Spring Chicken

Here is Austin we have just gotten through another cold front with days of rain and no sunshine. Today has been the warmest in awhile and it has put me in great mood. I want to share some of my recent Etsy finds that have also put me in a good mood.

Cute felted chick from Siiri's Shop


Paper Mache Chicken from DodadChick


Ceramic Bowl by Prince Design UK

Winner!

Ms. Rachel of So She is Gold is the winner. I like the idea of an international Miss Pickle :) I see you are in Austin and, cross-my-heart, I didn't look until after I picked the winner, but that does make it a bit easier to deliver the goods. Thanks to everyone who participated. Keep checking back to see what else I might be giving away. Also going to have promotion in my shop sometime soon to help raise money for Texas Cattle Dog Rescue. I'll keep you posted...

Help a Girl Out!

What is Miss Pickle saying? My cleverness is all tapped out and I would love some help with this. Leave a comment and tell me what she is telling you. Contest is open until Sunday, the 15th. I will pick my favorite and you will win this before anyone can buy it:

Crow Belt Buckle

Make me laugh, be clever. If you make me fall out of my chair and my drink comes out my nose, you win! Try to keep it PG, but other than that no rules, you can even submit multiple entries if you just can't contain yourself :) What would Miss Pickle say?

(I will announce the winner on Monday! I will try to contact the winner through their blog comment, but if I can't get a hold of you, please contact me so I can mail out the prize!)

SXSW Fun!

Everyone in Austin and well beyond knows that SXSW turns this city into one big festival and party for the better part of March. All the music, movies and events happening can keep even the most energetic person going until they drop. Some of my favorite events usually aren't a part of the official line up but that what makes SXSW great... so many creative people joining in the celebration and turning it into something even better. I have a few things on my to-do list this year.

One, is the Flatstock Poster Show. I don't even have room on my walls for all the great posters I walk away with every year, but the images are so wonderful that I buy them anyway. When I clean out my studio, it is always like Christmas when I find my poster collection and go through it again. I end up going to the store and framing new ones to redecorate the house.

Two, is the Handmade Austin Market's booth at Guero's, March 19th-22nd. I'll be there with some of my belt buckles and prints along with tons of other local artists.



Three, is the Etsy Austin booth at Hill Country Weavers on South Congress, March 14^th, 15^th, 20^th, and 21^st noon to 7 p.m. This event features Etsy artists from Austin (obviously!) and is a good way to see what the Etsy community has to offer. Some of the artists will be hosting demos, some of the artists will be walking around downtown handing out some of the promo bags many in the group have spent days working on. They are really cute and were made using old t-shirts. Kim of Broken Ear Productions was great enough to post a how-to video for the bags.


Come out and join the festivities. You are guaranteed to have fun at SXSW this year!

Owls, Crows & Weenie Dogs

Sound like those go together to me! My new illustrations should be appearing on belt buckles, in jewelry and as prints pretty soon. I'd forgotten how much fun Illustrator can be. I had turned some images (the crow and the weenie dog) into vector art when Vector Magic was still free and just got around to using it. BTW, if you can afford it, get Vector Magic. So much easier than Live Trace in Illustrator and better results. It'll export as an .eps or .ai. Great stuff. Otherwise, I tend to hand draw what I want then trace it and import it into Illustrator to trace over with the pen and shape tools.

A Day at the Park

I went to the park a couple of days ago and took my "toy" cameras. I have a Kodak Duaflex II twin lens reflex camera that I rigged up to do TtV photography. Yes, I know it is contrived and over done, but it is so much fun! It is like how my serious motorcycle riding friends describe the difference between a pro dirt bike and a cheap, oil leaking Russian bike with a side car. Yeah, the fast dirt bike is fun and gives you an adrenaline rush but the bike with the side car makes you smile like a 5 year old on Christmas even though you are only going 30 mph. Besides, isn't doing art and photography supposed to be fun? I'm still working on my rig. I get a weird blue vignette on the right corners of the images. I'm pretty sure I just need to build a sturdier box to put my digital on top of.
My other set up was a Canon 20D with a Lensbaby attached. It is one of the older lenses; they have much fancier versions now, but mine is still functional. The images always feel like an impressionist painting.

