Melissa of Villa Design creates jewelry pieces include lampwork glass, metal work, founds objects and vintage components. She is constantly inspired by the graphic elements in nature and patterns in everyday objects.  She told me that she  didn’t clean up for these photos… which I laughed about until she admitted that this is just a small corner of her studio. Melissa spends the majority of her time here in her glass studio to make glass beads. She sits at the torch with a wall of glass rods in easy reach to her left. She also has enamels and frits scattered  everywhere. The red tool box is her chili pepper kiln. Don’t worry, I had to google “frits” too.

Judy creates Hypertufa planters, flower pots and garden Fairy cottages. Follow the link to learn about Hypertufa. It sounds so cool, and I can’t wait for spring to come so that I can start planning out how to use some or her planters in my landscape. She also embellishes gourds and casts huge leaves out of concrete to use as bird baths, bird feeders or as decorative accents for the garden. Her studio, The Pebbled Garden,  is a studio that I can totally wrap my head around, because it looks a lot like my space when I make models and doll houses filled with hammers, saws, paints, epoxy and mold-making materials.  Really cool stuff there.

Fred is another of our glass workers, and this is his basement studio, Fire Under Glass. Fred began making beads at Glasshopper Studio three years ago, and got hooked on the flaming torch and molten glass. I love how he made sure to have the torch turned on in the photo, so we could see how cool it  looks over the work area! Fred moved on from the basic beads, to off mandrel pendants and then to marbles. His marbles are solid glass and most take about an hour and a half to create using a dual fuel torch and glass rods from Bullseye Glass.

I really love seeing how different people within the same discipline set up their work areas, and I admit that I’m curious as to whether Fred’s work area is really that cluttered, or if he set it up to show all his different tools. It’s hard to imagine anything getting done… and then I look around my studio.

Actually, there’s just a lot of clutter in my studio, because its… well… a basement. My wife Amy and I are Handmade Family. We do a little bit of everything from illustration and painting to printmaking, to fabric arts, embroidery and costumes to wood working. As our family has grown, and is beginning to grow up, we want to share those joys with other families through the things we make and our joy in making them. Sharing a studio, means that we have to work together to accommodate both of our needs. Fortunately, we have a lot of space to do that in. Our respective work areas are more or less separated by an 8-foot work table that we use to cut and assemble things on.

What does your studio space look like? Does your crafting require any special equipment or fixtures? Let us know in the comments!  We’d love to hear from you!

Links:

• Fire Under Glass: http://www.fireunderglass.net
• Handmade Family: http://www.handmadefamily.indiemade.com
• The Pebbled Garden: http://www.thepebbledgarden.com
• Villa Design: http://www.villadesign.org
• Hypertufa
• frit

Every month, crafters come to Fusion to socialize, craft and have a good time! Not only do we bring some handy work, we bring snacks and some wine too. And, what kind of craft do we do? Soap making, sewing capes or burp cloths, making jewelry, working on drawings and silkscreening t-shirts are just some of crafts we work on.

Interested in coming? Our next Crafternoon Delight, will be March 10, 2012 from 4 p.m. – 9 p.m. Hope you can join us!

I’m not a musician, but I was watching the TV show parenthood a couple of weeks ago, and I saw this recording studio. I saw this big, old building with spacious rooms and peeling paint and thought to myself  “I want to do my work there.” I think that there’s something about the idea of having someplace special to work. The idea of it just speaks to me the way a corner of the living room, or the dining room table or my basement studio just don’t. Those spaces don’t have the romance that we’ve been sold on looking for.

So, what does the perfect studio space look like? It could be a full space of its own. I saw this space on pinterest tonight, and it was like someone had plucked it out of my head, made it and photographed it just to taunt me.  Maybe it’s just the photo, but it feels like it’s inviting me in to sit down in that chair and get to work. If I need to draw something I can just roll down to the drawing table. If I need to build a model or cut some paper or set up some reference, I just have to turn around. It has all of those elements of magic in a new space that you could want…and an awesome, out-of-the-way storage area for books.

