Much Fun!

I had a blast this past weekend participating in the Shop Local Fair at Eclectic By Nature in Greensboro. We had 9 artists there, showing off their labors of love. The traffic was kind of slow since the Craftsman's Classic was at the coliseum and there was another festival going on, but it was worth being out there just for the company.

Outside of Eclectic By Nature in the State Street Station. It's a beautiful little strip consisting of many shops, galleries and restaurants. If you're in the area, I highly recommend going there, even if it is to just walk around.

This is my table with every piece of jewelry out for display. I've made of several of my own signs for the credit cards I accept, email list, about the metals I use, etc. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough room to display them all. =)

Some of Angela Jamison's energy artwork paintings were displayed on the walls. She also has prints, magnets, boxes and coffee mugs. I do love her paintings and you'll probably see more in the rest of the pictures below.

This is Angela and her boyfriend, Paul. That's another piece over Paul's head. You can visit Angela and see her work at Lyndon Street Artworks.

Brittany Sondberg is a metalsmith and creates wonderful jewelry out of recycled materials, including recycled Sterling and Fine Silver. She has some awesome rings!!! It was all I could do to keep myself from buying one. She is also at Lyndon Street Artworks if you like to meet her or see more of her work.

Mariana Rodriguez-Pardy is also pictured.

Mariana makes stoneware and burnished terracotta pottery with original designs inspired in prehispanic art and shamanic traditions

Anna Waters and her Tees 4 Trees table. She has organic cotton and bamboo tees with original tree designs. I love the softness of the shirts and they're Eco-friendly.

Vicki Gabba has a self-published book of original poetry and she is also a Metaphysical Consultant. I see lots of readings in my future!

Not pictured are Scott Walden who is a singer of "Shag Rock" music. He and Vicki were sharing a table.

Also not pictured are Marilyn Schendel, owner of Ritual Waters and maker of handmade natural soap and bath products, and Cay Bowman who is a Reiki Master and also handcrafts gorgeous chakra blankets.

Most of us went out for dinner and drinks after the Fair. They're all wonderful people and we all just seemed to click right together. We're talking about having another one in July, also to be held at EBN, so keep an eye out for that information.

My next showing will be at the Durham Art Walk on April 18th and 19th. I will be at Stop #12 on the map, which is Vert & Vogue... an Eco-friendly clothing store in the Brightleaf Square Mall. If you would like more info on the Walk, please visit the Durham Art Walk site.

Until next time...

Peace, Love and Happy Mailling!

Chris

Ahhh... A Break

I've been super busy the last several weeks trying to get things ready for the NADE Convention and then the First Friday Art Show. Now that both of those are over, things can get back to a normal pace for a little while. I don't have anymore shows until April... a small one at the beginning of the month, then an Art Walk in Durham in the middle of the month, so it'll be nice to sit down at my work table and ponder how to bring my next Leather N Maille piece to life. As before with Tiger Lilly and Lace (see next post down), I can see it clearly in my mind, I just need to figure out how to get it all to work in real life. =)

It's been a gorgeous weekend here... mid to high 70's both days, and we've taken full advantage of it. Saturday I parked myself in the driveway and stained shutter doors the whole day. I'm planning on using them as part of my displays at shows, but didn't like the plain wood. I went to Lowe's a while back (last Fall) and purchased Cherry Orchard and Onyx stains to use together. It's a timely process... stain with Cherry, let dry a little bit... stain with Onyx, let dry a little bit... repeat... but it'll be well worth it for the look. I was having to fight to stain between the slats, but Ted got tired of listening to me complain, so he pulled all of them out. It's making the whole thing go a whole lot faster and it looks so much better. =) I'm wanting to get those finished up in the next few weekends since I've applied to be a Juried Exhibitor at the Lexington BBQ Festival in October and they need booth pics by May. The deadline is a pretty good motivator to get it completed.

Today we had softball practice... a mix of co-ed and women's. The sun was blazing both days, so needless to say, my face looks like a beet. It's not painful, but I know it's there. It is however, painful to look at. LOL At least I'm not a halvsie like some people turned out. You know... like Richard Dreyfus from Close Encounters... sun burned (or UFO burned) just on one half of my face. LOL I can tell I got a little more on my left side though, it's just not that noticeable. Hopefully it'll sink in a lot by tomorrow morning.

Well, I'm off for now. I'm gonna finish watching Stargate-SG1 then I'm headed to bed. I can't wait 'til tomorrow so I can start on the new leather piece.

Until next time...

Peace, Love & Happy Mailling!

Chris

Still Working at Home and Loving It!

It's been a little over a month now since I was laid off from my Administrative job and I've been working on jewelry the entire time. Of course the first two weeks were taken up with getting my taxes organized, but the last two weeks have been nothing but jewelry. It's been wonderful and I can really tell a difference in the way I think (creatively). My mind has opened up like never before and all of these ideas have just flooded in.

For the past few weeks, I've been incorporating leather in my chainmaille pieces. Actually it's more the other way around... lots of leather with chainmaille accents. I've completed two pieces with great results. I finished the third piece last night, but unfortunately, it didn't make the cut. It wasn't up to my standards and it pretty much looked like crap. LOL The leather cuff itself turned out great, but the chainmaille accent wasn't working right. Because of the way it was all tied together, I ended up having to trash the whole thing except for the maille. Here are the first two pieces.

(Lace) Upcycled black leather pieces with black leather cord used for the stitching.

The chainmaille piece is a Stainless Steel Japanese 12-in-2 weave. All metal is covered with leather, so there's no need to worry about any allergies you may have.

(Tiger Lilly) Upcycled orange leather pieces for the front and back with black leather cord used for the stitching. Black leather inlaid dots accent the piece and break up the orange nicely.

The chainmaille piece is a Stainless Steel Helm (or Parallel) weave. Once again, all metal is covered on the back of the piece, so only soft leather comes in contact with your skin.

I'm really proud of these two pieces, since it's a first (and second) for me and leather. I just wish my third piece had turned out. I'll have to give it another go to see if I can make it work. I don't give up on things that easily. I keep at it until it works. =)

On the job front, I just started getting my resume out there. I applied to 4 jobs by email and one through the mail this week. It sure is different since the last time I was forced to job hunt (yet another lay-off back in 1990). Now, just about everything is done electronically instead of by the good old US Postal Service. The four jobs I applied for the other night, I actually FORGOT to attach my resume on the email. LOL How stupid is that!?!?! Yep... I resent them with resume attached, but I don't expect to get any replies on that batch. LOL

As I type this, I just got a response from one of them. Go figure... The sucky economy strikes again. The position I applied for is no longer available due to unexpected cut backs at the company. It just goes to show you that no job is safe. Oh well!

Today I'll be finishing up a "regular" maille piece that's been sitting in my work-in-progress box. It's a Stainless Steel Dragonscale weave that's massive. It's 1-1/2" wide and it's fabulous! I can't wait to get it finished and listed.

I guess that's enough blogging for the day. I'm off to finish me some maille. =)

Peace, Love and Happy Mailling!!!