Sources Of Inspiration

 When the snow flies and the sun sets much too early, even I have a hard time remembering the many colors leaves can be. I'm sure I could find a few people who can recall walking with me in the Fall, and wondering why I would suddenly stop short and lunge for the ground! Did I trip? Was I having a seizure? No, I would spot a beautifully colored leaf and would grab it for later reference! Unfortunately, leaf colors don't keep past a day or two. BUT, (Reason number 87 as to why I love digital cameras...!) with my camera, I can freeze the diverse leaf colors in time and refer to them whenever I want!

I discovered most of these leaves last weekend, when the wind was gusting to 50 miles an hour and I had a yard full of leaves from trees that were probably miles away - that's why most of these are under plastic. I wanted to take the pics in the daylight, when the colors would be truer, but they were trying to take off!

\

The most colorful and diverse tree in my yard has to be this Japanese Maple - I was disappointed when I first bought it - it had been mismarked and the leaves turned out a plain green in the summer and I wanted a red one. But once it matured, I discovered that its Fall color was breathtaking! The five leaves below all came from this one tree.

The two oval leaves are from a "Burning Bush " (Euonymus). Proof that I can paint a leaf PINK and it will still be realistic!

The underside of a waterlily pad...

Even a shot of my red Castor Bean...

And.... a couple of "my" leaves inspired by my Autumn finds!

I was going thru a lot of angst this past Winter ~ did I even WANT to continue this leaf casting business? I have made seven or eight HUNDRED pieces in the past six years, and the shows are a lot of physical work for both hubby and I! This is the longest I have ever continued along one path without faltering or giving up, and I do love it, but of course there's always a lot of re~thinking to do during the cold, dark months.

BUT, after my first event this season, I started to remember why I wanted to do this in the first place!

 Besides being surrounded by beautiful plants at the local Farmer's Market, I get to see old friends that stop by, and always make a couple of NEW acquaintances. And the most important part ~ I love to see repeat customers and collectors of my work, and also it's really awesome to cultivate a bunch of NEW fans!

 Oooo! Look at all those Heucheras! I have most of them, but there's a couple...

*********

...And for those of you who have the idea that I'm a baby hater, I had to grab a pic of my newest acquaintance, and his Mom, who is another artisan I'm buddies with on the art/craft show circuit.

I mean, how freakin' cute is this?! But then, I fall for all four month olds in dark shades!

 It wasn't crazy busy, so I had time to check out the various nurseries that were set up there.

 AND, on Saturday, an extremely nice couple purchased my largest Bird of Paradise leaf for a table centerpiece, THEN came back on Sunday and bought the Butterbur, which was my second largest leaf! Bazzinga!
They were really happy with their castings, which I'm always happy about ~ my "babies"found a good home!

Bye, Bye, Birdie! :-D

Levis Commons 2010 - Revisiting the 2010 Art / Craft show season

Another installment in the saga of my trials and successes in the Toledo art/craft show circuit...

Friday- setup. Took 3 hours - sunny and HOT! Staff passed out water to us. ( And WE just passed out! LOL)

Sat. - Cloudy start - hot & humid. Rain started 10 - 10:30, rained until 3 - got too cool for my sleeveless attire! Great artist amenities - coffee, donuts, bagels (think there was even a toaster in the artist "hospitality" tent!) juice, water, pop, fruit, and Andrew Z's supplied pizza! The hard part was getting to the food tent without getting soaked! Still had good sales, but really dropped after 5:00, and the show was open until 7:00! Drizzled until close. Dusk when we left. (Wind picked up about then, and I of course was worried the canopy would blow away, but everything was fine).

Sunday. Cloudy start - much better. Sun and breeze. TOO much breeze. Warm chocolate chip cookies donated by Max and Erma's. Was chilly most of the day, but sales were again good. I did purchase one thing, but I hated to leave our tent to go shopping, since it was spread out quite a distance would take me too long. Teardown went smoothly. (This is the Michigan Artist's Guild, which is the same Guild that hosts the Ann Arbor Street Fair, and I could really tell ~ everything was well organized and everyone knew what they were doing)! It WAS the most expensive festival I have ever done ~ guess you get what you pay for!

Revisiting The 2010 Art/Craft Show Season...(2)

Another installment in the saga of  my trials and successes in the Toledo art/craft show circuit...

