Screenshot from Emily Bazeley's website

So sweet. Emily Bazeley and other artists in her collective in Donegal pool their resources and show their work together around Ireland.

She makes the dresses out of pressed flowers and leaves, some of the materials she has been collecting her whole life, and materials from her grandmother. What a legacy

Sadly no. Not unless I could take that ceramics class again at Benbulben Pottery. That was so much fun.

I recommend these lovely elegant Round Tuits from Aoife Fey on Etsy. The theme for this weekend is “Getting around to it!” and a number of those things involve my new scanner, so exciting

Round Tuits by Aoife Fey on Etsy

My favorite is Petits appartements À paris. I own this one already… but I’d love another one. I wish I could look inside.

See some pics from this book on Flickr. I tagged w the ISBN so you can also search for other pics from it.

Lisa Congdon's collection a day blog

Maitreya of Craftlog posted about photos of Collections. Yeah, makes me want to photograph some of my collections… if I had that many of one thing.

Lisa Congdon is posting a collection a day for 2010. She has… alot.. of collections.

Camilla Engman is posting collections.

And I started seeing photos of collections on Etsy… but I have no idea where they are now. Wish I could tag things there. It’s so hard to find things.. when not everything is “favorite”. Hmpf.

Slideshow from the organized collection group on Flickr:

Here’s a mini documentary about her at Babelgum…

I like this populist kind of art… which I couldn’t seem to imagine when I was in art school. I felt everything was in little boxes at the time. Especially my work which also was in little boxes.

Katie has a similar flavour as Miranda July who’s work I love too.
She is colouring the world around her. For example, spraying snow with crayon colours. I love the mural she did on her wall with clouds and raindrops.

Needle felting.. why ever did I wait so long? I was afraid? I have no idea.

But I got a needle-felting needle & foam pad and even wool last Christmas from Dmaxi (thank you!!!). and for some reason it took me ages upon ages to have a go. I tried it, and was shocked… it wasn’t nearly as hard as I thought. If you’ve been wondering you must give it a go.

I recommend the Norweigan wool from Sara’s Texture Crafts supply… it’s so soft but “crimped” as Sara explained to me. It shapes up so quickly. Big thumbs up from me. The Shetland she has is lovely too because of a light lanolin scent which I love.

I just purchased a creature from Kit Lane. I pounced on the shopping cart… Tilda. So freeking cute.

By far my favourite felted monster maker is Kit Lane. So original, so funny. She makes up stories and the best descriptions of her creatures in her shop. See Kit Lane’s Flickr page.

This is a screenshot of Kit Lane's shop. And Tilda is sold!

So I have prepared a welcoming party waiting for Tilda.

Turns out, these cards are for collecting, hence the prices range from $3.00- $15.00 USD. Some are swapped (ATCs) some are sold (ACEOs)… and many have a very very particular style… ACEOs control quality with price and ATC communities control quality with guidelines. (I erroneously thought Nakisha’s works were ATCs… well they aren’t).

I adore fluxus art, mail art and multiples (See Monster Truck Gallery’s multiples). ATCs are not visually related, but I think the early conceptual artists would have appreciated the spirit of the work.

ATCs, Artist Trading Cards are traded and never sold.

The first started in 1997 by Zurich artist M.Vänçi Stirnemann (see some of his work). You can trade them at meet-ups on online.

The cards may be original, OOAK (one of a kind) or printed from digital artworks or scans. It all depends on the terms set out by the swap organiser. They can also be traded singly between artists.

If the cards are for sale, it is called ACEO (Artist Card Editions and Original).

Ebay looks like the more popular place for buying and selling ACEOs. While I did see some on Etsy and Artfire, the variety and quality of ACEOs on Ebay looks better (at a first glance).

- 2009 (96)
- 2008 (187)
- 2007 (165)

This could be because 2009 *sucked* creative juices out of everyone (including me). 2009 was the boring, hard working year of the Ox.

Zodiac aside, everything runs its course. From outside eyes and there’s a definite ’style’ for many ATCs and ACEOs. Or two styles. There’s collaged from vintage looking bits with text; and then there’s brightly coloured with black outline paintings. Turns out, it has a name: whimsy. The ArtTrader Mag even has online ATC workshops covering topics such as “Distorting the female body”… I think that kind of codified style… that could be one thing killing the creativity.

ATC swapping communities

In addition to the Flickr group, there are two full communities that I can see ATCS for all and Illustrated ATCs, which we could call ATC ‘for some’ because it’s a juried group. One must apply for membership, and based on their portfolio they’re accepted.

I think I understand the need for a juried space. I’d be really bummed if I painted an original card and someone swapped me a digital print. Most of IATC’s guidelines are regarding media.

I joined up ATCs for all, and I’ll try making some cards. I do love doing swaps, but I have been severely disappointed before… well, probably as many times as I’ve been unexpectedly delighted!

So I just need a ruler… got a bunch of paper to cut.

It even has a blog: http://dublinflea.blogspot.com/

Only a short time before someone whips up an independent craft fair

Looks like a critical mass of indie-minded people doing fun things, see also “Free Art Friday” in Dublin. See Free Art Fridays from around the world: Free art Friday on Flickr

It’s very US-centric, as you can tell by the cover. Not a big issue, but it makes me feel the same way I feel shlepping from Sligo to Dublin to DATA (Dublin Art and Technology Association) events. Like I’m always outside the self-focused/self-obsessed centre. I guess IATA wouldn’t have the same ring to it.

I’m just… a little wistful (jealous?)… I’ll probably never visit Art vs Craft, I’ll never go to Renegade Craft Fair, or see the Handmade Parade. Is it OK to be a little jealous? I’m just going to wallow a little bit in it. I’m getting over it… *pause*… OK, I’m over it.

But this review isn’t about ME. It’s about the book. It’s a great book. And I can’t wait to see the documentary. I posted something about it before.

See more about the documentary here: http://handmadenationmovie.com/

It is such a well designed book. The cover is embossed- it has an offset-silk-screen printed look, and then it is embossed. All the titles of interviews are hand-drawn by a very talented illustrator. Read an interview with the illustrator (via the Handmade Nation Blog). Each interview is inspiring, and a quick read. This is a pick-up and flick through kind of book- you could read an article while you’re waiting for some glue to dry. The interviews are organised by region- with longer thematic articles included.

The interviews show photos of studios, the crafters, their work- and they are written in first person. You get the idea that this book can only show a little peek into each craft person’s work and process. I bet the documentary is going to be brilliant- will it come to Ireland?? Highly unlikely, but you never know.

It’s an excellent book, and I highly recommend it for loads of inspiration. And if you don’t craft you should buy it for your crafty friend.

Info about the upcoming film: http://handmadenationmovie.com/
The Handmade Nation Blog: http://indiecraftdocumentary.blogspot.com/

SHE KNIT ME A COWL! In gorgeous green alpaca silk, yum. I should take a photo of how you wear it. I sort of folds across my neck, and keeps my neck and chest warm where my jacket is open.

Dearbhala included other lovely gifts- as you can see, but the best was this tremendous yarn Manos del Uraguay 100% Wool- out of which I made this hat. I had a challenge to make it work with the 100g skein- crochet gobbles up yarn. I undid and redid this so many times. At one point, I kept the yarn intact, and started working from the other end to make the hat cuff(?) so I could find out how much was left. There wasn’t one centimeter of yarn left when I was done.