Meet Tiffany Barnes from Rustic 7 Customworks...
I am a working mother of 2 daughters with a supportive husband and
a very laid back 11year old Irish Setter. Areas of personal interest for me
would be holistic health thru diet and lifestyle and being outside when
our Michigan weather allows!
About 9 years ago I made candles simply
as a creative hobby of interest, once babies arrived I took a break from
it due to time and safety. However, now that they are a little older
I decided I wanted to get back into it and now have been
making coconut wax candles for over a year under the name Gleam Natural
Candles.
This will be my first Avant-Garde, and I am so excited! I have
always enjoyed being creative, the focus I wanted with the candles was to be
natural, non-toxic and clean burning. With my daughters around, I wanted
to make sure any candle in our home was 100% safe...even beneficial since
the coconut wax melt pool can be used as a hand massage lotion after
candle is extinguished. The fragrances are all phthalate and nitro-musk free so
I don't have to worry about my family breathing in anything synthetic. I get
excited over creating and also sharing that with others , that is what
prompted me to participate in this show.
The large candles all have a wood pendant attached to match their
scent theme, these are all handmade in our home by my husband, so the candles
are 100% detailed and 100% personal. A lot of thought goes into each candle
pendant. It's the added touch that I hope buyers would appreciate, I enjoy
working alongside my husband to create the design so it is always great when
someone enjoys the finished product!
A previous co-worker I had made candles and she let me borrow her
supplies to see if I liked doing it and instantly I enjoyed it, so I have to
give credit to her lending me her supplies! I have a background in floral
design so that creative interest just sparked into another creative outlet...candle
making. It has evolved over time into a more personal approach to how it can be
more natural and safe.
When someone burns one of my candles I want them to know there is
nothing for them to feel uneasy about when they light it, I hope they find the
same values and interest of having a non-toxic(synthetic free) candle
burning in their home and the benefits of the coconut wax they can use for
lotion is a bonus
Meet Susan Gaidica from Memories of Mabel...
I am a 57 year old mom of 5 and nana of 2, I have been married
for 36 years and this will be my first Avant-Garde show! I have been sewing
since I was a young girl. I made a few things here and really loved the creativity
sewing brought out in me. I started volunteering to costume theatrical
shows my kids were involved in and it just grew from there.
While I was busy making "big" costumes and dresses, my
mother made fashions for Barbies. While I swore I would never make these tiny
creations, that changed a few years before she passed away. After she was
gone it became a privilege to recreate what she loved to do.
I've always loved crafting...any kind...but sewing was my
favorite and now that my kids are grown, I finally have the time to spend on
it. EVERYTHING I see becomes a "dress" to me. Sometimes I wake
in the middle of the night with an idea and have to get up and write it down
before I can get back to sleep.
In the next 5 years, I would love to have several orders a day
to fill. My goal is to stock my shop with 100 dresses or more. I strive
to make my dresses "affordable". I'm never going to gouge my
customer. I want every little girl to be able to afford one of my
dresses. After all, it's my hobby...my happy place! It never feels
like work!
Meet Leslie Daley from OOAK Home Accents...
I am
a married, mother of three grown children who now has time for my favorite
activities…creating and making things with my own hands. I love
engaging in the creative process; it is so rewarding and freeing. In my
business/professional life, I have to be precise, consistent and specific.
In other words, ALL left brain activities (analytical and logic, such as
in science and math). I always say when I am creating “something new” that
it gives balance to my life (since creativity is sparked by the right side of
the brain). I love the feeling when someone really enjoys something that
I have made with my own two hands.
I
derive inspiration from just about everything I see. I have been making
things for as long as I can remember. I would see something that I wanted
for myself and/or a gift, but there was no money with which to purchase it, so
I would make my own; of course, putting my own spin on it to make it unique.
While my hand-made gifts may have started out of necessity, I became
aware that people genuinely liked my creations and wanted more.
It
never occurred to me that I should sell my creations; but after years of
prodding from family and friends, I opened a shop on Etsy (OOAK Home Accents)
last year to sell my creations. So far, I am enjoying the entire process.
Every sale is like a vote of confidence, encouraging me to continue
making more and more. My current medium of choice is faux succulents.
They are so lifelike, sometimes you have to touch them to see if they are
real. By using artificial succulents, the arrangements I create always
look the same as the day they were first made. In short, once beautiful;
always beautiful.
In
the next five years I’d like to be retired from business and spending more time
on my craft. I truly enjoy challenging myself to come up with new ideas
and seeing them through to completion.
The
message behind my work is an open secret. Each of my pieces has a little
key attached to it. What the key means is open to interpretation.
It could be the key to happiness; the key to my heart; or just a bit of
signature fun. I’ll never tell…
Meet Noelle Lennox from A Little Knotty...
