Wise Daughters

The quality of craft stores is this city is just astounding.  And the latest store to carry my work is the perfect example of that quality.  Wise Daughters is a beautiful store located in the Junction at 3079B Dundas Street West.

The big, beautiful front window lets light flood the store, giving it a wonderful airy feel and showcasing all the fantastic work inside.  The owner, Mary Breen, is not only nice but she also has excellent taste and there’s an irresistible array of unique craft goodies, from jewellery to knit goods to art and more!

And if you decide you’d like to learn a little crafting yourself then sign up for one of her many workshops.  They’re held in the spacious lower level of the store and include an incredibly wide array of topics.  You can learn silk-screening, drumming, jewellery making, sewing  and much more.  You can even learn to needle felt a moose trophy head!

So stop over to the Junction and check out Wise Daughters, and check out my jewellery of course!

Here’s the link to the website:

www.wisedaughters.com

 

Etsy treasuries

Etsy is an interesting website.  I like looking through it but I must admit I don’t use it very much for my own work.  I’ll remember to list something every few months then forget about it again.  I consider it more as an extra form of advertising rather than an actual selling site.  I’m hoping to change that in the future by listing more items and getting a bit more involved in the Etsy community.  It seems like to be a success on Etsy you must constantly join groups, circles, teams, etc and make treasuries.

Treasuries are a collection of similar items.  Usually similar colours but also similar themes.  I’ve just made my first treasury ever.  It’s a bit daunting when I see how beautiful the photos and shops are of other people compared to my sad little offering, lol.  But it’s a good incentive to start improving my shop.  So keep an eye on my Etsy shop in the next few months, I plan on making lots of changes.

Here’s my first treasury:

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/Nzk3NDMyN3w2NzE1MDk0MzA/orange-you-glad

Creative Heart Collective Fall Show & Sale

Fall is a great time to hit craft shows.  Changing seasons means changing products so many artists will be offering new styles you’ve never seen before.  One of the craft shows you can visit this fall is the Creative Heart Collective Fall Show & Sale at the Gladstone Hotel.

The Creative Heart Collective says their mission is “to engage, inspire and connect”.   I’m sure they’ll accomplish all those goals with the impressive list of vendors for the show.  I won’t be there but I’ve seen the creations of many of the artists listed and they definitely have inspiring work!  There will be handmade crafts and jewellery, vintage wear, gourmet food and free community art workshops.  And the Gladstone Hotel is certainly a great place to connect in, it’s a beautiful building and the Ballroom is a lovely space with wood floors and huge windows.  And you can always nip into the cafe for a bite or stop to listen to a bit of music at the Sunday matinee.

It’s on Sunday September 18th.  12pm to 6pm.
The Gladstone Hotel, 1st floor Ballroom. 1214 Queen St. W.
Admission: PWYC

Here’s the link for the Gladstone Hotel:  www.gladstonehotel.com

And here’s the link to the vendors at the show: www.creativeheartcollective.com/vendors/

Birthia

“Birthia is about giving birth to ideas that take people on a journey through memorable events, graphics, and products.”

That’s the motto of the newest store to carry my work.  They’re literally the newest store, they just opened in July!  It sounds like it’s been a lot of hard work to renovate the store but I must say it’s looking fabulous.  It has a beautiful double front window display and awesome wooden shelves.  They’ve also chosen some great artists to stock their shelves with.  All items are hand-made and locally produced.  They have super cool bags, wallets, jewellery and more.  And they’re expanding their list of products daily, I look forward to my next visit to see what other goodies they’ve gotten in.

They are located at 1599 Dundas Street West.  At the moment there is construction on Dundas West, so there is some fencing up, but there is full access to all stores along the street (I noticed some other great stores on my way there).  They are open from 10am to 5pm Monday to Thursday and 12pm to 9pm Thursday and Friday.

Here’s the facebook page for more info:

http://www.facebook.com/Birthia

Back to School!

Well, soon it will be back to school for students of all ages.  It also means back to teaching for me – teaching enamelling that is!  The first of the fall classes will be the beginner class on September 21st.  Check out the Classes page for more dates and details.

Enamelling is a wonderful craft in that it is simple to learn but once you learn the basics you can use them to create incredibly intricate designs.  It all depends on your taste, skill and patience.  Personally I’m in love with colour, so my work is dedicated to simple, abstract, vividly hued designs.  But if you would like to make cloisonne with dozens of cells that takes months I can teach you that too!  Even after one class you’ll be all ready to work on your own, and you’ll make 3 finished pieces by the end of the day.