"In Another Garden" Garden Tour

Perrysburg, Ohio

6/19/10

(My third year participating)

"Awakened to a thunderstorm @ 4:30 AM. Stopped before we left from home - was nice rest of day. Pretty warm, but we were in a nice spot in front of the homeowner's garage in the shade. I did visit 3 of the gardens that were on the same street - even found one of my pieces in the garden next door to the one we were set up in, and sold my first Faerie Door! Homeowners were great AND made a large purchase, too!"

notes: This tour is interesting because it is situated in a different part of town every year. I actually used to go on this tour as just another garden aficionado, and have many fond memories of all the gardens I was able to see. That is my only complaint about becoming a vendor - I can't participate in the tour itself! :-(

Revisiting The 2010 Art/Craft Show Season...

This past year I began a little continuing journal in my sales book, partially for helping me remember how each show went, how sales were and what our impressions were of each event, especially if we had never participated in that particular show before. And also for something to do! Even at a busy show, there's always some down time.

  As I was working on my year end books, I started to re-read the entries and thought they might be of interest to or could even help new craftspeople who may be thinking about diving into the art show world....

Toledo Farmers Market Flower Day Weekend 5/29/10 

 (My fourth year participating)

"Got up @ 4:30 A. Arrived @ 5:20 - first ones there! Set up canopy for 1st time in space #40, same place as last year. 62˚ when we arrived - NO RAIN! - light breeze. Went up to 85˚ but low humidity.

Slow start as always but really picked up - got to stay in the same spot Sunday so pitched in the $5 for security.Didn't use the sides - just covered up most of it. Left 4-4:30."

Toledo Farmers Market Flower Day Weekend 5/30/10 

"Got up @ 6:15. Arrived 7:35 or so. MORE nice weather. A lot slower, but several big sales ($80, $74, $65) made it pretty good. 88˚, but not horrible - low humidity again. Things died by 2:30 - 3:00 - left by 5:00 (4:30?)"

notes: I mentioned rain because in our area, rain is always more likely than not in the spring. Since there are vendors who set up there weekly, they have preference over spaces and sometimes you have to set up in a different space on the second day. The 5 dollars is the charge for overnight security. Well, if I have to pack up everything and move the next day, I have no reason to need overnight security, so I wait until I know where I'll be the next day. The crowds thinning by 3:00 seems to be the norm.

..So that's the first show - next post, "In Another Garden" -The Toledo Day Nursery Garden Tour
.

Magic Always Exists If You Believe

As I have taken on the responsibility of creating the doors/portals the Faeries require for their homes, I am always looking for new and unique flora to create them from. A few weeks ago, I decided that the flowers of my three Hibiscus plants would make awesome doors. However, when I went to see how many blossoms were out, I was disappointed to not find a single flower left! But that's how Hibiscus are ~ they only bloom for a certain period of time, then they're done. 

Strangely, though, the very next day, a pink blossom appeared, although I hadn't noticed any more buds.

I grabbed it and cast a door from it (I really hated to pick the last blossom of the year without enjoying it all day, but I couldn't pass it up!). It turned out perfectly, and I was content that I was able to create at least ONE Hibiscus Faerie Door this year.

But then, that same week, MANY new blooms appeared, almost as if someone had somehow rejuvenated the blossoming process!

I myself have never had a hardy Hibiscus rebloom and wasn't aware that they even could, but there they were... and as of this posting, three weeks later and also into OCTOBER, they are still blooming! AND I have created several more Doors from them.

Did the Faeries

help me out? Was there a little Magic Dust involved? I like to think so :-)

Black Swamp Arts Festival 2010

Although every art show is the same in many ways, they are also very different from any of the others. Of course, we set up basically the same, have to bring the same materials and supplies, and have the same hopes and goals for the day(s) of the show.

But then, the weather always is an unknown (Check with the weathermen? Yeah, right... ), our "neighbors" are usually artisans we have not seen/met before, and the space or area is never the same. Of course, since I never have two pieces exactly alike,my inventory is constantly changing, too!

Sunday was beautiful...

And something new and exciting (to me!...) always happens at each event I participate in. This past weekend it was...

 1) Several people telling me that out of all the artists there, it was my art they liked the best (a few were men, too),

2) Someone affiliated with the Arts Commission asked me if I would be interested in having a one person show (no details were discussed; but hey, even being ASKED meant a lot!),
3) Hans Ruebel, one of the other artists in the Kuhlman Corp. exhibit, stopped by my booth to say hi, which was very nice of him

4) I made a great trade with Larry (of Lars Glass ~ one of my "Art Show mentors") for one of his Sun Chains, something I had been yearning for thru the past 3 shows we had both been to, and
 5) One woman who acquired a Faerie Door from me 3 weeks ago shared with me that she had been having an awfully bad day at the time, and finding her Faerie Door really brightened her mood ~ wow ~ what more could an artist want?!

