artisans - resonanteye

Obligatory gift guide post.

2nd of December 2013

In deep thoughts, DIY, ethics, holidays, love, money, motivation, pictures, posts with links in them, you,

bird in the hand Yes, I made a gift guide. There’s a few hundred things there by now! I know SO many creative and amazing people- and every year I buy from them instead of going to big box stores. Why? Well, partly because I enjoy owning things made by hand, by people on their own time. And partly because I hated every factory job I ever had. If you’ve ever worked in a factory you know- you may do the job itself well or with some pride, but you do NOT put love into each and every piece of your piece rate. Especially since you get paid peanuts, made to work holidays away from your family, and -unless you have a GREAT union- every single thing you make is like a nail in your coffin, hurting your back, blistering your fingers. Also, handmade goods, the money you spend on them goes right back into YOUR economy, not to some CEO’s offshore hoarding pile of money. The money you spend on handmade gets spent, right back into the world.

For those reasons, and MANY more, I buy from people who make things by hand themselves, from people who create art (then sell it or get it printed and sell the prints) and from people who curate vintage things on their own. These people do these things because they love them. And all too often these people are broke at the holidays, while everyone rushes to trample and kill each other to buy mass-produced garbage they’ll forget about in a month.

You can’t buy every single thing like this, of course- but there are a hell of a lot of things you CAN. And so, you SHOULD. You will feel good, the receiver of the gift you got will love it, and unlike factory goods- it will not be set aside and forgotten when the day is over.

Go check out the handmade and small business gift guide I made.

Some of my favorite things.

17th of March 2012

In art, collaborative work, pictures, posts with links in them, posts with lists in them, stuff for sale, true stories, you,

I usually post all my own work here, and occasionally a review of an artist or a few artists.

Today is one of the days when I feel like showing what some of my friends make. I belong to a team on etsy which runs on chaos and confusion. It’s enchanting in a way. There’s none of the usual melodrama or arguing found on that site- it’s a strange and silly group of people. The only real rule is to help each other out- and to enjoy doing it.

Here’s a link to that team– if you use etsy, you’re welcome to join us (you don’t have to have a shop to join in the mayhem.)

First of all, there’s Debbi. Now, she does digital stuff, photographs. She works in NOLA, which means all her stuff has that creepy, southern vibe. But she has also given me tons of ideas for my own work, including the notion to do curated shadowboxes. She is a promotional wizard and she is also the queen of amokery, even.

Also, I love her work.

You

can check out more of her things here.

I should also say that she is soooooooo fabulous.

Anyone who likes the dirty south should enjoy taking a peek at her stuff.

Then, there’s Francesca. I know two Frannies, this one is the dark one- her work is gothic, and sometimes strange. She does a lot of things with tiny bones, with feathers. She’s totally obsessed with day of the dead motifs.

Her stuff makes me smile. I know she also, like me, LOVES skulls.

You can see more from her here.

I’ve talked to her quite a bit, and her tastes are really similar to mine. She likes dead things, tattoos, and good music.

What I would call good, anyway.

People who like my stuff will probably like her stuff A LOT.

And Brittany. She makes cute kid stuff- usually.

Which means that I don’t need it, given that I have no kids.

BUT! I got her book on bullying for my nieces and nephews.

AND! she also makes this scary guy!

Well, not scary. just goth. I think she’s going to make some more of these,

I really hope she does. This one sold right away.

She is like Mary Poppins, ever so polite, kind, and decent. It’s kind of funny that someone like that would be my friend. but she is! You can see more of her work here- and you should definitely check it out if you have/like/know any kids.

daniblu makes cool things too.

AND

she is very sweet, and kind.

Of everything she does though-

I am in LOVE with these.

They’re just big enough for plugs. and just soft enough to keep things from breaking.

Holy crap.

You can find the rest of her work here.

I also like Shayne’s work a lot. He does chicks, hot chicks. More day of the dead stuff. Zombies. Vampires.

And

he’s goofy as hell.

I think he would like to be serious at times but he is just…not.

He lives near some friends of mine out in the desert, so I’m hoping on my next road trip I get to meet him and kick it a little.

You can find more of his stuff here.

He reminds everyone all the time that he’ll make prints in just about any size…so I’ll say that for him too. The man has drive.

I’ve got about ten more people I WANT to include, but I will wait until next time to write about them all. I’ll just leave you with a few pictures to click on, that go to more things made by each person.

I’ll be posting some paintings later on today- I’m almost done with the sasquatch, so even if it fails I will put him up!

All these folks are awesome people. I mean it.