Handmade Home: a playdough recipe

by Jessica Burko of Reclaimed To You

My son is at the ripe toddler age of one and a half and he loves having new experiences and sensations, making a mess, and being creative. He also loves to cook "with" us and for a little guy he's surprisingly attentive to process. What better activity than making our own playdough at home and mushing it and smushing it 'till our hearts content?
Making the playdough was much easier than I thought it would be. All it took was a few inexpensive ingredients, our trusty mixer, and about 5 minutes. The recipe I'm including here is actually half of the full recipe because even this half batch makes A LOT of dough for tiny hands. So unless you have a few kiddos at the table, this recipe should suffice...
Ingredients:
1/2 cup of salt
1/2 cup of water
1 cup of white flour
1/2 tablespoon cooking oil
An assortment of food coloring

Instructions:
Mix together salt, flour, water, and oil. After combining, add food coloring to suit your color preference. Mix until combined.

Once the mixing was complete, I covered our kitchen table with a piece of wax paper (taping down the edges with low-adhesive masking tape), grabbed a few plastic blocks, buckled my son into his high chair and let the creative fun begin!

Black and White - with a touch of color

Curated by Lynne of Cozy Cottage Creations



1. Black and White, Hand Embroidered Necklace , by Merriweather Council
2. Noteset with chairs , by cricicis
3. Sawdust Fired Cup , by City by the Sea Ceramics
4. Unisex Striped Scarf , by Reclaimed to You
5. Victorian Black and White pocket mirror , by MaJenta Designs
6. Souvenirs and Boston , by Fraske Designs
7. My Cold Black Heart , by Nancyrosetta
8. Sterling silver Obelisk Necklace with Blue Crystals , by Cristina Hurley
9. Wild Tulip Photo Print by Lucie Wicker Photography

Save the Date

By Arthur of Arthur Halvorsen Ceramics

I wanted to tell you all about the annual Spring Sale that happens at Mudflat every spring.

Our annual Spring Open House will feature the work of 60 Mudflat artists, showing an exceptional variety of functional and sculptural clay work. Many of our artists have donated one of a kind pots; 100% of the purchase price of these pottery pieces will go to the Mudflat Building Fund. Here’s your opportunity to purchase a beautiful handmade work of art and support Mudflat, all at the same time.

Take a chance on our raffle of pottery and sculpture donated by the artists to benefit Mudflat's Scholarship Fund - you select which pieces you'd like to win! Drawing will be held at 5:30 pm on Sunday, May 1. A portion of the revenues from this sale, as well as the scholarship raffle and Building Fund donations, benefit Mudflat. Admission to this event is free and wheelchair accessible.Make sure to get to the opening on Friday night early because we have a champagne fundraiser. Each artist was asked to make 5 champagne cups and at $10 each they tend to go fast! So get there early to get the pick of the litter!

Bancroft & Friends Re-Opening

By Leah of cricicis design

On April 1st a lovely shop in Marblehead, Massachusetts re-opened, and a few Boston Handmade members' are being sold there, including some of my note cards. I can't wait to visit! Owner Brooke Pickering offers her full line of ceramic dinnerware and wall plaques, and the work of various other handmade local vendors. What a great opportunity to shop for art and houseware, all made in your neck of the woods!

On April 8th Brooke is having an opening party at the shop to celebrate with some refreshments. Bancroft & Friends is located at 11 Pleasant Street in Marblehead.

Google Summer of Code

by Allison of Fraske Designs

On March 28, Google made the following announcement:

Starting today, we’re accepting applications from students for the 2011 Google Summer of Code. In this global program, now in its seventh year, university students receive a stipend to write code for open source projects, gaining experience in real-world software development and creating more source code which benefits everyone on the web.

Applications are due Friday, April 8 at 12pm PDT. For more information, visit the Google Blog.

Japanese Handmade Relief Efforts

By: Jennifer T. of MaJenta Designs

It has been 2 weeks since the devastating tsunami struck Japan, claiming at least 10,000 lives and over 17,000 still missing, and there is still continued updates about radioactivity concerns from some of their nuclear power plants. However, out of tragedy comes hope and unity of the human spirit.

There have been overwhelming humanitarian efforts pouring out to help all those affected by this disaster. Even small business and handmade artisans are contributing all that they can to this cause. Simply searching on Etsy , one can find several artists and shops announcing a portion or even 100% of the purchases will go towards relief efforts in Japan.

Here at MaJenta Designs, all of our funky and fun functional gifts and accessories are all made using gorgeous handmade Japanese papers, so as our way of giving back, 50% of of the proceeds from the pocket mirror or keychain bottle opener purchases from now - April 30, 2011 will be donated towards the Japanese Disaster Relief efforts!

