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Autumn Art Fest, Saturday, September 23, El Paso, Texas
On Saturday, September 23, people who love great, home grown art festivals will make their way to the house of Rachel and Michael Davis to browse and (hopefully buy) a wide variety of artisan handmade items, amny of which are one of a kind pieces. The Autumn Art Fest will be held on a large, tree shaded lawn during the prettiest time of the year in the Texas / New Mexico borderlands area. To be able to take part in the festival was by invitation only and eighteen artists accepted. So you know the quality of the handmade pieces for sale is extraordinary.
Date: September 23
Time: 10:00 am - 5:00 pm
Admission: Free
Address: 5737 Montoya (in the Upper Valley)
Second Category, Third Item - Wonderful Handmade Wednesday on Indiemade
The Franciscan Festival of Fine Arts at the Holy Cross Retreat Center is this Labor Day weekend, Saturday and Sunday. The Retreat Center has been operational for 60 years. However, some of the buildings in the compound are over 100 years old. It's so peaceful there and feels like you step back in time, especially when you see Father Tom walking around in his full cassock with a large, wooden rosary tied around his waist, chatting with as many people as he can. The juried festival itself has been held yearly for almost 20 years and is a “go to” festival for local people and the many who might drive from Tucson, Albuquerque or beyond to buy beautiful artisan handcrafted items. If you are in the Las Cruces, NM or El Paso, TX area, please stop by - I will be selling my jewelry there. For more information, here is a link: Franciscan Festival of Fine Arts.
Eclipse Blues - Wonderful Handmade Wednesday
Yesterday, I was flying back home from Dallas right as the eclipse was happening in far West Texas. Unfortunately, the sun was right above the plane, so I couldn’t see any of it. But I was able to see the ground (something like 40,000 feet below) slowly growing darker. Although since the eclipse was only about 65% in my area of the world, it didn’t get anywhere as dark as a full eclipse. But what was interesting was watching the sky as the sun dimmed and then grew brighter - what beautiful shades of deep, rich blues showed up and then slowly dissolved into the more normal paler sky blues. The colors looked almost velvety if you could just reach out and touch them!
The photo above is the one and only photo I took yesterday towards the end of the eclipse. I just pointed my old iPhone at the sun and clicked, hoping the sun wouldn't fry the lense. Not a great photo by any means - the sun doesn't even look like it is eclipsing with all the "light leakage." It wasn't until I downoaded the photo on the computer that I noticed the lense flare with a clear eclipse shape in it, which is what the sun actually looked like at that time. Yay! But look at the sky . . . what an amazing color!
Radiant Rainbows! - Wonderful Handmade Wednesday on Indiemade
The monsoon season is still going on here in the Desert Southwest. Most every afternoon, the sky clouds, the wind starts to howl, thunder can be heard and lightning seen . . . and if we are lucky, rain falls. As happens so often here, our house can get a deluge but a friend just a few block away may only get a few sprinkles. If the rain ends at just the right time, a magical rainbow can be seen towards the east. Sometimes a paler secondary - or even very pale triple - rainbow forms. A colorful, visual gift! The photo above shows part of a double rainbow (that tried to turn into a triple rainbow). At the end of this post is a single rainbow, both taken with my trusty camera.
First Artisan Item, Second Page - Wonderful Handmade Wednesday on Indiemade
The week since my last Wonderful Handmade Wednesday on Indiemade blog post just flew by. Here is is Tuesday evening and I suddenly realized I hadn’t even thought about the post for tomorrow. Heck, I forgot it was even Tuesday! Not to fear though . . . there are so many beautiful handmade items in the shops of Indiemade artist friends, that I have a wide range of beauties to choose from. I decided this week’s post would feature the First Artisan Item, Second Page (as of my typing this). Even though the picks are widely diverse in style and materials, they all fit beautifully together since they all are handmade from the heart.
Captivating Copper - A Short History with Artisan Handmade Beauties
Throughout the history of man, copper has been one of the most important metals, having been in use for at least 10,000 years, probably more. Since it could be found in great quantities near the Earth's surface, copper was the first metal mined. Tools, weapons, household objects, jewelry and many other items were all crafted from copper.
The Charismatic Color of Copper - Wonderful Handmade Wednesday on Indiemade
The first recorded use of copper as a color name in English was in 1594. It is a charismatic reddish brown color that resembles the color of polished copper. According to Wikipedia, however, there are about 25 different shades of “copper,” from a verdigris green (copper green) to a dark brown (dark copper). It is a trendy color, found in everything from jewelry to clothing to household decoration and accents. Beautiful with shades of green and blue (mint, teals, turquoise, navy), it actually works well with almost any color as this article in Lushome shows: 30 Modern Interior Designs.
Make it a Handmade Summer! - Wonderful Handmade Wednesday on Indiemade
Do you love unique handmade items such as jewelry, dog bandanas, hand painted tags, copper components and hand knitted tops? You can find a wide variety of of artisan beauties, imaginative pieces that were created from the heart, in this new blog. Browse the items and then browse the shops of the artists featured here. Believe me, you won’t be disappointed. Let’s make it a handmade summer!!!
New Jewelry at Shadow Dog Designs - Handmade Beauties
Seven new handmade jewelry creations have been listed in my Shadow Dog Designs shop: four new necklaces and three new pairs of earrings. All are very different in design, ranging from fun and funky boho to classic meditative designs. The seven new beauties, perfect gift ideas for women who love one of a kind, artisan jewelry, are featured below. To round out the count to an even ten pieces, two pairs of earrings and one necklace that are still looking for a new home are also included. If a piece of jewelry catches your eye, either click on the photo or the live link below the photo to be taken to the item for more information and photographs.
She Comes in Colors Everywhere - Wonderful Handmade Wednesday on Indiemade
Roses are red and violets are blue and rainbows have seven colors. Most people live in a colorful world. As humans, our color vision influences everything from our art and poetry to the colors we paint our homes and the clothing we buy. But why do we see (or not see) color? Being of an inquiring mind (and remembering some of what I learned in science), here is the low down in an encapsulated form:
