Strength in Numbers: A 4th of July Collaboration with Mollie Ann from Rough Magic Creations

Eureka!  This week has the important distinction of being the week I finished a collaboration with another talented crafter, Mollie Ann, of Rough Magic Creations.  It all began when the Etsy Maine Team came up with a 4th of July Team Challenge, to create (by yourself or with a partner) a holiday-themed piece for Independence Day.  Being the enormous fan of red, white and blue that I am (my photo background has been only that, lately!) I was super psyched.

I got in touch with Mollie, knowing that she was way more talented with metal than me.  I’ve been thinking for a long time about branching out of the bottle cap bezel world, and this was a great first opportunity.  Mollie and I put our heads together to make a star-shaped earring and pendant with a circular bezel hammered right in the center.  Here is our initial sketch:

And by 'sketch,' I mean image of a star I copied and drew elements on!

From there, we agreed that sheet aluminum would have the right color we were looking for (Mollie usually uses copper, but the silver color and price point of aluminum worked well with our design) so she ordered it and I waited with much anticipation to receive my new bezels in the mail!

Empty Bezels, Waiting for their stars + stripes

Finally (okay, I say ‘finally’ but it was so fast, like a day later!  I was just like an excited kid on Christmas morning) I received the lovely pieces (pictured above) in the mail, ripe for the epoxy-ing!  After cutting some custom size circles, gluing and mixing epoxy Mollie and I were the proud parents of the pieces you see below:

Stars and Stripes Earrings, $26 on Etsy

Stars and Stripes Pendant (You pick stars or stripes) $24 on Etsy

Stars and Stripes Earrings and Pendant Set, $48 on Etsy

Mollie and I are so pleased at how these turned out!  The photo prototypes are our ‘rough drafts’ so we’ve made some changes, including making the bezels deeper so that the epoxy doesn’t bleed around the edges of the circle … which you can kind of see in the picture but won’t be an issue on any further runs of the sets.  If you’re interested in ordering a pair of earrings, a necklace, or a set of earrings and a necklace please know you can specify what combination of stars and stripes you’d like!  Order from either Mollie or I in our Etsy shops (you can click on the images to link to the listings) and let us know what you’d like!  We can also do the stars with totally different images, not just stars and stripes.  🙂  The stars and stripe sets are made of lightweight charms with a nickel ball chain for the necklaces and sterling silver ear wires for those of us with sensitive ears!

All orders received by June 22nd should be shipped to you in time for the 4th of July.

Fictitious Lawsuits

Over craftbreakfast this morning we got to fantasizing about what it would be like if inanimate objects could sue each other.  This is what happens when you put lawyers, artists, and a combination of both in the same room together for a morning!

Conceptualizing t-shirts outlining lawsuits as such:

-Circle vs. Oval 1972.  Circle contends oval has infringed on circle’s copyright of being round.

-1837  Beavis vs. Mousey (lawsuit to be determined, not sure what Beavis would have against a mouse toy but it was the first thing Kristina saw when she was coming up with the two parties).

-and so on.

 

I’ll need to get Kristina to give me a template of how those synopses look in law books.  I think we’ll have a pretty good niche market in the overworked, deliriously tired law school students.  Yesss!!

Hibernator

 

We Are Safe While Sleeping print by PhizzWizard on Etsy, $18.

This is just a formality. My terribly lonely little blog has been gasping for air, and attention, in the last few weeks.  My cats have been pawing at the bedroom door wondering what the heck happened to everyone (they can’t go in there, boyfriend is allergic).  The pile of dishes, mail and clutter has been steadily growing.  What happened to Audrey?

Truth be told, in the late days of February I become a hibernator.  I’ve done nothing, literally nothing creative for about two weeks.  This is a dry spell for me.  I lurk around my house in the dark after reading chapters and chapters of murder mysteries, glancing at the unattended to-do-tasks (open mail, put laundry in hamper) as if it’s the novel incarnate, but this time the killer is a seeping sense of domestic failure and artistic gloom.

Oh, so sad, Audrey!

So what have I been doing, then?

In addition to dreaming of summer, we’ve been indulging in reliving the Sopranos from Season One.  I’ve been reading “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” and I’m 20 pages away from finished after staying up until 3:30am last night (on a school night!)  We’ve ventured out in to the not-that-cold to visit pizza joints, Indian food oases and dive bars with delicious breakfast.  On Saturday I lived vicariously through a MECA student who photographed Kate with  her Toyo (I miss my Toyo!) field camera at her apartment.  Like an arty vampire, I watched her frame photographs, direct her subject, snap — and probably feel super satisfied with herself.  Jealous.