Choice of Keychain Bottle Opener ~OR~ Pocket Mirror with Pouch ($6)

Sakura (cherry blossoms) symbolizes the beautiful but transient nature of life

50% proceeds will be donated to Japanese disaster relief efforts

*****

More examples of just a small sampling of artists/shop owners who are donating a portion of their proceeds or profit from their sales include items such as listed below.

Japanese Disaster Relief T-Shirt ($20)

100% proceeds will be donated to Japanese Red Cross

Silver & Red Karma Bracelet ($14)

100% proceeds will be donated to U.S. World Vision

Ginko Leaf Necklace ($17)

The Ginko Tree is considered a ''bearer of hope'' and a symbol of resilience and peace

100% proceeds donated to tsunami relief

Cherry Blossoms in Lavender 9"x12" Photographic Print ($21)

100% of the profit will go to Boots on the Ground.org

Ninja Earrings ($9.05)

50% of cost will be donated to Japan Tsunami Appeal

Hokusai Teabowl ($140)

50% of sale will be donated to Mashiko Potters Fund

Pink Bunny Giclee 8.5"x11" Print ($30)

50% profit donated to UNICEF

"Ganbare Nippon (Hang in there Japan) We are With You" T-Shirt ($26)

$20 of each shirt donated to Red Cross

Please note that above are just a small selection of the Japanese-inspired items found, however, there is a HUGE range of several other interesting items as well throughout Etsy. Simply search key words like "Japanese donation" or "Japanese relief" can bring up a host of interesting items. For example try perusing some of these selections: Etsy search for "Japanese donation"

Not only will you be supporting handmade, but you'll be supporting worthy causes as well! :)

Sunday Stands for Inspiration

by Jessica Burko of Reclaimed To You

A few days ago I had the pleasure of attending two back-to-back very inspirational artist meet-ups. In the morning I joined a fairly large group of artists, all working in the encaustic medium, for the first ever meeting of MassWax: the new Massachusetts chapter of the International Encaustic Artists.

Gross Misnderstanding, by April Clay

The new chapter has been founded by artists Barbara Cone and Suzanne Desrosiers. There was a wonderful display of encaustic art on view, and Barbara presented a slide show of work by local artists attending the meeting as well as national artist members of IEA. I was struck by the beauty and versatility of encaustic through the live and digital presentations, as there were many examples of techniques I have never seen before. Two local artists whose work really stood out for me were April Clay and Linda C. Widstrand.

MassWax has some wonderful plans for future group shows, workshops, time-trading, "mindful critiques", and benefits for group members such as discounts on encaustic supplies and classes on how to successfully photography encaustic art. For more information about MassWax and to connect with them, check out their Facebook page.
After the morning in Somerville I sped off to a Boston Handmade monthly meet-up at Lynne's house where Sharon of Stray Notions was leading an impromptu afternoon of quilting. She showed us how to hand-stitch embellishments and applique, and how to create a log cabin pattern. We spent a few hours catching up, chatting about our businesses, our art, and our lives, and I left wanting to combine my love for textile art and my work with photography and encaustic! Who knows what effect this day of inspiration will have on my artwork, but I'm sure it will be an exciting journey.

New Gallery and a Perennial Favorite

Boston welcomes a new gallery to Jamaica Plain next month, and two members of Boston Handmade will have artwork included in the inaugural exhibition. UFORGE Gallery officially opens it's doors on April 3rd with the mission of being a non-traditional art gallery offering monthly assignments challenging artists with specific themes and mediums. Of the venture gallery co-founder/owner Brian Crete says, “We wanted a space that gives everyone a chance to display their work, and includes all types and levels of artists – not just well-known artists... an innovative destination and exhibition gallery where established artists can mentor new aspiring artists, and where lesser-known artists can build upon their media and grow artistically.” The gallery is located at 767 Centre Street on the same block as Jamaica Plain's Salmagundi, a small boutique selling hats and accessories from independent designers, and Vee Vee, an American bistro featuring seasonal, local ingredients and a selection of craft beers.

For the inaugural exhibition at UFORGE Gallery, artist and gallery co-founder/owner, Rob Festa has put together his third annual JP to Me show, with the theme this year of "Defined by Light". Forty artists have been invited to participate including Boston Handmade members Jessica Burko and Lucie Wicker. The exhibition will be on view from April 3rd to the 28th, with a public reception on Saturday, April 9 from 6 – 8pm. Festa describes the annual exhibit as “all about bringing our community together.” and last year’s show titled “From Emeralds to Jewels” showed strong community support with more than 300 attendees at the reception held at the Footlight Club, a community theater just around the corner from the gallery's new home. This year’s JP to Me artists will be able to have even more attention for their work as it is available to a broader audience at the new venue, which will allow more accessibility and additional viewing hours to the public.

For more information on JP to Me visit the exhibition website and Facebook page.