Packaging Tidbits

My post on basic packaging tips is up on the Handmade Minnesota team blog. I invite you to scoot over there, have a read, and please share a bit of your packaging and shipping acumen. Thanks!

Eight Hundred Cards

What does 800 cards from Crafterall look like?

Something like this:

Sorted, counted, ready to package:


Making the cards is the biggest part, but by no means the only part of filling such a large order. There's packaging the individual cards and/or sets with envelopes and inserts, completing and printing necessary packing and billing paperwork, packing the entire order to be shipped, and obtaining postage for the whole deal.


I really like this part. It's relatively mindless and it lets me do something I love: play with packaging!


This is starting to feel kinda "big time." I'm exhausted, proud, and thrilled all at once. Phew!

*edited to add: Did you know that there is a wiki page for the number "800"? At first, I thought it was a bit ridiculous as I read, "800 (eight hundred) is the natural number following 799 and preceding 801." Um... duh. We need a wiki for this? Then, I read this: "It is the sum of four consecutive primes (193 + 197 + 199 + 211), " and proceeded to geek out. This is actually pretty darn cool. See here for more on 800 or choose your own number.*

Welcome to dee islands, mon!

I finally got around to creating more fictional island pieces for the shop, after making (and selling) the first two back when there was still snow on the ground. As ever, I continue to be inspired by cutting actual locations for custom requests, and it's so fun to be able to do "whatever" with these imagined places. Each piece is, at its most diverse points, eight layers thick, and the pieces are available in three different sizes:

8 x 10"

No. 5
No. 5 (detail)

No. 6

No. 6 (detail)

No. 7

No. 7 (detail)

10 x 12"

No. 3

No. 3 (detail)

No. 8
No. 8 (detail)

and 12 x 12" (The Big Kahuna!)

No. 4

No. 4 (detail)

I'm pondering new colorways too. Tan to brown land surrendering its ore to rusty orange waters? Monochromatic whites, greys, into black? All white? What do you think?

Until I work up the budget to spend time on a real tropical island, I will be happy to pretend, as my blade cuts land and volcanic peaks from cerulean waters, that I am there, sipping something chilled and mildly intoxicating, swinging lazily in a canvas hammock, the lullaby of waves hush-hushing me to sleep.

Thanks for having a look.

Working the Land

uffta (OOF-tah): interjection: Exclamation of Norwegian origin, popular in strongly Scandinavian settlements in the upper Midwest, used to express surprise, bewilderment, astonishment, pity, pain, and fatigue. Syn. yikes, oh boy, whoa nelly, hoo-wee, good gravy.

I'm happy to report that the custom requests continue to pour into my shop at a nicely steady pace. While many of them remain in the style of my original lake-style bathymetries, the most recent requests have begun to grow legs and climb onto land for a look at the good life. Starting from the simplest, though not necessarily easiest, to the most complex, here's a look at what me and my trusty lil' blade have been up to lately.

The first piece is basically a reverse of my typical pieces. Instead of the land being a single, solid white layer with the water represented in layers of deepening color, the water here is a base layer of white, and the land is layered on top in the shades from light to dark. Abstract veining, or a chunk of Mobjack Bay, near Gloucester, Virgina?


Going with more land-like coloration, another patron requested a 12-layer representation of Little Switzerland, North Carolina. If you notice, there's a handful of little lakes scattered throughout this area as well.


Incorporating the water into the land-based topographies took off from there. Starting small, here is the stunning Plage du Pyla on the southwestern coast of France.


From here, it was an all-out war against my brains and hands to work both the land's topography and the water's depth into a single piece. Here is an artistically isolated Marrowstone Island, from the great state of Washington.

(detail)
(entire piece)
And it didn't get any easier from there. A request for the Rhode Island coastline near Westerly:

(detail)
(entire piece)
And then onto the largest lake in New Hampshire: Lake Winnipesaukee. I counted at least 53 islands here, not including the little hills of land that were islands of another sort.

(detail)

(entire piece)
Finally, the biggest, most time-taxing, brain-busting piece to date was actually a set of pieces. Two pairs of pieces of two different areas of Quebec -- Rouyn-Noranda and Montreal.

(detail)

(both sets)
(detail)
To answer a question that I'm sure many of you have in mind at this point, YES, these take a good, many hours to complete, and cutting the pieces is only a small portion of the process. For many of these, especially those attempting to capture a big area in a much smaller space, it's difficult to find easy-to-read topographic maps that generalize the land's topography enough to be of use. Most of the time, I need to zoom in to see the lines, choose which ones to follow, and then zoom out to work the lines into the piece itself. I feel like I add more wrinkles in my brain by doing this. It is mentally exhausting, and it is totally worth it. The results look way cool to me, and I'm excited to tackle some more. Not all areas seem to translate as well as others, but they all have an artful final look, and, best of all, the recipients get to own an original art map of the place they love.

