More art fair news...

Yesterday I went to the Kunstmarkt in Sittard, Netherlands. It was a beautiful day outside and I really looked forward to meet people face to face & talk with them.
My friend Esther was excited to come with me and help me out. We had a lovely day setting up the stall, talking with people about the '99-feelings'-project, enjoying a ray of sunshine, chatting in between and vegging out on the couch in front of a movie in the evening.
I must say: Esther is just a real professional - she got instant promotion! LOL
It was not as busy at the fair but we had some lovely chats with people who were really interested in my work.
The most remarkable thing I found was that kids were so taken by all the feelings trying to guess which feeling was which. At one point, I heard a 9-year old girl say to her mom 'look mom, that's feeling empty' while pointing to the feeling empty. No need to say that I loved that! :)
Since it was not so busy, I had a chance to walk around and capture some impressions...

Me sanding a few piggy banks...

My friend Esther.

I loved this bird cage of my neighbor's stall. She made beautiful illustrations and I hope to see her on Etsy soon! :) Too bad I forgot to take pictures of her illustration work.

I love it when people show their processes to the public.
She made beautiful felt creations.

Here is one of them...

These girls were very eager to pimp your clothes.
Only I didn't bring a spare set!

I loved them demonstrating & to see all the ribbon, charms, paints,... they use to do the pimping.

I'm always happy when I see a little area where kiddies can art their heart out...

This creation was bare wood at the beginning of the fair & it was completely pimped by the end of the day. Fun!

This guy sat right behind us so we could see the spray process clearly.
He must have a very visual memory to make the lion look so real.

I had a terrific day yesterday & I'm looking forward to my next fair in the Modemuseum (the fashion museum) in my hometown on the 13th of September.

How to color clay?

Sometimes it's fun to work with clay in a different color. Clay however does not come naturally in many different colors so you can color it yourself with pigments or body stains.
For the European Streetteam challenge I wanted to make some bats so I needed black clay & decided to make it myself.
Here is what you need:
Black body stain, a mask, a scale, gloves, white/grey clay, paper

Weigh the amount of clay you want to color.

Put a piece of paper on your scale and weigh the amount of body stain you want to add.
For black I use more then other colors because I want to make sure it's really black and not a greyish black. I used 4 grams to 200 grams.

Put on your gloves and make a little bowl out of your lump of clay.
(my apologies for the bad quality of these pictures)

Put the body stain in the little bowl.

Fold the bowl close and start kneading carefully so that not too much body stain falls out.

When the clay starts getting too dry, add a bit of water and knead well so that the body stain really mixes with the clay.

This is how it looks when it's ready to use.

Clay dries out really fast, so I usually hold it in a plastic bag and I wrap the part that I'm working with in a damp cloth.

I use a mould that I made to make the bats.
Take a little clay and press it into the mould.

Make sure that it's filled up nicely.

Take a piece of moist clay and press it onto the filled mould and 'pull' the bat out.

I think it came out nicely.

Hey look, small and big ones! :)

And here is how they look when they are fired.
Hey, they turned out grey instead of black! :(
I definately need to use more black body stain next time.
Well, that's what experimenting is all about! :)

Do you want to see how the colored glaze came out? Check it out here! :)

Dream in progress... part 9

Last week picked up my weekly progress posts on my Babette blanket. Initially I thought it a good idea to share my progress via my blog 'cause that would make me actually have something to show. This week I feel embarrassed as I only managed to crochet one 6-round square and start another one. I need 16 squares in total and I really hope that I won't be showing one each week in my progress posts! I started another one this morning so hopefully I have a bit more to show next week! :)

More fairs

Last sunday I got a request if I would be able to attend an artfair in Sittard. It was a bit short notice but since I have a lot of stock now I decided to go.
During the weekend, lots of festivities will be happening in and around the city.
If you are around or near Sittard, Netherlands, here is a link with a bit more information.

Apart from that, I have another fair on the 13th of September which is 'open monuments day'.
It is a day that lots of monuments and musea have open doors so they are easy accesible for everyone. During this day, the Modemuseum Hasselt will host a fair of handmade goodies.
Feel free to come and say hello if you are in the neighborhood! :)

My creative space

I want to participate in the weekly European Streetteam challenge and need black clay for that. So that's why I will be coloring the clay and at the same time take some snapshots to show you later how to do it. This tutorial will be posted sometime next week because I want to show the result when it's fired. The theme for the challenge is 'fall' and is hosted by Sumikoshop.
Can you guess what I'll be making?
Want to show your creative space? Hop over to Kootoyoo's to play! It's fun! :)

I also would like to apoligize for not being able to keep up with my blogroll. It seems not possible to juggle it all I'm afraid. I do miss having time to read all the colorful, happy, yummy & fun blogs so I hope that soon I can find the peace and quiet again to do a major catch up.

