careful what you wish for

This past weekend I did a 3 day craft show that I was very excited to do. It's a show my family used to travel 3 hours to shop every year, and it was really the first time I understood that it was possible to make a living as an artist. We'd park in the field, often slogging through the mud, making our way past the RVs, buses, and vans, and I'd think about how exciting it would be to travel around the country selling my art. Doesn't matter that I had no idea what I'd sell, I just thought it was the thing for me.

Let me say this,
BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR.

Setting up in an open barn, with dirt floors, when it is 48 and raining, ESPECIALLY when weather.com LIES and says it will be in the 60s all weekend so you don't pack anything warm, is miserable to begin with. But when the show planners do such a bad job of setting up the show that you are in the middle of FIVE empty spots you know something is wrong.



The first day I should have done a better job of counting how many women where wearing lighthouse sweatshirts. I'm sure my mom owns one...but that is NOT my audience. I think I confused a lot of people ;)
Saturday was better and I met a bunch of great people and the weather was much more enjoyable. Sunday, back to 48 and raining. BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

I know the economy is bad. I know it's hard to get people out when it's raining. I know I am a great big complainer, but what a let down. Keep your fingers crossed that the next 3 shows I have go a little better than this one.

Or I may have to come live on your couch!

COME SEE ME
April 25, 26, 27 SUGARLOAF, Timonium, MD

most famous

heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
How cool is THIS????
I've had jewelry featured in magazines before, but never like this!! And there's my big fat head! Amazing!!!

The magazine is Tattoos for Women and it's published by the same people who publish Skinart.

And I was interviewed. Terrifying!!! They emailed me questions and then I had to try & not sound like an idiot, AND be interesting. They only published a little bit of what I wrote so in case anyone is having trouble sleeping I thought I'd let you read everything I sent them. Ready?

1. Where do you get the inspiration for your designs?
Half the time I’d say my inspiration comes directly from the glass I’m melting at the time. Each color, type, and brand of glass has different qualities, and while I’m melting it something will just scream BONE! or HEART!, etc. Most of my bones for example are made with a type of glass called Reichenbach and for a very long time it was only used by glass blowers not lampwork artists like myself. When the rods were made available I bought a ton of it, played around, hated it for the designs I was making at the time and stuck it on a shelf. Probably a year later I gave it another try and realized that the earthy qualities in the glass lent itself perfectly to the bone shape. I also get a lot of ideas from listening to my customers. The “undead undead” heart (white heart with bleeding punctures) was a customer request and combining the hearts and bones was a suggestion from an artist at a show I was part of last year. It’s probably pretty obvious that some of my hearts are based on Tim Burton’s “The Nightmare Before Christmas” and others, like the heart and crossbones are based on tattoos.

2.What is you relationship to the tattoo community?
I do have a flame tattoo around my ankle that oddly enough I got before I started working with fire as my career, and I do draw inspiration from tattoo art, but other than that I don’t really have one.

3.What is your process like? How do you start a piece? How do you know when you’re finished?
What I do is called lampworking and in case some people aren’t familiar with what that is I’ll explain. I use a small torch mounted to my table that runs on a mixture of propane and oxygen. I melt rods of glass in flame at about 1700 degrees. While the glass is melting I wind it around a clay coated steel rod called a mandrel. This is what forms the hole in the bead. All of the shaping is done while the glass is molten. Once I’m done forming the bead I place it in a kiln to anneal. This removes the stress from the glass while it is cooling.

Each piece is done one at a time, and once I start working on a bead I can’t stop until it is done. Some of the pieces can take up to an hour to get exactly how I want it.

I rarely sketch a piece before I make it. Usually I just know in my head what I want and then I see if the glass agrees with me.

4.In addition to art, what are your passions?
I have a two year old daughter who can be incredibly funny and she’s always a challenge. Before she was born my boyfriend and I spent a lot of time going out to see bands. I had worked in record stores for years and between the two of us we have an insane cd collection and since we were living in DC at the time we had the opportunity to see almost every band we loved. When she was born we moved to NC. I took almost a year off from my business and I’ve spent the past year rebuilding it, so we haven’t had time to go out. I guess I’m still in the “new mommy haze” so that makes her my number one passion.

