Friday, April 24, 2009

Making stuff

Here are some recent shots of Eye Pop Art works in progress.
And here are some pictures of some recently completed bowls that I made for a shop called Le Cadeau in Memphis, TN.


My work is also now available at Oop! in Providence, RI, and Sea-n-Green in New Jersey, and I have a second wholesale order in hand for BuyGreen.com, which will be keeping me busy for the next couple of weeks. Here's a picture of the Oop! gallery in Providence (from their website) - it looks so cool, I am stoked that my Mandala Suncatchers are being carried there. Speaking of suncatchers - I sold a bunch of them to Angela from summerscreations, and she made them into a nifty mobile to add some color to her new studio.

Angela said, "My husband just finished fixing up a beautiful new studio for me and it's in desperate need of color. Your suncatchers are beautiful and exactly what I needed! They look absolutely beautiful! I took off the suction cups and tied each with fishing line of different lengths. I screwed some cup hooks into the ceiling in a triangle shape and hung them up. They're so pretty spinning around lazily up there; I'm going to get a neck ache because I can't stop looking at them!"

Here's a picture that she sent me:


And one more thing: today is National Etsy Day! We're all supposed to shout "Etsy" from the rooftops. If you don't have an Etsy account (you can register as a buyer-only), sign up today and be sure to mention my Etsy username in the Referrer Username box at sign up! (It's EyePopArt.) Thanks and have a great day!

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Milepost 5 Art Opening & Dartgun show this Sunday


Check out my paintings at Milepost 5!

Sunday, April 26, 2009
7 - 10 pm
Milepost 5, Community for Creatives
900 NE 81st Ave

My mandala records, canvases, and other big paintings are hanging in the 2nd floor hallway of Milepost 5. Sweet and psychedelic, I hope you will like it! I roped the band into playing too - we're starting at 7:00 and it is all ages, early, and fun so come check it out! (Andrew will be filling in as drummer as Billy is out with a busted wrist - get well soon Billy!)

DETAILS:

*MP5³ Jenevive Tatiana *curated by TJ Norris *

The Hallways First Floor: Gary Wiseman and Meredith Andrews

Second Floor: Christine Bailey Claringbold (THAT'S ME)

Third Floor: Julie Luke *curated by Sara Cella.

Music: Dartgun & the Vignettes - Community Room #112, 7 pm (THAT'S OUR BAND!)
Performance art: Aaron Trotter, 3rd Floor
Film and performance curated by Gary Wiseman and Meredith Andrews, 1st Floor.

More info here.









The Duniway Dragonian Blog Banner Hall of Fame

I so wish I could share with you the amazing ("impressive," as the school secretary said) blog that the kids at Duniway School (mostly third graders) are creating in my DIY Lounge-sponsored Cool School class, Duniway Dragonian: Blogging for the 21st Century, Kid Style.

I can't share the link because it is a password-protected blog for Duniway families only, but I can share this - the Duniway Dragonian Blog Banner Hall of Fame! Back when it was a printed 8-page old-style analog school newspaper (which I taught in the 2007-08 school year, publishing four issues per year before hitting on the idea of making it a blog instead), we called these banners "mastheads," of course. I've put together a collection of all the mastheads/banners that the kids have created since I've been the journalism teacher and am sharing them here.

Above is the most current design, and may I mention how exciting it is to be able to do these in color now! (In the old "black and white days" of the school newspaper this was not an option because of the printing cost.)

February - March 2009

May-June 2008

March 2008

Winter 2007-08

Winter 2007-08 (back page version)

Fall 2007

Fall 2007 (back page version)

This class has been going really well and I am thoroughly enjoying just about every aspect of it (the main exception being that I really don't like using typepad, but it was my only option for creating a password-protected blog).

In case you are wondering, "What do third graders blog about?", here are some of the topics that they have chosen this year:

All the photos are taken by the kids, and all the stories are written by them (I do quite a bit of editing, of course). We also did a group interview with some fifth grade boys who are in an awesome (and gigging!) rock band called the DiJiTs, and I'm working on writing up that story right now. I also work with them on typepad to show them how to upload photos, create links, and post their stories. They are doing an amazing job!

Speaking of Duniway, guess what - the annual student art show is going on next week! If you read the series I wrote on Etsy's blog (the Storque) - Parents Teach Art and Parents Teach Art Part 2 - you may be interested in checking this out, so if you are in the Portland area, I highly recommend it!

It's free and open to the public on Wednesday, April 29 and Thursday, April 30 from 5:30 - 8:30 pm at Duniway Elementary School, 7700 SE Reed College Place in Portland, Oregon. On-site activities will include having a portrait drawn by student artists, a hands-on clay table, and music performed by the DiJiTs!

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Happy Earth Day!

Just a quick post to wish you a very happy Earth Day today! Hope you are doing your part to make the earth a better place.

The above treasury is filled with lovely green items made from recycled materials - click here to check it out before it expires.

Friday, April 10, 2009

Dartgun Tomorrow Night!

Here's the CD label we designed for the extra-special Dartgun CD we are putting together for our show tomorrow night. Come out to the Ash Street and get one! Have a cupcake too, and check out four excellent Portland indie rock bands. It's Chuck Thrust's birthday! Hope to see you!

(The image is a photo of one of Chuck's guitars, which I painted.)

Thursday, April 9, 2009

The Big 300!

I'm happy to share the news that today I hit 300 sales in my Etsy shop!

My 300th buyer turned out to be Cheryl from Holden Tees, who had the space next to me at Crafty Wonderland on Sunday! She bought two of my egg ornaments for Easter! She will also be receiving a free Mandala Suncatcher.

