Found It: Magazines

I went down to the farm today after picking up some aluminum blanks so I can make some more clocks for this weekend's art show at Loring Park in Minneapolis.  It's my first time there and I'm really excited.  But, since I was down there I thought I'd take advantage of our freakishly mild weather (70 degrees in July?  WHAA?) and peek in the sheds.  I won't have a show until the middle of September, so I'd better collect some stuff to put up on The Retro Ranch's Etsy page in the meantime.

Today was a day for magazines! 

American Girl, July 1967//Inside advice column asking question about fixing
your hair after a 50-mile motorcycle ride with your main squeeze!



Co-Ed magazine, March 1968//Inside spread of EXCITING ROOMS.  Are you excited?



Movie Teen Illustrated, July 1967
Get me a ticket on that train!

Woman's Day, August 1966
If you know me at all, you'll know that this is my thing.

American Girl, April 1968
Quite the souvenir, darling.



Quinto Lingo, June 1966
Five languages, one magazine.

So, where did I dig these up?  Well, one of the open-sided sheds has lots of storage places, and lots of junk in those places.  Someday I hope I can get this all cleaned out so my parents can either use it as a better storage area, a garage, or tear the mother down and start fresh.  It's already sorta falling down, so it wouldn't take much to demolish.



The locker on the left was holding a box
(Right picture) That box had the magazines in it.
The red arrow is pointing to the box, if you couldn't tell.

There are hazards to picking, one being small stingy critters.  Today it was cool and there weren't many mosquitos or bees, and this shed doesn't generally harbor as many ticks as the others, so I felt comfortable not having to suit up in full HAZMAT gear to go in.  But...they always leave reminders that they have reigned over the space, even if it was long ago:

Okay, stay cool man, stay cool.

Looks good, right?
Here's one for scale:

Pretty awesome.  Glad this has been abandoned, but it was quite
a shock the first time I saw it.

I'm going to use the magazines as inspiration, backgrounds for frameables, and maybe take them apart and sell the ads (I found some nice Reader's Digests, too).  Considering they've been in a box in a locker in a shed for at least twenty-five years, they're in great shape. 

Found It: Diseases of Cattle!

So...gross.  These are gross, at least the colored ones, but, actually, also pretty cool?  And the black and white illustrations are quite exquisite just as pieces of art.  Check it out and if you stick around you can learn about how I got these things.



Who wants Tuberculous Lungs and Contagious Pleuro-Pneumonia?!





Ergotism and more tuberculosis!





The miracle of birth...? Sold to a lucky buyer in New York.



And my favorite: MONSTROSITIES!

I pulled these pages from the book “Special Report on Diseases of Cattle” by Dr. Atkins, et al., 1908.  As our farm used to be an actual working farm, this book may really have been used at some point.  It was, however, buried deep in the barn under many other things, including several other books, so who knows when it got there, let alone saw the light of day last.

Considering that all sorts of critters probably scuttled across the binding of this book over the last century, the pages are in great shape.  There's a nice patina along the edge and a few pages that have some water spots, but otherwise, perfectly frameable!  I've sent three sets of these plates to New York and Texas, and although I don't know what finally happened to them (framed or used in a piece of art or something), I'm glad that I could save them from their inevitable demise.

I'm keeping the Monstrosities page, though.  It's too cool.

The book pages I pull from worm-eaten old books or papers I find are in my Paper Ephemera section of The Retro Ranch's Etsy store.



Found It: Cans!

As a farmer, Grandpa was quite scrappy: waste not, want not.  He loved to organize his nails, bolts, tacks, and all other small things in old coffee cans, because, why buy an organizer that's basically the same thing?  Usually, he would then immediately forget about them and start again with more cans, filling them with whatever weird little doo-dads he ended up purchasing at an auction.  I get a wild hair about me, too, and organize ALL THE THINGS, then forget where I put them, and entropy reigns until I feel I need to dig around again for that thing I just KNOW that I have SOMEWHERE AROUND HERE.

Anyway, I found some cans on my excursion to the farm months ago and finally have a break in art-making to sort through it all, shoot some pictures, and list them in The Retro Ranch's Etsy shop.

Behold!


I love the blue and orange on this one!

 


Wish I had the lid for this, but who needs lids on a farm?
Pansies, that's who!

 


Large Mobiloil can...fancy gold for your fancy garage.

 


Fleming's was a Kansas City based coffee!
I hear it was rich in flavor.