5. What kind of music do you like?
It depends on what I’m doing. When I’m traveling to my craft shows, which I do a lot, I like to listen to Social Distortion, Reverend Horton Heat, NIN, anything rockabilly, etc. It needs to be loud and driving so I can sing and keep myself awake. When I’m melting glass I listen almost exclusively internet radio, most of the time to WOXY Vintage which plays an amazing mix of 80’s (from my high school days!) and early 90’s (when I started working in the record stores!).

6. Did you go to art school? If so, what was it like? If not, how did you master your craft?
I did go to art school, but only briefly. I went to the American University in DC for 3 years, took a few art classes, but never really committed to anything while I was there. I transferred to The Corcoran School of Art which is also in DC for a year but didn’t take any courses related to glass or jewelry. I loved art school but didn’t see how it would translate in to a career.
For a long time I made a living painting glassware and selling it at the Eastern Market in DC. I used to watch tv while I painted and one day on some basic cable “make your home more beautiful” show I saw a quick demonstration on lampworking. As soon as I could I found a weekend class, took it, and have spent the past 6 years melting, researching and experimenting.

7. Which artists are your favorites?
Of the “famous” artists I love Louise Nevelson, Richard Diebenkorn and William T. Wiley. But there are an incredible amount of new, younger artists whose work is extremely affordable and readily available. I seem to find a new one on etsy almost every day. I have stacks of prints that desperately need to be framed.
What I really enjoy is what I guess you’d call folk art, any art made with a jumble of recycled, repurposed items. I have a beautiful pink bird made from reclaimed barn wood in my front yard, and various animals welded together from assorted junk hanging out in the backyard.

8. Are there any art movements you identify with?
Lowbrow, definitely. Most of my hearts would be right at home on the pages of “Juxtapoz”. But mix in a heavy dose of gothic and a splash of steampunk. Oh yeah, and Craft. Craft is really important right now.

9. What’s your favorite book?
Alice in Wonderland has had the most effect on my work and lead me to some really interesting things (have you seen Jan Svankmeyer’s stop animation movie “Alice”?), and almost anything by Margaret Atwood, William Gibson, and Kurt Vonnegut.

10. Where are you from? Where did you grow up? How do these places interact with your artistic creations?
I’m currently living in Raleigh, NC but I grew up outside of Philadelphia. Moved to DC for school then moved to Atlanta, Philly, DC, Brooklyn, back to DC before finding my way down here. The cities I’ve spent time in are so rich in art, and in DC most of the museums are free, so I was exposed to all kinds of wonderful things. Before leaving DC for NC I sold my work at the Eastern Market every weekend which is an outdoor artist market/flea market, but it allowed me to make a living off of my art. Really what it did was allow me to work on my art every day since it was my job, and that’s how I got where I am today.

11. Let our readers know everywhere they can find your stuff…online and in person.
My website is www.isabelsrose.com where I have most of my made to order pieces. About a year and a half ago I started selling on etsy (www.loriola.etsy.com) to get rid of some of my one of kind pieces that had just been lying around, but I’m having such a good time there that now I list my new work there before it ever makes it to my website. I also do a lot of craft shows every year, mostly in the MD, DC, VA, NC area. These are all listed on my website.

Still with me? :)
Thanks!!

out of the kiln

I just pulled these out of the kiln. Since I can't find a hot pink glass that'll work for me I decided to make one myself!
Some of these are already taken but if you want one I'm happy to make more :)

I must apologize

The other day my 2 year old and I were watching Noggin, which sadly if I were to admit how much we actually watch, the state would come and remove my child from the home...but their catch phrase is "Noggin. It's like preschool on tv." So really what I'm doing is giving my child quite the head start without giving her all the colds, and flu, and other nasties that go along with being in small rooms with lots of small children. So I am really mother of the year! Bring on my awards!!!

Wait, there was a point to admitting this...oh yeah! ! Lisa Loeb!

Do you know Lisa Loeb? She had a pretty big hit with a song called "Stay" back in the mid 90's. I liked her a lot. Saw her play at the "old" 9:30 club in DC...the 9:30 club should and will be the subject of another very long and informative post, just not tonight. Stay tuned :)

Back to Lisa Loeb. Seems she's doing music for kids now. And it's really good. She has a beautiful voice and Isabel seems to like her music. Whenever she comes on now Isabel points and says, "maMA! maMA!". At first I thought she was just showing her approval for Lisa's songs, but now I think she either thinks that's me on tv singing, which is just hilarious for so many reasons, or she just sees a resemblance.

We do both wear very hip glasses.

