what's happening?

what's happening?: a peek at life in the other blog

"
'tarantula: i always get what i want' wire and fibre ring

Life is busy busy busy right now. I'm two-fifths thru a busy craft fair season (next week at the St. Thomas Moore christmas fair) and replacing inventory like crazy (thanks buyers! - you're helping fund my back-to-college attempt).
I blogged last week about the opening for Positively Petite, the miniatures exhibit at Place des Arts - well, how about a peek of what's going on to tempt you away from your computer desk (courtesy of the folks at the V3H, thanks for the mention).

... and don't forget to check the christmas boutique while you are there. You'll find some amazing work by local artists and no doubt complete your gift buying ahead of time. Once you've said hello to Joy Kirkwood's gorgeous multi media collage seahorses in Positively Petite have a look at my 'life'a beach' collection on sale in the gift shop.

"

Got Craft?

Got Craft? You certainly will soon!
The annual, the famous, the cult, the legendary Got Craft? holiday fair takes place on Sunday, December 5th at the Royal Legion Hall (2205 Commercial Drive in Vancouver, at East 6th Avenue) jam packed with the coolest, most incredible of Vancouver's finest indie designers (and me).

Doors open at 10am, the first 45 lucky entrants get a most amazing, legendary Got Craft? swag bag (packed with goodies from the participating vendors) .... so, in translation - doors may open at 10am but the line up will probably be well underway by 7am.

Be there or be swagless :(

fibre friday: snowflake (with attitude)

snowflake (with attitude), originally uploaded by ebbandflo_pomomama.

This is my contribution for a gallery exhibit silent auction fundraiser (phew, what a mouthful) for the Port Moody Arts Centre in December.

As with a lot of my star shapes, this brooch started off with crochet in the round, building up layers and then points for the star. The centre was filled with blue roving and synthetic yarn before felting. To add some pzazz, I then added more layers of points in a non-tarnish silver wire (the foundation rows are in a duller silver), then finished the whole ensemble off by crocheting tendrils pointing in towards the centre. Every other tendril is tipped with a tiny glass seed bead. The way the tendrils curve in toward the middle seems to hint at a hidden menace IMO. Stamens in the middle suggest that this snowflake is in fact, a flower - a living entity. The image below shows the finished brooch in its frame for the exhibition.

weekend craft fairs: St. Thomas More

long daisy chains ready for the fair

St.Thomas More Collegiate

Christmas Craft Fair

Saturday Nov. 27, 2010 10am-4pm

Sunday Nov. 28, 2010 11am-4pm

Join us as we celebrate the holiday season at our

20^th annual Christmas Craft Fair.

Over 125 local crafters, Basket Raffles, Plant Sales, Used Book Sales, Bistro, Tea Garden, Free Childminding, Bake Sales, and more!!

Admission by donation or a non-perishable

food item.

St.Thomas More Collegiate

7450 12^th Avenue,

Burnaby.

www.stmc.bc.ca

 

Port Moody gallery exhibition and christmas marketplace

bottom row, middle pic - all mine!!!!
 
You are cordially invited to view two pieces of my work in the Port Moody Arts Centre annual Instructor Show. The exhibition open on December 2nd and runs until December 23rd.

The opening night (6-8pm on Thursday, December 2nd) is also a great opportunity to view and bid on the entries for the 6x6 art auction. Proceeds from this fun sale of art by members of the Arts Centre benefits future programming.

My work is also on exhibition at;

• Ensemble at Maple Ridge Art Centre - wire and fibre flower brooches (until December 19th)
• Positively Petite at Place des Arts - wire and fibre rings (until December 17th)
• ArtsConnect artist exhibition at Port Moody library - sterling and fine silver cuff links (from December 1st)

All items are for sale.

I also have some new wire crochet classes at Port Moody Arts Centre booking for after christmas. There are two Saturday workshops for teens (see page 9) plus a week-long Spring break class (p.11). I'll be running classes for adults in February and April (each runs for three evenings - see p.22 for details).

what's happening?

"tarantula: i always get what i want" wire and fibre ring
 
Life is busy busy busy right now. I'm two-fifths thru a busy craft fair season (next week at the St. Thomas Moore christmas fair) and replacing inventory like crazy (thanks buyers! - you're helping fund my back-to-college attempt).
I blogged last week about the opening for Positively Petite, the miniatures exhibit at Place des Arts - well, how about a peek of what's going on to tempt you away from your computer desk (courtesy of the folks at the V3H, thanks for the mention).

... and don't forget to check the christmas boutique while you are there. You'll find some amazing work by local artists and no doubt complete your gift buying ahead of time. Once you've said hello to Joy Kirkwood's gorgeous multi media collage seahorses in Positively Petite have a look at my "life'a beach" collection on sale in the gift shop.

Winter Warmers

Winter Warmers: "

handwoven scarf (Beryl Hickinbottom)

The nights are drawing in, the sun barely warms the land, frost decorates the eaves each morning .... brrr! chilly out.

What you need is a warming visit to the gift shop to banish those winter chills.
We have toasty and stylish scarves, handwoven by a local weaver, to accessorise your cold weather clothing.
We have warming glass votives for maing your living room snug in the dark evenings.
We have handthrown mugs for that steaming hot chocolate at the end of the day.

Do visit :)
PS: our full Christmas Marketplace will be open from the beginning of December with extra late night shopping times :)

glass votive (Margret Billings), blooms photo tile and print (Sarah Ronald), ceramic beaker (Dan Severance)

"
originally from the Blackberry Artist's Society blog which I contribute to (check out the links for details)

fibre friday: ensemble group show in Maple Ridge

 The group show, Ensemble, opens at Maple Ridge Art Gallery on Saturday afternoon with an opening reception, 2 - 4pm.

