Ho, Ho, Ho!!!

This will be the first Christmas of my life without my grandmother. Her passing this past summer has had a profound affect on myself and my family, and I know this is something which will never go away completely.

Having said that, we are planning a happy Christmas this year. My mother will be with us, along with my wife's parents. And we're going to make it a great day, the kind of Christmas my grandmother used to have at her home in Trinity, Texas.

What does any this have to do with Design Style Guide, you ask? Well, nothing directly. But in the process of thinking about this I came up with a wish list, a group of items that I'd like to own or give to others with the aim of making an enjoyable day for one and all. So here are my choices, my Wish List presented for all to see.

Flamingo Red, by Elke Hutchens

I will admit to being a huge fan of Elke Hutchens' work. I'm not even sure how she does this, but I know it's beautiful. This piece is like a large drop of semi-molten cherry candy, and it just begs to be touched!

Elke says: The Flamingo was modeled in clay and molded twice to achieve a refined and detailed finish. It was poured in ceramic slip, then black glaze was applied. I have spent years trying to perfect the process of achieving a sleek and flawless surface of the glaze. I believe I have come as close as I can get, although my quest for perfection will be ongoing.

I can't imagine this looking any better, but I'm interested!

Dresser, by Alfer Design

This is pure wonderment from Alfer Design. The casework is beautiful, the leatherwork is eye-catching, the design is graceful, yet masculine... And I want this in my bedroom instead of the dresser I already own!

And yes, you read correctly. I said "leatherwork." The dark drawer fronts with the brass nails are made of leather. I originally mistook this for a second species of wood until I noticed there was no woodgrain.

This is one of the more artful pieces of furniture I've seen of late.

Purple Song, by WindDancer Photos

I'm a sucker for cool photography, and this is right up there with some of the best I've seen recently. I'm also a sucker for most things purple. So this piece was destined to pull me in.

From WindDancer Photos: A dusky purple orchid with a pale green central flare and contrasting rusty lip accents (some type of zygopetalum) is both stunning and distinctive. Printed on acid-free, premium quality archival high gloss paper and archival high definition inks for rich, deep colors to last a lifetime.

I want to build furniture as beautiful as this photograph.

Purple/Yellow Heart Rocking Chair, by Hollis Woodworks

Speaking of furniture as beautiful as the last photograph, take a look at this rocking chair from Hollis Woodworks. Purple heart and yellow heart are both dense woods, sometimes difficult to work with, but with skill and patience they yield spectacular results, as you can see.

This rocker was inspired by the work of Sam Maloof. I'm certain the people at Hollis Woodworks will take it as a compliment when I say I understood that before reading it. It's not a Maloof rocker, but it has the same grace notes and the same feel to it. Sam Maloof was a genius of furniture design and most good furniture makers aspire to his level of expertise and art. I know I do, and I could learn some valuable lessons by studying this chair.

Lily Bunch II, by Lisa Gabel Design

I hardly know where to begin with this piece. When I first saw it I thought it was a carving, or possibly a plaster mold of some kind. In fact it is a print of a painting by Lisa Gabel Design. Prints are great because you get to have a wonderful piece of art in your home without paying gigantic sums of money for the original. And this one is doubly great because it looks three dimensional!

Many painters shy away from selling prints of their work because the quality can be suspect. Whoever does these prints for Lisa deserves high praise. The integrity of her work is preserved and we have the opportunity to show it off -- and show off our good taste -- in our own homes.

I know just where I'd like to hang this print. Now, if only some nice person will purchase it for me...

•••••

If you make Handmade Home Decor Items, come and join our team by clicking on the image below. Not only will you be able to network with us, but also you will have the ability to post your listing on our team website.

If you like this blog entry you'll love my blog, jn3 Hand Crafted Woodworks. Check it out. I'll be glad you did.

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My (Fantasy) Thanksgiving Table

Here are a few ideas I've been having about decorating my table and home for Thanksgiving. All selections are picked from the pages of Design Style Guide's wonderful designers. Some of these selections are incompatible with one another, but all are suitable as part of the setting for a feast.

