sooooooo I'm very excited that I will be attending the Surtex show in NYC in a couple days- Surtex is "the only show for original art and design", a trade show in which artists and designers share their work for sale and licensing!
Ok i must admit, this was on a complete whim.... I've been reading alot of indie design and illustration blogs and one of the gals, orange you lucky, was heading to NYC to display in the show. As I drooled over her funky designs, I decided to check out just what show was having these awesome indie designers and illustrators display their work. Ooooo Aaaaaaaa..... and so I registered to get into the show for free (for those "in the trade"), not really knowing if I Magnolia Skies would qualify as being "in the trade". Whelp I just checked my registration status, which was pending yesterday, and it appears I'm all registered! wow this is kind of crazy!
While this was completely random of me to register for this show, I'm hoping it will add fuel to some ideas I have whirling around in my brain, ideas that I have hinted at over the past years, and that have pretty much been consuming me for the past year. I feel like I'm getting closer to making them happen.... i still am being secretive about my plans, don't really know why, it just feels right, but as some hints, they involve illustration, design, and textiles.
Yesterday I was working at a print shop for the day job. This print shop has been in business for almost 100 years, and is still famous for the process they used that long ago, engraving. with all the digital printing that goes on now, engraving has become somewhat of an art form. Printing using art form processes has been something I've become very interested in. So I was very excited when the owner decided to hang around me all day as I worked (something that normally might have been a bit annoying for me), chatting a bit about their business. He even gave me some leftovers or seconds of a famous stationary designer's note cards! It's really sad that written correspondence has gone out the window in the age of email. So when I got home I looked up some printing classes to see how much they were. I have some of the concepts down, but would love to learn how to use a printing press and some techniques of wood block printing on a press. The class is just under $200 so that will be my birthday request in November- I figure that will be an ideal time to take the class, taking it now would be a bad idea with all the festivals I need to prepare for. I need to focus on sewing hippie clothing right now, not jump into the burning desire of indie printing ideas.
oh man I really love this auto save on blogger.... i just went to get the link for the printing classes, stupidly opening it up on this page instead of the other two tabs I have opened. Yikes! clicked the back button and my post was gone! but thank you Blogger, you rock for automatically saving my post, here it is, in full!
Well I have the next two days off from the day job so I need to get on the ball with sewing, as I've been slacking big time since Merlefest. Not as bad as last year, when I didn't touch my machines for almost 2 months afterwards, but not as good as I should be doing. I don't have much fabric in stock so I'm trying to make do with the scraps and older fabric pieces I have in my stash, so patchwork is in the works. Hopefully Joann's will have their calicoes on sale this coming week so I can stock back up for festival gear. I have a hemp order coming soon.... i haven't dyed fabric in a while so I'm really excited. I'll be saving the hemp goods for Clearwater festival b/c it's an environmental music festival and I think hemp clothing will be more appreciated there as opposed to the straight music festival I'm doing in a few weeks. And Magnolia Skies will be getting updated with some new hemp clothing soon too.
Alright, I've blown a couple of hours already today, slept in too late, on here too long. Must get some work done!
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Friday, May 9, 2008
tagged!
So my friend Justine tagged me to give three random facts about myself.... hmmmmm....
1. I have a ridiculous fear of spiders. So bad that I often have nightmares about them, that they're on my pillows, hanging from my ceiling. I wake up in complete terror, hiding under the covers or screaming obscenities, until Pat turns on the light to show me, no spiders. The semester I had field geology we were walking through webs all the time, and that's when i realized i have issues b/c I started having the nightmares nightly. It got to the point where I had to teach myself to realize I was dreaming... ya know, only stay under the covers for a few minutes instead of 10 minutes, and not having to turn on the light and ransack my bed making sure they didn't go into hiding :)
2. I'm a bit like a chameleon in that I can usually easily adapt to any social situation i'm put into.... this is a new realization for me, so thought i'd share :) I'm a bit of a social butterfly, and get in a slump if i don't get enough personal interaction. I thrive on the energy of people.
3. I self diagnosed myself with CDAS... Can Do Anything Syndrome. I think I can do anything and everything, and am a bit of a perfectionist at the same time. So i get a little distressed when I realize that I can't do that or i can't do that perfectly, haha! It's rough when I admit to myself that I Can't Do Everything :) I'm slowly changing my thinking so that when I see something I really like, instead of thinking, "Oh i can do that, I'll just do it myself", I instead acknowledge that Yes, I MAY be able to do that, but sometimes it's just better to leave it for someone else to do. How can I develop my favorite skills if I'm off doing a million things at once, without concentrating on a few. Although I'm all for trying everything once :)
So that's my three randoms. I'm not going to tag anyone in specific, so tag, you're it. Share away if you're feeling up to it!
And for a few crafty tidbits, I just ordered my dyes and will be doing some fabric dyeing very soon. And it's time to order some more hemp fabric! I've been jonesing to do some screenprinting and have big plans for some new screen printed items for Mt. Jam. I'll share when I get things into the works. Hopefully this round of screenprinting will work out better now that I've read up on some techniques!
