faux gingerbread

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And here is what I used that white hot glue for that I had hoarded for some 15 years before coming up with a good use for it: fake icing on some fake gingerbread cookies. (See my previous post on ancient art materials.) I'll be selling those at the Trillium Arts and Crafts Spectacular and at Crafty Wonderland where you can get your holidays started in style. I'll even be adding some of those guys to the popular Crafty Wonderland gift bags!

ancient art materials

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I was just using some art materials for a project, that have been with me for a remarkably long time. There are the german white hot glue sticks (Schmelzkleber) that have been waiting to become useful for many years. The price- twice reduced, which is probably why I bought them in the first place- is in DM, Deutsche Mark, pre-Euro, but I think they are even older than that, ca. 1996, before I moved to the US. I'll show you the perfect use I found for them very soon!

And then there are these Rowney acrylic paints, big old bottles that I bought when I was living in England, also around that time. They are in amazingly good shape for their age and I use them all the time. The best thing about them is that they smell really good and often the smell reminds me of my time in England, the way only smells can take you back.

They were amongst only a few prized possessions that were chosen to come across the atlantic with me.

the tenant

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  Birdhouses (Put A Bird In It, haha) are the theme for an art show and silent auction that the nice people from We Make PDX are putting on to make some money for arts and music education in Portland schools. Some of Portland's finest have stepped up and created astonishing new takes on the theme. A bunch of Laikans also  joined in and there are almost 100 birdhouses to look at. Look at some of them here and here and check out the event's facebook page for details. There'll be a party as well as the auction. Friday, October 12th 7:30 at Union/Pine, 525 SE Pine Street. FREE!

Mine is called The Tenant and has a fish climbing up a wiggly ladder to his new dream home.

crafty set-up

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O.K., that was fun: my first ever craft fair vendor experience at the Crafty Wonderland Super Colossal Spring Sale. Check out the cool display case that Mykle built for me. It has a pin board on the left and little shelves on the right and it closes up flat into a box. The weather was just gorgeous that day, so I guess there were a few less customers than usual, but I sold a few things and learned a lot. Hopefully I'll do this again for the big one in December!

I'm officially crafty

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It's official now: I'm crafty! Look for me (blobhouse) at Crafty Wonderland this Saturday. Me and a couple hundred other crafty people are going to sell their handmade goods at the Convention Center. 11am to 6pm! Strategically happening on the day before Mothers Day, nudge, nudge. Mykle made me a fantastic display case with all kinds of bells and whistles. Photos will follow soon. And best of all: Phina will be selling her excellent sock monkeys in the kid's section.

100 $how at Wieden and Kennedy

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I have a couple of pieces in this show this month. It opened with a snazzy affair on first Thursday a few days ago. Fun concept! The 100 $HOW at the Wieden + Kennedy gallery, Portland - 02.02.12 — 5pm to 6am. Each original illustration on display will be sold for $100.00 USD. Half of the purchase price goes to the artist and half goes to Mercy Corps.

THE 100 $HOW showcases original works of 100 illustrators from Canada, England, Germany, Hong Kong, Israel, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Sweden and the US. These award-winning artists have been recognized by The Society of Publication Design; American Illustration; The Society of Illustrators; D&AD; Young Guns; The Advertising & Design Club of Canada; and the Art Directors Club of New York and Germany.

Oz opening night

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poppy-field
flying-monkeys

Last night My Oz opened at the Albina Press. I didn't really know how all the little pieces would look once they came together as scenes, because I don't have the space to lay them out at home. So this was all new to me too, even after working on this show for about 9 months. Those huge white walls were quite intimidating to me when I first started thinking about the show, knowing that for the most part I like to work at quite a small scale. It turned out to all work nicely in the space at the Albina Press. Opening night was great, lots of people showed up and many red dots were placed! The show runs until January 10th. Here are some pictures.

my oz

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Artshow time! I have worked super hard over the past 9 months to get this show together and I think it will be special. Opening night is this Friday December 9th from 6pm to 8pm and it will run until January 10th. The place is the Albina Press, 4637 N Albina Ave, Portland, Oregon. Its enormous white walls will be filled with lions, scarecrows, witches, flying monkeys, a poppy field, Kansas, the Emerald City and more!

The Oz of my childhood is quite different from the 1939 movie that most Americans are familiar with. My Oz was in a book called 'Der Zauberer der Smaragdenstadt'— the East German translation of the Russian version of the original L. Frank Baum story. This show represents my own interpretation of that Oz made up of hundreds of small wall-hanging sculptures and cardboard cut-outs.

I love weddings

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It's the season to get married. Every once in a while I'll make a wedding cake topper for friends' weddings.

This good looking couple are Doug and Serena with Corban the dog. They were even more handsome in person.

Seth and Missy have been married for a while- I'd have to add two smaller figures now.

weddingcouple_03

That's me and my beloved from my own wedding cake. Yes, our wedding was a little different.