Art Dolls at ACC

I am not a doll collector, but art dolls have always intrigued me. Well, this time, perhaps a little more than that. I bought the one of the left by Charlie P., the doll making teacher next door to me at the last session of Appalachian Center for Craft.

Charlie told us that having made art dolls for a lot of years, she has noticed that buyers will not choose a broad range of dolls, but certain ones will "speak" to them. Upon hearing that, it made me smile, because she had an array of at least 30, and this one was the only one that I really wanted.

As folks were looking at them, I asked what was it about each of the dolls that drew them to that specific one...answers ranged from the doll reminding them of someone, or their handmade clothing, the hair was cool, or whatever. Most of the time, they had to think what the actual reason was- because it would be more of a feeling that "this is the one".

So of course I tried to analyze my choice. I love her clothes. There is an organic element to them, yet they are in my favorite colors. I like her thick yarn hair, although if it had been another color, I would have been fine. But I also love her sweet countenance...she looks serene and at peace. I'm still deciding on her name. If you have ideas, please feel free to post them. And meanwhile, this overgrown kid, will enjoy her new doll.

Blacksmith Classes

I shot this quick photo when I was touring the facilities at the Appalachian Center for Craft. It's just a small station in the blacksmith area, but I thought it told a story.

I think about how often, in art and craft, we are always looking for the latest and greatest new tools and modern ideas. I know I am always being tempted, even if I don't buy them. But looking at this small area, made me stop and ponder- you need muscles and strength and a strong tolerance for really high heat in blacksmithing. And I'm guessing a bit of a respect for "old school" ways too. I think that's cool. (or should I say "hot"?) So I wanted to give a nod to this craft form. They turned out some really nice knives and other items the week I was there.

So hats off to those who want to keep it real and simple. (and a big hooray for the air conditioning in the glass studio where I was!)

Torch Collection

I'll be writing more about my week's class at the Appalachian Center for Craft in Tennessee this past week, but I wanted to share a quick snapshot of one of our instructor's torch collection.

Fred Birkhill was kind enough to bring some of his torches to the Center to show us and I snapped a quick shot of them. Unfortunately, I don't remember their names or manufacturers. So if you know, please help identify them. Fred also offered to hook them up for us to try, but we had so much we were already doing, we didn't take him up on his generous offer.

But seeing these tools of our trade made me realize that I could use more experience on other torches. I think I'll be checking out all kinds at the Gathering this year. I've been so careful sticking with my smaller ones, because that's all I feel I need. Perhaps it was my two teachers, but now I wonder if I'm missing out by not being more knowledgeable about what's on the market and their features. I'm not envious, (I think), but I definitely could be better informed. I'll let you know after I try out the others later this month.

See you tomorrow.

Heads Up! Planning Another Trip- Glass Camp

I am so excited to be attending the Appalachian Center For Crafts' glass flameworking class with Fred Birkhill and Shane Fero. (woo hoo!)

I leave on Sunday and will return Friday night. Both teachers are highly esteemed in the glass world and my friends and I have been guessing that there will be minimal beadmaking and more lessons that will take us out of our usual way of working with glass. (she reports with glee!) Rumor has it that possibly we might get a chance to pull our own rods using the hot shop! Sounds rather toasty, but fun.

I am happy to tell you that next summer, I will be teaching a week long class for the Appalachian Center for Craft in July, so this year will give me a little experience to see how classes are set up in advance. (email me studiomarcy@gmail.com for more info about my class)

I will not be blogging about this class as it's happening, because I am not sure of the internet connections there, but I will continue to post daily on my blog. I've been writing in advance, so you'll still get the good stuff. When I return, I'll tell you about class and what I learned.

So, I need to mention, that if you were planning on purchasing something from my Studio Marcy etsy shop in the near future, it's a good idea to do it soon. My last trip to the Post Office will be Friday, as it is closed on Saturday for the holiday. After that, I will be mailing any purchases the following Monday after I've returned.

See you tomorrow.

Dinner & Chat with Fellow Beadmaker Sylvie Lansdowne

My friend and beadmaker, Sylvie Elise Lansdowne was making beads long before I even knew that lampwork existed. We live close-by and get together for dinner every so often to chat. Both of us love whimsical sculptural glass and have found lots of common threads in our ways of looking at it.

The top photo is of Sylvie's "Head Over Heels" bracelet that she has sold in a kit and has taught around the country. She has an Etsy shop that carries her different kits. You can find it here.

After over 2 hours of constant chatter last night, we decided to share some of our dinner conversations through each of our blogs. There are tips and tricks as well as just two beadmakers' way of looking at life.

Remember my blog post about what artists should wear? Of course that hit the table running. Sylvie believes that when selling, we should dress like our customers. Hers wear cute and funky bright clothes and great jewelry. I have only met a few of my customers, so I'm not sure what to wear. I know that I'll need to leave my sweatshirts and flip flops at home. I tend to dress in solid colors so my jewelry shows up more, but perhaps it's time to break free and find my inner artist. Sylvie suggested Quacker Factory on QVC. I'm going to check them out. The problem is, Sylvie is very tall and can wear patterns, while I'm just 5'3" and think solids will make me look taller. (and slimmer too, won't it?) If you have style advice, please let me know. Sylvie is also a shoe lover, and I'm a Teva flip flop or Chucks type fan, so I would be open to artist shoe selections too. This could be a new feature, "dress the beadmaker".

Sylvie is still hoping to get into Bead & Button and I would love to go too. It's an uncharted territory for me, while she has lots of experience. If you are going, please look for her. I promise, you will love everything she has. If anyone knows of a booth to share or has words of advice for me for B&B, please feel free to let me know about it.

We chatted about longer length camp type classes and Sylvie told me about her week at Haystack, in Deer Isle Maine. She chatted about how observing other areas of craft and art will lead you to different ways of learning, styles, etc. For example, a cermics class had people make all the parts to a teapot and then put them in the middle and each take someone else's pieces to put a new one together. They were asked to manipulate the parts and change them. People are more willing to change other people's pieces because they don't have the same "ownership" in that handmade art. That was how Sylvie's pass the bead exercise was started which is widely used by other teachers and groups today.

I'm headed to the Appalachian Center for Craft July 5-10 this summer for an extended glass class with Shane Fero and Fred Birkhill. I'm so excited. Other than it being glass, I'm not sure what we'll be learning. But I've always admired their work and know that it will stretch me as a beadmaker and all their years in glass means there will be a lot to learn.

We also discussed the value of taking from teachers who have opposite styles of what we typically do. I know I've mentioned that concept here before. It stretches your brain to think a little differently and for your hand and eye coordination to get a work out too. Yes it's hard, but it's also like people who only hang out with others who think the same way. How do you grow, if that's all you do?

Sylvie and I are going to be roommates at the Gathering. I know she'll be a good calming effect on me as I'm scheduled to teach my first class there. She's already taught at the Gathering, so I know that last minute pointers will be available.

And one more tip, there's a magazine available at Barnes & Noble and other book stores called Artful Blogging that is a must read. I'm heading out this morning to find it. It's not technically oriented, but more artistic.

There was so much more - life, kids, more and more glass, new stuff we're working on, etc. Two hours of chatter flew by and now I'm looking forward to the next time we share a meal and lots of our lives. To read her version of our dinner, click on her name in the top paragraph.

By the way, that's my bead in the bottom photo. It was a personal exercise, (and the only kind I do), to take a simple coloring book picture and turn it into a bead. But that's another post.

Tomorrow I'm writing about how I added lots of color to my System 96 glass and I'll show you how.