Necklaces

New necklaces on my new mannequin (Thanks Jack!) The two side pieces hanging above the pendant are stained glass.

Earrings.

Behold...the new broken plate earrings! More available on Etsy!

MINALE MAEDA

Had to share this! I think all toast should be this beautiful!


http://www.minale-maeda.com/TableManners.htm

Thanks poppy!

Thanks poppy for featuring The Broken Plate!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Modish Gift Guide

Broken Plate Pendants are featured in the Modish Holiday Gift Guide!

Craft, Shut Yo Mouth!

iBreakPlates.com is up!!

--These stickers are available on my Etsy site.

Damnnnnnnnnnnn Right!

New neckalce

Here's my new necklace! I was trying to make a bracelet, but I got too excited and messed up some links. I will be trying to make some new creations with plates, beyond the simple pendant.

PS-I changed my settings so anyone can leave a comment for me. be nice.

Handmade Arcade!

Handmade Arcade was fantastic! Thanks to everyone who visited my table and gave me lots of encouragement. And of course a big thanks to those who purchased from me! A million thanks to my sister who was my right hand man, I would have been a much crankier person without you (and good job with the sweatshirt!).

Thanks again to Annie of Imogene for making me do it! She has a great photo on her blog of the chaos that was Handmade Arcade.

Modish Holiday Gift Guide

Broken Plate Pendants are now featured in the Modish Holiday Gift Guide!
Check under "Is that Made from Hemp? (Eco-Friendly Gifts)

Melted slide pendant

This pendant is made with an old slide of my artwork. It is sandwiched in glass and then heated until it starts to melt. The top piece of glass cracked, but the melted plastic holds it together nicely, and gives it more texture. This is photographed with a light source behind it. When it is worn it is a lot more subtle.

Almost ready.

It feels really good to lay everything out and see what I have ready! I just need to make about 50 more leather cords and a few display boxes. I hope all of this work pays off.

Porn for a good cause?

I met this cool guy at the Fells Point Flea Market selling all sorts of cool stuff to donate money to his church. One of the things was a box of old slides he took in the 70's for a porn company in CA. How could I resist? Porn for a good cause! They are much cooler in person, it is hard to take photos on a light box.

Great Day!

I had a great day yesterday! I sold 4 necklaces! One necklace was bought by someone who just came in to look at the gallery. It is always nice when someone I don't know personally likes my stuff because I don't feel like they were guilted into it. Later, I sold 3 to a person whose tastes I really admire.
After work I found the motherload of great plates (above). AND while I was in Sal's Boutique looking at the plates, a woman came up to me and asked "are you the woman who makes mailboxes??" I told her I was. She said that she met me a little while ago at a Goodwill and that she always looks at the plates for me now. She wanted my card so she could look at my mailboxes. While I was talking to her about Handmade Arcade I heard someone say "Did you say Handmade Arcade? Are you Juliet?" It was Annies friend Melissa! She figured it was me because I was in the plate section. I had a great conversation with her about post-collage "art". When I went to check out, the lady behind the counter remembered me and we talked about my work. I felt like a celebrity for a minute (so what if it was in Salvation Army)

I was brought back to reality later in the day when I thought I could have a good time trying on dresses. Not so much.

So thanks to all who made my day great.

Sneak Peek.

Just a little less then a month away, here is a sneak peak of some of what I have ready for Handmade Arcade.

Mosaic Pavers

These are the bricks we made at the mosaic workshop.
from left to right - Jason, Coryn, Me

Handmade Arcade Postcard

Send your address if you want one in your hot little hand!

Happy Birthday Alison!

Melon's Porch Bar now open! (there's a sign at least)

Handmade Arcade

I got in!!!!!!!!!!
Everyone has to come visit me November 11 12-7!!
www.handmadearcade.com

(Thanks Annie!)

Family Craftherapy.

Coryn and I had some quality craftherapy time last night. I like her being grounded, I get a crafting partner. After homework, we stayed in the studio until almost 8pm! She made her first stuffed dog, I made my first bag! She's got plans for a whole line of animals (watch out Etsy, the holidays are coming!)
(Mable didn't make anything but she insisted on being in the photo, typical.)

Life gave us lemons...

We made lemonade!

Our new shelves look SOOO much better! (and I am kinda diggin the new plates more then the last ones too.) I guess that which does not kill Coryn, only makes our house stronger. Maybe she can move her distruction into the bathroom next.

Broken Plate Karma??

Well, this could be taken a few ways. Either the kitchen gods are getting back at me for breaking countless plates, or it was a gift from crafting heaven, OR it was just bad construction! Either way, every dish I own came crashing to the floor last night, but not before a stop on Coryn's head! The good news is, Coryn has a hard head, and you will be seeing a lot of new turquoise work from me! I had been looking longingly at those plates for a mosaic (and a few necklaces) anyway. Luckily I had a few unbroken plates in the basement that have gotten a new life as dinnerware!

Brooches

Here is my first set of brooches. I am working on a belt buckle and a mailbox for Etsy too! I applied to be a part of Handmade Arcade, an indie craft fair that takes place on the second Saturday in November in Pittsburg. Cross your fingers! (Thanks Annie!
http://www.handmadearcade.com/

Sheep!

I think that all of the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival posters hanging at work have gotten to my head. I see a whole flock in my future...

New Etsy Store

Coryn was home sick. I was sick of home. This is what happened.
Check out the new Etsy store...
www.thebrokenplate.etsy.com

Painted the Studio!

I was sick of making pendants for a moment...

Vintage glass button pendant

Here it is! Finally my shippment of glass buttons arrived from eBay. Those button collectors are brutal! It was worth the wait, I love them!

Family Crafting!

All three of us made 8x8 mosaic bricks to be installed around the 25th Anniversary Benchmark Sculpture at the Howard County Arts Council.

The big unveiling of the sculpture is September 15th 6-8.

Tree Pendant

Someone told me this looks like a mushroom. Yuck. Now I need to figure out how to make it more treeish.

Happy Birthday Ci!

My sisters Birthday mailbox!

It gets kind of squirrelly around the numbers. I tried a new kind of glue made for mosaics that for some reason does not like to hold onto little pieces! I did not know until I smeared grout all over...

Busy weekend!

I made 12 pendants yesterday! I found some interesting vintage plates at Goodwill and antique shops. I was going to use them to mosaic a mailbox, but once I smashed them, I found some really cool little pieces. My favorite is the piece from an apple pie pan, I want to make a whole collection of pendants with text. Who knows, maybe all apple pie directions??

PS-They are all available for sale in the Howard County Arts Council's Gallery Shop!

New Pendants

<- Some pendants I have been working on using scrap glass.
Because I don't have access to any torches right now, I am forced to compromise. I am using plumbers solder with a soldering iron. More to come.

The start of my forest

The other day I woke up with this uncontrollable need to learn how to sew. I am not sure if it is the Project Runway influence or just the fact that I have not learned much since school ended. I bought a sewing machine and some cheap fabric and was determined to make SOMETHING. I guess I probably should have started with a square pillow or something simple, but that would have been too easy. Instead, I decided to make a home for a stuffed bird pin that I found at a flea market. He seems happy.
Yesterday I made the taller of the two trees and a bird to go with. Then I made a tree for the dog...she has been looking longingly at them. Hopefully canvas and demin will last a few days

I have become THAT blogging crafty girl!

It was harder then expected to discover my post-art school creativity. Without the specific challange of a "project," with parameters set by a professor, it was really difficult to channel all of my ideas into a project. Then I realized that I don't need A project, I can do 1000 different projects. I just need to take time and make things. That sounds easy enough, but it is hard to get started. It is like going to the gym...not easy to start, but once you do, you rememebr how much better you feel! So I will fill this space with things I am making and things that inspire me. From jewelry to glass art to stuffed trees (of all things I don't know why trees, but they keep coming out of me.)
If I have this outlet to post, I am hoping it encouarges me to keep going. I am feeling much better now that all of this stored up creativity is coming out! (Hence, CrafTHERAPY) Now maybe I should start a gym blog, but who has the time?

(Above is my new mailbox!)