Summer Look at Artistic Artifacts Annex

July 10th, 2010

Artistic Artifacts Annex is located in Alexandria, Virginia.  We have a new summer look!!  

There is a little confusion about my business- so lets see if I can remove some of the mystery.

I have spent my whole life playing with fabric, I actually have a degree in Fashion Design from Radford University, but my most valuable education came from guilds and friends.   Although I was always encouraged to be creative by family and friends the practical side of life said to get the business degree as well. I did.  After a few jobs in retail,  I settled into the family business, Electrodyne, Inc.

Electrodyne, Inc.  sells automotive accessories for European cars, now primarily VW and BMW., primarily wholesale.  I continue to work for Electrodyne and grow my Artistic Artifacts business.  That is why Artistic Artifacts is open according to a schedule located on the website http://www.artisticartifacts.com/calendar.htm 

or by appointment. I still have the day job!! Oh yes and a teenage son.

And when the phone answers Electrodyne 703-823-0202 enter ext. 213 for Artistic Artifacts.  When you visit the Annex- look for Electrodyne, Inc. signs in the parking lot. You are in the correct place.

The space that is now Artistic Artifacts Annex used to shelter 3 Porsche Race Cars (not street legal) but now houses, fabrics, embellishments, paint, found objects, ephemera, two classrooms and more! 

 The photo’s above give you a sneak peak of the shop. Come visit!  Plan your next group meeting at our place! and take a workshop!

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Vintage Revisited Book Signing

June 29th, 2010

Here we are with Mary Kerr the author of the Vintage Revisited Challenge.  From left to right are the following challenge participants: Jane Miller, Mary Kerr, Lisa Ellis, Judy Gula and Linda Cooper.  We enjoyed friends and family at the book signing and reception at the Artistic Artifacts Annex on Sunday, June 27th.

Currently Block 6 is up at the Annex,  run by to see the quilts either Thursday, July 1st 11:00-4:00 or Saturday morning early 9:00-11:00.

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Artistic Artifacts Annex – June 2010 Update

June 1st, 2010

 

 I have just returned from International Quilt Market in Minneapolis – the place was hopping! I attended market to help Liz Kettle and Ruth Chandler with their “Make and Takes”; these are 1-1/2 hour sessions available to market attendees to learn about a new product or book. The teachers of these sessions provide all the supplies and instruction for the session free of charge with lots of help from manufacturers who donate supplies.

 Liz and Ruth are 2 of the 4 authors for the Fabric Embellishing book released this year. It is a wonderful book which provides a jumping off point for beginners to the embellishment experience, and for the more experienced, a place to experiment with embellishing. I highly recommend the book and offer it for sale on my site. Liz Kettle is also the co-author of a new Threads book due out early fall.

 So in my spare time, yes I did purchase some fantastic fabrics, oil cloth, thread, books, discharge paste, trinkets…but that is for the another newsletter. This newsletter is about upcoming workshops and book signing and artist celebration reception.

*************************

To celebrate Mary Kerr’s book, “A Quilt Block Challenge: Vintage Revisited”, and the artists who participated in the Challenge:

A Quilt Block Challenge: Vintage Revisited

Join us at the Artistic Artifacts Annex for a reception:

Sunday June 27th, 2010

Time 1:00-4:00pm

R.S.V.P. judy@ArtisticArtifacts.com

We will have copies of the book for purchase and one complete set of 19 quilts on display.

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June Workshops at the Annex

Liz Kettle, author, artist and teacher will be traveling from Colorado to spend a week with us at the Artistic Artifacts Annex teaching the following classes. Seats are selling out fast – reserve your space online today!

Bead Embroidery on Fabric

Bodacious Beading with artist Liz Kettle – Tuesday, June 15th

Image Transfer Workshop

Image Transfer Workshop with artist Liz Kettle – Thursday, June 17th

Stitch Journeys: Your Passport to Sewing with Specialty Threads

Stitch Journeys: Your Passport to Sewing with Specialty Threads with artist Liz Kettle – Friday/Saturday/Sunday, June 18-20th

Not able to attend a workshop with Liz or Judy in Virginia?

