New Basket Supply Shop!

Those of you who are familiar with my etsy shops will know that i have been offering pottery basket bases and needle grabbers, and a few kits there for some time. I finally have decided i need a shop all for basket stuff like that, so here it is: MakeABasket.etsy.com Now supplies are separate from woven goods and art cards. yay!

Currently listing:
artificial sinew in several colors and sizes
original handbuilt pottery bases for coiling
horsehair kits
Pamela Zimmerman's Needle Grabber
Skin Thimble Thumbles

I will be adding handmade beads, my coiling CD's, and pdf patterns. Please feel free to make requests!

My other shops are: PurpleToedGypsy (woven to wear), bazketmakr (baskets and art cards) and LizardSkins (blank white clothing for dye)

Summer Projects

So did you get all your summer projects done? Kids are going back to school, which as everyone knows, signals the END OF SUMMER. Have you been as busy as I have?

I told you all about my summer vacation, but another project i have tackled is going through my STASH. De-stash, they call it. Feels like cleaning to me. I have so much STUFF in my studio, it is overwhelming...not to mention the garage and the attic.....

Anyway, one thing i started getting a handle on is DESTASH of my "old" projects. Was a time when i painted and dyed clothes and sold them. My gosh, did that take up alot of space...buying dozens of clothes at a time, every size from preemie to adult! Thankfully, not much is left to liquidate, but what i have is on etsy now...check my new shop, LizardSkins (which was the name of the label i sold my painted clothes under, years ago.) So if you have always wanted to try tie dye (it's back, you know,) i may have some "blanks" (plain, white clothes prepared for dye) for you!

Here's another thing i needed to find a place for...these adorable little baby rompers with patriotic stuff silkscreened on them. Another original project from years past that i never got around to selling off. Ever tried to give something away? Geesh, it is almost as hard as selling it. Here i am thinking, wow, these would make great welcome home wear for families of soldiers, coming home! But try to find someone to give them to. I called every family and child oriented office i could find down there at Cherry Point. Everyone wanted me to put them in their thrift shop to sell.

Finally, a very nice woman, wife of a retired Marine, said she would take them off my hands for distribution through the Navy Relief Fund. Thanks, Kathy!

Next project: getting the kids back to school. My oldest is headed to college. Wow. Seems like only yesterday he was modeling the same little cotton outfits for me. Little lizard is venturing out!

Animoto - make your own video!

Animoto! An amazing site. Make your own video. Here is one that shows a cross-section of my weaving. Enjoy - then go make your own!


pamela


at first i just made the free 30 second video, which can take up to about 15 images. This video (above) has over 70 images, and cost me $3. I have remixed it about 9 times already, unlimited remixes. What a value! I highly recommend this service, am very pleased with it! Every time I remix, i learn...soon i hope this will be ready to send to galleries. here is my latest remix...what do you think?

Last Day Trip of the Summer: NC Aquarium!

End of summer. Last day trip of the year...we went to the NC Aquarium!

So fun.I really love the jellyfish. They are in the dark, with special lights on them, so they glow...like this. Especially love this pink one with all the ruffly tentacles. They move in such amazing ways.

We also love the exotic fish...the ones that aren't supposed to be here in North Carolina, but somehow they are...like the lionfish, there with all the stripes and spikes (poisonous, of course.)


We go back and forth between the lionfish and the jellyfish and sometimes the spiny lobsters...





Another favorite is the big saltwater tank, with the replica of the sunken German U-Boat, an actual shipwreck off the outer banks of North Carolina. It is a fabulous exhibit! Of course there are sharks, circling in the tank, and live divers going in and out of there...really fun to see the big fish up close!


It was raining the day we went, but the rain had not melted the fabulous sandcastle outside...what a work of art that was! It was about as tall as I am, and not just any old sandcastle. It was covered with cavorting sea otters, and had cracks in the walls, with sand bricks showing behind the cracks, wonderful! My favorite part was the door, being pulled open by a sea otter paw (or some larger critter inside?)