Before I get to my table I want to take care of the front door. When my guests arrive I want to set the mood immediately. This Autumn Scented Wreath by Felicia Kramer/FPK Enterprises Inc. is the perfect tool for that job. It is apple scented. I'm serving apples in my fruit salad. That works out great!

Or...

...I could go with this beautiful wreath by Southern Girl Florals. It isn't scented, but that might not be a problem considering I'm hanging this outside on my front door, and we generally have lots of wind around the end of November. This beauty has similar colors to the first one with an emphasis on flowers and leaves instead of fruit. Hmmm... choices, choices... This is a great problem to have!

To get things started on the inside of my house I want to cover my grandmother antique table to protect it from (further) damage. So I'll use this fabulous quilted table runner by btaylor quilts. This is the perfect combination of colors to highlight my turkey dinner. The details in this quilt are subtle, and the whole thing is punctuated with bright fall colors mixed into the darker whole, just like the dinner I have planned.

I want some mood lighting for my table so I turn to these beautiful black walnut candle holders by MaxWood Creations. With a couple of tapered candles burning in these, some indirect light covering the table, things are off to a great start. These candle holders are elegant enough to hold their own in most settings, yet simple enough to avoid distracting my guests from the beauty of the food I serve.

And if I don't want to bother with candle sticks...

...here is a great alternative. I can just place a couple of these wonderfully scented candles in the center of my table to provide beautiful light and make my guests hungry for pumpkin pie or apples at the same time. Perfection. These candles from Bliss Soybean Candles and Gifts come in a variety of scents and sizes. It's easy to find pretty much anything you're looking for.

I need a bowl or basket for fruit or bread. I haven't decided if I have room for a fruit bowl on my table, but bread is a certainty. This "Thanksgiving Turkey" fabric bowl looks to be exactly what I want. Made by zizzybob, it is "100% cotton fabric, wrapped around a cotton rope core, then coiled and stitched" into this great one-of-a-kind bowl that will display the bread at my table very nicely indeed! Beautiful colors, fine craftsmanship, and no one else in the neighborhood will have one.

Terry Aske Art Quilts provides the final addition to my decorating masterpiece. This is a tall seasonal quilted wallhanging, suitable for Halloween and Thanksgiving. The colors are perfect for enhancing the mood for my feast, it coordinates well with the table runner, and I can place it in any of a dozen spots visible from my table.

Now, I take my choices, combine them with my grandmother's table, an old, scarred stoneware bowl she gave me years ago, add a few decorative gourds in the bowl, place my food on the table...

...and get out of the way as my family starts eating. After that, I only have to clean up a bit and then it's time to watch the Dallas Cowboys play football.

Ahhh... Life is good!

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One-of-a-Kind Finds

Reverting back to form, I'm going to talk about wood this month. I work with wood on a daily basis. I understand wood far better than pottery or sewing or stained glass. I'm most comfortable discussing this wonderful natural material, so that's what you're getting from me this time.

I decided to pick out a few items that are true one-of-a-kind finds. No matter how many of these a particular artist might make, no two could ever be alike due to the unique nature of the woods used in these marvelous works of art.

Ash Bowl by MaxWood Creations

I don't turn wood. I want to turn wood, but a lathe is a big investment and there are several other items ahead of it on my list. In the meantime I'll just have to drool over the beautiful turn objects at DSG, not the least of which is this bowl by MaxWood Creations. As a useful kitchen utensil it is an abject failure because it has a hole in it. As a piece of art, however, it is pure greatness of the highest order!

From MaxWood Creations: "This Ash bowl is so cool! As it was being turned, a knot was worked out creating a void in the side of the bowl. And because it was turned when the wood was still green, the wood dried after it was completed, and as a result, the bowl changed shape a little bit. So the bowl is not perfectly round. But it is striking and very unique! It would be a great focal point on a side table, on a mantle, or in a curio."

This bowl deserves to occupy a place of honor in someone's home.

