Discriminating Weirdos

A Great Deal On A Cool Product

 I was looking through my Etsy shop earlier this morning, and I decided to take a look at a few of the shops that have listed me among their favorites.  I found one that I really wanted to share today because the work is fantastic and the maker is running a special through January.

The shop is Catbird Brooms, and it features the work of Jeff Dixon, a broom maker from Rome Georgia.  Made from real broom corn and hand-tied with black fisherman's twine, Jeff's work is both beautiful and useful.  I'm a sucker for usable art, and his brooms certainly have both.

Better yet, he's running a special for the rest of January.  For every hawk-tail or turkey-wing style whisk broom you buy, you'll get a free cake tester, and nothing looks better hanging in a kitchen than an authentic straw cake tester.

On top of that, shipping is free in the U.S.

Take a look at the shop.  The deal is great, the product is gorgeous, and everyone needs a good broom around the house.

Has It Really Been Almost Three Months?

It's been nibbling at the back of my mind, but I just never got to it.  And now this morning I noticed that I haven't written a blog post since the end of October.  Irresponsible doesn't really cover it, does it?

There are reasons, though, and I thought that a good way to get back into the swing of things would be to just write a quick entry about what's been going on in the life of the Moes.

Since last I posted, life has been busy.  First, we worked like dogs to get ready for, and man the booth at, the Chicago One-Of-A-Kind show.  I imagine that a show like this is to crafters what the Boston or New York marathons are to runners.  Once we were prepared and packed up, we still had four full days of actual show to attend.  In total, we spent about 30 hours actually manning the booth, and seeing as we're used to one-day, eight-hour shows, we were absolutely wiped out by the time it was over.

How did it go?  It went pretty well.  In the end, Em made some great contacts, sold a good number of hats, and received several special orders which have been keeping her busy since.  I'm sure she'd happily tell you that using the phrase "I've got to meet with a client" makes her feel all bubbly inside.

I, while not doing a lot on the crafting side, have started a new job of sorts.  I'm working with a brand new company just north of Chicago that offers specialized home care and tutoring for autistic children.  As it stands right now, I have one regular student, but I have a feeling that my case load will be expanding soon. 

I've also been working on more computer stuff, including a project where I've been writing crossword puzzles for a life skills text.  Not only that, I'll soon be starting the materials for something like six new computer texts, a project that will probably keep me busy well into the summer.

Also, we've been accepted to the St. Paul Craftstravaganza again this year, so those of you in Minnesota will be hearing from us more as that date approaches.

It's 2010, and one of my goals for the year is to get back on this blogging kick.  We have done poorly as of late, and I hope to turn that around.  (ADAM)

A Really Nice Blog Post

This is just to say...

TNEmily gave me the honor of featuring my Black Sun piece on her blog (On Awesome Avenue) today under the heading Great Idea Thursday.  I just wanted to write a quick entry to point you in the direction of both her blog, and her really nice article about me and the piece.  Take a few minutes to check it out!  (ADAM)

Man, I Feel Important

After Em spent all weekend working with a soft box, lighting, and various settings on the digital camera, I think she finally worked out how to take some good pictures of her hats.  Once she finished yesterday afternoon, I asked her to give me the quick and dirty lessons I'd need to snap some more decent shots of my larger embroidery pieces.

I really wanted to get a picture of a piece I did about a year ago but had never photographed.  It's a stylized face done in black on a dark background.  My favorite part about the thing, though, is the way I decided to frame it.  I was tired of seeing the same old presentations for finished embroidery, so I decided to try something new by framing it with old records.

I carefully cut out the middle of one record, mounted the face on another, and sandwiched them together.  Then I drilled some holes around the edges and sewed the records to each other.

I certainly wouldn't do this with every piece, but for this one, I thought it fit nicely.  It's got a kind of weird, black sun feel to it, and I was pretty pleased.

Anyway, I posted a picture of it in some Flickr groups I belong to, and this morning I got a wonderful surprise.  My friend Beefranck sent me a note saying that my piece was featured in the Craft blog.  Craft was a great magazine which I was saddened to see go the way of the dodo, but they have tried to keep the torch burning a bit with Flickr groups and their own blog.  Needless to say, I was really excited to be noticed by them, and honored that they featured one of my pieces.

Thanks to them, and thanks to Beefranck for pointing it out to me!  (ADAM)

Making Heads

Can anyone out there guess what I'm working on this week?  Well, Em was accepted into the One of a Kind show here in Chicago (a big deal about which thee will be more information to come), so I'm working on making pieces for her display.  More specifically, I'm working on jazzing up some styrofoam heads.

I made a couple of these about a year ago, but I started with the old flour and water and wet newspaper mess.  To save time, and because I apparently hate the Earth, I decided to use a base head made of styrofoam this time.  I kept my idea of using strips of finished crossword puzzles as the covering.  It has a quirky feel while still having a touch of class. I also like the fact that that the puzzles have been filled in because it gives the thing an extra bit of humanity.

