Artisan Crafts Update - 7/3/2009 - Important EDIT

"I'm in the process of streamlining and will be starting with the Artisan Crafts gallery and Literature. This process is painful and can take time and could cause frustration but we will keep you updated on progress and try to keep the annoyances to a minimum. If you wish to send me coffee, I would love you long time "

Yes, that's right, the next step in streamlining and making changes to the galleries in Artisan Crafts will begin soon. I say "next step" because work has actually been going on with this for a long time and it all began when my former partner Myana started work on a proposal for change. Later on, she and I discussed it more as 2008 wore on and early this year I took a very close and indepth look at that proposal to make more changes and also to change many gallery descriptions. If you have any ideas or suggestions, now is the time to be heard, but please do it soon and by sending me a note and titling it "gallery changes." You might not hear back from me unless it's to ask a question, but all will be read and taken into serious consideration.

The Niche Awards

"Sponsored by NICHE magazine, the annual Niche Awards competition celebrates excellence and innovation in American and Canadian craft. Artists are recognized in professional and student divisions.

Artists have the opportunity to complete applications by mail or directly online for the 2010 NICHE Awards:
2010 Deadlines & Fees:
Professionals – August 31, 2009; $40 online / $45 by mail (special discount offered to 2010 BMAC (Buyers Market of American Craft) exhibitors)
Students – September 30, 2009; $18 online / $25 by mail
The NICHE Awards competition is open to professional craft artists over the age of 21 who reside in the United States or Canada and are actively involved in the design and production of craftwork supplied to galleries and/or craft stores.

The NICHE Student Awards competition is open to any craft student residing in the U.S. or Canada and attending an undergraduate, graduate or certificate arts program.

Submitted work must have been produced or introduced after August 31, 2008 to be eligible. Categories are Ceramics, Fiber, Glass, Metal, Wood, Jewelry, Home Furnishings, and Other. All categories include several sub-categories. Please go here to see the complete list of categories. This is not just a competition but an opportunity to expose your work to buyers and the media. Also, be sure to check out photos of past winning entries so that you can see the level of skills that you'll be up against.

Penland School of Crafts

"Located in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, Penland offers one-, two-, and eight-week workshops in books & paper, clay, drawing, glass, iron, metals, photography, printmaking and letterpress, textiles, and wood. The school also sponsors artists' residencies, community education programs, and a craft gallery."

Fall Class Descriptions:
Fall Eight-Week Concentration (September 20 - November 13, 2009) in Clay, Glass, Iron, Letterpress, Metals

Fall One-Week Concentration Session I (October 4 - 10, 2009) in Photo, Color, Wood

Fall One-Week Concentration Session II (October 11 - 17, 2009) in Painting, Metals, Wood

Fall One-Week Concentration Session III (October 25 - 31, 2009) in Painting, Printmaking, Textiles

"Students come from all walks of life. They range from 19 to 90 years of age and from absolute beginners to professional craftspeople. Some see Penland as a productive retreat, some as a source of inspiration for their personal creative lives, and others as a place to exchange vital information about material, technique, and process. What brings them all together is a love of materials and making, and the often transformative experience of working with intensity and focus in a supportive community atmosphere."

"The Penland Experience" 

Print-on-Demand Fabrics

Designing your own fabric and then having it printed on demand should especially be of interest to clothing/costume designers, handbag/purse makers, plushiemakers, quilters, furniture upholsterers, or just about any textile artist. spoonflower.com in Mebane, North Carolina can print your drawings onto fabric so that you have yardage for a myriad of personal or commercial uses.

"Design and buy custom fabric printed on demand. Create and upload your own textile designs and print only what you need with no minimum order. The Spoonflower community uses fabric to make quilts, clothes, pillows, dolls, blankets, handbags, framed textile art and many other things. When we're lucky, our customers post photos of the beautiful items they make in the Spoonflower photo gallery on Flickr." You can also visit Spoonflower's blog.

Thanks goes to pronouncedyou for telling me about this company.

