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!

Arleta Art Fair - tomorrow evening

I'll be participating in my first craft show of 2010 tomorrow evening. It's the 2nd Annual Arleta Art Fair at Arleta K-8 School. 20% of all sales will be donated to the school.

Arleta Art Fair
Friday, March 5
5:00 - 8:00 pm
Arleta School
5109 SE 66th Ave., Portland OR 97206

I'll have lots of Roman Record Cuffs (including the new colored ones!) and window decals, as well as Mandala Pinwheels and Mandala Record Bowls.

If you get there before 6:00, you will probably see the lovely Melodie standing behind my table. She's an Arleta mom who will be setting up and working for me during the first hour. Thanks Melle!

In other news: I was interviewed yesterday for a feature article which will be published in the June issue of the Crafts Report! I've also been asked to provide photos of my bowls for possible inclusion in a Better Homes and Gardens special interest publication on decorating, which will come out this summer.

Next weekend (March 12 and 13) is the Buckman Art Show and Sell, another fundraiser for a great local school. I'll be there once again with all my groovy stuff. Hope to see you! I'm also planning on doing the Lewis Green Garden Fair on April 17, and I've been accepted for Crafty Wonderland's Super Colossal Spring Sale, May 1 & 2 at the Oregon Convention Center. And of course I will be at the Recycled Arts Festival in June.

The craft show season is upon us, and I am starting to get excited for a fun spring and summer!

Favorite Creative Reusers: Virginia Fleck

As promised in this post about the book 1000 Ideas for Creative Reuse, I plan to share some of my favorite creative reusers here on ye old blog.

To kick it off, I have to start with my absolute favorite - Virginia Fleck. Oh my gosh. I am so amazed and blown away by Virginia's work. She creates stunning, gorgeous mandalas using plastic bags.

You have to look at her Public Art section to see some of the breathtaking installations she's created.

Virginia also oversees a service organization called the Angsty Teenage Eco Warriors, whose mission is "to identify and evaluate critical environmental and humanitarian situations and to take action with engaging, effective volunteerism."

Very cool. Check out their tutorial on how to make a Plastic Bag Tote like these:
They have a rad video too:




I'm so inspired and delighted by Virginia's work and just had to share it with you. Please take a look at her website and enjoy the recycled beauty!

Introducing: Colored Vinyl Cuffs!

This last week, I somehow managed to find the time (while working on the big catalog order for Uncommon Goods) to launch a brand new product line - colored cuffs! These new Roman Record Cuffs are made from fabulous vintage colored vinyl records.

There are two types of cuffs - a larger Men's style which includes the original record label, and a smaller Women's style. I am selling them online as pairs. Each pair is made from one 45 rpm record.

A sweet gift for that DJ, musician, record collector, punk rocker, goth chick, eco fashionista, or Roman gladiator in your life!

How did this come about, you may ask? Well, I was lucky enough to be contacted back in November by Rebecca Pearcy, owner of Queen Bee Creations. She used to make bags like this one......but has discontinued the line. She was also getting ready to have a baby, move her studio location, and open up a retail store. She had a lot of leftover 45's to get rid of, and made a deal with me so that I would provide her with cuffs for her new store in exchange for receiving a mother lode of awesome colored vinyl. SCORE!

You can now find these cuffs in Portland at Queen Bee Studio & Store (3961 N. Williams, Ste. 101), and at Pop-Up Shoppe (919 N.W. 23rd Ave.) . You can also order them from my Etsy shop.

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:

News from the band

This is a collection of some of my favorite photos taken of Dartgun & the Vignettes over the last few months.

Please check us out on facebook and become a fan! We're currently #17 on the Reverbnation Rock Charts for Portland. We also have some videos you can enjoy on youtube, and as always, you can be our friend on myspace!

In case you're wondering, I used picnik to edit these photos.

Our next show is this Friday night, February 12, at Kelly's Olympian, 426 SW Washington St. Hope you can make it.