Name: Clare Madill
Website links: heyday design

What do you make?
I work in ceramics – I make molds of found, mostly vintage, forms and translate them into fine porcelain objects. These are currently taking the form of vintage canning jars. Also, I make countless variations of earrings and brooches from the positive and negative patterns on the bottom of vintage glass pickle dishes. I am also currently working on a series of porcelain lights...

What or who inspires you?
I definitely get inspired when I go thrift-store shopping – seeing what I can find and how I can use these found snippets of information and translate it into something else. I am super-inspired by the people I know who are successfully make their living creating things with their hands.



How did you get started?
Before going to Emily Carr, I took some ceramics classes at a community centre in Ottawa. While studying at Emily Carr, I found a fantastic community of people; it was easy to be completely immersed in ceramics. Participating in the annual student show + sale was great experience for making and selling my work.



What are your favourite materials to work with?
I love the translucency of porcelain, of course. But I'd also have to say plaster is a favourite – I can't believe I'm writing that, but it's actually true now. It's the material I need to make my molds so that I'm able to make what I make. It helps that i've gotten waaaaay better at mold-making so it's not the disastrous chore it used to be!

I kind of have a thing for platinum lustre, too – it adds a bit of glamorous detail to the situation.



What is the hardest and most favourite part of crafting?
Hardest: the long hours and how physically hard on my body my work can be. Favourite part: meticulous fine details really satisfy the obsessive/compulsive part of my personality...



List 5 of your favourite links and why you like them
design sponge: great bizladies articles, and always fun to see what creative and talented people make and how they integrate design in their environments

musing about mud: great for links to all kinds of calls for submissions, etc., for people working in clay

I like having a bit of a laugh at the end of the day... regretsy is a new fave.

since i just got home from a 14 hour day in the studio and have emails to send, i don't really leave much time for surfing around... gotta go to bed (1:24am)...

(photo images courtesy of Clare Madill / heyday design)

If you are interested in being featured, please send us an email at info(at)gotcraft(dot)com.

Check out our past features...

Smeeta - feature #27
ACageyBee - feature #26
Maked - feature #25
Firefly Notes - feature #24
Florence Ann - feature #23
Him Creations - feature #22
Jenny Hart - feature #21
district thirty - feature #20
tinywarbler designs - feature #19
telly designs - feature #18
Cabin + Cub - feature #17
Rachel Hobson - feature #16
Green Couch Designs - feature #15
Tanis Alexis - feature #14
Sweetie Pie Press - feature #13
Fibre Manipulator - feature #12
Sam Made - feature #11
All Things Paper - feature #10
Owl + Pussycat - feature #9
Bliss in a teacup - feature #8
It's Your Life - feature #7
Faythe Levine - feature #6
Coco Cake Cupcakes - feature #5
pomomama design - feature #4
GroovyGlassGirl - feature #3
Bueno Style - feature #2
The Beautiful Project - feature #1

Labels: buy handmade, ceramics, claire madill, design sponge, featured artist, heyday design, musing about mud, regretsy

Visit Granville Online and read my article on what craft markets are happening in Vancouver during the Olympics!

Labels: art of craft, Blim, buy handmade, canamade, granville magazine, museum of vancouver, Qortezan Market, scraps vancouver, vancouver craft events

Craftacular is ready again for their next show!
Sunday, February 7th, 2010
Little Mountain Gallery - 195 East 26th Avenue
11:00am to 6:00pm

Come check out over a bakers dozen of local artists including the Culinary Temptresses with their gluten free and vegan treats! A love themed photobooth will also be set up, so don your Sunday best!

Labels: buy handmade, craft fair, craftacular, little mountain gallery, vancouver craft events

Name: Kris G. Brownlee from A Cagey Bee
Website links: Etsy, blog

What do you make?
I'm a painter inspired by people, so I like to create character portraits with a storybook feel. I tend to paint girls and cute companion critters, though some of my paintings have a bit of a darker edge to them. I also really enjoy making tiny art pendants. Not everyone can afford an original painting, of course, so this is a fun alternative to a print. Plus I really love the idea of my characters being taken out and about in the real world.



What or who inspires you?
Oh goodness...so many things! I love to people watch. Vancouver is great city for that. I walk my dogs every day and literally *every* day I see someone who would make a great painting.

I'm also really inspired by my fellow artists. It's amazing to see so many people, especially women, representing themselves via the web and doing what they love. Whether it's painting or sewing or making jewelry, it's fantastic to be part of this shift towards more personal, handmade businesses.



How did you get started?
I've always been creative and enjoyed creating images in one way or another - photography, graphic design etc. But it never occurred to me that becoming a full time artist was even an option until a few years ago. I thought you had to live in a loft in NYC and have a trust fund to have any chance of making a living as an artist; it just wasn't on the menu for a girl like me. It wasn't until I started seeing self-represented artists selling their own work via eBay and Etsy that I allowed myself to consider it. I began taking classes at Emily Carr and never looked back. As cheesy as it sounds, it felt like I had finally stepped into who I was supposed to be. Now I can't imagine myself doing anything else.

