Category: 2012

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Art on The Water Last Saturday

Here are some pics of last Saturday’s Show, Art on the Water,

Jackson’s Bistro, Tampa, September 15, 2012.

It was an awesome art show. The next Art on the Water is Scheduled for November.

Date to be announced soon.  I am already signed up for the same spot.

My tent setup and my Jewelry and Silks

Other vendors displays at Art on the Water

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First Show of the Season

I am starting the new show season for 2012/2013 and you don’t want to miss my first show of the season.  Winter is our art season down here in Florida, unlike many other states where spring and summer are the season.  Our summers are too hot, but fall, winter and spring are just right for doing art shows and festivals. 

My very first show will be this next weekend:

I will be on the waterfront at Jackson’s Bistro, Harbor Island, Tampa Florida,  Saturday September 16, 2012, 11 am to 6 pm.  I am excited as this looks to be a fantastic show.  I love doing shows by the water. 

I will be in the studio creating all weekend and every evening this week getting ready for the show.  I am promising to create new rings, earrings, bracelets and much more.  I will post pics as I create.

If you are in the Tampa Florida area please come out and see me.  I would love to meet you.  Come by my tent and say hi. Start your Christmas shopping early and get a unique, one-of-a-kind piece of “Art You Can Wear” for that special someone.  Hope to see you next week.

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Nice article written about our arts.

In this blog I want to link you the the Mazon monthly newsletter where they have written a wonderful article about myself and my Husband, Rick, and our artwork. 

Thank you Linda Burson for a great article.

To read the article click this link:

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Mazon-s-September-2012-Newsletter.html?soid=1102056364185&aid=In8bzNRwz_Y

Photo: Tina did a flamework bead demo for Creative Arts Jam night....soooo interesting!!!

Photo taken by Donna Saunders

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Knitting & Crochet Friends

Hello everyone. I am venturing back out into blogland, adding my Knitting & Crochet Friends group and fiber arts to my blog.  In these blog posts, I plan to share links to patterns I find on others websites and other blogs, share some patterns of my own that I am currently creating, and help you with any crochet or knitting questions you might have.  I hope you to feel free to ask for help.  Also I want you to meet Spike, whose picture you see here on this post.  Spike, the scuba diving doll (amigurumi), is our mascot for our group.  I will share more about Spike in a future post.

First let me share how this group got started.  It was May 2009 when my best friend, Linda, asked me to teach her to knit.  We were in Michaels arts and craft supply store, Linda, our husbands and myself.  We were looking at some very pretty yarns and Linda asked me, Do you know how to knit?  I told her that I did.  She asked me if I could teach her.  I told her I had not knitted in many years, but yes I could teach her.

We both decided to buy some yarn.  As we looked at all the pretty yarns, I started to pick out something I liked for myself, when my Husband, Rick, said, If your going to knit something, make me an afghan for the couch to cover up with when I take a nap.  Rick picked out a a nice variegated yarn in burgundies, browns, blues and tans, (to match the couch), and then I went home and dug out all my knitting needles from years prior and Linda and I started meeting every week.

It wasn’t long before more people wanted to learn first knitting, then crochet and by Sept 2009 we officially started a local group here in Bradenton, Florida called Knitting & Crochet Friends.  About a year later I created our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/KnittingAndCrochetFriends

Leading this group has been a blast for me.  I love teaching.  I had not knitted or crocheted in about 25 years and I forgot how much I love the needle arts too, along with my Jewelry Design and Silk Painting Design.

Various people have passed through the group in the past three years.  Mothers and daughters learning together, from ages 6 to 70 we have had quite the variety, some rank beginners, some intermediate, and some well accomplished needle artists.  It has been fun getting to know each one.

If you in the Bradenton, Florida area, or are in the area for a visit, please join us on Sunday nights, we would love to have you.

Here is a pic of that first knitted afghan for Rick:

This afghan was my own design.  I knitted 6 rows, with the standard knit stitch (garter stitch), then I knitted one row and purled one row, for 10 rows (sockinette stitch), and alternated that pattern to create an afghan.

Over the past 3 years, I have went on to make afghans for each of my 7 grand children, and have made hats, scarves, fingerless gloves, angels and snowflakes (more about all these in future blogs).  It has been a fun adventure and I am looking forward to many more years of teaching.  I especially love teaching young people, seeing them learn handcrafts is so rewarding.

In wrapping up this post, I will share two great places to find all kinds of patterns for free.

If you are looking to find crochet patterns this is a great place is:  www.crochetpatterncentral.com

For knitting patterns:  www.knittingpatterncenteral.com

Christina

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Upcoming Blogs

In the next few weeks I will post some blogs about free form design, i.e. designing a necklace or bracelet when you have not drawn out a sketch in advance.  As in the pic below.

This is a carved bone pendant, strung abstractly with 6 of my handmade glass beads (lampwork) and various bone beads.  I dropped the beads on the bead board and let them fall where they may, then strung them. 

Most of the time I am very symmetrical in my designs, making each side of the necklace match, left and right of the focal piece in the center, whether it be a bead, a carved bone pendant or a fused glass pendant I created, but occasionally I get a little wild and just drop the beads and string them.  (My husband likes it when I do.  The necklace in the pic is one of his favorite pieces.)

Maybe you purchased some semi-precious gemstone beads or just some glass beads, and you have been looking at these beads in your bead box for quite some time trying to figure, what am I going to make with them.  How do you take them from just being a pile of beads, just sitting around the art studio, to finished jewelry?  I will do some layout on my bead board and shoot some pics and post them to give you a concept of how I get creative, whether symmetrical or abstract, how does one come up with a design. 

How do I get ideas for my designs, you ask?  I look at the seasonal color charts that are published and I look at clothing magazines and jewelry design magazines.  I get ideas from various places, nature, leaves, flowers.  I never copy anyone’s work.  All my pieces are my originals, but I can look at someone work and get a basic idea and then create my own unique piece from there.

If you have any questions, please post them.  I will try my best to answer them.

Christina

 

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