Upcoming Submission Info

It's helpful for me to see all upcoming submission deadlines in one place so I thought I'd post them here and share them with you all too.

First up Greencraft Magazine is calling for any repurposed, recycled, or upcycled art to publish in the second issue of this new magazine. This is a Stampington publication and I really liked the job they did with the premier issue. Rather than follow their usual format of writer submitted articles, you submit your work and the article proposal but they seem to do the writing. So it makes for a nice cohesive read. Plus I love the ingenuity of the "green" artists and the quality of art seems really fabulous for a initial publication. Deadline: Sept. 15th, '09

Art Quilting Quarterly is another new publication that looks really promising. I would love to get some work into this. They do have some reader challenges listed for their next publication that look really fun. There is a challenge to create a quilt block using as your inspiration something in your car. It could be old gym shoes, or the dash, whatever. Another really inspiring idea is to create a work using the Johnny Cash song, Walk the Line. I'm thinking that could be pictoral or abstract.... Finally, the last challenge that I thought was really interesting would be to create a quilted triptych. It's a format that has always fascinated me and I think it would be lots of fun to design "outside the box". Just figuring out a creative way of linking them would be way too artistically entertaining. Ok now that you know what a challenge geek I am.... you should try it too! Deadline for all three of these challenges is: Oct. 15th, '09

Next of interest, Somerset Life has a challenge calling for creative uses of chicken wire. After getting creative with that medium for the May Day Cone I conjured up for the book I decided this would be a fun challenge to do. The suggestion in the challenge is for artists to feel inspired by an artist in their last publication that wrapped chicken wire around mason jars for a chic vase. That sounds sooo shabby chic and I need to get a look at that. Deadline: Nov. 15th, '09

New to the News stands in April of 2010 is Prims: The Art of Primitive Elegance. Stampington describes the artwork that they envision for this new publication as "art that will capture the imagination and enchant with it's simple beauty- be it through dolls, jewelry, painting, mixed media works, teddy bears, or illustrations." They also emphasize that this will be a collection of handcrafted artistry. I love the idea of this publication. In my work I try to really almost exaggerate the handcrafted feel of my stitching and wire bending. When I get it too perfect it ends up losing a lot of it's character and resembles too closely the mass produced art and decor we see everywhere. The soul of the art seems to reside in it's imperfections. Through these the hand of the artist is visible and contrasts favorably with that which is done by machine. In my opinion. :) Deadline: Nov. 15th, '09

There are also two other new publications that you might be interested in. Jewelry Affaire is described as featuring jewelry that is simple with an understated elegance. They are requesting submissions that are easy to understand and create but that radiate elegance. To view this Call you can click here. The second is All Things String. It is calling for art submissions that use string innovatively. Wool, strips of t-shirts, thin white yarn, hemp string, as long as it's string they want to see what you can do with it. I love the idea behind this magazine as well. You can knot, stitch, weave, knit, crochet, loop, pin, or braid it into jewelry, rugs, wall art, and furniture. Whatever you can imagine and create. Sounds like soooo much fun!!! The deadlines for these are Nov. 15th, and Dec. 1st respectively.

These are Stampington publications, and to see the full write ups of the calls please click here. I've also looked at the Cloth Paper Scissors readers challenges and you can see those here as well.

So take a look and if any of these get your creative juices flowing- give'em a shot!! If nothing else you've an amazing challenge to inspire you to create some amazing new art. What's not to love about that?

So Charming- the latest Somerset Home!!!

Ok folks! The latest Somerset Home is now available and has in it a "how to" for my jewelry tree AND my wire bird lamp! The article is titled Art as usual and in it I mention how I discovered that motto and applied it to my life. Which you, my wonderful readers know all about- but I bet you'd still like the "how to" part.

Both the tree and the lamp are classic designs from my Etsy shop but new to this version are the clay charms. I wanted to up the "art" part of the tree for the magazine so I came up with the charms. Here's a little about them...

The charms are made of wire and polymer clay. I used Studio Sculpey brand clay. The stamps I used were from the Magnetic Poetry "family and friends" collection of word stamps. I also used the Studio Sculpey brand of brown antiquing glaze for a slightly distressed look. On the back of the charms I glued on little scraps of fabric to match the tree branches. Just seemed like a nice little finishing detail. They were tied on with little scraps of embroidery floss (DMC 844). It was a fun project!!

This won't be in the book but I will be including a more detailed "how to" of the charms for a charm bracelet project that will also have cute little fabric charms. SO cute!! Hope you enjoy it!