 



The 1970s loved to put the real thing in the ads.
I find it unnecessary.

Hopefully I can send these out to folks who want to reuse some old cans for planters, pencil holders (I have one on my work desk for this purpose--bonus: it's magnetic), or their own nail/washer/bolt organizers just like Grandpa Bill.

See the whole collection here.

June Art Shows

I've been pretty busy this month--three art shows in two states covering over a thousand miles on the road.  It's been great!  As I am just starting out in this business (relatively speaking), it has been so nice to have a show goal to make work for, try new things out, and learn about different shows and cities. 

With every new show comes a new set up.  Even if the conditions are the same, I'm always tweaking and rearranging my booth, trying to strike a balance between showing my work, being available for customers, but not in their faces (because...awkward). 

Notice I had both clocks and wall art for sale here.

 So, I don't love the way this looks from far away, but it does the job.  I added a set up of my Frameables on the right side above the bins, which helped.  But being able to see into my "back stage" area under the panel legs bothered me.  Also, my table in the back was too big, so I actually bought a new one!  I never buy stuff, but there are some things that the 21st century has done right, and it's collapsable plastic tables with telescoping legs. 

This was my second time at Liberty Arts Squared, where I was awarded Best of Show last year.  My set up was similar last year.


Looks less like a yard sale!

Much better!  I added a drape to my back stage table and brought new "smallies" (art and individual letters) to sell.  As I hadn't used them in a set up before this, I was forced to wing it when I got to show day.  I added some different tables and coverings (it's amazing what you can find in your basement).  I still feel like the wall behind my check out table is a little empty, so I might play around with something to put back there.  Penants are SO HOT right now...dare I take the plunge that so many party-decorators have been inspired by from Pinterest?

This was my first year at Iowa Arts Fest and, can I just say, Iowa City is a great place with nice people and a lovely college town feel.  The show runners were very attentive, as well!

Throw a wrench into it: indoor show!

Des Moines has two art shows the last weekend of June: the Des Moines Art Festival (a.k.a. the Downtown Show) and ArtFest Midwest: "Other" Art Show, indoors at the Iowa State Fairgrounds.  Aside from being a more economical show for artists and patrons alike, one doesn't have to schlep a whole tent with walls and stabilizing bars and all that when admitted to The Other Show.  Or, at least I don't bring those things.  SO. MUCH. EASIER.  Except I had to figure out just how to set up here, since I didn't have those mesh walls and whatnot to use.  So I switched it way up and put myself out front to better showcase my Frameables against a black background.  I got lucky that my neighbor was using their fancy ProPanels to hang their art and our work wasn't fighting (visually).  I had to use my brain a little more since it was my first time with this configuration inside, but I'm pleased with the result.

My second visit to The Other Art Show was great and I exceeded my sales from the first time I participated two years ago, which is all I ask for most of the time.

I have July "off"--which means I'll be playing catch-up from June, and then I'm off to Minneapolis for the first time!  Loring Park Art Festival is one of three festivals that weekend in Minneapolis, and I'm excited to see what that's all about.  I'm sure I'll change my set up again, because I just can't help myself.

Made It: Frameables

Because I just can't stick to one thing, I started making these 8 x 10 frameable 2D art pieces before my Oklahoma show.  I mean, two days before the show, because I didn't have enough to do.  As with most of what I make, these pieces confuse patrons.  So here I'm going to share with you about how they're made, because if this saves me from explaining it just once, I'm going to call it a victory. 

I found all this cool old fabric!  Tucked safely in a metal garbage can since the '40s (I found it all with a newspaper from June 17th, 1945 and feel pretty confident in its legitimacy) I knew it could be sold via The Retro Ranch and that some talented people could use the material to make something awesome.  So far I've sent yardage off to Michigan, Alaska, and The United Kingdom!  So anyway, I have all this old fabric and thought it would be cool to photocopy it and use as a background for this idea I had during a power nap.  FRAMEABLE!  This way I can make some non-clock items to shake it up a bit and not have to hassle with lugging around heavy work, smudged and/or broken glass, or scratched paint on frames.

POWER NAPS SAVE LIVES, YOU GUYS.

Ok, so...

Found material, including hankies and yardage.

The photocopied fabric...looks like the real thing.

Rubber cement!  So. Much. Rubber. Cement.

Left over matte board sold in large bundles at a "craft" (shutter) store.
Conveniently, they're 8 x 10 inches, which is just a little under the standard
page size of 8 1/2 x 11 inches.  Meant to be.