Wood Grain is Nice

I wish someone would have told me how long it would take to photograph all my items and re-post them to my Etsy shop, LOL. Let's just say, if you plan on doing the same, set aside a full day and a half.

Luckily, I made several photoshop actions and since my lighting stayed consistent I could automate quite a bit of the work.

I love my new background. It is a wood grain printed paper I found at the local art supply store. I think it is neutral enough to let my work stand out but still interesting.

Unicorn Pendant


Octopus Belt Buckle

Staple!

Staple! is my favorite show of the year. Not my normal craft show but fun nevertheless, ha ha. (Shhh! I'm secretly a comic book geek...) Some of my favorite local artists will be there with me and I can't wait!

Ape Gear

Feeping Creatures

Flower Power

I'd like to share some of my new designs for this season. I decided some flower images were in order. In the next couple of months I'll also be introducing cuff links, earrings and maybe some light switch plates to my line up.

For those of you looking for new merchandise to carry in your retail outlets, I just finished my wholesale catalog. Click here to see it. You can email me at jen@lucybluestudio.com for prices.

Spring So Soon?

I know I haven't blogged since Maker Faire in October. Forgive a busy girl.

To get things started this year, I'm going to share a few Etsy goodies that make me think of spring.
Bumble bees are always fun and I was glad to hear that the bee population has started growing again after that strange die-off. So let's celebrate!

A wonderful brooch from SteamPunkCellar


Pendant from BuildersStudio's

Bazaar Bizarre Neighbors

I had some great neighbors at the Bazaar Bizarre/Maker Faire. I think most of the $$$ I spent was at the booths around me because I only had intermittent help during the show. My dear, dear BF spent most of the time on his gas powered skateboard and gas powered bicycle. I think those toys were more popular than my jewelry when they were parked outside my tent :)

Anyway, I wanted to share some pictures of the crafters near my booth. They all had such wonderful work.

Xylocopa: They were right across from me. I think that is why I ended up with so many things from their booth :) I was staring at it for two days. I bought one of the awesome paper skulls (with a moustache!) and a couple of the blocks. All of her original illustrations are etched/cut with a laser. Amazing.

Some of the jewelry Michele of Xylocopa created.

Loop+Lil: I loved her sign. She had some very precious baby clothes, cute scarves and whimsical flower pins.

harrilu: I bought the black shirt in this picture. There isn't a picture of it but they also have this awesome Mexican wrestling mask shirt.

Designs by Lanese: These hand puppets are so soft and cute. And the Cupcakes for One were a great idea. She was behind me so I could hear the customers oohing and awwing over those :)

A few other favorites of mine from Maker Faire:

• Freeforged Jewelry
• Elizabeth Soule
• Collin Welsch
• Under the Licorice Tree
• Foxy Monster

Enjoy!

Belated Maker Faire Update

I intended to post some images of the freebie I was making for Maker Faire but ended up scrambling around doing all sorts of other last minute things right up to the morning I was setting up.

So here are some images of what I was doing:

I ended up using the rabbit image for the final product

My jig for cutting the bookmarks

I was using my Gocco and making bookmarks (that ended up being just postcards because of a bad initial paper choice). Don't use that awful Stardream paper with the Gocco. The ink just mushes around because it can't really adhere to the plasticy finish.

I made about 100 and they quickly disappeared. Think I might block off the Maker Faire part and make some thank you notes.

And the Winner is...

... Robert. I also have a back-up winner in case Robert doesn't contact me by Monday.

