Favorite Etsy Shop - "Iktomi" Clay Artist

I just stumbled upon this shop the other day on Etsy and have fallen in love!

Iktomi specializes in, "Adorable handmade clay sculpture, animal spirit guides, wedding cake toppers, gnomes and fairy tale inspired pottery and ceramic art." What caught my eye originally in this shop were these adorable Hedgehogs! Check them out:
I found the beautiful colors used, and the details given to these pieces to be really amazing.

Denise Ferragamo, the clay artist behind this shop has been an artist since she was 12! She would sell painted seashells from a card table on Main street in Wellfleet on Cape Cod. Then she started drawing t-shirt designs for a screen printer for almost a decade; and as a fine artist selling paintings in galleries and art shows on the Florida gulf coast. In the last 5 years she found a love for clay.

Denise credits her mom with getting her interested in clay. "My mother was the one who got me interested in clay. She moved from Cape Cod to New Mexico, and fell in with a rowdy bunch of pottery makers. Not really, but through friends, she discovered her love of clay. After about 10 years of hearing about how much she loved it, I was finally convinced to give it a try. She actually drove to Florida from Arizona with a second hand kiln she had bought for me, along with all the goodies like glazes, tools and clay. I guess you could say she ignited the spark."

Here is another example of her beautiful work, I thought with Spring coming this bird was pretty:

Denise finds inspiration in many ways, "Much of my work is influenced by my childhood love of folk and fairy tales. I remember the Walt Disney show on TV and loved every chance to see the next animated movie (they’re called classics now, so I guess I am getting old!) I loved them with a passion and was seriously contemplating a career as a Disney animator. You can see a lot of the Disney influence in my work; animals with soft features, a hint of anthropomorphism, a certain look in the eye, and personality.

I also am influenced by my visits to the southwest – New Mexico and Arizona. I love ancient ruins or the slightly alien landscape of the wide open desert. I make a lot of spirit animal guides which can be enjoyed as a piece of art, or as a symbol of the connection some people feel with a certain animal. I love getting ideas from people about new animal guides to try and I’ve had a lot of fun interacting with my customers this way."

One of my favorite items from this shop are the clay buttons! I am a fanatic about buttons, using them in a lot of my jewelry. So these buttons are unique, and an exciting addition coming to my jewelry soon.
Denise has an ever changing inventory of items, and a permanent sale section in her shop. So go check it out!

Written By: Janet from Trinkets N Whatnots.

Random Baltimore Photo

Image from Alan Barr; click here for more information.

Recipe: Ultimate Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ultimate Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

Dry Ingredients:
* 1 cup all purpose flour
* 2 tbsp Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa powder
* 1 tsp baking powder
* 1/2 tsp sea salt
* 1/8 tsp cinnamon
* dash of nutmeg

Wet Ingredients:
* 1 stick of butter, cut into chunks
* 8 oz. Ghirardelli 60% Cacao bittersweet chocolate chips
* 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
* 1/4 cup sugar
* 2 large eggs

Additional Ingredients:
* 12 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips
* 6 oz. Hershey's Special Dark Chocolate chips

1) Pre-heat your oven to 350*F.
2) Mix the dry ingredients together in a bowl, and set aside.
3) Use a double-boiler to melt the bittersweet chips (if you don't have a double boiler, you can simply use a metal mixing bowl over a saucepan of boiling water), stirring constantly. Make sure the chocolate is completely melted before adding the chunks of butter. Continue stirring until the butter is melted. Add the brown sugar, and stir. Then add the sugar. Stir. Take the double-boiler off of the water, and allow the wet mix to cool for about 3 to 5 minutes, so that the eggs won't cook when you add them. Add the eggs.
4) Fold half of the dry mix into the wet mix a little at a time, then add the rest, folding carefully (over-mixing can cause the cookies to turn out tough).
5) Add the semi-sweet and Special Dark chips.
6) Place 2 tbsp of dough per cookie onto an ungreased cookie sheet.
7) Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until the sides of the cookies are firm.

Written by Roz of Moon Raven Arts.

Friday Finds - April Showers....

We all know the saying, April showers bring May flowers...which inspired this week's Friday finds.
Moonstone Flower Sterling Silver earrings by Lucy's Legacy.

Vintage Inspired Sweet Roses Apron by Boojiboo.

Sweet Shoe Clips by The Littlest Bean.

