing another skirt for my girl (I am developing a little bit of a corduroy obsession), eating a delicious pumpkin donut from the neighborhood donut shop, working on a couple of Halloween items + some display stuff for the artist of the month thing I have coming up next month at Venue, & maybe baking some bread if the weather stays cool enough.  Turns out I'm ready for fall, after all.

good mail day

There's just something about a fresh stack of art supplies, isn't there?

hello, drizzle

Today was the first fall-feeling day around here this year:  drizzly, grey, chilly, plus it had that smell in the air.  As a result, I:  1.  felt very sleepy all day, like I always do when the weather starts to change; 2.  when alert enough, admired what the increased humidity did for my hair; 3. while watching my no-body-fat son shiver on the playground before school this morning, made a mental note to pick him up a few more sweatshirts; & 4. felt very pleased that I managed to get some good shots of my resin projects over the last couple of sunny days.

I love, love! these rings.  I'm still working out a few kinks in the process, but I've had this idea for the next generation of glitter dot jewelry knocking around in my head for over a year now, & I'm thrilled to see it panning out.

The resin does gorgeous things to the color & sparkle of the glitter, which, if you're me, is very exciting.

The smaller pendant is 20mm & the larger ones are 24mm, on 18" chains.  They're nice & lightweight, & turn out to survive road-testing by a three year old quite well though (like many other things she touches) somewhat stickily.

(Speaking of, here she is performing the swirl test on her finished skirt.  She's probably sticky in this picture, too.)

In other news, I've just signed on to be one of the designers involved in Scout's Indie Swag Club -- a sock yarn of the month club, featuring Scout's lovely handpainted sock yarn + a little knit-themed something or other from another indie designer each month.  Signups for this fall's round are already closed (those knitbloggers move fast!), but I think she's already planning another round for January, so it's something to keep your eye on if you're a fan of the handpaints.

Friday wip

I actually have a work in progress this Friday, I'm so proud of myself:

It is, shockingly, another skirt for my girl's fall wardrobe.  I'm using the three peas formula once again, & it continues to make a really cute skirt (although I swear every time I make one I have to re-do the gathers on the bottom tier at least twice), but I think that maybe the next time I pull something out of my pile of to-be-skirted pinwale corduroy, I might try a longer, slimmer kind of tiered thing (o, I've been looking at the Mini-Boden catalog).  On top there is a whole bunch of pink velvet ribbon to sew on the seam lines & also possibly to use in many projects to come, since there I was in the ribbon room with no idea how much I actually needed & so may have gone slightly nuts about it.

The most impressive work in progress around here, though, is from last weekend, when my intrepid husband tackled the side path project that had been a pleasant someday fantasy project until the emergency side sewer replacement & subsequent fence rebuild turned the already awkward side path into a dirt path (that was still plenty awkward), which is something that you don't really want next to your house in a city where it rains for a million days in a row or whatever ridiculous record we had last year.

There's about three feet of space between the side of the house & our fence, which used to be divided like this:  overgrown annoying to mow grass, stupid narrow cement sidewalk, clumpy half-dead trampled grass. 

This is much better, plus "cheap" & "good-looking" are coming together pretty nicely.

On that big blank grey expanse of wall (on the other side of that post, you can see it in the pictures above) we're going to be putting up some sort of trellis for this little clematis, which is supposed to grow up & cover the arbor that we ended up adding to our fence in the eleventh hour when the fence guys made it too short.

I actually really like it, Mildred Pierce shadows & all, but I think I'll like it more when it's covered with a flowering vine.  What I really want to do is train the clematis up together with a blowsy-flowered old fashioned climbing rose, but I've only got three feet of space & two small children, so I'm thinking maybe thorns aren't the way to go.

back to school, 2.0

The first day of kindergarten was a success for all involved:  my boy was pale & quiet & big-eyed in the morning, but he determinedly sent me on my way, & after I picked him up he had a lot to say about three recesses & how he's going to start riding the bus home next week.  I feel this indescribable sense of relief, like, ok, whatever ridiculous parenting blunders we've made over the past five years, at least we managed to produce someone who had a good first day of kindergarten.  He's the school system's problem now!

The end of pre-first-day jitters has freed up a lot more creative energy around here, so of course I immediately turned to my new resin kit.  So far, I haven't done more than make a series of glittery lumps:

Which are cool because I made plastic, but otherwise pretty useless.  I think I love this stuff, though.  I have big plans.

