A video studio tour

by Jessica Burko of Reclaimed To You

My art studio is in Boston's South End neighborhood. I shot this video a few months ago as I was experimenting with a new camera and now that I'm a little more comfortable with it, and with the editing software, keep an eye out for more videos from me in the future!



You can also see videos and slide shows by Boston Handmade members on our YouTube channel.

Monday Mosaic - Eco Friendly

*You must have Flash enabled to see the mosaic. For a free download, please click here.



Did you pledge to be more eco-friendly this year? Boston Handmade makes it easy with this gorgeous selection of environmentally friendly items!

Valentine's Day with Boston Handmade cont'd...

By Rebecca of Hypothesis

Show Friends Some Love
fraskedesign's 5x7 print does the trick for a friend or co-worker.











whitesparrowbindery's miniature book contains 48 pages to write notes of friendship and loyalty to your nearest and dearest.







Recently Disappointed by Love
thirteenthstory's limited edition print sympathizes with the lovelorn.








VintagebyCrystal's hand spun figure is sure to melt even the hardest heart.










Whatever your disposition at Valentine's Day, BostonHandMade has you covered.

Valentine's Day with BostonHandMade

By Rebecca of Hypothesis

Even though the December holidays are just ending, this is my favorite time to look ahead to Valentine's Day. Lest I be greeted with a barrage of moans and groans, here are a few Valentine's Day treats for all attitudes!

Playing Dress-Up
Tactile Baby's awesome bodysuit helps you show off the love of your life in style.

ReclaimedtoYou's Peppermint Scarf warms anyone up in the winter.

Gifts for Your Beloved
LushBead's Modern Love Necklace will make her swoon.










Hypothesis' Robert Browning cuff is the perfect unisex gift.

Snow

By Kerry Hawkins of KHawkinsPhoto

I was in Dedham Square on errands and stopped by my favorite little shop, Nest. They have some fun artwork on the walls. I decided to take a short walk around the neighborhood. The love the sound of snow melting, the drip, drip, drip. I also, like to photograph things peaking through the snow or shadows plants or objects make on the snow. I find it challenging to photograph snow and look at clear and vivid as I see it without the camera. I am not a fan of having lots of snow but, it is winter so I am trying to embrace it.

Inspiration in the Studio

By Rebecca of Hypothesis

Last night I found myself sitting in my studio taking a little break, and I began looking around at my surroundings. I decided to try to determine the most inspiring item I keep next to me while creating work.

I had a lot of options, of course! The room is full of bits and pieces of everything. Some things are sentimental to me and some things were likely sentimental to someone else at some point.

I love the statue of the Virgin Mary that sits on one of my cabinets. She is extremely old and weathered, but she has a lot of charm.

Some of my housemate's unorthodox collections sit on a shelf right over my head. If I'm feeling particularly stuck, they can really give me good ideas.

Anything around me that hasn't become something yet, especially strips and strips of leather, are full of such potential they can't help but be inspiring!

A pliable plastic President's ruler given to me by my mom, a postcard from a friend's work, and a wind-up clicking bunny can all act as muses.

In the end I couldn't decide.

How about you? What do you keep in your creative space to make you feel inspired?

Back The Way I Came

by muchachaK (Katy Brown)

I was born in NH, and when I was small, we moved to the West Coast, to the Seattle area, and that is where I grew up. When I was small I danced and sang for hours in my room by myself, I learned songs as I learned to speak, and before I could read. I asked for a piano for my 7th birthday, and that is what I got. We didn't have much money, and I think they got it for free somewhere, but it was beautiful, and sounded amazing. For eleven years, that piano was a friend, an enemy, a lover before I ever knew what a lover truly was.

And I always sang. In school it was embarrassing...the music teacher thought I sang well...I didn't like her pointing it out to the other children. I just loved to sing. I annoyed choir directors by learning the other parts and singing them in the middle of the soprano section.

And I loved to draw. My mother brought me pencils and crayons and pastels and paints and I would use them all up. And grammy taught me to sew.

And I learned to play the viola because I had always wanted to play the violin but there were too many violins in the school orchestra...and still I sang, and played piano, and drew and painted, and other than school, that, all of that, was my life.

As a teenager I discovered theater and that raw feeling of living onstage, when the words are so much yours that you become someone else, not by pretending, but by being.