It's been fun, even for a guy who's afraid of mannequins.

Here's a quick picture that I took with the Photo Booth application, so it's certainly not as good as it could be.  It's enough to give you an idea, though.  (ADAM)

Check out the NEW Moe Sew Co

We've diversified! 

You can find Adam's work at moesewco.etsy.com

And I have opened my very own millinery atelier!  MoeSewCoMillinery.etsy.com

And MORE FUN CHANGES TO COME!!!!

Adam and Emily Have Broken Up

Hold on!  Don't get all upset!  We haven't broken up our marriage!

We have, however, made the jump to break up our Etsy shop into two entities - one for my embroidery work and one for her hats.  I just wanted to make a quick announcement here that you can still find me at the original shop, while Em has moved to a new, just-for-hats place called MoeSewCo Millinery.

It's a big step, and it felt a little bit like the end of a long relationship, but once we saw the end result, we were both pretty excited.

We also got some new banners, and if you've been paying attention you'll notice that Discriminating Weirdos has a new look as well.  It's been a busy computer week at the Chicago Moe compound.

And because I don't feel comfortable posting without giving you some eye candy, here's a picture that I thought was pretty funny.

Moe Sew Poe

October is just around the corner, and October means ghosts, goblins, and ghouls.  Sure, I'm a little early, but I love Halloween enough to start blogging about Halloween-themed Etsy products.  Besides, as long as we have Christmas, there's no such thing as promoting a holiday too early.  Don't they start jamming carols in our ears in about a week?

Today I want to focus on two items featuring one of the most recognizable faces in the world of literature -- Edgar Allan Poe.  I have always loved Poe, and he was one of the first authors that I really connected with as a child.  I remember reading The Pit and the Pendulum when I was in third grade and thinking it was the coolest thing ever.  I still pick up his writing today, although everything is a re-read these days.  The tough thing about dead writers is that they stop writing.

Back to Poe on Etsy.  Our first stop is Cedar Junction, a collage, assemblage and mixed-media artist with a shop HERE.  I found this fascinating little piece of Halloween goodness there -- a bottle containing dirt from the grave of the man himself.  Actually, Cedar Junction was quick to point out that no actual grave or resting place was actually disturbed in the creation of this piece, and I suppose that's good.  Even I can have too much morbidity in my life, and that's saying something.  Even so, I really like the idea.  It's antique-looking, looks authentic, and would look great in some sort of Halloween shadow box collection.

Sweetheartsinner Creations has another take on the Poe collage.  This time, Poe's head has been placed on the body of a raven.  Of course, we all know the important part that the raven plays in what is probably Poe's most well-known poem, and this collage neatly connects the man with the animal (Manimal!).  I also love the detail of using the poem itself as the background for the piece.  If you're looking for a Poe pill box, I suggest this one. (ADAM)

Moe Sew Co needs your discriminating eye

All right people.  Reach deep down inside and grab that inner critic.  I know it's in there.  As a discriminating weirdo, you've got some things to say about what you see. 

moesewco.etsy.com needs you. 

We're a bit stalled.  A bit stuck in the muck, as it were.  The car has a dead battery and we need to borrow your jumper cables. 

Would you be so kind as to visit our shop and tell us what you think is wrong? 

We just discovered this morning, actually, that "weirdo" is misspelled.  That was an embarrassing hit to take.  I will fix that, pronto, but....

Do we need a new banner?

What do you think about our photos?

The direst question: Should we be two different shops?

So, what do you think? 

Two more From Renegade

Today's Renegade Art Fair featured sellers both caught my eye with their plush work.  Fuzzy Ink and Caseybot both made me stop and take a closer look at their work, and I hope they do the same for you.

Fuzzy Ink actually grabbed my attention with (say it with me) gigantic plush mustaches!  Sure, we've all seen plush-taches, but generally they are not mu bigger than a large banana or a summer squash.  Fuzzy Ink decided that you can never have too much of a good thing, and makes them in sizes ranging from the fairly normal 9-inch model all the way up to the barely liftable 45-inch monster-stach.  I've included a picture of a man holding one of these gargantuan beasts, apparently after catching it in the wild, just so you can get an idea how awesomely huge these plush-taches are.  Good on you, Fuzzy Ink, for taking an idea and making it your own through the power of sheer size.  Kudos, indeed.

Caseybot takes a different tack -- using the skills of plush toy making to create hats for children (and adults) representing animals both real and imagined.  There were hats that looked like unicorns, deer, various monsters, and more, and when worn, they all looked like they were eating your head due to excellent tooth placement.  It may not seem like it at first, but there's not much in this world that's funnier than having your head swallowed by a deer -- or any other vegetarian animal for that matter.  You can visit Caseybot's Web site HERE, or the Etsy shop HERE.  At the time of this writing, there is more product on the actual Web site, but take a look at both.  (ADAM)