ArtMind

Feeling light/hope

2012-01-29T08:43:00.005+01:00

A lovely customer asked me a long time ago to create a hope feeling. Back then, I found it really difficult to depict hope and well, we never got to a point that we were both satisfied with the outcome of the ideas. About a month ago, the customer returned and asked me the same question and suggested that the feeling could hold a candle light or something. I loved the idea of a light but since the feelings are hand-less, it's hard to place a candle in there of course so I suggested that I could place a candle inside the feeling and add about a zillion of different size holes in the feeling for the light/hope to spread. She loved the idea so I set to work...See, there is no bottom, its just big enough for the tea light.And here it's in it's unfired but 'light/hope' mode...
A feeling is never really ready until it's fired and reveals it's pretty white color.
I love how this turned out - might need to make one for myself too...

The making of... love

2012-01-27T06:00:00.005+01:00

The making of love is not very hard but applying clay to clay is just a tad bit more tricky then taking away clay and takes time and patience. For the heart, I roll out a very thin slab of clay to cut out the heart. I use a heart cookie cutter but because I find that hart a bit too long, I cut away a piece so that the heart is 'rounder' at the bottom. Then I roughen the place where the heart is placed and the back of the heart and add clay slib so that it's 'glued' together. I finish the edges with a wet paintbrush.

Eén vierkante meter

2012-01-23T08:25:00.007+01:00

logo by Karen Vandelaer

For those who don't speak Dutch, the blog title says '1 square meter'. It's a new concept that I started up a while ago. I found an accomplice that is just as enthousiast as I am and we both set to work and hope that it will be a succes. Her name is Annemiek from TwoTreesWorld. She's also a ceramicist and loves anything handmade and special.

We felt it was time for something different on the fair/market scene. Instead of trying to take as much as you can, we thought it would be fun to take as little as possible. Just the very best of what you have and spread it out on one square meter. The 'less is more' - principle...
Another reason to keep it small is to give new makers & artists a chance to show the best of what they have without the pressure of having to fill a few meters.
We also hope to welcome people who actually make stuff and show people what they do & how they do it. It's always great to see work processes! We would love to see dialogue and enthousiasm for anything handmade. So, a concept that is accessible and fun!

To start all of this, I felt I had to open up a Facebook account even though I'm personally not a fan of Facebook. So I made an account under '1 vierkante meter' and for a few months, I was there entirely incognito. Haha, that was fun!
But yesterday, Annemiek and I deciced it was time to give up our anonimity so if you want to be our friend, don't hesitate to friend us on Facebook, blog or Twitter.
And if you are in the area and interested in taking part in the concept of '1 vierkante meter', don't hesitate to contact us at eenvierkantemeter@gmail.com to receive an application form.

The event is on april 22th 2012 in Hasselt, Belgium.
It will be held in a beautiful industrial location and lasts from 10am till 5pm.

The making of... comfort

2012-01-21T18:46:00.005+01:00

The making of the feeling comfort is quite an ordeal. First I roll out a thin slab of clay and add squares to it. Then I roughen the feeling and put clay slib on it. I wrap a piece of the squared slab around the feeling and try to fit it nicely by cutting away parts. It's tricky to connect the parts together. It looks quite messy and it is in a way. Then I cut away the excessive clay on the bottom. I go over he 'blanket' with my clay rib to get rid of the mess I made while attaching the slab. That does make the lines go away but I go over 'em again with my knife. And then comes the most fun part: applying the 'stitches'. I love doing that.
I think I might crawl underneath my blanket now!
Have a lovely weekend everyone! :)

De la sensation

2012-01-18T08:22:00.003+01:00

image by Emmanuelle Brisson

Anastasia from l'Accent Nou send me a link yesterday saying that she felt a resemblance between this work and mine. For a moment I was afraid to click on the link as I wasn't ready to see another set of babushka feelings...

image by Emmanuelle Brisson

So I was pleasantly surprised when I saw these beautiful photograph's from Emanuelle Brisson in the series 'de la sensation'. And I must agree, they express immense feelings too - very strong and delicate at the same time.

image by Emmanuelle Brisson

I also love the series of 'can't get it out of my head'.
I strongly recommend you to check out her work, hop over to her site or to Flickr where she hangs out too. :)
Thank you, Anastasia to send me the link to this great artist!!

The making of... free

2012-01-16T08:07:00.005+01:00

Free is fun feeling to make although it can be frustrating sometimes. After I have cut the wings via a template, I smooth the edges out with a wooden tool & a wet paintbrush. This takes a while and when I work too slow, the clay dries too quickly. Then it's hard to bend it a bit at the fold and sometimes it cracks which makes me want to scream as that means that I can start all over again. After the wings are totally ready to be put on the feeling, I make scratches on the back of the wings and on the back of the feeling and add some clay slib. Then I stick it together and finish it off with a wet paintbrush.

Pay attention...

2012-01-14T07:40:00.002+01:00

Happy weekend, everyone! :)

Spring in the birdhouse

2012-01-11T17:36:00.003+01:00

We have a lime, metal birdhouse in our backyard and it fell down once and we left it on the ground for a while. Since it's metal, of course it got a bit rusty standing in the soil and some soil also ended up in the birdhouse itself. My partner loves spreading birdseeds for our feathered friends so also seeds ended up in there. And look, it's already spring for the birdies! I'm sure they'll love a bit of green in their home. :)

The making of... stress

2012-01-08T19:44:00.004+01:00

The feeling stress is partly made on the couch and partly made in my studio. For a few evenings, I roll little spikes that I keep in a container. When I have enough, I apply them to the base of the feeling. I start out with holding the feeling upside down and carefully place each spike next to each other in a bit of slib. When I nearly reach the top, the feeling is too heavy and delicate to hold. Then I place it onto my turning table directly onto a kiln shelf. That way I don't have to move the feeling anymore as it's superdelicate once it's finished.
Once 'stress' is fired, it's very firm and sturdy and it's a fun feeling to touch. :)

How to recycle clay?

2012-01-05T08:13:00.004+01:00

I've been playing with porcelain the past few days and then a lot of dried clay gets chucked into a little bowl. As long as the clay is not fired, you can still use it, even though it's dry.From the bowl, it ends up into a plastic container and I poor water over it so it gets all soggy and soft again.
Of course, in this condition, the clay is too soft so from the container it ends up on a plaster plaque that sucks the water out of the clay. I spread it out with a credit card and then scrape it off again.
When it feels all smooth again, I knead it thoroughly with my hands so that there is no air in between.
And now it's ready to use again. It's a pain to recycle clay as the process takes some time and patience but it always feels great to recycle. :)

Happy 2012

2012-01-01T14:50:00.006+01:00

It's that time of the year again to send off our New Year's wishes.
We wish you lots of surprises and that all that you wish for will come true.
We're looking forward to an exciting 2012 and hope that it will be crazy and creative and heaps of fun...

The making of... tough

2011-12-30T06:57:00.002+01:00

I've been quietly making feelings in my studio lately. At a very slow rhythm, really nice to work stressless. Tough is a fun one to make although a bit tedious to get five nicely shaped and sloping cones. When I make tough, I always make a few as it's easier to work in a serie so I get to pick the best cones per feeling.

Flickr Favorites

2011-12-27T06:34:00.002+01:00

1. hand dyed color picker, 2. Untitled, 3. pure morning, 4. Bright Pastels 2

The last mosaic of the year 2011 in my series of Flickr Favorites. It's been a fun, moving and colorful year. Searching for images is such an inspirational pasttime & I never look at it as wasted time. I hope you've enjoyed playing along or popping around at Flickr Favorite Tuesday. This will be the last Flickr Favorites too as I want to go 'pressure-less' into 2012 what my blog concerns.
So, I like to thank you for playing along all this time and hope that you'll still make mosaics and enjoy Flickr as much as I do.

Happy holidays

2011-12-23T20:32:00.003+01:00

image by Park St.

While things have been a bit quiet around here lately, I now officially want to wish you the best of holidays. May your days be filled with family, warmth and fun. And may those that can not be with you, be near in your heart.
It's been an amazing year for me and I would love to take the opportunity to thank you all for being part of my community by following my blog, supporting my work and for generally being super awesome. I'm so grateful that your support allows me to do what I love and I sure wish that 2012 will be at least equally wonderful! :)

Flickr Favorites

2011-12-20T07:45:00.000+01:00

1. handrail, 2. permanent waves,
3. reflection *past,future,present, 4. tregua armata

It's been a long time ago since I made a red and white mosaic. And with X-mas being so close, I think it's a quite appropriate color combo. I love red as a color - it's so vibrant and alive.
Do you think that these are the most used X-mas colors because of Santa's costume?

