YIKES. where does it go?

Shew, we have entered warp speed.  Time is flying.  I am hoping things slow down a little in December.

I would like to take some time to thank all the customers who came to visit us at War Eagle.  You are the reason we show up and we appreciate you.  Its always a good time at the Enduring booth.

I have a few exciting things happening. First, you can now find my belsnickles at the White Buffalo gallery in Glen Rose, TX.  Home and Heart in Huntsville, AR will also have them out by next week.  They will also have my Victorian Mussy Tussies and a few of the elusive snowmen ornaments. They are sprinkled vintage mica flakes from old store stock.

Also, I would like to encourage you to visit one of my new favorite artists.. A Wing and A Prayer.  They have some Alice inspired pieces that are perfect for your office, studio, or anywhere you need random escapes into fantasy land…. But you have to beat me to buy them J

Well, Halloween is right around the corner.  I am as excited as a kid at Christmas. The haunt is creeping along.  I fully expect to have a dry run tomorrow night.  I am getting the best help tomorrow and I can’t wait.  My favorite Halloweenie Braden is coming down to tweak the spooks and set up the fogger. 

Hopefully soon I will be better able to keep the blog up.  I know I say that every yearJ   Until next time, have a great Halloween!

Too busy for words

It’s been a while since my last update.  Time is flying faster than a june bug through a duck pond.  I got the email from War Eagle that the fair is just 4 months away… Can you believe it?  Me neither.  So I have kicked production into full gear. 

Signs

I have been working on a number of different hand painted signs.  Each one is unique because I have a short attention span and hate making duplicates. 

If I can overcome my fear of pattern commitment, I plan to offer custom family signs.  They will be 6x12.  I think that is a good size to hang in a kitchen or entry way without seeming too vain, says the girl with a large Escalante above her living room entrance J
Anyway, they will be personalized with your last name and your marriage date.  Price will be $15.00 and they will be painted while you shop. Please pre order or allow up to an hour for me to paint them… The sample shown is just to give you an idea of the wording… I haven’t decided on fonts yet.

I am also attempting some new variations of Santas.  I don’t make many Santas so this is new territory.  I am trying some made out of old beehive bobbins.  Hopefully they will turn out.   I am also hoping to have some sculpted pumpkin ladies and other characters.

AND

I have been busy dyeing cornhusks.  I am hoping to have some Mr. and Mrs. Claus’s and woodland santas and maybe even ONE nativity.  These are the dolls that got me accepted to the Directory of Traditional American Crafts

If you see anything you like and would like to purchase before the Fair, let me know.  If you would like to reserve your family sign, email me.  I only have like 6 of these things.  I will require a deposit of $5 at the time of order and the remaining $10 before shipping.

Here is a preview of the new ornie....I only have 18 of them, so better come Thursday. haha

One of the Lumpy Pumkins

In the works!

Hope you guys are all staying cool. For anyone in the art business, this is the time of year when thoughts turn to Halloween and Christmas and getting ready for the fall shows. For us, Christmas really does come in July.

I am planning a bit differently for War Eagle this year.  Last year I had about 5 pieces there were other peoples’ patterns that I made to sell.  This year, I will only have one of those (due to popular demand).    Well, I will only have two sewn items in fact. I am bringing back the extremely popular bats and I am adding a primitive grungy Razorback ornie (my own pattern).  What does this mean? Well, everything else will be a one of a kind or OOAK.

There are several booths who mass produce the same item over and over to sell to the masses.  After making 18 razorback ornaments, I can safely say, I am not a mass producer.  I have heard that some of the primitive signs might even be screen printed (gasp).  Still handmade, but not quite as time consuming.   All my primitive signs are hand painted with a tiny brush.  So if you are wondering about the difference between their $8 sign and my $14 sign, that’s it.  Of course, you may not care about the hand painting enough to pay the extra $6, and I understand.

Anyway, I got off track. The Belsnickles will be back of course, but they will be joined by a new group.  My new Lumpy Pumpkins ( of course there is a back story which will follow soon) will make their appearance at the fall show.  They are all hand sculpted with lots of asymmetrical character.  Some of them have eyes that light up and they will be coated in a marine-grade poly so they can handle hanging out on your porch for the season. (not advising placing the ones with glowing eyes in the elements because electricity and water are a lot like Hatfields and McCoys).

