Hearts, Eyes, Hands

The experience of Artfest is more people than place.


The hands of the creative makers. The students. The sights of the soul, made evident.


The hands of the teachers, sharing.


Guiding, supporting. Directing, demonstrating. Giving.


The beginnings of new things. New knowledge, new friendships. New confidence, new encouragements.

Neighbors of the spirit, artists in kind. Beautiful spirits, united for a short few days in time and space.

Gift Medallion Chains of Honor

Before I left for Artfest I made a focal bead, with the word 'ART' in the center, wings on the sides and some faceted gemstone beads for hanging it that were a gift from a favorite vendor. I didn't have time to make the chain, but I wanted to wear it to the first day of class, before I had a chance to create something new.


When I arrived at Artfest and the trades began, I got lots of goody bags with ephemera, beads, charms and other goodies inside. So I issued myself a challenge, to create the chain for the focal using things that were new, and given to me as trades at Artfest.


The idea was to make the finished piece a memento of the trip, with things that were part of the Artfest experience, given to me by other people there.


My roommate Stacie gave me a gear, and the heart medal dangle that I attached to the chain.


The goldtone glass beads and carved ivory-looking roses were in a package of ephemera, along with the round disk I added to the chain.


The golden cupid was also a gift from Stacie, and together with the conch shell began to tell the story of the piece, as I learned that conch shells are sacred in Tibetan art.


It became a medal of honor and distinction, with the love and creativity embodied from the whole Artfest experience.


I love how it turned out, and the serendipity effect of not deliberately needing to select the items, and the fact that most were gifts. My Artfest Medallion of Honor that I wear quite often, with great happiness and pleasure!

Book of Trades

Before I left for Artfest, I made up and decorated a three-ring binder to keep everything together. I know myself, I sometimes put things aside or they get separated, and I wanted to unify my Artfest collection of goodies, class materials and handouts.


I took a regular, paper based three-ring binder and put gesso on the inside and outside of the front and back.

Then I went wild with some paint, when I was cleaning my palette after painting some beads. Just let the colors fall where they would go on their own.


Inside I put plastic sheet protectors, both the kind that hold 8 1/2 x 11" full sheets, and the kind that hold 3" x 5" photos. I put my class lists, itinerary and other things I needed inside, but left lots of open sheet protectors for collecting new goodies.


This is how that book turned out - I have a lot of my favorite cards, little tins, mini-Moo and trades inside, all protected and kept together. Anytime I want to find something from Artfest, it's all in there, and it's fun and easy to share with friends who want to see what came home with me.


I need to re-organize the things in the book to make it easier to see everything, but I'm very glad I did this before I left, I didn't have to worry about losing some wonderful creative thing someone gave to me! A book of memories from the trip ...

Did You See This Woman?

When I arrived at Artfest, my roommate Stacie picked me up at the airport and we went to her studio to prepare charms and make some art, to limber up the art muscles, so to speak. I had this neck pouch from an event I attended some time ago, it was corporate bland and had no color, but I liked all the zippered pouches and places to store things.


So Stacie opened up her paint cupboard to me, and I started painting it, and adding text. One of my favorite quotes is by Picasso, he said "Art washes away the dust of everyday" - so I altered that slightly and painted it onto the pouch. I bent and hammered some steel wire to make hangers attached on the bottom, to display the charms I hoped to collect during Artfest.


Here's what the back looks like, I wore this neck pouch every day, adding cool things here and there as I got trades and goodies of all sorts.


I got a painted rock with the word "FEARLESS" which I thought was both a descriptive and an encouragement to branch out and try new things.


I got a slide carrier with a shell image in it, and a stick pin with Sea Devils on it. Too fun!


So if you saw me wandering around during Artfest with this jingly-jangly neck pouch on, yes! that was me! If you see one of your charms, felted beads or bottle-cap charms in these photos be sure to leave a comment here, so I can find you again.

And if you have one of my mermaid charms and make something with her, let me know, I'd love to see how they turned out for you.

Trading Spirits

On the first day at Artfest, after registration and settling into the rooms, most folks head to dinner and a trading frenzy. The trading goes on all through Artfest - I didn't come home with any of my charms or mermaids - and so many lovely things are created, it's a constant source of wonder.

On that first night I sat next to another first time attendee, and she traded with me one of her beautiful pages.


The detail is gorgeous, and so sparkly and wonderful.


She told me she made the Mer-Bird (if a lady-fish is a mermaid, what is a bird-fish?) out of paper clay.


The colors and detail are beautiful, I love this kind of ephemera-stoked imagery and neutral colors.

I put the page into a cardboard pillow box that was in our goodie bag, for safekeeping and to protect all the little bits and bobbles on it.

And I wanted to show it here, it's so amazingly beautiful. I love it, and plan to frame it and cherish it as a special memento of the Artfest adventure, one among many - I'll keep sharing them here so you can see the amazing variety and special gifts that were created.