...And I'm ashamed to say that I judged someone by their appearance, something I always try not to do ('Cause I have no room to talk!Have you seen how I dress at these things?!)

Anyway, coming back to our booth around the close of the second day, I discovered my husband conversing with a man who looked...well, I'll use his words- "I've been a "bum" all my life!" ( Hey, I work in downtown Toledo ~ believe me, I see a LOT of "bum" like creatures!)...So that was my initial thought, until we spoke with him for awhile, and realized he was no bum, just an artistic, free spirit who lives happily with his wife of 29 years (like us), childfree (also like us!) but not very many similarities beyond that. His wife then joined us, and we had an interesting and fun conversation with them about their lifestyle, (minimalist and mostly "off the grid"), our life, and art ~ and my preconceived idea of them quickly disappeared. These are folks I will remember for a long time... and Sam and Brenda, I look forward to seeing you again!

Levis Commons 2010 - In Retrospect

Art shows are such an experience! I often wonder if I could live my life on the art show circuit - could NOT having a 9 to 5 job make up for the physical labor and worry it takes to do shows? Probably not, especially with my medium - if I had fiber or jewelry, something easily transported, and could fit everything I would ever need into a truck or van, I think I could handle it. OR if I was 20 years younger! ;-)

Anyway, I did participate in the Levis Commons Art Fair this past weekend, and did quite well! Despite a near washout on Saturday and being windblown on Sunday, it didn't seem to faze a lot of the shoppers, and of course, it doesn't harm anything I sell! All of the birdbaths are displayed outside of the canopy, so the display factor was increased Saturday by showing off how just well the birdbaths looked filled with water!

Saw some old friends (Rhonda/Ken and Janine/Jeff!)...and made new friends!....

And I really like to talk to the other artists - every one of them have interesting stories OR great tips on what they do in various situations (like how to keep your canopy's top from filling with water! LOL). I learn something new every show. With this show, I was somewhat concerned that our display was too "homemade" looking compared to everyone else's, but no one seemed to notice or worry about it - they were more interested in my work - as it should be!

I do have to mention The (Michigan) Guild of Artists and Artisans, the same association that organizes Levis Commons as well as the Ann Arbor Summer Art Fair . When I saw all the rules and regulations regarding the show, I actually lost sleep over all of it! Yikes! What if "they" don't like this? What if "they" don't want me to have these things over here? Well, I should not have worried. Evidently those are just set out so if someone IS being inconsiderate or unreasonable, there is something in writing.

Actually, everything was well organized (and VERY well advertised, so I stopped whining so much about the cost to be there). We always pack sandwiches and sundry food items for a show, but they had a very well stocked "hospitality" tent for the artists, with donuts, bagels, water, coffee, bananas (and my sincere appreciation goes out to a couple of local businesses, namely Andrew Z's- for providing PIZZA on Saturday and Max & Erma's for the WARM chocolate chip cookies on Sunday!), so we didn't want for much.

My work, as usual, didn't receive any awards, which is not surprising at an art show like this - there is just too much around I myself would consider extremely Fine Art, but it would be nice to at least SEE a judge glance my way once in a while! Hmmph...

 

Did have fun, nonetheless, despite the rain,the long hours, the wind, the dumb questions ("Oh, does this one hang?" - While pointing to a leaf HANGING up on the lattice... ), and getting thru the inevitable period of time during each setup and takedown where Hubby and I fight the urge to punch each other in the eye! (He's very organized; I'm not - need I say more)?

A New Venue! Levis Commons Fine Art Fair 2010

On August 21 & 22,  I will be set up at the Levis Commons 6th Annual Fine Art Fair. This is the closest to a "real" art fair I have participated in so far, since it is promoted by The Guild of Artists & Artisans in Ann Arbor, MI., which also handles the Ann Arbor Street Fair, the largest art fair in this area of the country. I have not, and probably never will, be involved with that one, since A) I would need 3-4 times the amount of inventory I currently have and B) I would not want to go beyond the capacity of our truck just to haul more cement!

Plus I'm cheap~Levis Commons is costing me plenty, and Ann Arbor would be way beyond that! Of course, it is true that you have to spend money to make money sometimes, but I have my limit. There is a rule of thumb I have heard from other artists, and that is you should make ten times what you spend on the booth fees for it to be considered a very good / great show. Since the fees are conservatively around $700.00 (USD) for one space, and I have maybe, on a GOOD day, $3000.00 in my TOTAL stock, you see how I could never reach that goal (believe me, three grand would make me happy enough, but that would be every last thing I had!)