It has been a lovely summer, i am so sorry it is over...back to school now!

Another Giveaway! For Basketmakers!

Here is another giveaway, just for you! This one will appeal to basketmakers. Now you can win a pottery basketry base, made for coiling pine needles, grasses, or other fibers. It is stoneware, fired to cone 6 (very hard) with multi colored glazes, browns and oranges, very Autumn themed. The design is a leaf, with a coordinating handmade bead that you can use to embellish the same basket, or use it on something else. I made this pottery base and bead myself.

Everyone is eligible for this giveaway, it does not matter where in the world you live!

1. To enter: Visit the page Pine Needle Basket Links on the Pine Needle Group.
Find a NEW LINK, one that fits the page theme (pine needle basketry) email the link to me. My email is basketsbypamela@gmail.com You can have FOUR ENTRIES this way. Please include your name, email address, and the URL (link) and the name of the link. If you win, i will contact you for your shipping address, there is no need to include it in your entry.

2.3.4. entries....If you want to send me additional pine needle basket links, that is fine, but only fOUr will qualify you for entries.
It is okay if you send me your own pine needle basket website (that would be great!)
But it HAS TO BE NEW, not already listed on the page.
Please DO NOT POST your link in a comment on this blog, that means someone else can share your link...and i want lots of different links!

5. if you want a fifth entry in the giveaway: visit my etsy shop at http://bazketmakr.etsy.com , and tell me what you like best in the shop and why.
Please leave your 5th entry as a comment on this blog, no fifth entries accepted by email.

3. If you want a sixth entry into the giveaway: visit my other etsy shop at http://PurpleToedGypsy.com and tell me what you like best in the shop and why. Please leave your 6th entry as a comment on this blog, no sixth entries accepted by email.

(If you do not want to participate with entries #1-4, you can do only entries #5 & 6, it is mix and match.)

Giveaway drawing will be done randomly, and results will be posted on Sunday, September 13, 2009.

Thanks for helping me update the Pine Needle Basket Links page! Watch this space for MORE Giveaways!

pamela

FREE Worldwide Shipping Limited Time

Has anyone else jumped on the wagon with free shipping this weekend? See Etsy's Storque for more details!

For a very limited time, I am offering FREE WORLDWIDE SHIPPING on the following in my Bazketmakr.etsy.com shop:


1. HORSEHAIR BASKETS
2. MINIATURES
3. JEWELRY Or WEARABLES (pins, necklaces, earrings, charms)

have free shipping, worldwide, August 14-18. LIMITED TIME OFFER! This includes my kit on how to coil your own horsehair medallion necklace!

So now is a very good time to dive in and get one, if you have been waiting for a deal!

Peek at the Opening Last Night

For those of you (like me) who could not be at the Small Works exhibition opening last night, the Hollingsworth Gallery has very kindly posted images online.



Looks like it was a wonderful casual reception, with live guitar music!



Small Works is a collection of art pieces in many different mediums all under 12". On display through September 7th, my piece, "Interplay" (below, under scrutiny) is included.

Excited!

Well, i just opened my mail to find a very nice surprise...I have won an award.

Just last week, I posted about the Fiber Celebrated Exhibit in Durango, CO. I was so disappointed i was not able to attend. I had hoped to fly out to Colorado Springs and drive down to the opening with my mom, who lives out there. But it was not to be. I so wish i could have been there! My woven figure, "Naturally Endowed," which was shown on their postcard (at right,) was awarded the Functional 3-d Fiber Award! I am so pleased and proud.

Special Thanks to Elaine Bakkenson, who coordinated the exhibit, and made sure all the promotional materials and awards were distributed even though i was not there to recieve them in person!

The Fiber Celebrated Exhibit on line information also features my other piece that is in the exhibit, "Uprooted."

Last Chance Invitation!

