Monday, December 19, 2011

Show News! And help please

First, the big news: I got my acceptance email from Norwescon Dealers' Room Monday! That means I will definitely be there with an abundance of stuff. Now I just need to make some decisions about hotel arrangements and locate an assistant.

 The graduation show went well. There was a decent turnout and some sales. I'll be making more leaf things, as they continue to be very popular.


My Professor's only advice about my display was that I should probably have more color.  I'm inclined to agree, and am looking for ways to incorporate my shade of purple into things.  I'll almost certainly be able to add some in the sign and frame, and there may be a new tablecloth or overlay as well.  The fun part is going to be transferring the aesthetic from an art show display to a dealers' room table.

So I mentioned above that I need some assistance with Norwescon. I need some assistance with Rustycon as well. The job mostly involves covering the booth during lunch and if there ends up being a daytime panel I need to go to, as well as help with setup and breakdown. There's a con badge in it for the person chosen, and likely some meals as well.

Sunday, December 11, 2011

New Technology and Life Before Handbags

Firstly, a reminder for the graduation show:  This Friday, 12/16, Wayward Coffeehouse (SW corner of 65th & Roosevelt, Seattle).  Be there, drink coffee, buy art!

Now on with today's show!

There's a lot of new technology in the studio lately.  We learned about electro-etching a few weeks ago, and I finally got set up for it in the studio.  The first piece is a thing of beauty.

The first etched piece!


Subsequent pieces have been similarly successful.

My instructor has been encouraging us to look at plastics at an alternative material for some time now, and I finally got around to exploring it.  It turns out that acrylic can be made to substitute for a number of natural materials that are difficult, expensive, and/or unethical to obtain, like ivory, ebony, and bone.  You can carve it , dye it, and heat form it.  This is an in-progress shot from the beginnings of a hair-comb I'm carving from black acrylic:

proto-comb

I hand-sketched the knot right on to the backing paper and sawed and filed from there.  It's currently just about ready to be molded (for later resin pouring) and formed.  There will be pics when it's done.

This is another carved piece in ivory acrylic:

carved ivory acrylic

This pic was only just taken, and it has a ways to go yet.  The carvings need to be cleaned up, the whole thing needs some dye, and there may end up being some inlay work.

A lot of my playing with etching and plastics is headed in a particular direction.  This is an antique chatelaine:

BLW Nurse's Chatelaine


Pre-WWI, this was one of the more popular options for women to carry around the things she would need during the day.  The attachments were called accessories, and could often be switched out depending on what was planned for the day.  This one has a pencil, a little notepad called an "aide-memoire" (these frequently had ivory or celluloid pages that would be erased and reused), a compact or pill case, scissors, a container for a thimble or tape measure, and a whistle.  A google image search will show almost limitless options for things to hang on your chatelaine.
I'm working on a couple of these and a bunch of accessories, and how they might be updated with modern materials and accessories.  I already carry a number of things (bus pass, key-cards, a tape measure & a flash drive) on tags and hooks on the outside of my purse despite the fact that the handbag itself is ginormous.  I already have this flash drive and am planning to make more:


The jump to a proper chatelaine is really not a big one.
I figure the modern chatelaine would include a cell case, credit card case, flash drive, change purse, plus whatever tools you need for what you do.  I always have a tape measure, and often need a box knife (they make tiny adorable ones) and a B&S sheet metal gauge.  I'd probably also have a little change-purse-type bag for Carmex and the like.  I'm especially fascinated with the aide-memorie and its reusable pages, since there are some things in the world I can only work out with a pencil.  This is another case of "pics when it's done", which hopefully will be taken Friday afternoon before time to go set up the show.