North Story - OOAK

2011-12-18T10:07:00.008+01:00

When Anna from LilaRubyKing was here in November, we did some decal work together. Anna asked me to prepare some special shapes for that. She drew the shapes and I transferred 'em onto clay and handcut 'em. The process is the same as the other pieces but hand cutting each shape makes it even lengthier. And all edges need to be kind of rounded so that it's not too sharp to wear of course. But how fun it has been to work on them together. We were ooh-ing and aah-ing the whole time while making them and it was so much fun.
They have been turned into pendants with a sterling silver chain. And best of all is that they will be one of a kind (OOAK) as the images have been applied much like a collage.A fun detail is that even though we had the same shapes and decals to use, both our work is so different. You can find the ones that I made in my shop and the ones that Anna made in her shop. I went for minimalism while Anna went for artsy. :)
Do you love 'em as much as we do?

The making of... relaxed

2011-12-15T19:30:00.006+01:00

After last weeks post of the making of the feeling sad, I though it would be fun to share some more images of how I make the feelings.
Feeling 'relaxed' is certainly one of the more tricky ones to make. It's hard to hold the feeling when I move up the layers towards the top and the edges are very vulnerable while I work on it.

Talking about feeling relaxed - ha - just what I've been doing lately. I'm taking things a bit slower and I'm really enjoying the free time I'm allowing myself.
I think it's a good time of the year to relax, don't you?
So don't worry if I'm not posting regularly these days, that means I'm either reading, knitting, sewing or doing nothing at all. I apologize for being lazy! :)

Flickr Favorites

2011-12-13T07:02:00.001+01:00

1. The Door, 2. A door and two shadows,
3. 0328 red door (hdr-cross processed), 4. The seldom-used door.

Belgians have some really weird traditions. I'm not sure that the following is a folk tradition though. Birthday's are celebrated different everywhere and here, when you turn a new decade, there is this expression 'getting a new front door'. And this is what's happening to me today.
So quite often you see a real front door in someone's front yard, and if you're friends are even crazier you see perhaps 30 or 40. Thankfully I don't have any crazy friends who would actually gift me a real frontdoor - what a relieve! I'll just celebrate this quietly, go to work today and then afterwards go out for dinner and enjoy the new number. The older we get, the wiser, right?

Knitting for dummies

2011-12-11T00:35:00.005+01:00

I'm not a good knitter. N.o.t. But when I was at Marta's home in September, I saw the knitted blanket again that I fell in love with last year. And then I knew I had to make one for myself.
After all, it's not really difficult to knit, just one row on top of the other.
Marta's blanket is massive and very loosly knitted and contained all left over yarns, so beautiful! Since I'm only a fresh yarn addict, I don't have that many left overs in my stash so I just went out to buy new balls. It's not the same but still, I can't wait till I have enough left overs...
I started this in the beginning of October so progress is really slow but the blanket is superwide - about 2,5 metres (2,75 yard) so I only do a row or 2 at a time. But it's a bit over half a meter long so I'm 1/5 of the way.
It's already cat approved and sometimes she makes it hard for me to knit as she's sitting on top of it while I'm knitting...

The making of... sad

2011-12-09T07:38:00.004+01:00

When I make the feeling 'sad', I always make more tears so that I get to pick the perfect ones. It's not easy being a perfectionist... *sigh*

Light in the darkness

2011-12-08T20:08:00.006+01:00

Today, Hilde from Blue Celeste came by our home to deliver a lampshade that I ordered. It will bring light in these dark days of December.
I'm loving it to pieces! :)

Pakjesavond = Present night

2011-12-07T19:05:00.006+01:00

On monday evening I went to our sew/knit/crochet/craft-group called 'the smart buttons' (Knappe Knoopjes) and we had a small celebration for Sinterklaas called 'present night' (pakjesavond) If you want to read more about the tradition of Sinterklaas, you can read it below.

It kind of felt like being a kid again and I enjoyed seeing all grown ups being really happy with the gift that someone else made and carefully wrapped. I'm really pleased with mine and I managed to make a quick snapshot during my lunchbreak today.
It's made by Katja and she wrapped up 2 beautiful, colorful pouches, actually a pencil case and a clutch. I'm the kind of person who can never have enough pouches so I'm a very, very lucky girl! :) And they are really well made! Love the fabric too! Thank you, Katja!
I'll show you later this week what I've been working on at the craftnight. It was too dark to take pictures when I got back from work. So stay tuned...

Sinterklaas explained

In the fourth century a.d. St. Nicholas (in dutch called "Sinterklaas" or "Sint Nicolaas"; in german called "Sankt Nikolaus") was the bishop of Myra, which is now situated in Turkey. According to the legend, he saved his town from starvation. He is also said to have revived three dead children, and to have offered gifts of dowries to poor girls. Some sources say that he died on the sixth of December in 343. In 1087 his relics were taken to Bari in Italy. It is unclear why, according to the Dutch tradition, he comes from Spain. Possibly it has something to do with the fact that St. Nicholas was the patron of sailors. In the 17th century Holland was famous for its navigation. Maybe by contact with Spanish sailors this myth began. It could also explain why St. Nicholas has "zwarte (black) pieten" to help him because the Moors dominated Spain for several hundreds of years. (Another [more popular] explanation for "zwarte piet" being black is that he has come down the chimneys so often [see below] that he can't wash the dirt off.)

His legendary gifts of dowries to poor girls led to the custom of giving gifts to children on the eve of his feast day, 6 December. The companions of St. Nicholas (in Germany and Austria they are called "Knecht Ruprecht" or "Krampus") show the victory over evil. Together with his "pieten" he visits children to punish the evil ones and to reward the good ones. The worst punishment is to be taken to Spain in "zwarte piet's" bag out of which the good children get the sweets (called "pepernoten", "taai-taai", or "schuimpjes") and presents. A less radical punishment is to get the "roede" (rod) instead of presents. Nowadays there are not much evil children any more...

A few weeks before his feastday St. Nicholas comes to Holland (and Belgium) on his steamer with all his "pieten" and the presents which they prepared in Spain during the year. This event can be seen on Dutch television. From his arrival in Holland till his feastday the children can put their shoes in front of the fireplace. During the night St. Nicholas visits all the houses by travelling over the roofs on his horse, traditionally a white/grey (called "Schimmel" in dutch), and "zwarte piet" enters the houses through the chimney to put little presents in the children's shoes. Sometimes the children put straw, carrots and water near the shoe for the horse.

On the eve of his feast day St. Nicholas visits all children. After knocking on the door he gives them a bag full of presents (if they were good children). Early in the morning of 6 December, when he has visited everyone, he leaves and goes back silently to Spain, to come back next year.

[Source: Coone.com]

Flickr Favorites

2011-12-06T06:42:00.003+01:00

1. exhibit three, 2. i will find a way, 3. freezer burn, 4. family planning

It's the first Tuesday of the month so we play by theme if you like. And the theme is 'art'.

I find it hard to capture art in only a few pictures but these ones above came all out of my favorites. Art is different for everyone and for me it needs to be accesible for everyone to have the title 'art'. Quite often when you go to a museum or exhibition you see pieces that are celebrated as art in it's highest form but where I feel it's not just because it's not accesible.
I know art critics disagree with me when I say that I love it when a work has a title/name. For me, that's giving me a glimpse into the artists world and makes me understand the piece better. And even though a piece of art should speak for itself, it still makes a world of difference for me to know what the artist intended it to be through a title.
How do you feel about titles?

The beauty of a second

2011-12-01T07:59:00.007+01:00

Seconds Of Beauty - 1st round compilation

from The Beauty Of A Second on Vimeo.

[via HLN]

Montblanc is a German brand of watches and writing instruments and wants to honor the chronograph. It was invented 190 years ago by Nicolas Rieussec, who managed to count time until a fifth of a second. To celebrate that, Montblanc organised a competition for short movies of exactly one second in collaboration with Wim Wenders.
The above video is a compilation of the first short movies that they received and I think it's absolutely beautiful! If you want to enter your second, go here.
Because every second counts...

Flickr Favorites

2011-11-29T07:23:00.000+01:00

1. IMG_2443, 2. Untitled,
3. Valencia train station, 4. dipping my toes in Lake Annecy

Don't you love watching the birds migrate to warmer places? Flocks of freedom. I need a heater to warm our place & I think I'd rather escape. Wouldn't mind being at the trainstation in Valencia or with my feet in some lukewarm bluegreen water.
The saying 'every scar I have makes me who I am' is a reminder how daily life has a lot of influences on who you are being it positive or negative. I think it's good to be reminded of that sometimes.

Next week is the first Tuesday of the month so we play by theme. I'd love to see an art inspired mosaic. If you have a nice theme for next month, don't hesitate to let me know.

In the mean time...

2011-11-28T16:18:00.005+01:00

I'm working on orders and just finished one for Tokketok.I decided to make custom packaging for these custom labels...

Merry go round

2011-11-25T08:25:00.004+01:00

Every last friday of the month, I jump on the 'Merry go round'. What is the Merry go round exactly? Each month, a group of craftswomen from around the world join together and give their reponses to the same question/challenge.This months question is about 'Customer Service'. How to take care of customers. How to relate to customers. Do we and should we treat all customers the same?