But, back to Levis Commons ~ expensive though it may be, I'm happy as a rat in a restaurant dumpster to be participating this year. It is a very nice event, plus this is the first year I am finally confident enough to want to be included in the big leagues, and am looking forward to the experience!

Art In The Park 2010

~In the middle of my angst-ridden summer, reveling in and appreciating the acclaim I am receiving from my events and the Kuhlman Corporation exhibit, while at the same time fretting about the shows every two weeks and if I'm going to be able to keep up this pace with no vacation time left from my "real" job!

I would almost kill to have all the vacation time I had at my old job (in the days before "Creative Castings", when I didn't really need it!), while conversely, I would not want the irritation and stress of that same job! I have never been a realist. A realist would say, "This is the way it is, and no use whining about it", instead of buying Lotto tickets, wishing for an unknown wealthy relative to expire and leave me an inheritance, or for Robert Redford to come along and offer me a million bucks to have sex with him so I could quit!

But on to the useful information. :-) My next event is this Saturday and Sunday, in Port Clinton Ohio, at Lakeview Park.

Lakeview Park...

...and the lake! (Erie)

This is our first time here ~ all I want is good weather, and the rest will have to be up to us! Hope you can stop by, see my new pieces and the birdbaths that have shells (I actually found on this same beach) incorporated into them. I risked life and limb to get them (see below).

Ran across this beautiful creature while picking shells. But all involved went their separate ways without incident!

The Male Factor

I love to watch men.

- Oops, that wasn't quite what I wanted to say! - While that IS a true statement, that will have to wait for another post at another time...;-}

 What I mean is, I love to watch men at the art and craft shows I'm set up at. Most of them attend because their wives or ladyfriends want them to, and spend the day following them around and trying not to yawn too often. They walk past the jewelry, the fabric purses, the pottery, the geese clothes, etc. with a glazed look in their eyes and shuffling along like "Dawn Of The Dead" extras. They see my booth, glance inside, start to walk away, but then catch sight of the word "cement". They move back, touch one of the leaves, pick it up, look at the back of it - all very quietly and with slightly furrowed brows. I can just see the gears turning in their heads! They cannot reconcile what I'm doing with their experiences they may have had involving cement/concrete. Yes, he may have poured a sidewalk last year, but how can THIS actually be created from the same material? Many do ask questions about the process, and it really piques their interest.

Anyway, they usually go away very impressed, and (whether they purchase anything or not), I'm happy that what I do is appreciated by BOTH sexes! I even have male fans who are quite young (20 something), and that is even more unusual!

That's another advantage to selling leafcastings as opposed to jewelry - men wouldn't stop at a jewelry booth - what fun would THAT be?~

"In Another Garden" 2010

Despite the thunderstorm we awakened to at 4:30 AM that began the day, it had stopped by the time we arrived at our destination at 6:00, and despite the weather predictions of very hot, very humid, and stormy, they did not come to pass. Yes, it was warm (it's SUMMER, after all), but the humidity was tolerable, plus there was a perfect breeze much of the time. The location of our booth was on a pretty stained and stamped concrete driveway with the white garage door behind, as a result I think I now finally have some decent "booth shots" for art shows.

Oops, my bins are showing! I hate when that happens... 

The view from inside the booth, facing the adjoining garden...

...And the best part! The owners of the aforementioned garden also displayed one of MY leaves in the flowerbed! Wish they would have washed it out though. It rained the night before and the gardener probably overlooked it. Did not get to meet them, but I was very excited to see one of my "babies"!

At The Market 2010

Some of the sights at this year's Farmer's Market Flower Day weekend...good weekend, but 4:00 AM sure came awfully early Saturday morning!

The setup this time, with the Maumee River right behind us...

OMG! How cute can I get? (BTW, that is NOT a baby bottle under the stroller, but I saw it in use - it's a portable doggy water dish!)

Surrounded by flora ~ I'm in my element!

As I've mentioned before, I have leaf ~ themed everything! Purses, jewelry, checks, sunglasses - plus my leaf clothing, some of which you'll never see me wear in REAL life! I'll only wear it at shows, and deny everything at work the next day!   ...which might be difficult after I post this picture...

The Quest For The Unobtainable

I bet you think this post is about striving for wealth, or power, or fame - something along those lines. Well, no, it's about my great creative ideas using hardware or craft items UNTIL I find out no one makes the particular items I have in mind!