Another studio from Pinterest. I love the storage cubbies and again, can picture myself working at that counter, under those shelves. In the picture in my head, that would be magical. It would be magical. Everything I was trying to figure out would finally fall into place. I’d succeeded in my quest. Found the holy grail. Wouldn’t that be nice? It’s important to remember that these photos are just set-pieces, and tables and plastic drawers work just as well. More important than that though, is getting started on the work in spite of the reality of our space not living up to the fantasy in our head. Am I saying that we should stop looking for that perfect space? Goonies never say die.  It’s wonderful to be able to be proud of where you work when you show people new projects…of course, I think sometimes we just wish our workspace was clean.

“It starts with this: put your desk in the corner, and every time you sit down there to write, remind yourself why it isn’t in the middle of the room. Life isn’t a support system for art. It’s the other way around.”
― Stephen King, On Writing

What do you wish your workspace or studio looked like? What are you missing?  We’d love to hear from you! Leave us a comment or studio link!

Photo credits:

• Parenthood: The Luncheonette
• Reading room via Teaching Literacy
• Antique Cubby via Mamie Jane’s

And for the record, that little piece of car track sees a lot of action in my house.

That answer may seem overly simplistic, and that’s because it is. It does touch on the real answer though; In the course of your day, where are the things that you could shorten or eliminate to make time to create? I steal five minutes here, and there, and when I had a “real” job I would totally use my lunch break to sketch out ideas and jot down notes for blog posts. Now I use the kids’ nap time. The important thing about both of those time slots are that I view them not as a “time to get some work done”, but as my time where I can do what I want.The very most important thing to remember is that we make things because we love to do it. Even on our worst day, when we’ve got a thousand orders and we don’t know where we’ll find the time to get them done, it’s better than the average day in the office.

I like to generally make sure that I have some time each day for working on my crafting. Even when it’s just a couple minutes to get something started or to work out an idea. Art and making things is a part of my day to day life, and I try to keep it as simple as possible so it doesn’t feel like a chore. Sometimes though, I need a larger chunk of time to really concentrate on what I’m doing. That’s when scheduling becomes necessary. The only rigid schedule I stick to is that on Sundays, I do all my invoicing and write this blog post. Those are both work related things that need to be done, so it doesn’t matter if it feels like a chore. Then there’s also fun scheduled times like Fusion’s monthly “Crafternoon Delight“, where a bunch of crafters from the community get together at the shop, work on their projects, eat, and hang out. Its a great way to get away from the studio, get something done, and get to know other members of the community.

Finally, television is my enemy. I have lost more hours of my life playing video games, or watching stuff that I didn’t care about just because it was on. Sometimes this happens because I go down to the studio and I’m not feeling very inspired, so I “take a break while I think about it”. Which is an even worse trap than “I need a clean studio so I can get some work done.” One thing that I do to combat this, is listen to books on tape or podcasts while I work. That way I feel like I’m being entertained, but I’m also being productive at the same time. While I’m on the subject of inspiration and podcasts, I was listening to “The Nerdist” podcast the other day and he was interviewing author Neil Gaiman, who had this to say about inspiration:

If you only write when you are inspired… you may be a fairly decent poet, but you will never be a novelist. Because you’re  going to have to make your word count each day, and those words aren’t going to wait for you whether you’re inspired or not. So you have to write when you’re not inspired. and you have to write the scenes that don’t inspire you. And the weird thing is that six months later, a year later, you’ll look back at them and you won’t be able to remember which scenes you wrote when you were inspired, and which ones you just wrote because they had to be written next.

He went on to compare the craft of writing (or creating) to building a wall, saying that you have to do the work of stacking one stone on top of another and eventually you’ll work through the tough parts. Inspiration is great, and we always have to be ready to seize it when it shows up. If we wait for it though, I don’t think very much will get done…or we just won’t be going to bed that night.  Ha-ha-ha!

There are days where it’s easy to find the time to do it, because we just have to get it done. So how do you find the time to do it the rest of the time? When you’re working on new product or just trying to shore up your inventory for shows, shops and etsy. We’d love to hear where you steal those moments.  Leave us a comment!

Links:

• Crafternoon Delight at Fusion
• The Nerdist: www.nerdist.com
• Neil Gaiman: www.neilgaiman.com

Change is good. Change is also a lot of hard work… blood, sweat and tears. So after laboring for 3 long days, we are happy that this mini facelift for Fusion is done! Or at least almost done. If you haven’t stopped in since the holidays, you’ll be surprised at our new look.

