Reincarnations FUNctional Art

New Direction

This year has been a slow start creatively, but sometimes patience is worth it.  I wanted to do bigger clocks and this is one of my first attempts...and I am quite excited.

It is approximately 48 in tall (I think.)  It is open in the middle with a pendulum...my first! 

I woodburned all the details, which, I think, adds another dimension...and a great smell!  I'm really excited about this new direction.  I am currently working on one a bit smaller and will try to go bigger, too. 

Here is a lovely picture of my newly organized space...wow!  But, it seems that organizing isn't all it is cracked up to be...I am now forgetting where I put everything.  genius.

Another project in the works.  I got this HUGE heavy board from the Habitat ReStore and I loved it so much.  (Yes, I realize it might be difficult to understand how you fall in love with a piece of wood, but it happens.)  I decided that I really wanted to make it a flat cuckoo clock.  And after much thought, I believe I am going to woodburn it and see where it goes from there. 

It will be too heavy to hang, but would be a really cool "leaning" piece to lean on you wall, mantle, bookshelf, etc. 

Here's to spring!  We went to a cabin this last weekend in the Hocking Hills and I think this is the picture of one contented little puppy dog.  Ahh, sunny skies, no collar, a large window to look outside and chewing on a stick in the house!  I wish you all such joys!

Magazine Feature

My leash hooks have been featured in City Dog Magazine! 
Smart, city-savvy and fun, CityDog brings the joys of life with our four-legged friends to dog lovers throughout the West — Seattle, Portland, San Francisco — and everywhere in between. 

My two leash hooks up top with a nice little bio.
I am thrilled to be featured in such a great magazine.  It is definitely worth trudging through the winter creative blahs to be recharged by such great press!  Thank you City Dog Magazine! 

Bad, bad, BAD blogger!

I've said it before and I will say it again...I'm really bad at keeping up with a blog!  But, as the new year is in full swing, I will try my darndest to take pictures and blog regularly.  Maybe I will have to pencil it in on my calendar...weekly.

Quick recap:

I had two holiday shows that kicked my butt.  First one, By Hand in Cleveland, Ohio in November. 

It was indoors and quite nice...but due to the booming economy and the Fabulous Food Show with Paula Deen, Guy Fieri and a bunch of other culinary "celebrities" right next door...our patrons paled in comparison.  Don't worry, this picture was taken before we opened!  (it wasn't that bad.)

Then, I did Winterfair in Columbus.  I said that last year this would be my goal...to get into this show.  And from my impression, it is a competitive show with many loyal patrons.  I was very proud to be accepted and it was a great show, despite the economy.  I think sales could have been better, but hopefully the arts market will go upward in the next year.

I am definitely learning the setup for indoor shows.  I still need to work on lighting, but I am pretty happy with my booth design.  Some minor tweaks here and there, but it is slowly coming along. 

I did make this swank podium that was great for sitting and credit card swiping.  And it held all my goodies, too.

 

I also had this little "secret" room built in for secret helpers, quiet time and extra stuff hiding:

It was a busy, friendly show and very nice to be in my hometown.  One drawback is that I was severely running out of stock, so I would go home and make more things at night, only to go back the next morning.  It was worth it, but exhausting.

Then, after these whirlwind shows, I was done.  I didn't want to look at my mess in the basement any more or even think about packing/loading/unpacking/setting up/tearing down for a long, long time. 

Now I am "remodeling" my studio space and I am itching to get back in and create!  But I will save that for another post.  Promise.

A week off...

I am usually someone who has to sit and think and weigh out all my options and think some more.  A few weeks ago, a friend who works for our local Broadway Across America office asked me if I wanted to help out the Lion King production coming to town and be a "walker".  This would not be a difficult task, you just stand on stage so they can adjust lighting.  And it would be interesting, you see the process and all the backstage puppets and load in...so I said yes.  I could make some extra money since I am still on my school break (I teach adults part time during the school year) and it is only for a week.  Since I make my own schedule and stay at home to work with all my wonderful amenities and furry family AND go to bed relatively early...it was harder than I thought!!  The showbusiness schedule is not for tired, 31 year old grandmas like myself.  Some days I was there until 11 at night...yes 11!!   But I did get to see some cool things, watch the whole process and meet some very nice folks.  I did have some up close and personal time with some of the props.  Like these nice grassy boards:
Except I didn't look that nice holding them.  I swear I was up there for an hour, trying to hold it on my head and switching from arm to arm so they would stop burning.  It was really cool to see the construction of everything...that is where I am totally at home.  I was thinking, "hmmm...I've seen these grassy plumes at the craft store and all they do is stick them in this board with some blobby glue and paint." 

