Ruby Roo is FOUR!

Roo is FOUR!, originally uploaded by howtouseart.

She just turned four on May 1. Can you believe it? I feel like only yesterday she was a tiny little thing that only took up half of my purse. Now she is this full grown little doggy full of personality and energy!

I can't wait to move into my new home, because there Ruby will have her very own backyard...no more leashes ever!! :)

Source: http://howtomakeart.blogspot.com/2010/05/ruby-roo-is-four.html

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Metropolis Necklace-Etsy Beadweavers Challenge

This month's Etsy Beadweavers challenge theme, Fashion Through the Ages , struck a chord with me because I had a pattern developed that fit perfectly with the Art Deco style of design. I created the triangular portion of my Metropolis Necklace using the pattern I made with my BeadTool design program and stitched it in herringbone using 4 beads at a time. Then I worked upward in brick stitch to a decent choker width of 1/2" and finished out the rest of the choker in peyote. I had fun looking through my vintage button collection and found the perfect button to complement the Art Deco design. Of course, I finished it all last minute and could only get some basic photos done. Next time, no procrastinating (yeah right) ! You can check out all the amazing entries from our beadweaving team now and vote on March 8th.

Source: http://ambrosianbeads.blogspot.com/2011/03/metropolis-necklace-etsy-beadweavers.html

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How do you make art?

So I just finished self-publishing my book this afternoon, and now I am in need of a new project. The seeds of my new ideas are just beginning, but I need your help as I begin to develop the ideas a little bit further...

What have you always wondered about art and artmaking? What are some questions you would ask if you knew someone would have the definitive answers to them? Please leave some examples of questions you or someone else might ask in the comments section.

Some examples: What is art? What is good art? What is bad art? Are photographs art? What do you wear to an art opening? Etc...

Thanks in advance for your input!!

Source: http://howtomakeart.blogspot.com/2010/05/how-do-you-make-art.html

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Gallery show necklaces

Gallery show necklaces (PixUp), originally uploaded by ambrosianbeads.

Yesterday was the jury day for the big holiday show at Potomac Fiber Arts Gallery . I was on the jury panel and had fun scrutinizing all the great fiber art that passed under my nose. I am good with detail and was able to spot tiny flaws in knitting, beadwork and sewing. If I could only get paid to do that every day ! Anyway, our gallery has an unbelievable amount of beautiful fiber works to wear, view or use and there is something for everyone on the shopper's gift list. I got 35 items accepted into the show which lasts through December.

Source: http://ambrosianbeads.blogspot.com/2009/11/gallery-show-necklaces.html

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A Handmade Day

Leather bindings. Hazelnut coffee. Watching puppies nap. Painting anything that will sit still with gesso.

Source: http://howtomakeart.blogspot.com/2011/01/handmade-day.html

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A feeshy tale

This $5 find at Black Rose Antiques & Collectibles in Washington Crown Center mall, Washington, Pa., reminded me of my father's funny way of mispronouncing words.

By Scott Beveridge

The origins of my father's hillbilly accent has been an amusing subject for decades.

Jim Beveridge didn't eat fish sandwiches on fish fry Fridays during Lent. He ate "feesh" sandwiches.

And when the Webster, Pa., steelworker wasn't in the mood for bread with cod, he ate his "feesh on a deesh" at home or the annual fire hall fish dinners here in the middle reaches of the Monongahela River Valley, about 30 miles south of Pittsburgh.

His dialect certainly wasn't Pittsburghese. Most of us here seem to know how to correctly pronounce fish, but we have earned a famous reputation for screwing up the plural you, by turning it into "yinz," and also saying "wersh," rather that wash, when its time to do the laundry or redd up the house.

I heard a hint of where my late father learned how to talk like an Appalachian misfit a couple weeks ago while meeting with a Marcellus Shale executive in Washington County, Pa. That guy didn't sound like the Texans who hold many of the jobs around here working in the booming industry, especially when he turned the word, flash, into fleesh.

"I'm from Steubenville," the Ohio man revealed.

Bingo.

My dad spent a good part of his childhood in that Ohio River town during the Great Depression.

A subsequent Google search provided a second source that loosely confirmed that he hadn't learned how to talk like an outsider in these-here parts of the mountains.

