What I'm Loving: Weaving

Everywhere I look lately there are amazing weavings.  I've found some really cool ones on Etsy and it made me want to try weaving.  Thanks to The Weaving Loom I could learn everything I needed to know to get started.  (The Weaving Loom is a really helpful resource for weavers of all skill levels, not just beginners.)  I'll share my first ever weaving at the end of this post but first let's look at some of my beautiful inspirations.  Click the big pictures to go to the listing.  I'll list shop links under the grid photos at the end.

This one is gorgeous and I love the unique style of embroidering on top of the weaving.

I love the eclectic bohemian style of this one.

I super love the look of driftwood at the top but this one also has driftwood woven into it, which I love!

I love love love the antler at the top of the upper right weave.

I'm also loving the idea of weaving in feathers.

gatherhandwoven | UnrulyEdges | Lepetitmoose | PineapplePhi | midgins | amandajfrench | FirandField | krystleweaves | lightsofeden | BarefootDrifter | LittleWeavebird | CakeSpun | byheartmade | TheWeavingLoomShop | ilLOOMiKNOTiWeavings


And here is my first weaving, not the colors I would have chosen but they came with my loom and then I bought the off-white.

 

Friday Favorites: Etsy Wishlist + Youtubers + Instagram

I love Etsy forever.  I have a shop there but I'm also on Etsy every single day looking at the amazing things that other people make.  Here are some of my recent favorites that are definitely on my wishlist.  This week's theme is things that I want in my future jewelry studio.  Click the photo to go to the product listing on Etsy.

I always love everything that has butterflies or moths on it and this vibrant butterfly painting on wood will fit wonderfully in my future jewelry studio.

My grandpa was a hunter and his family of many kids were poor so deer and bear were common meals for them.  They would mount the antlers and have them around the house.  My grandma used one set to hang her necklaces from and I always loved how they looked.  These faux antlers are made of resin and look just like the real thing, but I don't have to wonder if a deer was killed for them or not.  I'm fine with people shooting deer for food, but never with animals being killed just to harvest parts of them to sell, whether it's antlers, fur, or bones.

I intend to have a wall full of different art prints that inspire me.  This one is stunning and perfect for my wall.

Another thing that I am forever in love with is beautiful dreamcatcher art.  I would absolutely put this one on my wall.

I love actual dreamcatchers even more than dreamcatcher art.  This one is lovely.

I make jewelry faster than I sell it so I am always looking for new jewelry displays.  I love this customizable driftwood one.  I would like them in a few different sizes.  They really go well with my branding.

How lovely is this tambourine?!  I would hang it on my art wall and then I could take it down and dance around playing it when I need some inspiration :)

I've also been discovering some cool Youtubers lately.  I've been watching at least as much Youtube as Netflix lately.  Here are some of my new favorites:

Twiggy Vittoria is my new favorite.  She's down-to-earth and nice and amazing and I trust every single one of her product recommendations.  Her purple hair is the best and she doesn't have nearly as many subscribers as she should!  She makes a lot of beauty videos and also vlogs and I just love listening to her talk.  I discovered her the night that I had a seizure in the bathroom and fell and hit my head really hard on the floor and had to stay awake as long as possible because of my concussion.  She kept me awake all night and even took my mind off my head pain.

Tommy Edison is hilarious.  He makes me laugh so hard watching all of his videos and I love it.  He makes videos about being blind, comedy videos, and film critic videos.  If you're having a bad day just go watch any of his videos and you'll be cheered up.

Claire Wineland really puts my life in perspective.  She has cystic fibrosis and I discovered her through her video on what it's like to be in a coma (and being in a coma and waking up as an old lady is my greatest fear).  She's sick but doesn't let that get her down.  She's sweet and has a great perspective on life.  Her videos make me feel happy too.

And last but not least my favorite Instagrammers.  I know that I once made a post about how I hate Instagram, but that was when Instagram was a little baby and nobody really knew how to use it well.  Sure there are still the people who just share photos of food forever but there are so many wonderful photographers and creatives on there these days that I kind of love Instagram now.  Follow me if you want.  These are just a few of my recent favorites on Instagram:

Witchy Stitching is so nice and creative.  She makes cool crochet stuff and I kind of just want all of it, especially the web dress.  Not only does she make amazing things but she's also the must social person I follow on Instagram, which is really nice.  Obviously any comments are cool but a comment that's more than an emoji or a Nice pic is just way better to get.  You should follow her if you like unique handmade products and actually social Instagrammers.

I discovered Midgins when I was researching my newest obsession, which I'll tell you guys about pretty soon.  She makes cool handmade products and also shares other people's handmade products and I love literally every product she shares!  That's super rare because I have some very specific tastes.  You should follow her if you like handmade products and discovering new handmade artisans.

I found melmadedooks in my recommended pictures feed (or whatever it's called).  He has a ton of followers and rightly so because he draws amazing pictures of real people of all shapes and sizes.  His art is just so good!  Follow him if you like art and appreciate diversity and real people of all sorts.

So those are some of my recent favorites.  Which one is your favorite?

Etsy Interview Repost: Neil Slorance

Since I interviewed him in 2012 Neil Slorance has started making comic books!  So here is the interview again for those of you who didn't see it.

I "met" this guy through one of my blog friends on Twitter and he is awesome so I interviewed him about his Etsy shop, which you should all check out.


1. Tell me a little bit about yourself.

Hey! My name's Neil Slorance, I'm an illustrator from Glasgow in Scotland. I'm 25 and have a pet tortoise.

2. Tell me a little bit about your shop.

My etsy shop is where I put up my prints, pictures and other bits and bobs. I set it up about 2 years ago and so far it's been ticking over nicely.

3. How long have you been making art?

Since I could hold a crayon really. I spent most of my school days doodling in jotters and making wee comics about superheroes I'd make up. I really wanted to be an artist although I stopped for a good while in my teens while I was pursuing music but got back into it around the age of 19/20.
 

4. How long have you been selling art?

I started selling about 5 years ago, I remember I took my painting to a market stall in a library. I remember feeling totally chuffed when I sold my first painting, I guess because I wanted to be an artist when I was a kid and this was me taking my first step.

5. Why did you start making art?

I guess everyone starts making art as a kid and then as we grow up for whatever reasons some of us stop. I've kept going mainly because it's the best way I've found to communicate my ideas and thoughts, and where as I'm not a great talker and I stumble on words my pictures have given me a voice.

6. What inspires your art the most?

Life? Any part of life I feel strongly enough to make a picture about. Aside from that just when I get excited about something e.g I've been playing a lot of mario so I made a mario picture.

7. What advice do you have for new Etsy sellers?

Try and have a wide range of products, especially little things, they are your bread and butter. 

8. What advice do you have for aspiring artists?

Don't be afraid to show your work, even the stuff you're not proud of.

neilslorance.com
flickr.com/photos/osm_art
twitter.com/osmart

This collection contains all four of the issues of Neil's comic book Dungeon Fun.  I haven't read it yet but I really want to!

So be sure to check out all of Neil Slorance's stuff. If nothing else, definitely visit the shop and his Flickr stream.  He draws so many amazing things!

And definitely leave me a comment letting me know if you have an Etsy shop and would like me to interview you.

Etsy Love: MayhemHere

I was fortunate enough to see one of my favorite artists, Mallory Milke, at the University District Street Fair in May.  Not only is her art amazing (and super affordable) but I loved her booth.  Here are the pictures I took of it.

My favorite part was the sticker machine.  I bought two random stickers, and I would have bought so many more if I had more money!  It's probably good that I was broke, haha.

Mallory Milke Art is on Etsy at MayhemHere.  She also sells at some local stores in Seattle, including Monster Art and Clothing, where I bought the peacock zentangle print.  She paints mostly zentangle animals and Day of the Dead.  She sells prints, stickers, notebooks, bags, and more!

Dream Art: Crystals at the Lake

I had a dream recently that I went to a lake near my hometown and discovered all of these amazing crystal formations growing along the edge of it against some sort of concrete wall.  I was in this tiny raft, so small I could barely fit in it while kneeling, and going along the edge of the wall picking up jars full of the crystals to use in my jewelry.  There was this huge piece of titanium quartz that I thought would be an amazing photo prop.  And then as I went back the raft started sinking and I barely made it to shore before it sank.  Then I woke up and I was pretty disappointed that I didn’t just find this amazing supply of free crystals, but the dream was so nice that I tried to capture the feel of it with Photoshop.

