New Work

Finally got around to updating a few of my listings in the shop! Here are some photos of new color combos! Also, these are photos taken from my iphone that I've used on the site for the first time. I'm fairly pleased with the crisp quality.

xoxoxo -Amy

Docile Earrings

Petite Flower Bracelet

Window Box Pearl Necklace

Quote of the day

Today's quote is:

"Oh my gosh! What a MESS!" - me

It is time to clean house! 

がんばって！(do your best !)

Xoxoxo - Amy 

Show recap

North Pole , Superman, and Surprising are the words I've chosen to best describe this weekends show. Here are excessive over dramatized descriptions for you all because I'm feeling chatty:

North Pole : somehow the weather gods decided to put my booth in a bizarre bubble of wind and cold. I am a naturally frigid person to begin with. I chattered my way through this weekend bundled in many coats and blankets. The cute girls in tiny summer dresses gave me odd looks as I nursed my piping hot cup of decaf coffee alllllll day. I glanced longingly at the warm sun bathed booths just down the street. I arrived home with an authentic arctic-looking wind burn on my whole face. Lovely. However, it could have been worse! Like no avalanches :)

Superman: so that new movie is coming out with that handsome guy and I guess everyone is cashing in on the popularity that is this new superman movie. Everyone including Norton Security which had an amazingly huge truck next to my booth. In all honesty it was freaking crazy cool. The truck had a virtual metropolis inside and you went and "saved the people of metropolis" with these smartphones. Then you got a green screen photo op with the man of steel himself. Oh and a yellow cape to boot. (Kirk got one of course) so yes intensely hash taggy cool. At first I thought it might be annoying to have this hulking truck next to me or that I might somehow become brainwashed by the incessant repeating monologue played before each group went in. But it ended up being a great thing! I met a lot of new people because of it plus I got to stare at a spandex clad Henry Cavill cut out all day! Win.

Surprising: well, I was surprised by the first two things but what really surprised me were all the surprising things that surprised me! Ok, actually it was the fact that I met so many new people and I was equally surprised at how many lovely faces I recognized :) also quick silly confession, I'm always surprised when people like my work haha! I'm like,"I like my work, but what? You like it too? What?! That's so awesome! I mean let's all be best friends!" That's usually what goes on in my head when someone admires my work. Overall surprise.

Ok I'm done talking now! Thank you all so much for supporting me and for all of you who stopped by my chilly little booth this weekend! And I'll leave you all with some exciting news:

I'll be showing my work at Artscapce this year!

Xoxoxo - Amy

Show this weekend

So I've been bad about posting again :) (I find instagram more convenient haha) it's been a whirlwind month and I can't believe that Towson Town came up so fast! You can find me this weekend in booth #639 on Upper Washington ave. Come out and say hi it's supposed to be great weather! I've also made some adorable Mother's Day gifts :) here is a little sneak peak at some new items that will be available this weekend!

Xoxoxo - Amy

Dye A Scarf for Spring!

Found this on Martha Stewart's website today and I thought it was so worth trying! (Plus it's inspired by Japanese Indigo! How could I refure?) It has a nice little intro to shibori dye techniques as well. Enjoy!

xoxox -Amy

image from MarthaStewart.com

Inspired by a traditional Japanese textile, this versatile accessory is just a length of fabric and a bottle of dye away. 

Martha Stewart Living, October 2012 

To create traditional Japanese textiles using the shibori technique, a plant was often plucked, fermented, and reduced to make an indigo dye, and then a piece of fabric was folded, compressed, or twisted, bound, and dipped into it. Consider this project a shortcut: To achieve almost the same effect, you need little more than a length of fabric (nearly any fiber will work), a bottle of blue dye, and a few plastic bins. The result is a lightweight scarf perfect for crisp fall days that can be wrapped, dangled around your shoulders, or even worn as a belt. The look is elegant but also as loose as the process itself.

Dip-Dye How-To

Tools and Materials

Scarf
Iron
Clothespins
3 plastic bins
Liquid dye
Dye fixative

1. Accordion-fold scarf. Press with iron, and secure with clothespins. (If scarf is wider than bins, fold in half widthwise after accordion-folding.)
2. Mix dye in a bin according to manufacturer's instructions. Dip scarf's folded edge in dye (the resulting stripe will be twice as wide as the dip).
3. Dip scarf's folded edge in another bin filled with cold water to rinse it.
4. Mix fixative in another bin according to manufacturer's instructions. Dip folded edge in fixative to set.
5. Clip accordion-folded scarf to a clothesline or a pants hanger hung from a broom handle suspended between chairs. Place newspaper or a drop cloth underneath scarf to protect surfaces. Let hang until completely dry, about 1 day.

Choosing a Fabric
Different fabrics soak up color in different ways. Experiment with scraps of fabric, the widths of the accordion folds, and the dilution of the dye. These four scarves are made of, from far left, cotton, bamboo rayon, rayon, and crepe de chine silk. The longer you dip your scarf, the more likely the dye will bleed.
Cotton gauze scarf, 15" by 60", $4.25; bamboo rayon scarf, 11" by 60", $3.50; rayon scarf, 11" by 60", $4.25; and crepe de chine scarf, 15" by 60", $6; dharmatrading.com. Liquid dye, in Denim Blue, Royal Blue, and Aquamarine, $4 for 8 oz.; and dye fixative, $4 for 8 oz.; ritdye.com.

Jury Photos then and Now

PINK! That is all I could think of when I took a look back at my old jury photos yesterday. You know at the time some decisions just seem so right to you? But in reality they really aren't? haha. I just remember thinking at that time, "wow! This pink background is like, so perfect!" Now I look at it and I sort of cringe. Live and learn! This years jury photos I took were much better I thought. But maybe next year I will cringe... haha!

These layered earrings where super time consuming. They look large here but in reality they are pretty tiny. I think people don't realize that smaller pieces usually require more time and work than larger.

This is a slight variation on the opera links necklace.

Wow, so I completely love this brooch. I adore combining Japanese indigo with the bamboo wood look.

These stacking bangles are so fun! Hopefully I will list them in the shops soon.

PINK!!!

Compared to the pink, I like this background much better. For now.

xoxoxox -Amy

First Show Recap

Wanted to say thank you as always to all of my wonderful customers who stopped by the show on Saturday! :)

I love this show because it is held in my old high school. It always brings back good memories. Since this was my first show of the season being close to my house and being a relatively short show was nice. Despite that, I was still exhausted afterward and ended up taking a two hour nap haha!

Now it's time to clean my studio (and house) and get ready to send a collection of my work to New York for the summer!


My next show will be in the heart of Towson at Towson Town Spring Fest!

Xoxoxo - Amy