SO Art Studio

I am an artist, tinkerer and designer. Here you'll find an intimate look at what inspires my work and piques my curiosity.

yo yo’s, not the human kind… April 1, 2012

I like to explore the shops when I visit the beach, usually the quilt store (used to do beads until it closed) although dangerous to the pocketbook the quilt store is not fattening… Thank god!   I can always find a book there or a gadget (or yes fabric to fulfill my addiction).   This last time, I found a gadget, I thought was pretty cool.  Knowing me it has probably been around for a while, but it is new to me!  It is from Clover and called the Quick Yo-Yo Maker and you can find it on the Clover website at http://www.clover-usa.com/product/453736/8702/_/Quick_Yo-yo_Maker_%28Extra_Small%29. 

I bought the extra small one just to see how well it worked.  They were so right, it whips up a small yo-yos,  lickety split.  I think that without this I would never have tried making one this small.   Of course now I need to figure out what to do with them all.   But that is always  a separate endeavor.  My first idea is to add sparkly beads to the center and then encase in resin and make something pretty to wear.   If I had a light switch mold that might be another colorful idea for resin and tiny yo-yos.  I will share whatever I come up with, whenever that might be.  Here is an example of what they look like.  Sideline quilts on Etsy makes them by the boatload.

 

Beachy Book Pages March 20, 2012

I had some fun this weekend at the beach, playing with my book pages, paints and pencils.  I had a vague idea of what I might want to work on, and since I only had a few days, I thought it would be perfect to start some drawing and maybe even color some in with paint.

 

Good thing I had my stuff, the weather ran quite the gamut over the weekend.  First it rained (totally expected, as it is Oregon)  then on Saturday the blessed sun came out, this pushed me outside to absorb the warmth and color! (the whole beach lights up with color when the sun comes out)  Then on Sunday it snowed!   I was greatly amused by the changes in the weather as they were so extreme.  It fit me perfectly, as I never do anything in a logical to others order.   You would think the weather would go in order of sun, rain, snow, not rain sun snow… oh well, chalk it up to the wonders of the world…

Before I left I had finished a drawing and painted it and applied it to my notebook. I used a page from an old book to draw and paint on and then applied it to my notebook using Golden Matte Medium. 

While I was there I drew and painted one for the other side.  This page is also an old book page but you really cannot tell due to the amount of paint used.

I am seemingly obsessed with my little chickens and they seem to come out of the woodwork no matter where I go.  Yes, I even draw in restaurants.  On napkins, you question?  Nope, I carry a tiny wallet type purse, and I have managed to always keep a set of white index cards and a pen in there.   Very handy for when the order takes a while and your companion (read husband) runs out of conversation.

C’est la vie

.

 

Wearing your words…. March 15, 2012

I was thinking today about my friend Adam.  I have known him for a few years now and have always been impressed with his artistic sense.   He is a pretty down to earth kind of guy, no pretense and generally a pretty happy dude.   I met him at the Art Gallery, he is a really wonderful photographer, that despite being so young, photographs in a  very old school way.   However, it wasn’t his photography that I was thinking about today, it was his screen printing.

 

Adam has dabbled in screen printing for a long time..   He has always had T-shirts with messages up by the collar or the pocket or the front or the back… you get the point I am sure.   Whenever I asked him; hey where did you get that shirt?  His answer was always, I made it!   I love that!   The making of things when you need them, when there  just isn’t anything out there just like how you want it.

 

I was not surprised when he kicked off his screen printing business, nor was I surprised to see that it reflects the different parts of his personality.   Just the name Serigraph Monotone.   Meaning of serigraph being an “original silk-screen color print” and monotone meaning  “a succession of syllables, words, or sentences in one unvaried key or pitch”.    One of his prints is “I produce top notch free hugs” and one of the others is “Hug your local mail carrier”  now not all of his shirts are about hugs he has many other sayings as well.   The best part is that he prints on each shirt by hand and with care to make it just right.  You gotta love that!

 

You can find him on facebook where he models some of his shirts and shows off some photo’s of equipment.  You can reach him directly via email at Serigraphmonotone@gmail.com.

 

If you have words you want to wear, talk to Adam….

 

 

 

Beautiful Photography of David Bryan Gilmore March 7, 2012

Filed under: Arts,Photography — SO Art Studio @ 8:10 AM
Tags: , , , , , ,

I have a friend that is such a wonderful photographer and artist.  He recently posted one of his many photographs and I just had to share.

He doesn’t just take a photo and leave it at that (although sometimes he does).  He takes them a step further, he explores the possibilities and turns his photography into art.   A great example is this lovely photo of one of our local parks.

