On August 1st my husband and I moved to a new dwelling, which means I’ve got tons of new space to create in! My new banner shows you a sneak peak into my dedicated studio area. Now that I’ve got a room of my own, I hope to rock out some new pieces in the near future (I know it has been forever! But dissertations consume all mental space if you let them! And, well, 2010 has been the year to seal up that goal). Good news on that front though, I’m finding lots of inspiration for my craft in the documents I’m scouring through. So that’s promising! Can’t wait to show you what I’ve got up my mental sleeves!
Archive for the 'Behind the scenes' Category
My how time flies. In late February, I tried my hand at a brand new craft: making glass beads. I'd never touched molten glass before, so this was a totally new arena for me. I felt humbled by the newness of the material to my hands.
I broke so many beads the first day, I was sure this was not going to be the art form for me. I wanted to MAKE beads, not BREAK beads! But the second day, I kept making, and making. The more I tried out various colors and techniques (dots versus stripes for example) the more excited I got. The beads stopped exploding in my face, and finally, some really neat things started to happen. I wish the workshop had been longer than two days because I had so many visions for other types of techniques I wanted to try. Here are the results of my workshop with a kicker thrown in at the end:
I'm not sure what I'll do with these beads yet. They are sitting right here, catching the light, letting me covet them. The biggest perk of the workshop wasn't these end products, though. Encountering the brick wall of my limitations was such a thrill. And I feel like I'm only at the beginning of what's possible! (And Tara Murray, by the way, is one of the best instructors I've ever had. She's got a talent for encouraging people to step into that space of creative fear and push forward. If you can work with her, go for it!)
PS and yes, you can learn how to make a bee like that in two days flat. I promise you! ;)
I’ve been giving a lot of thought lately into packaging, and the recent trend of Moo minicards was just too hard for me to resist. Coming up with my own set was a difficult design challenge. Should I take pictures of the various pieces and add a few moo cards that match that very piece? (but that seemed to be a bit too matchy-matchy.) Or should I take something that has nothing to do with the individual pieces jewelry but reflects the nature of Art by Zahrt? And if so, what would that look like? At the root, the conflict was the tension between using them primarily for packaging or mini business cards.
After spending some time I chose to compromise by selecting various photos I’ve taken from my travels. I not only collect beads and supplies everywhere I go, but more often than not, those are the places that inspire me to create, whether it’s artwork, photography, or even academics (9 times out of 10 I’m in Germany! Lately though, Croatia has been beating out the German-speaking lands). The natural textures of the images I capture from the places I visit dovetail with the designs I end up creating. It’s a win-win!
So, a few weeks ago I finally designed and ordered a set of minicards with an avatar on the back (next to the contact info), but the avatar was very pixellated. Luckily, when I asked the people at Moo how to fix it in the future, they gave me a coupon for a free set (Thanks Moo!), which just arrived. I’m super excited with how they turned out! These cards put the perfect touch on the jewelry I’m making.
Take a peek at how it is all coming together:
