Finally!!!! After over 15 years!! I, Christina Serra, have begun to work the metal! I always thought the set-up had to be more than what we had, that I had to find an anvil/rail to even start, to build a mini forge for coal or propane---etcetc...but we had everything we need to start simply right in our back yard! My 'better half' decided that his contribution to gifts this year should, on a whim, involve metal (details AFTER Christmas, just in-case!). I have a suspicion that a large part was because he's known the fire I have for iron-working for years, and he knew it would please me if we made a project together. SO, to make the 'mini forge', he filled with charcoal (the kind you put in your grill) a charcoal starter (the cylindrical thing you put newspaper and charcoal in to get the charcoal started before you put it in the grill). He did buy metal rod today for the project- this we did not have. We have an amazingly useful heavy steel worktable in our backyard which works for now in leiu of an anvil, and we also have a small sledge hammer whos head creeps off the handle...occasionally, but works ok for now. I filled one of the buckets on the yard with water (for drenching), we put on leather gloves, and stuck the metal in the coals. It (surprisingly to me!) turned red-hot, and we took turns beating the rod into a shape. Oh my goodness! WHat fun! In my own back yard! WHat shall I do now, that I have opened this Pandora's box!?! ( I guess, technically HE did....since he started it) Now, metal bits do not look the same; I am already thinking on how to easily change our heating arrangement to be more efficient (without buying or seeking anything-yet), thinking of how to incorporate this new excitement into my needle feltings presentation.....oh, 2012, here I come!! Winter- time to make new.
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News on the blog here isn't exactly a month behind!
November 10-13 I attended a show in Myrtle Beach, SC. My whole family came with me, and while I worked, they made a vacation of the time. This was the first time I had been to this show, and thought I would try it out. Ugh! Thanks to the lovely people who came into my booth, and appreciated my art, and a huge and heart-felt thank you to those of you who purchased my art pieces to enjoy at your homes, or as gifts to give. You are what kept this show from being a total disaster for myself and my family! All of my appreciation to you! Aside from these wonderful people, I had some very nice neighbors, especially a hilarious off-the-cuff woman across the aisle and diagonal form me, Anne Micciulla. Oh, I wish Anne lived closer! She was truly a fun woman, especially as the traffic was slow each and every day. We joked, laughed TOO much, and at one point in our effort to stave off boredom, we both ran down the aisle, hooting, bleating like goats, and making ruckus!! We spoke of revolt (in the show!), we shared some uncanny similar stories, talked about kids, goats, sheep and whatever else came up. Really, too much to retell here! Of our other neighbors, was a nice lady who shared her salsa she makes (and her avocado one day..mmmmmm!), a jewelry maker who was somehow very amused my myself, (I think she liked my art too;), a Russian lady selling beautiful handpainted nesting dolls (she actually paints them!), and a nice lady selling baby dolls. Oh, and a magician-I think over the course of the days we ended up with one of every product he sold! Despite the kind people I was surrounded with, and the festival people I spoke with over the phone prior to the event, I found that the top woman in charge of the event is a true Cruella DeVille. Most vendors had had horrid run-ins with the lady, and told of how rudely and unfairly she treated them. The woman almost ran over my children in her little golf cart on the day of set-up, and I found out days later, that she had also YELLED at them?!?! It is well observed by everyone they come in contact with, how well-behaved, quiet and respectful my children are; this woman had no right to treat them this way! I will find out who she is and post it here. I am writing this in my entry to WARN other vendors about this show. There is false advertising, corporate greed, LOW quality, no jury process, and exuberant booth and entry prices. Also, there are NO helpers for the vendors, NO parking for vendors (they make you PAY FOR PARKING), NO hospitality, no care, no questionnaire, NO VENDOR OR CUSTOMER SATISFACTION!!! This show is called Charles Dickens Christmas Show, and every vendor I spoke with was VERY DISSATISFIED. About 85% of them said they wouldnt be returning, so that makes me think that the company Leisure Time Unlimited will have a great trial of recruiting new vendors, ones who are not familiar with this show. This is NOT a craft or art show, as advertised. MUCH of the garbage for sale here was IMPORTED, as-seen-on-tv, with very little actual hand-made. items. I have never been to a show this badly-run. I do not, as a habit speak ill of groups, but I wish to warn others so that they can make an educated decision regarding their investments, because, face it- Being an artist is like being a gambler- just a lot less glitz and alcohol! :) I did get to spend some time with my family during the trip, in the mornings and after dark in the evenings. My kids and I went down to the beach one morning- and it was glorious to be with them there. One evening I came back to the hotel and gathered the kids and we ran outside to the beach in the dark, because it felt so good, and we laughed and chased, and then their dad called from the hotel room, and directed our attention to the horizon where a great HUGE blood moon was beginning to 'rise' above the ocean. I have never seen such a sight, it was unbelievably large and surreal, like a planet rising in a sci-fi book. We watched it rise; we could actually see it moving, like it's opposite, a sunset (Im not up in time usually for sunrises;)! I was speechless, and exclaiming at the moment. Of course, we tried to photograph, but to no avail, in the the pictures the moon looked like a tiny orange dot. The last day, the