Spalted Maple Jewelry Box by Welcome Woods Workshop

Jewelry boxes. I plan to build some jewelry boxes in the next year, and I'll be referring to this one for inspiration. This wonderful box features contrasting wood, visible joinery (the splines on the corners), and sturdy, simple lines that let the beauty of the wood shine.

From Welcome Woods Workshop: "A simple yet elegant hand crafted, solid maple jewelry box. It is made from Spalted maple which I hand milled myself with a small chainsaw mill and came from a large maple tree in an old churchyard here on the Sunshine Coast. The top is made from black cherry as are the splines. It is finished with a durable varnish clear coat."

This box will stand out in just about any décor, yet the design won't get in the way of your jewelry.

Elemental Slide by Holzfurhaus

Yeah... One more piece that makes me regret not owning a lathe. I love working with walnut because of the feel of the wood under my tools and the wonderful smell. I can just imagine how nice it would be to turn a bowl out of walnut.

From Holzfurhaus: "This is another bowl in the Elemental series. It is made from walnut, with a sanded natural edge to make it a lilttle more intersesting. It has deep dark shades of walnut color. This is an ornamental piece not intended for food or liquid."

This bowl should be in my library right now. I know just the place for it...

Mantle Clock by Marko Wood Designs

Tim Marko is a friend of mine. He live a few miles away from me, and I plan to spend some time in his shop stealing every secret the man has about finishing wood. The clock you see above has some wonderful design elements -- visible joinery, through tenons, the spalted cottonwood face -- but the true beauty of a Tim Marko piece is how well he finishes the wood. He has a very specific go-to formula he uses, but I think the real trademark is in the loving care he pours into every square inch.

Tim Marko says: "This clock is made from ash and spalted cottonwood. It uses a quartz chime movement that plays on the quarter hour and counts the hour. It has a natural finish."

Jagged Maple Burl Vessel by Natural Selection Studio

This bowl/vase/upside-down cone is turned from a piece of maple burl, a misshapen, malformed bit of a maple tree that woodworkers prize for it's beauty. And that beauty has been enhanced here by the gouge and the lathe, imposing a mostly symmetrical form upon a natural mistake. The results speak for themselves. And the real genius of this design is leaving the natural "wild" edge at the rim.

Natural Selection Studio says: "This wonderful vessel is overflowing with interesting color and figure. It measures 5-3/4" tall by 4-1/2" wide at the rim. Need a focal point in your decor? This is it! Finished with walnut oil."

And it would make a fine focal point indeed!

I trust this little tour through the wooded regions of Design Style Guide has given you some design ideas of your own. Check out the other offerings from all our woodworkers. You won't be disappointed.

•••••

If you make Handmade Home Decor Items, come and join our team by clicking on the image below. Not only will you be able to network with us, but also you will have the ability to post your listing on our team website.

If you like this blog entry you'll love my blog, jn3 Hand Crafted Woodworks. Check it out. I'll be glad you did.

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Martine Petra: Etsy Artist from Norway

This interview was originally posted on my own blog, jn3 Hand Crafted Woodworks, about a year ago. Martine Petra is one of the most gifted photographers I have ever run across. I wish I had known her 16 years ago when I was putting together a role playing game magazine, because her work would have fit perfectly.

Anyway, I am including the original interview with the original art (enlarged), plus a few extra pieces. And I have asked three new questions which the lovely Martine was kind enough to answer.

Martine Petra is a young woman with whom I've had the privilege of communicating for the past two months or so. I "discovered" her in a chat room at Etsy, saw her in a couple of others, and finally decided her photography was too intriguing to ignore so I invited her to join Design Style Guide, the Etsy team to which I belong.

She was born in Norway, has been living in Sweden, she's a dancer, and she's frequently the model for her own photographs. And away we go...

1. What is your shop name and what do you sell?

martinepetra.etsy.com where I sell different kinds of prints of my photography, artwork services/I edit other peoples photographs, and to come is small stuff like magnets, cards etc featuring my photography as well.

