oh i know. i have not been very good at keeping up with this blog, ever since i started the new one where i write about more varied and personal things other than my art/craft life.

it’s also been a fairly slow time for said art/craft life. post-holidays through mardi gras is always slow [...]]]>

oh i know. i have not been very good at keeping up with this blog, ever since i started the new one where i write about more varied and personal things other than my art/craft life.

it’s also been a fairly slow time for said art/craft life. post-holidays through mardi gras is always slow for me, since i don’t really make anything that is mardi gras-focused and the weather is usually crappy enough to keep me from any of the outdoor markets (and from wanting to work on making new stuff outdoors). i’ve had a slow-but-steady trickle of etsy orders, and did get a little bit of a boost from the publicity mentioned in the previous post. but it’s not been anything close to “normal” levels of business. it’s been beyond slow, really.

but here we are in mid-march (how did that happen?). mardi gras is over and st. patrick’s is tomorrow, with st. joseph’s day hot on its heels this weekend. the weather has been absolutely gorgeous for a few weeks; perfect new orleans springtime, with loads of sunshine and temps in the 60s and 70s. (apologies to all the northerners who have still been dealing with winter up until now.) i have been riding my scooter and bicycle a lot, and taking daily walks in city park for exercise, while enjoying the outdoors as much as possible.

i don’t, however, think i’ll be doing a lot of outdoor markets anytime soon. i’m just not making enough money at them to justify the ever-increasing booth fees. the only two i have on my calendar right now are on april 2nd, i’m helping miss malaprop out at the picayune street fair in picayune, mississippi… and then on april 16th i will be at tulane’s crawfest. the picayune street fair is actually a weekend-long event but i think i’m only going up on saturday, unless sales are just so good i can’t stay away on sunday. and crawfest is an annual treat for me; i’ve been doing it for years and it’s one of my favorites, due to the excellent music and all-you-can-eat crawfish!

i am starting to get back outside working on new stuff, though. and i’ll be stocking up for my friend jen’s annual funky lil’ art show in her home during jazzfest, which is just around the corner now. the opening for that will be april 22nd and i’ll have more info on that as it draws nearer. but you should put it on your calendar now to either come to the opening or remember to stop by her place on your way out of jazzfest any night so you can pick up some awesome, reasonably-priced local art and craft. she’s got an ecclectic array of creative friends and there’s always a party going on over there during jazzfest.

that’s about it for now. just a little hello to let you know i’m still here. still making stuff. still selling stuff. still available for custom commissions. and one-color t-shirt runs if it’s simple enough. and if you want to keep up with all my latest creations, bookmark my etsy shop and also my flickr page. i might not always think to make a blog post about things but i almost always take photos of anything i make and post it to flickr.

happy spring everyone!

well surprise, surprise. just when i thought the arty-crafty biz was in the shitter… suddenly, without me even really trying much, stuff is selling. (thank you, universe!) i put very little effort into marketing this holiday, i made very little “new” stuff (i made some bottlecap signs and a handful of clocks and printed [...]]]>

well surprise, surprise. just when i thought the arty-crafty biz was in the shitter… suddenly, without me even really trying much, stuff is selling. (thank you, universe!) i put very little effort into marketing this holiday, i made very little “new” stuff (i made some bottlecap signs and a handful of clocks and printed some scarves, but no new designs), and i only had 3 markets in december. but all the markets turned out pretty ok, especially last night’s “last stop shop” which was actually pretty great. we had a lot of fun and a good crowd and for the first time in a long while, i sold lots of stuff! it was nice and reassuring.

and then today, i’ve had a big sale on etsy – the last of my rachel maddow stencil paintings, which i’d basically given up on selling and hung on my own wall, FINALLY SOLD (along with a clock in the same order) – and have had a few custom orders via email come in. and there’s still a week left before christmas, so i think i’m gonna put a little effort into trying to list everything i’ve got left up on etsy and maybe even craigslist, to see how much i can get rid of.