I strive to give the best customer service I can which means that I treat my customers the way I'd like to be treated myself. Good communication is essential so that's always the beginning. If there is any problem concerning the order, I will always try work with the customer to find the best solution. I love custom orders and if they are requested within a reasonable timeframe, I will try to make it happen. It's not easy as I have to translate in 3D what people have in their head and that might differ in reality. So in this case, communication is very important and a continious process. I heart my return customers because they are the best feedback I can get on my work. By coming back for more, they let me know that I'm on the right track. :)

Want to know what the other Merriers have to say about customer service? Hop over to their blogs. Please bear in mind that the members will be posting at different times of the day, depending on which world time-zone they are in :)

Laura at Blue Terracotta
Monika at Red2White
Ruth at Birdland Creations
Kim at Vilt a la Kim
Sara at Crafts of Texture
Samantha at Vintage is for lovers
Mariana at Florcita
Agathe at Le Bar du Vent
Jen at Painted Fish Studio
Bethany at Dirksen Dabbles

Work in progress

2011-11-24T23:05:00.001+01:00

The other day someone asked me if I was able to glaze a small part of a feeling.
Euh? The feelings are normally unglazed because I think it distracts from the actual feeling.
But this request did make sense as it is for someone who works in a Pharmacy and in Belgium, most pharmacies are depicted with a green cross. A first time for everything I suppose.
I hope this little fellow will come out of the kiln OK. I'm always a bit nervous about glazed ware as it's always a surprise when you open the kiln.

Flickr Favorites

2011-11-22T06:45:00.001+01:00

1. star, 2. MILK, 3. IMGP6589_0, 4. the ingredients

When the weather turns colder, I tend to get baking vibes. I love the smell of freshly baked bread, pie or muffins in the house. And there are so many beautiful food photographers on Flickr. All these pics just make me drool. I came across daitoZen's pictures the other day: glorious food images. I really want to run to the kitchen and start making & baking now...
Do you like to bake?

Fabric fair

2011-11-21T21:49:00.007+01:00

Yesterday I went to a fabric fair for the first time (stoffenspektakel in Leuven). I didn't really know what to expect and was quite shocked to see so many people going crazy over fabrics.
Did I say crazy? I meant C.R.A.Z.Y. !
The place was crowded and oh my, if you know me a little bit: I really dislike crowed places.
I did manage to squeeze myself through the crowd and buy some fabrics. Don't know when I will use it all but it was just too good of a deal to resist... *sigh*

A few meters of cotton for my stash. Don't have a project in mind for these yet. Just loved the happy colors.
This soft velvet aubergine fabric will become a comfy skirt.A more classic piece of fabric - perhaps for a skirt too but most likely it will end up as a bag or will be stuck in my drawer for ages...
And some beautiful green knitwear I intend to make a dress with.I also saw a much wanted cone thread holder so of course that ended up in the basket too.
But as much fun it was to go with 3 of my friends, I was really happy to be back home in my quiet studio again. What a crazy place the fabric fair is but so many great deals that I probably will be going back next time. :)

Work in progress

2011-11-19T00:04:00.004+01:00

Making porcelain labels for Tokketok is always sweet! Fun times in my studio.

Happy weekend everyone!

Working hands

2011-11-17T08:13:00.003+01:00

Anna making

Mitsy making

Last week I picked up Anna from the airport and the days that she spent in Belgium just flew by. We've been working together for over 2 years now and it felt like we knew each other for a long time. We really enjoyed spending time in my studio and at the fair and even though we worked a lot it was great fun. Being able to work on our designs together was super and soon you'll be able to see some of them too.

I didn't take any pictures at the fair as there were far better photographers there, so go check out Elza D.'s Flickr if you want to have a peek.

Touched

2011-11-16T06:43:00.005+01:00

Feeling free

Whenever I go to a fair and take my feelings, I always see people looking at them and thinking 'What is this?'. I always try to ask if they would like me to explain the project a bit. Very rarely people are a bit afraid that I'm trying to sell 'em something and say 'no, thank you, I'm just looking'. I respect that of course.
Most of the time, people are intrigued by the work they see or plain curious and take the time to listen to my little story. I'm always thankful for that because I value the feedback I get and it's great to start a conversation although there is not always a lot of time for that at fairs.
So I usually start explaining that I made the feelings in a period of 3 months and made one every day to show on the outside how people sometimes feel on the inside.
The best part for me is to see the change in expression on their faces when I tell which ceramic object is which feeling. Mostly it is one of wonder and astonishment. It is so heartwarming to see and it is truly the best feedback I can get on my work. I love it!

Feeling sad

The other day at Stiel & Stijl, I had an experience that moved me tremendously, gave me goosebumps and made me cry too. I felt a bit of a wimp when tears just fell onto my cheeks in front of everyone but I couldn't stop it. It just happened. The family I was talking too expressed so much warmth & love that it touched me right in my heart. And they were complete strangers to me - I never met 'em before.
In case you don't know, my '99 feelings' were initially not created for selling. It was a very personal project and because so many people inquired about reproductions, I decided to share the love. So the selling part is just a recognition of the work and thought I put in.
Most important is that I love hearing what the feelings provoke. It is those experiences that make it all worth it for me and of course I won't easily forget moments like this. *sobs again*

Feeling touched

So, here's a BIG thank you to all of you who have adopted one or more of my feelings over the past years. I'm so glad to know that they are loved and looked after and that they are part of your family/life. It makes my heart grow and glow...

Flickr Favorites

2011-11-15T07:42:00.001+01:00

1. De kleine snoeper, 2. berry smoothie,
3. You're frozen when your heart's not open, 4. Peaceful Dream

When I make mosaics, I usually start out with one picture that I love and start looking for other pics that go with it. This week, it was the little girl on the chair that caught my eye. Not easy to find dusky pinks to go with it but there is always the multicolor search lab of course.
How I love Flickr tools that make life easier.

Ways to stay creative

2011-11-13T07:52:00.000+01:00

[ Via Frederik Frede ]

Organize your art

2011-11-12T07:06:00.006+01:00

When I came across the work of Swiss artist and comedian Ursus Wehrli I got instant happy. His 'tidy up art' is funny and clever and it reminds me a bit of I myself try to organise things sometimes...

For those who know me a bit better, they know that I'm very color sensitive. V.E.R.Y.
And even though I can be very messy, I love everything organised, lined up or piled up neatly.
You can call me freaky but I tend to organise by color: white, yellow, orange, red, pink, purple, blue, green, black. And it always makes me happy to see a lovely rainbow of color whenever I finish. Even when there are only 3 or 4 colors, they will always be put in the same color order.
I think it makes life happier. I actually applied Ursus technique to my happy field. :)

Don't you get instantly happy from that? I do!

Talk about organised, my partner and I sometimes discuss how much easier it would be to shop by alphabet. Since I don't do the shopping around here, I make lists. I try to make the list in that way that my partner can go into the shop and grab everything as he goes. But it would be supercool if we could just make our list in a spreadsheet, sort it by alphabet and go to the Alphabet-shop. :)

Details matter

2011-11-11T06:53:00.000+01:00

Cupcakes

2011-11-10T06:50:00.002+01:00

The other day, I decided to try out my cookie stamps for cupcakes. Can you believe I never made cupcakes before? The sugar fondant is completely new to me and I can see why people love to make & decorate cupcakes now. How much fun!
I just pressed my cookie stamps into the fondant and applied it to the cupcake. I can see this work perfectly if you have to make a lot of cupcakes for a special occasion as you can get maximum effect with minimum effort. Although I would prefer to add a bit more color to them as well. Must try some more of that cupcake playing soon - so much fun.

Sewing

2011-11-09T07:04:00.000+01:00

Made a new skirt yesterday. I was meant to clean but they cut off the water in our street and the skirt was on my list of things to do so I didn't hesitate to start sewing. Ha! What a burden! :)
And zippers are such a piece of cake now. What was I ever afraid off?
I already bought panty's to go with them. Fabric is from IKEA and panty's are from Veritas.

Flickr Favorites

2011-11-08T07:15:00.006+01:00

1. ., 2. ., 3. porcelain spoons, 4. Crabeater Teeth

Just some random favorites today. I've been superbusy in my studio and can do with some cooling down. But still lots to be done I'm afraid but the end is in sight.
On thursday evening I'll pick up Anna from the airport - very exciting. And since I don't want Anna to spend her time with dustbunnies, the house will need a massive clean. Yikes! I hope the house will be like a fresh breeze when I'm done! :)

The missing cloud...

2011-11-07T07:00:00.001+01:00

Last week I posted a picture of my new cloud brooches. When I was editing the pictures, I realised that I forgot to photograph one. That's why I thought to ask you if you could guess which one it was. And oh my dear, I got so many lovely suggstions that I instantly started to make some more.
You guys are awesome! Thanks so much! After Stiel & Stijl I'll add 'em to my Etsy shop.

