11/17/2014

I know what young lady that has a birthday coming up real soon that really loves peace signs. The bedroom is covered with him so I think she might like this…

Meanwhile, the newest basket is coming right along.

10/05/2014

I'm still on the search for another art form that will help me add numbers/stock to my table at the farmers market.  I need something that will go a little faster then the basket work. 

Here's what I've got so far…

Here is the first successful spoon.  Amazingly enough the first three pieces I carved sold as soon as they were seen.  I didn't even have prices in mind yet so I'm very happy about that.

Do keep in mind, that I have no one teaching me. No one showing me. I am having to learn about the tools, how to use the tools, what works for me, and what doesn't work for me all on my own.

I was prepared for the fact that carving tools are sharp I was not prepared for the fact that they are razor blade sharp I've had to learn some very hard lessons along the way…this was the worst one, it was so deep it bled for hours I probably should've gotten a couple of stitches but I was too possessed by the spoons. I could not make myself stop working until the blood was actually dropping off my elbow so here's what came of all of those processes…

Spoon number one.  More like a spreader primitive but effective definitely not to be sold.

This one like the other one looks too much like you could buy it at the dollar store but keep in mind I was simply learning about the wood with whatever Cheatwood I could find.

Now for the first one that I truly consider a success. This was a tree limb when I started cut from a Junipertree just that morning.

I so impressed myself without little spoon that I decided to work on the other half of the branch. Here's what I got from it.  This one has a very long handle meant more for cooking than eating. 

But the bowls a little small, so onto the next one.

Keep in mind there were some epic fails along the way.

And another…so I decided to do a spreader instead. That's what the curved flat piece is. Great for icing cakes or spreading butter or mixing bad or it sold immediately. I think I like that place I would've kept it and used it myself I will do some more spreaders

Then I thought I'd try a little bowl. I wasn't entirely happy with it but I was still learning how to use my tolls. The one in the bottom was a little too thick but I didn't want to go all the way through either here's what I got.

I was thinking of a tiny little bowl for maybe laying your rings in on your kitchen sink while you did your dishes. I like it.

Here is a picture of it after I oiled it up.

Now for the best one that I've done so far, hold onto your hat's cause I like it a lot I hope you do too.

And now here it is all oiled up with lemon oil  and beeswax,  A piece of leather in the handle, and tag for sale.  

I just love these things and I'm so excited to be learning how to make them. I even have a friend coming over on Monday to help build me a workbench.  Kind of a birthday present.  I am so excited let's just hope I can keep from cut my fingers off.

I have done a couple of baskets mostly commission work but trying to get my station set up for the wood carving has been pretty all-consuming I am in the little pink and brown basket for my friend Alyssas baby I just forgot to take pictures for anyone knew looking at the site to keep in mind that I do ship, I do have a eBay, and I do custom work at no additional charge please feel free to contact me anytime the information is here on the blog And I am on Facebook under earthbaskets, my email is earthbaskets@gmail.com contact me anytime till next time have a great weekend!!!

9/18/14

How about a purple on purple catcher with amethyst stones?

I love Juniper wood.

I treated myself to an easel for my birthday gift to myself and I used it today.  

I'm feeling like fall is in the air let me know what you think. This one is charcoal and graphite.

Not bad for my first attempt if I do say so myself.  I love pumpkins.

Red and purple

July 18, 2014

I don't usually go for such bold color combinations. Any Red Hat ladies out there anywhere…

Purple and red with a beautiful oak center. 

A little bit of drawing also I've been doing some ballpoint pen practice. Here's a few shots of what I've been up to.

Ink is very hard girls and boys. I wish I had better pen / ink colors, these are little too bright for my liking, it looks cartoony.

Clearly I need more practice. Might switch back over to charcoal and pencil for a little bit, keep watching.

July 11, 2014

I have completed basket number two for this week. I like it.

And then I started another one.  This  one is tiny but I want to get it completed before I go to the market tomorrow.  

I went for neutral tones this week because everything I had on my table had bright colored threads.

Then I can start on another large one that I will only work on while I'm at the market.

July 3, 2014

I finally finished at 10 1/2 inches long!!!  And a little less than 8 inches wide.

Two different purple threads iand two different teal threads.  Three different stitches.

This one had to grow on me, I wasn't too crazy about the thread colors I picked even though I did indeed absolutely love the wood. I debated taking it apart on more than one occasion but I'm glad I persevered and I think it turned out very nice.

I struck out with a friend of mine and put my larger baskets in a consignment art shop in the downtown historic district St. Augustine, Florida. 

The shop is called the "Starving Artist" and it's on Cuna St. right next door to the White Lion restaurant, basically right across the street from the fort.

Only the large ones that don't seem to want to move when I go to the farmer's market will go into the starving artist shop that way there won't be any conflict with pricing and commissions.  

One of the reasons I have stayed away from the shops downtown is because of the commissions I did not want my prices to be radically different from one venue to the other. But this way I take the small ones with me and only put the larger ones in the shop and there won't be that problem.  St. Augustine is a small town in the end and I wouldn't want people to see me with a conflict pricing between one spot in the other.  

But without further ado here are pictures of my baskets.

Now I need to make a few more small ones to put on my table at the farmers market because I depleted my stock by placing the large ones downtown, so I'm off to the Pineneedles!!!

I hope you guys have a great Fourth of July and I will talk to you soon

July 1, 2014

Making a little bit of progress on this large basket I'm working on.  (10 in long)

I have only been working on it when I go to the market , that way I have a large piece to work on while demonstrating.

I have returned to my original farmers market, the a Old City market. It is located in the amphitheater in St. Augustine, Florida every Saturday morning from 8:30to 12:30.

Here's a little Peek ...

As much as I love this piece of wood I wish I had chosen colors other than purple and teal.  Usually when I do a large piece I do them in earthtones so that they match pretty much anybody's decor. By making it in louder colors I think it makes it harder to sell. Just my thoughts of course.  And we all know I'm not a marketing guru.

I have also done a little bit of work on my Fleur-de-lis on wood. I'm liking it so far, but not as much as I liked the piece ithat looked like ribbons. I really hate that I messed that one up.

I'm being very stingy with the fixative this time till I don't want a repeat of what happened with the ribbon piece.

This is done in carbon and graphite pencil. The fleur-de-lis is drawn freehand by me.

I think I will indeed redo my ribbon piece on another piece of wood so keep your eyes peeled. I'm also going to experiment on the wood with some pastels, and some more charcoal, and maybe even some color pencil.

I'm going down into the heart of San Augustine city proper, the historic district, today with a friend of mine to set up a booth in a consignment art store. The store is called the starving artist and she has offered to let me put some of my work and her booth also. I'm thinking maybe the large pieces that I have trouble selling at the market. And then just sell the medium to smaller ones at the farmers market.

She does acrylic painting on usable objects. Here's a sample of one of the clay pots that she's done. I wish I had just a fraction of the talent with acrylic paint that she has.

Believe it or not she does all four sides of the pot. And each side is different. Check this bad boy out.

There's even little rhinestones on them just beautiful.

Such bold, bright colors. I just love them and I wish I could paint like that.

I'll take pictures of the booth and keep you updated on the name of the shop and what she calls her business and so on and so forth in case any of you would like to find her or even my own work.

 Thank you talk to you later.

It's official I'm in a slump…

I've been working on a basket that's larger than most that I make. 

I had forgotten how tedious it can become to do row after row after row after row with no end in sight. 

I'm not even sure I like this crazy thing I think I used to many colors, they're all purple or green, just different shades of purple and green. You'll have to let me know what you think. 

I do love this piece of wood, I thought about tearing it apart several times just so I can use the wood for something else.

Whenever he road takes more than an hour, it does help to like the piece.

Tomorrow is Saturday and I'm going back to the farmers market that I did when I worked for my sister for the year and a half. It's the market that has the biggest crowd. It's also where I got my start and have had the best luck with sales. 

So iif you want to find me that's where I'll be... At the St. Augustine, FL Old City farmers market from 8:30 to 12:30!!!  Come on out! I haven't been there in over a month it should be a lot of fun.

I was thinking of the Summer heat...

05/20/14

That is headed our way.  This is what happened.  Red and yellow for the Sun.

Tiny little red beads to catch the light.

With a Live Oak center.

And then I skipped right back into the Earth tones.

Oak center.  Glowing beads and brown tones galore!!!

I guess I am enamored with the diamond stitch!

Three completed this week!

03/21/14

Decided that the messenger bag project was taking too long.  I really don't have time for "free" work.  Free because it was for me.  

So it became a basket.

Then I did another one with a Live Oak center.

And then a tiny Cedar one.

Supposed to be up around 80 degrees here in St. Aug.  tomorrow!  Now if the pollen doesn't kill me sales should be good at the farmers market!  Wish me luck.