Printed a few linocuts...

This is one of the first prints from the linocut.  With limited space and supplies I think it came out pretty well.  I had the speedball ink and a brayer.  I used freezer paper to ink the brayer and a book and spoon to press.  I really like how it came out and I'm going to watercolor a few of them once it dries.

I'm going to do a few more of these, some small designs to put on cards.

Freedom Festival preparations continue...

I have taken up "knooking."  It is knitting with a crochet hook.  I knit pretty slow with needles but I crochet pretty fast.

 Here is my first go round at knooking.  It creates a true knit/purl stitch not a wanna be like Tunisian.  It worked up pretty quickly.  I did a garter stitch at the bottom, a mix for a few rows and a stockinette stitch at the top.  I like this a lot.


Well I've been super busy preparing for the Freedom Festival pretty consistently.  I was fretting that I wouldn't have a lot; however, I underestimate my generally good work ethic of the past...I already had a lot of stuff to begin with that I haven't even tried to sell.  I have over 25 hats and over 30 pairs of earrings now.  Actually more hats/earrings than that...that's just what I have set out so far for inventory.  I have improved the design of my Around Town crochet cap to include a ribbon band in bright summer colors.

 This is the first one that I had created in pink cotton yarn, perfect for summer!  I will probably list these for sale on my artfire after the Freedom Festival.  One more week to go!  I have to get some painting and artwork done also...I have so many ideas, it's just a matter of getting them all down.

This is the Around Town cap in bright green cotton.  I wouldn't have even thought to get this color; however, I was in JoAnn's (my current craft store obsession) and had a nice conversation with a sweet lady about yarn (go figure).  She thought it was pretty summery and would make a great hat.  Well I'd give anything a try (within reason) and I like the results so score one for nice lady in JoAnn's!

The denim ones are my favorite.  This doesn't have the ribbon yet; however it will be red...this design can work with or without the ribbon.  I will make one of these for myself...denim is universal.

Swirls denim cotton cap with flower and button accessory.

This black one is hotness!  I'm going to make one for myself.


I've made a host of others that I still need to construct the brim on.  Yes, I have indeed been busy.  I have been selling my hats locally with much success at a local store, Sid and Nancy.  I will definitely bring in some more of my hats after the Freedom Festival.  I will temporarily shut down my artfire store on July 3rd as my inventory needs may change after the festival.

I have more inventory than space!  These are crochet earrings hiding out in the most available space in my work area (living room).  Those ribbon bangles usually go over pretty big; however, I'm limited in how many I make at a time because of the materials that I use.  I have great demand with a great but slow supply so to speak.  There are about 18 pairs of earrings here.

Here are the earrings I completed today.  I had already crocheted them...it was just a matter of putting them together.  The Africa earrings are cut from hard leather...that was quite an adventure let me tell you!  They came out pretty lovely though.  I still need to make some duplicates of these so I will get that done this week.  I did a trade of a few of my Rasta earrings...the lady I traded with makes the most A-W-E-S-O-M-E crochet bags and the one she sent matches my Mocha Queen earrings perfectly.  I just need the perfect outfit to set it off and I will post!

Since I started working with leather, I figured I would experiment a little bit.  I kept the kids at bay by telling them what leather was...they don't want to come anywhere near it now (yay!).  Ballpoint ink works beautifully on leather and research on the net found that acrylic and gouache work pretty well also.  With that knowledge in mind here is what I came up with:

Painted leather afro lady!  I created her to match my afro polymer/wood lady I made actually back in 09 and hadn't had the heart to ever sell although I've had many offers.  I think they make quite a pair!  I got some glossy acrylic sealer and I'm working on building up a sufficient layer on it.  The brown in her hair isn't as obvious in real life.  I will definitely do more of these but probably as appliques or magnets (or any other idea I can come up with).

I did a linocut.  I started on it yesterday morning and finished up this morning.  I had these linoleum blocks hanging around for the longest.  This is 6" x 9" and it is tentatively named "Black Man's Redemption."  Yes it was inspired by Bob Marley.  It originally had a map of Africa in the back but silly me, I forgot about the whole "mirror-image" thing so I ended up cutting it out as I had it in there the right way on the cut.  I think I still get the point across without it though.  I will print it later this week.

Hairpin lace is fun.  It worked up quicker than I had anticipated and I am well on my way to making a cute skirt using this method.  The yarn I'm using, a laine (wool), acrylic, nylon, polyester blend (a great fine) has awesome drape and is beautifully variegated.