After letting the cement dry on both surfaces, slap them together!

Flip it over, trim off the excess paper, peel off the cut vinyl decal, make 100 more.



I particularly like this one.  And, no, that actual fabric isn't for sale because
I get to keep whatever I want, and I want that.

 


Remember that application technique from the Union Jack project? 
It makes and appearence here, too!

 

Black cat on cute reproduced vintage fabric.  This piece sold in Iowa City.

Tiny love for my homeland.  This is approx. 4 x 5 inches on a French-to-English
dictionary page from the 1920s (? ish).

Letters!  Spell yer name or something.  On "fabric paper" and found papers/
book pages (you didn't need that math book from 4th grade any more, right?)

The display of smallies in Iowa City.
I found that wooden thing in one of the barns,
of course, and turns out it works perfectly for this!

The size is perfect to just throw in a standard frame, or you can matte it out and get all fancy.  I like the "smallies" because kids love digging through to find their initials or spell their name, and I can use images from magazines and illustrated books as backgrounds and cut my hoarded papers down a little.

I've been doing/will be doing several shows this month, so I've been slacking here.  I've also been slacking on uploading stuff to Etsy and, oh dear, especially my website.  But you can see what I'm up to on Facebook, especially at shows, since I now have a "smartypants" phone and can do the posting and updating and whatnot.

Tell everyone you know to head to the Other Art Show in Des Moines June 29th and 30th!  I'll be there!

Made It: Custom Heart Clock

A customer from the OKC show wanted a custom clock to commemorate a loved one.  Needless to say, I was excited and flattered to work on this piece for her.  First I sent her a mock up based on our conversation at the show.  She wanted brushed aluminum with hearts in different colors, saving a random heart to be red.

Brilliant photoshopping here...that's why I make work with my hands!

Out of a few to choose from, the image above is the one she liked the most, so I got to work sanding down the aluminum to give it a nice brushed texture and cutting out hearts the old fashioned way.

This is how my aluminum comes--industrial flatness.

Left side: unsanded.  Right side: sanded.

I used a circuitus motion to get this look. It makes it a bit softer than
just straight back and forth sanding.  Worth the sore tricep.

Turn over that vinyl and put down a stencil!

Trace it!  Best, most useful thing I learned in first grade, bar none.

Once I cut out all my colorful hearts, I had a nice pile of love to work with.

Ready and waiting.

Then I got to work laying them out, matching as closely as I could the design we agreed on.

Pretty much set.

Stick it!

I was very pleased with the final result:

12 x 12 Brushed Aluminum Custom Heart Clock

I might just have to make some more heart-themed work!  I've probably cut more hearts in my lifetime than any other shape, due to my obsession with homemade Valentines starting all the way back in my elementary school days.  I was so happy to be able to make a special piece for my client (thanks, Angie from OKC!).  Knowing that something I helped bring to life gives another person warm-fuzzies gives ME warm-fuzzies.  Not to get too goopy here, but lately I've been feeling sentimental, and this really made me feel great.

Last weekend I was at the Liberty Arts Squared event in Liberty, Missouri.  It's a young show (only four years old), and the crowds picked up since last year, so maybe we can keep the ball rolling in years to come in that adorable little northeastern suburb of Kansas City. 

This coming weekend I head off to Iowa City for the Iowa Arts Festival.  I've never been there and am looking forward to meeting a whole new group of people and seeing a new town in my dear Midwest.  I'm even going to make some special Iowa themed items just for them!  And I'll keep the corn jokes to a minimum...we all know it's mostly grass up there, anyway, just like Kansas and Missouri.  So, spread the word and get all those Hawkeyes out to downtown!



Lost It: Zevon

Ok, so I don't want to get too heavy or anything, but there has been a reason for my lack of posts in the last week.  One of our beloved cats died a week ago.  Zevon (pronounce it Zeeee-Vaughn) was a huge bad-ass and inspiration for some of my work, specifically my recent foray into the cat designs.  He was a barn cat that we brought home after my aunt's wedding in the country, along with one of his littermates and three other kittens from another litter in another barn.  I kept one of those, too--a Maine Coon mega-cat I named Clover. 

This was 2003...I had my own apartment, was a junior at KU, and working as a server at a restaurant on Massachusetts Street (since closed).  I brought them home on Halloween and started my new life as a Person With Cats.  They were so small and puffy and adorable, it was painful to leave to go to class or work.  


