…has really been going on since Wednesday night, for a lot of people. I plan to be there sometime tomorrow, Saturday June 7. I’m not on panels, I’m not pitching my book, I’m not in the dealer’s room. I’m just going for fun. Here’s the main page: https://www.phoenixcomicon.com/page/1 So, it’s not as huge as San…
Read More 2014 Phoenix Comic ConThe bolo tie (bola tie, or shoestring tie) is a crazy, wonderful invention from the American Southwest: a braided leather cord with decorative metal tips, threaded through a slide-tension lock with an ornate bit of metal or stonework on the front. I’ve seen both men and women wearing them. I’m biased because I grew up in what…
Read More Badger bolo tieYears ago, I took a tutorial workshop on how to make wet-shaped leather masks, and another world opened up to me. The first step was enduring a few hours of relative stillness with straws stuck up my nose and my hair stuffed in an old pair of pantyhose, while a props-maker friend (Marine Veteran, boss…
Read More Steampunk eyeglass maskTwo posts today, because I’m likely to get distracted and forget this one. Into every life must come some garage cleaning. Like many artists, I have paintings. Big ones, left over from a stint as a commercial decor artist for a company that only wanted canvases 36″ x 24″ or larger. And then promptly went…
Read More Bronze Oasis (art)If I had to plot out and embroider a large-ish beaded tapestry all in one go, I’d drive myself madder than I already am. Thankfully, through the magic of piecework and applique, I can do little bits of it at a time, while aiming for that final 24″ x 36″ wall hanging piece. Some of…
Read More Spring Moon embroideryI put this up on Pinterest, but it deserves a mention here. Blue Corn Chain is a necklace I originally finished in 1999. It’s a 37-link chain made of multicolored peyote stitch segments 6 beads wide and 24 beads long (before joining into a link). The colors are dark red, bright red, blue-purple, turquoise, teal,…
Read More Blue Corn ChainTo anyone who isn’t a writer, that statement might not make sense. Publishing has changed so much in the last two decades. Once upon a time, the only way to send manuscripts and queries was by hardcopy: formatted a certain way, in a certain family of fonts, and flat in a box or envelope. With…
Read More My first paper submission in years*Also known as ‘That Stark Necklace’**, or ‘I Need To Make Something Red This Week’. **This has absolutely nothing to do with that TSTL family in Game of Thrones. When I was about five, I had a clear red plastic pendant that may have come from a quarter vending machine. The pendant was roughly an…
Read More Dragonfire necklace*Seriously, Painter has to be one of the greatest digital art tools ever created. For what it does well, it runs circles around similar functions in Photoshop. I’ve been noodling with it since Version 3. But I’m about ready to shit-can Version 12, and I’m not interested at all in Version 13. To the point…
Read More I love Painter but I hate Corel (adult ranting advisory)A little case of mistaken identity has been brought to my attention. I am not Diane Tessman. I am Marian Crane, when I wear my art hat. As a fiber artist, I periodically create sets of award ribbons for the Tempe Festival of the Arts, held twice-yearly in Tempe, AZ. These are generally sixteen category…
Read More Fabric art award ribbonsI am a total sucker for architecture at its bleeding edge, when it leaps beyond the ticky-tacky houses and strip malls that many architects have to suffer through at some point in their careers. The future of architecture, like everything else, is likely to be something most of us would never guess right now. Check out these…
Read More Sand skyscrapersThere are some writer & publisher-related Tumblr blogs I follow and generally adore. But every so often, these sort-of, maybe, might-be tribes throw me for a loop. I have to step back and decide what I believe in. It’s a good exercise. There’s this musing from Liana Brooks, about artists who ‘alter’ existing books: http://lianabrooks.tumblr.com/post/79549092120/do-not-destroy-books-confession-i-hate-book…
Read More Every book is sacred: art or travesty?Years back, I showed in a great little gallery in Sedona, AZ, right on the main tourist drag. Sadly, the gallery owners have long since moved on, but it was a fun gig. A lot of my best sellers were tiny canvas paintings with mini wooden easels, to be had in blank form at several…
Read More Sedona mini-art and internal landscapesCirca 1991, here’s one of my old pen and ink sketches of a character now known as ‘Aksenna’ in my debut novel Moro’s Price. I’d estimate the time period of this image to be around 12,000 years before Moro’s birth. At this stage in her life, Aksenna is not nearly as friendly as she is…
Read More Aksenna in White (slight adult content)As I flirt more and more with the idea of self-publishing at least one novella in my Lonhra Sequence fantasy arc, I’m paying more attention to cover designs and fonts. All stuff I learned to use one way in commercial art, but the applications for print and e-book publication are slightly different. Once I had…
Read More The science of fontsWhile browsing a new press release from Fire Mountain Gems, I ran across a project by metal clay* artist Wanaree Tanner. Her work is precise, detailed, exquisitely designed, and mythic in scope. She’s going on my list of inspirations for Sirrithani and Sonta jewelry in my fiction. Also, on my if-I-win-a-lottery-I’m-buying-your-work list. Seriously, this is…
Read More Amazing metal clay artist Wanaree TannerNow, I will be the first to admit that I harbor some ambivalence toward George R. R. Martin’s best-known fantasy series. I’ve never actually read the books. (I won a set of the first four and donated them to a reading charity; I’ve made the decision to wait on reading the entire series until the…
Read More Game of Thrones pop-up bookDecades ago when I was just beginning to muck about with crafty stuff, I had a mental block. I made miniatures of anything, because committing to a human-sized project seemed too daunting. I’m still shaking off that block. Every few years I try to create a larger tapestry, or book arts piece, or wearable art, mostly…
Read More Beaded glovesWarning: I put on my pro-science hat here. Thanks to a friend’s generosity, I attended the February 1, 2014 ‘Parallel Realities’ discussion at Arizona State University. This is part of an ongoing series of lectures and other events called The Origins Project: “…an exciting transdisciplinary initiative that fosters new research and dialog, partners to transform…
Read More The Origins Project and sad little realitiesI was gently challenged last week by the owner of a book arts gallery. She’d hopped on the blog to see the latest 2013 and 2014 book arts pieces, and ran into the disclaimer that I keep on the front page. The fairly big ‘Adult Content’ note to the left, which is just the first…
Read More Erotic book arts projects (adult content advisory)