Popko in Etsy Finds: Natural history

Yay! Today my work was chosen to be included in the Etsy Finds. EXCITING! Its created a little buzz in the shop and its so wonderful! The Etsy Finds are sent out via email and them also as an article in The Storque. Im so glad that it was chosen, because its JUST in time for Mothers Day shopping and gift giving, and theres still time for shipping to everyone. Hurrah.

So..thanks etsy!



Now, back to work, as I have a MEGA SUPER DUPER craft show this weekend. Its called TWIST.

So I have to rush off and make make make! Im working on , well besides EVERYTHING, im finishing off a new display for the butterflies and glass. Two three-teired cake-stand-like units that I am making by hand. Yesterday I used the jigsaw to cute the pieces out, today im drilling glueing and sanding. And packing and shipping and , making. WHEW!
I can breathe on Sunday.

Faux Flowers, Big Basement Cleanout, Busy Busy Bee

HELLO SPRINGTIME!

I've been very busy with lots of different little things. I've had a week to recover, and am back into etsy and orders and spring and cleaning, organizing, packing, healing, applying, and general running-around-ness.

What am I recovering from? Cleaning my parents basement. Sounds silly, but it needed it. My sister even flew to Mass from New Orleans to help. It was THAT bad. It used to be a party place, where we would have grand family events. My baby book (which I came across in the basement) said my first Christmas hosted 45 guests in this basement. It had been since turned into a dumping ground for EVERYTHING. We came across two church pews, an authentic dog-tag making machine, a full size carousel horse,, four loose bowling balls, an old fashioned scale, three accordians, two mannequins with non-matching body parts, 17 bags of dolls, and boxes upon boxes of who knows what. Well I do! I feel like I am the information system for anything you will ever need, just ask and I can tell you in which square inch to look.

Five kids went to collegs and dumped all their childhood "treasures" down there, and when through with college, dumped all thier college "treasures" down there too. I'm guilty. We pulled out a 7x5 foot steel boat that I welded together for a gallery show in 1999. I swore it was temporary.

Heres the BEFORE photo (look theres people at the far end of this room, two people! to get an idea of the vast expanse of mess), the next post will have the AFTER (for suspense and drama).

edit: oh why not.. I posted it below.

So once that was over, with a trip to ikea and a party that appeared to be '70's themed' (only because we have a vintage pinball machine, pong and a jukebox still full of the best of the 70's) the party, "cleaning party", and my sisters trip ended.

Then came the cough. Im still working through it and healing up just fine, but pretending/hoping it has nothing to do with the basement. She wore a respirator, and since my allergies were masked, I didn't. We will see. Im hoping it just came about from fatigue. We both lifted on average of 30 extremely heavy boxes/objects everyday for 2 weeks. Im not exaggerating. It was exhausting. But felt really really good to get done.

Plus I got to spend time with my sis, of SUPERDUPER fame. HURRAH!

Heres the shiny AFTER: (okay so it may arrpear to be an average basement with a wacky floor, but this is a real triumph.)

Why am I packing? (re: first sentence of post)

Johns got a pentathlon on Saturday in New Hampshire. Its the Wildcat Wildfire @ Tuckermans Ravine. For all of you who haven't heard of one, its a race with FIVE events. Goodness! He will be running, kayaking, cycling, hiking up the mountain and then skiing down. Yep. And I am the support crew in charge of making sure his transitions go smoothly. If I forget to give him his life jacket, guess who's not getting a beer.




EDIT: John came in SECOND place in the race! WOOO!

What am I applying to? It seems like all the huge fall shows I want need to have an application in RIGHT NOW. So, lots of paperwork for me.

I don't have the proper amount of time to tell you everything else Ive been doing, but I had time to take some photos of a new medium/project I'm playing with. It's FUN! Heres the flowers that I made with air-dry clay. It was my first attempt, and I think they came out pretty well. It makes me think that i can get them to look pretty real if I practice.

I hope to make some lovelies for my etsy shop and see how they take in the bridal world. Im hoping to have some more done when I have a chance to breath. I want them to be my 'fun' project. They are quite soothing to make.

I mixed the colors to get this bright marigold. Sort of looks like a pansy to me.

These are lighter than air. I still have to wrap them in floral tape and give them wires or bobby pins or whatever they might need. What can you see them turning into? Pins? Corsages, hair pins, necklace, rings even? Let me know, I love your input!

CRAFT magazine..blog feature!

Hip hip...My sister called to tell me she came across my image/work while perusing the CRAFT magazine blog yesterday. How exciting!
This is the photo that was found via Flickr. I'm really glad that I did a mega photo shoot before sending out this order! I love when I get large orders, because of this reason... pictures for my portfolio! This is a particularly dreamy set of necklaces.

HOORAY!

The little things...guessing game!

WHAT IS THIS?

I've always loved details. I started (a loong time ago) posting photos of up-close and detailed things. If you want to see the old ones, click here and here.

In any case, I've also always loved those games where you have to guess what the close-up photo is. I hope to do this more often because its good to get your brain moving.


WHAT IS THIS?
hint: its something I use every single day in the studio.

I will post the asnwer soon!

In the studio

What am I up to?

I've got another prototype for my blue butterfly wing pendants. It's a highly requested color in this shape/size. I've been meaning to work harder at getting this one into it's final stages for a while, but the truth is, my other orders have been keeping me really busy. So I'm thankful for that, but I always like to get new things rolling.

Here's what I made tonight with a few mishaps along the way. This one is a little rough and tumble, but its my first one! It's the blue morpho butterfly wing under glass, set into sterling silver. I made one prior to this that crackled and chipped all over. I think the glass was too snug. I used a glass grinder and a few tools for this so I thought you'd like to see!

This is my new super smooth bit. Oh how I love thee. This grinder is great too, it was my mothers when she did stained glass when I was just a kid. It has really lasted!

*****
Soooo, on another note, I've got one of my fused glass jewelry pieces in a FREE Giveaway at the Etsy Glass Artist blog. Just click the photo below to get there. All you have to do to enter is leave a comment in that blog post, (and join the mailing list while youre at it, so we can send you info on other freebies and EGA sales).

Each month there will be a freebie drawing over there, just for fun,

so feel free to become a blog follower to stay updated.

Glitter Rings - Contest

I still havent decided on an official name for these. I've listed them in my shop under Glitter Monster Rings ...for now. I like it!

But- As promised, Ive chosen three names that I like best from the entries. Please vote in the poll on the left so someone can get a prize! It's really fun to give things away! (if my name is chosen the one with the 2nd most votes WINS)

and yes, you can vote for yourself!

Thanks for helping me share my glittery goodies!

UPDATE: 3/21/09- The winning poll vote is coltpixy, so choose your favorite color and I will send it on over!

Seconds Sale!

The secrets OUT! I wanted to tell everyone right away, but I am loyal to my mailing list subscribers. Im having a HUGE SECONDS SALE!! I sent them this message out this morning via email, to give them a head start and choose what they wanted FIRST.

So far, its been a HUGE success, and its only been 1 hour and 45 minutes into the sale. WOW!

Thank you to all my LOYAL buyers, also..who RAN to the shop and scooped up a bunch to start. This is the message they got early today...with plenty of time to get their typing/checkout mouse ready!

Visit the PopkoShop @ 2pm EST to be the first to get the discounted goodies. The "seconds sale" begins today, lasts one week only, and I'm not having another one until 2010! WOO! Items start at $6, and are limited. Have fun shopping!

________________________________________________________

If youre feeling like "wahhh, I want to be the first to know next time", it's easy, just sign up for my mailing list on the left side..yeah, over there. Easy peasy.

Now head over to the PopkoShop to see all the insane deals. I am exhausted, I hadn't realized how hard it was to get 40 listings ready all at once..PHEW!

I caught a baby bear!

Dear {PoPkO},

Congratulations! You have been selected to be an artist in the Easthampton Bear Fest 2009! Your design "Hiding Bear" was chosen from among 129 artists' submissions from around the region and Easthampton City Arts couldn't be more thrilled to work with you on this amazing city-wide public art project!

Ahhhh! I'm SO excited! The website showed the most amazing entries at their 'welcome the bears' party, I was SURE I couldn't compete. I am so HAPPY! I proposed to do both a mama & baby bear, and got a baby all for myself. I am so happy happy happy I can't wait to start. All I have to do is fill out some forms, catch my baby bear and start fusing some glass. Oh, and accept. YES!

This will also be a fun thing to share on the blog here. You can follow me through it all. Cp

Contest! Name my little monsters.

These are my newest little adorables! They are like little glitter monster. They are a form of the glitter pop rings that I currently carry in the shop. These will be rings also, possibly other products as well, bit I'm starting them out as rings. These aren't ready to go out just yet. I still need to grind the edges, finish them off and add the ring base. I also have different designs coming out, with matching eye sizes and multiple eyes and dont forget the cyclops. I can't help myself but show them off before they are ready. They make me smile and get all googly over them, pun intended.

SOOOOO...whats the contest? THEY NEED A NAME!

--Name my googly eyed glitter monster rings--

Yes, that seems to be a fitting name, but if you leave a comment below with your name idea and I choose it, you lose rights to the name but you WIN A RING! You can even choose the color that you want.

Currently the color choices are:

-Pink

-Ruby

-Golden

-Lavender

-Emerald

-Aquamarine

-Sage

-Antique Silver

I am going to be listing them in my shop by the end of the week, but the contest will be open until I find a suitable name, (even if I list them in my shop with a fake name before that). If I choose a name that I thought of myself and DON'T choose one of your ideas, I will pick my top three from the comments below, have a short poll vote and send a prize to that winner. If there are two of the same ideas, I will put both into the drawing. (that way even if you are really not a creative thinker you can still play).

So, get your thinking caps on and get your sillies out....Let's hear your ideas in the comments below!

(note: post your comment just once and it will show up in a few hours after it gets approved, this is so those spam sites dont get in)

Bare Naked... BEARS!

This week I'm submitting my proposal and application to dress up these naked little bears. Well, mama bear is about 4.5 feet tall- baby is 2.5 feet. These are part of a public art project in the town of Easthampton, Ma. You know how some towns have moose, or cows or even whales all decorated/ painted/embellished, sitting on the sidewalks? This is one of those sorts of things.

This is fiberglass, and I have to propose how I am to decorate them. I actually still don't know what i am going to submit. Im leaning towards fused glass/ glass tile mosaic all over them. Im also considering something ridiculous like resin and glitter. I can imagine them sitting on the sidewalk sparkling. I can choose if I want both bears or just one. If accepted, they give you $500 to work with. Application have to be in by Feb 18th, so I better get working!

I once did three bus stop benches for the City of Springfield, MA, and they gave me $500 also. And when I was done, I made about $30....which I thought was a bonus! That was my first public comission, about 5 years ago. I had made three benches, they gave me the form- three sided basic bench, and I mosaiced them and molded with cement them like no other. One had two trees on each end cap, one had waterfalls, and one had mill buildings- all representative of the surroundings.

That was pretty ambitious of me, as I had never done something like that, never worked with cement on that scale- nor had I done anything that was suppose to last in the elements! Well, they are still there on Main St. in Indian Orchard (part of Spfld). They have lasted, with a little rust (from the armatures I inserted into the cement) and only one was smashed by a snowplow. But more importantly, people are still sitting on them!

How would YOU decorate these little bears?

(yes, im listening because i need ideas!!!)