"Dimensional Jewelry with Peyote Stitch"

This is a book that is a must-see for anyone who does beading and wants to make beaded jewelry. In March of this year, Lark Books published Shaped Beadwork -- Dimensional Jewelry with Peyote Stitch by Diane Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald, a master beader and recipient of the 2008 Bead & Button Show Excellence in Bead Artistry Award, has written this book that is:

More than 20 truly stunning projects, all using peyote stitch, come in a variety of flat and dimensional shapes, from triangles, teardrops, and pentagons to tetrahedrons, cubes, and diamonds. Sleek, contemporary, and breathtaking, these beadwoven pieces are perfect for the intermediate crafter—but with such clear and detailed instructions, even beginners will give them a try!"

If you are seriously interested in this particular craft and want to push your skills to the limit, you should click here to read more about the book and to see the bookcover. By all means, do click on the cover's fullview because you will not believe the gorgeousness of the beads on the cover and that you can learn to stitch them.
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Did You Know?

Did you know that I look for as many links as possible that might be of interest to all artisans? Not only that, but I also don't wait until I post a new journal to update all those links. If you have an event, contest, or some other newsworthy item you think I should include, just send me a note. Everytime I find a link, I update my journal right then and there and that means that my journal is changing almost every day. The only time I don't include news and contest links in my journal is when I post the monthly journal that features all the Daily Deviations from the previous month, so if you need to see what's up-to-date, just look in either my current journal or in my journal history for the one preceding it.

Artisan Crafts Contests:

See You At the Fair! (A Culinary Arts contest). Brought to you by Kitten-of-Woe and PurpelBlur.

The Ogham contest for members of the Celtic-Dreaming club using digital, traditional, artisan, or written mediums. Deadline is August 11, 2009.

Artisan Contest Theme Nature by the artisanlist club

Details on Spexton's global scavenger hunt can be found here.

*Rockhounds Mineral Photography Contest. The theme was mineral sample photographs and entries were to be submitted to Photography > Animals, Plants & Nature > Geology. The winners have been announced and they are here. See all the entries here.

Artisan Crafts News:

Artisans and Functional Art - June 2009 by Kitten-of-Woe
Artisan Crafts DDs for June 2009 by Kitten-of-Woe

The blueprint of... Copper Mech Dragon
The blueprint of... Pharoah's Horses, an interview with indeestudios by Myana
The blueprint of... Red wave glass tile pendant, an interview with inchworm by Myana
Winnegan's Picks #9: It's Alive, It's ALIVE!!!!! by TormentedArtifacts
The Prop Collection by PamEvangeline
Holiday Feature 1 - Independence Day by the ArtisanCraft club
dAknitters' June Project Features/July Collection by the dAKnitters club
Admins Hand picked #3 by Tepara
Jewellery Weekly Edition #4 by Scarlet-Impressions
Madeby-me: Members' Submissions for June 2009 by the madeby-me club
Bi-Weekly Feature 13 - Birds by MyntKat
Let's go for a Swim! Water-related crafts Feature by biancaneve81
marquetry presentation by ~prometheus065
Holiday Feature 3 - Embrace your Geekness by MyntKat for the ArtisanCraft club
ArtisanCraft Club - Submissions 2009 - Vol.19
ArtisanCraft Feature No. 63
Sunday Features No. 66 by the ArtisanCraft club

The Artisan Crafts Gallery, edition 77 by feetpeet

News & Events from all around dA:

THE SUBMISSION COPYRIGHT GUIDE 1 by l8
Portfolio: The Awesome Version
Deviousness Award for July to `Rushy
Writers to Read: Allen Ginsberg; Guest Post by Claire Askew (=TheObviousChild) by by fllnthblnk
EmoticonLegend Refresh & New Seniors (emoticonists)
Spicy tips for critiques and your own works! by FaMz
deviantARTtimes Sunday July 12, 2009
deviantARTtimes July 5th, 2009
deviantARTtimes June 28th, 2009

Community Relations:

Official deviantART Contests
CR Team
Community Relations Openings

Community Relations Newsletter - May 2009 by moonbeam13
Community Relations Newsletter - April 2009 by moonbeam13
Community Relations Newsletter - March 2009 by moonbeam13
Compiled 2007/2008 CR Newsletters by moonbeam13

FAQ #62: How do I use Journal skins?
FAQ #87: Is there a limit on how many messages I can have?
FAQ #95: What is the Critique Feature and how do I use it?
FAQ #56: How can I get noticed on this site?
:faq42:

Weekly Help Desk Updates - May 22nd, 2009
Weekly Help Desk Updates - March 20th, 2009
Weekly Help Desk Updates - March 13th, 2009

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