The folks over at ThreadBanger have posted a great video about how to alter your ill-fitting shirts without taking them apart. AND as an added bounus
Anda Lewis, from the awesomely crafty EtsyLabs in Brooklyn, NY has posted a tutorial all about how to create a custom dress form from your own body with duct tape! You can see her create one with a friend in the second half of this video.
Who of us crafters doesn’t love a basket full of fun from our favorite artisans?? Well, the team behind Felt Club, one of Southern Californias most fun and diverse craft fairs, has launched a few auctions to help offset the unforeseen fines that have been levied against the crew for posting flyers where they shouldn’t have. (That wont be happening again, we swear!!) Many of Felt Clubs vendors and friends have donated items to help comprise 3 AMAZING gift baskets. Each one is overflowing with items that you can share with a bud, or keep for yourself leaving everyone around you extremely envious! Dont pass on this great opportunity to help a very cool lady keep her beloved craft fair afloat, while scoring lots and lots of goodies! The auctions can be seen here. Hurry, they all end March 18th!
Jenny Vorwaller, founder of Queenthings, was kind enough to recently do an interview about Chapter One of her new line of jewelry.
Your photos are all so beautiful, and the flow of your first Chapter in the collection is sublime! Please tell us more about telling stories.
With my own personal jewelry collection, I found that each piece I owned told a story; from travels, gifts that I had received from special people in my life, heirlooms, and so on. I wanted my work to have the same meaning and I also wanted to create some room for me to grow as a designer. So the whole idea for creating chapters and stories for my collections came to me as a way to help me focus. Though I’ve seen artists create wonders being fed with just one source, I felt too confined to limit myself with one genre. Being an avid reader, somehow the idea of each collection that I put out being a story made sense. It has a beginning (the concept) a middle (the creating) and a happy ending (others enjoying what I put out there.) With painting, most ideas seem to communicate more strongly when worked as a series, and I see “stories” being told in fashion all the time, why not in jewelry?
You recently made a huge move to South America. Can you tell us a little bit more about your new surroundings?
I step out of my home here and into a new world. Everyday I am in awe at this beautiful world, the places yet undiscovered, how people live and their way of life. Travel truly transforms. Picture old ornate architecture, lively fruit and vegetable stands, panaderias (tasty bakeries), antique cars, miles and miles of beautiful beaches, a rich political past that is deeply sad at times, wonderful artisan feiras, the most tranquil people on earth, the breeze cooling the summer from the rio de la plata…
To read more, click here.
The uber-talented Dawbis has launched an amazing paper quilt project and is looking for artists to participate. Each month 12 artists will be selected to receive a paper pack and canvas. You may use only the papers provided, but can paint, draw, and do whatever you would like on the canvas. The challenge is to convey your story within these limitations. All 12 panels will then be returned and sewn together so that at the end of the year there will be 12 paper quilts to be used to benefit whatever charities or groups the contributing community sees fit! Super cool project!
Interested in participating? Dawn is looking for people to contribute to the coming months! Find all of the details on the website!
Mixed Media artist Rachel Austin’s work is lovely! Each piece contains a seemilingly endless number of layers and depth. They are fascinating, colorful and full of life. Rachel enjoys juxtoposing vintage papers, recycled woods, waxes and simply drawn shapes to invoke a sense of innocense.
Beautiful Lady Lightbox by Mikel Robinson
Mikel Robinsons work is one of my biggest inspirations. His works are poignant, thoughtful and simply beautiful. He makes the most wonderful mixed media lightboxes, jewelry, paintings, daguerreotype collages, and found object works. He is multi-talented and simply incredible!
Envy
by Mikel Robinson
Natasha Fialkov of Luxe Fibre has posted a great tutorial on her blog of how to make these mixed media paper beads. I think they are just beautiful! This project is full of possibilities, and I am sure that you guys will have a blast experimenting with glues and gold leaf and all kinds of papers and pigments, and maybe even fabrics!
Thank you Natasha for use of the great photos! You can see more of her paper beads here on Flickr.
**be sure to take note of Natashas Melting Pot warning at the bottom of the tutorial.**
I recently discovered the work of artist Christopher Hynes, a man with a love for lost objects who creates what he calls “visual poems.” He opens a dialogue of social commentary by using drawers and items that are leftover from construction sites and remodeling jobs, basically any “leftover materials from our throwaway society” as his canvas. His works are thoughfully put together using vintage materials and three dimensional objects. Whether the piece is serious, whimsical or just plain outlandish, they are all beautifully crafted.
(image from MaryJane’s Attic)
This weekend will be the 4th installment of the Felt Club here in Los Angeles. This time around there will be FREE CRAFTY CLASSES OFFERED! I am so excited! All classes will be taught by vendors participating in the fair.
The classes will focus on handspinning yarn, Shrinky-Dink charm arts, and needle felting. Each class is an hour long and all supplies and materials will be provided.
For anyone who is in LA, you can learn more about the when and where here.
I think that one of things I am most excited to get to share with the Whip Up readers are the vast array of extremely talented people out there creating affordable, quality art. Every now and then I will pop up with what I hope you will see as great finds.
One of my newest discoveries is a gentleman by the name of Brad Rickerby who is a photographer and Watercolor painter. The colors in these pieces are so vibrant. There is no way to capture their true beauty with a camera! I recently purchased 2 of his works for less than $50.00 total! These are large pieces that draw you in.
I really admire Brads thinking in regards to color. He says that “The colors go where they want. You talk to them, you tell them the plan, you cajole, flatter and plead. You think you have come to a meeting of the minds. You apply them. And – The colors go where they want. . . .” Best not to control them, especially when the results are this stunning!
