I have been included in even more collections and I'm so honored and excited! I was so surprised to see all the different ones, since I had been away from my email with company in town. I cannot believe I got so far behind on these - but I am awed and honored to be included in each one.

Beads Beads Beads is curated by Dana's Jewelry Etc. - and it is full of amazing beads, including my earthy set of black, gold, red and copper polymer clay beads. I love being in mixed-media collections, and this one includes other polymer clay beads as well as lampwork.




Colors of Autumn inspired by the Polymer Clay Smooshers Guild opened on the 11th and is curated by BewitchingDreams. This is one I'm very honored to be a part of, because my beloved Smooshers are so awesomely talented!! Gorgeous stuff, friends!





Polymer Clay Smooshers opened on the 7th and was curated by CDowdleDesigns. Again, my beloved Smooshers awe and delight me, and honor me by being included in their work.

DanasJewelryEtc curated Polymer Clay Pins/Brooches which opened on the 5th. I love brooches, so being included in this was very exciting for me.




Tribal Inspirations in Polymer Clay opened on 10/4, and was curated by EmilyClaireCreations. I'm really excited by this, I love that someone sees a tribal theme in my fiery red polymer clay bead set.

One Medium, Many Avatars opened on 10/2 and is curated by artbysusmitha. This is an absolutely DELIGHTFUL mix of polymer clay art - truly a great way to show the amazing variety and depth of this incredible medium.

 







Feeling a Little Off Kilter? opened on 9/29 and is curated by StephanieRonnyeknit1bead2. It included my sweet copper spiral earrings with pink glass cubes. I loved making these and I'm so glad they caught someone's eye!

Masquerade Masks opened on the 9th and is curated by ldphotography, and it features my gold & silver mask! I love, love, love masks, and this collection is just gorgeous. What is a face, really?
(curated by JessicaMLopez, and opened on 9/29) also featured my mask.Masks make me happy!

Artfire Collections!

I'm so honored to have my mask featured in three different collections.


Masquerade opened today and it is curated by MidnightEternal. It features some of the most beautiful masks I've seen in ages, and I'm blown away by my inclusion in it.


Two others were created recently but I hadn't caught up blogging on them.


Among the Leaves of Gold opened on September 25th and is curated by Jeliza. Wow is the only word that can express the talent of the others included in this collection, and again, it amazes and thrills me to be a part of it.

BOOOO! also opened on September 25th and is curated by CatsWire. Halloween has always been one of my favorite holidays, and this collection has some cute, beautiful, spooky inclusions. I'm so proud of being a part of it!


Ladies, you've all inspired me by your choices, and I really am itching to make some collections myself. Such a wonderful, wonderful Artfire tool!!

Get in on Artfire's big Group Deal event!

I've mentioned before how much I love Artfire. Although I'm still trying to get back into making my stuff and building up my reputation, I've been very pleased with how Artfire manages their business and all the wonderful perks in my Pro Studio. Now they have a new incentive to stick with them.

The jist of it is, if they get 20,000 people to opt in for a Pro studio, they'll offer those studios for $5.95 a month (half of their normal price) for life. They have a 50,000 studio cap on it, so I've already signed up both my studios (gundowerks, and a new shop I'm going to try out, sassy chic). All you have to do is sign up with your credit card info at their group deal page.  They won't charge anything until/unless they reach their goal, at which point you'll be charged $5.95 a month. You can sign up with as many individual shops as you'd like. It's such a fantastic deal, because that's all Artfire charges, no per-listing fees at all.

Besides this, for the next 24 hours if you mentioned the Group Deal and link to the page (as I have), you'll be entered for a chance to win a Table Top Photography Studio.

On top of that, if you retweet the deal in the next 24 hours you'll be entered for a chance to win $100
 paid to your paypal account.

Needless to say I rt'ed from both my accounts (tdkgunderson, which is my personal twitter, and gundowerks) and this is my blog entry. I've also touted it a bit on Facebook.

I love Artfire, and this is just one more good reason!

Upcycling and buttons

As I slowly work my way through yet another studio revamp I'm uncovering things I used to do that I miss. One is "upcycling", where I take objects I buy at thrift stores, or people find for me in various places, and redo them. Right now I have three of the cutest handbags that are just dying for some painting and fixing up. I also have some girls clothing that needs a little fixing up and so on. I think I'll primarily work (as usual) in the "wearable art" area, doing clothing, handbags, belts, scarves and such. More on that later, I will probably be using eBay for some of those items.