see, i think the key to me finding new inspiration is to GET RID OF ALL THE OLD STUFF that’s cluttering up my view. i have this problem, in that, i actually LIKE much of what i make – and really, most of the things i make and sell started as something i made for myself, to decorate with, to wear, or to give as a gift to someone i love. and then i started making more of them. but so, i often end up decorating my own house with some of the things i make, making them hard to let go of… and also, making it hard to come up with new ideas. maybe it doesn’t make any sense to anyone else, but i have often found, when i don’t have much of my own work around, then it makes me want to come up with new stuff. but whenever i have lots of it still around – like now – it’s harder to feel inspired. instead i feel defeated because so much of my stuff hasn’t sold, like nobody actually likes or wants it, besides me.

so yeah. hopefully the universe – and shopping friends and strangers alike – will help me get rid of more of the current inventory, so i can start fresh in the new year, and hopefully find some new inspiration for new creativity. but between now and christmas (and probably new year’s), i’m just gonna try really hard to sell what i’ve got. (i will of course always make custom orders, if someone wants something i don’t have in stock – a different color of clock or sign or whatever. just ask!)

anyways. big thanks to all who have been supportive – either by purchasing stuff, recommending me to others, or even just offering encouraging words – this holiday season. it really means a lot to me. and apparently it’s helping!

happy holidays, y’all.

and remember, i do custom work also… so if there’s a [...]]]> freretstivus market, that is. TODAY! noon til 5pm – i will be there. come enjoy the beautiful day before we get more nasty weather tomorrow. and don’t forget about the last stop shop at the big top on thursday, 6-10pm (1638 clio street).

and remember, i do custom work also… so if there’s a clock or sign design you like, i can make it in your favorite color combo and have it done in plenty of time for christmas. i even have some blank scarf material in stock and could print up the scarf of your choice. so don’t be shy – just ask!

happy holiday shopping, y’all.

it feels like the pace of my life has picked up considerably in the past week or so. every [...]]]> the anticipation of moving is just about killing me. i can start moving in on the 10th, though i’m paying rent on iberville until the 20th (my 30 days notice). the days can’t move fast enough.

it feels like the pace of my life has picked up considerably in the past week or so. every day feels hectic now. i’ve started to pack up, though not terribly quickly. but the boxes are starting to pile up in corners. fae is completely moved out with the small exception of a few storage boxes in our walk-in closet, which we will get to some day in the next week or so. the house is, therefore, half empty. it feels very weird still being here, trying to maintain my routine and schedule in a half-empty, partially-packed up apartment. the cats are very confused and a little freaked out, particularly when my landlord brings people through looking at the apartment.

and, i must be crazy, but i somehow got talked into doing the freret market this saturday. i haven’t done a market probably since freret back in march or april (can’t remember, but it’s been a long time), and i haven’t really made anything new since then either. i’ve been in a creative funk. so i’ve had all this stock that i made in the spring, thinking that i was gonna stay on top of sales and stay well stocked and maybe start getting some into stores, just sitting around gathering dust. so i’m making this market a clearance sale. if you like my stuff and want to stock up for holiday gifts, now would be a good time to swing by and grab some stuff. make me a REASONABLE offer on anything and i won’t refuse. i need money for moving, and i also really don’t want to move more than i have to… so if i can liquidate some stock, less stuff to move!

i’m gonna have a $3 bargain bin of tshirts, ties, tanks, shorts, pants, and any other printed apparel i can find. cufflinks are gonna be $10. and signs and clocks and prints will be at least $5-$10 off. really – make me an offer on anything. i just want to move product.

and, just so you know… i’m thinking of not making the clocks anymore. i’m kind of tired of them, and there are now several copy-cats around town making other sorts of record clocks and selling them for way less, therefore glutting the market. i will still make custom orders – like if you just really gotta have a black and gold fleur de lis clock or blue nola heart or red scoot clock, fine, i’ll hook you up – but i’m just so tired of lugging all the boxes around and having to store so much inventory. SO… all this is to say, i’ve got about 30-40 clocks of various sizes/designs/colors left, but when they are gone, that’s it. come out to freret market on saturday, noon til 5pm, and get ‘em while they last.

one last thing – and those of you who follow me on facebook will already know this – but i’m selling one of my folk art chairs from my early days (pic below). it was always one of my favorite chairs i decorated – i used to comb the thrift and furniture stores for wooden chairs with good lines and not much paint/varnish that i could strip and then custom paint in my then-geometric folk art style. this one’s a little woo-woo goddessy, but i still love the colors and the paint job has held up remarkably well for being 17 years old! one of a kind and a mags original! i’m saying $125 but really, if you like it, make me an offer. i really just don’t have space for this in my new place and i think it’s time it found a new home.