Hope to see you soon!

Of course, as excited as I am about the changes brought about by adding new artists, we also have a few friends that are leaving us this quarter. Sad as we are to see them go we also want our friends succeed, and are happy that they are taking this step forward with their art and businesses. We wish them all the best of luck, and would like to go ahead and take this opportunity to talk about these friends. I asked each of them to let us know a bit about their work, things they are excited about this coming year, and where you can find them now.

Elizabeth Lemp has this to say about her soaps, which she makes and sells under the name A Breath of French Air.

“Having sensitive skin has always been a problem for me. I’ve tried so many products and they all had the same result…itchy skin!
In 2007 I ventured into making handmade soap. I was hooked right from the beginning! Making soaps with a high content of Olive Oil, and using the freshest oils and botanicals available, has provided me with healthy, well moisturized skin.
All my soaps are made in small batches in my own soap kitchen, which is only used to make soap, body butters, lip balms and other bath and body products. I use only fresh ingredients and most of my items are vegan…”

You can still find her locally at Le Shoe which is located at 2530 Brentwood Blvd. in Brentwood, MO.  They are located next to Seliga shoes, and she will be carrying the exact items that she did at Fusion.  You can also visit her shop on Etsy, or check out her blog to see new items or what she’s working on.

Gary  Eaves, goals this year are to expand his footprint and finish his online presence. Gary just took 2nd place in an online worldwide photo competition, so he’s pretty hyped about that and soon his website will have a whole new look, and an online shop.

Kayla Lynn Jarnac has this to say about her ceramics, which she makes and sells under the name Ghost Cat Studios.

“My work is handmade, made of the earth, and better for the earth than disposable coffee cups/dishes. I like to make new variations on standard products, and put my own aesthetics on every-day items(mugs, bowls, etc.) I am always looking to be inspired by other potters, other forms of art, designs or natural objects. I enjoy making both functional pottery, sculptural pottery, and other mediums of art as well.”

Kayla will be a vendor at the Green With Indie craft show and she will have some new work in her shop  on Etsy soon. After March, Kayla will be taking a leave of absence from the local scene and traveling out of the country to live with her fiance for a while (she don’t know exactly how long yet). She’s looking forward to returning  with fresh ideas, inspired by a new environment and culture!

Thanks for sharing your time and talents with us, and we look forward to seeing you all at shows and shops in the area! If anyone else has any well wishes or questions they’d like to share with these three artists, let us know! Leave a comment, and we’ll be sure to pass it on!

• Links:
• Elizabeth on Etsy, A Breath of French Air: www.etsy.com/shop/abreathoffrenchair
• Elizabeth’s blog, A Breath of French Air: allthingsetsy2222.blogspot.com
• Elizabeth on Facebook: A Breath of French Air
• Gary’s website, Gary Eaves: www.eavesphotography.com
• Gary on Facebook: Gary Eaves Photography
• Kayla on Etsy, Ghost Cat Studios: www.etsy.com/shop/GhostCatStudios
• Kayla’s website: www.ghostcatstudios.webs.com
• Kayla on Facebook: Ghost Cat Studios
• Green With Indie: www.greenwithindiecraftshow.com

It’s a hint of things to come! Remember to give the gift of handmade for that special someone this Valentine’s Day. Fusion always has something for everyone and stop by soon because we’ll have a brand new artists coming at the end of this month!

Back in 2009, I did my first outdoor juried art show. Besides being super-excited I finally got in after trying futility for 5 years, I felt a moment of panic. There was so much I had to do! Purchase a 10 x 10 tent, build inventory, come up with a layout for the booth… and oh yeah, I need tent weights.

Tent Weights. Tent Weights so my tent will not blow over and damage my jewelry or for that matter, anyone else’s artwork. So let me emphasize… Having tent weights are super important for any outdoor show.

There are several ways I’ve seen artists use to weigh down tents. I’ve seen cement blocks, gallon-size buckets filled with water or sand or just a simple stake in the ground to keep tents from blowing over. While all are viable ways to weigh down a tent, none of these options are close to the 30-35lb per leg requirement at most art & craft shows. Why so heavy? Storms with with strong winds. Storms that come out of nowhere. Check out these photos from the Columbus Arts Festival in June 2011. This strong storm developed in less than 30 minutes. The better you weigh your tent, the better chance you have.