What are your favourite materials to work with?
I'm very impatient so I like to use acrylic paint. It dries quickly, so I can add lots of layers & go over a piece again & again. With oils, you have to let it dry in between and I just don't have the patience for that! I've been painting on wood a lot lately too which has been fun. When I make prints, I love seeing the texture of the wood show up in the detail.



What is the hardest and most favourite part of crafting?
The hardest part is probably letting go of my favorite paintings. I do tend to hang onto them for a bit before I'll list the original for sale, but you can never tell if it's going to be available for months or be snapped up right away. It helps when I have time to paint a few new ones in between because the newest one is always my favorite. I'm fickle like that. :)

My favorite part of crafting is the community. I've met so many wonderful people both online and in person at local craft shows and markets. There's just something about the community that appreciates handmade, from my fellow crafters to my customers, that is helpful and welcoming and just plain awesome! Seriously. I had someone buy couple of prints from my website and she liked them so much that she sent me a thank you gift in the mail. I'm unbelievably lucky.



List 5 of your favourite links and why you like them

Etsy: This is an obvious one. Between updating my shop, reading the forums & shopping for supplies, I'm on here daily.

This Life: I'll often spend 7 or 8 hours straight working on a painting, so I need lots of podcasts to keep my ADHD-addled brain occupied. This American Life is one of my favorites.

Bad At Sports: Another podcast focused on the art world, specifically in Chicago, that keeps me entertained. The hosts are so casual that it feels like hanging out with your friends rather than stuffy contemporary art critics.

Twitter: I post on Twitter regularly & check in dozens of times a day. I love it because I can stay in touch with people & share things about my day to day life that I wouldn't necessarily write an entire blog post about. I know a lot of people don't get it, but it's been great for me. I follow lots of other artists and local Vancouver folks, so I've been able to find out about all sorts of things that I would have normally missed.

Vancouver is Awesome: Speaking of local Vancouver folks, I love this site. From the best noodle bowl in the city to my new favorite off leash dog park, I have discovered a wealth of local Vancouver awesomeness via this site.



Do you have any advice for those in the biz?
Make what you love. This is not to be confused with doing what you love because I don't think that's always true. Just because you like to bake pies doesn't mean you want to make 100 pies a day and market a pie business and deal with customers and overhead and taxes. Sometimes turning a passion into a business can drive the passion right out of it. This is why I say make what you love to make.

And, of course, promote yourself! It still feels awkward for me, but one of the best things I've done was to join an artist group. We meet every other week to share resources, do goal-setting and practice talking about our own work. It's been really helpful to get feedback in that kind of friendly environment.



Do you consider yourself an artist or a crafter?
I do think they're different, but the crafters have definitely upped their game in recent years. I think traditionally art would be
something that had a statement or point of view whereas craft was more about function. I think that gap is closing as crafters become more interested in expressing themselves and experimenting rather than doing it "right". I consider myself both an artist and a crafter. I love to paint, but I really want my work to be accessible to everyone; I'm thrilled to see my girls on magnets or pendants, and not just hung on the wall.

(photo images courtesy of A Cagey Bee)

If you are interested in being featured, please send us an email at info(at)gotcraft(dot)com.

Check out our past features...

Maked - feature #25
Firefly Notes - feature #24
Florence Ann - feature #23
Him Creations - feature #22
Jenny Hart - feature #21
district thirty - feature #20
tinywarbler designs - feature #19
telly designs - feature #18
Cabin + Cub - feature #17
Rachel Hobson - feature #16
Green Couch Designs - feature #15
Tanis Alexis - feature #14
Sweetie Pie Press - feature #13
Fibre Manipulator - feature #12
Sam Made - feature #11
All Things Paper - feature #10
Owl + Pussycat - feature #9
Bliss in a teacup - feature #8
It's Your Life - feature #7
Faythe Levine - feature #6
Coco Cake Cupcakes - feature #5
pomomama design - feature #4
GroovyGlassGirl - feature #3
Bueno Style - feature #2
The Beautiful Project - feature #1

Labels: ACageyBee, bad at sports, buy handmade, etsy, featured artist, jewelry, kris g. brownlee, painting, twitter, vancouver is awesome

Hey! You can now find my handmade goods for sale at TinyMeat in Portland at 3808 N. Williams #132 behind Ristretto Roasters. If you live in Portland, stop by and cross some names off your holiday list!

For those in Vancouver, you can find me at Barefoot Contessa on Main Street, Kiddo, Collage Collage and Lucky Rooster on Commercial Drive.


(image courtesy of TinyMeat)

Labels: buy handmade, portland, roxypop, TinyMeat