Then I got to stand on pride rock:

which really doesn't look too high, but it is!  And very disorienting to be up there and have someone flash strobe like lights straight into your eyes.  I had my moments where I hoped I wouldn't spontaneously fall off and give those theater people something to talk about for years to come. 

I also got to hold a 6ft wildebeast mask on stage for what seemed like forever, too!  I was petting the raffia hair and admiring that even the Lion King people use plastic ties to construct their things, too.  Plastic ties are the bomb!

And Julie Taymor is such an amazing puppeteer and creative person, it was amazing to see all the puppetry up close backstage.  She has such an imagination and eye for bringing things to life.  And Frida is one of my favorite movies, which she directed. 

And then this weekend we had the biggest garage sale ever...and it was exhausting.  We had held on to so much stuff (especially me) it was great to purge it all.  When it was all over, the stuff we didn't sell was loaded on to a truck and taken straight to the thrift store.  whew!  The good news is that we made enough $$ to pay for a big winter show I am doing and the other side of the basement is cleared out enough that I am going to put my my power tools on the other side....away from the laundry.  Cuz, nobody wants sawdust in their panties! 

Back to work today!  This last week has made me appreciate that I am fortunate enough to do what I love, have my time free enough to spend time with my family and friends, and make my own schedule. I am going to put my workspace back together and hopefully get some work started.

Oh yeah...since Halloween is fast approaching, I've activated these little guys:  

the little blackbirds, so maybe they can be snatched up in time for the decorating season! 

Sneaky Peek

What I am working on now:

and these pieces/parts:

coming soon to my etsy shop!

New, new, new

Gosh and golly...I sat down ready to blog and then something interrupted me and now all my excitement has escaped me.  Funny how that can happen.  But I decided that I need to do what I intended.

So, this weekend is another show weekend and I try to have new and fresh items every time to keep it interesting.  I made up a bunch of magnets and didn't have a place to put them.  Soooo...I went to my favorite place in the land, the Habitat for Humanity ReStore and came up with this piece of genius-ness. 

It is something for your HVAC...some pipe-y stuff, so I put that cute little pipe-y hat on it, put a polka dotted bowl on top and a cute little banner for the prices and voila! a great little magnet rack.  I also snagged a lazy susan from my supplies and the rack now spins.  It was all of $2.00, so I think my mission was a success.

My little magnet creations, up there.  I used recycled soda cans for the metal accents on all these guys.  I even metal stamped on them...reincarnated, indeed.

I also have these new little "recycled trees" on wood panels to debut this market. 

They have little metal leaves that are punched from soda cans.  Lucky for me I am a diet soda addict, so I had plenty of pretty colors to choose from.  Close up:

Then, because last month was so stinkin' hot, I made these little promo fans with all my information on them plus a super coupon to use online:

Hopefully they will be a hit...or at least appreciated because it is going to be around 90 on Sunday.  boo.

 

I'm an Etsy Find!

It was definitely a delight...and honor...to receive an email from Etsy saying that I would be an Etsy Find for the day.  I think it is probably everyone's little secret wish to be discovered in some way amidst the thousands of items on there. 

My little Memo Minder is the star:

and has already sold out!  But there are other color options and styles available, too. 

I guess this means I need to get back to work! 

Back on the Blog Wagon

It has been a while, I know, I know.  I am going to try to make this blog a priority starting...NOW!  I need to think in blog mode and make a point to schedule blog time.  I made a few changes and customized the look, so maybe I will want to post more!   We'll see.

Today, I am trying to amp up my online presence and I am working on a Facebook store front and some other things.  A day at the computer is not my idea of fun, but it is going well.  I am going to learn this typepad thing if it kills me!

Thanks for the recent comments...I am super, duper happy people are finding me!!  It makes me feel like I should be posting more, so please keep commenting.  So, what have I been doing for the past month or so....

....here we go!

I have been selling at the North Market on their Artisan Sundays.  It is outdoors and an all around great venue.  It has really allowed me to cultivate my displays, products and merchandising.  The first month my tent was pretty disappointing (to me) but by the second month I made some very special additions.