A few years ago my sweet husband granted a lifetime wish for me and bought me a Badge-a-Minit. I just used my birthday cash to buy some more supplies and a new and improved piece of software that has tons of really cute clip art. I'm working on buttons that will capture the interest of the science fiction/fantasy crowd, the filkers, and general all-purpose geek and nerd types. Those will probably go up at a new Artfire store I'm plotting, one that will also serve for upcycled stuff and paper goods (note cards, gift cards, greeting cards and similar).

Photo Find Collaboration

A few years ago I wanted to start an art collaboration. I had a few people who were interested, and I started up - but, true to life in a busy house with a five year old (and my health issues) I dropped the ball. I'm thinking of picking it back up again at some point, and I wanted to get some eyes on the blog and thoughts - and maybe get a few new co-conspirators.

You can see the blog here, where you'll also see more information about the project and how you can get involved. Essentially it is a collaborative art project that pairs photos & photo art with text, and distributes them randomly. Finders are encouraged to return to the blog and comment on the entry for their found photo, then redistribute the piece. People are also encouraged to make and distribute their own art, and send a digital copy to the blog owner for publication as well. I think it could be a lot of fun, especially if we have people from all over the world participating. When I start it up again I'll be sending photos to other people to distribute wherever they choose.

Imagine buying a book at the bookstore, or checking out a book at the library and finding a photo or piece of art. It might be a nice surprise for people, or something that intrigues them. With luck everyone that gets a piece will come and comment, and leave the card somewhere for someone else to find.

Thoughts? I'd love to get a discussion started on how best to do this, and how successful people think it might be.

Something new coming...

I'm getting ready to try something I've been thinking about for a while - upcycling. I can get so many great clothes & handbags cheap at my wonderful local thrift store, and I'm going to start working on them and creating some cute and funky upcycled stuff. I will probably start out on eBay with them, and I might eventually open up an Artfire shop.

I've also started another Artfire shop for my paper creations, but more on that later. I'm going to be featuring notecards, greeting cards and some other cool stuff.

Stay tuned!

A bit more crochet for the day.

A few years ago, before the shoulder problems really hit hard, I made a scarf for my mother. I didn't like the way it looked, so it got stuck in a bag and languished unfinished. I found it before I left, showed it to Mom and she loved it. So, I sewed in all the loose ends and it's not too bad.

Tomorrow I start another spud. So far my arm isn't bothering me - I'm being careful, and using lots of pain rub and such. Hopefully I can get back into more crocheting, because I've really missed it.

The Spud

In my quest to learn to read a crochet pattern, my friend Leah gave me a pattern she found online for a stuffed alien. I was able to read the whole thing (thanks Leah!), but of course I had to modify.

So, here is the Spud. I finished him and my mother promptly claimed him, so here is photographic proof.

His eyes are askew so I need to fix them, but otherwise pretty cute! It was fun, I think I will make another.

Location : 501-519 E Main St, West Plains, MO 65775,
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This week's featured Smoosher!

Let's face it. Into the Dawn is just a neat, neat person. She is a joy to know on Plurk, and she does lovely work in polymer clay. I also discovered while reading her blog that she has several tutorials in it on how to do some neat stuff. This one is all about Tarot journaling, There are others, listed in the sidebar of her blog. I hope she does more!

Dawn is very versatile - her work ranges from tiles to focal beads to Artist Trading Cards in polymer clay. I've seen items for The Day of the Dead in her Artfire shop, as well as Mardi Gras items and beautiful flowers. Please, go check it out her shop and see all the gorgeous stuff she has to offer.

Mica shift

 Tiled mosaic clay box

Artist Trading Cards

Artist Trading Cards, also known as ATC's are a fascinating bit of art. About the size of a baseball card, they're intended to be mini bits of artistic expression - and always traded, never sold. You can read a bit more about the specifics at the Wikipedia article.

ATC's are made in every kind of medium imaginable - paper & ink, fabric, polymer clay, mixed media... it is a fascinating and amazing little niche in art. I think of them as inspiration starters - there's really no wrong way to make them (save the size, which is fixed), and it seems that they'd be an amazing way to jumpstart your creativity. I know I've gotten some amazing ideas just surfing through photos - try doing a Google Image Search for ATC or Artist Trading Cards.

I've not made one yet, although I'm itching to. I've started assembling supplies, and talking to people about it. To help out in this area I've started a Gallery site for trading purposes, and a mailing list for ATC related chatter. If you are interested in either please email me at atc_info at gundo.com. Anyone who makes or is interested in making ATC's is welcome to join, but membership will be approved first.

Join us! I'll send out an email with info on how the Gallery site will work, and a login so that you can create your own folder of cards you'd like to trade, as well as photos of cards you've made and traded previously. The email list will deal with all sorts of questions about the Gallery, as well as discussions on ATC's and art in general.

Our Featured Smoosher!