My daydream for the day is completely redoing our living space- the stuff in it. Since I started reading some design blogs I have fallen in love with so many of the indie designed living spaces, so much life just in the decorations! So I've been picking up random bits and pieces when they strike my fancy, I'll share some soon too :)
1. I have a ridiculous fear of spiders. So bad that I often have nightmares about them, that they're on my pillows, hanging from my ceiling. I wake up in complete terror, hiding under the covers or screaming obscenities, until Pat turns on the light to show me, no spiders. The semester I had field geology we were walking through webs all the time, and that's when i realized i have issues b/c I started having the nightmares nightly. It got to the point where I had to teach myself to realize I was dreaming... ya know, only stay under the covers for a few minutes instead of 10 minutes, and not having to turn on the light and ransack my bed making sure they didn't go into hiding :)
2. I'm a bit like a chameleon in that I can usually easily adapt to any social situation i'm put into.... this is a new realization for me, so thought i'd share :) I'm a bit of a social butterfly, and get in a slump if i don't get enough personal interaction. I thrive on the energy of people.
3. I self diagnosed myself with CDAS... Can Do Anything Syndrome. I think I can do anything and everything, and am a bit of a perfectionist at the same time. So i get a little distressed when I realize that I can't do that or i can't do that perfectly, haha! It's rough when I admit to myself that I Can't Do Everything :) I'm slowly changing my thinking so that when I see something I really like, instead of thinking, "Oh i can do that, I'll just do it myself", I instead acknowledge that Yes, I MAY be able to do that, but sometimes it's just better to leave it for someone else to do. How can I develop my favorite skills if I'm off doing a million things at once, without concentrating on a few. Although I'm all for trying everything once :)
So that's my three randoms. I'm not going to tag anyone in specific, so tag, you're it. Share away if you're feeling up to it!
And for a few crafty tidbits, I just ordered my dyes and will be doing some fabric dyeing very soon. And it's time to order some more hemp fabric! I've been jonesing to do some screenprinting and have big plans for some new screen printed items for Mt. Jam. I'll share when I get things into the works. Hopefully this round of screenprinting will work out better now that I've read up on some techniques!
My daydream for the day is completely redoing our living space- the stuff in it. Since I started reading some design blogs I have fallen in love with so many of the indie designed living spaces, so much life just in the decorations! So I've been picking up random bits and pieces when they strike my fancy, I'll share some soon too :)
Thursday, May 1, 2008
i left my heart at the bluegrass festival
In the words of my friend and one of my vending partners Casey, I left my heart at the bluegrass festival. I've been back from Merlefest for 4 days now, and just can't seem to get back into my life back at home. I figured this would happen, as it sometimes does, but not this badly.
You see the problem is I have WAY too much fun when I'm away.... ok there's no such thing as WAY too much fun, but I have WAY more fun than I do at home. Then I come home and it's a big ol' bore. So stale. Yes I was away from my husband and 3 furry family members for 5 days. But I had such a good time. Am I just selfish? Shouldn't I be glad to be home with my family, not longing to go back to the fun I was having without them?
Anyways, we had beautiful weather 2 of the 4 days of the festival, bright, sunny, and 80 degrees. Saturday we had scattered thunder showers, but it was still fairly warm. Sunday it was overcast most of the day, but the rain managed to hold off until the very end, and even then it was just a shower. I had awesome sales, well worth my 1400 mile round trip. This year we were blessed with babies and toddlers to keep us company. Andrea's baby is 8 months old- such a smiley little fellow. He was the perfect baby on the drive down, in the 15 hours in the car (we drove straight through, stopping for breaks and a cat nap) he cried for less than a minute. The guy vending next to us had his brother come for the weekend too, and along came two of the cutest little girls ever. I instantly fell in love with the youngest (they were 3 and 4 years old) Ava, such a little doll. I swear she had stars coming out of her eyes :) A tragic story behind them, but their dad was a sweetheart and they are lucky to have him...
Having children around the booth really seemed to add a completely different vibe, very fun :) Funny, because before we got there I was picturing it being a bit of a drag, hehe... Complete opposite!
Here's some pics from the weekend....
This was our booth on Thursday, mostly put together.... I only had 15 minutes of sleep the night before so Thursday was slow going for us getting set up, haha!
Andrea arranging the kiddo section.... this year we had lots of goodies for the little ones.
All of these shots are from Saturday during and after the big thunderstorm. The rain was coming down so hard and it was so windy we decided to close up shop during it... and what better time to bust out the Mead honey wine and snap some pics.... pardon the absolute chaos in the booth, hehe :)
Casey!
Isn't he a cutie :) And below is one of the cutie pie little girls we spent the weekend with, this one is Sophia, the older of the two. I didn't get any pictures of starry eyed Ava :)
This was our booth on Thursday, mostly put together.... I only had 15 minutes of sleep the night before so Thursday was slow going for us getting set up, haha!Andrea arranging the kiddo section.... this year we had lots of goodies for the little ones.All of these shots are from Saturday during and after the big thunderstorm. The rain was coming down so hard and it was so windy we decided to close up shop during it... and what better time to bust out the Mead honey wine and snap some pics.... pardon the absolute chaos in the booth, hehe :)Casey!Isn't he a cutie :) And below is one of the cutie pie little girls we spent the weekend with, this one is Sophia, the older of the two. I didn't get any pictures of starry eyed Ava :)
Yay! The rain stopped shortly after it started, time to open up shop again after we take some shots in front of the booth.
Oh how I wish I was back in NC with my Merlefest buddies :) OH and how can I forget.... remember how I mentioned I listened to The Band for years straight in the sewing room??? Well Levon Helm was the headliner for Saturday night, how friggin Sweet!!!!! Yep, take me back to the south.... or Tennesee, Tennessee, there ain't no place I'd rather be.....
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