No one guessed it right but it doesn't matter as I did randomly pick a winner out of all the answers. The winner gets to tell me which word he/she would like on the cloud brooch & then I'll make it especially.
The randomizer picked number 1 from all the comments.
Congrats Saskia! Please let me know your address and choice of brooch you would like to have. :)

The missing cloud was this one:

I loved the following so I made 'em too.*** oops, gloomy picture again ***

Thanks again & keep your head in the clouds this week! Have a happy one! :)

Fabrics

2011-11-06T06:16:00.002+01:00

Anna told me she is bringing fabrics to Stiel & Stijl next week.
Oh no, poor wallet... ;)

Work in progress

2011-11-05T07:12:00.004+01:00

These will be glued onto ring bases and make their first appearance at Stiel & Stijl.
I love the patterned rings! Can you spot a new color too?

Experiment

2011-11-04T23:16:00.004+01:00

Remember a while back I did a poll to hear if you would prefer glazed or unglazed pieces for jewellerey? It's hard to form an opinion solely based on a picture and opinions were divided into two as half of you preferred glazed jewellery and half of you would choose unglazed jewellery.
The pictures showed back then were with small samples that our screenprinter sent us and it didn't really represent any of what was to come.

As you know we chose to work with unglazed material but the other day I got curious about how it would look on glazed ware so I made a sample.The above brooche back is the unglazed one and the one below is glazed.
It is quite different isn't it?

Work in progress

2011-11-03T23:59:00.001+01:00

You know how much I love cookie cutters right? I told you before it's my weak spot but strange enough they hardly ever end up in the kitchen.
Besides, using cookie cutters gives you less cookie, right? Huh? That's no good!
So I made some reversed cookie molds so that it leaves you with more cookie. :)

Here's the proof:

cookies cut out with cookie molds...

and cookies, 'cut' out with reversed cookie cutters.

I made the prototypes ages ago but never did anything with 'em until I found 'em in my drawer last week. I've been frantically working to getting some done but as time is ticking along, the quantity will be limited.
If you are interested, rush yourself to my stand at Stiel & Stijl to get yourself some. :)
It makes a great gift for people who love to make & bake.

Here's how I make reversed cookies....
The cookie molds look a bit like paper making molds or old butter molds.

I press the cookie stamp in the rolled out dough.

Then it looks embossed.
With a round cookie cutter, I cut out the flower cookie.
I take away the remaining dough and I put the cookies in the the oven.

I'm not a food blogger so I didn't do any fancy pics of these - and I must admit, I didn't even try.

I'll leave that up to the pro's...

Flickr Favorites

2011-11-01T06:29:00.005+01:00

1. homemade pop tarts, 2. 115/365 oh my! orange! (explored),
3. llet amb galetes, 4. messy shrimps with fresh herbs and feta

It's the first Tuesday of the month so we play by theme if you like. And the theme is 'food'.

I love food. No wait, I LOVE food!
Not only to eat it of course but it's so pretty in many aspects. I drool when I see all the lovely foodblogs like Smitten Kitchen, sweet Paul or Canelle & Vanille. I love to browse markets, watch cooking shows on tv and try out a few recipes myself once in a while.
But lately, it's my partner who is cooking up most of our meals as I'm a bit too busy to be in the kitchen much. I miss it though and I look forward to some quality time at the end of November when things will be a bit less hectic in my studio.
The above images are things that I love: milk and biscuits, our cat waiting patiently to when her foodbowl is filled and 2 recipes I'm dying to try out soon.

Workshop spooky fingerpuppets

2011-10-31T08:55:00.004+01:00

This afternoon, I'll be showing how to make these spooky fingerpuppets in Standaard Boekhandel in Hasselt (Belgium). Woohooo!
And if you want, you can make one for yourself too of course.

This sweet lady will be there too and she'll be showing how to make stamps. You can also stamp your heart out if you like and make your own giftlabel or postcard.

We'll be there from 14pm till 17pm.
If you don't have any plans for today it would be lovely to see you there! :)

Happy Halloween everyone!

Work in progress

2011-10-30T23:46:00.002+01:00

I think everyone should own a 'Think aloud cloud' - brooch. To make a statement or just because they are cute as hell. There are only 5 in the last picture but there is a number six too. First one who can guess which word is stamped on the sixth cloud will be send a cloud of his/her choice.
Don't forget to leave your e-mailaddress please. Thank you.

They will make their first appearance at Stiel & Stijl.

**** the missing brooch was not guessed but I randomly picked winner to send a cloud brooch to! Congrats, Saskia! Congrats ****

Merry go round

2011-10-28T06:36:00.000+02:00

Every last friday of the month, I jump on the 'Merry go round'. What is the Merry go round exactly? Each month, a group of craftswomen from around the world join together and give their reponses to the same question/challenge.It's that time of the month again and this month's question is 'Do you do fairs/shows? If so, share some hints and your experience. If not - why not.'

Yes, I do fairs but not on a frequent basis though. When I first started out with fairs, I really loved it and couldn't get enough of it but after a few, I kind of changed my mind. It takes quite a lot of preparation and the clearing away afterwards is just dreadful. Just wrapping up all my feelings takes a long time, let alone unwrapping and clearing 'em away which usually takes longer. So I'm very picky on the fairs that I do and sometimes I even visit a fair beforehand to get a general impression and see if it would attract the right audience for my work.
It's a great promotional tool though and the best part about fairs is meeting people from my creative community. Be it customers, blogreaders or other makers/artists, I just love to interact with them. And it's also a great opportunity to get feedback on your work.

I did prepare quite well for my first fair and made a little 'how to' for those interested.

I have a fair in 2 weeks time and my studio is a big mess right now. Besides that, I'm working a lot too & it's not good for my stress levels. Obviously I have not been preparing enough during summer which results in frantically running around like a headless chicken right now.
The kiln will be doing overtime & that also means that I'll be doing overtime. I plan to make up for that afterwards though. :)

Want to know if the other Merriers have tips for you on fairs/craft shows? Hop over to their blogs. Please bear in mind that the members will be posting at different times of the day, depending on which world time-zone they are in :)

Laura at Blue Terracotta
Monika at Red2White
Ruth at Birdland Creations
Kim at Vilt a la Kim
Sara at Crafts of Texture
Samantha at Vintage is for lovers
Mariana at Florcita
Agathe at Le Bar du Vent
Jen at Painted Fish Studio
Bethany at Dirksen Dabbles

Handmade Europe

2011-10-26T12:15:00.004+02:00

There are a few pics of my studio on the Handmade Europe blog if you like to take a peek...

Flickr Favorites

2011-10-25T05:48:00.001+02:00

1. Day76-may14, 2. day 362 : 365 • yes you are,
3. Packed With Love, 4. Handy Helper

It's exactly one month before the holiday deadline for packages in my shop. I can't garantuee delivery before X-mas for purchases made after that date. The holiday season is super crazy world wide and especially after last year's shipping nightmare I'm totally convinced that I should make sure my customers know this. I would hate for them being dissapointed in a late arrival.
And besides that, all orders that come in before November 25th get this extra special Happy girl included.

Next week is the first Tuesday of the month so we play by theme. I'd love to see a food inspired mosaic. Nomnom! :) If you have a nice theme for next month, don't hesitate to let me know.

Plural

2011-10-24T07:20:00.003+02:00

Sometimes when I send a package with things to Anna, I am over the weight to send it at a certain rate for example over 350 grams but I can ship up to 1 kilo for the same amount. So it seems silly not to fill up the package with things to get closer to 1 kilo otherwise it seems such a waste. And since I can't always send chocolates, I sometimes send some bowls for Anna to put our stuff in. And look what she did with them in her supply shop...I also made a bear one day and thought she would like it as company in her studio. He got a great job as a prop in Anna's pictures. :)
These pictures certainly brought a smile to my face! :)

Work in progess

2011-10-21T22:22:00.005+02:00

I have a weak spot for cookie cutters.
Really W.E.A.K. and sometimes the temptation is just too big and I give in.
I ordered some new ones last weekend and they came in the post today.
I love to see my collection grow and had to try some right away of course...
Do you have a weakness for something?

Happy weekend, everyone! :)

Time wasting

2011-10-19T08:19:00.006+02:00

I think I have blogged about Provox time wasting experiment before but when I saw the work live in Etsy's office in Berlin, I just couldn't resist taking a few snapshots.
Brilliant work which brings a smile to my face every time I see it. Check out Alyson's shop and waste 13 minutes going through the time wasting experiment. :)

Flickr Favorites

2011-10-18T07:40:00.001+02:00

1. low, yellow, Green, yellow, yellow, yellow, yel..., 2. Escalera,

3. green tile, 4. the colour is yellow

Just because the days are getting darker and the weather is turning colder, it doesn't mean we can't splash some freshness upon us, right?
I love the combination of the lime with the yellow - it bursts of energy.
What is your favorite colorcombination?

Happy Friday

2011-10-14T07:27:00.000+02:00

via presentandcorrect

Stiel en Stijl

2011-10-12T07:54:00.006+02:00

image by Elza D.

