As the time has a tendency to fly really fast I'm moving our gift thingie in August.

I decided to do it differently this time so it'll be more of a thrill for everyone. This time it will be on a unknown pair bases... which means... everyone will know only to whom one must make a gift for but not whom he/she is getting it from

So... in addition of sending us the note in which you are saying "Yay I'm in!!!" please include your name and the address as well so I'll be able to give your address to your secret pair

Another new thing....
I believe we have to aim for more equivalent gifts this time so nobody will feel cheated upon (or something similar) so because of this we'll be having a themed gift exchange. And here's where you come in. We need your suggestions!!!

In our chatroom (yes, the one we should be meeting in every Saturday if you have the time) we came up with a few ideas.... let me list them:

1. we all make a little box (in any media you'd like) and we put in it something extra for the person we are sending the gift to

2. we make a desk tidy

3. we make art depicting this icon but we depict the person we are sending the gift to

4. we make a pendant

5. we make a paper weight

6. we make an egg cup holder (f.e. )

7. your idea!


Now.... let's hear your ideas so we'll have a vote and decide on what to make. When we'll have a clue about it I'll post all the rules and all the deadlines.

Keep the comments pouring in!

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As there were many of you who didn't participate in our GIFT & CARD EXCHANGE due to many reasons we were discussing it back then to have a CHRISTMASS IN JULY version for it. So.... what do you guys think? Would you be interested? We could go for presents only, we could have the different system for choosing the pairs we could have anything as long as you guys are for it. Let us know and we'll work it out.

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Polar Bees Contest

Elements Contest

Contest To Make an Adipose from Doctor Who

fairy-cakes's Charm Contest!

FORBIDDEN LOVE CONTEST

Crafty-Goodness's Punk Craft Contest

Contests around dA!


Send in the notes if you know of any other contest or events you'd like to see mentioned here.




Here is something from our *QuibblerMe:

I am in the process of opening a Craft Gallery in Sydney, Australia and I am looking for Artisans interested in showing their work there. The gallery will be located in The Rocks (right next to The Rocks Marketplace) and it will be opening in mid-June.

I am looking for as broad a range of crafts as I can get. They can be as practical or ornamental as you wish. As long as it's not a picture in a frame I'll be happy to have it!

The special thing about my gallery is that I will not be charging commission on sales. (I have always felt the commission system was fundamentally unfair and I refuse to perpetuate the abuse!) My gallery will work more like a marketplace. I will be renting out display spaces at a set weekly rate and that is all you will pay, your sales will go straight to you. I am happy to negotiate floorspace for large diplays or you can just rent a basic shelf (locked cabinets are available for jewellery and other small valuables). You can come in and set it up yourself or you can post your work down and I'll set it up for you.

Also, it does not need to be a 'sales' space. Contributors are welcome to have business cards, artists statements and contact information as part of their display. This would work well for craft clubs as well as people who work more from comissions (like costume makers and woodworkers etc). My aim is to be as flexible as I possibly can so don't be afraid to put forward something unusual, I like unusual .

If you are interested or have any questions please send me a note.

*QuibblerMe

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*Ninina-nini

This has been long overdue but I finally got a chance to finish up the second edition of the news series. I apologize for the long wait!

//~lachrymosity


Precious Gems by Various Artists
The next few articles feature artwork from the subcategory jewelry. According to DA, the jewelry subsection includes ‘All types of jewelry regardless of medium, and includes earrings, necklaces, bracelets, charms, and even keychains.’

20 under 20 Jewellery #1 by *StudioHarajuku May 6 [link]

Nature & Jewelry by =Ilharess March 14 [link]

The development of ceramic jewelry by ~sodyasea Jan 9 [link]

Plushology by `kittyvane
A series of news articles focusing on plushies of all shapes and sizes. Plushies are categorized under AC -> textiles, and range from delicious, miniature food items to soft, humanoid dolls.

*How do you decide how to theme the articles?

If there's a big holiday during the month, I'll use that as a theme, but if there's no handy holiday to use as inspiration (or I can't find enough deviations to fit that holiday-theme), I do have a few other themes thought out before hand. I like to keep the future themes a bit of a surprise, for no particular reason besides the fact that it amuses me to have a bit of mystery and secrecy about it all.

Also sometimes browsing through the Plushie gallery a theme will sort of just pop out, since there are trends and fashions to the plushie world just like everywhere else.

*Is there any criteria by which you decide on which plushie to include in the news?

Besides obviously fitting the theme at hand, I try to pick work from artists I haven't featured before and deviants who maybe haven't gotten a whole lot of attention over all. Of course this is not set in stone, so I do pick pieces from deviants I've featured before and from super popular artists if I'm having trouble filling an article otherwise, or if they happen to have a piece that exemplifies the theme exceptionally well or if I feel like it. I try not to set any hard and fast rules, since that'd take the fun out of it all.

On a more general level, I like to pick pieces that are unique and different in some way, that are well made, that have lots of personality and that are presented well. Presentation of a piece is actually really important. I'm much more likely to pick a well photographed plushie than one where you can hardly tell what it is due to a blurry, tiny picture. You don't need to be a master photographer or have a fancy camera to show your work off to it's best; all it takes is a bit of extra effort & imagination to really show off how fab your creation really is, I mean I've seen great things done with a scanner!

I keep a loo-oo-oong list of deviants and plushies I want to feature, that continuously gets added to as I wade through the Plushie gallery, get suggestions (please, please keep them coming and suggestions for themes you'd like to see are also welcome!) and even accidently bump into amazing artists here.


-> Jan 2 – Plushology vol. 12, the how-to issue: [link]
-> Feb 14 – Plushology vol. 13, plushie love: [link]
-> March 21 – Plushology vol. 14, easter edition: [link]


This list is by no means finished, so keep an eye out for more news articles as I put them together.

If anyone has any suggestions, or would like me to feature a news article here, feel free to note the club or me personally.

//~lachrymosity