On June 11, 2011 I took my two youngest girls to an open call at a local modeling consulting agency.  Folks had been telling me for the longest that those girls could model and I had brushed it off until now.  My youngest is five and has such a big personality...my six year old is more reserve but she also has that special spark.  I'm definitely going to put her in dance as she has natural ability in the future.  The girls made a splash.  They were first to get the ball rolling with their commercials and the runway walk.  They were called back a second time and were offered a place in the program.  It is mostly a program for acting courses.  They would learn monologues, stage presence, how to interview, improvisation and a host of other skills that would benefit them not only for potential work in entertainment but in life.  They already have great confidence and something like this would ensure that they maintain that high level of self-assurance they already possess.  We need some help helping the girls with the costs of the program.  It is with the Deabreu Modeling Consulting Agency and the company already has a pretty good track record and success rate.  Anyone watch Are We There Yet? on TBS?  The little boy, Coy Stewart, got his start at Deabreu.  The potential is there.  The girls think it is all fun and I want it to remain that way for them.  They are slated to start classes on July 9th and I hope that we are able to make this happen for them.  I'm pooling all of my craft funds, including the profits for the festival, into this for them.  Any purchase made on my artfire site or on the site I made for them, The Dream Girls Project, will go towards this.  We'd appreciate any amount or purchase because even $1 adds up.

      

Freedom Festival July 4, 2011

Great news!  I was selected again this year to participate in the Freedom Festival at the Villages of Sandhills in Columbia, SC on July 4, 2011!  I am ecstatic about being chosen again and I will be working double time this year to prepare enough items!

Go HERE to see the photos from the Freedom Festival 2010.  I am getting into sewing.  I already know how to hand sew and I'm now dabbling into machine sewing.  I was saving it for another time however I came across this neat little machine at Big Lots.  It came with over 100 accessories and I figured I could at least get the logistics down with it.  So far, so good.  I got it to work with no issues and it does a basic stitch.  I have sewing a straight seam down now.  I can't focus on it too much.  I have so much to do to prepare for the Freedom Festival!




This week is children's week.  If I finish early enough I'll start on earrings.

And so it goes!

I finally completed a new Rasta Drawstring Tam!  It goes great with the Rasta earrings and I loved working with the drop double crochet stitch.

I will place this for sale soon on my artfire site!

Projects

Crochet Rasta Earrings.  I've made similar ones before but now I make the circles differently.  They hang about 3.5 inches and are about an inch in diameter.

Pink Elegance Earrings from the previous post.  They are about 2.5 inches long and in diameter.

Rasta Earrings.  I used a unique pattern to create these circles earrings.  They are about 2.5 inches long and in diameter.

I am presently working on a matching hat that will also feature a unique pattern.

Earth Goddess Crochet Earrings with Cowrie shells.  This is an original design that goes along with my Queen series. 






The basketweave purse is still a work in progress.  Here is what I have done so far:

 All of the pieces together.

I'll be finished by the end of the week.  This is for my mom :-). 

New Artfire Item!

I have a new item in my artfire:  The Earth Goddess Crochet Rasta Tam/Slouch Hat with Matching Earrings!

When I saw the green yarn I had to buy it!  It was a near perfect match for this beautiful jade green yarn I had purchased in NC last year.  I substituted the faces I normally use for a cowrie shell.  It features a drawstring cap to make the tam adjustable with cowrie cord stops. I absolutely love the earrings.  They were originally done like the hat but the green and brown were too similar so I did them like this.





I was working on a few other projects also.  Here is my long list (pictures to come later):

*   A thread crochet halter dress (I'll probably make it a top since my progress has been so slow).
*   A thread crochet top (the yarn is really fun!) 
*   A basketweave purse.  I was originally following a pattern, however I deviated away from it so much I ended up with something new!  I'll post the purse and maybe the pattern later.
*   A knit circular shrug.  I don't knit much and this project is a prime example as to why not.  I knit very slowly because it bores me after awhile.  I'm a little over halfway done so I am trying to find the inspiration to finish it.
*  A knit leg warmer set.  This is a more interesting project because it includes some techniques beyond knit and purl.  I've had to restart three times because of twisted stitches...they will be really nice once I get going.
*   A crochet H.  I made this for my kindergarten baby's teacher and didn't take a picture before I gave it to her.  I have to work on a crochet M pillow next for her other teacher.
*   Various crochet earrings.

The pink pair are one of the newer pairs that I have made.  The ankh ones were made a long time ago.  My niece commandeered my last pink ones.  These feature beautiful pink glass beads and swarovski's crystals.

Various projects

Remember Thing-A-Day?  Well even though I haven't posted I have worked on a "thing-a-day" consistently.  Between drawing, crocheting, knitting, and writing I have definitely kept up the crafty spirit of the "thing-a-day" mission.

That being said I have several things I have been doing.

First of all, stitchmarkers!

I did these amber stitchmarkers.  Stitchmarkers come in handy when you are working on big projects so I always like having several handy.

Letter stitchmarkers.  I would have made one that said crochet; however I couldn't get all of the beads to fit on my head pin.  I love these.

I ran out of things to do, obviously.  I've been knitting (or attempting to knit) lately so these seemed appropriate.  Funny I haven't done one single purl as my project called for a garter stitch.







Well here is my knit project:

I am making an earring holder.  I have an empty black frame that would make a great earring holder.  Crochet isn't too conducive (in my opinion) to being a holder without employing some kind of mesh pattern and those tend to be a distraction from the earrings.


