Diversions and roadblocks

Just as surely as I get started on a big project like redoing my studio, other things come along to get in my way. We had a conference out of town, Gabriel's been sick, I am sick now, and we're getting ready for our big Thanksgiving celebration the Saturday after the holiday. That involves a lot of long-put-off work on storage and reconfiguring different areas in our house, so my studio (regretfully) has taken a back seat. I hope to get most of the house stuff done this weekend and try to get back to the studio over the next week so that after the holiday I can get to work on the gifts I'm making. I won't have an entirely handmade Christmas, but I do have handmade gifts to give to several friends and family members. I'll also do goody plates or bags for neighbors and several friends, of cookies and pumpkin bread.

I still sneak into the studio every day to do some plotting and thinking about what I want for the room. I need a better solution for the sewing machine for one, and I need to decide what should be stored in the basement and what should be put on the top of the book cases. I think I know where I want to put the printer, but I have to get through of mounds of junk before I can do any rearranging.

With luck I'll come out of this with a pretty streamlined work area, one that I can feel confident moving from project to project on. More on this later!

IKEA!

Ikea for the win - I got a narrow bookcase (about 22 inches wide and 15 inches deep) for my office. Tomorrow I will try to put it together and get it set up, then get the albums moved in there from G.'s room.

I will need to untangle my morass of cords and find a better place for the printer. Thank goodness it's wireless! Once that's done I'll move all my paper & scrapbooking stuff into the new shelves, and get the junk on the floor into the shelf closest to my desk.

I've got to get busy! I have projects to get to work on to use up those supplies!

Freeform beading

I've always loved freeform beading, but have been frightened to try it. I have beaded around cabs (that I've made with polymer clay) before, but nothing terribly freeform. Recently I took out some face cabs I've made and a few regular large ovals and decided to jump in. The first one I backed with a medium-stiff interfacing, but I find it too flexible and hard to hold taut. I'm also unhappy with the glue I used. I stopped in the middle and switched to a thicker fabric (I think it's buckram. It looks & feels like it, but it was in the remnant bin and unlabeled) for the second one. I hate to give up the work I've done on the first one, and considering that I need it done by Friday I will probably muddle through. I'm hoping the second one will work better.

This is all part of OUS for me, Operation Utilize Supplies. I'm using this new therapy to not only use up what I've got, but to try things I've been longing to try. Look for photos of the freeform stuff, and also of the studio as I excavate it over the next few weeks.

The Studio and Operation Utilize Supplies

I have done a little bit more work in the studio. I brought home some lime green tubs from Home Depot to fill up, and with luck we'll get to Ikea on Sunday to get my new cabinet. Tomorrow is a "day off" for me (meaning I don't have to get up and get the husband off to the train, or pick him up) so my big goals are to get the left side of the room cleared, then reorder the closet. If I can get that done, I can fill the cabinet on Monday with what's on the floor under the desk... and then I can move the tables and tackle the bookshelves!

With luck I'll be able to call the studio totally workable (including being able to sew easily & do clay and scrapbooking as well) by the end of November. *fingers crossed* Then I'll be able to throw myself into Operation Utilize Supplies with vigor!

The studio!

Until we finish our basement (where I have wonderful studio space set aside), I have an office and studio space in our back room. It's a nice room and there will be plenty of space for what I'm working on, but right now it is full of my "art supplies". I put the quotes around it, because part of it is just junk that has ended up in my boxes of supplies. I have to do this in stages.

1. Get the area to the left of the desk clear. I have to have space for my LP's, and there's also room to put another cabinet (to be obtained from Ikea) for supplies.
2. Get under the desk emptied.
3. Get all the bookshelves emptied of books & the books moved or stored, and use that space for art supplies.
4. Unearth Gabriel's kid desk which lives in the same room and get it available for him to use. I have a bedside table to put next to it to store art supplies.
5. Get excess to the basement for storage.
6. Get my sewing machine available for use. I have two portable tables for the room, one for the sewing machine and one for layout/painting fabric/cutting patterns and so on.

It is going to be a big project. I've decided that one of my carrots on a stick for this will be art supplies - I have a few things I need and want, but I won't buy anymore (unless there's an emergency, like a custom order) unless I've finished a stage of the mission. Here's a video of the room, to give you an idea. It's covered with junk, so beware! I've been sorting and pulling stuff out of boxes.

My Giveaway - followup!

Some of you may remember my Mask & Giveaway post early in October. In it I asked for new ideas for masks, and said that in November I'd choose a random comment to receive a gift in the mail from me for participating. My Random Number Generator (see my widget in the right column of this page) chose Comment # 8, who was Aik! I've emailed her and asked for her physical address to send a gift to.

I'll be using many (maybe all) of the ideas, because they were all fabulous. I love masks, and plan to make more.

Keep tuned here for more photos, and blog entries - I'm doing NaBloPoMo this year, and have chosen this as the blog I'll be faithful to all month. Hopefully it will get me into some good habits!!

My "Poverty Mentality" and sympathetic magic!

My friend KaoticEkko blogged about something that really hit a nerve with me. I have long realized that I suffer from a serious poverty mentality, which I describe as the subconscious (and sometimes conscious) belief that I am poor, will always be poor, and should never use any of my hobby supplies for fear of wasting them and not being able to acquire more. This comes from so many years of living from paycheck to paycheck, and art supplies were an expensive luxury. I have art supplies that I have had and hoarded for 20 years!

There is a little thing called "sympathetic magic", which is usually defined as influencing something by using or creating an item that resembles what you want to happen, or doing something as if something else will happen, in order to influence it happening. One of my favorite examples of sympathetic magic in my own life is when our sweet Basset puppy fell very ill. He was in the hospital for almost a week, and the doctors told us every day that he would not make it. One day at the store I saw and purchased a puppy bed for him. I brought it home and put it in my son's room, and told him that it was a bed for his puppy when he came home. I bought this bed even after being told the puppy would not come home, I did it to show the Universe (and my 3 year old) that I believed J.D. would get well. He did. I have no idea whether or not the bed had anything to do with it, but it was something that fed my soul and created a much needed positive attitude.

So, in the spirit of sympathetic magic, and with the help of KaoticEkko and hopefully some other folks, I am going to start USING my supplies, with the belief that I can make art with them and be able to buy more and create more. Today I dug out some molds I never use and made up some cabs to bead around. I'm determined to use up my bead supply so that I can start buying better beads and doing more beading work. Tomorrow I start cleaning and sorting my studio, and next week my sweet hubby is taking me to Ikea to look at some shelving options.

OUS (Operation Utilize Supplies) means we use up what we have, we post photos of what we've made whether we like it or not, and we clear the way in our hearts, minds & workshops for new supplies, new projects, new ART. Join us! Let's start believing in our ability to create and grow.

Breast Cancer Awareness

In 2000 my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. We were lucky, it was caught extremely early. She had a wedge mastectomy and has been cancer free since then. She was 74 when it was diagnosed, and at 83 she's still very healthy and doing well. A few health issues since the cancer, but she's weathered them like the strong, beautiful lady she is.

Since then I've done what I can to promote awareness of the fight against breast cancer, and when my husband's beloved Aunt passed away from it a few years ago it reinforced our desire to help get women tested early, treated and healed. To that end I've decided to create a new category in my shop called "Breast Cancer Awareness". I'll regularly add pinkful items made with the struggle in mind. Anytime you purchase one or more of these items, I will donate 10% of your entire order to the Ozarks Medical Center Cancer Center in West Plains, Missouri, where my mother was treated and cured.

It might be a small thing, but it's something tangible and real that I can do in thanks for my Mom's survival, and to help other people's Moms, daughters, sisters, fathers, sons and friends be treated and survive. Remember that breast cancer is not just a women's issue - many men are afflicted with the same disease, and they often do not get diagnosed and treated in time.

Handmade Christmas

I just added my Handmade Christmas Artfire badge to this blog, and it's got me thinking - just how am I going to do that this year? It's easy to saturate your friends & family with handmade gifts, and there's always the danger that someone won't quite appreciate them. Not to mention the fact that (at least for me) it's just plain hard to make "guy gifts". Then add to that our paring down of the Christmas gift list, it gets harder and harder to figure out how. I've generally always defaulted to food, because that is a gift pretty much everyone cherishes, enjoys, and waits anxiously for next year to get again! I have a friend who makes handmade chocolates for his nearest and dearest. We love Tom for many, many reasons, but we adore him for those beautiful boxes of joy at Christmas. I like thinking that my friends say "I wonder if Teresa's going to make that heavenly pumpkin bread again this year..." I hope they do.

In the past I've done teabags of my specialty herbal tea in handpainted mugs, cookies, hot chocolate mix in jars with cross-stitched lid covers, the aforementioned pumpkin bread, cookies, and a variety of other treats. What's on my list this year? Probably pumpkin bread and cookies with my brand new $30 cookie press, acquired for $7 at Goodwill. Gabriel can help me decorate the cookies, and begin his introduction to Handmade Christmases. I hope it's an idea he embraces, and learns to put his particular spin on as he gets older.

So, how are you going to do your own handmade holiday this year? I'd love to hear your thoughts and ideas. Oh, and don't forget the giveaway that I posted about in my last blog entry!

A Mask and a giveaway.