You can say it with me: Uffta!

Collecting Topography & its Kin

As an artist who's been chest deep in topographies for about two years now, I keep an eye open for other forms of artful topography or topography-like art. I've started a collection and I'm happy to share some of what I've found so far. Today's selections showcase the variety of substances in which artists have worked in some very tasty topographies, intentionally or implied.Paper and wood are children of the same source, more or less, as plant pulp, and so it's equally gratifying for me to find awesome pieces made of either material. Starting close to home, the very talented Charles Clary crafted this beauty and others like it using the same paper I use:

Microbial Triple Diddle InfestationA closer look reveals these achingly awesome details, curves, lines, and depth. LOVE this stuff.
Microbial Triple Diddle Infestation (detail)I've come across these lovely wooden pieces at a nearby mall kiosk and had to stop, ogle, and smile. I'm fairly certain that the brains and skill behind Lakes of Wood and I could have a nice chat with one another about technique and trials.

A while back, a visitor to my shop referred me to this impressive gallery of work done by Chris Yates. My head spins just looking at all those layers!

Eagle-Vail, Colorado
And then there is the medium of fabric. I toyed a bit with this already, having made topography pillows a while ago, but I'm just not good enough yet to make it economical. Instead, I'll drool over these yummies.

Purl (detail) by Amy Honchell
Project Runway alum , Etsy shop owner, and fabric layering guru, Leanne Marshall designed a lovely collection of topography inspired dresses. If I get mega rich and famous for my art, I'm calling Leanne for my red carpet dress.


Perhaps my most favorite find is this A.MA.ZING concrete sink, created by the fine people of Gore Design Co. Their "erosion" sink is clever as all get out concept, and brilliant design. For the record, I have never so nearly swooned for a sink as I have for this. In the rich and famous daydream I mentioned above, I'm walking down that red carpet wielding this sink under one arm. It's that cool.

And while I'm swooning and daydreaming, I'll wrap myself in one of Leah Evan's impossibly gorgeous quilts, like this one:

Shoreline

or this one: Dark Estuary
Eee Gads, they're amazing. I think I would cry if I ever saw one in person. Or laugh joyfully. Or both, like the now infamous Double Rainbow Guy.

I'm fairly certain that I'll compile another list of kick-ass topographic and map-inspired work again, but for now I'll close with a fun flickr find. I hope you enjoyed this little tour as much as I have.

The deranged topography of ice

Done! For a short while anyway.

Yay! Back to back Saturday Craft fairs are done! The HandmadeMN Spring Market was fun! Everyone's tables looked great and there was a fairly steady stream of shoppers all day. It was neat to have awesome music throughout the day thanks to Kelly of Kellybot and her love of The Current's playlist. A couple of times throughout the show, Kelly and I made eye contact from across the room and exchanged "rock horns" and head bobs in appreciation of the tunes. It was so cool to be there with other team members to represent our talent-filled state. I have to say that we represent very well indeed!

Closest to me were the lovely and genius Regan of Regan's Brain, and the very sweet Lindsay of Skylark Dawn who was kind enough to donate some of her bendy wire and paper hearts for Leah to craft into wearable art.

A special shout out to the gorgeous and wonderful Andrea of Sacred Suds who took this photo of me at my table. Andrea makes delicious smelling soaps with a keen awareness and use of natural ingredients.

If you look carefully at the photo, you can see Leah's head peeking out of the right side of the farthest card display. Once again, she was a good companion, although this time she focused a bit too much on what she might get as a "treat" for working with me rather that be a good sport for the heck of it. She ended up with a smashing little ring from Toni at Wild Dog Studio. Still, it was great to have her company and conversation throughout the show and she was a superb helper as we set up and took down.

What's next? Not sure. Nothing on the horizon for the immediate future, though not for lack of opportunity. I've been invited to some fab events and have my eyes on a few of them for a bit later in the summer. In the meantime, I'll continue to update the shop with some new pieces and hope to add even more custom pieces to my repertoire. So stay tuned, and relax. :)

Next up, Marvelous Minnesotans!

Tomorrow -- YIKES! TOMORROW ALREADY! -- is the first annual HandmadeMN Team Spring Market!


It's going to be awesome. Our very talented and productive Etsy team has been working very hard to make this one kick-ass craft show. There will be forty vendors selling all sorts of cool things as well as some hands-on demos and a fun contest to enter as well. See a list of all the vendors and read all about the event here, by clicking here, or on our poster!

Again, if you're in the area, please stop by -- it's going to be too cold for anything but shopping!