I tried but got really irritated of the stitches so I cut it off early.

I placed some earrings on it to see how it would look.  I'm happy with it.  I nailed it to the back for lack of a better idea of how to get it on there.







I made one commissioned hat from the Saturday before last that I will deliver to the customer this weekend.  I also did this project.  I won't post for the sake of keeping my blog g-rated lol.  I may work on a swimsuit in the future. 

Ongoing projects

This is the crochet hook holder that I had worked on.  It is much better in cotton and sturdier.  I will probably make another one...it took roughly an hour or so to make it.  The pattern?  I just made a sc rectangle with a shell border on three sides, a long chain with a cowrie shell attached to the end for the enclosure...can't get any simpler than that.

 I made this crochet mesh cap.  Since this was a practice one I made it for myself to at least see where I can  improve it.  The ribbed brim really stretches so I will probably make less rows than 72.  I did this in a 4 (G) hook which works fine...I think I will want more slouch in the future so I'll probably just change the hook size for the body or add more rows for longer hair.  It's cooler than a hat.  Will I sell them in my artfire?  Maybe once I improve the pattern.   I will make a few more tams.  I am interested in doing another Africa tam with a drawstring and the older style brims I used to do.








I am working on some baby koalas.  I received a call towards the end of March from my alma mater.  They want to renovate the freshman dorm and quite frankly that renovation was long overdue.  I offered to donate my baby koalas with purple scarves and two C's embroidered into them to the college surcie shop with all the proceeds going to support renovating the freshman dorm.  Koalas are the school's mascot.  The director of alumnae affairs loved the idea so I'm going to meet with her next week about it. 


I attended the Columbia College senior show yesterday.  It was a great show.  I spoke with my old professors and some of the students that I knew.  I finally picked up a package from one of them that I was supposed to have gotten nearly a year ago.  Well I don't make it over there very often, the college is not near where I live or work.  The kids always love going to shows not for the art but for the food.  Can't much blame them though lol.

Last weekend we had taken them to the Columbia International Festival.  They thoroughly enjoyed that.    I hadn't been to one since high school so I was looking forward to it also.  We were given passports at the door and had to visit the exhibits to get signatures or stamps from the representatives there.

 This was a Native American show that took place on the center stage.

 Isn't this a gorgeous crochet hat?  This was at the South African exhibit.  I love the stitch.

The picture to the right was the Turkey exhibit.

 To the left is part of the Phillippines exhibit and the picture to the right is from the Mexico exhibit.

This picture shows the kids with the Chinese panda.  It was really cute.  There was a little girl, no more than four or five, that was signing the passports for China.  When she signed my six year old's my six year old told her "thank you" in Mandarin Chinese.  Boy was that little girl surprised!  There was a gorgeous parrot at the Australia exhibit.  It was pink and light gray and I had never seen one like it.  A beautiful bird.  So many interesting items and great people.  We even got to see the parade of countries.  We had a great time.

What have I been up to?

Well I'm still crafting, slowly but surely.  I did another crochet hook case, this time in cotton with no pockets.  It holds all of my hooks (over 20) with room to spare for 13 more + stitchmarkers.  I did a few ACEOs the other night while watching Hancock and placed them for sale on ebay.  ACEOs are art cards, editions and originals and are 2.5 inches by 3.5 inches. 

I Want Some!  I had some new gouache paint I wanted to try out...I can't say I am pleased with them.  They were more opaque than transparent unlike the other gouache I used to use so I am on the fence about them.

Lunch!

Peekaboo!

Peaceful Reflections.

The Stalker.

Curiosity.  This one is a little older---I completed this in May of 2010 and for some reason kept him around.

Here is a portfolio piece I am working on.  I was cleaning (hence the scattered supplies) around my workspace.  This is far more complete now.  These hands are drawn from life which limits my time that I worked on them (I only do life drawing from natural light).  My portfolio work is a far cry different from my ACEO work to the point where there is a definite style divergence. This piece is part of a series that is going to consists of 2d and 3d work.  It kind of segues from my previous series, Lost Within, and touches down on psychological aspects of the Black experience in America more so than the spiritual which is the primary catalyst for the Lost Within series.

This is some old work.  All of these are ACEOs except the woman and child.  That is 5 x 7 inches.

I probably won't sell on ebay for awhile now.  It's been over 3 months since I last sold and I'm not pleased with some new changes they have implemented since then. The final value fee now applies to postage, too. They are doing this to stop people overcharging for shipping. Now we would have to put up postage to cover these fees. If we charge free shipping, then PayPal takes it as price of item, and we pay more fees there, too.  This mean we as sellers have to counter this with an increase in our prices for the buyers.   I understand they want to discourage sellers overpricing shipping but I wish they had kept this change to the problematic areas such as electronics and not art.    I wish I could find another market for ACEOs.  So far ebay has been good to me for those.  I only sold one on Etsy (over the course of 2.5 years) and haven't really seen anywhere else where the art has flourished.  I will probably just start doing swaps and selling the prints I have left over to test the waters in my artfire.