I finished the letters that I showed you from the previous month and velcro-ed them to the front of my tent.  They are very light and easy to remove and move around.  It was definitely an eye-catching sign!

I also added some curtains, which were a cute touch.  And the curtains in the right corner (your right) were a great little hiding place for guests and my very special helper. 

I also made a pretty cool display for my new Memo Minders that were all connected and suspended on the left side of the tent.  It was sturdy and looked great.  
I was afraid of a huge gust of wind and they would all fall down, but luckily that did not happen!  The setup is always laborious, but I think it is worth it.  You definitely get more people browsing. 

Some more booth shots: 

Leash Hook display - customized while you shop!

 

Coffee Magnet Boards

It was a very hot and kinda slow day, but hopefully next month will be better!

I will be back VERY soon with new posts abounding!

Busy, busy!

Oy, it has been a while since I've updated.  I have been working away like a busy bee getting things ready for my summer shows.  My first one is in June, so I am trying to stay ahead of schedule!  (for once!)

This will definitely be a picture post because that is the commitment level I can live with right now.  tee hee.

It all starts with some wood that I buy at our Habitat for Humanity's ReStore.  They have AMAZING finds for any homeowner or artsy craftsy person like me.  Super cheap, super dirty and super fun!

Then that is reincarnated into super fun things like this (ya get the business name now? Reincarnations?  Eh, thought so!)

Some friendly roosters that I created for a friend's gift and I loved him so much (the white one) I made more!   Sometimes I think the best ideas come to me that way.

These are the beginnings of some itty bitty houses.  I thought they were so pretty all lined up and rainbow-y:

Then I add some little paper and paint windows and doors....

And then I finish them up all cute and add a little clock base with a tree...
 
They aren't attached to the base in any way, so people can choose to buy a base and add the houses they want.  Or they could just buy the little houses!  They range from about 1 in tall to 3 inches tall.

I also have a larger version with a base and detachable houses.  Same concept, a little bigger and the clock is in the tree...

I'm also working on more customizable housewarming clocks:

And some more coffee cups:

Lots new leash hooks for your puppy...

I have a new concept for my sign at my tent, I bought these paper mache letters:

I think it will look awesome once they are painted up, but I am not sure how to display them yet!

I don't think I will post anything on etsy until after the first show on the 1st of June.  It is super hard for me not to want to sell these new things, but I need to reserve my stock.  If you are in Ohio, I will be at the North Market for Artisan Sundays the first Sunday of the month until October.  It is one of my favorite locations!

And to leave you on a humbling note.  Here is my artistic mess.  It goes from tidied up to super messy to tidy all over again in a matter of hours.  It makes me feel productive!

My power tools!  What would a girl do without them!  Have a wonderful week, I will be back soon.

Shop update today...or tomorrow

Since there was a speck of sunlight today, I decided to take a picture of some new things that will be going in my etsy shop.  I took them and edited them and was all ready to post them and voila!  Etsy's site is down.  Boo!  Not a good April Fool's joke at all!

So, in the meantime I will post pics of new things for you:

Customizable Housewarming Clock

You can put your house address on the little porch and the last name on the little sign!  And I love that the clock is in the tree. I'm such a genius!  :)

Big Top Clock:

I think this would be super sweet for a child's room that was circus themed (not to play with of course! no no!)  Or for someone who collected old circus memorabilia.  The clock is actually made from a bird house I found out and about somewhere and I thought it looked pretty circus-y.  The base reads "ladies and gentleman, boys and girls...step right up to witness the greatest show on earth."

Finished chalk boards
Big Tweet

and a vase full of flowers
The cute thing about the flowers is that the middle of them is cork board so you can tack little notes to them.  The border is metal with dots punched out and colors dotted back in to make it super colorful. 

So, I'm not seeing any progress on Etsy being back up, so I will post these new creations tomorrow!

Oh, yes...and I have created a new shop on Etsy...RFAoverstock. ( I can't get it to link right now, but I will attribute it to the site problems.)  It stands for Reincarnations Functional Art overstock and it is some of my old, old items that are just laying around.   I used to make mirrors and trinket boxes and some clocks...all before I had the space and tools to truly create what I wanted.  I will be taking pictures of those things so and posting them for super cheap.  Some items are slightly damaged, too, but still pretty!  That will be a fun little purge. 

Happy April!