Paper Mosaics

Over the year I've been developing a technique that I've called Paper Mosaics. I'm not trying to replicate the look of tile mosaic. With that technique one spaces out pieces of paper to replicate the look of tile on a grouted background. Instead, I take little pieces of paper ripped from magazines and glue them into various designs. In my earliest pieces I used larger pieces of paper and didn't pay as much attention to the variations in a color range. In this piece I took orange and pink and tried to blend the colors from one to the other. I like the results. It's now up on Etsy for sale. I don't think the pictures do it justice but I had a devil of a time getting a good shot. I'm going to have to work on better photos of frames.

Here's a close up:

The waiting is the hardest part...

I had a job interview on Monday. I would really like to work for this company. I think I was one of the first people to interview for the new positions; so I have to wait while they conduct other interviews as well as make their hiring decisions. I have been out of work for a while and jobs in my field are opening up again. I miss the challenge of work. I love having the time to craft and see what others in the crafting community are doing but I also miss co-workers and clients and the challenges of deadlines. I was at a coffee shop early one morning and people were rushing in to grab a cup before hopping on the subway and I wanted to be among them; clearly it's time for me to go back to work. I hope I get the job!

.girl and her horse - Flickr Find

.girl and her horse
Originally uploaded by mary's granddaughter

This is so wonderfully clever. I love the simplicity of the figures and the complexity of the dual hoops, the dimension with the reins and the doll arm added to the figure of the woman. Just a fantastic idea and beautiful execution.

Finished!

Ah, the satisfaction of a job well done. Did I mention that I completely burned and destroyed one attempt at a bracelet? A poor job on my part. Luckily I was able to save and reuse the brass bangle. It also gave me a reason to clean my oven quite thoroughly.

Nonetheless, the bangles are complete and are for sale on Etsy. I may start another set soon!

Bangles in Progress

I'm working on a new set of pebble bangles, this time in aqua colors. This photo is admittedly a few days old, as I have finished two of the three bangles. Once done they'll be up on Etsy. The colors are a little darker than I had planned but that is because I went with a higher level of translucent clay and not much white. I'm still quite happy with the results though.

Rainbow swirls - Flickr Find of the day

Rainbow swirls
Originally uploaded by warnenatalie

Look at the gorgeous color and texture in this work! This was in a collection of mosaic images on Flickr.

Warnenatalie posted work in progress photos as well - I definitely recommend checking it out!

Adding New Items at Etsy

I'll be adding new items at my Etsy site over the next week in the hopes of attracting some new eyes and perhaps make a sale or two. Posted today is a sweet mint green polymer clay pendant on a seed bead necklace.

Artisan Clay: Blue Ice Pendant / Fun with Focals #3

Artisan Clay: Blue Ice Pendant / Fun with Focals #3

Check out this beautiful work by Etsyian crafter ArtisanClay. I love the combination of length, color and texture. Just beautiful!

November Goals

Over on Modish Jena and company have started a goal oriented approach to starting or improving one's business. Their success is my inspiration so I'm going to layout my goals for November and see how well I make my dreams reality.

So...

1. Get 2 full pages of items listed on Etsy no later than Nov 10.
2. Create and post one tutorial on blog
3. Complete inventory/price list
4. Re-organize flickr pages

It's a short list but that is a lot of work in those four items!

Waves in the rain

Waves in the rain
Originally uploaded by Hennybee

Well Halloween was a lot of fun - but I had to end it pretty early. I arrived at the parade staging location around 5pm and found my group - aka "The Money Grubbers". We psyched ourselves up to collect money from the parade watchers ahead of the entire parade.

As soon as we started a light rain started and continued throughout our march up the parade route. That didn't stop us and I shouted at the crowd until I was completely hoarse. We had two good sized groups going up each side the parade route with nets and signs saying whatever we could to encourage people to give to the parade.

By the time we finished the route we were soaking wet. I was wet from head to toe and with my cold I decided it was best if I handed in my net and headed home. I didn't get to see much of the parade but I did meet a lot of great people and had a fantastic time. I plan to do it again next year!

I found this beautiful picture of the parade by Hennybee on Flickr and had to share.