day to drive back to Asheville, was the best. The weather was perfect, warm and sunny. We all rolled our pants legs up and played in the waves, then, tiring of this, sat just out of waves reach in the warm sand, the kids making sand channels, and I looking for sea shells. It was the BEST time! :) (btw, what do you do with all the sea shells you bring home???!!!) SO, now a month after Halloween, I have finally had a few consecutive days of doing just what I want to, and resting. I even took a nap one day! I have crocheted some hats for gifts, knitted some scarves on my machine (also for gifts), begun learning how to spin wool into yarn on a friend's wheel, tried for the first time (after 25yrs of trying to pin someone down) to drive a manual vehicle (!!fun!!), began tinkering with one of the old 'repair-me' sewing machines sitting around, (embarrassingly) played some old video game I used to play years ago, planted bulbs, hung out with kids, made vegan egg nog, tons of cleaning, started a rabbit run outside (more permanent than the old 'lets see how the fence stands by its self in a circle on this hill")... and several more achievements.
As for artwork, I have planned to make at least one more watercolor painting this winter, so watch for updates on this. Also, I will be working on working on workshops ;) (no, that was not a type-o ) We will begin plans for this year's gingerbread house, which I think will be gluten-free. The pictures below are of one of those dead-beats that just hung around our cemetery this October, and also I have taken on some studio help; pictures of my helpers below: I was interviewed by the Mountaineer, and finally got around to reading the article. Here it is:
(excerpt) By Stina Sieg | Oct 06, 2011 "The joy of taking things in an unexpected direction isn’t new to Christina Serra, another of this year’s new vendors. The young mom from Asheville is a fiber artist — but not in a way most people have ever seen. Instead of knitting or weaving, she creates needle-felted wall hangings. Her pieces, which often feature animals in nature settings, almost look as if they’re made out of watercolors, not roving. “Not very many people do this. It’s a very rare thing,” she said. “This is very different. It’s making fine art out of wool.” Though she’s dealing with a medium that has been around for millennia, she’s happy to be carving out her own niche with it. That she gets a chance to share her art at a festival she’s been attending since she was youngster is a nice bonus. Though she’s been doing the rounds in the Asheville festival scene, she knows that Church Street is a completely different animal. For her and other vendors, coming to a show with so much history and prestige isn’t just a business opportunity. It’s a treat. “It’s kind of a fun little adventure,” she said." (I linked the full article above on Mountaineer.) SO, yes, it has been many months since I have last posted any new news on here, but here is a quick re-cap:
*July 26th-my mother passed-away from a severe ICH. * She is already missed, and always loved. Otherwise, I have been slowly coming back to work, and am now working at a ferocious speed in order to keep up with all of the shows I have been attending, and the two I have yet to attend. I have been making fall feltings recently, many small felted pumpkins, and I made three fall wallhangings for this year, all of which found lovely homes at the Waynesville Church Street show. Picture below of some of the pumpkins. Also, we have been working on our Halloween decorations for the annual party. This year we will be making an even larger effort to get donations for Trick or Treat for UNICEF. We used to go trick or treating, mostly for the purpose of collecting donations for UNICEF (since we dont eat the candy; we give the kids 'healthy' quality sweets, and a small toy instead), but the amount of people who were prepared to give for UNICEF was shamefully small. About 80% of houses we approached had to make quite a search for change to donate, and most had not been asked previously that evening. So, we decided to have Halloween parties instead, where everyone can have a reason to dress and play safely, and hopefully donate what they can to help the kids. I want to give many thanks to those of you who came to see me in Hendersonville and Waynesville, and supported me. Thank you very much, and I hope you will enjoy your pieces for many years:) So about a week ago Three New Exciting Things came my way. First, was my box of shiny new, updated and slightly redesigned business cards. They came out really well, and I am pleased with them. Second, One of the teachers where my daughter goes to school gave me an old sewing machine. Oooh, I do love to play with forgotten sewing machines! And this one certainly had been...the oil had all gunked up, and it needed some serious TLC. My son, (also a tinkerer) also helped clean and oil this machine, until we made it run smoothly and well., though I'm having some trouble with the needle...Havent had time to tinker again with it yet It is a Montgomery Ward model URR 285 E (don't know the company who made it, or the year; very difficult to find information online about it) , it came with the manual, but no cams or goodies. It weighs a ton. Sewing machine count now is six (though two of them don't count, being that one is my son's outgrown mending machine, and one I havent put another back together...oh wait, and one is missing a pedal, and lives in a table). Really only two of them count, my Awesome Elna 9000, and my Brother, which belongs to the kids now. Onward, the third, and last fun thing to come into my possession was a 1957 Brother-Knit KH 32 home knitting machine! Craigslist find (by my better half) in town for $60! It makes the stockinette stitch, and anything else must be hooked over by hand while in operation. Which means that whatever I make on it isn't entirely machine made, just faster and finer. Just too much fun; it's really the only way I'm going to knit anything aside from scarves, and it is my vehicle to using (and buying....) some of the beautiful sock-weight yarns I find in the yarn candy shops.