After some guilt I expressed about being a puddle of inactivity, boyfriend reminded me that no one should expect anything of me at this point in the winter.  God damn it, he’s right.  I’ll tend to my Etsy responsibilities as needed but much energy needs to be stored so I can hit Spring with the full force it deserves.  I think I may start drawing because it’s non-committal and totally fun.  Dishes be damned:  I just won’t throw an elaborate dinner party any time soon.  Kate lent me the second book in the series I stayed up like a zombie reading and I will absolutely finish one (tonight) and dive right in to the other (probably tonight through 3:30am again).

Then there’s the matter of The BIG THAW.  Wow, I am so excited about it but at this point there’s nothing I can really ‘do’ until February 28th when all the applications are in.  My amazing artists are working on the poster design as we speak, applications are coming in daily (all are amazing, I hope we have room for everyone!) and I’ve already divided up the floor layout to figure out the numbers we can accommodate.  But this is what I need to focus on, this is the big deal of 2011.

I refuse to feel guilty about sink scum or scattered shoes this week.  If I get to them, I get to them — if not, who really actually cares?

Then there’s the matter of feast and famine.  I learned long ago (after four intense years of art scholarship) that you can’t go-go-go all the time at art.  Some people can, but they are totally insane and don’t have the best living/hygiene/sanity standards among us creative people.  After art school I took an entire year and a half not touching anything creative before coming to my senses.  Perhaps a busy December marked with the flourish of creating a craft sale out of thin air in January made this relaxation in February completely necessary.  Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps.  Perhaps in a few weeks something will pour out of my hands so freaking fantastic that not washing my hair for three days seems totally justified!

I encourage everyone reading this to join me in a night of sloth, eat potato chips off a bowl perched on your stomach, wear the same shirt to bed that you wear to work the next morning.  Hibernating solidarity! The bears would be proud.

Little Eye Shopping Spree: Bezels!

I think I’m going through an identity crisis.  Truly, I knew that bottle caps wouldn’t be my end-all, be-all for the rest of my life.  Wouldn’t that be awful if it was!  At the turn of 2011 I found myself craving a new adventure and I have decided to take a step-up by honing my skills and investing a little more time, money and finesse making rustic, unique pieces that stem from my original vision.

First off:  don’t worry!!  Bottle cap pins and magnets are still in the wings and I’ll be churning those bad boys out forever.  And I’ll definitely keep on creating the necklaces and hair clips as those do very well for my customers.  But!  Stay tuned at my Etsy shop and at retail locations that sell Little Eye for some bronzy, brassy jewelry that I’m so, so excited about.

I went on a shopping spree yesterday and picked out some pendants, rings and earrings (earrings!!)  I can’t wait.  Bottle caps were a little prohibitive in the earring department as they’re super heavy and not all ears can handle the weight!  These findings are dainty but bold, light but substantial:

 

Click for bunnysundries shop on Etsy. Findings galore!

Right?  Right??  I also got something similar in post earrings that come a little smaller.  I’m so freaking excited.  Did I say that already?  The biggest challenge with these and the rings will be to find a method of pouring the epoxy so that the bezel itself is on an even surface.  Otherwise I am afraid I may ruin yet another coffee table.

There are also some filigree, antiqued pendants with enormous bezels that I’m really excited to try out – I am picturing black and white photographs and oval crops that harken to an older age of photography.  Oh!  Also this new line will only be my photographs, no found images – save that for the quirky bottle caps!  Check back for the results in a couple of weeks…or a few weeks.  Or a month.  Let’s just say be safe and check back a bunch because most likely I’ll have funny things to say in the meantime.

Honing the skillz, people, honing the skillz.

Photography: Bringin’ it Back

Brighton Red Lights in Winter - 10 inch Framed Photograph

Happy snowy Wednesday to you all!  Yes, I am eating chocolate cream pie in bed.  Which usually leads my mind to wander.  Today it wandered to a place where I pondered the path I took to get where I am, creatively, today.

The road to arts (and crafts, still getting used to saying that without feeling a little self-conscious) started over a dozen years ago in a 6th grade classroom which by the grace of God had a darkroom in it.  With volunteers to help teach us to shoot.  Thank you, Yarmouth Public Schools.

And in brief, a high school curriculum laden with foundation arts in 2D and 3D, further darkroom experience/obsession and a whim of an application to the Massachusetts College of Art led me to 4 years of intense photographic study.

Pink Flower in Tree - Not Yet Listed

But when I was released something really surprising happened:  I had no desire to think about anything, develop concept, make artwork:  nothin’.  So I spent awhile in a very boring series of jobs (restaurant manager, furniture saleslady, and so on) before the urge started to bubble back up again.

I moved back to Maine in ’08, and all of a sudden wanted to shoot again!  Only after a couple years of cogitating and hemming and hawing about prices for various creations, a massive bottle cap diversion, and plenty of handmade afghans later I’m starting to list these bad boys on Etsy.

I Love You Outhouse - 10 inch Framed Photograph

Check back to my Etsy shop periodically for more listings.  Right now pink and red is all the rage because apparently we love each other so damn much.  But I’ll be putting little surprises in there every now and again, so don’t be a stranger!