Written by Lauren of JerseyGirlDesign

Squidfire Art Mart: May 8

Join us on this Saturday at the tenth annual Art Mart where more than 50 unique and hand-picked artists will flood Baltimore's famous Fells Point Square for an all-day, open-air marketplace. BEST members participating include: SugarPaperie , ElisaShereJewelry, BlockPartyPress, DandelionBlu, JennyJen42, The Littlest Bean, AtelierAdornments, JerseyGirlDesign, CEKCustomDesigns, TheBrokenPlate, TigerLillyShop, YummyAndCompany, Lanabella, Sweet Pepita, and VWStudios. This event runs from 11–6 p.m. For more information visit http://www.squidfire.com/.

Baltimore with Babes - Greenbelt Greenman Festival

The Greenbelt Greenman Festival is an annual celebration of all things earthy, folky, and a hotspot of family fun. Now in it's 6th year, the Greenman Festival is produced by CHEARS, the Chesapeake Education, Arts and Research Society and offers a variety of family friendly events - including live music, dancing and kids' activities.

Multi-generational events include live music from the Homespun Ceilidh Band and puppet shows performed by Baltimore's own Beale Street Puppets. Children's events include winding the Maypole, face painting and a fairy garden.

Check the schedule here to find your favourite events whether it's watching the kids wind the maypole or engaging in a lively discussion about organic farming and making sustainable food choices. Only forty-five minutes from Baltimore, but for an afternoon, at least, it's a whole other world.

Written by tarabu.

What I'm Working On: Moon Raven Arts

Well, for the past few weeks I've been working on a new mask. Like my other masks, this one is is based on mythology. Specifically, the Hindu Goddess Kali. I have a general picture in my head of how she'll look when she's finished.

The materials I'm using are Celluclay with aluminum wire mesh as armature. I've managed to sculpt most of the features, but I have a bit more to go on the eyes, cheeks, tongue and teeth. I've had to layer the features onto the mask, sometimes several times, to compensate for shrinkage during the drying process; which goes much faster with an oven set to 374*F. She looks a little funky right now, because the repeated trips to the oven leaves browned areas, but that's alright, they'll be covered soon enough.
Then, it's just a matter of sanding, painting, hairing (adhering hair), and sealing the mask. Which, given my schedule, will probably take a while (insert eye-roll here).

By Roz - MoonRavenArts

My Favourite Etsy Shop - Mother's Day

This was a hard post for me to write - with the huge volume of incredible art on Etsy, how do you pick a favourite? Well, as a quilter with a short attention span who can't work on one project at a time who has been forced to compartmentalize projects into little boxes to keep them organized, I've transferred that habit to Etsy - not my favourite shop, but my favourite Metal Clay artist, favourite practical tools for quilters (painters, photographers, etc), my favourite designers, sculptors and so on.

With Mother's Day a stone's throw away at this point, I turn to one of my favourite shops and favourite people, Dotty of DottyRal. My mom's not a fabric artist, so there's nothing in Dotty's shop she'd actually use, but if my kitten's reading, or if your mom's gifted with a needle, put your ears up and take notice!

Dotty makes pincushions. Her creations go well beyond the simple red tomato. For starters, they are all stuffed with emery grains, an incredible mineral that sharpens needles with each stab. Beyond that? they are unique, fun and personal.

If my great-grandma, the one whose hand-stitched quilt lives on my bed, the one who handed down the lovely pink rose china were still mortal, her Mother's Day would be greeted with a gift of this:
If I had any sense, I'd get one of these, because those salvaged buttons and zippers aren't going to store themselves:
What I'd really like, though, is one of these:
Written by Tarabu

Random Baltimore Photo

Photo taken by CheverlyBob; click here for more information about the photo.

Green Craft Tutorial: Plastic Flowers In Bloom

As an elementary art teacher, I am inundated with donations of stuff. In an effort to teach my students the art of transformation and in thinking consciously, I often will incorporate found objects in my lessons. This lesson requires one plastic bottle and a bit of ingenuity.

You will need:
(1) plastic water or soda bottle, thin enough to cut (one bottle will give you 2 blooms)
Plastic lids, assorted
Scraps of fabric or paper for the stem and leaves
Acrylic paint
Scissors
Hot glue gun and glue
A piece of cardboard or other decorative base

Step 1: Cut your bottle in half.

Step 2: Paint the interior of the bottle with acrylic paint.

Step 3: Once the paint has dried, snip down near the base, making long tabs. These will become your petals. Bend back each tab, pinching them at the base so that they stay in place. You can cut the tips of your petals, making them more decorative (i.e. fancy).

Step 4: From your collection of lids, choose one or more for the center of your flower. You can stack or layer them for a more eye-catching effect.

Step 5: Using a hot glue gun, glue a strip of fabric and assorted leaves to the piece of cardboard. Hot glue the lids to the center of your flower and adhere to the cardboard.


Written by Sugar Paperie.