I just wanted to write this entry to give a BIG THANK YOU to all of you WONDERFUL people who were at the Spring Daze festival this past Saturday and who found pieces to love and take home (or gift!) with them!! Thank all of you so very much, and also a big thanks to everyone who showed so much love and interest for my art:) You are all fantastic individuals, and I appreciate your interest and support from the bottom of my heart:) THANK YOU!!!
Another big thank-you to the wonderful hostess who housed my family and I while we were in Cary. She is so sweet and generous, and we are so very thankful for her Well, as I am busily packing for Spring Daze in Cary, I stopped a moment to upload some Sneak-Peek images I just shot of just a few of the brand new feltings I will have to offer this Saturday! Take a look, fall in love with them, and remember there are a lot more! I look forward to seeing you this weekend!
Browse the Needle-Felting link for new images. :) Happy Spring everyone! With the seducing spring weather out there, I'm finding it really hard to stay working in my studio!
It's too early still to directly plant in the ground, but I still go out to the garden and putter around; pull some weeds, nibble some mint, admire the flowers I planted, and wonder what on earth is this strange herb I planted last year...I thought it was supposed to be oregano, but it sure doesn't taste like it! It's certainly growing very well, whatever it is! I have planted some peas in succession, and realize that I should have also planted some lettuce already. The times I do tie myself to my work table, (staring wistfully outside my window..) I have been hard at work playing with new ideas and making new pieces for upcoming shows and the galleries which have been patiently waiting for new works. There is now a small batch of finished felted wall-hangings, and several more waiting for finishing touches. New sheep, horses, and even some dogs! One of the pieces I have recently finished is a commissioned piece with a border collie beginning to herd three sheep. Soon it will be time to take pictures of many of the new pieces to post on my site. I have also been able to continue volunteer work on the large clay fundraiser piece for the school. It is really looking beautiful and has proven to be a lot of fun to participate in! I will upload pictures in the future. Lastly, it was recently my birthday, and my dear sweet family bought for me the most wonderful toy: a new sewing machine!! Being new to me, this machine was made between 1989-1991, and is far more exciting and advanced than any I have ever owned before! She's an Elna 9000 computerized embroidery machine, designed and made in Switzerland (the land of chocolate, cheese, knives, Ricola and apparently sewing machines!). I thought of giving her a name, but Elna seems like a good one already... anyway, it does a few hundred stitches, and as much as I have already played with it since owning it, I have not been able to try them all yet!! The face of this machine made me immediately think of the spaceship controls in sci-fi movies! This is true excitement:) I have also finally learned how to make yogurt, and can now make unsweetened non-dairy yogurt at home. If I had known it was this easy, I would have been doing it forever before now. I mention the yogurt because it is also exciting- though not as exciting as the sewing machine. So, as I am in my studio working feverishly before spring, enjoying the warm afternoon sunshine, I am also befriending one of the backyard squirrels. They are so funny, racing around in the yard in the morning, digging tiny holes for acorns, and chittering. I have been leaving little pieces of left-over gingerbread house on the end of the banister, which just happens to be right in front of the window where I sit to work. Usually the little critter just takes the piece and runs with it, but sometimes it just sits there and nibbles. Today it sat there in front of me (on the other side of glass) and nibbled for several minutes! It will hold it's little paw up to its chest as it surveys the surroundings for possible danger. It's so cute:D (well, except when they dig up my flower bulbs! grr).
Sunday I brought all of my new felted hats to the yarn sho Below is a picture of the community clay wall piece: It was been cut into pieces and is drying to go into the kiln. (Journey of Dreams, Diane Doyle, fundraiser piece) |
Christina Serra
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