ALSO.  I’ve got oodles of wedding photography experience. Over the next few days I’ll be adding a few shots from all the weddings I’ve manned with a camera and if you have any friends getting married in the Maine/New England area, send them my way!  I shoot alternately between medium format film (with a vintage camera) and digital.  Best of both worlds.  More to come on that…

Day 4 of Giving: I spent 4 bucks on you!

Whoa!  What a day.  I tried my hand at barista-ing again after a few month hiatus at Coffee By Design on Washington Ave. today.  There’s really nothing like a short shift in a customer service position in a neighborhood of people you think are great.  Today I talked to Colleen from Silly’s, Ernie, my landlord, Tiff, Marnie of Red Eye Vintage, Jan from WMPG’s “Local Motives” and so many more.  Then I walked down Congress St. for the East End Stroll stopping off, getting stamps, spending little bits of money that were easy to part with and finally entering my raffle in the box at the Yoga Studio at 72 India St.

My window shopping/under $5 spending afternoon got me to thinking about another really easy way to give.  Spend $4 or less on someone you love!

Here are some ideas:

At the coffee shop, people were treating each other left and right to coffees.  Ask a friend to meet you at your favorite cafe and when it’s time to order, foot the bill!  Better yet, if you know a friend’s favorite drinks (Kate loves mochas, Jason loves red eyes, etc.) then on your way to see them, pick one up!

Needle Felted Wool Star Baby Sula by moondogfarms. Click to view Etsy listing!

I landed at the Portland Fiber Gallery on my roundabout walk back home, and for under $5 you can get an ounce of wool and a felting needle.  The woman there was so helpful and didn’t make fun of me at all when I kept on liking wools that were not good for felting.  Woops!  She showed me a good one and I think I’m going to try my hand at making a snowball.  If I do alright, I might make a snowman.  So if you have a crafty friend who has never tried it before, what a nice way to say:  “Here…make something for me!”  😉

Little Eye pins custom made for Metal Feathers (band). Click to view all pin listings at my Etsy shop!

PINS!!  I bought one at Ferdinand for $.50 and felt so good giving Diane my money and at the same time being able to put something cool on my sweater.  It’s so much fun to root through pin baskets in stores and at craft fairs to find pieces that are perfect for people you didn’t even know you wanted to give a little gift to!  Even better that pins are normally under $4 unless they’re a brooch, in which case it’s totally fine to spend more, because they are so classy.

There have to be a thousand ways to show someone you were thinking of them without breaking the bank.  Which is good, because just a week after Christmas and it will be *dun Dun DUN!* tax time!

December Kick-Off: 25 Ways to Give Without Really Trying

L.L. Bean Nalgene tree a couple years ago...

Call it…a happy holiday ritual.  Or chalk it up to my need to regroup and refocus at the beginning of winter, the end of a year.  However the story goes, Audrey gets really methodical this time of year.  Married with an effort to do a better job of tending to my little blog garden in my personal patch of the interwebs, this month I’ll be bring you 25 Ways to Give Without Really Trying -or- 25 Ways to Show People You Care About (Including Yourself) That You Actually Really Do.

None of this really has anything to do with money (er..until sometimes at the end of the post).  Which is funny, because here is the perfect internet forum for me to generate revenue for myself on top of the day job (which is essentially a warehouse sized closet, which I will have to tell you about later!  It’s terrific).  So while I’m out busting my buns making monies at craft fairs and holiday events I’ve decided to use the internet for good this year…not that I’ve ever used it for evil.  That I can remember.  (Hint:  never Facebook drunk).

So, without much further ado, WAY #1!:

Visit with someone. For me, my friends and family are a diaspora of busy-body workaholics.  As you can imagine, this doesn’t leave a lot of time to visit with each other which, c’mon people, is really what this time of year is all about.  Even if just for the body heat!

Shira is so god damn gorgeous.

It doesn’t matter how close or how far away they are.  Last year, Shira and I were planning on visiting Jet in California.  That woulda been nice.  But the months zoomed by and we all forgot.  Well, I live in Portland and Shira’s in Boston and even THAT has been a struggle.  Seems forgivable?  Leshbomb lives TWO BLOCKS AWAY from me and we haven’t had a visit since our impromptu get-together one night when I ‘had to get out!’ and she ‘had to get a ride!’ home from a night of clinicals at the hospital.  That was…two months ago?  Seriously, what is stopping me from walking up there with a plate full of gluten-free cookies and saying a quick hello?

L to R: Shira, Jet (in frame), Audrey

Think of someone you adore, close, far, or really far away.  If they’re tooooo far away why not try a phone call just to check in and see how their life is going?

In business news today (because obviously I can’t go without) I was featured in this bone-chilling but completely beautiful treasury on Etsy:

“Bare Branches” pin, $3.

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4cf6f217567a8eefab459eb7/baby-its-cold-outside