Hi Everyone!
Thanks for reading. I guess I'll start off with a little about myself. I didn't think I had that much to say, but my profile started getting kind of lengthy so I figured I should re-direct.
First off, I'm starting this blog as an off-shoot of my brand spankin' new Etsy Store, BloomAndBarnacle. Yes, I did indeed name my store after my dog, Barnacle (Barney). I haven't always been a crazy dog person. I had dogs growing up, and I was always a "dog" person, in the sense that I would much rather own a dog than a cat. The crazy part developed about 2 years ago when I became a boxer owner. As any boxer owners out there know, a boxer is not a "dog", but a four-legged, furry, better-than-human best friend. And seeing as he sticks by my side through countless 15 hour Saturday sewing/painting/crafting sessions, he should get some kind of retribution. More about Barney later.
I've blogged a little here and there, mostly while I was planning my wedding purely to keep track of all of my inspiration pics. My family is always giving me a hard time about being a "clipping" junkie. As in having a million torn out magazine pages and printed photos from websites all over the place. These blogs were essentially e-clipping binders with a few journal entries thrown in to keep it interesting. Regardless, that is the opposite of what I'd like to do here. I'm hoping to keep an organized, readable, interesting literary account of my artistic pursuits in order to keep myself on track. And seeing as my entire wedding was planned through the generous posting of pics and diy tricks from others, I thought it was time I put some of my own ideas\inspiration out there and hopefully someone else can get something out of it.
That being said, expect to read about a few varying ventures here. Anything from painting, sewing, papercrafts, etc.
However, I'm hoping that the gist of this site will be in reference to my new venture, Dollmaking. I guess it isn't exactly new. I started making dolls with my Grandma when I was probably about 6 years old. I'm from a tiny town in the Mojave Desert, and it gets unbelievably hot there in the summer. I'm talking record temps of 130 degrees. There were three options that my brother and I had as children during these months: talk someone into taking us to the river where we'd spend the day happy as fish in the icy water, find a friend with a pool, or stay inside. When we resorted to option three, we were making something, and most often this was at my granparents' house.
We were very lucky as children in a lot of ways, one of them being that our family was incredibly creative. My dad can build/fix anything, from playhouses to real houses to trucks. My mom is an incredible painter who had a day job as a hairdresser and can build a killer float and sew an amazing Halloween costume. My grandmother is an incredible seamstress and made a career out of doll crafting. My Grandpa is a carpenter/welder/taxidermist and makes some of the most incredible knives you'll ever see.
I digress. So I started making cloth dolls as a small child under the expert tutorage of my Grandma. Eventually I moved onto Barbie clothes. I honestly got a little scared as a pre-teen that I was never going to grow out of Barbies. I know now that there are more of us out there, but at the time I really thought I was kind of a wierdo. I would still secretly get Barbies for Christmas when I was like 12 years old. I would only ask for the collector's editions because I figured that was slightly more excusable. Anway, my Barbies had the most eclectic wardrobes of anyone I knew. I was crocheting Barbie bikinis before Ashley Paige had ever been heard of. In college, one of my last projects was an installation involving two different Barbie houses. Okay, maybe I am a weirdo.=)
So, now that I've graduated from college, I'm happily married, and have finally purchased a house with the incredibly gracious help from the best father in law ever, it was time to sit down and really think about what I want to do with my life. I had a short stint with a faux finishing studio right out of college, and had thought that maybe I'd be a mural painter. And although I did enjoy it, it never felt quite right to me. When I decided to leave that venture, I sat down and had a heart to heart with my fiance, and told him what I wanted to do, my ultimate dream, my goal in life: I wanted to make stuff.
I'm not an eloquent person. It's not that I couldn't be, it just doesn't interest me, I don't have the patience for it, I don't like the hoity toitiness that it ephemerates. (Ironic?)
The problem was, I couldn't figure out how I was going to make that work. I don't know anyone else who does anything like this in the big city. (My family made their entire living through local craft fairs and word of mouth). More importantly, I wasn't sure what I wanted to make. I like doing too many things. And I couldn't bear the thought of being pigeonholed into one idea for the rest of my career.
More and more, as I was looking up wedding ideas, I kept coming across tutorials for rag dolls. That's something I was actually really interested in. I could make rag dolls with the coolest freakin clothes/hair/personalities you've ever seen. Then I discovered Etsy. Pure brilliance! The thing is, I didn't realize there were that many people interested in handmade products. There are millions! And believe it or not, there are people that are actually doing this FOR A LIVING! Now I'm not naive. I know that probably like .05% of Etsy sellers are making enough money to live off of their handmade products. But I am determined! I was not meant to be an Office Manger, I can tell you that. With my 30th birthday looming, there's no time like the present. If it is possible, I'm going to make it happen.
(I also found a great book, Craft Inc., through one of my favorite sites, DesignSponge. They say that many times you can identify the one moment/idea/inspiration that you set you on path in life. I have to say, this book set me in motion. Sorry if this sounds like a shameless advertisement, it's not, I'm just really happy that I found that little push that I needed.)
So my goal is to make a quality, handmade doll that will blow your socks off. Something that you can buy for that kid who has EVERYTHING. Or that adult who has everything. Dolls that are quirky, that you can't find anywhere else. Dolls that are inspired by historic sources and current social trends that are just right for your friend/cousin/co-worker with that eclectic personality.
So please stay tuned! I'm hard at work to have a line of about 30 dolls debut late July/early August. I also have a hand-painted kitchen textile line in the works that should be ready shortly after the dolls.