Join us in Colorado for Textile Evolution 2010 Fall retreat September 8-12th.

Personally Painted Fabrics

Personally Painted Fabrics with artist Linda Cooper – Tuesday, June 22nd. Join us when local artist Linda Cooper teaches how to paint your own fabrics.

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July Workshops at the Annex

July 11th: Judy’s Dye Days

July 31-August 1st: Oh Boy It’s Soy with Lynda Poole Prioleau

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October 7-12th, Judy will also be teaching at the Art Is…Wickedly Good show in Danbury, CT.

Arrange a group lunch or meeting with art tossed into the mix. Contact judy@ArtisticArtifacts.com

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Artistic Artifacts Annex

A workshop where artists gather……

Open for Classes, Workshops, Special Events, and by Appointment

Located in the Electrodyne office building at:

4750 Eisenhower Avenue

Alexandria, VA 22304

Phone: 703-823-0202 ext 213

Fax: 703-823-0842

email: judy@ArtisticArtifacts.com

Directions to Artistic Artifacts Annex: Washington Beltway to exit 174, Eisenhower Avenue Connector. After exiting onto the ramp and merging onto the Connector, you will come to the intersection, and take a left onto Eisenhower Avenue. 4750 Eisenhower Avenue is a red brick building about 1/4 mile on the left after the Fedex sign and before the condos; look for the Electrodyne sign. Store entrance is at the front of the Electrodyne building.

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A Quilt Block Challenge: Vintage Revisited by Mary Kerr

May 13th, 2010
Vintage Revisited

Vintage Revisited

It is here!!  I actually have a case of books in my hot little hands!!!  I am so excited my book is here!!  OOPS Mary’s book is here!  Mary is good with sharing- she knows that we all consider this our book as well as hers.  Lucky for me Mary did all the heavy lifting, my responsiblity was to have fun creating art quilts, yes that was actually in the instructions! 

The book is just wonderful!! This book has quilts for everyone!! Traditional and Art Quilters alike. Each chapter has the original vintage block – wonderful photograph of our quilt with a write up ( I can’t even remember what I was thinking!) and a collage of all the quilts over a 2 page spread.

Mary what a dream girl- she orchastrated a wonderful experience for myself and 18 other fiber artists. Last night when she presented her lecture to Burke Quilters Unlimited we experienced her magic again. The Lecture is very much like the book’s layout, showing you the vintage block that we started with and the quilts we created, including comments, compaints, and life events of the artists during the 2 years we participated in the challenge. 2 Years, 6 Blocks, 19 Artists, 120 Quilts. Yes, Mary created quilts also! So really 20 Artists. Then she would show us 3 “live” quilts from each chapter.

As I was sitting there I noticed that she was not showing any of my quilts… I could not figure it out- she was lecturing at Burke QU, the guild that had a number of us participating in the challenge…., but wait.. she had a surprise.

At the conclusion of the lecture she showed all six of my quilts together, I cried! For each of the Burke QU Artists, she showed us our quilts all 6 together- it was humbling.

I began this journay with Mary not knowing anything about constructing a quilt, I was a weaver. But Mary and many other quilter friends believed in me, taught me, encouraged me and I am now an art quilter.  Thank you Mary!!

Come join us for a Celebration!   June 27th 1:00pm-4:00

Meet the Author, Mary Kerr and some of the artists featured in A Quilt Block Challenge: Vintage Revisited. We will have copies of the book for sale and some of the quilts from the book on exhibit.

If you plan on coming to the reception please RSVP to Judy@ArtisticArtifacts.com

Order your copy of the book: A Quilt Block Challenge: Vintage Revisited.

Posted in Fiber, Quilts, Shows, The Annex | 1 Comment »

Her Majesty Margo Duke

February 24th, 2010

We are pleased to have Margo Duke join us at Artistic Artifacts Annex for a workshop on Saturday, March 20th 2010.  We, yes I am taking the workshop also!!. We will enjoy creating flowers with our embellishing machines and luscious fibers.

Margo has forwarded some project photos for us to day dream about – bring your own garden photos for inspiration!

( I am finally getting the hang of posting these photos…. ) On with Margo.

