House on the Rock

Posted on October 1, 2012 by mimik

After Chicago Renegade, my husband and I drove into Wisconsin to visit the House On The Rock. I’m not sure I’ve ever been in Wisconsin before- it is beautiful even though they’ve had a terrible drought all summer. We were lucky enough to be there a few weeks after they’d finally had rain and although the corn was only about 3 ft high, everything was very green and pretty.

This is the display in one of the the Ladies Restrooms!

I was initially confused about what kind of collection I was looking at. It is a wide variety of stuff. Some is rare, special and amazing, some looked very close to junk to me- especially when I was looking at something I know about. I readjusted my expectations.

There was an amazing collection of automata, mostly musical- from individual self-playing instruments to whole orchestras!

I was saddened by how many were in poor repair. Visitors can buy tokens and choose which they’d like to see in action. One of the first that we tried was a mechanical banjo. There were 4 “fingers” but only 2 of them were working. It was terrible. Other ones that we tried were wonderful in spite of the broken bits, but I really wish someone cared enough to spend money on keeping these treasures going.

Wonderful collection of circus posters in the cafe.

A player piano with an interesting way of storing the scroll- definitely worth 50Â¢ to see that in action.

Here you can see the scale of some of these “music boxes”.

This one filled an entire room- And it wasn’t the only one!

There were a number of these planters out in the parking lots. I’m not sure you can tell how big these are- well over 10 ft tall I think.

And next I’ll post some photos of the NIADA doll conference and my too short visit to Maker Faire.

Thanks for all the nice notes- really I’m fine. I mostly wanted to let people know why things were going to be quiet around here. We all need time to reflect.

Currently I am planning to schedule some classes in the next few months- I’m thinking that it would be fun to focus on projects that people would like to make for holiday gifts- little felt ornaments, owls, tiny worlds… and if I can figure out about sewing machines, the fish. I’m wondering about weekends versus weekdays. Also, just a reminder, I am happy to schedule a class for any group at your convenience if you have a least 4 people ready to go.

I’ll be back soon!

Chicago Renegade booth

Posted on September 17, 2012 by mimik

above was Saturday, below Sunday. I put the back wall up on Sunday so it looks a little different.

This was the Saturday wall display.

And more goodies in a cloth basket. All those fish have found new homes!

And this is how I changed the wall around for Sunday.

And the table display-

I have almost finished putting everything in my shop that didn’t sell. Hopefully I will get that done in the next few days.

Thanks to every one that came out to say hello!

August owl 2

Posted on August 20, 2012 by mimik

This one has a piece of cashmere sweater on the top of his head that is so, so soft.

And the wings are made from an angora/wool blend sweater that I dyed a long while ago. Also very, very soft.

long dog

Posted on August 16, 2012 by mimik

You can see the curly tail- I put a pipe cleaner in all the dog tails so they are pose-able.

I have a little confession. I’ve been holding back on you. I finished all these doggies over the week-end but have been posting them slowly. I can’t show you what I’ve been working on and don’t want things to get too boring around here. I’m working on the prototypes for another line with Land Of Nod. I am getting soooo excited about the first line which will be in the Holiday 2012 catalog. Every day it gets closer to reality!

San Francisco was Awesome!

Posted on July 31, 2012 by mimik

I had a fantastic time in San Francisco. Renegade was incredible. I heard that 17,000 people came on Saturday and I’m not sure what the total was for the weekend. Our days afterward were filled with visits to wonderful places and first-time meet ups with internet friends.

We started our stay in San Francisco in an apartment that we found through airbnb. It was on a really steep hill, just a few blocks from the very windy Lombard St.

We had excellent views.

The venue at Fort Mason was wonderful- indoors, lots of light, wide aisles, real bathrooms and running water… Paradise! So many people came out to say hi- I was thrilled and a bit overwhelmed. If you came by and I had a dazed look on my face, that is why. I am not used to being around so many people! Thank you to everyone who stopped by, bought my work, said nice things, brought me presents (!). It was incredible busy and one sign of how good an event it was for me- I ran out of shopping bags!