i love the bayou boogaloo. for all the years i was away in kentucky post-federal-flood, i was so sad i could never seem to make it here during memorial day weekend (too soon after jazzfest) so i could partake – either as a vendor or just a mid-citizen – in the boogaloo. i mean, [...]]]>

i love the bayou boogaloo. for all the years i was away in kentucky post-federal-flood, i was so sad i could never seem to make it here during memorial day weekend (too soon after jazzfest) so i could partake – either as a vendor or just a mid-citizen – in the boogaloo. i mean, come on – a music festival in my own neighborhood! (well i guess an argument could be made that jazzfest is also a music festival in my own neighborhood, but the boogaloo is more of a community, grassroots event, and even closer to where i live than the fairgrounds.) last year, i was FINALLY able to participate as a vendor, and it was glorious. so much fun, so many sales (thanks everyone!), and so great to see so many of my mid-city neighbors!

this year, i have been looking forward to the boogaloo for months. the new orleans craft mafia is again, like last year, offering a free t-shirt recycling workshop adjacent to the kid’s tent, in the “eco” area of the festival. (see the festival map below.) we’ll be out there both saturday and sunday – saturday from noon til 5pm, and sunday from 1-4pm – teaching people how to make tote bags, halter tops and other fun stuff out of old t-shirts, with a minimal amount of sewing. we have a good stash of donated t-shirts already, but we’re still accepting donations – just bring ‘em on out to the fest and throw ‘em in our bin. if you don’t have any t-shirts to work with, don’t worry – we got ya covered. oh, and at the end of the weekend, we’ll have a little fashion show at 5pm on sunday for you to strut your stuff with your new creations, too!

so yeah. i’ve been looking forward to it. but at the same time, freaking out… because a) i had a really successful jazzfest show at jen’s and sold a lot of t-shirts and signs – which is good, yay for money and sales, but also has left me with not as many of the signs and t-shirts i would like to have to sell at the boogaloo; and b) i started this census job that has been kicking my ass! it’s been a long time since i had any kind of “real” job (meaning worked a job outside of my own house), and it’s been a hard adjustment getting used to both that aspect as well as the strange start/stop nature of census work. for example, on any given day, i: have a daily meeting at 9am for a half hour; might go out to make rounds on a new block i’ve been assigned in the morning for a couple of hours; come home for lunch; spend an hour or so going over all the paperwork from the morning to make sure i have it all correct; go back out to a different block for 2nd or 3rd or 4th rounds, trying to find folks who weren’t home the first time; come home again to cool off and do paperwork; go back out in the early evening trying to catch folks coming home from work who i’m having a particularly hard time trying to find; come home, eat dinner, and maybe even go back out again after dinner before dark, for the pesky hard-to-find folks. and then spend more time on paperwork when i’m home. (and then collapse!)

and all of that only got me like 6-7 hours of actual on-the-clock work. but i’ve been working since 8:45am! so it’s been a big adjustment, to say the least. and has left me little time to think about things like ordering t-shirts to print (much less finding time to actually print them), cutting/sanding/painting wood for signs, and making clocks. and, to top it all off, though i did well at jazzfest at jen’s, it’s the only good market/sale i’ve had in months, so i’ve been begging/borrowing/stealing to pay my bills and am deeply in debt… and we’ve only gotten one paycheck so far from the census. so i didn’t even have the money to invest in buying t-shirts to print, or paint to make signs, etc. (much less the booth fee for vending at the boogaloo.)

so this all came to a head on saturday night, as fae and i were hanging out at home and i was surfing the internet, trying to find some wholesale outlet that actually had the style/color of t-shirts i wanted to order (all my usual outlets were sold out of at least one size and most of them several sizes) so i could order them in time for them to actually arrive in enough time to be able to print them… and i realized, what am i doing? i don’t even have the money to pay for these. nor do i have the money to pay for my booth. and even if i could scrape that up, there’s no guarantee that i’d make it back… just because i sold a lot of 70119 t-shirts last year at the boogaloo doesn’t mean i will this year. sales at markets has SUCKED overall so far in 2010, so why would the boogaloo be any different?