Margo Duke is the author of Needle Felting Magic and the more recent Making More Needle Felting Magic.   Sign up now to spend the day with Margo, your embellisher and sewing machine, and other inspired fiber artists.

Register on line now : Embellisher Fun!

Order Margo’s new Book: Making More Needle Felting Magic

Other great fibers to use with your embellisher machine: Frazzles!!
Packages of cut silks mixture of colors and patterns.

Green

Red

Brown

Blue

Pink

New Golds and Purples Coming soon.

Tags: , ,
Posted in Fiber, The Annex | 4 Comments »

February Newsletter

February 23rd, 2010
 
 
Artistic Artifacts Annex – February 2010 UpdateHappy New Year! A little late, but Janaury was a hectic month. We’ve just had our fifth snow of the winter here in Northern Virginia with more on the way as I type, and I was able to enjoy my first white Christmas in many a year as we had 20″ dumped on us just before the Holidays.The new year started quickly with a trip down to Sanford, NC to exhibit at The Quilting and Fiber Art Marketplace. My longtime friend Cathy, co-owner of Fashion Fabrics in Mt. Pleasant, SC drove up for the weekend and together we manned the booth for two days. I demonstrated many techniques in the booth during the show, which also landed me on the front page of the Sanford Herald.

I am excited to let you know that 6 of my quilts will be published in a book, A Quilt Block Challenge: Vintage Revisited by Mary Kerr, Foreword by Pepper Cory. In celebration of this event, we will hold a book signing and reception at Artistic Artifacts Annex, Sunday April 11th between 2:00-5:00pm. We will display quilts from the book and hope to have many of the artists attend with the author. Please RSVP if you plan to attend so we have a reasonable headcount. You can pre-order a copy of the book by clicking this

link: A Quilt Block Challenge: Vintage Revisited

————————- Workshops————————-

We have a busy workshop schedule lined up into the Spring and will jump right to it:

February 27th: Claudine Hellmuth teaches “Waxing Poetic – The Art of Beeswax Collage”. Only 5 seats left! About the teacher.

May: Lynda Poole Prioleau teaches “Oh Boy It’s Soy”. Choose your own Valentine’s gift! Join Lynda for 2 days of soy wax batik, and still be ready for dinner on the 14th. I am the first one to sign up for this; come join me! About the teacher.

February 28th, March 7th, 21st: Lynda Poole Prioleau teaches “Beginning Sewing for Pre-Teens and Teens”. Get the kids started down the right path with this 3-session basic skills class. About the teacher.

March 6th: Judy Gula teaches “Making Fabric Postcards”. Learn fabric collage and free motion sewing on a small scale as we create mailable art postcards.

March 13th: Judy Gula teaches “Jazzy Jean Skirt”. Bring a pair of jeans and we’ll turn them into the most comfortable skirt you’ve ever worn!

March 20th: Margo Duke teaches “Embellisher Fun”. Come enjoy Her Majesty Margo’s trunk show and be inspired to create your own fabulous fabric suitable for fashion, quilting or a myriad of other projects. About the teacher.

April 22nd: Judy Gula teaches “Dye Day”. Bring your doilies, hankies, trims, etc. to use with our prepared dye solutions and learn the technique.

April 24th: Judy Gula teaches “Fabric Collage Book Cover”. Create fabric collages to use as custom book covers.

May 6th: Linda Cooper teaches “Kinetic Quilts”. Learn the secrets of making Linda’s unique two-sided, mobile-like art quilts.

June: Liz Kettle comes from Colorado for a week of workshops; more info to follow. About the teacher.

————————- Arti Parti ————————-

“Arti Parti” – did you know these are a great, quick 2-hour workshop covering techniques, bits and kits. There are two options, Tuesday evenings and Saturday mornings. Please check them out.