2. Where can you be found on the web?

Etsy

Main

Blog

FLICKR

Myspace

Design Style Guide

3. You're a dancer as well as a photographer. How do these two things work together?

I started to photograph because I felt the need to document my life, and I kinda see photography as a different way of dancing. My photography has taken on a life of itself apart from my dancing, but they still belong together. It is great when I feel I'm stuck in a choreography to work with it in photographs and try to see it in a different light.

They work very well together, and it's great when I need a rest from one of them to dive into the other before my well runs dry. That way I don't burn out.

•••••Be sure to check out Martine's dance video on YouTube.•••••

•••••Speaking of video, check out this Design Style Guide video, featuring many of our wonderful artisans, including Martine Petra•••••

• New Question: How did you end up being your own model in so many of your photographs?

It's convenient, just as simple as that. I enjoy makeup, clothes, expressions, moods etc. It is easier for me to convey what I have in mind myself rather than explain it to someone else. It's just eliminating that link. But photographing for me started out because I wanted to document and try to freeze movement, moods and ideas in dance, and that is how it began and then developed quickly to be something else when it came to photography for me.

4. How does your environment affect your art?

Huge impact on my emotional self! My environment always inspires me to do or not to do certain things, but I feel my art is from a different place. It lays below the surface, and when I make it or bring it forward it is not motivated by economic situations, political issues, or the people/cases/places/news that we all get so bombarded with every day. My art is my inner world, and it has its own references and values when it comes to what beauty, strength and wisdom is.

• New Question: I know that you are moving back to Norway soon. How will that affect your work?

More possibilities I think. I have my eyes set on a house where there's this relatively large space I could use as a dance studio, so space is a big factor when it comes to new work both within dance and photography. A clean studio environment where I can dabble more with ideas and execute them better than I can when creativity strikes in the comfort of my own home now. I always like to see change as something positive and exciting.

5. When did you start selling on Etsy?

In October 2008, but didn't really become active before November.

6. What is your favorite thing about Etsy?

It's art, and it reminds me of how important it is for us to continue to be stimulated creatively! There's a change going on in people. I remember visiting small independent stores with tons of charm and personality whilst growing up, a lot of those stores have had to bow down for bigger brands/malls and superstores, but Etsy kinda takes back those small special stores, and gives them a venue to connect and interact. And it really is a great way to make contact with people who are likeminded.

7. What is your favorite thing about what you sell?

The feedback of someone who really appreciates my work.

8. What is your favorite item in your own shop and why?

I am real keen on all metallic prints, they have a spark in them that I really enjoy studying!

9. I know that you are new to Design Style Guide and it's the only team you're on. What have you discovered about it that surprises or pleases you most?

That union and strength in numbers can land you in places you wouldn't necessarily have thought of yourself.

10. What is the most fun thing you do to promote your shop?

I actually find that appreciation pictures are fun to do, no strings attached, and no one's forcing it on you. To be able to show someone you appreciate their products is giving. It's not conventional promotion, but people see when you give back and I think that is worthy as promotion.

11. What are some of your favorite finds by other sellers on Etsy?

There is so much great stuff out there that it's hard to single out a few, certain things catch my eye, and if I can't stop thinking about it, I buy it. But what really catches my eye are those who sell items and donate to charity/causes, and I think that is big.

12. What do you do in your spare time?

I realize more and more how important family and my family of friends are in my life, so I spend time with and enjoy those people that I find intriguing, exciting and interesting.

To work with dance/photography/music and art in general is spare time for me. Research and reading about history, people, animals and lifestories is something that captivates me as well.

• New Question: Is there anything else you would like to add?

Just thanks a lot for adding new questions, they make me search for answers myself.

You are very welcome, Maritne.

• • • • •

If you make Handmade Home Decor Items, come and join our team by clicking on the image below. Not only will you be able to network with us, but also you will have the ability to post your listing on our team website.

If you like this blog entry you'll love my blog, jn3 Hand Crafted Woodworks. Check it out. I'll be glad you did.

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