OwlStamp

I don't think I ever published our owl stamp. It must be because I'm waiting to send off all the little guys.

You know, every time I carve a stamp (and I'm carving a lot of them lately) I have to say thank you to Gloria Page. She came to our work and after watching her film her workshop and then while I edited her workshop, I knew that stamp carving really had a place in what I do creatively.

Learn to Carve Your Own Stamps

I think I've said this before, I'm a terrible stamper. There is a look I never achieve with store bought rubber stamps. Other artists can do it. I've seen beautiful work...but it's not for me. This is why I was so surprised at how quickly I fell in love with carving my own stamps. There is a tactile quality in the process, and I love how you can see cut marks in the final print. I had no idea how carving my own stamps would change the way I approach my work both on the computer and on the page but it has. I have Gloria Page to thank for all of that.

This week at work they are putting the Gloria Page gift set on sale. People save $15 if they buy Gloria's book and art instruction DVD together. If you're interested go to Creative Catalyst Production's site: here.

Sherrill Kahn Day 2

Today is our first full day with Sherrill Kahn and she is amazing. She has written a book on seemingly everything and she is so open to sharing what she knows. She uses Jacquard paints and it's going to take a lot of self control to not run out and buy some!

We've been in the studio filming all day so I will post some pictures up tomorrow. In the meantime, here's the trailer for Gloria Page's DVD workshop. Enjoy!

Pre Sale!

The wait is over! OK, well sort of. Gloria Page's beautiful workshop "Art Stamping Innovations" is ready for our pre order sale. I loved every minute of Gloria's stay with us. She is one of the most positive human beings I have ever met and her outlook on life is contagious. She is also an amazingly creative and talented artist. I took what I learned filming and editing her workshop and have begun to do my own card art (the elephants below). It is sort of an addictive art so be careful!

Check out a preview here.

Check out my posts from while filming and editing Gloria.

Editing Gloria Page

"Sometimes I think we can get so serious about our art we forget to play. And when I play, when I give myself the gift of playing that's really where I learn the most and do some of the things that make me the happiest." -Gloria Page



I found the above quote in the footage I'm editing of Gloria Page today. The final DVD will be *brimming* with goodies and I'm excited. (It's still a ways out yet but it will be worth the wait. Remember, I'm just step one of many :)

Above are 2 images from the DVD. Gloria carves all of her own stamps and even has a line of red rubber stamps based on her carvings. She is immensely talented and I had forgotten how many *IDEAS* she has for projects across the board. Incredibly inspiring!

Countdown

Countdown until the weekend begins now! (It actually probably started *hours* ago.)

There is talk about starting an official Creative Catalyst Production blog. A place to hear from the artists and see work and all sorts of neat stuff. That's kind of exciting. I'm not sure how much I'll have a part in that. I know I'm learning the tiny details of newsletters however. Usually I design Craft Cat, hand it over to Jim who converts everything over into the appropriate formats for the actual newsletter. The result has been a lot of running up and down of stairs and emails of lists of corrections that need to be made. Finally I just decided that I need to learn the program and compile the final product myself. THIS is why the newsletter won't be going out until Monday. I absolutely LOVE creating the newsletter...turning it all into the correct HTML code is sort of like trying to hike up a learning curve and having a bunch of little <'s and >'s and "'s, etc come rampaging down at you full speed.

ps- The above is my first attempt at carving a stamp a la Gloria Page. Part of a card for Craft Cat. It's amazing how doing something as simple as carving a rubber box can feel so rewarding.

(Update: We now have a blog! Check it out here: Creative Catalyst Productions Blog)

Gloria Day 3

I did my first Creative Catalyst Productions interview today. (!!!) I hope you won't be able to hear the cat snoring on my lap. Gloria's interview was not only fascinating but caused me to reflect on my own life and relationship to craft and art. I'll try to have excerpts in the upcoming being-created-as-we-speak craft newsletter. More on this later in that we drive Gloria to the airport early tomorrow morning (leaving at 5:45 am) where she heads back to her family frantically cleaning house and a garage to repair from baseball sized hail this last spring. It was great to have her here and not only did she leave us way to many fun things to experiment with, but hours and and HOURS of great footage. I'm currently finishing up Claudine and then back working with Sherri Haab. I'll keep you updated.

PS- Gloria and I talked about how she organizes her studio and you can see the physical space at her site here. (Move your mouse around the image at the top of the page)

Holy Moly Mackeroly

Gloria Page finished her second day of filming today and all I can say is GLORIOUS. Her use of design is phenomenal and she wields carving tools and cutting surfaces like the pro she is. I left the studio to run errands (ballot in the appropriate box…finally) and came back to Lynn hastening me upstairs. “You have to take a look at this stuff,” she says. I am not disappointed. We’re already discussing how we’ll kill three hours between bringing Gloria to her 9am flight (7am at airport) and when the Portland paper stores open. I think we’ll manage because these projects MUST BE TRIED. This is one of the major perks of my job.


The last few days have brought a bit of adventure to CCP. Day 1 of Gloria’s visit, someone who will remain unnamed got confused about the time change and set Gloria’s alarm clock ahead an hour. This would have only been so bad, but then Gloria came in after preparing her supplies, looked at the 1am reading on the clock and thought, “that can’t be right.” She went into the kitchen in search of the real time but that clock said 11pm. Her watch (broken) said 10pm. And her other clock said midnight. She went back into her room and decided to be safe she’d get herself up based on the latest one. The result? Gloria awoke and wondering where the rest of the troops were at 4am!!!



Day 1 excitement. Onto Day 2:

Day two was a different sort. Jim woke to a sound in the middle of the night. He thought it was nothing in that the rain has been POUNDING our doors and windows for the past few nights. When he went into the bathroom however, he found a waterfall cascading from the skylight into the bathroom below and threatening the floor/roof below. He sounded the troop (Lynn) and at 1:30am he had to set up a latter and brave the roof to clear what was ever blocking the drains. This is all still IN THE POURING RAIN. Meanwhile in the bathroom, Lynn is grabbing anything that can work as a towel and trying to clean up the gushing water before it drops through the level below.


To say the least: they didn’t get a whole lot of sleep last night. We’re hoping for sound sleep tonight.

Gloria Page

Behind me in the studio we are setting up the stage for Gloria Page's workshop DVD. Very exciting! Gloria's work has been all over including Somerset Studio magazine and the Smithsonian. I'll be taking a break from editing Claudine to sit in and watch. More to come!