Newest Sauce trade story

Jesamyn traded me a mask that she made for Drag Queen Clown in my trading experiment, bARTer Sauce. Everyone who trades with me has to tell me a story -- she did hers as a comic book:

Not Sure What I Was Thinking...

When I said I was going to post blogs about the special vendors I met at Urban Craft Uprising. I did manage to sneak away from my booth for about 10 minutes to walk around, but only because Doug was around too. Otherwise, it was jam packed with folks pretty much constantly.

If you're a vendor and you're ever wondering whether to do a UCU show. You should. It was the best show we've ever done after an hour and a half. And we do some really good shows so the bar is already pretty high!

Now I know why when you talk to other vendors who have done it, they get a big smile on their face and tears well up in their eyes. I know you can't see me right now, but there are tears. For sure.

I'll have to hold on my post about the cool folks I met but I'll be posting some pictures soon.

Now I've got to run to get ready for Day Two!

Urban Craft Uprising This Weekend

It's finally here: Urban Craft Uprising!

This weekend at the Seattle Center Exhibition Hall, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

If they have wifi, I'll be posting pictures of our booth and all the nice vendors I meet. So you'll feel like you've been there even if you can't make it. Although -- I don't know why I'm doing you any favors if you don't go to this show. Actually, I think by not going to this show, you're punishing yourself enough so I won't add to your distress.

Doug & I will be there selling Shower Art - waterproof art you can hang in your shower with a suction cup AND Franken-Scarves - upcycled scarves made from t-shirts and jersey top sheets and finished off with some free motion embroidery.

Seattle International Comedy Competition

I've been out of touch lately. Mainly because I've been working on the Seattle International Comedy Competition. This is the 29th year!

32 comics compete for about $15K in cash prizes and a recording contract. It's pretty exciting. Right now we are in the middle of the second preliminary week. The top five at the end of this week will join the top five from last week in the semi-finals. The comics travel all over Washington (and now Spokane) and perform in a variety of different venues.

You should check out some of the shows if you're in Washington:

Tonight, Friday, 11/14: Intiman Theatre, Seattle

Saturday, 11/15: Columbia Theatre, