studious reflection. a step into the [colorful] darkside.

Just look at all of the possibilities here! I know; I'm sick & twisted. And I've always reacted like this with fabrics, paint, beads, jewelry, art, architecture, books...

Yup, another proud geek moment.

~~~~

But, right, rambling. So the point was to show where I swerved onto a path of what I consider the darkside [albeit a colorful one]. I had originally intended for these groupings of fabrics to be become more of the 3-flower Rosalind necklaces...

ta-da! 

I play around with each fabric to see what folding technique works better each time. The fabric in the necklace above is a looser weave & made a nice, fluffier [technical term] flower vs. the fabric above which folds flatter & frankly looked boring. So I made a tighter fold & pinned the flowers on one of my portable idea boards [a couple of 6x6 cork tiles].

Peachy flower--okay, but didn't thrill me. The blues & greens with a tighter fold similar to ribbon flowers. I hadn't intentionally grouped the flowers together on the board like that at first, but when I saw what I had done...well, I tossed out the original idea to the wind.

I have a number of smaller sheer fabric books sitting around with nothing to use them for because of the paper backing on them.

The paper-free part of the fabric is too small really to work into flowers, but could work as the base to sew the flowers/adornments for a small bib.

 et voilà!

[okay, so this picture shows a piece of fabric from one of the larger sheer books I had. but you get the point I think!]

Then I back them with coordinating faux leather or faux suede [again, from recycled books from the office]. 

I have many colors to choose from above and beyond the pic above of my backings. Fun & creepy all at the same time, huh? 

That made the mini-bib another nice choice because I got to use up all of the grouped fabrics in one swoop [vs. 2 had I stuck with the original idea]. After working up these 2 though, I've decided to put these aside for now [like the bracelet]. There are too many bib-type necklaces on the web right now &, frankly, most of them are under priced. 

Okay, let's put it this way: 

•I break apart all of the old fabric books 
•separate & group out the fabrics

•cut out the fabric

•fold the fabric

•select the beads &/or buttons for the adornments [usually vintage]

•select/cut out the fabric for the backing

•place & hand-sew flowers into place

•place & hand-sew beads/adornments into place

•go back through to hand-secure flower edges into place

•hand-hem/tack down backing fabric

•prep the backing

•hand-sew the backing into place

•attach chain [which isn't store bought/ready-made]

•make necessary adjustments to length based on final weight, etc

•take photos/edit

•create listing/+whatever slight "marketing" I may do

Right, so the point of the little rant is this: there are a lot of super-inexpensive pieces on Etsy that tell me either 1) the designer spent no time on it & it's super-shoddy [& if there is hardly any description/ details, that's going to be my automatic assumption] or 2) is selling themselves short &/or competing with Wal-Mart when they're not selling Wal-Mart products.

Hmm, that turned into a rant too...

I guess what I'm trying to justify is that I've set this batch of fabrics aside momentarily until I crunch some numbers. I'm keeping the lilac/lavender one for me. I've listed the green & blue [which reminds me of the lush green foliage against the bright Spring sky] at a moderate price for now.When I bring the rest out, I plan on really figuring out accurately the amount of time I spend on one of these puppies from start to finish. At that point, the pricing will reflect that time because my goal is to one day do only this. 

I'm very lucky that I still work full-time with a good paying job, fabulous benefits & great people. Frankly, I'm very lucky because there have been a lot of designers let go in the Atlanta area this past year & a half. But I'd still love to be my own boss doing something that is so enjoyable to me & that comes so naturally. I don't sell myself short of the office & I refuse to sell myself short here either [especially if this is to be my only means of income & I'd be paying health insurance, etc].

Sorry, this is one of those topics that I'm VERY passionate about. My grandmother sold her wares for dirt cheap & barely supported herself once my grandfather passed. My mother would also sell her crafts that way & barely covered supplies. I also come from a VERY conservative family that typically undersells the women in general. I'm the first female in the main family core to graduate from college so it pains me to see women underestimate themselves.

I'll stop now because I may type on for hours about this otherwise. Not sure when I'll break the fabric back out [or the bracelet] because they don't work up as fast as I'd like & I have an overgrowth of books that I want to quickly [haha] work up. At least, as quick as a little thing called life will allow!

Seriously, I'm quitting for now! No further ranting on this post!

♥ -Kat.

new stuff @cardinalhouse.

Rosette necklace. 

coral orange recycled fabric flower & dyed mother-of-pearl shell beads.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rosa necklace.

tropical punch red recycled fabric flower with painted [not by me] wooden beads.

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rosa necklace.

 red recycled fabric flower rose with painted [not by me] wooden beads.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rosa mini bib.

fresh spring green & blue rosettes with vintage bead & button adornments.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

These are all OOAK [one of a kind]. When they're gone, they're gone. Also, each of these include free US shipping. I'm tossing around some ideas to make that the norm, but I haven't been able to sit down to really crunch numbers. 

Expect to see a post in the next day or two regarding that mini-bib necklace. I have pic's from the early stages of it & plan on rambling some about how it evolved. I have a bunch of fabric groupings set aside to work on more of these, but they are time-consuming &, again, another thing to sit down & crunch numbers on. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

'til next time

♥-Kat.

travel. ringling museum of art in sarasota, fl.

proud geek moment. 

Ringling [yes, as in circus-known Ringling] Museum of Art

Can you believe that this building almost didn't make it? And I'm not referring to hurricane-type destruction. The Ringling property underwent years of neglect under the hands of Florida government's care. A theater on the property was actually condemned in the 90's.  But after the estate's governance was handed over to the Florida State University in 2000, the estate is making a comeback. Funding for restoration was secured in 2007 & is open to the public daily now. Read more about the estate here.

So, I'm spotlighting the Ringling Museum because I came across an article on artdaily.org [article here] regarding the latest exhibition: 

Splendid Treasures of the Turkomen Tribes from Central Asia

The exhibit highlights how the nomadic tribes created these amazing pieces of jewelry essentially as portable wealth. I'm all gaga over the intricacy of the pieces; I think that they are absolutely splendid. I would love to be down there to check it out. 

As a believer in supporting the arts, I shouldn't advise this...but I noticed on the admissions/hours page that the museum claims free admission to the public on Mondays. I'd most definitely call beforehand to confirm if that's still true &/or if there are any specific stipulations.

~~~~~~

As a side note: 

I know that the High Museum of Art here in Atlanta also does a free admission day for Fulton county residents [1st Sat./every month...info here]....so I recommend that you check with your local museums about any such deals. 

 ~~~~~

Enjoy!

♥ -Kat.

[images from respective website(s)]

studious reflection. how not to drown.

Hmm, so I've slacked here on the blog but I at least did not give you fence collection after fence collection...

Behind the scenes, it's been a mess. I have been slammed at the office [which is a good thing to be again]. Personal affairs have been a bit hectic. And I'm working up some new ideas.

I plan on posting more about the evolution of a couple of the designs because the end result was nothing like what I had originally intended. It's interesting how pieces can morph into something through the creative process. One of those results does make me feel as though I've turned to the dark side.

Bibs. Well, mini-ish bib necklaces. I didn't plan on doing them because I'm over them; they're everywhere. but the colors were soo pretty together. Even now I'm thinking I might try out the rest of the fabric groupings & experiment with the other style I came out with just to not do them [the bibs]. I'll save the rest of this rant for the actual post & would love to hear what you think...

 ~~~~~~~

That's all for now. I'm heading back to the studio to work on some more flowers & watch some Sopranos.

♥-Kat.

{giveaway} want to win a necklace?

Happy Friday! 

I'm teamed up with Sarah-Paige at The Candid Reviewer for a giveaway of one of my Rosa Statement necklaces [you get to pick out which one--woohoo]! Check out her post about it here for all of the details. Closes April 20th at midnight.

~~~~~~~~

Bonne chance!!

[good luck]

♥ -Kat.

studious reflection. bubble deflated.

~~~~~~~~~

I'm a bundle of mixed feelings at the moment. I just sent off an email confirming that I will NOT be participating in a Spring handmade market [hosted by The Paisley Farmhouse] on May 1st. I was sent a personal invite a couple weeks ago [big ego boost, yea & thank you] & have been going back & forth. 

~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~

I've recently decided that I'm ready to try out some shows again, but don't have ANY of the basic show needs. No tent, no tables, no shelves/props...no displays, capito [=s understood]? Niente. Now I have researched some of the basics & could order /ship to arrive before the show...but the perfectionist in me has been in constant temper tantrum mode. 

And I'm beyond stressed with so many things at the moment that I had to put myself in check. I know that they also do a show in the fall, so perhaps that will be a better time for me if I'm not prepared to do other shows before then.

~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~

Last week was Spring Break for my boy, then this Monday he was sent home from school with "pink eye". For those of you not here in Atlanta...every parking lot & car in the area is currently chartreuse. Pollen EVERYWHERE. But it's only affecting one eye & that's indicative of pink eye. May the young[er]-at-heart brat in me scream "Whatever!". We did the regimen of antibiotic eye drops & the laundry & the washing & the laundry. Sure, the eyes were a bit clearer, but slow go. 

~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~

Tuesday morning. Both eyes bloodshot. School was very strict that he couldn't come back in until he was bright-eyed & bushy tailed [you get the point]. So after a conversation with one of the partners [my boss], it was brought up that perhaps just some good ol' Visine might just do the trick. Later that morning, Alex & I trekked out to pick up some Visine focused on allergies [obviously okay for his age too--do not use this rant as an excuse]. I planned on substituting one of the eyedrop rounds with the basic stuff merely to humor me & my cynicism. 

Okay, so we found some, bought it, came back home.

Have I mentioned that I live right by water? Well, now that everything is in bloom, I can barely see the water. So instead of a view of water past the walkway to the door, we have a thick coating of pollen absolutey everywhere. And do you know what my lovely son did as we approached the front door on his 2nd day off of school for pink eye [remember, a whole week before that for Spring Break]? My sweet little darling takes his index & middle finger of his right hand a wipes off a nice, thick coating of pollen from the rail & says, "Look, Mom!"

Count to ten. [or shoot me]...ugh. We had a mother & son discussion promptly after he cleaned up. Oh, & the non-prescription eye drops for allergies cleared his eyes right up. Count to ten [do not scream at the school nurse, doctor...as long as he can go back to school & me, work...all is well]. 

So he made it in this morning just in time for the first of three days of CRCT testing. His first standardized test. Imagine a room of nearly 20 six & seven year-old's required to sit down quietly to take a test for 2 hours straight [for 3 days in a row]. Teaching should be one of the highest paying careers out there, period. Alex would've had to re-take the test with a possible unknown teacher if he had missed today. phew...

~~~~~~

I'm off to finish up a couple more things!

Enjoy.

♥ -Kat.