See the little tag she made and tucked into a pocket on the back, with her name and information on it? It's so beautifully worn and the color is vintage and lovely, just like her! Thank you, thank you, Kathy.

Wonder What They Thought

I started unpacking my supply roller bag, finally. I was concerned that the security folks at the airport might have been concerned about the contents of the bag.

Lots of pliers, cutters and wire. Bottles of gel medium and paint brushes.


Not your normal clothing and changes of socks they usually see, I'm sure. I put my bag from Artfest on top with it plainly marked, and the bag I got from the art store in Port Townsend, as a kind of visual hint. See, these are art supplies, right? Nothing scary or dangerous, just art supplies.


You have to wonder what they thought as they went through the bag. I had my black zipper pouch with my hammers, wire, cutters. Oh, my.

But so far I don't detect anything missing. I haven't reached for anything and found that it's not there yet. And even if I did, there's not much I could do now, except try to find a replacement.

But I do wonder what they thought as they went through this magical bag of tricks with my mini-Moo cards, trades and the little pouch I made to hold my things ... what did they think of it all?

Journey Destination Creativity

The first day, I was lucky enough to get into Nina Bagley's book class called "Journey - Destination" by being on the waiting list, when my name came up I snagged it pronto. I was thrilled to be in the class and learn from Nina in person.

I sat next to Kim - she was working on some fabulous pages and had lots of great imagery going.


Isn't this beautiful? And there were lots more, too - she may show them on her blog.

I took some photos of Nina working with folks and we are all having a great time, as you can see from the laughter and happiness in the faces.

Nina (pronounced like "NINE-AH") is a very generous and knowledgeable teacher, very funny and witty, I enjoyed the class and meeting her in person so much. I had some little mementos that I gave her, as a thank you for sharing so much of herself in her classes and to take home the feeling that she went home with something of mine, tucked away with her.

I made two covers, front and back, and two inside pages. I didn't get them all done during class but finished the back page inside and out later in an evening session with some other folks in the dorm, working away on projects.


I'll show more about the book and explain it's destination, if you follow my blog you'll see what became of some of my carpe diem charms, and why they didn't end up in the Etsy shop.

New Friends, Old Souls

This is a photo of my roommate, Stacie, in a peaceful thought-filled moment near a window. Isn't she lovely? Both inside and outside, she is gentle, loving and sweet with a heart of gold. She took such good care of me, and we had such a good time together, I was sad to see it come to an end.

I miss her already ... but I'm thankful I got to meet her and see her beautiful creations. She's an inspiration in many ways. XO

Fabulous And Fierce

The pace was fast. I moved and learned at high speed, it was the quickest three days I think I've ever spent. And very rewarding.

Over the next days (maybe even weeks) I'll be posting more photos, sharing stories and talking about the wonderful people I met. Some I had only met on-line as virtual friends, and now I've been able to hug them in person. Others are new friends that I hope will be along for the ride on-line and stay in touch.

It's difficult to re-emerge into the everyday of work and regular life after an experience like this one. I want to hang onto the memories and the feeling of it ... so I will keep it alive in my mind by gradually sharing it here, with you.

Wonderland

I have this book, and I re-read it frequently. Sometimes for fun, just to enjoy the pretty photographs and the fun writing style of Linda and Opie O'Brien.


They are teaching a class called "Set In Stone" at Artfest, it looked like so much fun I just had to sign up for it, and I was happy when I got into it as my first choice. Registration is sometimes an iffy thing, you don't know if you'll get your classes so you list your second and third choices, just in case.

I've never taken a class with them, and I'm excited to meet them and learn a lot of new things. Out of the odd facts department, I happened to learn by accident that Opie and I have the same birthday date in June. Probably not the same year, though.

The class description says it involves working with concrete (!!) sheet metal, papers and ink - Doesn't that just sound irresistable?

Charmed and Delighted

I've been reading about the charms and trades folks are bringing, and I didn't think I had enough mermaids made up. So in between making beads and trying to get orders out today before I leave, I made up these charms.


Yes, they really are that colorful! I took some drawings from one of my journals and converted them into these little card charms.


They're quite small, really, and have a hole at the top for a jump ring or cord.


I made about 60 of them today. It's been busy! And they were fun. Fortunately, they didn't need a lot of attendance or fussing on my part, as I was very busy with other beads.


There are five or six different designs of them. I hope people like them.

They are very, very colorful. The theme is sea monsters, I guess this might be stretching it a little. But they are interesting colors and shapes I put together a long time ago, when I was in quite a mood!


Some of them are more sedate. They were made from some of my collages. I like these a lot, I may make miniature versions of some of my other collages when I get back.

And they have 'Handmade by Lynn' on the reverse!

I've been gathering up the things I need for my classes and putting them into a suitcase, so I have everthing organized. I'm using some things still, like my jewelry pliers, so I have to be sure I don't forget to put them in tomorrow when I do the final checklist and packing step.

Hectic last minute preparations!