Looking for something fun and interesting to do with a friend?  Try monoprinting!  This two day workshop will teach you make prints by applying colored clay slips to wet slabs of stoneware clay.  After rolling out wet clay, apply colored clay slips to the “leather hard” surface, one color on top of another, until the design is finished. Canvas/paper is placed over the slab, pressure is applied with a rolling pin to remove (print) a thin layer of the colored clay on to the substrate. 

Sign up now on PAcrafts.org for Mitch Lyons monoprinting workshop.

Bev Zimmerman, of Lancaster, is an incredibly talented potter.  Her work is inspired by nature, often involving impressions from leaves, seeds or twigs and sometimes incorporating words or phrases.  I like her work for many reasons, one of which is that it reminds me to notice my world.  To look a little closer, to take a breath, to try to notice the beauty that Beverly does. 

On her website, Bev says:

“I hope to convey an honest simplicity in my work”

From her choice of inspiration to her organic forms and soft color palette, her work evokes a peaceful simplicity the is both comforting and beautiful. 

If you like her work as much as I do, come see it in person at our Guild Store!  252 N. Prince St.  Lancaster, PA 17603

A lot of our new members are curious about this next questions:

What is a chapter and why should I join one?

A chapter brings the Guild into local communities. Guild members in similar areas have formed chapters to focus on specific aims in a more intimate setting.  Many of our chapters sponsor events, such as the Pocono State Craft Festival put on by the Pocono Chapter.  Chapters also work to provide opportunities within its community such as workshops and scholarships for highschool students.

The Bucks County Chapter website aptly states that one of their goals is to:

“assists members in marketing high quality crafts and provides a forum for exchange of ideas and information through its meetings and programs”

If you are looking for a setting in which you can get to know and share information with artists in your own community, join a chapter. Chapter membership is included in the new member rate, simply check the chapter that interests you the most or is closest to you geographically.

The Pennsylvania Guild has 17 chapters, a full listing can be found on our Chapters webpage.

Have you ever wanted to try something completely out of the ordinary? If so, the upcoming glassblowing workshop might be just the thing.  Joel Bless, from Glasslight Studio will be teaching a 1 day workshop on the basics of glassblowing on March 27th.  You will be learning how to gather, marver, blow, shape, color, and finish a punteed piece.By the end of the day, you will have completed three pieces!  Interested yet?  Sign up right now on the Pennsylvania Guild of Craftsman website.

We have decided to start a new weekly blog post about frequently asked questions.  I will start with a few I get a lot but if any of you readers have questions, please post comments with them or email me, at jenny.pacrafts.org, I would love to address them.

One thing I have gotten asked quite often: Are the crafts shows the Guild puts on for juried members only?

No.  While our shows are juried, we do not require that members go through the state jurying process to apply for our craft fairs.   Any applicant does have to go through a show selection process and is required to be a member of the Guild.  But juried status is not required to apply.  However, juried members do receive a bonus point during selection that can improve their score, but the bonus point is hardly enough to guarantee entry.

Are you looking for something warm to do this weekend?  Check out “The Craftsman’s Journey-Enhancing Peoples Lives”, the newest exhibit at the Mechanicsburg Museum.  This exhibition features the work of craftsman in the Yellow Breeches chapter of the Pennsylvania Guild of Craftsmen, including woodworker Doug Starry and enamelist  Averill Shepps.

Opening this Saturday (Feb. 13th), the show goes through May 1st.  There will be a public reception on Sunday (Feb. 14) between 2-4pm.

Judy Hesselberth, of West Chester, is a jack of many trades.  On her website, she talks about her quilts but also of her interest in weaving, sewing, knitting, basketry and felting.  In browsing through her online portfolio, I was suprised to see her take on quilting.  Her pieces are so contemporary and interesting.  She has taken a very traditional art form and modernized it in a very unique way.

This quilt is from a series of three called “St. Lucia Sunprints” where she cyanotyped the fabric herself. 

You can see some of her lovely work in person at our Guild Store, 252 N. Prince St.  Lancaster PA

Where do you go to find handmade crafts? Is it local or do you go out of your way to get to your favorite gallery?

My favorite gallery is, of course, the Pennsylvania Guild of Craftsmen Store, but my second favorite gallery is Red Raven gallery in Lancaster.  I was drawn to it initially because it was showing some work of Guild members I know. I’ve since gone back several times just to check on the new exhibits.

Share your favorites below and why.  Please include links whenever possible and the city.  I’m gonna assume they’re all from Pennsylvania unless you say otherwise.

Eric Weit, of Akron, is an award-winning rag rug weaver.  He’s recently set up a shop online on Etsy and its worth checking out.  Plus he just passed along a few rugs to show in our gallery shop until April.

Eric’s approach to weaving is “it is like a puzzle using recycled materials and trying to put them together using the colors of the material that I find and coming up with a new pattern for the warp.”

His Grandmother said something to him a long time ago which he uses as his inspiration and motto, “The secret to a happy life is to keep your hands busy”.

Here’s a few of the major online tools the Guild uses regularly.

Constant Contact – for anyone sending email newsletters to more than 100 people, you really need a third party email solution and the one the Guild uses is Constant Contact. You can upload your patrons’ emails easily and select from hundreds of templates to design your emails. It also makes it easy to schedule all of your month’s email blasts at once. And if you’re interested, just ask me for a $30 referral email. Once you have that email you get a 60 day free trial AND if you sign-up you’ll get $30 off your first year (and the Guild gets a $30 credit).

Google Docs – over the last couple years we’ve used Google docs for spreadsheets that can be shared among many people. I’ve mentioned this a couple times as a great way to build a mailing list amongst a group or Guild chapter. One person sets up the file and then shares it to many people. Each person can then access the file at anytime and enter names and addresses. Its a great way of splitting up a massive data entry job such as keying addresses of people who attend a craft show.

Flickr – I’m a huge fan of the ease of using Flickr. Uploading images is extremely simple and sorting and tagging images into sets is just as easy. There’s a giveaway going on right now at HandmadeinPa.net for a Flickr Pro account. The Pro account gives you unlimited uploads. Without the Pro account you can still upload 100 Mb of images in one month – not shabby for most people’s needs. A chapter or a group may need more than that, but Pro is only $25/year.

Hotcards – this is the company we get nearly all of our postcards printed with. The quality is excellent and for anything you need in bulk (2000 or more postcards) they also have the best price. Other printers you can choose from online: 48 Hour Print and VistaPrint.

I’ll try to make this is frequent post. This is really just the start of many more.