Here’s a new setting for the ‘Amor’ silver book pendant I made back in October of 2001. I’ve been wanting to make a large, chunky chain or other hanging support. Silver filigree like the bail would have been great, especially if I studded big links with carnelian beads or cabochons. So would a scarf-necklace in…
Read More Amor Necklace…if you haven’t already got a decent flatbed scanner. What kind? As long as it’s tabletop scanner with a decent sized image areas (must be able to at least handle 8.5×11″ image area) with good reviews, you get them in various brands from $40 all the way up to $1000 or more. You’ll pay extra…
Read More Artists: buy a tabletop scannerI finally got the first eleven pieces uploaded to my little piece of SaatchiArt.com! This batch includes glass micromosaics and beaded tapestries, but acrylic paintings and jewelry will follow soon. The link: http://www.saatchiart.com/mariancranedesigns Whether this portal produces sales or not, it’s a great display site for my older work…and hopefully a better venue for new pieces.…
Read More My art on SaatchiArt onlineI know two people, both younger than me. One is running from massive credit card debt, skipping from city to city, odd job to odd job and couch to couch, while his potential as an artist is wasted in ennui and his own non-materialistic creed that ‘Hey, the only thing I own is my body,…
Read More Miranda Campbell: ‘Culture Isn’t Free’Over the next week or so, I’ll be finalizing the details on my shiny new sales portal at SaatchiArt.com online. Even though I’m already registered there, I’ve got a lot of background work left: choosing art, deciding whether to offer prints, verifying shipping weight and dimensions for each piece, researching market prices, etc. Why Saatchi?…
Read More Coming soon: online direct art salesWhen I can afford to, I collect end-blown flutes and similar wind instruments. Occasionally I manage to play them without totally embarrassing myself. This is the most recent acquisition, a lovely little Yamaha recorder in translucent aquamarine lucite. For $.99 at a local thrift store. It needs some cleaning and minor repair, but I’m looking…
Read More Aqua recorderI’ve made myself unpopular before, by suggesting that easy, cheap self-publishing is not the instant ticket to success that many writers dream it could be. The blunt, sad truth is that many self-published authors now publish too soon. In their rush to market substandard or just-good-enough work, they neglect to hone their writing craft.…
Read More Kameron Hurley, on why we are writingI finally managed to see the first episode of SyFy Channel’s ‘Killjoys’. Wow. Bounty hunters in space, check. All major characters seem to have deep backstories, check. Writers not afraid to dole out explanations in context, check. Fight scenes! Gritty realistic future with highly contrasted settings! Great props and costuming! The promise of a big,…
Read More Killjoys1. Oh, Dish Network. I love you on a big screen TV, but due to circumstances beyond my control, I have to watch you on a laptop system right now. And your mobile/tablet app? Your app sucks. Accept that and please fix it. You’ll get your five stars from me if you fix it before I…
Read More Dish Network, Killjoys, and dragons, oh mySir Christopher Lee’s title for his autobiography. One of the most skilled, competent, badass character actors to ever grace stage or set. We in the US tend to think of him as a villain in Star Wars or the recent Tolkien movies, but he was so much more. He passed a few days ago, but…
Read More Tall Dark and Gruesome…Here are the approximately 5″ x 4″ fabric applique covers for my accordion book Dryland Codex, which I should be finishing in June (if I don’t keep adding to it.) The cover art and the fold-out painting on the book itself are somewhat influenced by the artwork of American artist Jane Filer. Her abstracted landscape and…
Read More Dryland Codex (in progress, post 3)Back in 1998-1999, I needed another last-minute entry for the Beadwork Magazine/Interweave Press miniature beadwork exhibition ‘Up:Close’. I made this piece in three days: ‘Mom’s Mutant Cactus’. Dimensions: 3″ x 3″ x 3″. It’s a mutant because it doesn’t precisely mirror an existing cactus species, and because it has a blue flower. Until we get…
Read More Mom’s Mutant CactusThe glass micro-mosaic medallion that will be on the wooden box for Dryland Codex – if all goes well. If not, it will be an interesting pendant with beadwork someday. Medallion dimensions: 2″ diameter x .25″ high.
Read More Dryland Codex (in progress, post 2)In my typical ADD fashion I was reorganizing fabric yesterday, in preparation for some housecleaning. Found snippets of printed map fabric left over from one of the award ribbons projects. Remembered a possible book project I’d sketched, using digitized fabric prints of some old Southwestern mini-landscape paintings I’d sold to galleries years before. Why yes,…
Read More Dryland Codex (in progress, post 1)There’s a writers group on LinkedIn I was considering joining. I’m not, now, because they require a headshot photo of all prospective members. (I did end up joining, after all; see update in Comments below.) I don’t have many pictures of myself not costumed or otherwise masked. They’re around. I’m just not happy about adding…
Read More Selfie or not?While browsing for out-of-copyright quotes about maps, journeys, and wanderlust (for an upcoming book art project), I stumbled across some incredible wooden bathymetric charts. ‘Below The Boat’ creates unique, breathtaking maps of laser-cut, stained, and layered birch plywood, each following a coastal area’s underwater terrain. It’s a deceptively simple concept, brought to reality by skilled…
Read More Below The BoatInspired by the tiny books, I’m re-energized to attack a mini-book that’s been in progress for over a year. Here are the components laid out in an old teak tray I like for beading: Whisper, 1″ x 1.75″ x 1″ when complete. The tiny fabric pages are layers of linen and commercially printed cotton, hand-inked,…
Read More pieces of ‘Whisper’Just…tiny books. They’re awesome. They’re like…Night Vale meets a dollhouse. Go see them here. The first pieces of ‘real’ art (the ones I remember) I did at age 5 were miniatures, and the concept has stayed with me through many different crafts (jewelry, alabaster sculpture, felt sculpture, weaving, painting, mosaic, etc). But the smallest book…
Read More Tiny books…or, experiments in home decor. For a decade or so, I’ve been seeing Chinese jade, agate, and tourmaline-beaded pillows on the import market. Some are panels of beads sewn onto a pillow-top. Others are elaborate hollow cage structures shaped to fit the head and neck, and supported by jade or wooden end-caps. Metaphysically-inclined folks will…
Read More Moss agate pillowFor anyone who has been in a cave for the last nine years, Etsy.com is a sales site meant to showcase original handmade objects. It is poised to offer a major IPO. It is also coming under increasing pressure by detractors who: 1) Claim Etsy is often a haven for cheaply-produced overseas goods marketed online…
Read More Is Etsy bad for honest artisans?