Cornhusk dolls may also be available and most will be resonably priced at $25.00… I have one in the works that will hopefully knock some socks off…if it works out.

I will also have some larger pieces as well as some higher end pieces.  I am also planning on adding some smaller pieces for those of you who would like an affordable gift or souvenir.  

Last year Enduring Traditions was told over and over again that we were the friendliest and kid friendliest booth.  I take great pride in your compliments to that effect.  My philosophy is nature gave us hands so we could touch things.  I am a textural person and I must feel of everything I come across. In our booth, you are welcome to touch, take photos, hold and smell (yes we had several who did that too J).  We want to be extremely interactive…after all, that is why I do what I do. While the art is for grown-up children, because of its delicate nature and rusty wires and small sharp parts, we will plan on having a treat for the kids again this year.  Last year, the Halloween rings were a huge hit, so we will have something along those lines again…and since we are all just big kids, we never mind when the grown-up kids take one too J 

So even if you aren’t in the market for a OOAK Zombie Halloween Candy dish, stop by, say hi and play with us for a bit. Of course buying an OOAK Zombie Halloween Candy dish would help prove my mother wrong about me just wanting to have fun with the customers (Long story about booth planning..sorry mom)

What an honor!!!

I am proud to announce that I have been selected to be included in the Directory of Traditional American Crafts for my corn husk dolls.  I know people in the directory, I buy from people in the directory, but I never thought I would be there myself. 

Once I found out the pedigree of the judges, I was extra blown away. This is a truly uplifting and humbling experience. Thank you to all my supporters and I will strive to live up to this honor.

Finding Passion

I don’t like to use this blog for personal posts much, but it is my blog, so I guess I can do what I want with it. J Just kidding, but things have been heavy on my mind lately and I need an outlet.

In the past several years, I have determined that I don’t know what I want to be when I grow up. I have tried to follow a few different paths, but none of them felt like mine. Being a very internalizing person, I analyze everything.  I try to figure out why I feel a certain way, or why situations happen, or even why people react to me the way they do.

There are a few things I have come to realize. First, every decision we make affects tomorrow. We can’t hold other people responsible for the way our lives turn out. The decisions we make, the reactions we have to situations, it all affects our own future. You may be saying something like “I can’t control the stress others place on me or the things other people do to me”.  You’re right, you can’t control what others do or say, but you can control your reactions to those people and the situations. I think the first step is taking responsibility for where you are right now…no matter where that is.  If you are successful, take responsibility for putting yourself there.  If you are depressed or down on your luck or financially burdened, take responsibility for putting yourself there. I know people suffer from things that are not their fault. Diseases and defects, we all have them. Part of taking responsibility is to handle what you have the best possible way you can. Don’t let it be a crutch. Don't be the victim.

The other thing I have realized is that far too many of us are unhappy. We are responsible, but we are unhappy. Maybe you make yourself get up every morning and go to a job you dont like, maybe you spend time in social circles with people you don’t like. We spend far too little time with people who make us happy and far too much time with people who make us miserable. Why? Because it’s the responsible thing to do. Our society teaches us that to be successful you must follow a certain path.  You graduate high school, you go to college, you get out of college, you get a job, you get married, you have kids, you go to soccer games, you pay for your children to go to college, you take care of your parents, you retire, you die. This is the life cycle we have set for ourselves. Then we feel like failures if our marriages fall apart or our kids are successful etc.

To be honest, lifecycles are pretty natural. Many of our animal species, like the cicada,  live only to reproduce. I think this is a sad and empty existence. To be honest again, many of our own species are reproducing even when they shouldn’t and probably because its expected as part of the cycle. My husband and I have decided not to reproduce.  We looked at our medical conditions and decided that we couldn’t pass these genes on. That doesn’t mean we wouldn’t adopt, but right now our lives are full without soccer games and PTA meetings.

