Kiln work

May 19, 2009 ~ Bess Paper Goods & Gifts ~ Leave a comment

While shopping for housewares on etsy the other day I ran across Alice’s kiln work shop. Alice got her start as a glass artist experimenting with small torchwork beads and marbles. She eventually yearned to move on to bigger and better pieces, so she bought a kiln and taught herself the rest!

First she cuts appropriately sized pieces of glass for the base and decorative elements of the piece. She stacks them and fires them in the kiln to fuse them together. A single piece may be fired several times as design elements are layered on. When the flat blank is complete, the piece is returned to the kiln for shaping. This time the piece is placed across a form. As the temperature rises, the glass slowly slumps to take the shape of the mold.

Of what inspires her, she says, “I think I just enjoy being around glass. It feels good to the hand; it’s cold & smooth sometimes—rough other times; it’s a solid and a fluid . . . . There are so many techniques to learn and styles to dabble in that I find that just playing around with the glass tends to yield more fun projects than I could ever complete.” Keep playing, Alice, your work is beautiful!

Driftless Studio

May 18, 2009 ~ Bess Paper Goods & Gifts ~ 1 Comment

Anne Connor with her award-winning Boy Band — Anne Connor with her award-winning "Boy Band" photograph

622 press cards are now carried at Driftless Studio, which is owned and operated by Anne Connor. Anne is an amazing nature photographer, and the gallery exhibits much of her work as well as that of local and international artists. The shop carries everything from hand-woven rugs to unique jewelry to handmade crayons, and of course Anne’s photography graces coasters, mousepads, canvases and more.

She picked up my vintage owl notecard, plum and silver feathers note card and two colorways of my gone to seed note card. Driftless Studio is located at 2981 Cahill Main in Fitchburg, just behind The Great Dane on Fish Hatchery Rd.

Books and Brew, a delightful coffee shop in my hometown of Milton, WI, also decided to carry my cards full time. They picked up a few holiday designs last year, and the new owner Carla ordered a few of almost all of my notecard designs as well as one of each of the limited edition prints. She’s doing some really exciting things with the store including an expanded menu and earlier hours and giving the whole shop a facelift.

Miltons Old Junction Mill — Milton's Old Junction Mill

Books and Brew is located at 613 W. Madison Ave., in Milton’s recently restored Old Junction Mill, which is also home to The Red Rooster and Peddlar’s Loft. If you’re in the area you should definitely make a point to stop by!

A Alicia Accessories

May 10, 2009 ~ Bess Paper Goods & Gifts ~ 1 Comment

Anna Alicia’s etsy shop is filled with fantastic clusters of felt flowers to adorn everything from your clothing to your home. Each bloom is made by cutting individual petals and sewing them together, then assembling the flowers into an elegant mass.

Of her work, Anna Alicia says, “I wanted to make something that could really change an outfit but that could also be worn in lots of different ways. I’m hugely inspired by Japanese craft, in particular Kanzashi flower hair accessories, and also by vintage fashion and jewelery.”

I love the delicate sculptural quality of the pieces, but by far my favorite aspect of her work are the fantastically unexpected color combinations she creates. “[They] are key to my designs, and I’m always intrigued to see which are most popular. My color inspiration comes from all over — painting, fashion, nature…” she says. Keep ’em coming — your pieces inspire me!

Typographic Sculpture

May 6, 2009 ~ Bess Paper Goods & Gifts ~ 2 Comments

hello2 Lately, I’ve been getting back into typography. I finally began several projects using all my vintage wood and lead type — one notecard is featured here, lots more to come! You can pick up this card here. I love the impression the lead type leaves — it’s so incredibly deep and clean. And you can actually see the slightly bumpy surface of the wood type (“HELLO”) on the card.

hello31

I’ve also been lusting after several sculptural pieces that I can’t wait to have in my house. I’ve been dreaming of creating a home office with a full wall covered in 3-D typography for years now, and hopefully I’ll get to do it soon. A few pieces to get me started:

These stainless steel letterforms were rescued from a 1950’s era New York parking garage that was being demolished in 2002. They are available here.

These ceramic letters once lived to title 8mm & 16mm home movies. They are available at Portland’s Noun: A person’s place for things (which is such a clever name, I just love it!) as well as in their online store here.

Rachel Denny

May 4, 2009 ~ Bess Paper Goods & Gifts ~ 1 Comment

rachel_denny

rachel_denny_close I just finished up an order of business cards for Rachel Denny, a supremely talented sculptor working out of Portland. I bought the most luxurious gray printmaking paper for the project and I love the way they turned out. The design is based directly off of her ‘Domestic Trophies’ series, one piece of which is featured below. They’re a little crazy but I love them!