Did you know that fresh flowers make me happy?
That's why I always put them on our weekly shopping list! :)

How to make colored glaze?

The easiest way to get a glaze is buy a ready made one in your ceramic supply shop. For those who like to experiment a bit more, you can mix 'em yourself.
That's what I often do. It's a bit more work but it's cheaper and the surprise is bigger when you open the kiln! :)
I never tried to make a red glaze yet so I decided to try if it would work with red iron oxide.
Here is what you need:
Transparant glaze powder (also that you can make yourself but at the moment I use ready made), oxide/pigments/stains, a sieve with a very small mesh, water, containers with a tight lid, a protective mask, a brush, a spoon, some paper and a scale.I usually make small amounts so I can make a test tile first. Weigh 100gr of transparant glaze powder.
Then add pigments, body stains or oxides. All three have a different effect on the color. While the result of pigments or body stains are more obvious, the use of oxides is less predictable. So sample tiles are in order before making large amounts.
I usually take 3 or 5 grams to 100 grams of transparant glaze. For the red glaze I'm trying to make right now, I'm going to use red ironoxide and I take 10 grams to 100 grams of glaze because I'm afraid that I will get a pink result if I use less.
Put a piece of paper on your scale and weigh the pigment, body stain or oxide on the paper.
Then add the color to the glaze.
Add water & mix the glaze.
Then put the glaze through the sieve in a container. Using the sieve prevents lumps and makes sure that the color is mixed well with the glaze. I use my brush to push it through the sieve.
When you're done, write a label on your container so you know what you mixed.
Then make a sample tile and fire it. If it's too dark, add more glaze to it or a bit of tin oxide (which makes it lighter).
This is the result when it's fired... ouch, not quite what I had in mind! LOL
More experimenting is in order for sure! :)

Flickr Favorites

1. The Wound, 2. The hill of rabbits, 3. paper work, 4. falling apart...

I have a weakness for paper: Japanese paper, printed paper, colored paper, folded paper, cut paper,... but most especially plain, white paper. It has something pure and fragile. I also love my cutter & scissors. They are among the most used utensils in my workspace.
Paper art is beautiful, don't you think?

If you like to play this week, make your mosaic and add a link to your blogpost (not your blog please) or Flickr in Mister Linky (click on the button below and fill in your name with the link to your blogpost or Flickr picture). I'll pop over to have a look at yours. Can't wait to see your creations and find new favorites! :)

It's my Etsyversary

Two years ago, I discovered Etsy by chance while browsing the web. I remember that I was astonished by all the talent that I found looking through the handmade goodies.

I decided to sign up on the 12th of August and thought 'I might open a shop sometime in future'.
Well, that didn't take long 'cause 12 days later I opened my shop and the next day I had my first sale! Woohoo! I still remember that feeling of unbelieve after the first sale - ahhh felt so good!

After a while I discovered the European Streetteam on a forum thread on Etsy. We speak creative English 'cause for most of us, English is not our first language and we just chat about anything. It felt so good to meet like minded people and soon the team became my virtual friends. That's a very tricky thing to explain to people in real life so often I don't even attempt to explaining what kind of bond people can have virtually...

And now I can't really believe that I already have my shop two years! Time to celebrate. Please have some virtual cake and bubbles AND...

From today until the 1st of September I will give
a free set of postcards
with every purchased mini-art-feeling.

New magnets

While I was preparing for the fair, I thought it would be nice to make some magnets. After all, the mini-art-feelings are all white so it's nice to work with some color for a change.
I decided to make some flowers and babuschka shapes in happy colors.
I photographed them yesterday and put them in my shop. I think they look superfun.

Dream in progress... part 8

It's about 2 months ago since I posted my last picture about the Babette blanket. I have still not much more to show you but I wanted to let you know that I will pick up where I left it.
I got some more yarn & have missed crocheting a lot so I hope that this combination will make sure I can show my progress again... This is what I got so far...I also want to show you some goodies that I got at the Craftparking fair last week. Just because... How sweet! :) Thank you FleurFatale, DinaFragola & Viltalakim.And this is what was inside:
I jumped about half a meter high when I saw the beautiful cat brooch that FleurFatale gave me. I lost the first one that I got from her and she made me a new one - and I love it just as much! And if that was not enough yet, she also added another one - I love the colorcombo's that Fleur uses!
I think I will have to hide the 'kitsch it yourself'-kit from DinaFragola when my nieces visit 'cause they will love it!
And last but not least two beautiful felted soaps from Viltalakim. Too bad you can't smell 'em 'cause they smell divine!
Are you curious what was in my 'I read your blog'-goodybag? Have a look at Fleur's blog to see what was inside! :)