The first thing I really like is that it is a panorama which gives it such a great depth of field. Secondly that he did this by using a program to stitch several photo’s together.  Then there is the richness of color and line that this photo has.

Dave tells me that he used http://ipiccy.com/ to play with this photo, primarily he used the Hugin program and the HDR in Effect function.  He describes this program as easy to use and best of all free.

Enjoy this beautiful photo of Snyder Park in Sherwood Oregon, courtesy of David Bryan Gilmore.

 

 

Die Cut Fabric easy December 6, 2011

Are you a scrapbooker that has invested in one of the die cutting systems like Sizzix or one of the others?   Are you looking to stretch how you use this equipment?   Wow, I am starting to sound like a company rep!

Ok, I have a couple of these die cut pieces of equipment and I love them.   I found out recently that the quilting world has one as well for cutting fabric.   This made me wonder if the one I have for paper would cut fabric.   It does.   It opened a whole new world for me, it made me think about how I could use fabric instead of paper for projects.

Now here is the disclaimer, that I do this at my own risk to damage to my dies.  If you choose to do this and it results in damage to your dies etc, I am not liable.  It is your choice to do so.

First iron a sewable fusible on the back of your fabric.   Cut the fabric into pieces the size of your die.   Run it through your machine.   VIOLA! you now have a pre-cut fusible that you can iron onto any other fabric.

I used sewable fusible because I wanted to be able to sew through the applique after it was applied, without gumming up my machine needle.

With some of the letter embroidery sewing machines out there, you could embroider the fabric, apply the fusible, then die cut out any shape you have on hand.

Too much fun!!!

 

Easy wrap bracelet for the holidays. November 27, 2011

A wrapped or memory wire bracelet is one of the easiest pieces of jewelry to make for a beginner.   You will need one package of memory wire sized for bracelets.  You will also need beads of your choice with holes sized large enough to fit the diameter of the memory wire.   Many seed beads will not work for this unless they are the larger ones.   You will also need a pair of Chain nose pliers. (Click for memory wire source) (Click for source of Pliers)

To start locate one end of your memory wire, then using your pliers bend the end back onto itself. (you can also purchase memory wire bead caps. Click here for a source)  It will form a bit of a loop.  This will stop your beads from coming off the end.

Your typical package of memory wire will allow it to go around your wrist several times.  Take a look and decide how many time you want your to wrap around.   Once you know, cut the memory wire at that point (please don’t use your flush cutter for this, the memory wire will damage them)  I use a pair of cutters meant for memory wire. (Link to Memory wire cutters)

Now that you have your length of wire, start stringing beads onto it, use your imagination, if you don’t like a combination then slide them  off and re do.   You can make this total random or in a pattern with the same size and type of bead. (click for bead source)(Source for lovely Crystals)  It is all about what appeals to you.

Once you have them all strung, use your pliers and bend a loop into the end where you were stringing.  This will hold all the beads onto the wire.

Presto a bracelet!!!

What a great gift!  Or if you used those lovely crystals you have a lovely holiday sparkle bracelet….

 

Happy Holidays!

Sharon

http://www.etsy.com/shop/SharonOrella

 

P.S.  If you just would like to have a lovely Memory Wire Bracelet made for you, I know just the person.   Give her a call or visit her shop on Etsy.       Click here to visit  her shop and contact her via convo Jewelyett

 

Upcycle? Recycle? Reuse? Repurpose? November 8, 2011

What does this all mean when you’re a creative person?  Well, for most it means instead of throwing something away, either find another way to use it or put it in the recycle bin.   That is if your community will recycle it.   In some areas of the country there are community reuse places that you can take your, still useful items in hopes that someone else will find your trash to be a treasure.

Near where I am we have a place called Scrap (School Community reuse action program) it is not all that near to me, but I will make a special trip to get there.   Most of the time though I am a shopper there, but thankfully, there are many that make donations to them.   For example they have lots of fabric, upholstery and wallpaper sample books, yarn, tiles, paper, envelopes etc.   All of which are very reusable to make useful and decorative items.   I have picked up many a large fabric sample to make pillow or handbags.   For the longest time they had a barrel full of corks.  I could never figure out what I could make from a cork, but others did because they dwindled down to nothing eventually.

Perhaps one of my favorite spots is the book and magazine corner, where you can find books and magazines for pennies.   Or the paper corner where you buy office paper for 25 cents an inch.   (measured by the height of your stack)  Sometimes you can find envelopes with no return address, those are great!   But they also have some with a return address which are easily upcycled by sticking your address sticker over theirs.   Scrap keeps so much stuff out of landfills each year just by redistributing it, that they deserve a recycle award!   Besides I have no idea where I would find a barrel of corks or belt blanks to be re-purposed. Would you?

Just recently I incorporated some glossy cardstock from Scrap into my gift tags.  The original sheets were 8 1/2 x 22, so required some cutting down before I could punch them.   It took longer to punch them as they are pretty sturdy, but it was worth it.  The paper is wonderful with my tags.   It embossed beautifully and I am very happy with it.

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tree Ornament Gift tag

 

I encourage everyone to donate to their local reuse program and to shop there.   You just never know what you will find…

P.S. I found one in San Francisco too..  Scrap (Scrounger’s Center for Reusable Art Parts)  Love it!!

To see more please visit my shop on Etsy at http://www.etsy.com/shop/SharonOrella

Have a great day!

 

Paper, Oh beautiful paper… October 26, 2011

Filed under: Arts,Creativity,Paper,Shopping,Uncategorized — SO Art Studio @ 8:01 PM

Being a creative type I am always imagining what I could do with all of the different supplies available these days. As of late I have been really working the paper.   With all of the punches available these days and the beautiful papers, it very hard to resist creating something from paper.   How far we have come, from making fortune tellers and paper cranes as kids to beautiful tags and cards to express our feeling for one another.   It occurred to me that having one of those fortune tellers available (in a more grown up version, well sorta) might not be a bad idea during these times.    But instead of having fortunes like,  Jimmy loves Amanda or You must jump up and down 15 times, we could have more positive affirmations.   Perhaps something like, you future holds great potential for growth, or a loved one will honor you or you are loved.  Or even limerick ones or one word daily aspirations.   I was inspired from the daily aspirations by a basket a co worker has on her desk.  It is full of little strips of paper that each have a positive message and you pick one out and it is yours for the day.   It is a pick you up, mentally, when a day has been stressful as they can sometimes be.   We all need a sense of fun in our day and what better way then to channel that child from long ago that knew how to play simply and have fun.  I challenge you to take a an hour or two, an evening or a day and play.  No expectations, no responsibilities just doing what you want when you want, and how you want.   Enjoy….

 

Handmade: Is it worth it? October 21, 2011

So you know that handmade is pretty trendy…

You can go on Etsy and find a million handmade items that you think are adorable.   But one of the great things about handmade are the connection you make with the Artist/Craftsperson.  For the Artist or craftsperson, that connection is important to them too.   So question is, how do you make that connection?   One way is to search Etsy for locally made items.  You can specify a default search that narrows to the closest town to you.   You will be pleasantly surprised to find out how many great items are made right down the street from you.

When I talk to people at shows, many are surprised to find out that I am a local artist.   They assume that if your doing a show you must be from out of state or pretty far away.

So lets say you found someone close, you can convo them and ask if they are doing any shows locally that you can attend or if their work is in any local shops as well.   This will also give you a feel for the person behind the art.    Did you get a quick response?   Where they friendly even if they weren’t doing any shows?  Best case you find you really like the person behind the art and worse case, you move on and continue shopping locally and globally…

So, have fun, keep shopping and support your local artist…

 

When to start the Holidays October 19, 2011

During this time of year, many begin the discussion about when is it appropriate to start seeing Thanksgiving and Christmas promotions.    Halloween by this time is a given, and although it seems to get bigger every year, it usually stays within a Sept – Oct timeframe for the most part.   There might be some random things you see earlier but usually they are delegated to the crafter community that needs a head start to finish creating in time for Halloween.

Thanksgiving although a good celebration for families and friends, is not as heavily promoted as Christmas and Halloween and really does not require the preparation that the Christmas Celebration does.    Every year, I think that the distance between Thanksgiving and Christmas gets shorter and shorter.  It doesn’t really but I love  a wonderful Christmas and it takes time to build that.   Unless you like to rush around panicking about where everything is and what you need to replace and what you’re going to get for Aunt Sue and Uncle Jim.   Then you start planning for it early.   I prefer to take it in stride and start planning in October for Christmas.   This means, yes I am working on it NOW.   Part of what I do is create for the holidays, so some of that takes place in July (even tho it can be difficult to get into the Christmas Spirit when it is 80 outside)  but I enjoy it.   I want to share with you what I have in store so far for the holidays.  I hope you will check them out and start preparing for your best holiday yet.  Of course you can find them all on Etsy in my store.   http://www.etsy.com/shop/SharonOrella

 

 

 

 
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