New ACEO Cards on Flickr

A whole slew of new ACEO (artist trading cards) are up and available on Etsy.

I enjoy making these. They are tiny moments in time.

I sell them through Etsy, but I also trade them.

Featured Artist: Sparkly Strandz - Handmade Wire Jewelry

Sparkly Strandz offers creative, elegant handmade jewelry for the discerning collector. Each piece is hand-twirled, wrapped, twisted, and shaped into pleasing shapes and styles, with gemstone beads added for bursts of color.

She is currently offering free shipping on all orders (from now until Christmas, 2007, to the USA and Canada only), so you can try some of her curvy, sophisticated styles without worry.

She says of her own work:
I’ve had a love for crafts, especially crochet for over 25 years ever since my grandmother taught me at age 5. It was probably the best thing she could have done for my parents because it would keep me busy for hours. During college, i developed a love for beads–not just because they’re sparkly, but because beads have such a rich history to them from around the world, and can be made from almost anything imaginable. Also, as an occupational therapist, I am able to use a variety of crafts and activities in my therapy to make it more fun!

I combined my love for crochet and beads and began making jewelry, baby onesies, hats, and all sorts of gift items about 10 years ago. “Sparkly Strandz” is an online store that you can visit and create your own jewelry by choosing the right color bead, wire, and length you want for that perfect piece!!

Rectangle Aqua Earrings

Chunky Green Agate Necklace

 

Want to see more of her designs? Check out Sparkly Strandz on Etsy

Featured Artist: Elements by Dawn

My featured artist (or should I say jeweler?) of the day is “Elements by Dawn,” a talented metalsmith with a penchant for all things geometric. I was planning a lengthy write-up, but was blown away by her own Etsy profile. She also appears to be quite the writer! I’ll share what she had to say about herself:

Sea of Serenity

*<<Behind the name: Elements by Dawn>>*

Element - refers to the shape, form, mass, line, texture, pattern, light, and color of a design.

*<<About the artist, Dawn Brandt>>*

Dawn is particularly drawn to creating pattern and texture in her pieces. Through pattern and texture, her designs take on movement, visual and tactile interest. Through the use of color and form, she communicates emotion and energy. Dawn’s pieces range from simplistic shapes and lines, evoking a sense of calm; to heavily textured with bold colors and lines, suggesting passion.

Her obsession with circles, spheres, disks, and symmetry is expressed throughout her designs.

Dawn is constantly learning new techniques, as well as perfecting traditional methods of metalworking and design.

Additionally, she is a full-time student, wife, and mother of two boys. She enjoys listening to music of all types, especially industrial, techno, a little ska, and classical. Dawn is a self-diagnosed coffee and cheese addict.

Flower Motif Earrings

 

I like the fact that Dawn works with Argentium silver (a nice silver alloy which resists tarnishing). She’s cutting edge!

 

To view more of her fine silver work, visit her Etsy shop:
Elements by Dawn

New Art Available on Etsy - Scarlet Turnips and Party City!

Welcome to June! The weather here in New Mexico has turned from crisp and clear, to thunderstormy and wild with late spring winds.

I’ve got a batch of new works available for sale in my Etsy shop, if you have the time to stop in and see what’s shakin’.

Scarlet Turnips is one of my newest; an original oil pastel painting done on Yupo paper. I enjoy playing with the way pastels run across the surface of the polyethylene sheet; the lush combination of oily and sleek provides a strange, almost watery effect which supplants hard detail. The result is a glowing work without hard edges–radiant and full of movement.

Yupo is quickly becoming a favorite canvas of mine and I’ve also seen outstanding work on Yupo paper by a variety of artists. I guess other people are as intrigued by that radiance as I am!

I’ve also been working with my Gocco printer (it’s a small, hand screen printing device made in Japan). Party in the City and All Roads Lead to the City are limited edition gocco prints with hand-embellishments from my new line of City types. I did the original cityscape using a bamboo pen with Chinese liquid ink, on rice paper. I used that rice paper sketch as my original and have created a range of Cityscapes as gocco screen prints, with hand-altered details.

It interests me that a static image (the city outline) can transform so amazingly with added details here and there–much like an actual city does as the march of the seasons changes foliage, streets, and homes.

Expect to see more of my cityscape gocco art in my Etsy shop very soon.

Saturday Night Special 5/12/07 - 10% OFF SALE!

We’re having a Saturday Night Special over at our Etsy.com art gallery. Stop on by and get 10% off any purchase.

Sale lasts until midnight tonight, Pacific Daylight Time.

C’mon down!

Etsy Friends Quilt

When I first joined Etsy back in January, I built a web-based friendship “quilt” that advertised a variety of Etsy sellers. I’m going to revisit the quilt site and make it even better, so I thought I’d dust it off and post here to see if any other Etsy sellers are interested in being added to the virtual tapestry.

Please note: you can sell any type of art or craft, not just quilts. I call it a “quilt” because the avatar squares resemble a friendship quilt.

Visit the quilt page to check it out!