A Colossal Paper Flower Workshop with Tiffanie Turner

It's not often you get to check two amazing experiences off your bucket list at once! There is a design blog I have been following for several years called Colossal. It's a great go-to for all of the freshest art, design, photography, illustration, crafts, and more! They also have a unique online store called Colossal Shop. I've made several purchases from them that brighten my home. Colossal is somewhat local to me. It's located on the North Side of Chicago. Their post on Facebook about an upcoming paper flower workshop popped up in my feed several months ago, and I decided this was not an opportunity to be missed!

Yesterday, Colossal hosted the two incredible workshops with accomplished paper floral artist, Tiffanie Turner- the first of which I had the joy of attending! In the morning workshop session I signed up for, we created beautiful, delicate Cosmos flowers, and in the afternoon session, participants created billowy Double Bomb Peonies. Between workshops, everyone mingled and received copies of Tiffanie's new book, The Fine Art of Paper Flowers: A Guide to Making Beautiful and Lifelike Botanicals which we were able to have personally signed. Tiffanie is a wonderful instructor, and meticulous in her craftsmanship. She helped each participant achieve a beautiful outcome and gave us sources to purchase the high quality Italian crepe paper that she creates her flowers from, along with extra materials to bring home with us. I think she knew she'd have us hooked on making more flowers the same evening!

Below are a few pics from the day! I highly recommend both Colossal, and Tiffanie Turner's new book!  I paid $110.00 for the 3.5 hour workshop, which included a personally signed copy of Tiffanie's book, all materials, and light refreshments in a relaxing, fun atmosphere. I hope Colossal will be hosting more events like this in the future.

Graphic Design and Chainmaille Make Awesome Tee Shirts

It's been lurking in the back of my mind to do this for quite some time! Being so passionate about graphic design and chainmaille, it's a given that everyone in my proximity must be made aware! I decided that Graphic Design + Chainmaille = Awesome tee shirts to that get that point across! Purchasing a new suite of fonts from MyDesignDeals.com is what finally made me take the tee shirt design plunge. 

Using my PolyHexaBloom unit as inspiration, I created a Seed of Life motif in Adobe Illustrator. What do I have to say about chainmaille, graphic design, and life in general in my gorgeous new font? All things are interconnected, constant, continuous, infinite. Whoa, that's deep, yeah?

I'm so proud of this fusion of creative passions and had to share! If you have an appreciation for the interconnectedness of life, chainmaille or graphic design that you'd like to shout from the rooftops (or the front of your tee shirt) you can purchase one here: teespring.com/stores/icd

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Torusphere will be at the Artisan Holiday Bazaar- Stop by!

What a great way to kick off the Holiday season! Come stop by General Assembly, at 444 North Wabash, Level B, Chicago, for Artisan Talent's First Annual Holiday Bazaar! -Artisan is asking for a $5 suggested donation at the door from attendees to be donated to The Ounce of Prevention Fund (one of their charitable partners and clients). Artisan will be matching this donation amount! 

Artisan Holiday Bazaar 2016

The Gray Box

Sometimes as artists we'll create personal, intimate work that we’re unwilling to share outside of a very small circle or maybe even not at all. This for me- for several years- has been one of those projects. It’s not avant-garde. It’s not going to reveal the depths of my soul to you. It’s just a small, beat-up gray steel box with a slice of a very big and beautiful world that Mike and I share together hidden inside. He told me the other night that it’s too cool not to share and that others should see it, so here it is:

 

I love paper engineering and this is my all-time favorite project to-date using these techniques. The contents of the box are all hand-cut paper (every blade of grass, every leaf). There’s a glowing LED ‘moon’ mounted on the inside of the lid so when you peer inside, the scenery is covered in moonlight. 

 

Enjoy! <3

My First Chainmaille Tutorial! It's a Freebie!

Calling all maillers!  Here it is- my first chainmaille tutorial! It's for European 4-in-1. This is where I need some help from all of you avid ring weavers! I'll be teaching a class at my local library to a group of teens very soon, and this tutorial is how I've decided to go about teaching them the basics of E4-in-1. I'm using two outer rows of silicone rings and a center one using anodized aluminum rings. I'd really like to hear your thoughts and opinions on it so I can make it an enjoyable first-timer class for both the teens and for me.  (I think that roughly translates to "minimally frustrating with a satisfying outcome"). I think it's hard for me to gauge anymore how this tut may be understood (or not). Looking at it too long requires a need for a few fresh sets of eyes.

So please, download my E4-in-1 Tutorial and let me know what you think! I would appreciate hearing from you! If you like it, use it and share it, and just maybe give me a shout out and a link back if you do. Thanks! :-)

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