What this did though is remind me of a time, waaaaaaaaaaaaaay back in the 90's, when I was single and going out a LOT with my good good friend Andrea, to bars, and clubs, and parties, and pretty much anywhere there was alcohol that most likely we would not have to pay for. And one of the things I remember clearly is desperately wanting to meet guys, but being unbelieveably mean to any guy that actually dared to talk to me. One night we were in a now long defunct club to hear my roommate dj, and some poor boy stopped me as I was walking by to tell me that I looked like Lisa Loeb. In his defence I did have long hair, glasses, and was most likely wearing some kind of babydoll dress get-up (with combat boots I'll bet!!) that Lisa did seem to favor back then. In a dark, smoky club, after a few beers, maybe I did look like her. Should I have said thanks since clearly this was a compliment? Probably. But of course that is absolutely the farthest thing from what I did.

I laughed.

Right in his face. And then, since Andrea is pretty close to being deaf, I'm sure I turned to her and SHOUTED, "HE SAID I LOOK LIKE LISA LOEB" and again, I'm pretty sure we both dissolved into hysterical laughter and flounced out.

I'm sorry. Really.

So now when Isabel points to her and says, "maMA!" she gets a great big smooch from me.

no name

When my sister Erica was born, and anyone asked my Dad what his new daughter's name was he told them "Nonami". This was in New England in 1971 and people would give him a funny look and say, "Naomi?". No, he'd say, Nonami. What an interesting name, how do you spell that?, they'd ask. With a straight face he'd say "N-O-N-A-M-E".
Get it? :)
I don't know how long it took him to remember her name.

"nonami"



This pendant is so far removed from what I normally make that I let it sit in my studio for at least a year. I spotted it yesterday and while it doesn't fit with what I'm making right now it was just too beautiful to leave in that disaster area. I feel I should make more, we'll see. And the name? Since I have NO IDEA what to call this I thought Nonami was appropriate.

I wonder what else I'll find in my studio?

I am such a dork

How limited is my time? Do I not have a two year old who stays home with me, and only takes sporadic naps? Am I not trying to get ready for my spring shows, which by the way start on March 15th and then continue full force until mid May? And right this second isn't Isabel asleep for the night? Doesn't that mean I should be on the torch making hearts and bones and other things like a mad woman??

NO!!

I had to be introduced to icanhascheezburger. I know, this site is huge (supposedly it has 9 MILLION page views a month) and you probably already love it or hate it, but I'm warning you, if you have not seen it yet, and if you have any affection at all for cats, DO NOT GO THERE if you don't have hours and hours to waste. Hours you will not ever get back.

And me, being the owner of the world's most bizarre and spoiled cats just had to create my own "lolz" which now of course must be voted one and I have to go bug all of my friends, acquaintances, customers (most who are also friends), people I know from various forums and blogs....EVERYONE please please please vote for my very fat cat. She needs to be famous.

Her name is Zoe Bella. She is very pretty, and just a smidge overweight.

PLEASE vote for her HERE.

If she gets lots of votes I can get back to work ;)
Oh, and in the real picture I have not chopped off the top of her head.

my friends are soooo talented

Three of my friends from "back home" (yes yes we've lived in NC for almost 3 years and I need to get over DC) have just opened their own etsy shops. And while it's hard to choose, I thought I'd show off my favorite items from their stores.
designoptions

fleur de lis choker
I'm a sucker for green, and the way the soft green velvet contrasts with the antiqued turquoise enamel is just scrumptious. Lynda lived next door to us in MD. Sam used to park in front of her house and her dog Oto made Sam late to work almost every day.

cherielester

Bishops Garden at the National Cathedral, Washington DC - Framed Photographic Print
I love this image. My Dad absolutely adored Cherie. When he would visit me at The Eastern Market he would always stop by Cherie's booth to chat (and maybe flirt just a little!) and he almost always bought something from her. When he passed away my Mom kept some and I got the rest. Every time I see her work I want more.

mannmadedesigns

sterling silver/recycled aluminum cutouts pendant
I am also a sucker for pink. When I was pregnant I was so excited to find out we were having a girl so I could paint her room pink. Sam was excited too because if we were having a boy I was going to paint our bedroom pink. I'm going to save the "Jimmy Mann" stories for another day. He deserves his own post...or two...or three.....

Will you go show my friends some love? Will you tell them I sent you?
Now that we're all on etsy it's almost if I'm back in DC.

I'm such a sap.