Well, here's what I mean...Example #1~ I normally don't like to add "silly" stuff to my leaves, but when I first began, I thought the waterlily pads were sort of boring (especially before I started painting my pieces), so I found little ceramic frogs/toads to attach to them, and discovered they were really popular. Enough so that I had trouble finding more! I finally found a local florist shop that agreed to wholesale ceramic toads, snails and turtles to me (they were floral picks), and they worked great! Then the store closed, so that was no longer an option (yes, they even gave me the name of the company, but they ignored my emails). Well, I'd just look online! Oh sure, I found lots of frogs and toads on Ebay - unfortunately, they were either the wrong size, too unrealistic (like wearing clothes or playing instruments ), or "collectible" - i.e., expensive!

 

...So here I am, making molds of the critters, and casting my OWN amphibians in cement! Then I have to paint them...yes, it was a good save, and it makes each one even MORE one of a kind, that's true, but it is also more labor intensive!

Example #2~...When I was much younger, I was fascinated by greeting cards that had glitter and rhinestones glued to them to enhance a scene, a flower, etc. I especially liked the "dewdrops"- tiny clear glass cabochons that looked like dew on flowers. I even got to the point that I would lift all the cards with dewdrops out of the rack, because inevitably, some of the stones would get knocked off loose in the card rack, then I'd pilfer them! (Well, I knew no one was going to go thru them and glue them back on, and I couldn't bear to see them thrown away!)

Here it is, thirty (or so) years later, and I decide that dewdrops would be perfect to add onto my leaf pendants. Simple; I'll just go to the local craft store, right? Well..., not so much. While they had faceted rhinestones up the wazoo, none were smooth! Still, I wasn't worried - again, I was sure I could find them online! Surprisingly, that didn't seem to be the case either. I found only ONE online store that carries them, and first, they are slightly larger than I'd like, and second, they're acrylic while I really had glass in mind.

So here I am, buying little clear glass beads that I'm actually physically BREAKING IN HALF to achieve the look I want! Again, more time and labor!

 

Example #3~I wanted to cast little steel nuts {no Iron Man jokes, please....I'm laughing though -"nuts" is a funny word! :-) } 

into my small bird feeders so I could just buy rods with threaded ends to screw them onto. Guess what? No one MAKES steel or aluminum rods with threaded ends - they are either threaded the entire length of the rod (which is unpleasant looking), or not at all!

.....So here I go again, manually threading aluminum rods individually because NO ONE MAKES WHAT I WANT!!! hmph.

Nature Bling?

I have always been a "nature girl" who loves plants, animals, the sun,flowers, etc., and being away from the not-so-natural, manmade world.

The soft greens, browns, blue and white skies, just make me happy and content.

Then there's the other me, who loves bling! Not as in 'expensive jewelry' - I just love glitter, sparkles, spangles, mirrors (diamonds are still OK, though!) - anything that reflects the light. I always describe myself as a little monkey, because they like to collect sparkly things. My husband, on the other hand, describes me as a"crow" (well, because they do the same thing - I like MY description better, however!It'd be too easy to throw the word "old" in front of "crow")!

Of course, glitter can be found in the natural world - the evening sunlight on water, the sun coming out right after a fresh snowfall (or an ice storm!), the stars on a clear night, dewdrops on a Lotus leaf,even flakes of quartz in stones scattered on the ground...

So, these days, even as I create my concrete leaves, and want to use the muted colors of Nature, part of me wants to stick just a little bit of flash on them! I have attached clear glass "raindrops" to the Lotus leaves, added a touch of metallic colors on others, pearls and glass beads on the Hibiscus stamens and am now putting tiny iridescent"dewdrops" on the leaf pendants......

And of course, my Fun-Gi, with their metallic impressions and jewels and copper stems, are an outlet for the "wild" side of my imagination, so not TOO much bling ends up on the leaves!

Things You May Not Know...

My work has sometimes been seen in unusual places. The most interesting setting might be here, at St. Luke's Hospital in Maumee, Ohio, where a red cabbage leaf decorates the Birthing Center!

It's a cute spot ; I guess I shouldn't have moved the baby in the picture below- but it was covering my leaf! 

The next spot we are visiting is the Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge, in Oak Harbor, Oh.....

 

Some of my work has been in their Visitor Center - here are some of my leaf pendants in a display.

Curb's Candle Co. in Toledo has carried some of my castings as well.

I am in the process of collecting photos of any of my leaves displayed in the gardens  or homes of people who have purchased them or had received one as a gift. If you also have one, please send it- when I compile enough of them, I'll post those, too.