Fairhope, Alabama Art Festival Photos



The Fairhope art festival was great!  I had a small table display inside the shop at Cadeaux Caches on Fairhope Ave.  I enjoyed meeting the other artists who were there with Cadeaux Caches.  There were two of us set up inside the shop, and four other artists outside on the sidewalk.  Sandy Castor, who is a mosaic artist, was my table mate inside.  Oh my...you should see her work!  No website for her, you will have to visit her work at Cadeaux Caches.  She doesn't use the traditional broken pottery or porcelain in her mosaics, but instead uses imported glass, stones, and various other interesting media. 

I can't say enough wonderful things about Donna and Rob, the owners of Cadeaux and Caches, especially Donna.  She has a real talent for what she does.  She is in the right place!  It was a pleasure working with them and it's a pleasure and an honor to have some of my jewelry for sale there on consignment.  No photos of them.  Donna is camera shy...Please visit their shop.  Donna is a very out going cheerful person and can tell you anything and everything about each piece that is for sale in her shop.  She is a real pleasure to be around and you will love meeting her..  

Inside the shop

There was also a guy there who makes stringed instruments out of gourds.  He played music for us all day for the entire three day festival!

Jason of "Jaybirdbanjo"



Sandy Castor, a mosaic artist.  Her work is available at Cadeaux Caches

Kip Hayes amd his wife from "Hayes Gallery of Southern Art" were with us also.  He paints some awesome old time southern scenes on reclaimed wood from hurricaneKatrina.  

And there was also Debra from "Sugarboogers".  She made earrings and the cutest little onesies and t-shirts for toddlers.  I don't have a website for her.



And here are a couple of photos of my display.  One is from inside and one is outside.  One of the outside venders left early, so we moved my table outside!  The person behind my table is my best bud PJ.  She helped me all three days! My work can be seen online at Life Art Designs. 

And here is a photo of Brina and Justine who worked for the owners inside the shop.  It was St. Patrick's Day.  That's why the green hair.  They are behind my booth wearing a couple of my pendants.

Now that this show is over, I am busy getting ready for the next one.  It is the St. Francis Episcopal Church’s 10^th Annual Arts & Crafts Festival on April 21, 2012 located at 401 Key St. on Dauphin Island, Al.  Not one of the largest...but one of my favorites! 

Have a great day!

Janie



   

Silver Sea Turtles

Out of yesterdays work with all the different silver pieces being worked...three Sea Turtles emerged.  One of them is actually a custom order and will be picked up today.  But, she must choose....  :). 

Have a great day!

Janie



Fine Silver Clay In progress

I'm getting ready for the annual Fairhope, Alabama arts and crafts festival, which is in two weeks!  It's a juried show that has a huge waiting list for venders.  Luckily for me, the owner of Cadeaux Caches, where I have some of my silver jewelry on consignment, offered me a small space inside her shop.  Yay!  So now, I am in a creating frenzy.  I'm also finishing up on a couple of custom orders that I was already working on.  I also have two more shows here locally on the Island in May and April.  So, it looks like I will be busy for a while!  But, I'm having a blast creating new pieces.  Here's some silver clay pieces I'm working on:

Below are little tiny flower petals.  Usually, when I make something out of fresh clay, I will take the left over pieces of clay and make components for future use.  They come in handy at times like this.  And, it just seems nore economical that opening a new pack of silver just for some tiny pieces.  

Here is a close-up of a large Mermaid pendant and some Sea Turtles I'm working on.  Neither are finished nor ready to fire.  Much more detail work in store for the Mermaid.  And, lots more work to them after they dry.  The Sea Turtles are just laying on top of the base.  I still have to fine sand them before firing.  That's why they look so scraggly.

That's it for now.  I do have a pile of silver that is fresh out of the kiln.  But, no time to photo that right now!

Have a great day!

Janie 

Polymer Clay Big Bead Necklaces

I've been playing around with some of the polymer clay beads that I recently made.  You can read about the beads and see their in-progress photos in my previous posts if you would like.  Here's a couple of necklaces I am making with them, I am going for a very simple design for now:

Have a great Day!

Janie

Success or Failure

Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.
-- Thomas Alva Edison

Read more: http://greatday.com/index.html#ixzz1mqeXa4Hz

Handmade Beads Update

This is the second poat about the new set of polymer clay beads that I just made.  They have been uniformly drilled, sanded, and polished.  I've put a few together that I will contine to create necklaces with.  Eventually, I will use them all to make necklaces.  But for right now, I'm just playing with an idea using a few of them.

The first few photos are of them prior to drilling.  So, don't look to close  at the holes!

Purple is so hard to photograph and keep the original color true.  I think I captured it this time though. 

Now,  for the orange ones

I had a really hard time getting a good photo of the yellow beads.



So, what do you think?  What are you working on today?

Have a great day!

Janie

Making Polymer Clay Beads Today

I'm making polymer clay beads today.  I decided to give the silver a rest and go back to the polymer clay.  Time for some color!  I have loads of polymer clay canes.  Some that I made myself, some from various swaps I've done online, and a few that I've purchased.  The first photo is of the box I have all my flower canes stored in.  The next phot shows the first set of purple beads.

   

And some yellow and orange beads:

I'm intentionally making each bead different.  I have a plan, but I'll show that later in another post once I've put them together.  Below are the finished beads ready to go in the oven for curing.  Due to the different brands of clay used and the different types of translucents involved, I expect several of them to shift colors during the curing process.  In fact, instead of letting that be a concern, I think I'll push it and over cure them a little longer and hotter just to see what happens.

And here are all the beads fresh out of the oven.  I gave them an ice water bath, so you might see a few droplets of water here and there.

Have a great day!

Janie