In the meantime, there I was with a lump of glittery resin + a ring blank, so, why not?  My daughter is just green with envy.  (Any sources for kid-sized ring blanks would be much appreciated!)

back to school

Today is my girl's first day back at preschool.  While it doesn't really compare to my boy starting kindergarten tomorrow (yikes), I still figured I should mark the occasion with a new skirt.  It's the same pattern I used for the green polka-dot skirt back in June (looking back I see I planned a "whole big stack," so I guess with skirt #2 I am slowly inching toward that goal), & is a fine easy pattern for up-late, nerve-settling sewing.  Plus, swishy!

The skirt is the first non-work crafting I've done in a while, but I've had some inspiring things come my way lately:

For our anniversary, my excellent husband gave me a book about resin jewelry and a ring-making kit (I had put the book on my wishlist, but the kit was his own idea because:  "it's a new craft to learn plus it's like giving you jewelry without having to pick it out.")  I've been wanting to learn resin for a couple of years now, so I can't wait to try it out.

Other recent arrivals have been issue 2 of Blueprint, which, I have to say, I liked so much more than issue 1.  The beauty/fashion stuff still leaves me pretty cold, but I thought the DIY articles this time were much more interesting (especially the office one, which I loved, plus lots of good links to sites with cool supplies), & I even though the rest of the lifestyle stuff was ok.  So, as of now, I'm actually feeling pretty optimistic about having subscribed.  Plus, it really is just pretty.  Of course, the latest MCI pretty much blows Blueprint out of the pretty water, though this is not my favorite issue ever.  Still, there were a couple of things that caught my eye in particular, like

This excellent skirt, which of course is not the featured thing in the article & so does not come with directions, and

This super-excellent palmistry pillow, which I think I might just have to add to the ever growing project wish list.

no, really, this time I mean it

Ok, September 1.  Man, remember back in the early summer, when I was writing regularly & I -- along with lots of other people -- was struggling with the whole family/work/craft balance?  Talking about how hard it is?  Oh, & then, remember a month ago, when I thought I was ready to get back into the blog swing?  Yeah, well, my balancing act hasn't been so hot lately, obviously.  My kid, though, the one who's about to start kindergarten in less than a week, has been having a pretty good end-of-summer, so I guess sometimes "balance" is less important than "happy little boy."

At any rate.  Speaking of trying to get back on the balanced-life train, last weekend was my first show in a while, Swank -- oh!  first, I have to say that a significant part of the inspiration to pick up the blogging, um, keyboard, again is that a blog reader stopped by & let me know that she made a trip to the show specifically to see me.  So flattering & cool, & I totally failed to get your name, but, thanks!  I loved that you stopped by!

So, Swank is a great show, by which I mean that it's in a really nice space (a big room in the lower building of the Phinney Ridge Neighborhood Center, locals may know what I'm talking about), & the mix of vendors is a really high-quality & interesting one (if I say so myself, ha).  This was my second time at the show, & the foot traffic wasn't quite what it should have been either time, but the show is also new to the space, & I think that there's a lot of potential there, once people figure out where it is.  There might be an Eastside show coming up in November (if the organizers can find a good location), & then the next Phinney show will be on December 16.  I won't be there (I'll be down in LA at Bazaar Bizarre again), but I hear that the Swank holiday show is fantastic & if you're in the area, you should think about checking it out.

I am trying to remember to take pictures of my booth/table whenever I do a show, though I only manage it about half the time.  When you've got as many products as I do, cramming everything into a 6-foot display is fairly tricky, & every time I'm trying to do it, I end up thinking that I really need to pare down the amount of stuff that I actually haul to shows with me (or, ultimately, the amount of stuff I actually make).  But, you know, it's hard:  do I leave out the shirts?  The cards?  The bracelets?  The sparkly little bobby pins?  Oh, decisions, decisions.

Luckily, I brought my latest embroidery project along to distract me from such weighty issues.  It's my second Stitchette -- I'm doing a series of three to hang on my daughter's wall -- & wow did that pattern get a lot of compliments over the course of the day.  It was especially fun to see how many of the other vendors already knew about Wee Wonderfuls (since I meet a surprising number of crafters offline who don't know about the amazing online craft world).

I suppose I shouldn't be talking about my second Stitchette without showing my first one, which I finished a few weeks ago.  I had a great time personalizing the pattern, though I think it will be a while before I decide to do a whole head of hair in French knots again.  I just love how portable embroidery is, compared to most other work I do, &, given how little time I'm finding to devote to craft lately, I especially love how small these girls are, particularly compared to this gigantic vintage embroidery kit (seriously, I had to buy a set of 18" x 34" stretcher strips for it) that I really want to stitch up except it kind of scares me, since it's going to be almost as big as the smaller of my children, & it's taken three years to get her to this size .