Pinwheels at the Garden Fair & in the UncommonGoods Catalog

Last weekend I carted the Pinwheels down to Lewis School for the Lewis Garden Fair. It was so much fun! I'm excited that several of these have found new homes. Here's what my display looked like:


(I still haven't found the time to paint the other display stand that Mark made, but used this beautiful, colorful cloth that my mother-in-law brought back from Costa Rica to cover up the plain wood.)

The backs of the pinwheels are always a great conversation starter - whoa! They're made from records!
I had a great day hanging out with some of my crafty peeps like Megan, Chris, and Tim...
Chris even let me decorate one of his cute little birdhouses.

The show was organized by Alea of Bonewerx, who I first met when she attended one of the Etsy classes I co-teach with LeBrie. Alea acquired one of the pinwheels and here is a beautiful picture of what it looks like in her garden:
Also, I'm very happy to say that the Mandala Pinwheels are in the new Mother's Day catalog that was just put out by Uncommon Goods! I haven't gotten a copy of it yet but was alerted by my friends on facebook.

The catalog is online here, and here is a screen shot of the most wonderful page, page 19!

I wasn't even aware that they were going to be in the Mother's Day catalog (I only knew they will be in the Summer catalog, which hasn't come out yet) - but you know, they would make a great Mother's Day gift! Go ahead and order from Uncommon Goods, they have plenty in stock as you can see:

Happy Earth Day!

Buckman - live now! + How I painted my display stand and other news

The 20th Annual Buckman Art Show and Sell opened last night and is going on today until 5:00 pm!
Buckman Arts Focus Elementary School

320 Southeast 16th Avenue

Portland, OR 97214

30% of sales support the school's arts programs!

Here's a new sign I made for my table:

(I'm actually not there because we had a show last night and a friend visiting from out of town and many things to do at home and in the studio!)

Here is what my table looked like after I set it up yesterday morning:

I can't believe I found time to paint the display stand for the pinwheels...it actually only took a couple of hours and I'm really glad I did it. Here are a couple shots of the process:



I painted it bright yellow with leftover paint from my kitchen, then drew the design with a black Sharpie Paint Pen.

Then, I painted it in with acrylics and touched up the outline with more Sharpie after the paint dried. I think it turned out great!





In other news! The order of 48 pinwheels for Uncommon Goods is just about done - all I have to do is paint the wooden knobs and wrangle some shipping pallets. I have volunteers lined up from Steps to Success to help with the packing and shipping, and we'll be using the facility at Trillium for that.

I'll have some pieces in the next Amazed event, a truly amazing installation (the theme is "Music") at the High Point Market, which is the world's largest home design show. I'll be making a bunch of clocks and have plans to create a large room divider made from painted mandala records connected together.

Some of my cuffs are now available from Canadian web retailer Modern Vintage Attic. You can read an interview with me on the site's blog here.



My clocks (carried by Buy Green) are currently being featured on the home page of the brand new eBay Green Shopping Hub.

Here's a quick photo from our show last night at O'Malley's with Cootie Platoon and Muddy River Nightmare Band (You can see more photos here.) Check out our band Dartgun & the Vignettes on facebook and become a fan, why dontcha?

Next gig is Chuck's annual Smash at the Ash, April 9 at the Ash Street. We'll be rocking with Junior's Gang, Hairspray Blues, and 48 Thrills. We have some fun surprises planned too. See you there, Portland!

Eye Pop Art Commercial - "So good, it's almost illegal"

You gotta watch the first ever Eye Pop Art commercial!

This was created by my young friend Traver Danielson, who has an amusing youtube channel called trilleneum.

Traver is the son of Mark "Mad Dog" Danielson, who is my collaborator on the Mandala Pinwheels. Mark is the "dood" who engineered the design in order to make them super-duper-spinnable. He is currently prepping the records and steel rods for the Uncommon Goods catalog order.

Mark is a hoot. Here he is in my kitchen, with one of the prototype designs for the pinwheel:His son is pretty hilarious too. As Mark says, "The nuts don't fall too far from the tree..."

Please watch the video and let me know what you think!

Records and Videos and More Records that Spin

Just a few fun things today...

I'm following a facebook fan page called Records, which is full of nifty links like the Vinyl Record Generator, where you can make your own "record" like the one above! Check it out at http://www.says-it.com/record/.

Also through the Records page, I discovered the following two totally fascinating videos, showing how vinyl records are made - something I've always been really curious about. Finally, all my questions are answered!





Pretty cool to watch if you have a few minutes!

Speaking of records, there sure are a lot of old ones in the world. I recently put out a call for records, because I need them for a big order, and my friend Jacob from Ex Libris Anonymous hooked me up with the owner of Q is for Choir, a local used record and zine store which, unfortunately, was closing. I was able to pick up a whole carload of records for free.

As you see, they filled up my living room too. Chuck and I are still in the process of sorting them out - a few are worth saving, and I have to sort the thinnies from the thickies. All of the album covers are going to a local artisan who makes journals from them. I dropped off a load with him this morning and still have tons more.
What is this big order, you ask? Well, the Mandala Pinwheels are going to be in the Uncommon Goods Summer 2010 catalog! They are on the UG website right now, why don't you take a look?

I'll have to tell you more about all of this exciting news in another post...for now, check out one more video! My young friend Traver (son of "Mad Dog" Mark Danielson, who is my collaborator on the pinwheel project), added some Dartgun & the Vignettes music and some text to this one, so now you can watch 'em spin and rock out at the same time! Enjoy:

Crafty Wonderland, New Pinwheels, & Sinferno Cabaret this Sunday!

Come see me in lucky booth #113 Sunday at Crafty Wonderland's Super Collossal Holiday Sale! 11 am - 7 pm at the Oregon Convention Center.

Sunday, December 13th
11am - 7pm
at the Oregon Convention Center - Hall D
777 NE MLK Jr. Blvd in Portland
All Ages and Free Admission!

You will know me by the display of spinning mandala pinwheels! The pinwheels have been full redesigned with help from our friend Mark "Mad Dog" Danielson, the engineer. Mark modified the design with new moving parts to create the best quality spinning action. The design has being improved to include a precision bearing mounted at the pinwheel center to improve product life longevity, ease of rotation and smoother operation of wheel. Basically, they spin like crazy. I mean they just keep spinning and spinning forever. It is the coolest thing I've ever seen.

Here are some photos of the new pinwheels. I actually made these as samples at the request of Uncommon Goods, who may be ordering them for their summer catalog! More on that when there's more to report...







And here's a video!



I can't wait to have them all spinning in my booth at Crafty Wonderland tomorrow!

And as if that isn't enough excitement for one day...Dartgun & the Vignettes will be playing the Sinferno Cabaret at Dante's Sunday night. The music starts at 9:00 with our friends Hello Cleveland (Chris Haberman's band). Haberman is one of my most favorite artists in the world, and here is the rad poster he designed for the show:
By the by, we have a new drummer and her name is Hurricane Kelly!



So there you have it. Tomorrow shall rock. Hope to see you!