Artist: Geneviève Crabe
Business name: Amaryllis Creations
Location: St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada

Websites & Blogs:
Amaryllis Creations
Amaryllis Creations etsy shop
Crafters’ Internet
Geneviève Crabe blog

I would describe my work as bold, colourful, eclectic wearable art. I get my inspiration from everything from flowers to architecture; everywhere I look, I see shapes, patterns, and colours to incorporate in my work. I enjoy learning new things so I read books and take classes in a variety of subjects including painting, beading, bead embroidery, polymer clay, and mixed media. I enjoy the cross-pollination that happens, and I like to incorporate a variety of components in my work: hand-painted wood, pen & ink, glass, beads, fibers, Kumihimo braids, etc.

My mother was an artist, and I have been surrounded by arts and crafts my whole life. While I enjoyed artistic pursuits in my spare time, after a 30-year career in hi-tech, I now enjoy being a full-time artist. An important part of my artistic life involves networking with other artists. I belong to three local art guilds, and I attend as many bead shows and decorative painting conventions as I can. I find that just being around other artists, whatever their medium, is very inspirational. I also enjoy teaching, which is often a learning experience for me, and more recently creating and selling kits and handmade jewelry.

I also like sharing my knowledge through writing and I have two published books under my belt. In 2001, I combined my computer and crafting skills in a book titled Crafters’ Internet Handbook: Research, Connect, and Sell your Crafts Online. I am now working on The Crafters’ Internet 2.0, a blog dedicated to informing crafters about resources available to them online.

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From the website:  If you’d like to share your inspiration and detailed how-to instruction for creating beautiful jewelry with readers, we want to hear from you. Belle Armoire Jewelry covers a broad range of mediums, from art clay to polymer clay to found object to fiber to wire to beads and much, much more. Whether you are a creator of necklaces, bracelets, earrings, brooches, pendants, rings or other jewelry, we welcome you to submit your artwork for consideration of publication.

Please read submission guidelines before sending your submissions to: Stampington & Company · C/O: Belle Armoire · 22992 Mill Creek, Suite B · Laguna Hills, CA 92653

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Lesson for the week: “Details create the big picture.”  ~ Sanford I. Weill

The challenge: Show your 13 piece collection at Bryant Park and win the whole shooting match.

At last, the long anticipated event is aired.  Because of law suit delays, many folks already knew how this show turned out, but I made it my business not to pay any attention or read about it until now.  What I can tell you is that it turned out exactly the way I predicted by mid-season.  Much as I wished for a Carol Hannah win, I was certain that wasn’t going to happen.

Of course at this point, everyone who gets to show has a wonderful opportunity to be able to follow their dreams.  So they don’t get the prize money or the title; they get the exposure and the contacts.

Irina’s collection, although nothing that I would wear (I’m too old and not that into black), was perfection.  Michael Kors’s rather dismissive comment that we’d seen the “warrior woman” before was off-base: this was neither a warrior woman, nor was it something we’ve seen before.

The weakness of the collection is its inability to photograph well, but if you were watching closely, you must have been as staggered as I was by the details: the wrapping, the weaving, the tucks, the texture, the shredding, the tee shirts, the hats, the bags…details, details, details.  Amazing.  Attention to detail at every level imaginable.  Irina deserved the win.

I can only imagine what the other judges must have said to Michael off-camera

Images: MyLifetime.com

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Lesson for the week: You’ve got to pay attention to copyright issues.

The challenge: We’re down to the final three, and Tim Gunn went to visit each of them as they worked on their Bryant Park collections.  The visits followed the formula that we’ve all come to expect…Tim visits their space, critiques their work, and then joins their friends and family for a nice meal.

But isn’t there always a twist?  A few weeks later, just a couple of weeks shy of Fashion Week, Irina gets a phone call from Tim.  Hey, you know those images of New York landmarks, like Coney Island that you wanted to use?  Guess what?  They’re copyrighted.  (And really, you should have thought to check about that).  But he didn’t say that last part.

Nobody who works in fashion, jewelry design, collage arts, or any other visual media really wants to deal with copyright issues.  It’s a pain in the neck, there’s a lot of mis-information floating around, and some people get incredibly hostile when the topic is raised.

But here’s the reality: as artists and designers, unless you want the pants sued off of you, you need to know the fundamentals of copyright.  The only reliable source of information in the United States is the government copyright office, and the website is not terribly hard to navigate.

Don’t think that we failed to notice, either, that it’s the same designer who accused another of using her idea (the big puffy sweater…no one’s ever done that before) who almost ran afoul of the law by appropriating other people’s iconic images.

All in all, I felt sorry for Irina, having to make that large a readjustment that close to the big day.

Images: MyLifetime.com

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Deadline for artwork to be received: December 15, 2009. Please read submission guidelines before sending your submissions to: Stampington & Company · C/O: Altered Couture · 22992 Mill Creek, Suite B · Laguna Hills, CA 92653

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Lesson for the week: Don’t be smug or catty…it’s not attractive.

The challenge: The designers must create a design using the Getty Center in LA as inspiration.  They even got to see it with their models!

No surprises last night…the three designers that I expected to be at the top by about mid-season were the judges’ picks.  Even though two of them made dresses that were unattractive at best, at least in my opinion.  Althea and Irina have consistently done good work, and that consistency saved at least Althea last night.

Irina’s dress

The judges seemed to really like Irina’s dress, but I couldn’t figure out why.   If a dress makes a girl of this model’s stature and beauty look like a galumph, what would it look like on me?  I’m already a galumph without help, thanks!  Nonethess, Irina was smug and catty, obviously delighting in criticisms of other designers’ work both in the workroom and on stage.