What I’m trying to say is that I understand I am part of this lifecycle. Now how do I get out of it? I thought one of the things I had forgotten was goal setting. If I set goals and meet them, I will be happy. Wrong.  It dawned on me that what I am missing is passion.  Not the latin lover kind, the conviction kind. When I was in school, I lived and breathed music.  I spent hours involved in it.  I worked on it, I sought solace in it. It was exhausting and I burned myself out. The truth is, I haven’t felt the same way about anything since. So how do I get passion back?  How do I find something that I feel so strongly about that I will exhaust myself out trying to do it to the best of my ability? Maybe as responsible adults, we can’t.  Maybe too much of our lives are occupied with being responsible that we can’t devote time to passion.  I hope that’s not the case.

Over the years, my goals in life have changed. I wanted to be wealthy. I wanted a big house. I wanted a successful career.  Now, I want to be happy.  I want to make a difference. I want to be independent of others. I don’t want to rely on a system or a program for my health, or retirement, or livelihood.  I want to be the captain of my ship, not a deckhand.

I know that working will be part of my life for the rest of my life…its just the way things are, but how much I have to work, what I have to deal with and how hard I work will be up to me. I know what I have to do financially, I know what I need to do spiritually, I just don’t know what I want to do.  I don’t know what my passion is. It’s a bit of a sad problem. It’s like knowing why your car won’t start, and knowing where to get the parts, and knowing how to install them, but forgetting how to turn the key.

If you are one of the rare birds who are truly happy and following your passion, count your blessings.  I see far too many people on my daily commute who are just going to the motions of their lifecycles.  I know it’s not impossible to be one of the passionate people. They are the ones in the history books.

New Blog for New Haunters

I have started a new blog to chronicle my adventures in halloween prop building.  I will showcase my sucess, my failure, and everything in between.  If i figure out a way to do it, I will share.  No secrets here. I will link to supplies, give tips on how to do things, and even tell you what not to do.  My main projects will be video puppeteering, animatronics and peppers ghosts.  Be sure to check out http://diaryofahauntvirgin.blogspot.com/.  There is plenty of time between now and halloween to watch me screw up a lot of things.

Scaling back to go big—believing in something magical.

Well, it’s time for a rebirth…again.   This happens from time to time. I get bored or disenchanted with something, and I have to make a change.  This time, my ideas are bigger than my budget and my abilities… so what to do?  Try them anyway.

I grew up with heroes like Jim Henson, Walt Disney, and Tim Burton.  These people taught me it’s ok for grown-ups to play with puppets.  They also taught me that there is magic in the world. Real live magic.  They created the magic that didn’t exist in nature.  Just because it’s mechanical or animated, doesn’t mean it’s not real.  They also taught me that it’s ok to retreat to my happy place when reality gets too real.

Along these same notes I will tell a story.  After a lifetime of waiting, I finally got to go to Disney World, as a 30-something year old adult.  It was just as magical for me in my 30’s as I imagine it would have been in my youth.  Sure, I noticed different things.  How clean everything was.  There were no bugs whatsoever… unless there were supposed to be bugs.   Everything was completely controlled to give the illusion of perfection.  You see, Walt was so obsessed with producing magic, that he controlled every aspect of the parks… there are automatic trash collectors that run underground and secret passages for employees so you don’t have frontier people in future land.  When you are there, you forget that there is a whole imperfect bug-ridden world outside those walls…that is until Splash Mountain breaks down and you have to be evacuated through the parking lot… what a disappointment.

Which makes me wonder.. is magic still magical to the magician?  Once you learn how to make the magic, is it the joy of the magic that keeps you going or the ego of making the magic that propels you?  I am going to try to find out.  You see, I kind of have a theory that part of the magic of being the “man behind the curtain” is that you get to create magic for others…even if it’s at the expense of losing a little for yourself…in turn, I think a whole different kind of magic is made.

I know Im babbling like a brook right now, so I will get to the point.  I’m planning big, big things this year… it means, few traditional bobbin birds, fewer magazine appearances, etc.  I’m okay with this.  I am going to start experimenting with animatronics, video puppetry, outdoor –grade paper mache and special effects.  Hopefully, I will have something to show for dreaming big this fall.  