Thanks everyone for participating. Hope to see everyone there! There are other contests going on and also many volunteer opportunities for the Maker Faire that will also result in tickets.

http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2008/09/ways_to_win_maker_faire_austin.html

http://makerfaire.com/austin/2008/volunteer/

Robert, I need you to email me and also allow access to your profile so I can verify it is you because I have no email address for you.

Maker Faire Ticket Giveaway

Guess what, folks! I'm hosting a Maker Faire ticket giveaway on my blog. You have until Friday at midnight (central time) to post a comment on my blog as to why you deserve these free tickets (kudos to creative responses). I have 2 adults and one youth ticket. I'm going to have a random drawing of all the participants and announce the winner on Saturday. Who ever wins will get all three tickets. Maker Faire makes a great family outing. This is for Austinites or those in the surrounding area (unless you know you'll be in the Austin area for the event). Please make sure you leave an email address so I can contact the winner about how they would prefer to receive the tickets.

And don't forget to come visit me at the Bazaar Bizarre going on in conjunction with Maker Faire!

Link to Craftzine's blog post.

Good Luck!

Bazaar Bizarre Austin Oct 18-19, 2008

So, I was accepted into the Bazaar Bizarre craft fair. I'm so excited. I've been waiting for Austin to have one for a long time. It is happening in conjunction with Maker Faire October 18-19.

Funny part is, I have hardly anything to show so I've been constructing belt buckles and trying to make some new stuff. I've found it is easier to trudge through the familiar and let my mind wander while cutting out the gazillion images I use in everything. While I'm in a zone my mind comes up with all sorts of wonderful things to make after I'm done with my core inventory. Just hope I have time to get to it before the show :)

Hope anyone who can comes out to see the show. Last year, Maker Faire was incredible. It appealed to geeks and non geeks alike. All the fire and explosions help :)

P.S. Like my new belt buckle image?

Some New Buckles

I enjoy getting custom requests. Makes it easier to get through creative blocks when someone says "Hey, do something with some organs or an octopus on it." I love my customers :)

Here are my latest two designs, enjoy!

Octopus Floating

Back Pain

Also, wish me luck. I applied to two shows last week, Bazaar Bizarre and Blue Genie. I finally got up the guts. I know my work is good enough to get in but I also know they are inundated with equally good work, so we'll see.

Obama Belt Buckles

Obama Belt Buckle
Originally uploaded by lucyblueart

My newest belt buckles have been inspired by Obama. I couldn't help myself. I was so happy when he was finally confirmed as the Democratic nominee I sat down to make a buckle. When I was done I had 5 different designs, LOL! Go to my Etsy shop to see them all.

www.lucybluestudio.etsy.com

These particular buckles are $5 more than the rest because I am donating that to the Obama campaign. So tell everyone you know so they can help put him in office and show their support by wearing a Barack Obama Belt Buckle!

Canvas Printing Update

I realized in my excitement I didn't really explain what I was doing or my equipment. Sorry about that. I spent so many days searching the internet for people using my specific printer with canvas so I would know it worked before I bought everything I needed but never really found the confirmation so here it is for other people in my shoes. I have an Epson R2400 and I use the roll feed. Some people cut the canvas and use the back feed (where you feed Velvet Fine Art Paper, but I don't see the point). You have to work the canvas a bit to make sure it is loaded properly but you'll know when it is because the printer will grab it. Epson has directions for loading roll paper and canvas on their website if you lost the instructions that came with your printer like I did. I chose to use The Epson PremierArt Water Resistant Canvas, mainly because of price and the fact I could get it in town for the same price as online.

As for color, it is pretty good if not quite as saturated as you see on screen or as what prints on photo paper. The print settings I used were obviously set to roll then Premium Presentation Paper Matte, the color controls were set to 1.8 gamma, epson vivid. I also made sure that borderless was checked and that high speed and edge smoothing were UNchecked. These settings seem to work for me but all printers and monitors are different so it helps if you already have an idea what your printer does and work with it from there.

