The holiday show season is upon me…

I enjoy the annual Spinners and Weaver’s Guild fall show, which proved to be a big success this year from my perspective.  While I always sell a few weavings and get some commissions, I did get to show off my newest item—Swuppets!  These are puppets made out of old felted sweaters.  They’re a lot of fun to make, and they were well received by the local crowd.  On Friday evening, a mother and daughter came to the show and the daughter just loved the Swuppets.  She bought one with visions of putting on puppet shows with it.  The next day she was back with her dad and her little sister in tow, who also decided she needed one.  The sister was delighted too!  I’m sure there will be some fun Swuppet shows at that household.  I also had one of my first patrons come by and try them on.  Usually by that point they have to buy one.   

She discovered that when she bent her fingers down the eyebrows moved too.  She was tickled and just had to have it.  I’m pleased it will be appreciated in its new home.  If you're looking around Bloomington for Swuppets, they're in the giftshop at Wonderlab.  My other big holiday item, sweater petals, have taken off this year.  These are flower petals made out of felted sweaters.  I have them on sale at Bloomingfoods East above my card display too, and so far they have been selling briskly.  I even came up with a nifty display trick by packaging them in units designed for single pie wedges.  The leaves attached to the sweater petals give them a triangular shape, so the whole thing fits nicely into the pie protectors I found at the Recycle Center. 

On the art front, I launched into making the peppers for my big pepper commission.  This is a piece modeled after ‘Some like it Hot’, which featured dozens of peppers of all sizes and colors.  My first purple pepper, a request from the patron, really turned out well with its indentations from felting.  It’s good to feel that project moving along as I move through my Holiday art show series.   

This Saturday I travel to Columbus Indiana for the Déjà Vu Art and Fine Craft Show at the Commons from 10-4.  Stop on by if you want to see the Swuppets, Sweater Petals, or my latest 3D weavings. 

My family has been very supportive of my fall work schedule.  Jim came by on Friday afternoon to help me set up the lights (he’s tall, which helps!) and all my boys came by on Saturday evening for a one-hour speed takedown.  I wasn’t the last one in the room this year!  I think Marla, the show organizer, was genuinely surprised.  To celebrate we went to Lennie’s for pizza and a glass of wine for me.  That was good, but on Sunday morning as I read my newspaper and sipped espresso, a strange aroma began to waft into the living room where I sat. 

 It was a pie!  An apple pie, with Mutsu apples from the farmer’s market!  Boy am I lucky.  I even went into delayed gratification mode, holding off on cutting into it until after dinner that night.  It was great, but I think I’ve been spoiled a little with the raspberry and peach pies of summer and fall.  I do know I’ll have pie and espresso in the morning! 

Until next week,

Martina Celerin

Christmas waits around the corner…

I know this because, sitting just out of sight on the veranda, is a Christmas tree with its back against the house, waiting to come inside. We got it from Bloomingfoods a few days ago but the traditional tree corner was filled with Legos and card supplies. Tonight for sure it comes inside! The boys will do their homework right after school so we can start trimming later in the evening. It’s here, it’s here!

Of course this skips right past the frenzy of the week. We’re looking for a new Saturday routine since the Farmer’s Market closed down. The hardest part might be not getting the hot chocolate from Le Petit Café first thing in the morning. The charming lady who enabled our habit calls us ‘la famille chocolat’. Saturday morning we skipped over to Sweet Claire’s on Third Street to check it out. I got a tart with custard and cherry jelly that was delightful. The boys tried the hot chocolate and rated it a 9.5 out of ten, versus a 10 from Le Petit Café, so that speaks volumes.

In between holiday adventures I’ve been focusing on making my new sweater petals. To find the materials I’ve been zipping around to all my favorite re-sale shops looking for more wool sweaters in different colors. I was delighted to find a lovely orange men’s sweater at Opportunity House and some good strong red ones at the sorority thrift shop on Third street. Oh, and by the way Mom if you’re reading this—I found a really cute black and white striped shirt that I can’t wait to show you in person! I told the person behind the till that I’m going to show you and say that it’s MINE. Hee hee hee hee!

