(Steampunk Romeo)
I teased it previously and now the time has come: It is Etsy Week!!!
“Que?”
Perhaps an explanation is in order.
Buy, Sell, and Live Handmade.
It is partially through the glorious temptations of Etsy that I discovered recent Friday Favorites
Rachael Direnna and Anne-Julie Aubry
Discovering one Etsy artist begets the discovery of more and many of these artists have works that, in my wide open imagination, blend elements of fantasy and fairy tale and science fiction and gothic imagery thus making them perfect for sharing during the final stretch of our Once Upon a Time II Challenge. And of course my goal is two-fold: to promote artists whose work I enjoy with the hope of exposing you to different types/styles of art while hopefully generating sales for said artists, and secondly to inspire you to tap in to your own creative streak, whatever that may be.
This week I will bring you several artists whose work is featured at the Etsy site. At the end of the week I will draw a name from the list of those who participate in each of the 4 Etsy Week posts to receive a fabulous Etsy Prize Pack. As a sneak peek, one of the items in that prize pack will be revealed at the end of today’s post.
Buckle up kids, here we go!
It is a special privilege to share the works of Ramona Szczerba as she happens to work in the same health care field that I do. She is a psychologist. Her etsy shop, Winona Cookie Creations, boasts some wonderful one-of-a-kind collage/found art creations as well as her watercolor children’s illustrations. She shares in her profile that Winona Cookie was the name of her imaginary friend when she was a child and thus I will refer to her by that moniker.
(Memento Mori, Dr. Thaddeus Esperium)
I am particularly drawn to her work because of the steampunk element, one of my favorite genres of art, literature, film, fashion, etc.
(The Adventures of Captain Octavio)
Collage art is a tricky thing. In my experience (discovering and perusing MANY sites with this type of art) I feel that there is a fine balance between overworking and underworking an image. Winona Cookie has done a marvelous job finding that perfect balance and she lives there, creating fantasical, whimsical works of art.
(Steampunk Muse)
Her creativity does not stop at the work itself. She creates the most delicious tales to go along with her pieces, which you can see in the descriptions of her work as you click on each individual image in her etsy shop. The names of her creations/characters are also very fun.
(Steampunk Agnes)
In her profile, Winona Cookie mentions: “…while I’m snipping, gluing and painting, I’m channeling Maurice Sendak, Ed Gorey and Alphonse Mucha, and hoping you like the results.” With influences and inspirations like those, how can you not help but adore her creations.
I find Tea Shrine especially fun because of what it is made from. Winona Cookie describes it as a tin “with a Curiously Strong minty aroma…repurposed as an homage to tea.” The fun doesn’t end there, because as you look inside you see that the homage continues:
(image of the inside of Tea Shrine)
I really enjoy Winona Cookie’s color palette. There is a similarity in the color and hue of the pieces that she uses to create her works that compliment each other very well and embody the spirit of steampunk. I think her creations are a delight and I thoroughly enjoy popping over to her shop to see her latest offerings. I suggest you do the same as there are more than I have taken the time to show you today. I include one final image simply because I love the name.
(Insolent Artichoke)
_________________________
The second etsy artist that I want to introduce you to today is Charlotte Tucker. Her etsy shop, Char-Latte Creations, is filled with magical jewelry creations made from vintage watches and other found art objects. You will notice a similarity in theme today because I am featuring those of her works that fall into the steampunk category. You can see many other wonderful creations for sale on her site in a wide variety of styles.
Many of these old watches are such amazing pieces of craftsmanship and art all by themselves and to see these used for creative artist works, rather than tossed on a junk pile somewhere, brings joy to my heart. I hate to see things be discarded and the repurposing of these objects are wonderful.
A life of collecting and the trauma of a family tragedy moved Charlotte to make jewelry as a form of therapy. From that grief, unique pieces of art have arisen.
From her profile:
“Each piece of jewelry is a mini canvas for me. I love finding the new uses for old and broken things. I also make custom creations out of memorabilia, and keepsakes from loved ones. I can incorporate a person’s picture into the custom design. Some of my former work is at www.flickr.com/charlattecreations.”
Charlotte’s work reminds me of some of the very first found art work that I saw at the annual Kansas City Plaza Arts Fair several years ago. As such it gives rise to feelings of nostalgia as I look at it. I find each and every watch-related piece interesting. The level of detail and texture that she gives to each creation is fantastic and makes me want to look at them up close to capture every detail. Charlotte has some very reasonable prices for her one-of-a-kind creations and I hope you all go and visit her etsy shop.
Well, that is the end of day one of Etsy Week. Tune in tomorrow for more fun creations from artists whose work is for sale on the Etsy site. Please remember that your comments are welcome whether they are positive or negative. Say what you feel.
