Summer Fairy House Workshop!

I can't wait to see what the next batch of builders construct! Call or email me now to reserve your place or if you have any questions.
.

Fairy House Workshop and A Note To Self

..

Wow- now I know why people teach- besides that one can actuallly make a bit (and I mean only a bit) of money doing it-teaching is a great source of inspiration and ideas! And how fun it is to share something that is fun with others. I've taught a couple single adults to build fairy houses and a few kids but never with the amount of time or the number of people this last workshop had. The houses they built were spectacular- I'm proud of all of them. I really couldn't get them to stop, they were so engrossed with their projects, and our four hour workshop ran on an additional three hours! And when parents took over house building I showed the two boys how to make beds and swings and other fairy house furniture to furnish their lovely homes! even the dad who rolled his eyes at the idea of crafting being a fun and relaxing way to spend the day, found himself having to change drastically his opinion and really got into it. But then, really, building a fairy house is sculpture- an architectural sculpture.

But Oh kind reader, please slap me for trying to do TOO much in a weekend! First an art opening in SF on friday night with a drop off and late pick up of the boys at a very kind friends home near the show. There is no way to go to SF in the evening and not come home quite late these days- the drive is easily an hour and a half each way. (The opening went well at least in numbers as the floor was packed with gawkers- even with the door charge. And many an interesting conversation was had on the grey area between erotic art and porn- when does one stop and the other start? but that is a different blog all together). Then rushing about in the morning to prep art to send with the oh so good and helpful Hubby to the show up in Cloverdale, and the last few things for the workshop. Then the 7 hour workshop, the last few hours in which I had little Phin to entertain, and then making dinner because I still have that hat to don as well...Somehow in all of it I misread when I could drop off artwork for the local National Arts competition and so the painting I had so cleverly made to order didn't make it into the show.
It was too much. Too much too much. I felt like such a gosh-darn idiot, but really it was just athat it was too much. Note to self.

Craft Fair Production and two more Fairy Houses

.
Please note the new fairy house workshop date is January 30th. That's a Saturday- from 10-2 including lunch. What a deal! Only a couple spaces left so please contact me to sign up now! (see flyer in my next blog entry).

Matching prints to vintage frames to sell at craft fairs. probably around 40 dollars each. So very reasonable! What a deal! These are the bigger ones. I have some true miniature sized frames- the fabulous old ones- mostly oval, as well. What do you think my readers, should I have black friday deals? First ten shoppers get 15% off! That's not bad for the Fairy Houses which are around a 100 each. Doors open at 6:30! Line up!;)

Another week another two fairy doll houses completed. Having fun with wood themes. The material really decides the final shape. Eucalyptus Oasis came out all upright and tall. I like craggy twisty trees, and feared Eucalyptus would not please me but in the end it has its own interesting character- its round skylight roof and regal beams. Redwood Retreat has more of the usual bends and twists, with the one amusing anecdote being that its main branch destroyed my clippers. my BIG clippers. and the bridge of my nose, swollen and a bit blue under foundation, since the metal of the clipper SNApped and flew back at me. The tree won. But I was able to snap the branch anyway. weird.




Redwood Retreat
front, close-up back, and another close-up
sorry the swing is hard to see as it is perpendicular to the front, and there is actually a third platform under the 'swinging lights'.




Eucalyptus Oasis
front, back, close up of swing

Fairy House Workshop

..Please note the new workshop date! I already have some people signed up so only two spaces left!

"Master Crafter!" Doesn't that sound swell?

Fairy Doll Houses

.
Grape Vine Villa
2' Tall

Can you believe, dear reader, it has been an entire month since my last post. I do apologize! The holiday season has crept up on me, hiding behind blue skys and chicken eggs and suddenly I realized I needed to get with the times. That is, deal with this crap economy by spreading out even more than I already have. So Im on full time Fairy doll house construction mode. Empty tables at Craft Fairs await me. Im even trying to arrange a workshop on how to make your own fairy house. Join us if you like. Space is limited so write me asap! December 6th. Ill post the flier momentarily.

So some alternate personality I have of crafty mom has taken over my studio. Bark and bits of moss, scavenged from graveyard stone and pruned trees litters the floor. The boys play with the branches and pieces even as I attempt to organize them and there is more than the usual chaos. Still- as impractical as these all natural doll houses are, I am really loving sculpting again. I have flashbacks to being a kid with a couple nails and my fathers hammer in the wood pile. Its terribly fun, though my three unfinished paintings glare at me from their easel perches and I long also to finish them.



Madrone Manor
2' Tall






Chateau de Curly Willow
2' Tall

Chateau de Curly Willow -back view
2' Tall
Pricing these houses, like anything else I do (darn my obsessive detailing!) is a pain in the *!*. It takes five or six hours to finish one, not including collecti0n times. Other people sell theirs for upward of 200 but I'm trying to keep them down around a hundred. Who knows if they'll sell. I'm putting them in the window at Kidspot at Coddingtown mall tomorrow until early December when they'll join their warm fuzzy friends at school craft fairs.
Wish me luck...