It's only a month away and it's going to be magnificent.
Still have lots of work to do.
Lots.
But I'll take it as it comes as I know I can't execute all the things that are in my head so I'll be there with what's done. And I'll bring Anna from AnnaRubyKing/LilaRubyKing along to share a table with, so that's a double reason to mark your calenders right now.
We'd love you to come say 'hello' to us, so see you there? :)

PS: Can you spot my puppy in the tree?

Flickr Favorites

2011-10-11T07:22:00.002+02:00

1. 3huizen, 2. Bake Sale For A2A: Cookie Assortment, 3. HomeMade-free-printable_finishedjarsgroup, 4. Trader Joe's Bags Continued

With the holiday season in sight, I thought I'd browse Flickr for some packaging inspiration. There is so much fun stuff there that it's hard to include only 4 images. I can easily get lost for an hour or more browsing the packaging groups. :)

Meesterlijk

2011-10-09T10:40:00.004+02:00

I wanted to share the few pictures I took at the living fair last week. After the workshop I didn't take much time to look around & I really should have as the 'Meesterlijk'-hall seemed a great place to get creative impulses and inspiration. Bummer! Will have to go back next year I suppose. But the few stands I did visit are really worth mentioning so check out their sites if you are attracted by what you see. :) All the links are below the images.

Feetbag

This company is comitted to the preservation of the leather trade in the Netherlands and stimulates the development of this field. Quirky and fun leather objects!

Anne Vandenheuvel

Beautiful versatile textile art: smashing colorcombo's, felt mosaics, wall decoration and care wear.

Bouwjaar 63
Fun felt items in fun happy colors.

Instincts

This stand really attracted by the minimalistic touch and interior. I loved how all was set up & showed. And apparently she has an Etsy-shop too!

Penduka
Image by Penduka

Penduka provides work to women in Namibia. This way the women and their families have an income and the downwards spiral of poverty can be broken. Their embroidery tells a story using typical imagery of the ethnic groups these women originate from. The women embroider their own life stories, centuries-old, orally transmitted stories, or any story that you would like to be told.

Femke van Gemert

I was literally drawn to this stand. I simply couldn't resist taking a closer look at the textures of this woven wall art. Femke surely knows how to impress with all the different kind of fabrics woven into a new piece. Beautiful!

From Africa with love

With passion from Africa and design, this new gallery in Amsterdam sells work of Africa's most talented designers. They have work of Skinny laMinx too! I love the wobbly ceramics dinnerware!

Don't you love the tiny branches used to hang the jewellery?
It looks so clean and brilliant!Corina Rietveld
How clever are these embroidered silver rings? Love 'em!

There were approximately 100 stands in this hall and I only saw a fraction of them. If you are interested in seeing more, there are links to all the designers on the webpage of Meesterlijk.
And today, 101 woonideeën also published a post on Meesterlijk. :)

Pendants North Story

2011-10-07T06:47:00.000+02:00

The pendants of North Story arrived in our shops (ArtMind/AnnaRubyKing) .
Go stalk 'em if you like. :)

Hello Etsy - part 6

2011-10-06T10:08:00.003+02:00

This is the last post in the series about the 'Hello Etsy' conference in Berlin. And I must say 'last but not least'! I think this might have been my very favorite session of the entire weekend.

Stealthisprocess

Project management is something I'm not very good at and I get disctracted just too much by ideas, impulsive actions and in general being very chaotic when it comes to making deccissions on what to do first. So there are days that I feel I have nothing accomplished at the end of the day and then my head starts spinning and coming up with all sorts of 'tasks' that just don't find a place. Also defined as 'unfocussed'. This session gave me an insight on how I could change that and up until now, it has helped me to get more organised.

Project Managment for indie businesses / Eleanor Mayrhofer

from Hello Etsy on Vimeo.

The above video is quite long but it's definately worth watching & get inspired by.
One specific sentence from this session pops up in my little notebook: 'there is only right now, live for today' Which seems a bit contradictionary with all the setting goals and planning in there but in the end, that's what it's all about: planning to find and give your life more balance.

Thanks Eleanor for sharing your process and letting us steal it! :)

Early bird angel

2011-10-05T06:15:00.001+02:00

I'm preparing a bit for the holiday season and I have not forgotten the hectic times last year. It became a bit of a nightmare in the end as postal wise, things weren't quite going as planned. Apparently, normal delivery times did not apply and I was ready to pull out my hair every time a customer inquired why their order hadn't arrived yet.
As soon as a package leaves my hands, it's out of my control and after a few e-mails, I ran out of things to say and ended up feeling sad because the postal services didn't co-operate the way they usually do.
So this year I thought of a way that might encourage people to place their order early and that hopefully can avoid me being bold at the end of the holiday season. :)
Here's the plan...
If you place your order before the 25th of November, which is the last day that I can garantuee arrival before X-mas, you'll be getting a lovely extra surprise...

So I've been cutting a bit of felt...... and some paper.And I made some bodies too.And after assembling them, you get...
Happy angels! :) They are slightly bigger then the happy girls & quite ready to join you for some holiday fun!

Every on line order will get a happy angel added to their package. The only thing you have to do to get this extra surprise is to order before the 25th of November.
That's not really hard is it? You'll have an excuse to go shopping early! :)

Flickr Favorites

2011-10-04T08:00:00.005+02:00

1. Colorful Clothes, 2. 253/365 no fear,

3. call for SUMMER!, 4. Colorful Clothes

It's the first Tuesday of the month so we play by theme if you like.
This week I thought it would be fun to do have an explosion of color. The brightness of colors makes me happy! I love it when people wear happy colors and I really should add a bit more color to my wardrobe too. I always feel that colorful clothing draws too much attention so that's why I rather dress neutral which is totally silly of course...
Do you like to dress colorful?

Merry go round

2011-09-30T06:03:00.001+02:00

This month's topic is "write a simple tutorial on anything - craft related or not"
Oops, a tutorial? That's been a while hey!
To be quite honest, time has not been on my side to make 'em as often as I used too.
And even for this one, it is nothing really spectacular as I kind of forgot about this post and I got reminded on Tuesday evening. So on wednesday before leaving to Holland I decided to quickly snap a few pics and edit them later. They didn't turn out really well so you'll have to forgive me for the bad quality I'm afraid.

How to make a quick & fun packaging idea?

What do you need?
Brads, handmade paper, paper, punch, water, needle, brown paper bags and a brush.

Punch out a flower.Take a piece of handmade paper and apply with a brush some water along a ruler.
The water makes it easier to tear the paper and you get the lovely handmade look afterwards.
Fold it over on the paper bag, add the flower and punch a hole with a needle.
Then use the brad to close it.
Pretty easy and fun packaging.

Want to know what tutorials the other Merriers posted? Hop over to their blogs.
Please bear in mind that the members will be posting at different times of the day, depending on which world time-zone they are in :)

Laura at Blue Terracotta
Monika at Red2White
Ruth at Birdland Creations
Kim at Vilt a la Kim
Sara at Crafts of Texture
Samantha at Vintage is for lovers
Mariana at Florcita
Agathe at Le Bar du Vent
Jen at Painted Fish Studio
Bethany at Dirksen Dabbles

Mini-Etsy-Labs at 101 woonideeën

2011-09-28T09:41:00.005+02:00

image by 101 woonideeën

Later today I'll be heading off to the Netherlands. I'll be spending a few days at Marta's place and hang out at the Woonbeurs (Living fair). It's a big, big, big interior design fair in Amsterdam and I'm quite happy to snoop around there.

Marta asked me if I could give a small Etsy lab there & I am thrilled to participate. So on thursday I'll be making moss terrariums at the stand of 101 woonideeën from 1PM till 3PM.

image by Dutchhandmade

And tomorrow evening I'll be at the koopavond (buying night) at the Etsy's pop up shop in Leiden called 'Etsy Open - (be) zoek de makers'. (Etsy open - visit the artists)
It will be the last few days the shop will be open & lots of stuff has sold already so if you are in the area and want to take a last peek: hurry up! :)

Flickr Favorites

2011-09-27T06:29:00.003+02:00

1. Too weird? - Explored!, 2. Untitled, 3. leisure time., 4. Untitled

It looks a bit grey in here today hey? I love the movement in the pictures. It makes 'em very vivid so they don't need color really.
And I often wonder how long is now? Don't you?

Hello Etsy - part 5

2011-09-26T06:23:00.001+02:00

One of the coolest rooms I've ever been in: the control room at Ework in Berlin. It is Germany’s oldest preserved commercial power plant, built in 1885. You can read more of it's history here if you like.