I suggest having several prints ready to go and just let it print then trim them off. Be very careful not to touch the surface to be printed before or after printing on it. Let it dry at least 48 hours though I'd really suggest 5 days. Helps keep corner cracking to a minimum when you stretch it. After stretching, it will need a protective coat. I picked up a jug of PremierArt Eco Print Shield. Kind of pricey but it protects the image from dings and evil sunlight.

Also, realize the biggest prints you can get are going to be 11 inches wide if you are stretching the image (with the R2400 anyway. I have been looking at bigger printers since starting this). If you want a standard frame size then 11x14 but you could technically print 11 by the length of your roll if you wanted. Very nice for panoramic images. Of course it helps if there are stretcher bars the size of your image so plan ahead. I make sure my image is at least an inch larger on all sides so that I can do a gallery wrap of the image. I like it when the image continues over the side of the stretcher bars.

Hope this helps someone out there. This is the info I wanted to know before trying it but went ahead and jumped in anyway. Luckily things worked though I had one print that didn't feed properly and ended up with the image all squished together. Luckily, it was an image of a stand of trees and it ended up looking good despite what happened. Mistakes are pretty pricey but the results are worth it. It's funny what ends up looking really good on canvas. Not necessarily the same images that look good printed on photo paper.

I Love Printing on Canvas!

I started printing on the canvas I bought and I am hooked. Weird. I've printed my own photos and wondered why I never experienced that "magic" I always heard about... you know, seeing your image first appear in the swirling chemicals. It was interesting the same way trying a new food is interesting but I wasn't compelled to live in the dark room to experience that little rush day after day. I've always loved working digitally but there is nothing very exciting about printing your own work that way either. The minutia of color management holds me captive until I figure out which way a particular media reacts to my printer then it is just a mechanical action. Heck, all I do at work is print all day long so doing it at home gets a bit redundant. Now, I do not have a very work efficient room. I realized that having my printer tucked behind my drafting table probably wasn't good planning but the room is so small I had no where else to put it.

So maybe it was the effort I had to go through to print on the canvas that made it so satisfying. I had to climb on top of the table and hover over the printer, balanced against the wall to attach the roll of canvas. I couldn't see behind the printer to feed the canvas without falling over so I had to feed it by feel. It took awhile to figure out far to push the canvas into the slot so the printer would register it. Because of where the table and the printer butt up against each other I also had to keep my hands on the canvas as it came out of the printer so it wouldn't bunch up against the edge of the table. I didn't know what to expect when I got my first glance of the small sliver of color peeking out of the front of the printer. The relief and joy at seeing what I hoped to see was enough to cement my love for using canvas.

I've run through nearly the whole roll and realized I haven't even taken advantage of the texture and unique qualities. I was just so excited I printed my favorite images without much thought to how they would react to canvas. It changes the feel of any image, for better or worse and I'm sure some images just need to stay on paper. But I'm still learning and I'm sure my second roll will see much more adventurous experiments than this roll. Just had to share!

Polymer Clay Musings

One of my favorite aspects of polymer clay is that it is so darn versatile. You can mimic almost any material, use it for molds, make jewelry, housewares, museum quality art pieces, create almost anything your imagination can dream up.

I'll admit, while I've mastered many techniques, there are a few that I haven't really gotten the hang of. One of those techniques is caning. Yes, I know, one of the most basic of the basics. I attempted it early on in my polymer clay adventures and didn't have much success. Part of it was I was too broke to commit the amounts of clay needed to cane properly. And I also lacked patience. I've tried it periodically through the years and each attempt has gotten better but it has never ignited my imagination enough to really work hard on it. I prefer sculpting and faux/antiquing techniques.

I'm sure y'all have seen plenty of my own work so here are two fellow Etsy artists demonstrating my two favorite methods....

antiquing

Dirty Love by huntersdesigns

and sculpting

Welsh Corgi by designsbyginnybaker