Celebration of Craftswomen took place in November 11-13, 2011, San Francisco.
Bask in the view of San Francisco when you come to this festival.

It began in 1976 as a small crafts show.
For the past three decades, The Women’s Building Celebration of Craftswomen has allowed Bay Area residents, along with visitors of San Francisco from throughout the world, to discover the work of the nation’s best female artisans and fine artists.
Celebration of Craftswomen is the largest event celebrating the craft of women in the nation.
www.celebrationofcraftswomen.org

To follow on Facebook:
www.facebook.com/celebration.craftswomen
Among the contemporary and traditional handcrafted items you can fine:
Functional and decorative ceramic and glass vessels.
Sculpted wood and works of metal.
Polymer  clay, beaded, stone and precious metal jewelry.
Women, painted silk, leather clothing and wearable.
Home Furniture and accessories.
Fine art sculpture.
Photography.
Watercolor and oil paintings.

Don’t miss the hidden treasures as you walk by them, such as, Greens Restaurant, Fort Mason in San Francisco for some beautiful bayside vegetarian dining.
www.greensrestaurant.com
The Oatmeal raisin cookie was to die for!

THE WOMENS BUILDING (TWB) is a multi-service community center whose mission is to provide women and girls with the tools and resources they need to achieve full and participation is society.
The Women’s Building is located at 3543 18th Street in San Francisco.
For information call 415-431-1180 or visit www.womensbuilding.org

Always ask the artist permission to take a picture of their booth and/or individual item.

A recap of select booths:

Rene Almon Woodworks, her inspiration comes from organic shapes and the wood itself. Building long lasting quality furniture, pleasing to the eye and inviting to touch.
www.renealmonwoodworks.com

Alexandra Von Burg, creating Fairy Tale imagery with soft sculptured dolls and fiber paintings
Look for her workshops to hone the art-making skills that enhance anyone’s natural talent.
www.alexandravonburg.com

Anne Klocko, produces different types of artwork, Vinyl Clay Artwork, Figurative Sculpture and Ceramic Sculpture are whimsy original works of art.
www.anneklocko.com

Margaret Grisz-Dow, passionate about art, her ceramic work & drawing she is integrating these by making incised drawings on the surface of her clay pieces.
Teaching  in a relaxed aesthetic environment, which is often in her own beautiful home studio.
Contact: mgriszdow@yahoo.com

Tess McGuire, hats are knitted on a knitting loom out of wool yarn and then felted using hot water, soap and friction to turn a loosely knitted fabric into a warm, solid, and virtually waterproof garment.
www.tessmcguire.com

Mountain Exotics, taking the beauty, texture of wood to form our unique products.
We create heirlooms from ‘Tree to Street.
www.mountainexotics.com

Monterey Fiber and Design by Margaret Thompson

Naoko, Creating botanically themed felt and glass Jewelry.
10% of sales are donated to humanitarian non profit organizations.
www.naokonojiri.com

Alchemy, Fine chocolate, pastry, & baked delicacies, Savory catering, Classes.
www.facebook.com/pages/Alchemy/130946720282942

Ruxton Designs, mixed media art, vintage buttons, metal hardware, felt all combined in a unique way by Nicky Ruxton.
www.ruxtondesigns.com
Sharing a booth with Laube photography, a joyful rendition of California by Nancy Laube.
www.nancylaube.com

Large Leather is a beautiful store in Sonoma, California.
Choose from in house designs to custom orders, by Paul Terwilliger and Jessica Zoutendijk.
www.largeleather.biz

JYC Arts, Fine Arts painter, Illustrator, Fiber artist as well as Jeweler and quilter.
Working with non traditional fabrics in traditional ways.
www.janecorich.com

Janice Cormier, functional and non functional ceramic art, sculptural vessels, figurative sculpture, small series of functional pottery, and Jewelry.
www.janicecormier.ca
Sharing a booth with Judy Beebe Designs, Merino wool scarves and gloves.
Creating elegant, comfortable, neck pieces with rich texture & color.
www.etsy.com/shop/judybeebedesigns

Theresa Honeywell, provocative imagery and macho icons are rendered into delicate and beautiful pieces of art.
Her inspiration comes in the contrast between art and craft, macho and feminine.
www.theresahoneywell.com

Booths 421-422 is a collaborative mixture of a group of women, a web site is in the pipe line.

