A whirlwind of a weekend

This past weekend was The Farm Chicks Show in Spokane, WA...it was my first time as a vendor...such a whirlwind of activity...from driving across the entire state of Washington...to seeing old friends and making new acquaintances...to a bone-weary body...to an overstimulated brain buzzing with ideas...it was all rolled into one Farm Chicks experience...

A few pics of my booth...so much in one little 10' x 10' square...

As many a vendor will attest...there is not much time to get out and see the show for yourself...but its difficult knowing that there is so much great junk out there and you can't experience it!  So tried as I may, I ran around quickly Sunday morning and took a few shots of what caught my eye...so please excuse if they are a little out of focus!

The weekend wouldn't have been possible without the assistance of a few wonderful people...Serena Thompson, creator and the organizational force behind The Farm Chicks...Janna and Kent Lufkin of Raw Materials Design who were terrific dining buddies...Jody Carlson Cain of Latitude Studios , sounding board ...and the Southern Man for driving the beast of a rental van, lugging a ton of steel rod and sweet-talking all the women in my booth with southern charm...

Now...what am I doing with the leftover boxes in my dining room? ...stay tuned...

On the road to the Farm Chicks show

All of the prep, paint, glue and nails has come down to this...this morning I leave for The Farm Chicks Show...
I'm like a bird taking flight - off into the blue yonder...







In the midst of all the packing and organizing, I was struck with a moment of inspiration of what to do with those rusted springs that I bought last year at the Farm Chicks show...a bit of old cocoa mat hanging basket liner...a handful of feathers...a wooden bird covered with vintage wallpaper...a specially chosen dictionary word for good measure...

If you're coming to the show...I'm in Booth 170, Bay 2...
please stop and say hi!

If you're not coming...you can live vicariously through my posts on my four corners design Facebook page...didn't know that I had a FB page?...well, its time to hop over, check it out and "like" my page so you can stay in the loop with what's going on at the show...

So now you know what I'll be doing this coming weekend - what about you?  Whatever your plans are for this first weekend in June, I hope that it gladdens your heart...

Springs!

Never underestimate the determination of a woman with a power tool...

I have been working on finishing up projects for Farm Chicks...and needed assistance with some uncooperative wire...those really hard-core steel wire springs...that you can't bend with your hands or a pair of pliers...




I called on my artist friend Shelley...not only could she help but she had even more springs for me...she was dismantling a stripped down '51 Chevy truck seat...making it into a flower bed...here's a picture of the completed project - isn't this incredible?  It will be for sale in her booth at the garden art show, Sorticulture...

After I was done gawking at the flower bed, we bent into shape the wire springs I had...with the help of a very large vise...and then we were inspired...there was an old mattress box spring in Shelley's yard...with all of the fabric long gone...and the wood gray and weathered...and the springs corroded and rusty (and I could just kick myself for not getting a "before" picture!)

In no time at all, a power jigsaw cut the box spring into smaller pieces...and then it was just a matter of squaring off the ends with the table saw...Shelley wanted to remove the springs from the weathered wood...but I liked the patina of the wood...and decided that I would mount each spring on a painted piece of lumber to give it more heft and character...

When I got home...out came more power tools...cut up pieces of painted wood...sanded the edges...smoothed on a layer of paste wax and then attached each spring to the top of the painted piece with a squirt of glue between the two wood pieces and a couple of finishing nails pounded in from the bottom to securely hold the two pieces together...a rubber bumper on each corner ensures that the weathered wood won't scratch the table surface...

I added test tubes to each spring...making them into funky vases...

Some of the vases are singles, some are doubles...

And then I saw this pic from Curious Sofa...

and it inspired me to do this...

So I'm open to suggestions...what else could I put in them?

Unlikely combinations

You wouldn't ordinarily think of pairing rusty pin nails with fine silk thread...but then I like to think that I'm not ordinary...thus the tag line of my blog (and my business) "creative combinations of everyday ephemera"

I often find that I stumble upon an idea...in this case, a creative process...and then I see how many different ways I can use that process...in particular, using thread and nails to define a boundary...

Since I never like to throw anything away...I have been looking for months at a box of MOO business cards that I ordered...which I had screwed up my contact information...but I had 100 skinny cards...with my collage images...suddenly I had a eureka moment...what if I make a collage out of the cards...

I sorted the cards according to theme and/or color, looking for striking combinations...then I set out to have 6" rectangles cut out of 1"x6" pine boards (I love the guys in our Lumber dept. at work...always willing to help me out with my creative ideas!)

I painted the sides and back of each rectangle a solid dark color...and then created a layered paper design for the front which would be the background for each mini-collage.  Since the mini-collages would be digital copies, I made the layered background different for each collage, using original ephemera...so the recipient wouldn't be getting a total original piece of art...but they wouldn't be getting a total reproduction either...instead, a combo of both!

I wanted a way to frame out each mini-collage...to make it stand out a little more from the background...so I hammered a small wire nail into each corner...and wrapped a length of silk buttonhole twist around the outside perimeter of the collage, securing the ends of the thread with a knot at one of the corners...

 

I think it adds the finishing touch I was looking for...

The type of this dictionary page was a little too intense...a layer of gray tissue paper tones it down...

I looked for papers that would relate to the collage subject...a geographic listing of towns is well suited for this travel motif...

 

And an old French letter is a great match for this collage...

Thirty of these mini-collages will be part of my booth at the upcoming Farm Chicks show...June 1 & 2...there's a giveaway going on over at The Farm Chicks blog for free tickets to the event...deadline to enter is Sunday night, April 21...so get over there right now...I want to see you at the show!

Putting all my eggs in one basket...

Excuse the cliché...its neither a basket...

nor all my eggs (though I do love my vintage blue teal egg darner...)

but it seemed appropriate to describe the marketing of my art this year.  In the past, I've done 3-4 events each year, a combination of art shows and vintage shows...but this year, I've decided to do one gig...The Farm Chicks Show.

Held in Spokane WA from June 1-2, The Farm Chicks Show is touted to be one of the best antique/vintage shows in the country.  I'm taking the approach that since there's such a vintage vibe to my artwork...and I have this knack with junk...that this would be a great venue for me.











So already I'm in high gear...and thought I would tempt you from now until June with periodic peeks at what I'm creating for the show...

Today's peek...vintage garden journals...

Made from the covers of a damaged set of 1908 encyclopedias, I combined the collaged covers with recycled papers to create one of a kind journals...

The complete tutorial on how I constructed these journals can be found here...

I like using the metal paper fasteners to bind them since you can easily add or remove papers at your whim...

Inside I've added a few extra touches...like card pockets, a cover page cut from patterned wallpaper and a couple of wax envelopes to store seeds or pressed flowers...


















Each cover collage is different and combines vintage ephemera with garden inspired papers...often using pages from these encyclopedia volumes...

Want to know more about the show...visit The Farm Chicks Show Facebook page for details...
people do travel from all over the country to attend...you could too...

and just to inspire you even more...linking up to Funky Junk Interiors SNS...