Gnomes, Camping, and Cats

I seem to go through bouts of blog attentiveness. I like to write, I really do. There's a lot of things that I want to share, or at least talk about, and sometimes the girls just don't cut it. So, blogging is part sharing what I'm up to, and part organizing my thoughts...Also, I'm maybe involved in too many blogs for someone who doesn't get paid for it. Ha-ha-ha! This is getting awfully close to an apology post, which I promised I wouldn't do! Basically, I was looking at some blogs before bed, and thought "Self, you don't write enough anymore. You enjoy it, so why don't you do it?" and I figured I'd explore that "out loud".

 

This week I finished up coloring  this set of illustrations, and I'm super excited about them. This is one of those dream projects, where you enjoy the whole thing from start to finish. 

 

 The brief was basically gnomes and camping and off we went, looking at Moonrise Kingdom, merit badges, mushrooms and rainbows.

 

We treated size pretty fluidly as the imagery was explored...How big IS a gnome, anyway? We're all really glad that spring is here, and are looking forward to the summer, when Mrs Handmade is on holiday from school. We think this is the year for a camping trip. :D

And finally, it's watercolor Wednesday in the online shop. This week, we have a playful little kitten with a ball of yarn. I don't have any pets myself right now, so sometimes it's hard to think of complete themes in these paintings. Luckily, as an active member of the craft community, I know about four hundred ladies with cats...

Doing a little side illustrating each nite as a warm up is a great way to get some personal drawing time in, explore content that I may not normally work on, build on drawing skills, and get into a "work" frame of mind.

I hope you all have a great week. Until next time, take care and be good!
Your friend,
Jeffrey

Strange Folk Wrap Up

It was a super busy weekend...a super awesome weekend. We got to see tons of old friends, and make some new ones. One of the things I love most about doing shows is getting feedback on our work in the moment. This weekend was definitely good for us, reaffirming that just maybe we're on the right path. Awesome as it was...I forgot to take a single picture. I feel more than a little sheepish about this, because I really, REALLY wanted to share some of our experience with you all. Luckily, we have good friends, and they DID take some pics!

 

Our friend Beqi of Beqi Clothing got this one of Mrs Handmade and I setting up our tent on Saturday morning. We decided to add a third table, and change the way the gridwall was arranged, and I think this is our best set up to date.

  

And the finished set up. :)

 

Karen from Binx Ceramic stopped by and got this photo of me and the new playhouses I made for the weekend.  Karen's always so funny and fun, it was great seeing her.

 

And finally, some of the loot that I left the show with. Clockwise from the top: "Out of the Woods" Limited edition printed shadow box by Sadly Harmless. Ragdoll and plush fox by Riley Construction. Soap by Buddah Body and Bath. Carlton the Cutesy Vampire necklace by Morbid Unicorn. And Sammy the Soda painting by my friend Alecia's daughter. 

It was a fantastic weekend, and I'm still recovering. There's lots of work still on my desk though, so no time to take a day off!

 

In other awesome news, "The Brave Little Tailor" as retold by Brandon S Graham with illustrations and layout by me is in a show on the fifth floor of the Columbia College Library, in Chicago. The opening reception will take place on Oct 5th, from 5-8 pm.
624 South Michigan Ave
Chicago, IL 60607
I hope some of you can make it!  I've made the layouts available on the Downloads page of my website as well, so you all can check out a little of the book progress. I'll have more big news on that front next week.

Until then, take care and be good!

Your friend,

Jeffrey

Little Houses on the Hillside...Crafting Strangefolk

Last year when were deciding what we wanted to be when we grew up, Mrs Handmade and I went to a lot of craft shows and festivals, testing the waters of the indie-craft scene. In late September, we went to the Strangefolk Festival in O'fallon Il. We were hooked. I wrote about the show afterwards, and remember how excited I was about it. Shows were definately something we wanted to do, and Strangefolk was at the top of our list. With the festival coming up this weekend, I've apparently decided to test the limits of "mind over matter" as I stay up doing client work, working on the Handmade Tales book, and getting new product ready for the show...Building a little neighborhood of little houses and people, in fact.

These little handmade playhouses started out life as a doodle on my desk blotter and have grown into these. There are two types, above are the Deluxe version where the face is painted, and the interior has a chalk board paint coating so that kids can customize their inner playhouse.

 

There's also the anywhere version with both faces painted with chalkboard paint to allow for maximum versatility in scenario location. I'm really excited to show these this weekend, and will be adding them to our online shop as well after the festival. 

 

In other news Brandon Graham, who I collaborated with on the Brave Little Tailor story in the Handmade Tales book has printed out the spreads of his story and my artwork to be included in a show in Chicago. How awesome is that? Next week, in conjunction with that I will post that layout here, as well as a downloadable pdf with the preorders for the book in our online shop...but more on that later. :)

Until next week then, take care and be good!

Your friend, 

Jeffrey

Becoming a Handmade Family Part 2: Strange Folk

I think I mentioned in my last post, that one of the changes that we've made in the last year, by forming Handmade Family and joining the local independent craft community, we've made a lot of new friends (and continue to make new friends all the time). We're edging up to the precipice of starting to do shows now, and that kind of makes us nervous. Part of preparing for it for us is that we go to different shows to meet people, and also to get a feel for what different ones are like. We've been to some okay ones, and some good ones...


This weekend, we went to the Strange Folk Festival in O'fallon Illinois. It was AWESOME. Everything about it, from the general atmosphere to the variety of artists made it feel like it would be a very good fit for us next year.

We got to see several of our friends there, and the girls got some fresh air, probably the BEST cupcake I've ever had, and before we left they got to play on the playground.

Unfortunately, I forgot my camera :( so I didn't actually get any photos myself, and I would love to give a shout-out to all our friends, but there's just not room. I would like to mention our friend Andrea of Zenbot Baby though, because her husband (who I'm friends with on google+, and who I narrowly missed meeting in person today) DID take a picture of this super cool upright bass made out of an upcycled bicycle. When I saw this thing I was just floored by how cool it is.

There was some part of us that wasn't really sure about the whole show aspect of this business/life, but I think we both came away from this event inspired.
Until next time, take care and be good!
Your friend,
Mr. Handmade