Tiny Canary application images

When it's slow we hijack the houseblog for alternate purposes. I'm going to do that right now as the fine folks at Tiny Canary (a fab local craft show) requested a weblink to view images of submitting artists' work. Apologies to regular readers for your house update interruption.

I've been "professionally crafting" since 1996 when I owned & operated Transformations, a gallery on High Street (where Lindsay Gallery is now) for 5 years. There I wildy painted and decoupaged vintage furniture to my heart's content. When I closed the gallery in 2001 I segwayed into smaller projects with the same spirit that I sold at places like ComFest, Yellow Springs Street Fair and Craftin' Outlaws (and, hopefully in a shared booth this year at Tiny Canary with Clinton Reno).

The majority of my work focuses around a few themes near and dear to my heart: the Short North (using my own photographic images), scooters (using my own and found images), comics (using strictly found, never copied images), and most recently, collaborative projects with my neighbor/pal/awesome graphic designer Clinton Reno. With images supporting these themes I create pendants, buttons, magnets, coasters, belt buckles and mirrors.

First sample, pendants. I make square ($8 each, 2/$15) and rectangular pendants ($12 each) decoupaged on glass tiles, decorated with different images on both sides, coated with a durable resin for protection and waterproofing and finished with sterling silver plated aanraku bails. The rectangular pendant pictured below features an amalgamation of 6 separate images layered for the final effect. Many of my rectangular pendants are patchwork designs:

The square pendants are not quite as elaborate as most feature a single image. Images include Short North photos (from my own collection), comic images (found), scooter images (found and my own), Clinton Reno images, and a small collection of found image pendants.

I discovered this trellis in my friend's backyard and it makes the perfect compact pendant display accomodating all of my square and rectangular pendants (as seen at ComFest):

I'm always in awe of how many buttons folks buy. I make comic, scooter-themed and silly celebrity buttons ($2 each, 3/$5- though only the comic and scooter would be at TC):

One of my signature items is Short North magnets ($5 each). I've sold these for seven years. The photos are always evolving with the neighborhood and this year I started combining 4 mini images on these 2"x2" tiles so people get more of the places they love on their little squares:

The tile magnets are typically displayed on an old metal fridge door (space permitting) that I found, where else, in the Short North when somebody was gutting an apartment!

Clinton Reno is a fabulous graphic designer and friend. We started collaborating on projects last year. His images make outstanding coasters ($8 each, 2/$15):

I also make Short North coasters (from my photos) and comic coasters from found images (the Wonder Woman series is especially popular):

My coasters are typically displayed on a small bookshelf which can accomodate a range of them:

Last year I discovered the joy of making belt buckles ($25-40) and can regularly be spotted sporting one of my own creations. These stick to 3 themes: the Short North, comics and scooters. The odd display is actually a baguette baking pan:

Finally, one of my other signature and most recognizable items is my collection of Short North mirrors ($35 each). A half-dozen of these fit on a small tabletop display:

Thanks for considering the joint Martineau-Reno application. I've submitted bunches of options of my work for consideration but will likely pare down the final offering as necessary according to space constraints. I hope we make the final cut!

The only original window left

Below is the door to our basement. Many decades ago it used to lead to the front porch. The transom window is the only original window left in the house. As you can see, the window had been painted along with the door jam.
On Saturday I scraped the paint on the edge of the door jam and also removed the transom window. It had been nailed shut, so it was no easy task. After removing the transom I scraped off the multiple layers of paint, sanded it, and stained it to match the door casings. I cleaned and scraped the glass as well, though only on the 1 side. Since it looks out on our basement stairs, I wanted to keep the it opaque. While I do have to still polyurethane it, and also add a latch since it now will hang open, I am quite happy with the results of my 1/2 day project.