March 16th & 13th: “Mixed Media Bamboo Bracelet” – Tuesday the 16th; Saturday the 13th

April 13th & 17th: “Foiling, not Grandma’s Reynolds Wrap!” – Tuesday the 13th; Saturday the 17th

Artistic Artifacts Annex
A workshop where artists gather……

Located in the Electrodyne office building at:

4750 Eisenhower Avenue
Alexandria, VA 22304
Phone: 703-823-0202 ext 213
Fax: 703-823-0842
email: judy@ArtisticArtifacts.com

Directions to Artistic Artifacts Annex: Washington Beltway to exit 174, Eisenhower Avenue Connector. After exiting onto the ramp and merging onto the Connector, you will come to the intersection, and take a left onto Eisenhower Avenue. 4750 Eisenhower Avenue is a red brick building about 1/4 mile on the left after the Fedex sign and before the condos; look for the Electrodyne sign. Store entrance is at the front of the Electrodyne building.

 

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50th Wedding Anniversary

January 23rd, 2010

 My parents 50th Wedding Anniversary was in late November.  I am very close with my parents both geographically and emotionally. Many of you have met my Mom while vending at shows,  but might  not know that I worked with my father for over 20 years.  I have great love, respect and admiration that they successfully stayed married, started and grew a business while raising 3 kids. 

50th Wedding Anniversary Gift

50th Wedding Anniversary Gift

And I think they still love each other! 

So they deserved a special anniversary gift. I had a vision a couple of years before their anniversary and began gathering stuff, some with emotional meaning and others that worked with my vision. 

We have only 4 photos of my parent’s reception from an old pocket camera, they are collaged to the back of the clock case and one stepped out. My Mom’s birthday is June = the pearls, we vacationed at the beach each and every year in August = the shells. My father raced Porsches professionally for many years = the monopoly race cars. My parents now spend the month of February in Florida = pink sea shells.  Later we added the draw to hold anniversary cards, photos and documents.

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Sanford North Carolina

January 8th, 2010

The first show of the New Year! Welcome 2010 in with a quilt show!! Wonderful friendly show in Sanford, NC

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December Newsletter: ArtisticArtifacts.com

December 16th, 2009
Artistic Artifacts Annex – December 2009 Update

Visit my Blog : www.ArtisticArtifacts.com/blog

Happy Holidays! I think it’s time to write a newsletter, but first I must add a couple more items to the website… just a few more… a few more… and then the newsletter doesn’t get written. Let’s just say that I am not a creature of habit, much to the frustration of my husband. LOL! But after much procrastination, here it is! Remember to let you friends and family know what is on your wish list. And if someone is purchasing a gift, let me know in the memo field and I will gift wrap for you!! Also, Artistic Artifacts offers Gift Certificates, a perfect gift for those creative talents in your family.

Artistic Artifacts was a vendor at Houston Quilt Festival in October this year; you can find more about Houston and MIU on my blog. We had a wonderful time and met artists from all over the world.

Please remember we love to see photos of your work with our products; I would love to post your photos on my blog! Send me an email with your photos along with any information you wish to share about your work.

There is a new look on my website – we have added new navigation to the left side; you can either click on the category and it will link to a landing page or you can continue to pull down the category for a menu link. In addition, all of the various product categories can be accessed from the photo links in the center of the home page. We hope these changes will make shopping and browsing easier, and comments are always welcome.
————————- New Products ————————-

Artistic Artifacts Hand-dyed Silk Packages, custom packaged for silk paper and needle felting, two of the ways I use this product.

Sunburst      Marine Life       Berries     Caribbean Sea

Tahitian Sunset     Aegean Sea

Sunburst

Sunburst

 

 

 

 

Black and Whites

Black and White

Black and White

————————- New Books ————————-
Fabric Embellishing: The Basics and Beyond by Liz Kettle, Heather Thomas, Ruth Chandler, and Lauren Vlcek

Art Making & Studio Spaces Unleash Your Inner Artist: An Intimate Look at 31 Creative Workspaces by Lynne Perrella

Layered, Tattered & Stitched by Ruth Rae 

 Fibreart Montage: Combining Quilting, Embroidery & Photography with Embellishments by Judith Baker Montano

————————- New Paints ————————-

Stewart Gill Paints continue to be one of our top selling products, but as an addition for our customers we have added Claudine Hellmuth Studio Paints and supplies.

————————- Beads Update ————————-

All the bead mixes have been switched from the tin containers to a clear acrylic container with screw top!! And we sneak a few more beads in the container while keeping the same low price of $8.00 each. The bead mixes include very small seed beads up to size 11, and what I call novelty beads- tear drops, leaves, lentils or other shapes. The empty containers, 3/4″ and 2″ heights, are also available if you would like to convert your storage system to this one – clear, visable, portable.