My Artfire guild teamed up with another guild to put on a Masquerade Ball event this month. I've created and listed one display mask (full size, it comes ready to hang on the wall) for sale. I plan to try to get one more mask (a pendant) in the shop in the next day or two. I've also got a 10% off special in my store if you use the coupon code "MASK".

You can see my listing here, and read more about the Mask event here at the PCSG guild blog. The blog has a sidebar list of everyone who is particpating in the 10% off promotion.

From masks

This mask is made completely of black polymer clay. Each individual leave was molded and coated with gold or silver powder and slightly distressed for a more ancient look. Backed with suede and ready to hang on the wall! I've always been fascinated by Celtic mythology and the concept of the Green Man is of particular interest. I've experimented with foliage masks before, and I'm very proud of this attempt.

Now for the giveaway! This is my first one so I'm just dabbling my toe in the concept. Comment on this entry during the month of October and tell me what you think of the mask I made, and give me an idea for a new mask. On November 1st I'll randomly select one entry and the poster will receive a gift in the mail plus a coupon code for free shipping at my shop!

Back in the studio

After suffering for quite some time with tendinitis in my shoulder & wrist, I finally reached the point that I had to take action. I saw the ortho on Tuesday and received cortisone shots in my wrist & shoulder. I'm still sore from them, but there is also tremendous relief. I think in a few days I'll be right as rain. I'm taking it easy, but spending a little time in the studio to celebrate!

Right now I'm working on a couple Sooper Sekrit Projects that have been rolling around in my brain while I've been on the "Disabled List", and also working on a project for my wonderful & supportive guild, Polymer Clay Smooshers.

I hope to have a lot more items in my shop by the first of October, and am already working on a couple blog entries about some techniques and concepts.

It's nice to feel like working again!

Prayer Beads

As an Episcopalian, I came in contact with the Catholic Rosary as a young person. I was very intrigued with the concept of praying with beads, and I loved the beauty of the rosaries I saw. The process was complicated, though, and the prayers didn't exactly fit with my personal theology or sense of liturgy.

Over the years I saw other examples from other faiths & sects. I experimented with creating my own prayer bead sets, and although I enjoyed the process I never found anything that really fit. A few years ago I came across something called the "Anglican Rosary" and was immediately captivated - I had found my prayer beads. The process is shorter than the Catholic rosary, and the beauty of it is that you create your own prayer set. I made one for myself and was making one for my husband as I sat in a public area at a convention we attended. A woman came over, asked what I was making. Turns out she is Anglican and asked to buy the one I was working on! I realized there might be a market for these, and began to make them to sell. I have quite a few in my shop, and would be very excited to create a custom rosary for you if you don't see something that quite fits your style.



You can find my prayer beads at ArtFire!

The Rosary itself:

You have a cross at the beginning, followed by one bead called the invitatory. The rosary can begin either with the cross or the first bead.

Following the invitatory is the first of four large beads, called the cruciforms. Between each cruciform is a set of seven smaller beads, making up a week.



You pray around the circle to your right, ending once again with the invitatory bead.

With each rosary I send out a copy of the above diagram, and I also include text of the prayer set I chose, that comes straight from the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer. It's merely an example of how it can be prayed, but there are many, many other ideas and possibilities.

My prayers:

Cross (beginning):

Our Father, who art in heaven
hallowed by thy Name,
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread
And forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those
who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation
but deliver us from evil
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever. Amen.

Invitatory (first):

O God make speed to save me,
O Lord make haste to help me.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Ghost:
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen.

The Cruciforms


Holy God,
Holy and Mighty,
Holy Immortal One,
Have mercy upon me.

The Weeks

Jesus, lamb of God, have mercy on us.
Jesus, bearer of our sins, have mercy on us.
Jesus, redeemer of the world, give us your peace.

Invitatory (ending):

Guide us waking, O Lord,
and guard us sleeping;
that awake we may watch
with Christ, and asleep
we may rest in peace.

Cross (ending):

Keep watch, dear Lord, with those who work, or watch, or weep this night, and give thine angels charge over those who sleep. Tend the sick, Lord Christ; give rest to the weary, bless the dying, soothe the suffering, pity the afflicted, shield the joyous; and all for thy love's sake. Amen.

Getting back to work

I'm back from "vacation" and trying to get through some other event planning before I can honestly get back to work. I've managed to track down a new Farmer's Market in the area that specifically targets artists to set up - I'm going to check them out this week and hopefully set up a few times before the season ends.

While I was out of town, I bought a lot of gorgeous beads for necklaces and pendants and I organized and identified a lot of my semi-precious stone stash. I have some great ideas for new jewelry!

I also updated my jewelry tools and got a few more nice things to work with. I'm anxious to dig in and start creating things to share with all of you.

Watch for a couple new entries I've been working on. I hope today finds you all well, healthy & happy.

Vacation??

On Monday I leave the wilds of Chicagoland to journey down south to spend a week or two with my mother. She lives in Southern Missouri, so it's not a terrible drive (8 hours, give or take). Bundle and I try to get down for some serious Nana Time twice a year if possible, but this year scheduling has fought against us. Hopefully this visit will be a really good one for the two of them. Nana has already promised him that she'll stock up on all the things a four year old loves, and his mother won't buy (like Lucky Charms!). :-)

I won't have any clay with me while I'm gone, but I will be working with beads I have on hand as well as semi-precious stones and wire. Look for me to post items at my ArtFire shop while I'm gone, as well as do quite a few blog entries that I've been trying to get time to get to.

After I get back (before the 18th of July, not sure when), the Hussies will be making their first appearance in my shop, so keep an eye out!

Meet my new girlfriends!

I teased you last night, and now I have pictures of some of my prototypes. Introducing the Hussy Love line of wearable art dolls! They will all be ready to wear as brooches or as necklaces. Each measures around 3 inches tall and an inch or two wide, some may be slightly larger.

Every woman needs to get in touch with her Inner Hussy - that's the woman inside that lets you tell it how it is, who says "It's okay to be mad/sad/glad about that", who doesn't chide you for that extra glass of Chardonnay or that extra donut. Your Hussy is there for you whenever you need a pickme up or a shopping partner. They understand about all the things that women go through, from working to mothering to trying to relax.

Here is my Goddess Hussy:

From Hussy Love

Goddess Hussy tells you that you are Strong, Beautiful, Magical, Spiritual, Whole, Mystical, Wise.

This one is a Funky Hussy:

From Hussy Love

Funky Hussy tells you that you can wear those shoes with that skirt, that it's okay to buy that chunky necklace, and that your taste in hats is awesome. Funky Hussy takes a bad hair day and turns it into a positive fashion statement.

And here is Angel Hussy:

From Hussy Love

Your Angel Hussy isn't always going to tell you that you're right, but she'll tell you that you are blessed, and remind you that there's always Someone up there pulling for you. Angel Hussy is patient and kind, and is always there if you need to talk.

Friends of all these ladies and more will be appearing in my ArtFire shop in different colors and patterns and styles. I can even tailor Hussies to your particulars, within reason.

New lines & designs

I have a variety of new things coming out soon - no pictures yet, so words will have to be enough to keep you going until I get things all ready. ;-)

*Hussy Love: a new line of wearable art dolls

*Lariat necklaces: handmade beads make these items extra special

*More prayer beads: also called "Anglican Rosaries" these are shorter than the traditional rosary and much more versatile.

Keep an eye on my shop and my Facebook fan page, as well as this blog.

Button, button, who's got the button?

I do, that's who!

Do you knit or sew? Do you have trouble finding the perfect button or toggle for your piece of handcrafted art and it just makes you sigh? I might be the answer to your prayers. I make unique art buttons to your specifications! I need a size, a shape preference, a texture or pattern concept, and a color - I'll take it from there. What I offer will be as close as I can get to your choices, and they'll be something that makes your art piece uniquely yours.

Here are some examples of buttons I've created for various reasons in the past. These photos were all shot as examples for the person they were created for, and not as professional sale photos.









I love to make buttons, and I really enjoy knowing that what I've created is a part of another person's art. Please, feel free to contact me and we'll see what we can work out.

Welcome to my world

My name is Teresa and I'm in the process of rediscovering myself, with a small handful of reinvention tossed in. I spent most of my life somewhat aimlessly, focused here and there, but easily distracted. The underpinning of my life, besides my friends & family, was always being creative and making art. Now I'm a very settled "grownup" (some would argue that I will ever -really- grow up, hence the quotes!) in the suburbs with two dogs, cats, a four year old and a big backyard - and I realize the need to reconnect more fully with the art I've always loved.

gundowerks was the name that my husband and I tacked onto our various side businesses, and when I decided to start pursuing marketing and selling my art more seriously I realized that it was the perfect name. 'gundo' comes from my husband's nickname (a diminutive of our last name) and 'werks' is both a way to be memorable and a way to denote that there's lots of different things in the hopper for us. My husband runs a small internet business supplying email addresses and server space to folks, as well as other endeavors - I write a little, do a few other things, and make art.

So, welcome to my world. I'll be featuring items I have for sale at ArtFire, new ideas and projects in the works, as well as a few tutorials and crafty ideas to share with people. Look for sales, contests, polls and interactive fun - please share comments, ideas & feedback with me because I want to hear from you!