about handmade.

Why do you make handmade? I've seen this question asked a lot recently. Here is a brilliant animation that crankbunny did to explain why she makes handmade. I think it's the best explanation I've heard so far.



You can read more about her animation process and tools in this storque article, and visit her website here.

pyramid atlantic store.

Something exciting opens tonight: the Pyramid Atlantic Community Arts Store!

Sean and I will have some of our artwork there, and of course notebooks and lunch bags as well!

I got to take a peek inside when I dropped off my work, and it looks amazing. The organisers have done an incredible job setting it up. Downtown Silver Spring will have the awesomest handmade shop in the area.

The grand opening tonight is from 5-7pm, and the address is: 924 Ellsworth Drive in downtown Silver Spring. Store hours will be: Thursdays: 12–8pm, Fridays: 12–7pm, and Saturdays: 10am to 7pm

Looking for more info? Check out the Pyramid Atlantic site.

blue tulips.

Introducing my latest illustrated Moleskine notebook for July, Blue Tulips:


....and some of the latest additions to my screenprinted Moleskine series:

Imaginary Friend on an extra large Moleskine (left) and large Moleskine (right)


Knit Buddies (left) extra large Moleskine, and right: new edition Roxy

If you didn't make it to Crafty Bastards this past weekend, here's a peek at what our space looked like from where I was sitting:



Spring was such a busy time, Artomatic came and went, and then Crafty Bastards, and soon it'll be December again. I'm planning to introduce a new notebook each month from now till the end of the year, so check back soon to see how I'm doing. I have a stack of illustrations waiting to be used, and I can't wait to see how those look printed. But I'm going to try and be patient and work on them slowly, one month at a time. And like all the rest, they will be sold individually via my etsy shop.

ktog = knit together.

Here is a quick pan of my knitting installation piece at Artomatic. It's titled Ktog, which in knitting language means 'knit together.'



More images coming soon, including some of my favorite works there so far.

Sean and I are set up right beside each other, you'll find our exhibit space right behind the main desk when you step out of the elevators on the 7th floor. Artomatic runs through June 15th, and is open Wednesdays-Sundays. For hours please check the web site.

glass school. open house.

I've created a whole new series of knit paintings, and they're on exhibit at artomatic through Jun 15th. But more about that later... this is just a quick post to let you know about the Washington Glass School's 7th Anniversary Open House and Party! It's today!

Sean and I will be setting up there, at our home away from home. If you're in the area, please stop by!



I'm hoping to spend some time at Flux and Red Dirt Studios. They're right next door, and all of the work there is just stunning.

I also wrote about this event for the Crafty Bastards blog, where I posted maps of the area open studios. I'm planning to take a lot of pictures, hope you can make it too!

i'm your daily candy.

Thank you Daily Candy for featuring my Moleskine notebooks as today's candy!

Thank you Venus Zine for featuring my knit paintings in your Spring 08 issue! Find me on page 18!





And while I'm at it, thank you Crafty Bastards for letting me play on your blog! I wrote a longer version of my acc baltimore trip over there, hope you enjoy it!



Ok, I think I've used up all of my exclamation point privileges for the month! I'm off to package up orders now... :)

acc baltimore 2008.

Jung Yeon Choi

Haley Reneé Bates

Yesterday Sean and I drove out to Baltimore to visit the American Craft Council show in Baltimore. The two main reasons I really wanted to go to the Baltimore Craft Show were to meet CircaCeramics and Margaux Lange, but I also ended up finding some new favorites.

I've been a big fan of Chicago based CircaCeramics for a very long time: gocco and ceramics, genius! I frequently covet their work on Etsy where they've had some fabulous articles written about them in the Storque.

CircaCeramics

At Crafty Bastards 2007 I had wanted to see Margaux Lange's work but I didn't have a second to skip over to visit, so a few weeks later I bought this as a little gift to myself when I reached 300 sales on Etsy. Getting to meet Margaux in person was awesome, and I hope to cross paths with her at some point again in the future. Be sure to visit her blog where she writes more about her work.

Margaux Lange

It's always nice to visit with familiar faces, Caitlin of Rebound Designs is a member of Craft Mutiny and this was one of her biggest shows ever. Her display looked fabulous!

Rebound Designs

One of my favorite finds at the show was artwork by Elizabeth Perkins, made of cast glass. Described on her website as: "cast glass using the pate de verre method. They are replicas of tatting, lace, and doilies made by my great-grandmother and her sister. The colors are inspired by 1940's lingerie."