So, I am sure I will be back! Here I am at my booth-

Isn’t that a fantastic photo? An amazing photographer, Sarah Deragon stopped by and took some shots. Then she sent me a link and said I could use them- for free– as long as I credit her. Wow! I am so grateful. Check out her website– she does amazing portraiture. Honestly, I met and interacted with so many nice people.

Here are my pics of my set-up-

And someone brought her tiny world to show me. So beautifully done and unfortunately my photo is blurry- sorry V. I love seeing the personal creative touches. She’d added yoyo’s around the edge!

At the end of the day on Sunday, my Sister-in-law picked us up and we went down to Santa Cruz for a few days and then later back up to Berkeley. Here is a quick list of the people I met up with-

Robert Mahar and Cathy Callahan of Cathy of California who were at Renegade with me. Michelle, who I (internet) met originally when she still had her craft blog going, Green Kitchen. I had dinner with Alice aka Futuregirl. And I spent a wonderful day with Sonya, both at her studio and some other places she took me to around town. I am always amazed at how comfortable it is for me to meet people that I’ve had an internet connection with- all the ice-breaking, explaining, proving ones self can be skipped over. We already “get” each other and speak the same language.

And the fiber art related places I visited:

– the Jean Paul Gaultier show at the de Young Museum. It was incredible- absolutely worth seeing if you can. I wish I’d had a whole day to spend just watching the videos of the fashion shows.

– Castle In The Air is a fun shop with all kinds of little treasures for art making. They are famous for their German crepe paper and high quality glitter.Â Hard to describe really!

– Tail Of The Yak (which doesn’t seem to have a website) was amazing, what can I say. They have a stuffed emu.

And they carry surprise balls by Anandamayi Arnold who unfortunately also doesn’t seem to have a website. There is a blog post about her and her botanical surprise balls here. I bought one that looks like a plum because I thought the beautiful lily would never make it home in my suitcase.

Sonya took me to Lacis, a store I’ve been hoping to visit for as long as I can remember. This is another place where I could spend a day, exploring and spending a pot of gold!

There were so many threads of various kinds- my idea of a thrill! Also, ribbons, lace, trims, tools, notions, books, wedding dresses, hats, buttons… honestly, I was in heaven.

After a delicious lunch we headed over to A Verb For Keeping Warm, a fabric/yarn shop/studio to visit and for me to buy some SF fabrics. I will try to get my act together and post photos of some of the treasures I brought home. As I said, an amazing trip!

Here is a public Google Map I made with places I went to and some places I wish I’d gotten to so will hopefully get there next time, all recommended by various people who know the area better than me. If you have favorite places that aren’t on the map, I’d love to add them so I will remember on my next trip out west.

In 2 weeks

Posted on July 7, 2012 by mimik

I will be here!

I hope you will come see me and say Hi!

Brooklyn report

Posted on June 27, 2012 by mimik

We had 2 beautiful market days. It was hot, sunny and there was a little breeze. Well actually, there were a few BIG breezes which were a tiny bit too exciting but my tent weights kept me safe. I was happily situated next to several friends which is so helpful when you need to borrow some little thing.

Here is the first day set-up.

This was the fantastic view out the back of my tent in the morning as we were setting up.

This is a few hours later- the grass was covered with sunbathing bodies.

Then on Sunday, I rearranged the dolls on the panels. I always think it might make a difference but really, it never does.

And packing up at the end of Sunday- the Brooklyn Bridge in the background.

We drove home yesterday (Tuesday) after having some recreational NYC time. We had a great time away from home. Brooklyn is such a fun place to hang out for a few days. I loved meeting blog readers (you know who you are and Hello again!), people who were seeing my work for the first time, and all kinds of enthusiastic Market goers. Today, I am back to work. I’ve got a lot of computer stuff to do- emails, etsy (I’ll be listing some of those dolls I finished up during the weeks leading up to the Market), blog stuff… all that not-studio work. My next big event is San Francisco Renegade, July 21 and 22.