To contact the artists directly:
Wanda Fudge, wfudge@peoplepc.com
Colleen Ehle Patell, mixed media figurative art, www.wildwackywomendesigns.com
Suzanne Duran, artist, miblu3@yahoo.com
Mary Porter Vaughan, fine art dolls, www.mpvdolls.com
Donna Perry, art dolls, mixed media artist, dreamandplay.blogspot.com
Zanaib Nia, artist, zniagreen@yahoo.com
Stephanie Smith, doll maker, smitharts@yahoo.com
Bonnie Hoover, Whimsical cloth doll creations, bondonhoov@sbcglobal.net

Tree Stump, Master wood artisans Christine and Ron Sisco prove Fine Art can be functional.
In addition to custom furniture, their most popular pieces are spoons and bread boards.
www.treestump.biz

Santa Barbara Felted Fibers, wearables fiber Art, soft and billowy, exciting and sometimes just wild and crazy.
www.sbfeltedfibers.com

Enchanted Burl, Burls form as an outgrowth on the trunk of a tree and/or within the root system transformed to tables, chairs, lamps, clocks, vessels and serving platters.
www.enchantedburl.com

A close up look on this gorgeous crafted chair.
The vessels have been used as food servers, three-dimensional wall art, center conversational pieces, and even spiritual baptismal vessels.

Browse the list of the entertainment schedule that was offered at the rear stage
www.womensbuilding.org/craftsfair/Womens_Building_Craft_Fair/ENTERTAINMENT.html

Zola De Firmian, Fine Art Ceramics and tile design, one-of-a-kind porcelain and stoneware pieces are hand-built, or cast, then carved, using simple molds of own design.
Project Greenheart, First, 10% of sales go to support programs that connect youth with art and nature.
www.zinfusionz.com

Dawn Mountain LeatherArt, creating and designing original Leatherart pieces.
Decorative techniques such as trapunto, pleating, weaving, and beading are frequently used on one-of-a-kind pieces
www.dawnmountainleatherart.com

FOR INFORMATION ABOUT THE SHOW CONTACT:
TEEVAN PRODUCTIONS
1557- 15TH AVE.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94122
PHONE: (650) 615-6838
FAX: (415) 731-6794
EMAIL: CRAFTSWOMEN@GMAIL.COM

Hope you enjoyed Celebration of Craftswomen!
Didn’t make it this year? Try and make it to next year.

All pictures were taken after approval by the artist.

Let’s create something!

 

You can find: How to: Polymer Clay beads Mokume Gane Style – Part 1

Take the colorful Polymer Clay slices you created and start wrapping your made beads, gently as to keep it’s shape.

Repeat for as many beads as you want.

Shapes are up to you, from larger pendants to your basic round beads.

You can also make imprints on your newly created beads.

Make sure you make holes in your beads so you can string it or attach with jump ring.
Use a skewer or anything size appropriate to create the holes.

Put your beads on a rack so your beads will retain it’s shape and have even heat on them.

Use oven thermometer to make sure the temperature is actually same as indicted.
Should the temperature be off you can easily burn your Polymer Clay beads.

We used an old toaster oven to bake our beads. It is not recommended to use your kitchen oven.
Put your oven outdoors, in the backyard or balcony if possible.

Now it’s time to sand our beads.
It is better to sand the Polymer Clay beads under water so you are not breathing in the dust.

Start of with a more coarse grade sanding paper.

Gradually work your way to a more finer sanding paper.

Keep working on sanding your beads on finer sanding paper for best results.

Notice the sides of the pendant are now straight and aligned.

While the top and bottom have a slight curve to them.
The design style is up to you.

Finish by buffing your beads on an old pair of jeans.

There are different methods to seal your beads.
We chose to use Pledge with future shine.

We used floral foam to put our beads on skewers and then using a brush coated them with two layers.
Check product instructions for drying time between layers.

Your Polymer Clay beads are now ready to be used. From Jewelry to decorative projects.

Your project is now complete! enjoy.

You can find: How to: Polymer Clay beads Mokume Gane Style – Part 1

My friend Catherine suggested we have a play day making beads from Polymer Clay in Mokume Gane style.
This was my first attempt and not too shabby if I do say so myself.

Start off by protecting the work surface. In this case we used Protecto film.

Pick a color and start working with it. We used Purple.

Choose another color you would like to use with your design. We used light Blue.

Want a shade of color but you don’t have it?
Not a problem, just mix two or more colors.
Start by cutting them into small pieces (we used a mixer to achieve these results)

Then start working the two colors together.

You will end up with the color you want. We were going for Lime Green.

Once you have all your colors it’s time to move on to the next step.
We used an old pasta maker.

Gradually make your clay thiner.

Cut your colors into 3 parts roughly the same size.

Then add Silver leaf on about 1/2 your color Polymer Clay blocks.
Make sure to cover at least 1 of every color.

Now it’s time to stack them.
Be sure to alternate between a block with Silver leaf and a block without.
As well as the different colors.

Once you have your block put dents it different sizes randomly spaced.
Don’t push all the way down (don’t create a hole).

Now it’s time to slice into your block at an angle.
You want your cut pieces to consist of several layers.

You can now create your base shape with a color you will cover partly or completely, it’s up to you.

You can find: How to: Polymer Clay beads Mokume Gane Style – Part 2