The top picture is from the first night he was with me.
The bottom is before I even brought him home when
he was still at mom and dad's.  He's lounging with his
littermate, another cute Persian farm cat.

So sweet!  Glad I had an English class that semester.  Their ability to weigh me down with cuddles really helped me get through all the books I had to read.

Napping with the babies post-Thanksgiving dinner.  I didn't know it then, but
I'd wake up with Zevon on me like this many more times over the next
ten years.



OMG!  The sweetness.

My best friend was a photography major and I took full advantage of her skillz and my lack of money to have a family photo session.  I gave the pictures as gifts to my family for Christmas, because obviously.



He never loved being held in the air that much.

So he began filling out a bit, his stripes started to come in...

Proof I was a server and not a stripper--see those ones and fives? 
That was as good as it got in my college town.

The summer of 2004, before this kiddo even turned one year old, his health problems began.  I noticed some scabs that seemed weird on his nose and ears.  Long story short, he was diagnosed with pemphigus.  Nothing we couldn't handle, just some steroids for the rest of his life every night before bed, no bigs.

And THEN, the last week of my college career (except that pesky last class I had to take over the summer), he broke his hip.  Out. Of. Nowhere.  So...they removed the head of his femur, which would naturally replace itself with scar tissue over time.  This surgery all happened when I was visiting my sister in D.C. with my now-husband, Sean.  Awesome person and inspirational artist T.J. took care of him during this time, doing physical therapy with him and taking him to vet check ups while we were gone.

Rocking his E-collar (Elizabethan, for those not in the know) so he wouldn't
chew on his stitches.

AND THEN IT HAPPENED AGAIN, six weeks later, to the other side.  By this time Sean and I had moved in together and I was taking that last pesky class.  The vet said that it was possible that it could happen again, and I was all like, "Psshht, naw."  Turns out it's some sort of syndrome that indoor, neutered cats under age two experience sometimes. 

So, we all got over that and continued on with our (nine) lives. 

Awkward teenage years.

Sean and I moved to Kansas City and I began making art.  Zevon was right there with me the whole time.  I think for a while the only thing I had on my first website was a picture of him sitting among the vinyl on my work table.  Always a great combo: sticky stuff and cat hair.

Modeling clock faces, winter 2011.

Lazy-ass studio assistants.



Sticker inspiration! 



Fall of 2012 I started drawing in my little wonky way.  I didn't want to be the Person With Cats who was also the Person Who Makes Cat Art, but after all these years and cats I decided to just go ahead and do it.  I needed a new cat shape from the ones I had been drawing (classic domestic shorthair, basically) and then looked over at Zevon...Well, he's a pointy-er shape than what I have, let's draw him!

Around the same time I noticed he was acting a little weird, then really weird--hiding, not eating.  After a very dramatic morning vet appointment, then a rush to the emergency vet, and lots of tests, it turned out he had some advanced autoimmune disease that they couldn't quite pin-point (also, usually a dog problem, apparently).  They shaved his tummy for a sonogram and his shoulder for a biopsy to rule out everything else, and after getting some meds and whatnot, he was back home and full of beans.

I mean, really, how bad-ass does he look here?  Warrior chic.

Throughout the winter his numbers (platelets, etc.) were up and down.  We adjusted his meds, kept adding more and trying new stuff, but the trend was down overall.  Every morning when I woke up with his stinky breath in my face I saw it as a gift.  I took many opportunities to snuggle and kiss his sweet face and pat his tummy (it was a great drum, especially after a meal). 

He started doing this hilarious thing where he'd fall asleep on the back of the couch so deeply he'd roll right off.  When he hit the floor, waking up, he'd just walk around like nothing happened.  "Nothing to see here, I totes meant to do that."

Super Sunny Cuddle Time with Zevon and Clover.  I'm hiding behind them.
They washed each other and we were a big pile for a long time.
March 2013

His quality of life was good up until the end, with only the last day being a bad one.  It was the toughest decision of my life, saddest day of my life, but it had to be.  I hope by sharing this I'm able to connect with those of you out there who have had to say goodbye to a loved one.  Also, if you get a diagnosis of pemphigus or another autoimmune disease, know that your sweetie can live a long and happy life, enriching yours for a long time.  There's new scientific discoveries everyday!  Chin up!

Never gonna forget those baby blues.  Never gonna forget my first love.

Squeeze your babes extra tight for me, ok?  The love of an animal is so special...

Thanks, everyone.  And remember, have your pets spayed or neutered!