Althea’s dress

Althea’s dress was a complete mess.  Like I said, it’s her consistency throughout the season that saved her last night.

Gordana’s dress

Gordana’s dress was far better made and was just lovely, but it wasn’t the risk that Althea’s was.  I understand the decision, but overall, Gordana’s dress was the only one I liked last night.

Why can’t we all just get along?

Many of the designers this year have had extremely pleasant personalities.  One thing that has struck me time and time again is how unattractive it is to see or hear someone being smug or catty.  Competitions can certainly bring that out in people, and I know that I’ve not been through the stress that these designers have.  However, I think it’s really an important lesson for all artists, craftspeople, and designers to keep in mind: no one likes a poor loser, but everyone hates a poor winner!

Why is Carol Hannah everyone’s sweetheart?  Just look at that face, watch her interactions with others, and listen to what she says about the other competitors.  It’s obvious!  She avoids the drama, does her work without a fuss, and is kind and considerate to those around her, even when some of them are saying snippy things about her.  There’s a lesson there, I think.

Images: MyLifetime.com

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I found this wonderful vintage rolled-brim felt hat with a built-in scarf in an old musty antique shop a couple of years ago, and it just occurred to me that I’ve never shared the instructions with you for its transformation!

I loved the style and the color, and knew immediately that the structure of the hat would stand up to a lot of altering! Sifting through my collection of vintage buttons and jewelry showed me just what direction to go with this hat. The name, Dreaming of Spring came to me before the hat was completed. I filled the brim, but still something was missing. The final piece was still sitting on my work table: a small vintage bee pin. Obviously, the bee was to be the focal point, the one who was “dreaming of spring”!

Now as cold weather approaches, I can wear this hat with the promise that spring will one day return to New England.

Materials and tools:
Vintage hat
Buttons, beads, seed beads, and vintage jewelry
Black nymo thread, size O
Beading needles
Fabric glue

Step by Step Instructions

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Earthenwood Studio Chronicles
Melanie shares her final Crystal Week necklace… a piece she calls Woodland Mermaid.

Jean Campbell
Jean celebrates her favorite holiday by showing off her costume and some very cool baubles.

Snap Out of it, Jean! There’s beading to be done!
Jean reviews a delightful book by the editor of BeadStyle: Cathy Jakicic.

Strands of Beads
Melissa shows off her favorite necklace created for Cynthia Thornton’s Enchanted Adornments and winner in the metal clay category of the British Bead Awards.

About.com Jewelry Making
It’s like Wal-Mart, only you want to be there in this virutal tour of Shipwreck Beads.

Art Bead Scene
Art Bead Scene is having a book fair. Read up on your favorites!

Carmi’s Art/Life World
Carmi has finally discovered how great polymer clay is.

Post from: Jewelry and Beading

Lesson for the week: Be inspired…by your own work!

The challenge: The designers must create a companion piece for their own previous best look.  For most of them, this is a piece that they won a challenge with.  For poor Logan, it was simply a piece that didn’t put him in the bottom three.

That means that they were to be inspired by their own best work, which you’d think would be fairly simple for them.  To get this far in the competition should mean that you’ve got what it takes not only to design a great outfit, but also to design entire collections.

Irina’s companion piece went beautifully with her other look

However, ahem…  There was an awful lot of griping and complaining last night about someone else “stealing my idea”.  Collars, sweaters, come on folks!  First, did either of you ladies invent the large comfy sweater?  I think not.  Second, do you think the judges are blind and won’t see the similarities and differences between garments?

There are many times in the jewelry design world where I hear people being accused of “stealing” someone else’s designs.  Sometimes it’s true and can be proved through documentation.  But many times, it’s just a matter of two (or more) people coming up with similar ideas at the same time.  Before we scream theft, we need to look very carefully to determine the truth.

We are working with a limited number of stitches, and a limited number of colors.  How we put them together is everything.  The stitches belong to everyone, just like the over-sized comfy sweater does.  The zipper collar?  That may have been a slightly different matter, but at least all the griping about that was kept off the runway, unlike the sweater issue.

Congratulations to Althea, but I didn’t like this winning look any better than I liked the original piece.  JMO.

Last Minute Note: Read this classy classy classy apology from Althea for her behavior.  She is now back in my good graces!

Images: MyLifetime.com

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Cindy Gimbrone aka the Lampwork Diva
Cindy’s got some new findings from Ornamentea. What’s she going to make with them?

Earthenwood Studio Chronicles
The inspiration for Melanie’s Machinery of Nature necklace comes from science, steampunk, and nature.

Jean Campbell
Jean struggles through the creative process while bezeling some unusual crystal shapes

Katie’s Beading Blog
Check out Katie’s ideas on making your old beads new again- and make some affordable gifts along the way!

Lorelei’s Blog: Inside the Studio
Better get on board, Lorelei is having the last of the Enchanted Adornments giveaways. Leave a comment to play!

Snap out of it, Jean! There’s beading to be done!
Jean has a little Boo power going on for her in this hand made Halloween bracelet!

Strands of Beads
Melissa shows off metal clay goodies from Rings & Things

The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornton
Andrew revisits a bracelet design and creates six others.

A Bead A Day
Does a simple design equal a “Zen” experience? Lisa would love to hear your thoughts on when simple designs are able to make an impact.

About.com Jewelry Making
After posting a new jewelry book review for a very cool mixed media book, Tammy is looking ahead to other reviews coming up very soon.

Art Bead Scene
You’ve heard of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants? Well, this Sisterhood shares bracelets.

Barbe Saint John – New Jewelry from Forgotten Artifacts
Barbe gets tangled up with Chain Style book review

Post from: Jewelry and Beading