————————- Special Pricing ————————-

Vintage Optical Lens – Sold 1-per package. Each optical lens is different in thickness, glass and tab. Wonderful to incorporate into jewelry and altered art.

Vintage-optical-lens

Vintage-optical-lens

————————- 2010 Shows————————-

January: the first show we will exhibit at in the New Year will be The Quilting and Fiber Art Marketplace in Sanford, NC Friday-Saturday January 8-9th from 9:00am to 5:00pm at the Dennis A Wicker Civic Center.

Thank you for your continued support. May peace and joy be yours during this wonderful season and the coming New Year.

Artistic Artifacts Annex
A workshop where artists gather……

Located in the Electrodyne office building at:

4750 Eisenhower Avenue
Alexandria, VA 22304
Phone: 703-823-0202 ext 213
Fax: 703-823-0842
email: judy@ArtisticArtifacts.com

Directions to Artistic Artifacts Annex: Washington Beltway to exit 174, Eisenhower Avenue Connector. After exiting onto the ramp and merging onto the Connector, you will come to the intersection, and take a left onto Eisenhower Avenue. 4750 Eisenhower Avenue is a red brick building about 1/4 mile on the left after the Fedex sign and before the condos; look for the Electrodyne sign. Store entrance is at the front of the Electrodyne building.

MapQuest

 

 

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Silk Paper

December 10th, 2009

I am hooked on creating silk paper- so crazy am I that I had pounds of silk hand dyed to support my habit and yours!!LOL. What you don’t have the silk paper habit …. yet!

While in Houston Festival Liz Kettle did a silk paper demo during her Open Studio in the Cloth Paper Scissors section of the vendor floor- We had several converts who ran down to purchase a silk pack, stencil brush and textile medium. And for those of you who already purchased your supplies in Texas – SHOW ME YOUR SILK PAPER!! Please email me photos and I will post on the blog- what did you make with your silk paper?

I was asked to post a tutorial on how to make silk paper- here is the way I was taught. I am sure there are other options, comments, and recommendations- please add them via comments.

Step One: The materials

A pan that has a lip on it, you will use liquid and want to contain it. For demo purposes I have used an alumium cake pan. Also, silk, stencil brush ( any brush will work, but I like the stencil brush), textile medium, 2 small jars, netting/tulle.

making-silk-paper-textile-medium-stencil-brush

making-silk-paper-textile-medium-stencil-brush

Cut a piece of netting that is the length of the pan and twice the width of the pan. Lay the netting on the bottom of the pan.

making-silk-paper-pan-netting-step-one

making-silk-paper-pan-netting-step-one

Place the silk roving and or hankie thinly on the netting.
dry fibers on netting

dry fibers on netting

At this time you can trap some sequins, threads etc in the silk,  just make sure that you have covered top and bottom the extras. Fold the netting over the top. This will keep the brush from pulling the silk up and out of the pan!

In one of the jars mix a drop of liquid dish detergent and mostly water.  The 2nd jar will be a mixture of textile medium and water. The more textile medium the stiffer the silk will be- more water the softer the paper will be- but remember to not go less than 50/50 textile medium/water or it won’t stay together.

making-silk-paper-with-textile-medium

making-silk-paper-with-textile-medium

First use the liquid soap and water to wet the fibers using the brush to work it in- be rough not dainty.  Then work in the textile medium. I have been known to flip the silk over and work both sides.  Work the materials for 5 minutes and then hang the piece (with the netting still on) so air circulates top and bottom in order to dry quicker. Use a drip pan or paper underneath so the floor doesn’t get wet- this stuff doesn’t come up with soap and water… ask me how I know!
When the silk paper is dry the netting will peel right off.
silk paper- completed and dried

silk paper- completed and dried

And here are the new Artistic Artifacts silk packages used in our silk paper making arti parti
making-silk-paper-kits

making-silk-paper-kits

To purchase all the supplies for silk paper making flip over to ArtisticArtifacts.com

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