Elizabeth Perkins

Almost all of the work I was attracted to was in the 'New Wave,' 'Searchlight,' and 'School to Market,' sections, but all three of these areas were hardly given any space at this event. The New Wave section artists barely had three feet of space each, and they were all crammed together in a fenced off area. I would hope that a greater focus is given to up and coming artists at these future events.

glass3.

Tomorrow night is the opening of an international glass exhibit in which Sean will be taking part in: Glass3

Glass3 is a collaborative exhibit featuring the works of The Washington Glass School, Cohesion Artists from Sunderland England, and artists selected by the Arts Commission of Greater Toledo.

Sean will be exhibiting his latest work which combines glass panels and concrete.




February 21-March 9, Monday-Saturday, noon-8pm, and Sunday, noon-6pm.

This Georgetown exhibit opens Thursday, February 21st, 6-8pm, and is located in The Shops at Georgetown Park, 3222 M Street, NW.

bridges and balloons.

Sketch :: Day 4

I've wanted to draw a hot air balloon ever since I visited the Joseph Cornell show at the Smithsonian American History Museum. This was one of my favorite pieces:


[From a slide show on the SAAM web site. More pieces from the are exhibit here.]

I visited the Joseph Cornell show a few weeks after I spent a lot of time in some big galleries in Chelsea. Most of the work I saw in Chelsea was a larger scale than I had ever seen before. Everything seemed soooo big that it made me question small works of art.

But then at the Joseph Cornell show, all of the pieces were so tiny and detailed and intricate. I visited the exhibit three, maybe four times again before it closed, and every time I visited I found something smaller and more intimate to focus on. There I discovered that I was way more drawn to smaller works of art and it made me realise the track I was already moving on was ok. Small is ok.

I'm still drawing away in my sketch book every day, and am already finding that the pen is moving quicker and quicker as I'm filling more pages with drawings. It feels good to finally have a hot air balloon on paper, and lotuses too. I've been wanting to draw them forever.

Here are some more pages of my daily drawings:

Sketch :: Day 5


Sketch :: Day 8

no idle hands.

My little Moleskine notebooks are somewhere on me all the time. I find it very hard to sit still without having something in my hands. When my pen is out I transform into an obsessive sketcher and list-maker, so when I was invited to join 365 Sketch, I had to say yes. Here is a peek into my sketchbook from the past two days...




If my hands aren't busy drawing, painting, or doodling, you'll most likely find me knitting. When I first learned to knit, I was immediately fascinated by how simple and complicated it was at the same time. In my search for more information, I found a book about the social history of American knitting titled, most perfectly, No Idle Hands. No idle hands is how I think of myself sometimes.

Over the next few months I'll be keeping my hands busy, working on creating more artwork and new designs, and hopefully with more frequent updates on progress over here. To help make that possible, I plan to take a little break from setting up at craft shows. It'll also give me a chance to get to visit shows which is something I rarely get to do when I'm setting up my own work.

If you're in the DC area, today is Craft+Kisses, a valentine craft fair, organised by the lovely Moira of Bookish Lady. Sean and I won't be setting up, but there will be lots of awesome vendors there, and be sure to look out for Craft Mutiny friends!

I hope 2007 was a lovely year for all of you, and 2008 is even better.

new. new. new.

Over December I branched out a little bit with the Moleskine notebooks and began printing some of my illustrations on the larger cahiers. I started with two of my favorite designs, the Magnolias illustration, and the Shadow Pods:


Shadow Pods

Magnolias
The black notebooks are large [5¼" x 8¼"], kraft notebooks are extra large [7½" x 9¾"]

Thank you to everyone who emailed me requesting the larger Moleskine formats. I'm really delighted with the way they turned out, so much that I gave them a special corner in my shop. As always, new illustrations are always in the works. I hope you're enjoying the notebooks you already have.... I think they look better once they're filled with your writing and drawings, so please use them! [yes yes, I'm talking about you!]

more moleskine.

Here are some of my latest illustrated Moleskine notebooks:

Knit Buddies & Ghost Writer:

Runaway & Imaginary Friend:

Benjamin's Bubbles:

Sunflowers:

Shadow Pods:


Each one is a lovely, hand printed original on a Moleskine Cahier Journal. I print them one by one, layer by layer, in small batches at a time on both plain and ruled Moleskine Cahiers. And then post them to my Etsy shop. Recently I also started printing on squared Moleskine cahiers, and soon, very soon, I'll be introducing new sizes as well!