Thanks for reading. I guess I'll start off with a little about myself. I didn't think I had that much to say, but my profile started getting kind of lengthy so I figured I should re-direct.
First off, I'm starting this blog as an off-shoot of my brand spankin' new Etsy Store, BloomAndBarnacle. Yes, I did indeed name my store after my dog, Barnacle (Barney). I haven't always been a crazy dog person. I had dogs growing up, and I was always a "dog" person, in the sense that I would much rather own a dog than a cat. The crazy part developed about 2 years ago when I became a boxer owner. As any boxer owners out there know, a boxer is not a "dog", but a four-legged, furry, better-than-human best friend. And seeing as he sticks by my side through countless 15 hour Saturday sewing/painting/crafting sessions, he should get some kind of retribution. More about Barney later.
I've blogged a little here and there, mostly while I was planning my wedding purely to keep track of all of my inspiration pics. My family is always giving me a hard time about being a "clipping" junkie. As in having a million torn out magazine pages and printed photos from websites all over the place. These blogs were essentially e-clipping binders with a few journal entries thrown in to keep it interesting. Regardless, that is the opposite of what I'd like to do here. I'm hoping to keep an organized, readable, interesting literary account of my artistic pursuits in order to keep myself on track. And seeing as my entire wedding was planned through the generous posting of pics and diy tricks from others, I thought it was time I put some of my own ideas\inspiration out there and hopefully someone else can get something out of it.
That being said, expect to read about a few varying ventures here. Anything from painting, sewing, papercrafts, etc.
However, I'm hoping that the gist of this site will be in reference to my new venture, Dollmaking. I guess it isn't exactly new. I started making dolls with my Grandma when I was probably about 6 years old. I'm from a tiny town in the Mojave Desert, and it gets unbelievably hot there in the summer. I'm talking record temps of 130 degrees. There were three options that my brother and I had as children during these months: talk someone into taking us to the river where we'd spend the day happy as fish in the icy water, find a friend with a pool, or stay inside. When we resorted to option three, we were making something, and most often this was at my granparents' house.
We were very lucky as children in a lot of ways, one of them being that our family was incredibly creative. My dad can build/fix anything, from playhouses to real houses to trucks. My mom is an incredible painter who had a day job as a hairdresser and can build a killer float and sew an amazing Halloween costume. My grandmother is an incredible seamstress and made a career out of doll crafting. My Grandpa is a carpenter/welder/taxidermist and makes some of the most incredible knives you'll ever see.
I digress. So I started making cloth dolls as a small child under the expert tutorage of my Grandma. Eventually I moved onto Barbie clothes. I honestly got a little scared as a pre-teen that I was never going to grow out of Barbies. I know now that there are more of us out there, but at the time I really thought I was kind of a wierdo. I would still secretly get Barbies for Christmas when I was like 12 years old. I would only ask for the collector's editions because I figured that was slightly more excusable. Anway, my Barbies had the most eclectic wardrobes of anyone I knew. I was crocheting Barbie bikinis before Ashley Paige had ever been heard of. In college, one of my last projects was an installation involving two different Barbie houses. Okay, maybe I am a weirdo.=)
So, now that I've graduated from college, I'm happily married, and have finally purchased a house with the incredibly gracious help from the best father in law ever, it was time to sit down and really think about what I want to do with my life. I had a short stint with a faux finishing studio right out of college, and had thought that maybe I'd be a mural painter. And although I did enjoy it, it never felt quite right to me. When I decided to leave that venture, I sat down and had a heart to heart with my fiance, and told him what I wanted to do, my ultimate dream, my goal in life: I wanted to make stuff.
I'm not an eloquent person. It's not that I couldn't be, it just doesn't interest me, I don't have the patience for it, I don't like the hoity toitiness that it ephemerates. (Ironic?)
The problem was, I couldn't figure out how I was going to make that work. I don't know anyone else who does anything like this in the big city. (My family made their entire living through local craft fairs and word of mouth). More importantly, I wasn't sure what I wanted to make. I like doing too many things. And I couldn't bear the thought of being pigeonholed into one idea for the rest of my career.
More and more, as I was looking up wedding ideas, I kept coming across tutorials for rag dolls. That's something I was actually really interested in. I could make rag dolls with the coolest freakin clothes/hair/personalities you've ever seen. Then I discovered Etsy. Pure brilliance! The thing is, I didn't realize there were that many people interested in handmade products. There are millions! And believe it or not, there are people that are actually doing this FOR A LIVING! Now I'm not naive. I know that probably like .05% of Etsy sellers are making enough money to live off of their handmade products. But I am determined! I was not meant to be an Office Manger, I can tell you that. With my 30th birthday looming, there's no time like the present. If it is possible, I'm going to make it happen.
(I also found a great book, Craft Inc., through one of my favorite sites, DesignSponge. They say that many times you can identify the one moment/idea/inspiration that you set you on path in life. I have to say, this book set me in motion. Sorry if this sounds like a shameless advertisement, it's not, I'm just really happy that I found that little push that I needed.)
So my goal is to make a quality, handmade doll that will blow your socks off. Something that you can buy for that kid who has EVERYTHING. Or that adult who has everything. Dolls that are quirky, that you can't find anywhere else. Dolls that are inspired by historic sources and current social trends that are just right for your friend/cousin/co-worker with that eclectic personality.
So please stay tuned! I'm hard at work to have a line of about 30 dolls debut late July/early August. I also have a hand-painted kitchen textile line in the works that should be ready shortly after the dolls.
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