Etsy Made in Canada

I have just returned from another fabulous 10 days of Hiking the Highlands of Cape Breton just in time for my first show of the Fall season.   

Etsy, the online market for vendors of hand made goods is holding its first  ETSY: Made in Canada  show in venues across Canada this Saturday, September 27.  I will be taking part at the Ottawa venue - at the Bell Sensplex in Kanata from 9 to 4 pm.   We have 154 artisans registered for the show.   Here are two links with further details.

 http://handmadeharvest.com/about-2/upcoming-shows/etsy-made-in-canada-ottawa/

 https://www.etsy.com/ca/madeincanada

It will be a treat to meet some of the local Etsy sellers.   Hope you can make the show!!

I am still on a high since returning from my hiking trip to Cape Breton.  I took tons of photos and hiked every day for 9 days - oh my aching calves! We renewed old friendships and made new friends.  It was wonderful!

View from Jack Pine Trail in Cape Breton

Seabirds Taking Flight

Highest waves I have seen at Cabot Landing Beach

Sunset at Skyline Trail just before the Fog Rolled in

View from the top of Roberts Mountain

 

 We had a great hiking experience and hated to leave.    We almost didn't leave since our plane had engine trouble and we were grounded overnight in torrential rains in Halifax.   We took that as a sign from above.   We were meant to stay:))

Sunprints and Stamping Fabric Cards

I have been enjoying the last days of summer while working away to prepare for Etsy Made in Canada, a series of shows which will occur on September 27 in  major cities across Canada.  I will be taking part in the Ottawa show at the Bell Sensplex from 9 to 4 on Saturday September 27.  If you are nearby check it out.  I believe the entrance fee is $6.  I needed to be organized because I will be away hiking in Cape Breton for 10 days before the show.

I managed to find enough sunlight on my patio in August to do some sunprints but didn't take many photos of the process because I had to move quickly before the sun moved.   I wanted to use the prints for cards so I cut my fabric into pieces approx 5 x 7 and did each one separately.   The bottom right was done on satin with setacolours and it worked like a charm.

Then I ironed each on to fusible interfacing and placed it in a window card.  The one in the second row right was painted without sunprinting.

Then I made tree and leaf stamps and stamped a few on painted satin.

I decided to make a few pendants using the painted stamped satin fabric - skies to go with my landscape/seascape jewelry.

More subtle than my landscape jewelry

One thing led to another and I ended up doodling with ultra fine markers in my sketch book.  I did a whole page of designs then photo transferred them to EQ Printable fabric.   I could have drawn right on the fabric with permanent fabric markers but I really liked using the ultra fine sharpies for detail and they tended to bleed when used directly on the fabric.  I used mostly floral designs that lend themselves to a circular format but also strayed into nautilus shapes, eyes, sea urchins, starfish, abstract doodles etc.

My first page of designs - some worked some did not

I made a second sheet of designs and did some matching earrings as well.  Here are some of the finished pendants.

Finshed pendants - I love the sea urchins!

These are done with bottlecap settings - some photo transfer, some painted, some layered landscape

I have never had issues with glues on fabric and metal but when I first used the bottlecap ones some turned the fabric brown.    I tried sealing both the fabric back and the metal and that worked fine.  I ended up using clear nail polish on the metal (which I saw on one of my supplier's sites) and gel medium on the fabric back.   E6000 also worked to seal and glue without browning but I am hesitant to use it regularly because it needs good ventilation etc.  The key is to seal the metal entirely.

I finished a mini embroidery of Tenerife mountain and I am working on a tiny embroidery of brown eyed susans from a photo in my backyard - and I took a few days off to accompany some friends to Prince Edward County - wine tasting, hiking the dunes, swimming and lots of great food!

From my recent trip to Prince Edward County (Wine Country)

We walked the sand dunes of Sandbanks - who would know these vast dunes exist in southern Ontario?  See the two figures in the distance?

A very busy summer and looking forward to my annual fall vacation before another busy fall!

After the torrential rains and vicious storms - a reward!

Oh I almost forgot, I will have a couple of pieces on display next weekend in Almonte at FibreFest - with my fibre arts group, Out of the Box.    I also have a piece at The Running Stitch Quilt show in Kanata on October 3 and 4.  And of course don't forget Fibrations Sept 9-16 at the Art Gallery of Burlington.