And through college I sang, and I performed, and I wrote plays, and I became discouraged. By the seeming difficulty of existing as an artist of any kind. And overwhelmed by the intensity of my own creative drive. And I began to live life as one day job after another, because I didn't know any other way to be...but I didn't know how to make it work.

I moved to San Francisco and performed and wrote plays, and danced flamenco. But after a while, I didn't love creating anymore, because I was tired of starving. Tired of struggling with myself. Tired of being tied to dayjobs. Tired of being lost, and nameless, and overworked and underpaid for my craft. I remember filing a tax return during a particularly busy acting year and my total income for my highest paying show was $1000...for four months of work.

I had to escape from that life and suddenly, my heart moved me to a decision...I would move to Spain to dance. But then the money fears took over again, like always and I thought "as much as it sucks to be poor in San Francisco, it's going to suck even more to be poor in a country where I can hardly speak the language".

So I made the biggest money driven decision of my life: I would go to law school. And the thought excited me. I would free myself from this poverty inducing art trap, use my brain, and have a whole new life.

I severed all ties, took the LSAT, got in my car with my father and two cats and a few belongings. I left my boyfriend behond on the sidewalk with the rest of my California life...and drove to New Hampshire.

I'm going to assume that you've figured out where I'm headed with this and get to the point: it was the worst decision of my life...but it was also the BEST.

The best because it utterly forced me to identify my intentions, to claim and name my values. After years of running from myself, I had to stop and acknowledge what I had already known as a small child...that art lives in the core of my being. It's a dominant and valuable aspect of my own self-image. If I went to law school, I would have to sever my ties to my creativity not just for the duration of school, but for as long as it took to pay off those monster student loans. I had to give up every creative outlet, completely. Once the stakes were high enough, I was willing to make a choice, and the choice I made was for love, for soul, for art.

I can't imagine my life without it. Armed with that knowledge, and letting it guide my every choice now, my life has blossomed in ways I could never have anticipated during all those years of denial. I lived in relationship with my creative side, but with one foot out the door at all times as I feared poverty. Now, all feet are in, no apologies are made. I am free to exist without the weight of my own self-doubt holding me back, and I have discovered ways to make some of my creative work profitable.

There are so many ways, in which we artists don't even realize that we apologize for our existence. We are not compensated equally for our work. We are seen to exist beyond the range of "normal". They are "us" and we are "them".

And I just don't care anymore. I am who I am. I am what I am. It took 3,000 miles of driving and a poetic return to my birthplace to claim it, but indeed, I am what I am, and what I am is an artist.

My Handmade Christmases, Past and Present

by Lynne of cozycottagecreations

Although the Christmas tree is droopy, the cookies eaten and the sound of carols drifting back into memory, I wanted to take a moment to share with you some of my handmade Christmas goodies.

I was talking to my mother recently about Christmases growing up and which ones stood out more than others. We eagerly agreed that the one that far topped them all was the year my mother made me a Pippi Longstocking doll and my father built my sister and me a dollhouse modelled after our own home.

Yes that's me - in 1974!

It's no surprise then that as soon as I myself became a mother, I couldn't wait to make my children Christmas gifts as well. It's been a goal of mine every year to make a gift for my girls. The busy-ness of the season doesn't always allow me to do this, however. For example, last year I was so absorbed in creating items for the Boston Handmade Downtown Gallery, the time escaped me. And I'm sure I didn't make anything the year my younger daughter was born. That year is a big fuzzy blur.

Here's a look back at a few of the gifts I have made for my daughters, including this year's creations!

There was no way I could let Santa put his goodies in a store-bought stocking!

When I started knitting again, the first thing I made was a little stuffed kitty for my daughter, who was 4 at the time. They were so fun to make that the next year I got carried away and made a family of 4 cats for both of my daughters. Although they're looking a bit ragged now, I'm happy to say that my girls still play with them regularly to this day. They even got dressed up in their fancy jewels for the photo!
I made these picnic mats two years ago. They roll up and have oilcloth on their undersides. Many a tea party these mats have seen!

This year, I pulled out my sewing machine. I love to sew, and don't do it as often as I would like. My girls spend most of their day playing with their dolls, so I thought it was the perfect time to make them some doll clothes. I bought a few patterns off of Etsy, and was on my way!


The girl's loved them, I learned a lot, and I'm looking forward to making more! Here's to a productive and creative 2010!