My name is Noelle, I’m 29 years old, and I was born and raised
in Michigan. I am the owner and
artist of A Little Knotty, as well as a manager for my local orchard, for whom
I run a farmer’s market booth. I also work side-by-side with another farmer
selling produce and flowers at yet another farm market.
My sister Nicole and I started A Little Knotty back in 2010.
After Nicole’s schedule as a single-mother taking classes and working became
too hectic, she bowed out and let me take over in 2012.
I find inspiration in almost anything; nature, the relationships
I have in my life, music, and emotions are some of the top inspirations I would
attribute to my creativity.
Nicole and I were at home in a nasty Michigan winter and quite
bored. She was already an avid knitter and I needed something to keep me
occupied while she worked hard on her pieces. I decided to grab some cheap
jewelry kits and some of my father’s pliers from his toolbox and got to work!
Unbeknownst to me, I had just discovered one of my many passions.
I decided to dabble in tie-dye and became more interested in
wire-wrapping, so I started creating Tree of Life pendants and tie-dyed shirts
and accessories for myself, just for fun. Not too long after, I would be walking
through stores or going to work, and people began asking me where I’d bought my
pieces. Once I told them I had created them myself, my clientele grew. Next
thing I knew, I was overloaded with custom orders! I had no idea that anyone
appreciated my art until then.
My creative process comes in waves; when I feel a creative
streak upon me, I just dive in full force. I try to do as much in one go as I
possibly can when it comes to my tie dye, since it is a lengthy process with a
lot of down time in between each step. As far as my jewelry goes, I need time
to sit down and lay out all the beads and findings I want to incorporate into
each piece. And with me being my own worst critic, sometimes I have a hard time
developing the items I want to sell to my customers! I must be able to focus
100% of my attention into my art in order to feel good about selling it to my
customers.
I hope in 5 years that I have grown as an artist.
Every time I dye new clothing and accessories, I try out a new folding
technique or the way I apply the dyes onto my fabrics. As far as my jewelry
making goes, I hope to eventually learn how to solder so I can create solid
sterling silver pieces. I also hope to begin working more art shows and selling
my pieces in different local boutiques and markets, as well as continue with my
Etsy sales. I want to work a little more on creating a nice line of upcycled
goods too, over time.
I like to think that my work makes people feel a sense of
happiness and positivity; of course, due to the dyeing processes in which I use
for my clothing and fabric accessories, each piece will take on a ‘mood’ of its
own, if you will. But when I create a piece, I must be in the right head space,
as I truly believe (especially for my natural stone pieces) that my goods carry
emotions within them.
Meet Danielle and Lisa Poma from Free Range Crafty...
We are a mother/Lisa - daughter/Danielle creative team.
Danielle is an environmental engineer, so it was a "no brainer" that
we would use reclaimed and recycled items to create art. In fact, I've
been known to dumpster dive when I see discarded items that have
potential. My house (and Danielle's) has plenty of old items that have
been re-painted, re-polished, and re-purposed. It's so rewarding, and
fun, to breathe new life into these found objects, especially when people ask
where it came from -- and you tell them your neighbors trash bin!
We have both been artsy-crafty all our lives, but Free Range
Crafty has only been around for about 2 years now. It really started when
Danielle made me a sign that I had wanted. It turned out so well that we
got requests from friends and family to make more. The business just kind
of blossomed from there.
We are so inspired by nature. Seeing colors that you'd never
think to put together and when you do they just look so great. Also,
sharing our love of fun and quirky designs. We love having fun, unique,
and unexpected things in our own homes' decor. So when we see something
that we like, we try to incorporate it into our art. And, hopefully, our
customers will see the beauty in it too.
Whenever we would see something that we really liked and know
that we could do it ourselves -- and put our own creative touch on it, is what
really got us into the crafting hobby!
We discovered out talents on the side of the road!
LOL. Really, it was a matter of taking found items and creating something
fun and funky out of them. The pallet signs and bottle openers we sell
just kind of took off for us. But we love to do all kinds of things with
pallet wood and other pieces that we find or are given to us.
Our creative process comes from a quote or saying that we hear
of see, or how we may be feeling that day or week that really gets our creative
juices flowing. It's also listening to our customers and finding out what
they like and want.
In 5 years, we hope to still be creating one-of-a-kind designs
and growing our business, of course.
Our message behind our work would definitely be that one man's
trash is another man's treasure. Find the beauty in what you have to work
with. Try to salvage wood instead of buying new. Most of all we
want our art to put a smile on your face.
2017 Detroit Fall Avant-Garde Art & Craft Show
Saturday, September 30, 2017 - 10:00am-5:00pm
William Costick Activities Center
28600 Eleven Mile Rd.
Farmington Hills, MI 48336
For more information, contact Amanda Look, Event Coordinator at Amanda@ag-shows.com
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