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:
2 comments:
It's fun to see your things online, Mary! I hope you get accepted. It shouldn't be a problem, everything looks fabulous!
Indeed! They liked us and we just received our acceptance notice on Friday!
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