This week the Smooshers are celebrating cnewcomb. I first became aware of this guy on Plurk, then as a Smoosher. My Dad was a woodworker, so anyone who works with that amazing medium is naturally okay by me...

  - anyone who mixes it and polymer clay is just plain awesome.

(Naturally the subject matter of this one is pretty darned close to my heart, too... a triple win!)

I'm really excited to see someone working in both wood and clay, and it's always nice to have a guy in the mix, since sadly artsy guys (particularly those who work in pc) have typically been hard to find. Take a jaunt on over to his studio and check it out!

Gettin' on the Plurk Bandwagon... not that I ever got off.

I am going to take a page from the book of my dear Plurkie friend Pegasus Soaps, aka Michelle and tell you all a little bit about why *I* prefer Plurk over Twitter.

First let me say a few good things about Twitter. Twitter is totally cool! You can send a 140 character thought out into the universe without a care of whether it's seen or not. You can browse random tweets from friends, neighbors and celebrities. You can keep up on The World in a minute-by-minute fashion. It's honestly an awesome and nifty creation. I have a Twitter account, and I tend to keep it to business, tweeting about my own creations, the creations of my friends & business associates, and passing along relevant articles and links about things of use to crafters, artists and online business people. I don't tweet often (should more, I'm sure) but I keep up with a few people and am always looking for more interesting folks to follow. Feel free to follow me if you'd like. I'll probably follow back!

The problem is, Twitter is like shouting across the room at a crowded party or bar, hoping that someone hears you. I can see the use of that from time to time, but I'm really a conversation person. At parties you'll almost always find me deep in conversation with a group of folks, and at a bar I'm generally going there for the conversation of the people who come with me. Hollering a remark across the room is fun, can be useful, might work - but on the whole I like a face or a name to hear me, laugh, frown, comment on it, have a similar story to share. That's the way I roll, folks... so, that's why Plurk gets my daily attention and Twitter gets a look every week or so.

The reason they're different is threading. On Twitter you just post your comments and there's no way to follow a conversation between people - no easy way, that is. Someone can direct a comment to you, and you can direct one back - but the outside observer will have to click all over the place to try to figure out what the context is. I like context. With Plurk, one comment can have replies back and forth, threaded to that originating comment. I -like- that. On Twitter I don't say anything I don't want the world to see at a glance. On Plurk my timeline is private, not because I'm under any illusion that I'm hiding it from someone who really wants to see it, but just to keep a bit of a lid on and make everyone feel a little more comfortable being loose and chatty in my Plurks. It works. I have a fantastic bunch of friends - some are onery miscreants who like to tease and hijack my threads... all are good friends, some In Real Life, some just online. Most are crafty artists who like to create and who support me by commenting on my art, sharing my site with others, and reading my blog.

I don't have those kinds of friends on Twitter. I don't miss it there - that's not what Twitter is about. I don't want Twitter to be more like Plurk, not at all. I just need Plurk around to really round out my online experience.

Our Featured Smoosher!

I belong to an incredible polymer clay guild on Artfire called Polymer Clay Smooshers. I've probably mentioned before how awesome these people are, especially Star, our wonderful guild mistress. We're starting something new, and I'm going to work my hardest to keep up with it and all the other wonderful things my guild gets up to. I still haven't re-opened my shop, but look for it in mid-July if not before.

This week's featured Smoosher is CraftyBabyHope. You can find her blog here, and her shop here. There are some really lovely items in her shop so please go look at all of them - but I have to point out my favorites. I love her polymer clay work, of course, but I have to confess that her wire & glass bead stuff is phenomenal.

Do head over and check out what she has to offer! I'm thankful for her and all the other Smooshers.

Creation.

The process of creation is painful! Right now I'm helping create a new space in our basement, first for family that is coming and after that for our Music/Game Nights. I'm also re-creating my own creative space, and creating a new aspect of my business. At the same time I'm trying to create things inside myself, and in my family. It takes a lot of work, and some days I'm just plain tired of it all! But it's all for good.

Keep an eye here at the blog, and an eye at my shop toward the end of July. Notice that I've become an Amazon Associate, I hope that will help you as you search for items you want and need. More to come!

New Horizons

I've been dealing with a strange fatigue phenomenon. It started right before the holidays and has gotten progressively worse. I've found a few opportunities to get into the studio, but mostly I'm too tired to get busy with things. Right now I'm looking at a box full of finished polymer clay pieces, just waiting for wire and beads and the transformation into Something.

The good news is that a large portion of the pieces are for my new design line, which I hope to start rolling out in the next week. I'll be listing things at Artfire, of course, but I'm also trying to build up stock to start doing shows this fall.

I'm going into spring with a new eating plan, a new exercise plan and a new work plan. Here's to Spring 2010!