My other bits and bobs and I will be at Fab Fair for the weekend so I won't be able to attend :(

Please wave "hello" to my wire and fibre flower brooches which are on display, along with some absolutely stunning 2D and 3D works of art.

It will be well worth a visit (after you've been to see me at Fab Fair of course).

argentium silver cuffs - ecoware

argentium silver cuffs, originally uploaded by ebbandflo_pomomama.

These cuffs are hand-crocheted with argentium silver, the new sterling alloy which resists tarnishing.
Sterling silver, as you know, is an alloy of various metals added to pure silver to improve the nature of the metal in terms of malleability, lustre and hardness. Sterling silver is thus only 92.5% silver to overcome the natural softness of the pure metal which renders it not hard-wearing enough for everyday use. One of the metals added to the usual alloy mix is copper. It's the copper which is the main culprit in the normal oxidative tarnishing reaction which blackens your precious metal jewelry.
Argentium sterling has been developed to include a higher percentage of a metal called germanium along with the silver. By replacing copper, tarnishing is much reduced. In addition, fire scale during soldering or other heat work is avoided too.
In summary, all of this tinkering results in a somewhat eco-friendly metal to work with. By making it tarnish and fire scale-resistant the need for harsh chemical processes during production is eliminated.
This also means that your jewelry stays sparkling for longer :)

PS: The cuffs will be at Fab Fair this weekend - why not come and see them in real life!

craft fair season has started

At least, it has for me :)


Hope to see you at the fair!

 CARNEY  PRESENT:

12^TH ANNUAL     CHRISTMAS CRAFT FAIR

Sat. Nov. 13,   9:00am-4:00pm

Sun. Nov. 14, 10:00am-3:00pm

1335 Dominion Ave., Port Coquitlam

(Near Costco, across from Art Knapps)

       Over 120 JURIED tables!

             

     Enjoy the sights and sounds of Christmas and get a head start on this year’s Christmas shopping with our unique selection of quality hand-crafted gifts.  Many NEW QUALITY Artists & Crafters!                                                                                  parking attendants

                                     Wonderful surprises are waiting for you.

Hourly  free North Pole raffle

fibre friday: positively petite exhibition at Place des Arts

yes - that is my ring on the right (squeal!)

The grand opening of the Positively Petitie miniatures exhibition at Place des Arts takes place on Thursday, November 18th. It coincides with the official opening of the christmas boutique where you can browse through some wonderful gift ideas made by local artists.


My wire and fibre rings will be on display (and for sale) in the exhibition which features works in miniature by local artists, some of them also instructors with Place des Arts. Last year it was  feast of tiny canvases, photographic art, felted pieces and tiny ceramics. This year ..... why not come down and see for yourself.

in remembrance

Move him into the sun -
Gently its touch awoke him once,
At home, whispering of fields unsown.
Always it woke him, even in France,
Until this morning and this snow.
If anything might rouse him now
The kind old sun will know.

Think how it wakes the seeds, -
Woke, once, the clays of a cold star.
Are limbs, so dear-achieved, are sides,
Full-nerved, - still warm, - too hard to stir?
Was it for this the clay grew tall?
- O what made fatuous sunbeams toil
To break earth's sleep at all?

(Futility by Wilfred Owen, 1893 - 1918)


The "Lacrymosa" from Britten's War Requiem. 
Soprano, Makvala Kasrashvili. Tenor, Anthony Rolfe Johnson
conducted by Mstislav Rostropovich, Royal Albert Hall 1993

wordless wednesday: tedious tasks

wordless wednesday: hated tasks, originally uploaded by ebbandflo_pomomama.

labeling inventory

Christmas marketplace for Port Moody

For shop local, shop handmade fans in the Tri Cities area (Port Moody, Coquitlam and Port Coquitlam) please add this in bold red pen to your calendars.

The Blackberry Gift Shop Christmas Market Place will be opening on December 1st (grand opening in the evening of December 2nd). For those of you who cannot wait please check out the gift shop as becomes more seasonal from the beginning of November, and to get right into the spirit, visit the Arts Centre after November 15th to check out the tree with it's wonderful handcrafted artisan decorations (all for sale through the gift shop).

inventory prep

Busy at the bench preparing inventory for the busy run of chrismas craft fairs.
If you want to know where you might get your hands on these beauties please check the Events tab above.
See you soon :)

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Fab Fair - a whole show devoted to bags and bling

For those of you who like bags .... and bling .... does the idea of a weekend-long craft fair devoted to handbags, purses, jewerly and accessories sound a little silly, or extravagant, or pointless?

Thought not!
See you at Fab Fair at Heritage Hall, 3102 Main Street @ 15th Avenue in Vancouver on Saturday, November 20th and Sunday, November 21st (11am to 5pm both days).

self portrait thursday: movember

Toying with an idea ..... to support mr ebb's Movember attempt (will post pics of the actual 'tache later n the month (once I've stopped laughing/wincing).


:)

wire crochet moustache in copper

wordless wednesday: custom work is fun

"forget me not blues" wire crochet cuff

ladies and gentlemen, the Zoe bracelet

bronzite and gold wire Zoe bracelet

Sometimes I sit and ponder what to call my work.
Sometimes the name jumps out at me.
Sometimes it evolves over a period of days/weeks/months (which is why you will find different names for the same piece on my flickr portfolio).

Some poor pieces languish as 'blue bead cuff' for the rest of their lives but it doesn't seem to stop them being adopted by a willing buyer.

The bracelet above had a name as soon as I saw the components together; the Zoe bracelet.
It's named after a customer of mine who I did some custom work for. She introduced me to a new way of looking at some of my components and voila! a year later and they've found a home in one of my designs.

Thank you Zoe :) Good luck with your designing career.