This was my second Arts Walk, and it turned out to be a good, but unexpected challenge. I work two nights a week at a paint your own pottery shop, (The Painted Plate for those of you in Olympia.) and my employer asked if I would be interested in showing my work at the store. I agreed to do it, even though I knew I would have felt a lot less pressure to show at my husband’s studio. The good part is that I probably wouldn’t have come up with the idea I ended up doing. The challenging part was showing at a place I wasn’t comfortable in and allowing myself to do something different, and feeling good about it.
At first I was just going to put together a display of my runners and bandanas, and perhaps introduce another product. But I quickly decided that would be boring, and thought I should take advantage of this being an arts walk and do something that showcased my prints, but also told a story. The other amazing opportunity I had was my place of employment. Not only was I able to paint some pottery pieces, I was also able to hand make pieces to help complete my story.
As you can see I decided to put together a child’s tea party. To bring it all together I chose a color palette to use through out and also used unbleached natural fabrics. I drew my print designs onto the pottery pieces and painted them in the same color palette. I also made “cookies”, and “petit fours”. I designed and made all the dolls, and printed the fabric for their clothes, and printed new runners. I also searched my yard for branches, and fortunately I had the perfect tree in my garage to cut into pieces to add a few accents. I’m very pleased with the way everything turned out, I couldn’t have imagined it better!
The dolls I made turned out so well, and have been attracting some interest so I’ve decided to add those to my current line of products. The dolls will start at $150. And until they are gone I will also be selling the “cookies”, which I will turn into magnets and the “petit fours” which I think would make very cute dipping dishes. All of these will be up on my Etsy sight soon, but you can always contact me for more details.
Lastly, I need to thank everyone who came out during Arts Walk, I appreciate all of your kind words. But even more I have to thank all the people who supported me during the process. Creating something and then putting it out there for the world to see can be extremely scary, doubts start to creep in. But I have a wonderful husband and an amazing family! So thank you, I couldn’t have done this without all of you!!
Spring Arts Walk is just around the corner, literally, it’s just two days away. And I decided to do something a little different to show my print designs. So I have created a themed installation, and part of this installation are these dolls. Which I am very excited about, and since they turned out better than I expected I’m going to keep them in my rotation. I love playing around with my prints and using them in different and unexpected ways and these have been a great outlet. If you want to see the completed project and you are in the area (Olympia, WA) come down town this Friday and Saturday, the 27th & 28th of April to The Painted Plate, and check it out. A co-worker of mine will also be showing her hand painted ceramics, so check her out too! I would love to see you.
If you’re not in the area, I’ll be posting pictures after the event. But for now here are a few pics of the dolls! Hope to see you soon:)
I tell you getting these bandanas out to the public has taken me a bit longer than I expected. Which frustrates me, but then I have to remind myself that I am also working outside of the home two nights a week and taking care of my family. Oh yeah, and I’m planning an installation for my local arts walk coming up at the end of April. So not too much on my plate….
Anyway, here is my first run of bandanas. Overall I like the way they’ve turned out. Since they are my first ones I’ve allowed myself a bit of a learning curve so these will be gifted to my siblings, but I will have them on my etsy shop within the week ready to order!
One of my iPad cases wrapped and ready for it’s journey overseas! I wish I could join it, but maybe next year:)
I’ve been working on printing scarves in my head for awhile, and I finally took the plunge. So here is the one of the first, and I hope many more to come. These first scarves are bandana size, and I’m looking at sourcing fabric for making longer softer scarves as well. I think I’ve figured out what I want to use, I just need to do a little experimenting. Anyway, I’m excited about them so far, and really looking forward to doing more printing and playing around with color and pattern.