Like a label, but not...

This turned out to be cutie patootie. I used some green fabric with a grape-leaf like pattern and made a "label" for the front of this repurposed wine bottle. The fabric is edged with some ivory ribbon and a small florette made from tulle and two buttons adorns the upper righthand corner.

Tigerlady

Tiger print? I know, it's nuts but that's the point. The olive green, partially frosted, glass along with an out-of-control purple and pink flower with a gold button on the front? Fo'get about it. It's enough to make you want to date a man one third your age.

Coraline

ALREADY SOLD: If you've seen the movie Coraline you'll get the black button reference. This went to my only customer at the craft fair, who bought it for his mother. Hope she likes it.

Gramma-chic

This used to hold Cabernet. Now the bottle is frosted half way up, with fabric wrapped around the top. The fabric is off white with olive green an burgundy repeated print. I made a floret with creme and burgundy tulle and sewed a gigantic antique button in the middle that is ivory with gold detailing.

Foof-tacular

Very girlie and very foofy. I think this would be so cute in someone's bedroom, craft room, studio, I dunno... Great for a girlie-girl. The burgundy fabric wraps all the way around the bottle, which is frosted top to bottom. The over sized flower petals are made out of burgundy and creme tulle

while the center is a clear plastic button overlayed with an antique wooden button.

My first "craft fair"

My first craft fair ever turned out the be quite the experience! I shared a table with my friend Zoe who hand paints silk scarves. The gift sale took place in an art gallery, apparently the first event of its nature to have been held there. Things started out regularly enough...

View from the entrance (left) and Zoe at our table (above)ready to sell some handmade goods!

Much to our surprise, apparently, the big draw for Friday night was not actually the gift sale itself. Rather, it was 'Pinups and Pugs'. A troop of Pinup Girls came to have their pictures taken with local pooches as part of a fundraiser. Also, a local Pug rescue organization was invited to attend. All included a grand total of 28 dogs and a handful broads were suddenly in attendance at our gift sale.

Our neighboring vendors whom I lovingly named "the underoos girls"(see picture above) enjoyed the majority of the sales amongst the Pug and Pinup mayhem with somewhere around (I'm guessing) three pair of handmade underwear sold throughout the night. One pair of which, was bought by another vendor.

Our entertainment of the evening: A ukulele player. Some of his set list included 'House of the Rising Sun' and a twenty minute rendition of 'Knock, knock, knockin' on Heaven's Door'.



Bring on the dogs! All twenty-eight of them!

Ben and Kellen. Two of the nicest people (and the best customers of Friday night) posing with their handmade pottery.

Dogs, food, and alcohol!!!!!!!!! Things are starting to get nuts!

The Assistant Director posing with some retro-tastic merchandise. She was working her buns off that night.

More dogs! Which one is up for adoption and which one came to pose with the Pinup Girls?
Ahhhh! Mayhem!

Pinup Girls, having run out of dogs to have their pictures taken with, decided that it was time to get their drink on!



Two ladies and one of the dogs up for adoption. By this time I was under the assumption the entire place was inebriated (with the exception of Zoe and myself). So, after standing unnoticed for a full minute while these two had a conversation about this dog with each other, I snapped their photo and left.

Artist painting a portrait. He worked quite diligently throughout the night off in a corner away from the drinking, doggy, debacle.

The girl in the brown sweater here showed up three and a half hours late. (Well after the reformation of our gift sale into doggie party.) The dress she's wearing was for sale. I don't know what she would have worn had she sold it. Notice she is selling cremebrulee being served at "pug-level". I held my breath in anticipation that her blanket would become a doggie self-service-flan-station, but she eventually moved her goodies into a box out of snout distance. She sold more than any of the other vendors. Apparently, given enough alcohol, people think buying food off of the floor with twenty-eight dogs running around (some off leash) is a good idea.

At last, nearing the end of the night (NINE O'CLOCK PM), I took a photo from our table to capture my view of the party. By this time nearly all of the vendors had left or had abandoned their tables; and pretty much the place had digressed into a social gathering. We came to realize not one person in attendance had come with the intention to buy gifts, or dogs apparently, as most of them had already brought their own. Alas, I had to drive an hour home and could not partake in the merriment. So I continued to sit at my table, hoping that at any minute a shopper with a hankerin' for some silky scarves and twinkly wine bottles might come through the door. They did not.

I sat through most of the day on Saturday as well. More shoppers came in and out, though not too many. I sold two bottles. Lots of people inquired if I was selling wine or olive oil as they picked up my illuminated bottles with chords coming out the back that attached to a power strip. So not a total loss. I still spent over a hundred dollars more than I made, just to be there. At least my registration costs are going to help the little children, as that is the mainstream focus of the gallery that held this event.

I am obviously a novice in the world of craft fairs and need to figure it out. Maybe next year, though... Next year.

Craft fair madness!!!

My old friend Katy called me up and informed me of the Splendorporium: Splendorcraft Gift Fair coming up in Portland, Or. She told me she saw some of the bottles I made on this blog and suggested I sign up to have my own booth. Little did she know that last year, being the first year of bottle making goodness, I had promised myself that "next year I'm going to enter a craft fair". After my father passed away in August of this year, any future planning of any kind went right out the window. As summer turned to fall, and then winter approached, the task of digging up information on where and when to find a craft fair to enter seemed daunting at best. I had other things to worry about.

So when Katy called and a craft fair opportunity virtually fell into my lap, it was a no brainer. I took it as a positive omen and immediately sent in my registration. My dad would have been proud. He was always pleased when I showed him the crafty projects I'd been working on and was impressed with the fact that I'd endeavored to sell them.

So amongst all the craft fair preparation "madness" I thought he could help out by keeping an eye on my grape decorations. The above picture is of my Dad's cat 'Dumpster' helping out as I cut and glued fabric.

Personal Project

Here is my latest attempt at thinking outside the box. Well... with lit up bottles still being the primary media, I can at least call it thinking 'around' the box.

I pulled out a bottle left over from my wedding decorations that I had frosted with glass etching cream. I put lights in it as per usual but this time instead of leaving on the label and adding artificial grapes I took it with me to my friend Ann Desimone's studio in Portland.

Ann is a fashion designer who currently operates under her private label: iseeyou designs. It was fabulous! She has a great work space and mountains of fabric to choose from.

I custom decorated this bottle to go in her work studio which is painted in hues of fuchsia and green.

Laurel Ridge Barrel Select Pinot Noir

ALREADY SOLD

This particular bottle is already gone, but being our favorite Pinot, there are plenty more where that came from...

Terra Vina Cabernet Sauvignon 2005

ALREADY SOLD

Sooooooo tasty and the bottle looks nice too.

Purple and black label with gold lettering.

I put some dark purple grapes to match the label and a bright burgundy ribbon to add a bit of contrast.

Lemelson Vinyards: Thea's Selection Pinot Noir

ALREADY SOLD

Maybe I'm kind of a poser... I never drank this wine. C'mon give me a little slack here, I can't drink ALL the wine. This bottle was given to me by my mother and I must say, this is my FAVORITE one so far.

The label itself is blue-grey. Copper accents along with a copper ribbon and some dark grapes that bring out the purple tones help make for a terrific little bottle. Glass glows warm green.

Erath: Pinot Gris

ALREADY SOLD
A darker green than most white wine bottles, this Erath bottle takes a longer, skinnier approach as well. I chose green grapes, true to the genre, so to speak. Label is wheat colored with brown lettering. Ribbon is a reddish brown color. The glass glows a yellowish green.

Funny story about Erath. I always thought they made up the name as an acronym. Turns out Dick Erath started the winery some time in the 70s (I believe).

Witness Tree: Chainsaw Pinot Noir

SOLD

This bottle has a great image of a tree on the label. Colors are burgundy with gold lettering. Ribbon is a sheer off-white. Bottle glows warm green when it is lit.

Dalla Vina: Bella Vista Red

ALREADY SOLD
Now known as Terra Vina, this winery based out of Wilsonville, Oregon refers to this as their table wine. I couldn't believe they consider this as just a table wine... Then I tried their Cab Franc.

This bottle is taller and more slender than regular bottles. The glass casts a warm, green glow. The label is black and burgundy with gold lettering so I chose some grapes to accent those deeper colors. Ribbon is a cream color with a touch of gold trim.

Bottles are Back!!!

The leaves outside are changing as summer begins its annual fade into fall. The burst of new colors reminds me that it's that time of year again... time to dust off the dremmel tool and start making my wine bottles again.

Fall is my favorite! Having already embarked on a few "color drives" to enjoy the changing leaves, dabbled in a bit of grape harvesting, and helped out with a little wine production this year I find myself swept up in Autumnal excitement and involved in the harvest season more than ever. It's a perfect time to start making these little beauties again.

Metal sculpture

My father is an amazing artist... he doesn't know it or acknowledge it persay, but he is. He makes the most beautiful, 3-D metal work I've ever seen. Recently, I realized that I had a golden opportunity here to apprentice him and asked him to teach me how to make these incredible works of art. He was more than happy to. So, I wanted to share my progress on my first metal sculpture.

This is my first flower and the basis for the rest of the piece.

Phase two, I added another flower and some smaller leaves to add a little more dimention to the piece.

Phase three: Another bloom and three more large leaves. This piece is really starting to fill out!

The welding is proving to be soooo tricky! Especially since I am working on this in segments on weekends when I can visit my parents. I have to be very careful not to ruin any of the previous work on it, or heat the acrylic finish on a completed flower while welding. I'm still not finished quite yet, but I'm really anxious to, I want to get this on my wall!