As promised, a preview of one of the wonderful Etsy items that will be a part of the Etsy Week Prize Pack:
One of Anne-Julie Aubry’s jewelry creations. Having purchased several different necklaces from Anne-Julie for gifts and prizes I can attest to the quality of these pieces. And they are very fun too!
Have a great day everyone and we’ll see you back here tomorrow for more art!
Oh how cool!! I love love LOVE the watch pieces!! If I only had the money to buy….
I love the watch pieces too 🙂
I love the watches, too, and the tea shrine.
I think my favorite today is “I am Not Off Centered”, it’s so me, I’d love to have something like that!
Oh this are amazing! All of it. But especially the watches. So unique and beautiful. You do artists such a great service Carl.
my fav is “it’s all about drama”.. I bet you woulda never guessed huh? heh.
Those are so cool! The collage pieces remind me a lot of some of the art a friend of mine did a couple of years ago.
I browse around on etsy when i’m bored at work. I love the geekery category for the wierd & wonderful and just plain strange. I’ve bought many wonderful pieces and am pleased to be supporting somebodys dream. Check out “smackofjellyfish” for some really nicely designed screenprinted works. I think my alltime favorite so far was the knitted dissected frog perfect for a biology/zoology teacher! Unfortunately i don’t remember the artists name. But it’s in the geekery category! I hadn’t run across either of your featured artists tho, thanks for the heads-up on them. Really classy stuff. Cheers, later – susan
Charlotte Tucker’s stuff is amazing! I too absolutely love the watches.
Interesting post! Love that necklace 🙂
You know, I spend a lot of time trawling Etsy and have seen the watch pieces over and over again. Each time I’ve thought, well, that’s a waste of a nice watch. But today, seeing the pieces up close, I see that the watch is merely the frame/canvas that allows the artist to express her ideas. Thanks for showing the close-ups to allow me to shift my own perspective of the artwork.
Dammit, Carl, now you are just taunting me with beautiful things I can’t afford! 😉
I think the watches are my favorites, though there is a kind of Great-Gatsby-meets-Perdido-Street-Station appeal to the collage pieces too…
Oh, Etsy, you are so awesome. Maybe someday I too will have something to sell in your pages of handmade cool. 🙂
Sigh. Back to the grind. Giant presentation next monday! so much reading to do! Eep.
RB: Best wishes on the presentation. Sorry to distract you…get back to work!!! 😉
Sprite: I can certainly see that though my assumption is that the watches she uses are old, non-functioning watches rather than new ones. My feelings on this kind of work are not all that dissimilar to my feelings on the book art that I showed recently which involves cutting up books. There is a bit of pain associated with it for me as I too have that feeling that things should be restored and kept for their original use, but I also feel just as strongly about the validity of this kind of art…thus I feel torn. But I choose to let those feelings pass and embrace the art. And hopefully I’ll further embrace it by doing some repurposing myself.
SGTaylor: I hadn’t checked out Etsy enough to know about those categories. I’ll definitely be checking that out, thanks!
What wonderful creations! I will have to add these to my etsy favorites.
wow, very cool! I was happy to see an ETSY post…I’m an ETSIAN too 🙂 I really like the watch pieces, very unique.
Too funny, I’d never heard the term ‘Steampunk’ before last week, now here you are, showcasing it. Have you seen the man that Steampunked a schoolbus into a victorian RV?
What a great start to Etsy Week!
I love the watches – the level of tiny detail is incredible – but I REALLY love “Steampunk Agnes” – it perfectly captures the spirit of the genre (and it’s so cool!).
Bookworm: An Etsian…a new species? 😉
Carrie: I will certainly be looking into that because I have not seen it. There are some great steampunk sites out there including Brass Goggles that showcases all kinds of neat steampunk related creations, etc.
Ken: Steampunk Agnes is one of my favorites as well, I was sorry to see that it was already sold.
Well, I feel like an idiot…I had to go look up to see what exactly steampunk was. Turns out I’ve loved the style, and never knew it had a name. Anyway, I love Winona Cookies Creations; you can get lost in them noticing all the little details. But it’s Charlotte’s work that really has me awed! I love how they feel both masculine and feminine, both delicate and durable.
Really looking forward to the rest of this week…though I already probably spend more time than I should at Etsy!
Wow, those are awesome! Those watch-pieces, especially!
I have one of the little mirrors by Anne-Julie on my desk at work – I get so many people stopping by to look at it!
Such a coincidence – I just discovered Etsy this week and here you are posting about it.
Oh, I love these.
The tea shrine must be made from an Altoids tin! (Slogan: Curiously Strong Mints.) I picked an empty one up from a table when I was waitressing, many years ago, and it’s ridden around in my handbag ever since; it’s a handy size for all kinds of things.
But clearly I should have turned it into a shrine for tea. Why on earth didn’t I think of that?