I love how all of Cheryl's shirts are made using drawings done by her six-year old son, like this one - so cute:So please check out the Holden Tees shop! They even donate 15% of all profits to Llewellyn Elementary's parent-led art program, which, as far as I know, is modeled after the parent-led art program at Duniway, in which I was involved for many years. Small world!

Totally DIY Shirt Stencils with Chuck Thrust

Chuck Thrust made a bunch of skull-stenciled thrift-store tuxedo shirts for us to wear at our show coming up this Saturday night (the Smash at the Ash).

For as long as I have known him (18 years now!), my husband has been a DIY old-school punk-rock spray-painting shirt-making fool. So I thought I would share his process with you. This is totally not the "right" way to do it, but that's what makes it cool, because it works, and it rocks.

Here you can see him wearing a black shirt with a silver spray-painted skull, as he prepares to work on the tux shirts (which he pre-washed):

For this design, he used an old 14" drumhead that Billy's stick must have gone through. He cut out the "membrane" in an imperfect circle until there were just a couple inches of it remaining around the metal rim.

Inside the shirt, he placed a 12" record album cover and then stapled the drumhead onto the record cover straight through the shirt (he likes the way the spray-painted holes look after you remove the staples). This is to "prevent the bleeding"- so that the paint doesn't go through to the back of the shirt. It also helps give it a "rigid endoskeleton for optimum stability," as Chuck explained.

He also added masking tape on the front of the shirt to help prevent overspray.

The skull image was carefully drawn and cut out of a piece of cardboard, and the eyes and nose shapes were cut out. (It was actually the same cardboard that the replacement drumhead came in - way to reuse, Chuck!)

Chuck put masking tape on the back of the skull shape and placed it in the center of the drumhead circle. Next, he shook up some spray paint.

He started out with a layer of flat black and then added a layer of hammered-finish black which gives it a good thick texture. (For the black shirt, he used a shimmering aluminum paint that is designed for metal and plastic, so it holds up in the wash much better than your average metallic silver spray.)

Apparently you have to use several layers of paint to make it work so that it sticks.

He sprayed over everything until all the white parts were covered.

After the spray paint is thoroughly dry, Chuck recommends putting the shirt in the dryer for about 15 minutes, then washing it and drying it. After that you will never have to worry about the image fading, it will last and last.

The skull itself, of course, will be a negative image, so it will be whatever color your shirt is.

Here's how they turned out!

This image was placed in the center of the shirt. Yes, it bled a bit, but who cares? It actually looks cool that way, I think. This one was placed a bit off-center and cock-eyed:

With of course, a few obligatory punk rock safety pins added.

For this one, he just placed the skull image on the shirt and used (my!) carbon black acyrlic paint to brush an outline around the outside edge of the stencil, and to fill in the eyes and nose for a slightly more subtle effect (not that there's really anything subtle about going around with a big, scary skull emblazoned on your shirt front):

Acrylic paint also holds up fantastically well in the wash too.

So there you have it. Easy. Cool.

We'll be wearing some of these shirts on Saturday night when we take over the Ash Street for Chuck's 3rd annual birthday bash! If you are in Portland, you are warmly invited to come to our show.

Four bands will be playing, and we will have cupcakes and special CDs that we are making right now, featuring songs both old and new!

And in case you haven't heard, there has been a change in the Vignettes line-up - we are sad to say that Kat is no longer in the band (we love and miss her!). Now we have Emie, the Beauty Dominator! So come check us out this Saturday!

Rock out with:

Dartgun & the Vignettes
The Oblivion Seekers
Cootie Platoon
Advisory

Saturday, April 11
Ash Street Saloon, 225 SW Ash St., Portland OR
Show starts at 9:30 pm, we (Dartgun) will be playing THIRD.

Here's the flyer! (Yes, I know the people who designed it spelled Oblivion wrong, but that's SO punk rock...well, maybe not, but what can you do.)

Pictures from Crafty Wonderland

Above is a photo of my table at Crafty Wonderland on Sunday, April 5. I had a pretty groovy day! I got to meet Faythe Levine and Garth Johnson (who informed me that my stuff made it "in" to his Creative Reuse book, which is coming out in November - yay!), and chat with other friends like Lee, Susan, Teresa, and Jen.

I even saw Greg, my old friend who designed my website in exchange for this mural. Greg and Sarah's friend was selling delicious cupcakes at the show - they bought me a little bag full of them for the family, who went nuts - seriously, these are the best cupcakes ever! Unfortunately she's not online yet but remember the name: Hey There Cupcake. Yum!

Here are some pictures of fellow crafters that I like -

I sat next to Autumn of Autumn Comfort Candles:

Levi, of Aliens With Afros (he goes to the same school as Julius):

Jackie, of Scrumptious Suds and Handmade NW (and now, also, DIY Alert!):

Amanda, of Bread and Badger:

Stacie, of Sew Many Cats:

Sarah of Two Sarahs:

Holden Lee Tees - all the designs on the shirts are drawn by her 6-year old son:

Shoppers (view from the Doug Fir stage):

These pictures are also in the PDX Craftgasm pool on flickr, where you can find lots of other photos from the "big crafty weekend" that was centered around the Portland premier of Handmade Nation.

I saw the movie on Saturday and it was great! I took Tangereen. Here she is:

They asked everybody who was wearing something handmade to step up to the photo kiosk. She was sporting a scarf that her friend Grace made, and some armwarmers that she got on Etsy.

We both loved the movie. Tangereen's favorite part was the segment about Knitta. And our other favorite part of the day was the installation by Mandy Greer at the Museum of Contemporary Craft. It was incredible!
The bus ride home was pretty hellish, but other than that we had a wonderful day and a great crafty weekend!