Arrrrrrrghhhhh!

Our computer died a painful death a few days ago. We were forced to borrow a computer from a dear friend. (Thanks, Amanda!) We've only got use of it for a coupla days while our old beast is getting repaired. (Thanks, Joe!) Not that I'm all that technologically advanced, but here's the deal...we got error after error after error. Tried repairing windows. Nope. Tried reinstalling. Nope. Tried putting a few new hard drives in. Nope. So it seems a chip on the motherboard dumped for us. WAAAAAAH!

Good thing? We found a hook up on a (being) refurbished MacBook Pro. Let's hope the money finds it's way to us.

There will not be too many blogs for a minute, but keep checking back. We'll let you know as soon as we get up and running again.

The mold-making tutorial will be one of the first things up once we're back on...

For a limited time only!

A short time ago, I rescued a stack of gorgeous!!! leather from ending it's life in the dumpster outside a local furniture store. It seems that one of the makers had discontinued a ton of colors, and the shop was sick of having them lying around.

Now let me say first, that I am vegetarian, have been for years, and do not purchase leather, not even belts, but I couldn't stand to see it get dumped in the landfill. Too shameful. So I scuttled home with my stack and heaved it down in the middle of my work table...

I made a wallet, which I hated and shall not post here or anywhere. Then I started on cuffs. Super sexy, snazzy little cuffs. Modern, wide cuffs. All sorts of cuffs. When the leather's gone I'll start working in fabric again, yum.

Also, as this week's installment of Whip it Out Wednesday! A rubber backed houndstooth belt! It snaps so you can exchange buckles (handy since I make buckles too.)

The leather:




The cuffs:









W!O!W! belt: brown/green super houndstooth cotton on orange rubber. Baby blue bias. (I love me some contrast!):


And finally, I just wanted to take a moment to share with you a podcast that I listen to at work. I am lucky to have a job that allows me to listen to about 7 hours of podcasts daily... CRAFTCAST by Alison Lee. Alison speaks with a different cutting edge artist every week. I call them cutting edge because these are the envelope pushers. These people, who take skill in their chosen medium(s) to a who' nudda level, speak openly and (hopefully) honestly about their creative process, designing new processes, what helps them out of lulls, sparks their engines, and keeps them going even when they're exhausted. There are marketing tips, ideas, and artists I look up to regularly! Her craftcast site is enjoyable, navigable, and inspirational in it's own right. Check it out!

Toodles, fiends!
Vulvaline

It's not that we don't care

Truly, it's not that we don't care about you Madame Blog, it's just that Vulvaline's life has been ridiculous lately. It's not so much something that we should go into detail about on this, our art blog, please just know that once things settle back down a bit we'll get back into our groove.

AK47's a making fool, no doubt! Vulvaline's putzing around trying to keep her fingers busy...here're a couple of items that have made us happy lately:

RESIN BRACELETS!









It's time to roll out...talk to you soon!

I know...I know! I haven't been devoting alot of myself to this thing I call a blog. If I'm going to be honest about it, today's going to be more of the same. We've been super busy on the festival trail, and there've been some bumps in the family road, so the blog's been pushed to the backburner of my brain.

We're going mining today at Emerald Hollow Mine! I'll take photos and fill you in when we get back, wish us luck on some extraordinary finds!

May the art be with you.

W.O.W. Whip it Out Wednesday (catchy logo to come)

So AK-47 and I were brainstorming last night about the blog, you know, trying to come up with something snazzy that would make us sure to post weekly. While brainstorming we whipped out a bunch of new stuff for the (AVL Vintage and Handmade Bazaar)with previously mentioned silver wire. Taa-Daa!

Whip-it Out Wednesday was born. This week's version is sponsored by Thursday: The Day After.


This series of posts is going to have quite a few pictures, well, on the good days, anyways...

Our messy little workstation in the living room:





Earrings galore, mostly salvaged beads, etc:


The Whole Gang and a crocheted bracelet inspired by a shop on etsy I swear I hearted, but can't find now:


and finally! three rings with a side view:

I'm not too sure why things throw themselves outta whack picture-wise, you're along for the ride with me on the learning curve express! Ain't it fun?

Artist to check out for today, July 9, 2009: Antony Gormley! Now, I don't know him personally, and I haven't got an anecdote about him; but his art is stupendous! It's ethereal and haunting. In me, it provokes thoughts of growth, movement, and change. I look forward to conversations about his work.

It's kinda funny

You know, it's kinda funny that AK-47 and I have been working so hard to be able to afford a good amount of sterling...and now that we have it, we are uncomfortable with it. We've been working with the warmth of brass and copper for so long now that the coolness and strength of silver threw us off. It's growing on us slowly, but shoooot.

Photos later!

You better work, bitch!

What exciting new things are coming our way! We were invited to design accessories for a local fashion smash up runway show. 10 -12 designers, one runway in a gorgeous park, and a theme. The girl putting together the show called and came to the studio to look at our finished items, and drawings for new ideas, and asked us to accessorize at minimum her line. We started talking fashion, and she asked us to join in as fashion designers. It'll be a TON of work, but no one in the house of devochka is complaining. So far she has put together 7 designers. When we get booked, then we set a date and have until spring/summer to build our show. Time to get crackin'!

Also, July is a huge month for us. We're doing the Lexington Bazaar this Saturday, July 4 from 11am to 6pm. Then back to work for 2 weeks, then the Bazaar again on the 3rd Saturday of the month, THEN on the weekend of the 25th, (Bele Chere weekend, y'all!) we're doing an independent handicraft/vintage bazaar at The Body on Asheland in Asheville, NC. Being busy is where it's at!

I thought I'd share with you some of the pieces that sold at Comfest last weekend now that we're settled a bit:













Obviously, these photos were taken at different times in different ways. We're still trying to figure out what makes us happy. Any input would be much appreciated.

Art calls!
Vulvaline