As I transition from art shows to marketing at retail outlets over the holidays, I spent some time restocking cards at my venues around town and distributing my sweater petals. I dropped off a big batch at Wonderlab and within a day or so I got a call asking if I could bring them more! They were closed Monday so I re-stocked them on Tuesday. I also sold a few at the last of the holiday art fairs this weekend at the Beth Shalom center. I shared the Discardia booth with Jean, Jeanne and Laurel so I could hang out and chitty chatty with my recycled art friends. The organizers did a nice job promoting the show, bringing in a very happy crowd for the art and a cookie sale. Oh, and while I’m on sweater petals, I discovered a new kind that looks something like a cross between a rose and a brain. Maybe Jill Bolte-Taylor will want one! I made them out of old suit jackets, especially the kind with the big padded shoulders that give you the eighties flashbacks. I see my job as a community service, ridding the community of all the old clothes that shouldn’t be rediscovered (like the men’s orange sweaters). Anyway, I’m also thinking that the new flower designs should also find their way into a weaving that I’ve been dreaming up. It will feature an hand holding out a bouquet of flowers over a background of sweater petal flowers.

Finally, on another family note, Jim’s birthday was Sunday. He didn’t want to have a cake with all the other goodies that have been available, so we made frozen yogurt parfaits with fruit from Bloomingfoods. I think everybody liked them! For his birthday I got him a bunch of new shirts, which he also seemed to like. Little does he know that every time he adds a new shirt to his closet I get to sneak out some of the old ones that I don’t like to see him wear any more. They’ll become part of Re-Shirt art tank top, so everyone wins!

Until next week…

Martina Celerin

Holiday Season, Here We Are!!

It was a jam-packed week for me, culminating with the Unitarian Universalist Art Fair and Bazaar over the weekend. I had to keep focused all week with meetings planned for Monday through Wednesday. I managed to make a few scarves each day in the days before the show. I was pleased and impressed to see all the yard signs advertising the show and the ads in the Herald Times—the organizers did a great job promoting the show. Thursday evening my set-up crew came to help me at the church. The boys and Jim did a wonderful getting the booth set-up in a new spot this year. Just about everybody was shuffled around, which freshened up the show. My Sweater Petals were a big hit, as were my Re-Shirts. This show was the first chance I really had to display them both. It was good to see people trying them on and moving around, which gives you a much better sense of how the fabric moves when you put on my wearable art. It’s a lot like seeing fashion come down the runway, where the movement of the fabric helps bring each piece to life.

The show ended at 7 on Friday, which let me sneak out to see Jim’s brown belt test at 7:15. I got there just before it started with a package of dark chocolate brownies from Galaxy Gourmet to match the new belt. We usually celebrate with ice cream after a belt test, but this time we went home to have some fresh-baked apple pie. I don’t think anybody minded.

After the show on Saturday we packed up the art and the booth, headed home and collapsed. With each boy doing Taekwondo and sparring back-to-back before the takedown my roadies were ready to relax. We had a fire in the fireplace, a little wine with a Peppered Salmon dish from the freezer, and everybody went to bed tired but satisfied. Of course Sunday just brought a new set of adventures, beginning with St. Nicholas day. On the Bloomington Celerin calendar it falls on the Sunday after the UU show. Each family member found a big stocking stuffed with treasures, ranging from chocolate to toothbrushes and bubble bath. I even got some Sugar Cookie Sleigh Ride tea (I’m really tight with the Jolly old fellow). Oh, and when I came downstairs I found a note from St. Nick next to an espresso and a stollen filled with marzipan that I suspect came from Sweet Claire’s bakery! It’s a nice low-key introduction into the holiday season. Now I’m eyeing Christmas trees at Bloomingfoods and planning for the candy house. I just have to remember Jim’s birthday next weekend! Shhh, don’t remind him…

Oh and one more holiday show - next weekend is a Discardia event at the Shalom Multi-Cultural Bazaar (3750 East Third Street, Bloomington, IN) on Sunday from 11 - 3pm

Hope to see you there!!

Until next week…

Martina Celerin