arts & crafts cooperative

Where's Mr.Plato

2009-10-07T20:44:00.004+01:00

Mr.Plato is a full size resuscitation doll covered in a mosaic of felt and is hiding out in different spots each month around the village of Yellow Springs, Ohio.
This month he is enjoying a bit entertainment.

Scatterling© - available for purchase

2009-09-28T05:46:00.001+01:00

Scatterlings© is a collection of self-directed enchantment art which combines actual foliage with watercolor and color pencil mediums. Hidden among the actual and rendered foliage are an enchanted assortment of Scatterlings; mythical animals and fairies.
These one-of-a-kind folk art pieces take up to a year to complete as flowers and leaves are collected, pressed, preserved and finally hidden within a vision that evolves continually. (Mixed Media; Pressed Foliage, Watercolor, Colored Pencil, Pen and Ink on Handmade Paper.

With the advent of Giclee (zhee-clay) the art of fine art printing has become even more precise. Because no screens are used, the prints have a higher apparent resolution than lithographs. The dynamic color range is greater than serigraphy. In the Giclee process, a fine stream of ink -- more than four million droplets per second -- is sprayed onto archival art paper or canvas. The effect is similar to an air brush technique but much finer.

Choose from: Stretched/Mounted CANVAS Giclee 24"w x 18"h. Ready to hang. Shipping & Handling Included! or Giclee Enhanced Archival PRINT also available in 24"w x 18"h Suitable for framing. Shipping & Handling included!

Some originals are available.

See thumbs, info and price list here!

Jacquelyn L. Berl (also known under the artistic monicker “Ascender“, see more works on her website and blog) is a versatile and prolific artist with a strong drive towards finding an original signature style. She creates art with a seemingly unlimited assortment of media, fusing various schools and trends into a conglomerate body of work. I would categorize her style as gravitating towards the surreal, often with fabulous qualities; it characterizes in various degrees her mixed media works, collages, ink, watercolor and oil paintings. To my mind Berl achieves best results with the more combinative efforts, and while the more traditional artwork exhibits engaging pristine and figurative qualities, it is in the more complex and “dirty” pieces that her creative potential finds a unique outlet.
Viewing the “Scatterlings (c),” which, according to the artist, “combine actual foliage with watercolor and color pencil mediums” is a rich and magical experience — not surprising considering the “mythical animals and fairies” populating these pieces. In a way it replicates the ritual of reading a fairy tale to a child: each night the infant would ask for another reading of the same story and each time the story would sound different. It is possible to see each scatterling as a meta-illustration of a fairy-tale, existing or not. Perhaps even more radically, each piece is indeed a fairy tale, only of a visual kind. This would make sense considering the arduous process, taking up to a year, of making (”writing”) them.
Technically they may be seen as Pollock’s logical continuation: he painted while putting the canvas on the floor, letting gravity participate in the process, and Jaqueline similarly alludes to gravity, which forces the leaves and the plants she uses down to earth. Thus she may be proposing an idealized artistic view of the physical world around us, everyday objects being the media and the ground they rest upon the surface. But even without this allegory, her artwork bears a purely visual resemblance to abstract expressionism, all the while retaining the concrete form of the inserted magical characters (visit her blog for close ups) — the result is a fascinating surreal mishmash.
Clever use of perspective, compositional rhythm and color toning, combined with actual flora creates a bewitching effect of three-dimensionality. I cannot decide whether the artist panders to the younger audience by incorporating real objects, seeking to emulate depth with actual depth on the paper, but it certainly appeals to the child in me, evoking an inner smile. I also think that it is this kind of works of art that more than usual encourages children to want to become artists — it could be the appeal of using objects found in nature, something every playful kid does as a matter of fact anyway.
Elijah at Art & Critique

Mixing Art and Craft

2009-08-29T20:20:00.004+01:00

"cat scan"

embroidery, acrylic and embossed metal on muslin
Corrine Bayraktaroglu

Translation from left hand drawing and painting in my sketchbook to textile art.

In Search of a Miracle; Scatterlings©

2009-07-24T16:14:00.001+01:00

Small detail of In Search of a Miracle; Scatterlings© Mixed Media; Pressed Foliage, Watercolor, Colored Pencil, Pen and Ink on Handmade Paper

"In Search of a Miracle"© Original now available for sale at the Tiburon Art Festival being held on August 22nd and 23rd. Art Size 30"w x 20"h; Matted and Framed: 40"w x 28"h. See more of this "In Search of a Miracle"© here, here and here

Previously I have offered prints. This is the first time I have offered the entire collection of original pieces for purchase.

Scatterlings© is a collection of self-directed enchantment art combining actual foliage with watercolor and color pencil mediums. Hidden among the actual and rendered foliage are an enchanted assortment of Scatterlings©; mythical animals and fairies. These one-of-a-kind folk art pieces take up to a year to complete as flowers and leaves are collected, pressed, preserved and finally hidden within a vision which evolves continually. These Scatterlings are constructed in the frame to keep them protected. Humidity levels play an important role in the longevity of your Scatterlings. Behind each are packets of silica to eliminate humidity inside the frames. (Mixed Media; Pressed Foliage, Watercolor, Colored Pencil, Pen and Ink on Handmade Paper)

Jacquelyn L. Berl (also known under the artistic monicker “Ascender“, see more works on her website and blog) is a versatile and prolific artist with a strong drive towards finding an original signature style. She creates art with a seemingly unlimited assortment of media, fusing various schools and trends into a conglomerate body of work. I would categorize her style as gravitating towards the surreal, often with fabulous qualities; it characterizes in various degrees her mixed media works, collages, ink, watercolor and oil paintings. To my mind Berl achieves best results with the more combinative efforts, and while the more traditional artwork exhibits engaging pristine and figurative qualities, it is in the more complex and “dirty” pieces that her creative potential finds a unique outlet.

Viewing the “Scatterlings (c),” which, according to the artist, “combine actual foliage with watercolor and color pencil mediums” is a rich and magical experience — not surprising considering the “mythical animals and fairies” populating these pieces. In a way it replicates the ritual of reading a fairy tale to a child: each night the infant would ask for another reading of the same story and each time the story would sound different. It is possible to see each scatterling as a meta-illustration of a fairy-tale, existing or not. Perhaps even more radically, each piece is indeed a fairy tale, only of a visual kind. This would make sense considering the arduous process, taking up to a year, of making (”writing”) them... (read full review) Elijah at Art and Critique

http://ascenderrisesabove.com/

Crochet carpentry

2009-07-17T11:32:00.002+01:00

I used to have chairs that looked like this when I was a student.

Lolafalk

2009-06-23T10:28:00.003+01:00

From the Art & Craft Co-operative pool on Flickr
View the pool slide-show on this site.

Twenty minute Simple Skirt Tutorial AND GIVEAWAY!!!!

2009-06-19T12:26:00.000+01:00

Twenty minute Simple Skirt Tutorial AND GIVEAWAY!!!!

Contemporary Embroidery

2009-06-08T13:50:00.003+01:00

“the prick who came to dinner”

he was a guest

Dog-ma-tic

made him erratic

as his rants & lectures raged

Unleashed

not bound to his dunghill

the cock crowed

the audience woke up from their stained dinner

departed

once again

he was left alone

to wallow in his own shit

ignorant ideology

Tea stained muslin, black floss, satin stitch, couching stitch, custom frame

copyright c.bayrak 09

To be exhibited in The Eclipse Gallery exhibit 50 Artists, 50 States, 50 Mediums Sept 12 2009

Flowers In The Windows; Perspective Rendering, Acrylics

2009-06-05T16:16:00.002+01:00

Flowers In The Windows; Perspective Rendering, Watercolor
From the new “Fresh Perspective” collection
30″x 24" - framed and ready to hang. Purchase.

My Fresh Perspectives pieces combine years of experience painting perspective renderings with techniques acquired working in other mediums (Acrylics, Watercolor, Colored Pencil).

Fused Plastic Grocery Bags - Necklace

2009-06-04T21:12:00.006+01:00

Multi use Fused plastic Necklace
Originally uploaded by Cynthia Del Giudice

Fused plastic grocery bags turned into beautiful delicate flowerlike shapes and combined with cultured pearls and sterling silver make this elegant necklace.

This necklace is a custom order for a bride-to-be. She wanted a necklace she could also wear after the wedding as a casual accessory. She said she liked the handmade organic links, but also loved my fused plastic pieces, and thought pearls were a nice touch for a bride.

With all this information I started drawing ideas, and decided to make a multi-function necklace with the option of taking the fused plastic pieces if desired. This necklace may be worn long, double as a choker, with the fused plastic pieces, without them, and the extension chain can even be worn as a bracelet with the plastic pieces.

Global art jewelry conversation

2009-06-03T10:38:00.004+01:00

This is a global conversation about contemporary art jewellery.
You need to sign into the gadget itself to take part.

Feel free to embed this gadget in your jewellery related site, so that you and other people can take part in this conversation from your site! There is a "one-click-install" button here.
You can move it to where you want to use it by dragging the gadget around on you blogger layout page.

Opa & Oma

2009-05-19T17:54:00.002+01:00

My partner and son went south today to visit the Grandparents.

The last time we visited was a few weeks ago when it was Grandpa's Birthday.
Here is a light-shade that my four year old drew as a present for "Opa's" Birthday.
Opa still plays tennis regularly

Designer Frühling

2009-05-18T15:05:00.002+01:00

Had a good day at "Designer Früling" on Saturday.
It was my first attempt a a craft show and building up to it was rather stressful.
the day ended with more sales than I expected so it was worth all that hair loss after all!

HCJ on Facebook

2009-05-08T09:51:00.004+01:00

The Handmade Contemporary Jewellery Project, is a multi armed web based project powered by jewellery artists from around the world.

On place where you can find join in is on our Facebook page.
There you can start or join in discussions, post images of your work or just give us a pat on the back by becoming a "fan".

You can also follow the project on Twitter!

3 daisies wildflower art

2009-05-07T17:08:00.002+01:00

3 daisies watercolor whimsical impressionistic modern floral still life original art watercolor painting for your home or business, 129 dollars. 11 x 15 inches

View more art at my gallery at
http://www.derekmccrea.50megs.com

visit my art blog at http://watercolorpaintingart.blogspot.com

Art by Derek McCrea
Columbus, GA, USA

still life 5 kitchen cuisinary art

2009-05-07T00:35:00.002+01:00

Fruit basket still life 5 kitchen food cuisinary art original large watercolor painting on arches 140 lb archival watercolor paper. The still life realistic modern art contains bananas, apples, lemons, cantaloupes, pineapple, pears, and oranges. 18 x 24 inches 259 dollars.

View more art at my gallery at
http://www.derekmccrea.50megs.com

or view my blog at http://watercolorpaintingart.blogspot.com

birch tree modern art painting

2009-05-05T23:10:00.003+01:00

Birch tree modern art painting watercolor medium realistic abstract original art 11 x 15 inches nature winter landscape scene, colors are brilliant and would look magnificaent framed in a home or work office. The bright colors are peach, yellow, orange, white, brown, gray, black and tan. Purchase this original for 159 dollars plus 7 for shipping using the below secure payment option.

View more art at my gallery at
http://www.derekmccrea.50megs.com

or visit my blog at http://watercolorpaintingart.blogspot.com

Wake up artist call

2009-04-24T21:41:00.002+01:00

This site seems to have gone to sleep some what ....

.. it's time to wake it up! Join the site and make some noise, comment, give it a shake up!

If I like the stuff in your profile, I'll send you an invite and you can post your own stuff on the site.

Robert

image credit: aknacer

How to make a zippered wristlet pouch for yourself, your friends or your shop

2009-04-24T10:20:00.003+01:00

Perfect solution for the busy, beginner sewer who needs needs in making a simple and easy zippered wristlet.

There are many purposes for these handy zippered wristlets.
You can use 1 just for groceries shopping, 1 for your lunch break, 1 for taking your kid(s) or pet to the park, 1 for exercising at the gym, 1 while window shopping and so on… The list is endless… With the strap, the wristlet can be counted as one of men’s’ (or should I say women’s’) greatest creations of all. You have complete use of your hands for all your big and small shopping bags by simply hooking the wristlet into your wrist.

They are lined for a neat appearance, interfaced for a sturdy feel and stress points are triple-stitched to ensure that they last. Plus, they make great gifts!! They are pretty and totally functional for your recipients! With this little handmade touch, your recipients would feel totally honored that you spent this amount of precious time making it just for them. And, if you want to sell them, go ahead!!

Go to http://djstoreroom.etsy.com/ or http://artfire.com/users/djstoreroom for more information...

2009-04-13T01:38:00.004+01:00

After being prompted to present some work by a dear art friend, Jill Allyn Stafford (who is a wonderful collage artist, btw)at an artist's co-op show. VOX Sacramento is a group of dedicated artists in a variety of mediums who put on regular gallery showings in the Sacramento area. Their "GREEN" show seemed a perfect theme for my work using old bottles and other discarded ephemera.

However, merely showing an altered bottle wasn't quite up to the standards I imagined they anticipated, so I knew I had to step up my game a bit. The result was a unique way to display the altered bottles on a shelf-like background as seen in these photos.

After these first few were completed, my creative juices began to flow a bit and I think I can improve on these first attempts even more. However, I am pleased with the results and believe that these assemblage works are just the beginning.

The upper piece is called "Leap of Faith," and incorporates the use of tape transfers, soldering, a painted and stenciled background as well as the micro slice "charm" which dominates the work.

The lower work is called "Mother Nature's Son" and like the other one, utilizes micro slides to even more advantage due to the collages that appear within the slides.

There are other things on the work that you cannot see from the photos, but make it even more personally significant.

Oh yeah, if you're interested, these are for sale. Email me with any inquiries you may have.

I guess it's time to get one of those Etsy shops. All the cool kids are doing it, right?

Shake up

2009-04-05T08:50:00.005+01:00

Changed to layout of the site slightly.
I have Moved the members gadget into a post, because that gives it more room and people don't understand that it is not the "followers" gadget.
I'm hoping it'll help people to understand and prompt them to fill out their profile. This is important because you don't show up as recently signed in unless you have at least added an image.

Also I am so f*cked off with people not understanding how labels work and am fed up having to clean it up all the whole time, so I've got rid of the label cloud and added a few generic categories instead.

I'd still recommend adding your name to each of your posts, so if people like YOUR stuff there is an easy way for them to see only YOUR posts, but I've given up the notion that everyone is bright enough to apply appropriate tags. Go ahead add one tag to one of your posts for "strawberry jam" or some such other rubbish, it won't now affect any efforts to organise content.

Site friends / members

2009-04-05T08:26:00.005+01:00

Join using friend connect to comment / show your profile.

Felt Art

2009-03-15T15:47:00.004Z

copyright Corrine Bayraktaroglu

I was thinking how I used to enjoy a ciggie now and again and how it sucks that it is such an unhealthy filthy habit. I used to love puffing away while driving into DC and the music blaring, sitting in the studio drinking a cup of tea, in the pubs of Annapolis with my pals. Puff! puff! puff! and then I had to quit cold turkey. Not that I was a heavy smoker or even a consistent one, but one day I spat up a spec of blood (proved to be unrelated to smoking).

Origin of the phrase Cold Turkey

“The expression originates from the goose bumps and palor which accompany withdrawal from narcotics or tobacco. One’s skin resembles that of a plucked, cold turkey….”

I don’t recall getting goose bumps though Lol!

This is all hand sewn using tea stained felt for the bronchial tubes, yellow stain on the embroidered teeth, and I filled with lungs with fag ash and ciggie butts.

looking rabbit

2009-02-26T14:40:00.001Z

We've just had "Karneval" where I'm living so this seemed appropriate to post.

Bushfire Bunnies

2009-02-17T00:34:00.002Z

Bushfire Bunnies will be donated to the children who lost all of their toys as a result of the Victorian bushfires in Australia. You can sponsor a bushfire bunny here.

Bushfire Bunnies are an original edward and lilly design.

For other handmade ways to help the bushfire victims check out Handmade Help.