The month of August is your last chance to see The Handweaver's Guild of America's (HGA) annual exhibition, Small Expressions. This year, one of my "Catching the Moon" pieces is included in the traveling exhibit. It has already visited Mississippi Craft Center, Ridgeland, Mississippi. Now, the exhibit is at Faulconer Gallery, Grinnell College, Grinnell, Iowa. It will be there through September 6, 2009, so you have less than a month to catch it!

From what is shown on the web, it looks like it's a fabulous exhibition with many colorful works! Above left, you see the first place winner, titled Celebration Life, by Maximo Laura, of Lima, Peru. The winners are published on the HGA website. Congratulations to Maximo and the other winners!

My "Catching the Purple Moon" (right) is also part of the exhibit.

I can hardly wait until the entire exhibit is published in HGA's magazine, Shuttle, Spindle and Dyepot. If that is a publication you are not familiar with, you may want to check out their wonderful, high-tech online version, FREE on their website! Don't miss my work on page 20, from when it was in 2007's Small Expressions exhibit!

pamela

Your Invitation: Fiber Arts at Sixth Street Gallery!

Current Show at
Sixth Street Gallery

Fiber Arts 2009
Exhibition Dates: August 2009
Artist Reception: First Friday, August 7, 5:00-9:00pm

Exhibition through August 30, 2009

105 Sixth Street, Vancouver, Washington

I have three works in this exhibit, I would love to attend, but once again i cannot get to Vancouver, Washington in time!

I am very proud and pleased to see one of my works on the front of this postcard image, advertising the exhibit. (That's my "Squiggle" on the left.)

Please be invited, and have a lovely time!

pamela

Free Reception Exhibit Opening in Florida!

SMALL WORKS GROUP NATIONAL EXHIBITION
AT HOLLINGSWORTH GALLERY
IS OPENING THIS SATURDAY!!!
AUGUST 8th from 6:30pm - 9:30pm.
The Exhibition will run through September 7, 2009.

FEATURING THE WORKS OF OVER TWENTY FIVE ARTISTS FROM ALL OVER THE UNITED STATES. (Including work by Pamela Zimmerman!)


Works are no larger than 12 x 12 inches in size and range in mediums from metal,fiber, oil, acrylic, watercolor,photography, pen and ink, fiber, and found objects.

Live entertainment, catered hors d'oeuvres, and beverages will be provided.

Other local artists will be displaying work in the surrounding windows of the storefronts along the balcony walkway of Palm Coast's CityWalk located at 160 Cypress Point Parkway Suite 210B. in Palm Coast Florida.

This Event is Free and Open to the Public, please consider this your invitation to attend
(Unfortunately, I will not be able to attend this gallery opening.)

For more information about the exhibit, visit the Hollingsworth Gallery Online.

To read the Hollingsworth Gallery newsletter, the Canvas Thread, click on the image at right!

pamela

It's Arrived!

My fantastic giveaway prize has arrived, and I am so excited! Jen Stephens, of JL Setphens Couture had a giveaway on her blog, and, much to my shock, i won! Read about it in this other blog post.

Jen sent me a package of adorable ponytail holders in green and red...they are so cute! One is an owl, another is a flower, and the third a coordinating green. Very sturdy and so attractive. The other prize is one of her signature designer snappy wallets. It is a tropical design in pinks/red/white/blue...such a darling and useful little pouch! Just the size for anything that needs to be kept "separate." She suggests all sorts of things like coupons and passports...I am thinking...my Art Postcards when i visit a gallery? With a snap so it all stays locked up, and it is fully lined. So cool. And the details....well, let's just say that Jen is a meticulous woman. This is a very professional product, one that you would see for big $$$$ in a boutique!

thanks so much, Jen, for having this great giveaway. Now all you not-so lucky folks need to take a gander at her etsy shop, jstephens13 , because I'm telling you, this is good stuff! pamela