Arts & Crafts Creativity – Small Business Saturday

November 23rd, 2014

Last summer I started making a dinnerware set for ten. I had made a few pieces of slab built rustic pottery decades ago. I wanted to match those pieces. My love of playing in the garden dirt extends to playing in clay. I have been busy ever since last summer in the pottery studio at Craft Alliance , a mile from my house. Little did I know I would be part of an Arts & Crafts sale on Small Business Saturday, November 29th from 10 – 4, 2814 Sutton Blvd 63143, at my friend Kelly’s Living Arts Studio in Maplewood, Missouri.

POTTERY – I have almost finished the dinnerware set of plates (large and small), soup bowls, turkey platter, serving bowls and coffee mugs.  It is the coffee and tea mugs that I love the most. I did not want handles, so I could cradle the mug in my hands and feel the warmth of the drink.  Without handles there is more room in my kitchen cupboard and the mugs can also be used as vases.

Here are a few of the mugs I have created. Some of these will be in the sale on Saturday.  I ended up using only two glazes – one called Jack’s Yellow and the other a turquoise (the name escapes me right now). For some of the mugs, I pressed hand carved wooden stamps into the wet clay. For others I used a  Chinese brush to paint on an underglaze with brush strokes.

Without the handles the mug can be too hot to handle when boiling water is first poured in. After awhile the mug cools off and feels wonderful to wrap your hands around.  I made felted wool coffee cozies in both a yellow brown and turquoise wool to use when the mug is hot. Turns out these coffee cozies also work with the coffee shop paper cups that need hand protection too.

UPCYCLED SWEATER PIECES SCARVES – For the last few years my family and friends have been given gifts of upcycled scarves made from sweaters purchased at thrift shops. I collected and cut up so many sweaters, I have quite a few for the sale.  I loved picking out the sweaters with their different patterns and fabrics and putting the pieces together. The fabrics are wool, cotton and sometimes cashmere.  The pieces are zigzagged together and the edges are zigzagged to give the curled edges. Most of the scarves are black, gray and white; or a combinations of blues, greens and browns.

Here are two of the black and white ones.

Here are some of the blue, green, brown and beige combinations.

GREETING CARDS – My Flower Mandala greeting cards will be there in sets and individual cards. Small prints of the flower photos will also be there.

DETAILS AND INFO – Below is more info on the Arts & Crafts Creativity Sale at Living Arts on Small Business Saturday. There are lots of artists, and lots of great creativity will be shared.  Stop by if you can.

SHOP – I will probably be putting some of these items on my Big Cartel shop after the sale.  Or if you’d like more info, please email me at “linda(at)CreativityForTheSoul.com”.  Please use the @ sign with no spaces.

ENJOY AND CREATE,  and for those in the U.S., HAVE A WONDERFUL THANKSGIVING