and, as an aside, i have been wracking my brain trying to come up with an oil disaster related design, which i thought might be the biggest seller due to the timing, but i haven’t even been able to find the time to work on coming up with that. (and even if i did, i’d be donating the proceeds to the gulf restoration network, so it wouldn’t be something i’d be making money off of. which i still really want to do, but, it was just one more piece of the puzzle that wasn’t coming together for me.)

so. all of a sudden, it came to me. i can’t do the boogaloo. i can’t afford it, i don’t have inventory, and i don’t have time to think about it. and the second i started thinking about not doing it, i instantly felt relief. i immediately posted something on my facebook page, and thought i was done with it. i slept better and the next few days i didn’t think anything about it. it was actually really nice. sad, but also stress-relieving.

and then yesterday, my friend rachelle offered to share her booth with me, which was so sweet. i thought about refusing, but then i figured if i don’t really need to spend any time making stuff and i just take what i’ve got and make as much fit as i can in part of rachelle’s booth, around her stuff, then it doesn’t have to be stressful and maybe i’ll still make a little money anyways. and i always have fun hanging out with rachelle at markets – we almost always set up next to each other. so thanks, rachelle.

so now i am once again doing the bayou boogaloo. and of course, i am going to try to make a few signs this week, maybe a few 70119 clocks. but i’ll only have a literal handful of t-shirts, and a weird assortment of clocks and signs and cufflinks… and that’s it. not a big effort. but at least i’ll be there.

hope to see y’all there!

with everything that’s been going on lately (jen’s art show, crawfest, alternative media expo, etc.), i’m a little late on the draw getting the word out about this fun earth day event that the new orleans craft mafia is doing. but better late than never, right?

so what is it? well, some of you [...]]]>

with everything that’s been going on lately (jen’s art show, crawfest, alternative media expo, etc.), i’m a little late on the draw getting the word out about this fun earth day event that the new orleans craft mafia is doing. but better late than never, right?

so what is it? well, some of you may recall at last year’s bayou boogaloo that the craft mafia did a free t-shirt recycling workshop/demo in the eco-village of the festival. we ran sewing machines on solar power and taught festival-goers how to modify t-shirts into things like halter tops, skirts and tote bags. we were SOOOO incredibly busy, beyond our wildest expectations. the lines were steady all day and people were excited to learn how to reconstruct old garments into something new. we got a great write-up in the times-picayune, a spot on abc26′s morning show a few weeks later, and we recycled a whole helluva lot of t-shirts that weekend!

we’ve been wanting to do more of that kind of educational outreach, so we decided that there was no better way to celebrate earth day than to offer another t-shirt recycling workshop. we’ve partnered up with whole foods market uptown (5600 magazine street), and we’ll be out front on their outdoor patio starting at 11am, setting up our handmade and eco-friendly wares for sale… and then at 1pm, we will begin offering recycling sessions throughout the afternoon, showing shoppers how to turn their old t-shirts into fashionable and reusable shopping totes!

the fun will continue until 6pm, hopefully catching both the lunch and dinner/after-work crowds. whole foods will have some other activities and specials going on inside the store, and will also have buckets out to collect bottlecaps, jar lids and other such items that crafters like us utilize in their recycled wares. we will also be accepting t-shirt donations for this and other upcoming t-shirt recycling demos around town. so please drop off your recyclables to us on earth day!

the weather is forecast to be lovely, so consider it your warm-up to the first weekend of jazz fest. and of course, it’s never too early to start thinking about gifts for mom for mother’s day, which is coming up really soon (may 9th!). so drop by if you’re in the neighborhood and tell yer friends!

edited to add:

here’s a list of other things going on at whole foods uptown for earth day:

Earth Day Festivities 12 pm to 4 pm:

**Green Light NOLA – info on energy efficient lighting, sign-up for free bulb replacement
**New Orleans Food & Farm Network – free seed give-away, compost display & how to’s, gardening advice
**Re-Cork Info, Cork Collecting, Cork Craft Design Contest
**RePax Reuseable Bag Vendor – bringing in the “plastic bag monster,” a huge sumo wrestler type costume of used plastic bags, contest to name it and collection of used plastic shopping bags.
**Let’s Retake Our Plates info table with giveaways & plate graffiti
**Green Product Giveaways
**RE-purposing NOLA Piece by Peace – recycled fabric from local hotel renovations turned into Jazz Fest pants & sarongs, burlap coffee sack bags

last friday, i dropped off a fresh batch of clocks to my friend erica at tulane’s in exchange shop. if you’re on tulane’s campus, you should check that shop out. not [...]]]> i’ve been making clock faces and signs like crazy this past week, in anticipation of my big weekend ahead. tis the busy spring season!

last friday, i dropped off a fresh batch of clocks to my friend erica at tulane’s in exchange shop. if you’re on tulane’s campus, you should check that shop out. not only do they have an astonishing inventory of defend new orleans t-shirts (apparently they are part of the tulane undergraduate uniform), but erica stocks lots of local artists and crafters work as well as fair trade items from makers around the world. she’s got lots of cool stuff there. even if you don’t have a reason to be on tulane’s campus, checking out all her unique inventory is a good excuse to stop in. it’s located in the student center on the quad side – there’s a map on her website. (and keep an eye out for in exchange out at the congo square crafts area at jazz fest!)

yesterday, i dropped off a bunch of my stuff to my friend jen, who for the past several years has hosted a fun, funky little art show in her living room during the two weeks of jazz fest. she lives over near the fairgrounds, close enough to catch a lot of the entering/exiting traffic to/from the fest, and knows a gazillion people, many of whom make a point of dropping in to sit a spell on her multicolored porch during and after the festivities. it was a brilliant idea when she conceived it, and i’m so grateful she continues to host the show every year in her home.

this year, the artist count is up to 17, the most yet. some folks might only have one piece in it (larger stuff), but many have lots of smaller pieces, all of which take up every available inch of space on her living room walls. this year, i have a few clocks, a nice array of signs and some skull and 70119 t-shirts for sale there. the opening for the show is this friday evening from 6-9pm, and then the show will remain up through both weekends of jazz fest. (but it’s good to go to the opening, as all the best pieces always get sold that first night!) leave me a comment if you want an invite to the opening on friday or need to know her address. (since it’s in her home, i don’t want to broadcast her address over the internet, but am happy to let interested parties know on an individual basis.)

wednesday, i’ll be helping out my craft mafiosas, stuffing our fashionable new tote bags (pictured above) with all kinds of free swag from indie businesses around the city and country, which will be given out to the first 100 paid attendees of the alternative media expo this saturday. the new orleans craft mafia is a co-sponsor of the event, and this year’s swag bags are gonna be the best yet (and in high demand)! we’ve got all manner of stickers, buttons, product samples (jewelry, tiny art, books, etc.) and other cool promotional items to fill them with. so definitely get there early so you can get a swag bag. you’re gonna be bummed if you miss it.

sadly, i will not be vending at the alternative media expo this year. i love that event and usually do participate, but this year it’s occurring on the same day as tulane’s crawfest event, which was very lucrative (and fun!) for me last year. i had to make a tough business decision and decided to do crawfest. so though i will miss being with everyone at the alternative media expo, i’m hoping for great weather and huge crowds at crawfest. they’ve got an AMAZING musical line-up (dirty dozen brass band, jon cleary, the radiators, trombone shorty, and more!) and 16,000 pounds of crawfish! the event itself is free and the crawfish is free with a tulane student i.d. ($10 for all you can eat for everyone else). last year was a beautiful day on the quad so i’m looking forward to another one just like it. friends rachelle (of greenkangaroo) and christeen (avantegarb) will both be out there too, so stop by and say hello if you make it over there.

if i manage to get out of crawfest before it’s over (it goes til 9pm, but last year we packed up as it was getting dark), i’m gonna try to make it to the big easy rollergirls‘ bout that night, too. they are taking on the hard knox rollergirls of knoxville, tn – a formidable opponent. advance tickets available through their website, or you can pay at the door for a few more bucks, too. it’s always a good time out there. i just hope i have the energy to make it there after my long day!

by sunday, i’m going to just want to pass out! but i better rest up, cuz the following two weekends are jazz fest! oh goodness. well, it’s all in the pacing, my friends. happy spring everyone!