Not having kids of my own, I have the ability to remain one myself.  I am going to become a magician…and even though I may not have theme park, or movies, or lunch boxes, I am going to create magic at least on SkyPark Drive.

Letting the cat out of my bag of insecurities.

I like to use the phrase “putting on my Taylor Swift face”.  You know that look of shock she gives her fans when they applaud her?  The look that has the media yelling fake.  Well, fake or not, I like that face.   I feel that way on a fairly regular basis.  And it’s genuine. Every time someone says they like my art, I always forget to say thank you first.  I ask, “really?” 

See my origins are in quilting.  All hand quilting.  When you spend that much time with a project, you become intimate with every little thing you wish you had done better or different.   You start doubting yourself and your abilities.   The same is true of everything I do.   I always see the ear that is slightly off, or the paint spot I missed, or that glaringly huge mistake that is only noticeable to me.  You see, I know what I wanted the piece to be and anything other than that is a disappointment.   It doesn’t mean it’s bad, it’s just not what I was trying for.

You can imagine my Taylor Swift face when I found out that I had been accepted to PFATT.  I was so excited I squealed like a baby pig.  Then I started planning my debut offerings.  I knew they wanted some tin items, ok, I could do that… and I wanted to add at least one sculpture… what should it be?   I started going through my box of heads and nothing stood out.  I finished two pieces and neither of them were right.

I started thinking about all the people I would be selling with.  These are the people I had been half “stalking” er I mean collecting for years.   These artists are really really good.  I looked at my stuff, and seeing all the flaws, it wasn’t measuring up.  I started to panic.  I even went and looked at some of the other people’s offerings just to see if it made me feel more at ease… it made it worse.  I started comparing my stuff to theirs.  Should I use more pink?  Should my stuff look happy?   

Here is what I have to remind myself…thanks to my very patient husband who pulled me off the ceiling last night around 9:30.. I have my own style, and no, it’s not happy or cutesy or pink, but it’s mine.  And if the Jury at PFATT thinks I can sell with them, why don’t I think I can?  I will always feel like I am lucky to be in an arena like this.  I will always see my flaws.  I will always be a little scared to put my art in front of people.  But I think part of the appeal of this journey is challenging ourselves to always be a little uncomfortable… it’s what makes our Taylor Swift faces genuine.  So if I forget to thank you for your compliment, it’s not out of vanity or rudeness, its out of disbelief that I should receive one.

February the 10^th is the debut of Enduring Traditions on PFATT.  Please check out my page and all the REALLY good artists at www.pfattmarketplace.com

New Ventures and Old Friends

Time is flying by here, but I have some very exciting news.  I will be joining PFATT in February.  This is a tremendous honor. There are so many wonderful artists on the site.  I have to admit, I feel like a waterboy being selected to the football hall of fame.  They have asked that I expand on my line of tin tinkering.   So, I have been busy studying the antiques, and designing reproductions with my own touch.  I have also been working out new items.  If you need a roiling pin holder or a dickensesque chamber stick with a vintage glass globe, check back next month. I  have also hooked up with a couple from California who will be hand forging brackets and bases to go with my lanterns and lamps.  I am very excited about this partnership.  They are very good to work with in designing just what I need.  I think these lamps and lanterns will give your home a nice early American primitive touch.

On the sculpting front, I am hard at work designing new Belsnickles for 2012.  I am also introducing a few new one-of-a-kind figures.   Be looking for my Tommyknocker in the future.  I am very excited to have found some nice antique and vintage accessories for him.  Don’t know what a Tommyknocker is?  If you like mining history, look it up.  I am also working on some large rabbits and pumpkin heads who will help me cultivate a new crop of some of my favorite crew.   Be looking for characters to pop up from my favorite fairy tales and celtic legends too. 

I have also decided that I needed to do something special for myself.  Something that didn’t have me sitting all day and night.  I started a martial arts class.  It is 3 nights a week right now, so my art is pretty much reserved for weekends.  I really needed to do this.  Aside from needing to strengthen my body, I needed a stress reliever.  Plus, there just seems to be more and braver criminals around these days.  I think that exercise that gets you in shape and allows you to toss a full grown man over your head is pretty great.

Until next time….