Hello Etsy - part 4

2011-09-25T08:55:00.002+02:00

Besides all the inspiring talks at 'Hello Etsy', I also made another Marimekko creation at the sewing station on my lunch break. Really strange as dreamed about making it on sunday morning so I just had to go back and do it.
As I'm a beginner sewer, of course I don't do complicated and everyone can make it.
I cut 4 strips of different kind of happy Marrimekko fabric about 25cm wide (10 inches) and then I cut random pieces horizontally. I mixed 'em all up and sewed the pieces back together horizontally. I made sure I had 2 the same lengths and then I placed 'em right sides on top of each other and sewed it together. When that was done, I reversed it and it was nearly ready. Since there was no ironing board present, I decided to finish it at home by stitching all the way alongside the edge. It is already too cold to wear this pretty cotton scarf now here but I'm sure I'll enjoy wearing it next spring. If the above instructions weren't clear enough, check out some of the tutorials I found via Google. Apparently this is not a very original idea that came into my dream, it's been done many times before so no need for me to make a tutorial!! LOL :)

Hello Etsy - part 3

2011-09-24T06:58:00.003+02:00

Listening to all those sessions does make a person hungry. But no despair, Etsy took really good care of that. The catering at the conference was simply sublime.
And if you had finished lunch, there was an opportunity to do some creative stuff. I sewed 2 lovely pillows from beautiful Marimekko fabrics. It was superfun to do something with my hands for a change. Listening and being quiet can make me restless especially in such a creative boosting environment. :)
Here's Judit sewing a bag with the help of Minna. You could also pass by the Etsy stand to get more information! Hey look, there's sweet Marta! *waves*
At the Burda stand you could doodle on a white sheet with fabric markers or sew-doodle with yarn. Fun! :)
And in the afternoon, the caterers served cake! YAY! Lots of them and so many different ones to choose from.
And for those that could resist the cake, there was fruit! Yum too!
I wanted to post a livestream of Hessam Lavi today who did a talk on 'building a search engine small business' but I couldn't find it yet. I found this session extremely helpful as I never even looked at SEO. Hessam Lavi is a great speaker who really thought about the content of his session and connected with the audience. When there were questions, he always repeated 'em which I found great as sometimes they got lost in space. Hessam Lavi also asked people to submit their SEO questions beforehand and answered to them here. So you can check that out too if you're interested to read more.
Happy weekend everyone! :)

Hello Etsy - part 2

2011-09-23T06:53:00.002+02:00

To be quite honest, the schedule at 'Hello Etsy' was quite overwhelming! So many interesting sessions going on that it was hard to chose which one to go to. Thank goodness they livestreamed the entire event so that it's still possible to see some of the sessions from your couch at home.
I'll be sharing a few of my favorite sessions on my blog. One of them is called 'Branding on a shoestring' by Lisa Rodwell from Moo. It is quite amazing that this company who was just a teeny tiny printing company a few years ago, grew from 'pleasure cards' to the giant 'Moo' all through branding and consistency. One sentence of this session summed it all up for me: 'celebrate your brand' YAY! That is exactly what they do at Moo! The enthusiasm they show of their product makes up half of the branding if not more.

Conversation starters were spread all over the place

If you subscribed for the 'Hello Etsy' conference in Berlin, you had the opportunity to order a set of free business cards through Moo. I've never had any so I ordered em and put on the new designs of our collaboration work. I love the cards!The feel of the cards is so lovely and I love the size too! I think I prefer these to the mini cards they usually have.

And Moo made sure we were using the cards righ away as they let us play a networking game. You had to collect 6 stickers of a different craft. As you can see below, everyone was frantically swapping stickers and business cards! It really worked!And when you had a full card, you could redeem it by going to the Moo-stand and pick a coupon code for some free Moo stuff! :)I get a free business card holder! Yay! I think I should order some more Moo's now.

And if you're really quick, they have a special offer until the 25th of September with a coupon for 25% off! :)Below you will find the live stream session on branding! Enjoy! :)

etsy on livestream.com. Broadcast Live Free

Hello Etsy - part 1

2011-09-22T00:04:00.014+02:00

Image taken from a platform on the trainstation in Köln

At last I find some time to share some bits and pieces from my short stay in Berlin. The journey didn't start out really relaxed as I was supposed to step onto a train in Hasselt & get off in Berlin. It didn't happen that way of course but after a small detour of about 2 hours which involved driving to Liège/Luik and then to Aachen/Aken I finally arrived in Berlin.
I took the train as I wanted to travel slowly. The past few months I've been so busy that it seemed that life was passing by too quick so instead of flying there quickly, I saw the landscape pass by and actually had some time to read too.
I wonder though when I will finish the book I started...

Image taken from a platform on the trainstation in Köln

The evening that I arrived, I met up with PetitPlat and Vadjutka in the flat I rented through AirBNB. While we were sitting around in the flat and chatting away, we decided that it would be lovely to cook together so we went shopping and made ourselves a lovely meal. It was so much fun to cook together. Marta arrived on early Friday morning at an ungodly hour. I wasn't feeling all that well due to a stomach bug so I was happy to tag along to the Etsy headquarters and hang out there for a bit. Marta works for Etsy as the community manager in the Netherlands so we helped preparing for the 'Hello Etsy' weekend and sewed some cushion that would be used for the Yoga sessions.
I took some pictures of the preparations at the headquartes...
... and at Ework, the site where the main event took place. What an impressive location! My jaws just dropped when I saw it!
In the evening we went to a preregistration party at Hudson. Already met some lovely Etsians there while chatting over a cup of tea and some scones.

I'll be sharing more of 'Hello Etsy' later this week as I don't want to overwhelm you with it all at once. It has been an amazing experience that was inspirational and energizing and I can't wait to share some of the live streams of the sessions that I loved most. Stay tuned! :)

Flickr Favorites

2011-09-20T00:22:00.008+02:00

1. ❤♡/, 2. Untitled, 3. Nedinsco, 4. jaipur2-152

Hello there! I'm back from an amazing few days at 'hello Etsy' in Berlin. I'll make sure to share some pictures later on and share some of the inspiring live streams. For me it is important to give all the food for thought shape now. So my mosaic is all about form, shape and composition. All the ideas and inspiring moments need to be tailored to my taste. And I feel it won't take that long as I feel fully energized and ready to try doing some things different now.
Hope you all had a great week! Glad to be back! :)

Flickr Favorites

2011-09-13T06:59:00.004+02:00

1. Remembrance, 2. The Book Reader,
3. Zulu 13:16 - Incoming Train, 4. Black line

All the above pictures had the word 'Berlin' as tag. That's the place I'll be heading to on Thursday. I'll be attending 'Hello Etsy' in the weekend and will meet up with lots of lovely peeps.
I have a dinnerdate on thursday evening with Vadjutka and Petit Plat. Can't make it too late as Marta will lift me out of bed on early Friday morning since she is coming by night train and will arrive at an ungodly hour. We'll have Friday to gallivant in Berlin together. I've never been there so if you have any 'must-sees' or 'go there's', let me know!
I'll be closing my shop & blog until next week as I'm treating myself to a week vacation. Be good while I'm gone! :)

Change of display

2011-09-10T09:01:00.001+02:00

Remember this one?I made a few changes to it...
It became this now:
I just applied a piece of fabric to the existing back and nailed it to the frame again. The back is a kind of foamboard so I can stick little pins onto it and with the fabric, you hardly see any holes so hopefully it can be used for a while! :)
It's part of my fair display but I think it's also a lovely decoration idea to do at home.

Happy weekend, everyone! :)

Flower box

2011-09-07T06:40:00.000+02:00

I used to package my flower magnets in little sachets. This involves a lot of work and really all the packaging is a bit of a waste too. Besides that, selling 'em seperately has the advantage the people can choose the color of their choice on fairs. The downpart is, that they look happiest all together in their rainbowcolors so you might be tempted to buy 'em all. :)

I decided to go to the second hand shop and buy a tin box for 0,25 euro (0,35$). I sanded it. Then I put a few coats of white acrylic paint. After all was dry, I applied a transparant glaze. The magnets contrast really well with the white background.
And of course, all the magnets go in the tin. Such little effort! Don't you love recycling?

Flickr Favorites

2011-09-06T06:46:00.001+02:00

1. You drive me crazy, 2. I love tiny things, 3. Tiny, 4. Love for tiny things

It's the first Tuesday of the month so we play by theme if you like.
This week I thought it would be fun to do a tiny, little, small, teeny mosaic. Actually, I found it really hard to make a mosaic in this theme and it kind of took me forever. But I found so much pretty pictures on my search and that's what this Flickr Favorites is all about really.
Everytime I browse through Flickr I get inspired by all the images, colors, angles, textures,... and even though I'm often very occupied with life & work, preparing for the Flickr mosaic Tuesday forces me to take some time to enjoy all the beauty.

Etsy Open

2011-09-05T21:53:00.000+02:00

From September 7th till October 1st, Etsy Open will be a fact. In co-operation with 'Open | makers aan de markt' in Leiden, the Netherlands, Etsy will have a pop-up shop there.
They'll fill the space with lots of handmade goodies and besides that, perhaps you can also participate in a small workshop and discuss entrepreneurship over a cup of tea.
Here, you can see pictures of the space in progress.
The official opening is on September 9th with a little party.
It's a great opportunity to meet & greet with the Etsy community in real life so don't miss it if you're in the area.

