Craft Fair Success

The Indie Knit and Spin craft fair was a successful first time event.  There were steady crowds and sales were surprisingly good.  I sold more buttons than I expected.  Joyce Compton also had good sales of her felting kits.  Things went well enough that I will consider doing other craft fairs. 

Knitters and spinners tend to be passionate about their craft.

The displays I built worked well.  I was particularly happy with the spinner display racks that are made from old floor lamps, scrap lumber and PVC pipe.

Small children were attracted to the buttons on the table cloth.  This photo was taken just before the doors opened.

All of the displays were made from recycled materials.

Handmade Arcade & Craft Booth Design

The Handmade Arcade was held at the David Lawrence Convention Center yesterday.  This craft fair used to be held at the Construction Junction but it has grown and become better organized.  The new venue was roomy enough to handle the steady crowds that came to see the 140 creative local vendors.  I was there to represent the Steel Town Etsy team.  It was fun to work the Etsy table, interact with the crowd  and get to know some of the artisans.  I especially enjoyed working with the other volunteers at the Etsy table. 

I did a walk about and took a few photos of venders' booths.  I was looking at the craft booth designs with a critical eye to get ideas for our table at the Indie Knit and Spin craft fair next week.  Joyce Compton and I have a week to finish the preparations for our first vending adventure. 

A cheerful vendor with a well organized space, great use of color.

L shaped display, good lighting and creative use of old windows.

The fencing on the left is a compact vertical display wall.

Check out the banner and spotlights shining on the merchandise.

The best booths create a sense of space and have a distinct atmosphere that is part of the artist's brand.  They also make use of vertical space to have displays at eye level. 

Clay Day

Star Gazer and old woman by Chris Fondi

Victor is frightened by noises  by Joyce Compton

Yesterday, Chris Fondi, Joyce Compton and I spent the day making doll heads from paper clay and tarlatan fabric.  We also spent some time discussing the artist's statements, brief bios and resumes that we are working on for our portfolios.  It was a fun and productive day. 

I found myself exploring a recurring theme in my work: bird people. 

Photographing Art Dolls

Yesterday my art doll collective (Chris Fondi, Joyce Compton & I) met all day to work on our portfolios.  Much of the day was spent preparing dolls for the photo shoot.  When the dolls were finally ready we set up the photo stage. It consists of a small seamless backdrop, an ironing board, two color balanced lights with reflector umbrellas and a tripod.  It doesn't take up much space when we aren't using it. The excellent photographer we had arranged to take photos of our dolls with a high quality camera did not arrive.  Joyce and I decided to have a go at taking our own photos with our point and shoot cameras.

 

In the photo below Joyce is setting up a shot of one of her dolls.

I'm working on a series of dolls that are busts.  This is a departure from my previous work.  The heads are larger and the proportions of the piece must include consideration of the supporting assemblage structures. I found that the photos help me see the proportions and details of my work with a fresh eye.   There is something about photographs that lets me see my own work critically.

I like this detail shot above because it shows personality and subtlety in the face.  The character has a dynamic gaze,  But in the photo of the entire bust below the face is washed out and dull.  I either have to improve my ability to manipulate the lighting or I must make dolls with more strongly defined detail in the faces.  I also realize after looking at this photo that the collar is simply not big or dynamic enough. This doll is not as close to being finished as I thought he was.  That's OK.  I like to push a design.

This is another doll in the bust series.  This detail shot is less successful than the previous one.  I think the eyes need to be further developed with needle sculpting and the application of eye lids for the doll to have a purposeful gaze.  The interesting thing (at least to me) is that I didn't pick up on this just by looking at the doll.

 I can say exactly the same things about the relationship of this doll's head to the supporting assemblage structure that I did about the previous doll. 

 This impish doll is also a work in progress.  The detail shot looks great. But  I'm not even going to show you the supporting assemblage structure until I rebuild it. 

Finally, there was a photograph that I was really satisfied with at the end of the day.  This is a doll that I made while working through my feelings about my sister's death. This is the first photo that I feel accurately expresses both the detail and the feeling of the doll. I will include it in my portfolio. 

The intention of the day was to generate a lot of photographs for our portfolios.  I didn't end up with a lot of usable photographs but I did find direction for my bust dolls.  I consider the day a success.

Professional Art Doll Portfolios

Lately my art doll collective (Joyce Compton, Chris Fondi & myself) has been working on assembling professional portfolios of each member's dolls.  The short term goal is to prepare us to respond to calls for entries for juried exhibitions both individually and collectively.  The long term goal of the portfolio project is to book an exhibit for the group.

Each portfolio will contain high resolution photographs, an artist's resume or curriculum vitae, a brief bio of the artist and an artist's statement.  We will each make a hard copy and an electronic version of our portfolio.  We have acquired folios for the hard copy versions and have yet to figure out how to handle the electronic ones.  The biggest question is whether or not we will have them hosted on the Internet as an e portfolio.  There are a number of sites that claim to do this for free.   Artist Listing,  Mosaic Globe, VoodooChile, etc.  It's a lot to think about.

This Sunday we are bringing in a professional to photograph our dolls.  We are on a bit of a push to get things ready for the photo shoot.  It helps that we are making representational portfolios and not comprehensive ones.  We want to have between five and ten pieces of work well displayed in each portfolio.

We have also been giving each other feedback on our artist's statements, brief bios and resumes.  My new artist statement is not quite ready to replace the old one posted above.

Friday at AFIC

Everyone is having a great time.  It's wonderful to get away from the everyday and hang out with a community of doll makers.  The internet service at the hotel is poor so most of the (many) photos must wait until I return home.  Here are a few of the highlights.

Nancy Forsythe, Judy Skeel and Tracey ? at work in susie McMahon's class.

Classes are going well.  Rooms are organized to encourage camaraderie and communication.  My excellent instructor is Susie McMahon from Tasmania.  She teaches the technique and then lets the students apply it as they wish.  The class is a good fit for me.  Feedback from the other classes is good. 

Mimi Weiner the auctioneer.

The live auction of donated dolls to benefit the scholarship fund went well.  It probably raised several thousand dollars.  Mimi Weiner was a ham of an auctioneer.  We were all entertained!  Notice the Treasures of the Gypsies shop in the background.  It was mobbed with shoppers.

Doll Street Dreamers online doll club has a terrific exhibit of steam punk inspired dolls.

Joyce Compton won second place in the challenge to make a doll without a doll stand.  There are two categories.  Original design and pattern interpretation.  Joyce won for this original design of a felted Wild Hare.  I'll post a full list of winners tomorrow.  My Leafkicker doll won second place in the original design division.

Getting Ready for a Doll Makers Conference

On Thursday Joyce Compton & I are driving to Columbus, Ohio to attend the Artistic Figures in Cloth conference.  It's a well organized opportunity to spend time with kindred spirits.  Chris Fondi was going to go with us but she will be staying home to greet a new grandson.

Cyndy Sieving is the driving force behind this biennial event.  http://www.cyndysdolls.com/redirector.htm

I'm taking a class with Susie McMahon, who is an excellent doll maker from Tasmania.  http://www.susiemcmahondolls.blogspot.com/ I chose her class because it is primarily an open studio.  These days I'm not interested in making dolls from patterns.  Susie will be teaching a sculpting technique using paper clay. That will be fun.

Susie asked us to come to class with a concept of what we want to make. My concept is to make this old tool box into a small wall hung cabinet. 

This metal chest was made by my great, great grandfather George Eckel.  He emigrated from Alsace in 1832. 

She asked us to do some sketches.  I rarely do this for dolls, but did this time.  It will be interesting to see if the finished product resembles the sketches.

2 sketches of my "concept".

There is also a doll making challenge at this conference.  The challenge is to make a free standing doll that is at least 50% cloth.  The only dimensional restriction is that the base must fit in an 8"X8" square.  Leafkicker's almost done and I had time to take a few photos today.  I like the personality that emerged!  He doesn't need a doll stand because he has heavy feet. 

The ax heads give him a very low center of gravity.