So pretty! That tea shrine is so cool. 🙂 As is all the jewelry!
Oh the titles made me smile. Edna and Her Armadillo… Insolent Artichoke…have to like an artist that makes me laugh. 🙂
I love “Tea Shrine”! The strap slipping off of her shoulder is insanely provocative, I think.
I’m really looking forward to this week, to see which artists you feature; I’ve spent way too much time on Etsy since you introduced it with Aubry’s work, and I’m continuously fascinated by the diversity and creativity to be found there.
Both are artist’s work is wonderful. Thanks for shareing! The It’s all about the drama is my favorite of the watches.
My credit card really doesn’t like you Carl 😉
I love those watches. The collages are cool too. And there is so much great stuff on that Etsy site. If I bought everything I went “hmmm, that looks fun” over I think I’d be just about bankrupt by now.
Etsy is both a wonderful find and a bane on my mind. I buy all sorts of unique gifts from the site, but it also makes me feel woefully inadequate. If I could just finish a few of my stacked projects …..
Hurray for Etsy!!
Btw Carl, have you seen this artist? She made me think of you and your style:
http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5772896
Carl has style ? 🙂
What a great idea! I love it. Thanks for broadening my horizons. Again. 🙂
those watches/clocks are very cool indeed! and i love the pendant!
the romeo and the oscar wilde also do it for. these a nice post modern ecclecticism about them…
I love the watches, especially ‘I am Not Off Centered’.
Looking forward to seeing who else you feature from Etsy.
Jean Pierre: I liked the Oscar Wilde touch as well. And kudos for pulling out the big words! ‘Scuse my while I go grab my OED. 😉
Chris: I hadn’t seen that site, thanks!
Jeff: You wound me, sir! Grievously! 😉
Tasses: I completely understand!
Fence: Mine hates me as well, so yours can join the club.
Chelle: It is ‘insanely provocative’, I agree.
Melissa: It is fun when an artist’s sense of humor shows through in their work.
Jenn: I bought one of her mirrors for my daughter for her birthday and they are indeed wonderful.
Very tempting pieces of art! I wish I was so talented. haha. This post was very worth rejoining the blogging world for!
Etsy is, as you said, such a mixed bag – you’ve picked out some lovely pieces here. Collage appeals to me because of its depth and whimsy, so these are particularly attractive!
Thanks again for the prize pack that I found waiting for me when I arrived. It was a very pleasant bright spot in an otherwise very frustrating move!!!
The things that people create never cease to amaze me. They’re truly incredible and I love how people recycle things and turn them into brand new pieces of art that hold so much old sentiment still. These are both incredible artists. Love the watches and I love the prints at the beginning. Particularly the Oscar Wilde one…that one’s great!
The watches are AMAZING. Thanks for sharing these with us!
Oh, Carl I am so ashamed that I missed the beginning. I think I found so many favorite artist through your posts. This is simply wow in an amazing and unique way. I admire people, who can simply mend broken pieces of thousand objects and blend them into something brand new.
How can one enter in winning the grand prize?
I absolutely love the fact that you are highlighting some etsy artists.
Love the pieces you have highlighted. Etsy is a terrible timesink for me, I always end up spending ages just browsing.
Wow. I want that necklace! I also love the inspire/create piece…..ok, I have to go check the site out now! And as an avid tea drinker, I LOVE the tea room! thank you, as ever, Carl!
haha! i just saw what i wrote. i didn that thing where i thought i’d written more than i actually had and i ended up missing a whole bunch of words…!
I just stumbled across this today and am so pleased that you liked my work enough to feature it on your (really really cool) blog. Thanks so much! I’ve just started doing the steampunk collages lately and they’re kinda taking over my life, but I’m having a great time.
WinonaCookie’s collages are so fabulous… thanks for featuring her work!
I’m so glad that you enjoyed it, Ramona! Your work is really amazing and it excites and inspires me so much!
Choklit: thank you as well and I’m so glad you visited so that I could discover your site. I’m having a ball over there and will be visiting regularly!
What a wonderful blog! I love the pictures and the writing. The artists you featured today were fabulous! Particularly because they are both part of the Etsy Steam Team! Winona Cookie directed us to your blog on our forum! And it was absolutely delightful! Thank you!
Hyla
Thank you Hyla! One of the things that thrills me about all of you visiting today is all the other cool Etsy links (including the Steam Team which I’ve booked mark for later delightful browsing) and blog sites. It is always fun to discover new places that are inspiring and entertaining.
And how cool that Stardust inspired you to make a book! Speaking of, I hope you’ve read the book because as fun as the movie was the book is so much more amazing.
Steampunk? Whatever it is I love it! Winona Cookie’s work is really fun and I feel smarter just for liking it!
Wonderful artists! For more steampunk goodies, search “steamteam” on Etsy.
Emily
Theriaca Fina