Hoera Hip Handwerk

2011-09-04T08:40:00.003+02:00

A week from now, I'll be at the Fashion museum in Hasselt Belgium. During Open Monument day, the museum has free entrance and gives a little platform to about 20 makers who can show off their work in the entrance space.
I still have lots to do before I can pitch my stall there & I'm frantically working my ass off. At the moment, I'm trying to make a display for the porcelain rings - not sure what the end result will look like but if it looks any good, I'll show you later! :)
Come say 'hello' if you're in the neighborhood: Gasthuisstraat 11 in Hasselt, Belgium.
It's open from 10 AM till 6 PM.

Merry go round

2011-09-02T09:21:00.000+02:00

This month's topic is "Since you started blogging, has your style/content/feeling about blogging changed?"

I started blogging on september 25th 2007, nearly a month after I set up my etsy shop. It seemed a natural thing to do somehow as I wanted to use my blog to connect with the community that I was part of. I didn't know much about blogging and had cold feet to start off with and didn't know really what to write about. I also wonderded what would actually interest people to come and read my blog and what I would do if no one would ever visit my blog...

Being an active member of a team on etsy certainly helped me to overwin my fear and there was always a teammember who cared to drop by and be nice to me. Soon, I started to become a bit more confident about blogging but really, the blogcontent I wrote back then was much different then now.
Whenever one of my items would hit the frontpage of Etsy, I would blog about it with a screenshot and many yay's but after a while I thought 'who cares if my item is on the frontpage of Etsy really?'
It was then that I felt I needed to change my blog to a place where people would want to come to see work in progress and it meant heaps to me to get feedback on them.
I learned that a blog is a very valuable tool to share work and processes. It made me grow as a maker and a person.

In fall of 2008, I started my '99 feelings'-project and for about 3 months, I made a feeling each day and posted it in my blog & on Flickr. I don't really know what happened but people started to come back every day to see what feeling I had made and that kept me going. It was the power & feedback of you who helped me finish this project. I don't think I would have managed it without any interaction. As a maker, you are often 'alone' and knowing that there were so many people who cared, it really moved me. What an incredible community I am part off!
At the end of the project, I posted this little video and I still love it to pieces...

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

My blog became a second 'home' where I met up with creative souls worldwide. So many awesome people out there! I posted tutorials and little tips & tricks & I'm so glad they are enjoyed so much. If they make you want to run to the craftshop and get crafty, I've reached my goal. I think that creativity can't be stimulated enough & if a little push is all you need, I'm happy!

There was a time that I was very organised, had my daily posts scheduled and an actual plan on what to post when. Without realising, that put a lot of pressure on me and when I took a blog break last year due to my mom's illness, it hit me that there was more then just blogging.
It took me a lot of courage to come back after that break and somehow I still haven't found my blogging mojo back. I try though and I actually start enjoying it more now that I don't put the pressure of daily posts on me anymore. I don't want to be repetitive and to be honest, I haven't done much new things lately (except for the collaboration work) and it kind of feels like I'm repeating the things I do all the time. And you have all seen that, right? I feel like I just bore you with yet another picture of sanding work, glueing magnets, making singing birds,... So, I try to avoid to post about what I make daily but will show you the 'special' things I make. And hopefully soon, I'll have some more time to make tutorials again. It's been a while & I know you enjoy those...
The most important thing to remember is that this blog wouldn't be here without you so thank you for all the support and being part of my community.

Want to know what the other Merriers had to say about this topic? Hop over to their blogs. Please bear in mind that the members will be posting at different times of the day, depending on which world time-zone they are in :)
Samantha at Vintage is for lovers - http://www.vintageisforlovers.com/
Jen at Painted Fish Studio - http://paintedfishstudio.com/
Bethany at Dirksen Dabbles - http://www.dirksendabbles.com/
Laura at Blue Terracotta - http://blueterracotta.com/
Monika at Red2White - http://red2white.wordpress.com/
Mitsy at ArtMind - http://artmind-etcetera.blogspot.com
Kim at Vilt a la Kim - http://viltalakim.com/blog/
Sara at Crafts of Texture - http://sarastexturecrafts.blogspot.com
Mariana at Florcita - http://florcita.eu/wordpress/
Agathe at Le Bar du Vent - http://lebarduvent.blogspot.com
Ruth at Birdland Creations - http://insidetheartisan.blogspot.com

Launch North Story

2011-09-01T12:17:00.006+02:00

At last it's launch day!
Over the next few days, we'll be adding new designs to our shops. We'll be listing different items in our shops so you can check to see what's available in Anna's shop and in my shop.

Forest bear - sage

Capillary ring

A leaf and a seedling

Sage sweetpea

These are some of the designs we have available over the next few days. There are pendants coming too in a later phase so you still have something to look forward too.
We're excited and happy to finally be able to share what we've been working on the past months and hope you'll enjoy!

North Story - the process

2011-08-31T00:06:00.005+02:00

Do you find it hard to imagine what work has gone into a finished product sometimes?
I do, especially if it concerns a technique I don't know anything about.

That's why I want to show you the process of how the brooches of the North Story are made.

It's a lengthy process that involves lots of sanding, 3 different firings and much patience along the way. But believe me, the result is all worth it...

Press a piece of clay into a mould.

Smooth out the back.

Lift it out of the mould gently.

Smooth the edges with a bit of water.

Let it dry in between plaster plaques.

After they are dry, sand the roughness away and fire it a first time bisque temperature.

After firing, sand again and do a porcelain firing.
And sand again after the porcelain firing.
Jip, that's 3 times sanding...

Meanwhile cut out the screenprinted images.

Put the decal in warm water.

Apply it to the porcelain by gently tearing away the paper underneath the screenprinted image.
Decals are normally used on glazed ware.
We're using unglazed material and this is trickier as the decal is more likely to let loose on unglazed ware.

Rub over it with a clay rib to get the airholes and water out.

Gently rub it with a clean cloth and then fire it at decal temperatures.

I apologize for the gloominess of the pictures - I blame it on the weather conditions! :)

And for the final products, keep an eye on our shops (LilaRubyKing & ArtMind), we'll be listing our new line later this week... :)

Flickr Favorites

2011-08-30T07:02:00.003+02:00

1. reflection, 2. misty lake, 3. October sky*,
4. "Espera mãe. Acho que não está focando!"

Since we're lacking a lovely blue sky, I thought I'd create one in my weekly mosaic. What sad summer it has been here and I can see autumn already too. I don't mind as I love autumn but after such a crappy summer, I would appreciate if we would get a mild autumn with reasonable temperatures. But hey, we have to take it as it comes so I shouldn't complain.
I love the cat picture - what a great shot that is. Why is our cat not photogenetic like that? She never seems to take the right pose to make a fab picture but she is supersweet and I suppose not all cats can be supermodels, right?

Next week is the first Tuesday of the month so we play by theme. I'd love to see a teeny, tiny, mini, itsy-bitsy and wee mosaic. If you have a nice theme for next month, don't hesitate to let me know.

Hoera Hip Handwerk

2011-08-29T21:59:00.007+02:00

Porcelain labels saying 'sweet' and 'just because'. I made more labels for a fair I'll be attending in about 2 weeks. The fair is on 'open monument day' in the fashion museum in Hasselt.
It's on Sunday September 11th from 10AM until 6PM and the entrance is free.
There will be a variety of sellers with handmade goodies plus there is a lovely new exhibition called 'prints' to see too.
If you have been curious about the new jewellery line that Anna (LilaRubyKing) and I are about to launch, you can come and see it for real then. :) Hope to see you there!

Moeders voor moeders

2011-08-25T23:20:00.005+02:00

I'm part of a sew, crochet, knitting- group called the 'knappe knoopjes' or translated 'smart/pretty buttons'. We come together every 3 weeks to work on our projects together and chat the evening away. On our last get together, lots of participants helped to sew, crochet or knit for a non-profit organization called 'Moeders voor moeders' or 'Mothers for mothers'.
This non-profit organization is dedicated to families or single persons with children under 12 years.They help them with food parcels, clothing and more. The poorest children should not miss the fun times so they also help out with gifts for the children's birthday, Christmas, Saint Nicolas, etc.
They were in great need of dark blue and grey scarves and hats for primary school children to fit with their school uniform, so they called out for help for anyone who could help make 'em.
I too picked up my crochet hook and finished a scarf yesterday. It's pretty hard to photograph as it's quite long and very, very curly but I hope the child wearing it will love it and that it will keep her toasty warm. Well I suppose it will be worn by a girl as it's quite a feminine design. :)

Hand leaves

2011-08-24T08:55:00.003+02:00

Another glimpse from the North Story...
Not much longer now before the new line will be in our shops!
Happy day everyone!

Flickr Favorites

2011-08-23T07:03:00.002+02:00

1. napping, 2. Window (77/365), 3. ...

4. http://www.flickr.com/photos/suricata/4002494852/in/faves-artmind_etcetera/

Wouldn't you love to nap all day long like that baby? I kind of feel like I need a napping day. I've been working lots and lots lately so I think I deserve a day off sometime soon.
And I want to spend it quietly with a book, some scones with tea and perhaps even my crochet hook. I also found the picture of the mammatus clouds very intriguing. I've never seen such weird cloud formation but perhaps it's better that way as they are usually accompagnied by tornadic storms.

