Bizarre Haze

So last week was a bizarre haze of joy, anxiety, stress, and spray-matte fumes.  It was a literal AND figurative haze.  I hung two mobiles at Costa Acupuncture.http://www.yoursourceforwellness.org/ in Culver City. This is my friend Michael Costa's practice and it's a large, relaxing, peaceful space where he does community acupuncture. Now, it has the addition of the large blue spiral and the butterfly mobile. You can look at mobiles on your way in...and out, to seal in the good chi.  If anyone knows another waiting room that needs a mobile, let me know. Have fishing line, will travel.

Very late into the evening Thursday, I finally finished sewing together many styrofoam prints made by my daughter's class at Play Mountain Place, and made them into a mobile that was auctioned off at the school party/auction Saturday.  I guess in all the buzz to get that done and finish some other work, I never took a picture. Oops. Trust me, it was gorgeous ;) The prints were on thick Canson paper and I used some heavier tiger's eye beads, so this was probably the weightiest mobile I've ever made.  When it's hung correctly it moves really, really well and it makes me want to experiment with more weight and density in the future.

My two-monoprint (trees) mobile also sold at the auction...to a stranger. Gasp! It's definitely good practice for letting things go, but I'm so connected to my work that sometimes it's difficult. If only it could be like an open adoption - you know - we could keep in touch just so I can make sure it's being brought up in a good home. Admit it, it's not the craziest idea you've ever heard.

I'm live on Etsy!

I finally got that Etsy shop open. It took a while...pretty pathetic, considering it's not even a real store, but hey, some of us take longer than others to figure out the interweb. Ok? Anyway here's the link:
www.etsy.com/shop/jodiwaxman
Almost everything I've made and posted pics of is available there.
Getting ready for the Play Mountain Place silent auction Saturday: another mobile. This one is much more fun than the other donation though, because it's made of styrofoam prints by five and six year olds. We'll see what happens, and of course I'll post pictures.
I should get back to work. Masterpieces don't make themselves, now do they?

Productivity. And abundance!

I've been a busy little bee in the last few weeks...and I'm almost ready to open the Etsy shop. Woot! I plan on having a few different types of mobiles for sale there, all of which will be available in custom colors made to order.  I love this new butterflies and bees mobile so much I hate to part with it. But it is for sale! 

In other news, I just donated a beautiful mobile to the Play Mountain Place silent auction and party next weekend.  I am happy to support my kids' school, because it's an amazing place. Pmp peeps, make a bid on it May 15!

This one featured two (very embellished) monoprints, and some  

paper leaves.  I sewed the prints together, which was kind of fun, so you get a different print depending on which way the wind blows. The other side is also an abstract tree image.

I'm excited to be doing lots of spiral mobiles now, too. They move so well and I'm able to put them together in a day or so.

 

That's all for now. Thanks for following my blog and supporting my work! Please stay tuned for more updates and pictures. If you're on Facebook, find my public artist page, Jodi Waxman Kinetic Art. I often add pictures there more frequently than I'm able to get on to here, plus there are lots of cool detail shots of some of the new stuff in the page albums. Check it out.

Uh oh, I found The Roadium

On the way back from a recent car-related errand in Gardena, I drove past a huge line of traffic turning into The Roadium http://www.roadium.com. I saw its oddly shaped (but very large) sign, read "open air market" and my ADD brain immediately took over. The next thing I knew, I was joining the queue.
I don't know why it's called The Roadium, but it's a giant, dirty, buzzing open air flea market. It reminded me, a little, of the Englishtown flea market way back in Jersey. My parents used to drag us on occasional Sundays, ripping us out of bed at 7am so we could get over there before the parking lot was a mob scene.  Parking at the Roadium is $1, but it's not fun. I get the 7am idea now.
The best part of the Roadium is the "junk" area, where people just lay down a blanket and dump all their crap out onto it. If you're brave enough to get down into it. there's really good stuff to be had. I found a bunch of old California Lottery pins, which I am going to turn into rings. A vintage metal-based globe. Lots of old necklaces with good beads and pieces on them. Oh, and watch parts. Rather, a watch without a face. I'm going to make it wearable.  You know, break off a piece of time for safekeeping.

Linty goodness

You may or may not know that I love to do laundry...not so much the folding, and putting away part, but for some reason I am constantly washing and drying things. Maybe it's the white noise of the dryer that soothes me., but lately I've also been appreciating the rad colors coming out the lint tray, and I thought, why not try to make beads out of them? I had already planted the idea seed in my head that I wanted to make paper beads, for jewelry, so why not try lint, too. The first test beads are kind of dull, probably due to the amount of glaze I sprayed them with, but I think next I'll try rolling them up with little bits of paper, to make specks...

Lint is not that gross once you pick the hair out of it, right?

Bazaar Success!

So, after a horrible week on heavy narcotics and a potassium drip at Cedars Sinai, and three days spent sleeping and eating (and mentally recovering in general) at Chez Harris in Silverlake, I whipped together some pretty things and sold them at the Play Mountain Place Spring Bizarre. I mean, Bazaar. Hollah PMP'ers! Thanks everyone for supporting both me, and the school.

Now, back to work on the mobiles... I talked to a few people at the Bazaar about making custom mobiles, which is very exciting. Please drop me an email if you're interested. All I need are the dimensions of your space, and one or two colors. I'll make you something pretty with paper and beads, and sometimes even a print.

I'm working on opening up the shop on Etsy.com...My user name there is Printguerrilla. Or maybe Printguerilla... I can't remember how I spelled it. I know, I could check it, but right now that feels like WAY too many steps. Anyway, once I have some more merchandise to sell, and can figure out all the technical stuff, you betcha I'll be posting that link! And there will be jewelry, mobiles and new monoprints.

Stay tuned all. And be well...

*Oh, and if you just read this, please "follow" me, or at least send me your email so I can quit whining that nobody loves me. Ok, done.

Gem World

I spent last weekend in Phoenix, and the first hour of the drive home was rain-filled, which made me verrry sleepy. So I decided to stop for (yet more) coffee, and ended up in Quartzsite, AZ.

Quartszite is a sleepy little town about 25ish miles from the California border, right off Route 10. Most of the drive through was little more than rv supply stores, trailer parks, and the occasional roadside "cafe" in a shack next to a gas station, but I kept driving through town, hopeful for more. And I found it, right across from the McDonalds, and next to the Really Good Jerky shop...a cluster of shacks and warehouses mostly devoted to rocks. Its anchor: Gem World.

Gem World is a giant metal warehouse. I mean, the actual building is metal-roofed, with cement floors. And it is filled with rows upon rows of tables with racks and trays of beads, stones, pendants and other assorted goodies and findings. I spent almost an hour in this place during the storm, sifting through baskets of beads and listening to the rain clacking and pattering away on the metal roof. I filled a basket with choice pieces and had an interesting conversation about paper beads with the older lady who rung me up. This little rest stop experience totally energized me for the rest of the trip. I think I spent most of the drive thinking about all the cool stuff I'm gonna make with this Botswana agate, jade, art glass, and mother-of-pearl. And I am going to resist the temptation, however great, to take up jewelry design.