Tinned Treasures

It started as a challenge to my creativity. I'd asked my Dad to pick me up some old lunch trays I'd seen at a garage sale he'd organized. When he brought over the trays he gave me a box of old cookie tins too. Thought I'd want them too. I think cookie tins are kind of pointless and I really had no use for them- but it's my dad and he'd got them for me so I mumbled thanks and tossed them in the garage. But later I was thinking about art and how really we should be able to make amazing art out of anything. So I started to play around with the tins. I did a post a while back with my first experiments altering their finish. I'd crackle painted one and spray painted another trying to see what I had to work with. Then I dropped it to do the book stuff.

So a couple of days ago when I needed to try and quick come up with a submission idea for the next Sew Somerset my eye fell on the tins and I thought I'd give them a try. Anything can be art right? The tin on the right is my first attempt. I really struggled with it at first. I knew I wanted to use some fabric and wire- :) and I knew I needed to include stitching, and because of the depth I thought it'd be cool to have things at different levels. So those were the parameters.

It turned out kind of fun. The central flower is actually fabric petals that I cut, coated with gel medium and then stuck to a mini plastic easter egg. To attach the wire, I used my handy dandy crop-a-dile and punched holes. The little silhouette at left is courtesy of Singlestone Studios. I was trying to channel the whole cameo look.

So there you have it- a little creativity and now I'm looking at the tins in my garage in a completely different light. Thanks Dad!

Some Tips for Submitting to a Magazine

Next week is the deadline for two magazines I absolutely love. One is Sew Somerset and I have been completely fortunate that they have included my work in their last 2 issues. My goal was to make it into three in a row. I thought that would fix my wire and fabric work in the minds of the subscribers better than appearing every once in a while. The second magazine is also by Stampington and actually just premiered this June. It's titled Art Quilting Studio. I loved the clean professional looking layout of this magazine. Rather than incorporating any sewn pieces it concentrates on the world of art quilting so it seems to have a more cohesive feel than the first. Sew Somerset is still my personal fave though, just because the projects are all over the place and I LOVE all over the place.

So these two deadlines are then next two goals I'd like to hit. They're on my mind so I thought I'd share my thoughts on submitting.

1-Find the magazine that best fits your work and style. Scope it out and try to get a feeling for the projects they like. For instance, I put more mixed media into the projects I submit for Sew Somerset just because their reader base seems focused on that. So when I created the "believe" mini quilt I added part of an old carpenter's ruler. It pulled the entire piece together and if I hadn't been searching for that little added "something" I might not have thought to include it.
Basically, KNOW THEIR AUDIENCE.

2- Go for Broke! Include an article proposal. It felt completely audacious submitting an article proposal with my first group of work but I figured it was worth it if it put my work in the feature section vs. gallery. Although I would've been thrilled just to have it accepted into the gallery. Published is published! I googled magazine proposals to find the format I should follow. As for topic- did you create a new technique or mix media in a unique way. Is there an interesting story behind the creation of these pieces? Artists love to know what inspires others so telling a little about what inspired you is a great addition to the proposal/article. It also helps if you have 2 or more pieces to illustrate your article idea.

3- See a Need and Fill it. Sew Somerset seems to get less submissions for their wearable art section than the others. You might have a better chance of getting accepted if you tried focusing on a section like that. Could you adapt your work to a wearable format-plus you could be discovering a whole new direction in which to take your work! Fun!

4-Be Different. Don't worry if your work is a little offbeat or a stretch for the magazine. It should fit the general theme per Tip #1 but it's great if it's a little off. The editors could be looking for something a little different to help them expand their look. No one was doing wire and fabric sculptures when I submitted them. I figured they did use sewing techniques so although it might be a stretch that might also be appealing. You never know!

PUBLISHED!!!! Sew Somerset June '09 issue!!!

Yay! Last night I found the newest Sew Somerset in my mailbox!!! It's technically been out all day and it's been killing me to wait for my free copy. I wanted to run right over to my nearest B&N and pick it up!! Funny, I've been waiting for so long and then almost lost it at the end! What a great issue though. I love some of the more colorful pieces-especially the cover piece! It's just beautiful! The quality of work in there has been getting better with each issue I believe and this one might be the best yet. You might not want to rush out and get it like I almost did but you will want to look it over if you've an interest in art quilting, fabric, or some unique mixed media.

I have three mini art quilts that were accepted along with a little how-to article. I would have loved to go on about them a little more than I did but they give you a word count you have to stick to. Like the "dream" piece that I told you the background to a couple of weeks ago I think I'll do a couple of posts in the next few weeks explaining some more of the background and inspiration involved in the other two pieces. WHoo hoo!!! It feels very very good to see my work published again!!