Tiny bunny love

2011-08-20T12:06:00.005+02:00

Custom made bunnies for a moss terrarium. I couldn't resist an inquiery to make a set of tiny bunnies like the singing birds. However cute they are, they won't be added to the assortment of my Etsy shop. :)
They make me smile, and you? Happy weekend everyone!

Tiny diamond

2011-08-18T08:14:00.000+02:00

If you were curious what I have been cutting the other day... All tiny images like the diamond above. These screenprinted decals have been applied onto the tiny porcelain discs.
The image designs are from the hand of my collaboration partner Anna (LilaRubyKing). We don't want to spill the beans all at once and give you an overdose so bit by bit, the North Story will unravel... :)

Remember that we asked a while back if you preferred glazed or unglazed jewellery?
Thank you so much for all your response and opinions. It was a very close call and there were only 5 votes difference between the two.
Anna and I both leaned towards the unglazed jewellery so we decided to go unglazed. Such tough decission as decals are much easier to apply to glazed ware. I did run tests on the unglazed ware and it's definately a bit of a challenge but it looks so natural, different & unique that we're all jippetyjappety happy with the result. Not much longer now before we show more...

Flickr Favorites

2011-08-16T06:50:00.001+02:00

1. 324/365: bottle it up, and breathe it back, 2. .,
3. tv on the radio:halfway home, 4. 327/365: for the old of heart and the young of age

I love these shades of blue. So gentle and soft and the images are really strong.
This mosaic was made a few weeks ago and I put it in my concepts. It's not really my mood at the moment but I was too lazy to make another one.
I love the road picture a lot. It reminds me of my favorite poem 'The road not taken' by Robert Frost.

Work in progress

2011-08-14T19:57:00.004+02:00

Making porcelain lace hearts for a commission.
What have you been up to?

Cutting

2011-08-11T00:03:00.007+02:00

Cutting 'till my thumb hurts... Lots and lots and lots of teeny tiny bits.
It's for the collaboration with Anna (LilaRubyKing).
We're in the final stage of the process.
After I'm done, I'm sending it all to Anna who will finish it off and photograph all the work 'cause she has mad photographing skills.
We hope to launch sometime in September. That's only a few more weeks - can you wait?

Flickr Favorites

2011-08-09T07:25:00.001+02:00

1. yawn, 2. The Gift, 3. Very old book from 1752 . . . . . . . HAR! Nothing scandalous, no puppies, babies, babes, bikinis or snazzy cars, but > 14,000 views anyway, 4. Ces soirs d'avril...

I felt like making a 'warm' mosaic because of the lack of sunshine we're having here. The last few weeks I thought it was fall: dreary, grey and wet. Being Belgian, I'm used to it and I don't mind too much. I kept myself busy in my studio as there is always lots of excitement going on there.
Perhaps I should take advantage of the weather as it's perfect to curl up on the couch with a good book, a cup of tea and some lovely sweets to keep you company.

Wrapping

2011-08-08T16:38:00.002+02:00

Been busy wrapping today.
These are all happy to go...

Sanding

2011-08-07T20:57:00.005+02:00

My very favorite activity... NOT! ;)
But all done now and it's firing away.

Feeling connected

2011-08-04T08:23:00.008+02:00

Hello everyone! It's been a while since I spend some time here on my blog so I'm going to try to connect again after last months break.

No better way to do that with a custom piece I did the other day.
A very sweet woman asked me if I could help her with a wedding gift. She loved the feeling 'oneness' but wanted me to add a personal touch to it. As with all questions like these, I interrogate the customer and made her tell me more about the couple & their likes. After a few times back and forth e-mailing, she came up with the idea to use earphones as the couple both loves music. I was sold right away! What a fab idea & even more symbolic too to be connected by the wire of the earphones. :)
The wire is red because it's the color of love. Besides, an Ancient Chinese believe says
'An invisible red thread connects those who are destined to meet regardless of time, place or circumstance. The red thread may stretch or tangle but it will never break.'
I saw this saying for the first time on Lisa's beautiful blog which is also her company name.
I added a lovely personal message on the bottom, the couples names & wedding date.
It will be hard to part with these dudes as they make me smile big time!

So glad to be back here! Things are not quite back to regular routines yet but slowly & surely it all falls in place. If you care to subscribe to my newsletter, feel free to do so. I write one every first friday of the month (that's tomorrow) & if you don't like it, you can unsubscribe at any time! :)

Flickr Favorites

2011-08-02T06:48:00.001+02:00

1. Back Door - Broken House, 2. this much i know to be true,
3. meadow flowers, 4. ~109/365~

It's the first Tuesday of the month so we play by theme if you like.
This week we go back in time with childhood memories. Things you loved to do when you where a kid, places you went and toys and food you loved...
Do you have a fun theme for next month? Don't hesitate to let me know!

When I was a kid, I was a real tomboy. I kind of still am in some way but I try to hide it by wearing a skirt and doing grown up things. I used to gallivant around the meadow picking flowers while trying to avoid cow poop, I played in the abandonned barn across the street, went down the road to the creek to catch tadpoles and I was queen of the swing and all the air around it. How great it was to live a carefree life and not having to worry about anything adults worry about. All advantages have disadvantages and every age has it's charm but somehow that carefree living is something I would like to go back to... but then as an adult. :)

Merry go round

2011-07-29T07:18:00.000+02:00

Every last friday of the month, I jump on the 'Merry go round'. What is the Merry go round exactly? Each month, a group of craftswomen from around the world join together and give their reponses to the same question/challenge.This months question was 'do you take a holiday from your craft/art?
I can't remember last time I took a holiday from my creative work as I always seem to be doing something. It's a constant factor in my life and I wouldn't know any other way really. When I go away on a road trip, even if it's only a short one, I usually take a bag along to assemble happy girls. My hands are always busy and it feels strange if they are not doing anything.
The past weeks have been busy with house chores so my creative time has been limited but I don't see it as a holiday as it was totally not my choice not to be creative. :)
Nearly done with all the house stuff so I hope to be back on my blog sometime soon to share creative stuff again. :)
Want to know if the other Merriers are taking a creative break? Hop over to their blogs. Please bear in mind that the members will be posting at different times of the day, depending on which world time-zone they are in :)

Laura at Blue Terracotta
Monika at Red2White
Ruth at Birdland Creations
Kim at Vilt a la Kim
Sara at Crafts of Texture
Samantha at Vintage is for lovers
Mariana at Florcita
Agathe at Le Bar du Vent
Jen at Painted Fish Studio
Bethany at Dirksen Dabbles

Flickr Favorites

2011-07-26T07:10:00.000+02:00

1. Where they grow colour, 2. Flying carpet,
3. The Earth, The Sky And A Tree, 4. Tilted

I love to look at horizons and be in wide open spaces. I remember a time that I drove along the Nullarbor plain in Australia and just couldn't get enough of it. Even though there was nothing, it seemed everything. So much earth and sky that it was mindblowing. I greedily gobbled up all the scenery that we drove past and if I close my eyes I can be there in an instant and enjoy the ride once again... However, I wouldn't mind going back there and repeat the journey! :)

Next Tuesday is the first Tuesday of the month so we play by theme if you like.
How about we dive back in time? Do you have childhood memories that you can share in pictures? Things you loved to do when you where a kid, places you went and toys and food you loved... Can't wait to see you going back in time. :)

Do you have a fun theme for next month? Don't hesitate to let me know!

Flickr Favorites

2011-07-19T06:45:00.003+02:00

1. peeling, 2. ooOoOOo, 3. It is not down in any map; true places never are, 4. .

Thought I'd share a mosaic with the color I've been painting with the past few days. This is combined with a lily white. I'm loving it. After I did the bedroom, I had lots of paint left and decided to paint the bathroom too. But of course I didn't realise it needed two coats so lots of extra work but it's looking really fresh and lovely.

I've been enjoying my blog break although I do miss hanging out here with you guys. Things here in the house that I have neglected for too long finally get done at last so it's giving me a good feeling. And occasionally I've caught myself doing absolutely nothing. Can you believe that? It's true & awesome. :)

Flickr Favorites

2011-07-12T06:36:00.000+02:00

1. straws, 2. toes and stripes or when I lost it,

3. flying kid, 4. More Strawberries!

Just some random images out of my favorites today. They represent summer to me and even though they look like holiday, I'm working hard at the moment. I'm preparing for a most probably busy fall so it's not that I sit on my bum to relax and soak up sunshine here.
Apart from that, I have set a goal to redecorate our bedroom before the end of August. I feel stressed when I think about it as that's only 6 more weeks and I haven't even started yet. It's not exactly something I like doing so it keeps being postponed: from buying furniture to buying paint and cleaning up all the boxes of 'things' that have gathered in the corners somehow. There always seems to be more important stuff going on. But I know that my heart will be really happy when it is all done so I shouldn't use any excuses anymore.