The search engine led to an excerpt from a book, "Me and Orson Welles: a novel," by Robert Kaplow, and a passage about the comical way in which Ohioans say, "feesh on a deesh."

Mystery solved.

Source: http://scottbeveridge.blogspot.com/2011/02/feeshy-tale.html

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Indian in feathers

BELLE VERNON, Pa. ? Lanny Bradley does some amazing art with real feathers.

But the Rostraver Township man's most-ambitious project has to be the 7-foot Indian, shown above, which he just completed with pheasant, snow geese, duck and quail feathers.

Bradley has logged 280 hours of washing, cleaning, clipping and gluing each feather to the model for the Indian.

He is having a hard time deciding whether to sell or keep the sculpture, but admits everything has a price. Send me an email if you want to make him an offer.

Source: http://scottbeveridge.blogspot.com/2011/03/indian-in-feathers.html

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Stitching Fun

Coloring Fun - Cake 1, originally uploaded by Glen Mullaly.

I came across these on Flickr today and thought "tea towels!"
The caption from the Flickr owner reads: "Illustration from the "Coloring Fun" feature "Let's Bake a Cake", Humpty Dumpty's magazine January 1958. Illustrated by Dave Lyons.
Print these on plain white stock and Crayola your brains out!"

...so I think he wouldn't mind us stitching them either?

Source: http://stitchybritches.blogspot.com/2008/10/stitching-fun.html

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Chasing the golden eagle

West Virginia University professor Todd Katzner explains his groundbreaking study of Appalachian wildlife focusing on the Eastern golden eagle, using roadkill deer to bait animals to trail cameras. Click here for more of the story.

Source: http://scottbeveridge.blogspot.com/2011/03/chasing-golden-eagle.html

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Metropolis Necklace-Etsy Beadweavers Challenge

This month's Etsy Beadweavers challenge theme, Fashion Through the Ages , struck a chord with me because I had a pattern developed that fit perfectly with the Art Deco style of design. I created the triangular portion of my Metropolis Necklace using the pattern I made with my BeadTool design program and stitched it in herringbone using 4 beads at a time. Then I worked upward in brick stitch to a decent choker width of 1/2" and finished out the rest of the choker in peyote. I had fun looking through my vintage button collection and found the perfect button to complement the Art Deco design. Of course, I finished it all last minute and could only get some basic photos done. Next time, no procrastinating (yeah right) ! You can check out all the amazing entries from our beadweaving team now and vote on March 8th.

Source: http://ambrosianbeads.blogspot.com/2011/03/metropolis-necklace-etsy-beadweavers.html

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New growing season

First signs of Spring in an English Woodland

Source: http://microcosmic.blogspot.com/2008/02/new-growing-season.html

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Owl love you

Hello Stitchy friends,
Oh yes, it's been a long time, I know! Short story is that 2009 was a HORRID year and as such, all crafty endeavours suffered. But I'm getting back on track now, and to show you how much owl love you all here's a pattern from a late 60's Crewelwork set:

Hopefully it's clear enough for you to print and use...I don't have access to a scanner anymore, so I took a pic of this pattern with my i-phone. And don't forget to share any pics of your stitchy goodness to the Flickr embroidery pool!

Source: http://stitchybritches.blogspot.com/2010/02/owl-love-you.html

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The Peoples' town

An early 20th Century photo of Brave, Pa., after Peoples Natural Gas Co. established a compressor station in the Greene County community.


By CARA HOST

Greene County in Pennsylvania has been experiencing a Marcellus Shale natural gas boon for the past few years, but it's all old hat for the folks there in Brave.

Brave had its own natural gas boon nearly 100 years ago, when Peoples Natural Gas Co. of Pittsburgh decided this little hamlet on the banks of Dunkard Creek was the perfect place to build what became the largest gas compressor station in the world.

"It was nothing then, just a few farmers," said Jerry Blue, a retired engineer who grew up in Brave but now lives in Ohio.

Blue frequently returns to his hometown and he and a group of fellow Brave natives share a keen interest in its history. The group of amateur historians parlayed their knowledge into a book, "A Village Called Brave," which is in its second printing.

Just as the compressor station featured prominently in the lives of Brave residents until it closed in 1959, the station is also a big part of the book.

James Hoy, a Brave native now living in Virginia, was the main editor, but at least a half dozen other people contributed articles, photographs and personal accounts during the three years it took to write it.

Folks from this oddly named town, which straddles the Mason-Dixon Line in Wayne Township, gather at the fire hall every June to swap remembrances of what it was like growing up in Brave. At one point, someone suggested they ought to commit these stories to paper.

"I think we looked at each other and realized that we're the last link to the past and when we're gone, all of this history is gone," Blue said.

The book has several personal essays of life during the compressor station era, from 1906 to 1959.

The accounts offer rich, private details about everyday life not seen in most history books, such as playing baseball in the field near the elementary school, sewing baby clothes out of feed bags during the Great Depression and swimming in the town's swimming hole, an area between the upper and lower dams of DunkardCreek.

Peoples Natural Gas Co. built those dams as part of its cooling system. Pipes were placed at the bottom of the creek and the dams created a large pool of water to cool the gas. In the process, the hot gas heated the water, giving Brave residents their own heated swimming pool.

The company also directly or indirectly contributed many other amenities that were considered quite modern at the time. The village had a public water and sewer system, telephone service, an elementary school and an ice plant.

"The company was the community. Almost everybody that lived there worked there. It was a thriving, self-contained little community," Blue said.

Peoples Natural Gas Co. built its compressor station in 1906 to pump natural gas to factories in the Pittsburgh area. Before then, the little village in southern Greene County barely had enough people to justify a post office.

That fact didn't stop Mary Coen, who became the village's first postmaster, from asking for permission to open a post office around 1890.

She called the post office Brave. No one is quite sure where she got the name, but the best guess is she named it after her family dog.

When Peoples Natural Gas Co. built its station, Brave was changed almost overnight. The company provided jobs for about 100 men, so the early landowners divided their tracts to provide homes for the workers. Various stores, churches, inns and other businesses sprung up in the ensuing years.

The compressor station brought prosperity to the tiny village, but it also brought tragedy. In 1917, a malfunctioning valve sparked a huge explosion that could be heard as far away as Morgantown, W.Va., and Waynesburg. Six men died and five others were injured. The survivors carried scars from the explosion for the rest of their lives.

Despite the explosion, the plant and the town continued to grow. "A Village Called Brave" cites an article in the Blacksville High School student newspaper that speculates Brave was destined to grow into a bustling city.

"Unfortunately, it went the other way," Blue said.

Peoples Natural Gas Co. expanded its network of pipelines in the 1950s, eventually making the Brave station unnecessary. The company closed the station in 1959.

By 1965, Accurate Forging Corp. acquired the station and turned it into a brass forging plant. That plant provided much-needed jobs for the people of Brave, but it was never quite the driving force behind the town as the compressor station once was. Cerro Fabricating Products Inc. now owns the plant and a small number of employees still manufacture brass parts in the buildings.

Blue noticed that the town has deteriorated over the years and he fears not much will be left of Brave in a generation or two.

"I think it will go the way of Kuhntown or Pine Bank or Hero. There will be a few houses there, but not much else," he said.

Copies of "A Village Called Brave" are available through the Greene County Tourist Promotion Agency office.

Cara Host is a writer at the Observer-Reporter. This story first appeared in the spring issues of its Greene County Living magazine.

Source: http://scottbeveridge.blogspot.com/2011/04/peoples-town.html

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Superior 140 : 7 kitten motifs

It's time for some DOW tea towels. I love to stitch a kitteh, and these ones are so sweet they will give you the proverbial toothache! Little kittys doing household tasks, we can never get enough of them. Neither it seems could Superior brand transfers, for I have a lot of transfers from that particular company that feature cats.

Kitty is ironing, hanging out the washing (wearing roller skates no less), singing at church, sweeping the floor, mending clothes, having a tea party, and on a tricycle doing the shopping. All the time she has a little friend doggy or a stuffed toy to help her. The relationship between cats and dogs in transfer-land always amuses me, as it has little relation to real life cat-dog interaction. Unless of course, in this transfer below, the doggy is about to come and nip her on her posterior. That would be like my animals - Lola can't see a cat bottom go past without chasing it.

Of course, like all good homemakers, she's providing tea for all (that's one of my founding principles, "tea for all") and little stuffed teddy, kitty and bunny are happy to play along. As the pattern says, these are meant to be for days-of-the-week towels, but they'd look cute on children's quilts or bed linen as well. Whilst I don't want to muscle in on the Vogart hyperbole, in my opinion:

These darling designs are quick and easy to sew, and a choice of gay, bright colours will make your towels come alive and add fun to your modern kitchen. Children will love their own towels stitched with Miss Kitten and her friends, and a set will make washing hands no longer a chore! Just stitch these designs and instantly you will become more attractive, and they will bring good fortune and friends into your life. Your home will be beautiful, your children, beaming with health, rosy cheeked and perfectly scrubbed and well behaved, and your husband will cherish the perfect homemaker that he married.

Ooops, think I'm getting carried away now.... help me!......argh....

Source: http://stitchybritches.blogspot.com/2008/06/superior-140-7-kitten-motifs.html

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Artists peform surgery on skull masks

A fractured skull sculpture, "Bro," by Specter Studios artist China Horrell. (Scott Beveridge photo)

By Scott Beveridge

PITTSBURGH ? One never knows what creativity will inspire when artists are given a fresh sheet of canvas on which to express their individuality.

It?s another thing altogether when they are handed the same 10 pale fractured skull masks and then asked to transform them into art for a gallery show in Pittsburgh. No doubt fake plasma will flow from at least one of the movie-prop quality masks produced locally at Specter Studios.

?There?s a little something here for everybody,? said Kim Lyons, marketing director for the artist factory.

She is wearing a black and white furry cape to greet visitors at the studio?s Friday opening reception for the mask modification show at ModernFormations gallery in the city?s scruffy Lawrenceville section.

?If you?re into the Halloween blood and guts, there is some of that,? Lyons said. ?If you want something romantic looking with roses, there is some of that, too.?

It?s difficult to get romantic over that skull, which has an embroidered rose across its forehead and stitched cobwebs over it jawbone. Titled ?Bitches get Stitches,? the work of Leigh Ferraro certainly stands out in the pack if that?s even possible because hers' is situated beside a skull buried in a freaky sculpture shaped like an ice cream cone.

The two-day show, Osteotomy: Mask Art by Specter Studios, is a ghoulish testament to the fine quality of the talent at this business, which strives to give local artists a place to sustain their crafts in Pittsburgh.

Pittsburgh pediatrician Scott Tyson and his partner, Mark Marsen, purchased the struggling business in 2004. It has evolved into a factory at a former plumbing warehouse in the city?s Sharpsburg section with 17 full-time employees who also hand make masks of such creatures as zombies and frightening clowns. The best-selling item is a half-mask of the big bad wolf with a bloody red tongue appearing to lick its lips.

This is the second attempt by Specter Studios to promote the work of its employees at a fine art gallery, and another show is planned for October. The company is considering asking Pittsburgh artists it does not employ to take on the challenge to decorate a skull mask for the next show timed for the Halloween season, Lyons said.

?It?s amazing what you will get when you give 10 different artist the same palate and they come up with 10 so uniquely different pieces,? she said.

Surely she is speaking with that mask over there in mind, the one with glowing eyes, blood dripping from its ugly yellow tongue and bat wings sprouting from its ears.

"Transistus Fluvii" by Michael Passafiume, another artists at Specter Studios (Scott Beveridge photo)

(This show has its final run from 8 to 11 p.m. today at the gallery at 4919 Penn Ave.)

Source: http://scottbeveridge.blogspot.com/2011/03/artists-peform-surgery-on-skull-masks.html

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It's Getting Hot!

relax, baby, originally uploaded by howtouseart.

silkscreen, spray paint, pastel, charcoal, and acrylic
18" x 22"

Yeah, I think summer is officially here in Florida... As soon as you step outside, you get covered in an icky film of sweat and humidity. So that is why I'm staying INside and doing lots of painting! This is one from a few months ago, plenty of new ones to show you too, but of course I gotta take some pictures first...

I'm super excited because in a few weeks I am off to Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina. I am taking the "Print and Clay Buffet" class and learning how to make images onto pottery - yay! So exicted...and lucky because I got a scholarship to take the class. :)
I will keep you guys posted on how it goes and will definitely want to show you what I make!

Source: http://howtomakeart.blogspot.com/2010/05/it-getting-hot.html

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I'm a Winner !

I got a message the other day from my fellow beadweaver and Facebook friend, AJ, telling me that I won a pair of her earrings ! I was so surprised because I didn't remember entering any contest, although I am a fan of her Facebook page, Earthe Fae Designs. The contest was open to all Facebook fans, and lo and behold, I won ! I can't wait to receive these lovely earrings. Thanks again, AJ ! Please take a look at some of the other beauties she has in her Etsy shop, Earthe Fae Designs.

Source: http://ambrosianbeads.blogspot.com/2010/03/im-winner.html

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IUP Trombone Choir

The Indiana University of Pennsylvania Trombone Choir performs "Peri-dots," by Norman Bolter, with student conductor George Joyce at Rehoboth Presbyterian Church in Rostraver, Pa.

Source: http://scottbeveridge.blogspot.com/2011/04/iup-trombone-choir.html

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Sailor girl and Sailor boy

sailor girl, originally uploaded by 'Playingwithbrushes'.

Given the fact that I've been neglecting my scanning lately, when I find something cute and stitchy in my Interweb travels I have to share with you. Two cuties to stitch, from a vintage colouring book, courtesy of Playing with Brushes' Flickr.

Source: http://stitchybritches.blogspot.com/2008/10/sailor-girl-and-sailor-boy.html

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Summer in Brighton

Source: http://microcosmic.blogspot.com/2010/07/summer-in-brighton.html

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Sailor girl and Sailor boy

sailor girl, originally uploaded by 'Playingwithbrushes'.

Given the fact that I've been neglecting my scanning lately, when I find something cute and stitchy in my Interweb travels I have to share with you. Two cuties to stitch, from a vintage colouring book, courtesy of Playing with Brushes' Flickr.

Source: http://stitchybritches.blogspot.com/2008/10/sailor-girl-and-sailor-boy.html

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EBW Members Nearly Meet !

A couple days ago I got a Facebook message from a fellow Etsy Beadweaver, Rosita aka CrownRoseGems. She was visiting the Washington, DC area and I felt very honored that she wanted to make a special trip to my fiber co-op to see my beadwork. We nearly made a connection, but plans didn't favor our meeting in person. However, she was able to visit the Potomac Fiber Arts Gallery in the Torpedo Factory Art Center, and graciously complimented my jewelry that she saw while she was there. Please take a look at her beautiful beadwork here . I hope we do get to meet sometime and I hope I get to meet other beadweavers too. My place is always open for a visit from a fellow bead fanatic !
CrownRoseGems

Source: http://ambrosianbeads.blogspot.com/2009/12/ebw-members-nearly-meet.html

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Was just looking...

at this lovely blog, and this post has a pic of some of these Vogart patterns, stitched and original. Just gorgeous!

Source: http://stitchybritches.blogspot.com/2008/06/was-just-looking.html

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It's Getting Hot!

relax, baby, originally uploaded by howtouseart.

silkscreen, spray paint, pastel, charcoal, and acrylic
18" x 22"

Yeah, I think summer is officially here in Florida... As soon as you step outside, you get covered in an icky film of sweat and humidity. So that is why I'm staying INside and doing lots of painting! This is one from a few months ago, plenty of new ones to show you too, but of course I gotta take some pictures first...

I'm super excited because in a few weeks I am off to Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina. I am taking the "Print and Clay Buffet" class and learning how to make images onto pottery - yay! So exicted...and lucky because I got a scholarship to take the class. :)
I will keep you guys posted on how it goes and will definitely want to show you what I make!

Source: http://howtomakeart.blogspot.com/2010/05/it-getting-hot.html

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Vintage summer

In honour of the most gorgeous summer weather we've been having in the UK for the last week, here's a collection of images that give me good summer vibes. They're all examples of a vintage/ethereal type post-processing treatment that I really like, has a very nostalgic and soft summery feel about it. I've experimented a little to try and replicate the look of this with some of my own pictures, but haven't really been satisfied with many of the results so far - can't quite get the same soft pastel feel happening. Shooting in RAW on a 50mm with slight overexposure seems to be a good start

Added to my 'Vintage summer' gallery on flickr - check here for photo credits :)

Source: http://microcosmic.blogspot.com/2010/07/vintage-summer.html

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