Don’t forget that enamelling has many more uses than just jewellery.  You can make bowls, art panels, light switch covers, house numbers and more!  Oodles of stuff!

The biggest advantage of taking a class with me is personal attention.  I take a maximum of 3 students and will do individual classes for the same price.  I find that keeping numbers low means I have the time to answer questions and really focus on what each individual student wants to learn.  I also take care of the set up and the clean up, so the class time is completely centered on learning.  And if you want to do more enamelling after your classes you can rent kiln time or I can tell you where to buy a kiln and set up your own studio.  It doesn’t take up a lot of space, so it’s fantastic for a home studio!

So hopefully some of you people out there will give enamelling a try!  I’m sure you’ll love it as much as I do

Vendor Call: 99 Sudbury

I’m still deciding if I’ll have time to do this one (probably not) but it looks like a great show.  The 99 Sudbury area is very popular these days, right between Queen Street West and Liberty Village.

The cost is $50 for non-food vendors, but you get a deal if you do two shows, $40 per show.  It includes an eight foot table, which makes life easier as a vendor!

There are shows July 24th, August 7th and August 21st.    You might want to double check if they are still taking vendors for the July show, but I know they are taking them for both August shows.

Here’s the website where you can find the application link:

http://99sudbury.ca/99-mrkt/

Monkeys

My boyfriend and I are going to Argentina next month, which is very exciting.  But what’s more exciting is monkeys!

We are going to be based in Buenos Aires but we are taking a side trip to Iguazu Falls, which is a massive waterfall four times the size of Niagara.  It is bordered by Argentina on one side and Brazil on the other.  We will be staying on the Argentinian side in a national park.  I’m looking forward to waking up to a view of Iguazu Falls thundering away outside the window.  But I also found out that you have to keep your patio doors closed at night or the monkeys will come in and steal things!  Of course, now I want to leave the patio door open

I’m so excited about the monkeys I bought my first camcorder so I can film them.  Maybe when I come back I’ll start making monkey jewellery, lol.

Monkeys!!

Enamel art panels

I love making enamel jewellery.  But it’s exciting to branch into something new.  I have been making a few enamel bowls in the last 6 months and now I’ve started on art panels.  Doing an art panel gives me more room to work and it allows me to make pieces that may not translate well as jewellery.  It also moves my work into the realm of “fine art”.  I’ve always hated that term, since as far as I’m concerned everything I do is fine art, and why using canvas instead of metal makes something more worthwhile I’ll never know!

I’m  limited on the size of panel I can do because of the size of my kiln.  Currently I am working with 4×6 and 4×5 pieces of copper.  If I want to do larger pieces I will have to make them separately and put them together, somewhat like a mosaic.

The subjects of my new panels range from a bucolic field of flowers to an anguished wind blown tree to an abstract face (which I have been drawing in some form since the age of twelve) to a row of rusty nails.  They are all framed in solid wood frames.  I love them and I’m hoping that others will appreciate them as much as I do.

 

Culture Days

Culture Days is a Canada wide movement to promote art and culture.  It is happening September 30, October 1st and October 2nd.  There are a wide variety of activities in Toronto, across Ontario and across Canada.  At the moment some of them are still accepting participants for activities or you can create your own activity/venue and submit it for inclusion in the event.

The list is quite extensive and a bit overwhelming.  I suggest using the Advanced Activities Search if you’re trying to find events in a specific city.  There is also a list of venues that are seeking participants and if you have a venue you would like to offer you can do that too.

One thing that looked pretty cool was free lamp-working at Tank Studio in the Distillery District.  I’ve done lamp-working (glass bead making) before and it’s not the easiest thing but it is a lot of fun!

Here is the Canada wide link, go to the Activities link and use the Advanced search option to find events in your area:

http://culturedays.ca/en/about-culture-days

Wonderworks blog

There is a nice little article about me on the Wonderworks website, which I’m pleased to share with you.

Wonderworks started carrying my work in late April. They are a beautiful store on Harbord right at Spadina.  They carry much more than just jewellery, they also have books and gifts and aromatherapy.  There are events such as workshops and yoga held there as well and they have a gallery space too!       They are located at 79 Harbord Street, Toronto.

Here is the article:

http://www.gowonderworks.com/node/658