I'm pretty sure I had this dream as a result of browsing Etsy for supplies and then Pinterest for jewelry ideas for about two hours right before going to bed.  I usually have really bizarre dreams or bad dreams so I could definitely use a nice pretty dream like this every once in a while.  And once I was fully awake I found it kind of great that this is like Camp Crystal Lake but in a literal sense and without any murdering.

I've always been able to remember the majority of my dreams really vividly.  Lately this has reached a whole new level where I'll be dreaming and then remember something that had "happened" related to what was happening in the dream at that point.  And then when I wake up the things I remember are always things that happened in previous dreams and my brain is trying to connect them somehow.

Easy DIY Shabby Chic Earring Holder

These earring holders are very inexpensive and quick and easy to make.  They are also very easy to customize.

I had only about a month to get ready for my first jewelry show.  One of the things I needed to do was make jewelry holders.  I wanted them to match, look shabby chic to go with the rest of my display, and (perhaps most importantly) not cost me a lot of money.  I already had lace trim and a large stash of tissue paper.  (I always save tissue paper whenever I get it on anything.  I like to reuse it for shipping orders and it also comes in handy in other situations, such as this one.)  I got my picture frames at Dollar Tree.  They sell a variety of picture frames.  They're not the sturdiest or the best for hanging pictures but they work great for making earring holders.  You can buy matching ones like I did or you can spray paint them whatever color you would like.  For another inexpensive option you can buy picture frames from thrift stores.  For the purposes of this tutorial I am going to say tissue paper, but you could use gift wrap, fabric, or any other pretty paper that you have. 

Once you have figured out what frames you want to use, take out the glass and remove the cardboard.  You don't need the glass anymore but you will use the cardboard.  Take your tissue paper and lay it over the cardboard.  Measure and mark so it will be the same size as the cardboard but with a border on each side to wrap around (I used a 1 inch border and it worked really well.)  After you have measured twice, cut the tissue paper.  Wrap it over the cardboard and attach it somehow.  I used tape but you could use staples or glue if that's what you have handy.  After that get your lace trim (you could also use ribbon or any other trim) and cut it in lengths equal to the width or length of the cardboard, depending on which way you want to hang your earrings, plus two inches extra to attach it.  Then lay the trim over the cardboard however you want it and attach the extra parts to the back using tape, staples, or glue.  If your trim is stretchy make sure you pull it tight before securing it.  As you can see from the picture above the earrings on my left frame were pretty heavy and the lace drooped because I didn't attach it tight enough.  After that just put the cardboard wrapped in tissue paper and trim back in the frame and hang your earrings.  You can stand the frame up or hang it on a wall, and you're all done.

If you make one or more of these I would love to see it!  Please leave me a link to a photo of your version of a picture frame earring holder in the comments.

Sidenote: If you want to buy a pair of earrings in the photo, let me know in the comments.  I made them all myself and they are either $15 or $20 depending on the pair.  I can sell them through Paypal or Etsy.

Where to Shop in Seattle: Artist and Craftsman Supply

If you're an artist who lives in Seattle I highly recommend that you check out Artist and Craftsman Supply.  They have a huge store with pretty much every art supply you could want.  They even have jewelry making supplies!  And the store has some really cool art in it too, some of which is in these photos.  And if you aren't in Seattle you can still buy supplies from Artist and Craftsman online.

They also have different art classes you can sign up for including painting, book making, and cartooning.

I love their business hours sign!

This wall contains some of the creepier artwork.  There's probably some sort of Defense Against the Dark Arts joke in there somewhere, but I can't seem to figure it out.

This one is especially cool.

This bee was above a display of wax.

A rocket ship!  I was so excited when I saw this because I'm basically a 10 year old boy.

Street Art 1

I love the honeycomb texture on this piece.

I literally jumped up and down with joy when I saw this one.  And that is something I have never done before in my entire life, ever.  I really couldn't help it.  But can you blame me?!  This is so cool!

I actually climbed up a staircase to get a better angle for this photo.  And the staircase was frightening because it was one of those metal grating ones where you could see right through it.  And if you recall, I am terrified of heights.  And once I got to the top of the staircase instead of some sort of an un-see-through landing there was more metal grating stuff.  By the time I got back down I was shaking, but I got some good pictures up there, so it was worth it.

I couldn't read this because there was a dumpster in the way, but it looks like maybe it said mantis?  I liked the use of white space and the cemetery art on the letters.

I shared this one before but I have a lot of new readers since then and I seriously love it, so I'm sharing it again.

Tree and Crystal Sketch

I had this really cool dream a few weeks ago where I was in a forest but all of the trees were crystals instead of trees.  There were geodes scattered on the ground instead of foliage.  I want to draw this scene at some point, but first I had to practice drawing crystals and trees.  I never could draw trees, but I kind of like this one.

Big News and You're all Invited!

You guys!  YOU GUYS!!!  A lady from this indie arts show happened to come across my shop on Etsy and invited me to be a featured artist at the next show!  I'm super excited! (if you can't tell from the massive amount of exclamation points I'm using in this post)  I only have a few weeks to get ready, since I'll be going home for most of June to see my brother!  He'll be home on leave for a month and I haven't seen him in two years.  And after that he'll be stationed in the U.S.!  So many good things!

So the point is that if you are in Seattle on June 22nd you should come to the art show.  There will be a fashion show, live music, and lots of talented artists.  Tickets are $15 and can be purchased here.  And it's cocktail attire so it's also a fun reason to get all dressed up.  I have this lace dress I bought a year ago and haven't worn because it's fancy and I didn't have a reason to wear it yet, and I'm excited that I finally get to wear it.  Here is the Facebook event invite thing for the art show.  I hope that some of you come.  It should be super fun!


If you are unable to attend but would still like to be supportive, you can donate a ticket! Purchase a ticket online and I’ll give it to someone who can’t afford one but would love to go.

It's Time for an Art Sale!

I sell some products with my art on it in my Society6 shop and if you click this link, you can buy any of them (except Framed Art Prints, Stretched Canvases and Throw Pillows with insert.) for $5 off with free shipping!  This sale ends on March 9 (Sunday) at midnight Pacific Time.

This is just one of the photos you can buy as a print, tote bag, mug, phone skin, throw pillow, and more!  (I really want it as a throw pillow!)

Update: The sale is over, but you can still buy my products here if you would like to.

News of the Bad Kind

I got laid off today.  I also caught a cold, which I had been trying to avoid for about a week now.  So it would help me out a ton if you could maybe share my shop with all of your friends, since that's my main source of income until I find a new job.  I also sell desktop wallpapers now, for just $5 each!

You could also sponsor my blog for one month from just $3 to $7!  And if you really like me you can donate.

And as a thank you, you can download 6 tileable patterns that I made for use in Photoshop here.

Shop Update and Discount Code

Tomorrow is my 22nd birthday, so today and tomorrow only you can use the code BDAY22 at checkout for 22% off your purchase of art or jewelry in my Etsy shop!  I have recently added some new items to my shop, so this is the perfect time to shop.

Here are two of the new items I've added lately, and there are more coming throughout the week.

Saturday Style: Seattle Artist

Seattle Artist by jaythejedi

Friday Fashion is now Saturday Style, since it seems to happen on Saturdays now.  This outfit is really special because it features a tote bag with my original art on it!  You guys can order them here or see my other tote bags here.  My mom already ordered one : )  My art is also available on pillows and I want one, but I don't have money to buy one yet.

If I had my dream closet, this is what I would wear with a Seattle Starry Night tote bag this fall.  I am all about layering, and shorts with tights are one of my go-to looks for fall.  Throw on a cozy sweater with a printed scarf and a slouchy beanie and you're ready to go.

Wall of Artsy Awesomeness

This is the wall behind my computer desk.  It is full of all of art and design that makes me feel inspired and motivated.  It is always a work in progress, and I'll be adding to it as long as there is still empty space left.  Some of my favorite parts are the business cards, the mask I made, the rose photo, and the art by Rachael: those prints can be purchased here and here.