So back then, I ended up making these streamlined tent weights. They are 4-inch wide, 3ft long PVC pipe filled with concrete. With the eyelet on top, I can use rope to easily hang them. It took me an afternoon to make, with drilling the holes for the handles taking the longest amount of time. Trust me, you want the handles to make these easy to carry. If I was picky, I would have added another end-cap so you wouldn’t see the concrete.

But I was tired and practically melting the July heat. And if you ever lived in St. Louis during the summer, you would understand. All in all, it was about $80 to make the weights and they weigh approximately 35 lbs each.

The weight should be enough to meet the requirements most shows and festivals require. A very good investment if you will be doing outdoor shows for the long run.

Written by Melissa Villadiego of Villa Design

Fusion recently had its first quarter Open House for 2012. Basically, this is a fancy way of saying we had a party and anybody who was interested in being a vendor or consigner in the shop was invited.  I love open houses, because I get to meet new people, and see a lot of really cool art work.  Oh, and there’s wine and food too which is awesome. Artists often come into the shop asking about how to become a vendor, and I always steer people towards these events. Don’t forget that you’re not just making stuff and sending it out into the world, but you’re also becoming part of a community. This is  an opportunity to meet the working artists,  ask any questions you may have, and show some of your work. Remember that while you are likely going in planning on selling yourself and your work, we are doing the same thing. The Open House allows us all to get to know each other and to decide whether we’re a good fit.

Fusions applications go live the day after the Open House. Basically, it’s looking for Who you are, What you sell, and Where we can see it. The hardest part of this for me was condensing what I had to say where I’m coming from and what I do as a crafter into 150 words. It’s important to make this information as clear, simple and brief as you can here at the beginning. That way, when you’re asked “So, what do you do?” at every event, family gathering, and high school reunion, you can tell people about the AWESOME work you create without stuttering and saying um, too much. This is also called your “elevator pitch”, because it should tell everything you need to say in the amount of time it takes to go from one floor to the next in an elevator.

I talked last week about Pinterest being a great place to show the work you’d like to be doing. Sort of a map to your style. Well, what about what you’re doing now? Where do you show that? From the comments:

“I currently do not have a website but would love to up load some images so you can see my work. Can you tell me how I can do this?”

There are a lot of options out there for showing your work online, and I strongly recommend that anyone working in the art field have a web presence to share it. Personal, dedicated websites are great, and really should be the ultimate goal of our internet efforts, but if you’re starting from scratch I think I’d start a little smaller.  A public photo album on Facebook with a few examples of your artwork is a great place to start. Most of us share photos there anyway, so it’s easy, free, and accessible to anybody who has a Facebook account.  A couple other (free) places are Flickr, DeviantArt, and ConceptArt.org.  All of these are existing art communities where you can get to know other people, share your work, and even get feedback.

There are also a lot of artists who just have a blog. This lets them showcase what they are currently working on, as well as engage their viewers by talking about inspiration, process, and techniques…or just show the work if that’s all they want to do.  It’s like the wild west out there.  Ha-ha-ha!

Lastly, I can’t stress this enough. Make your work as easy to find for people as you can. The rest of the application is vital information, but if there is no link to photos of your work, most people will just skip your application. If the link to your page is mistyped and doesn’t work…What I’m saying is, this is your job. This is your business. Once you take it out of your basement, and into the real world, crafting stops being just a hobby.

I’m so glad to be a part of this community, and the people involved are so great about helping each other out. We all want each other to succeed, and that’s the great thing about joining a co-op. We’re all in this together, and we all get out of it what we put into it. Do you have any stories about your trip from your crafting closet into the big wide world? Please leave us a comment, we’d love to hear them!

• Links:
• ConceptArt.org
• Deviant Art
• Flickr
• Pinterest

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In December, Fusion artists were invited to develop a children’s craft workshop for the Pet-acular Holiday Bazaar at Purina Farms in Gray Summit, MO. Inspired by the pet theme, Fusion artists Christine Warner, Dana Diaz de Leon, and Amy Poos designed furry, fuzzy animals using pipe cleaner frames and cotton ball stuffing, wrapped with soft furry yarn.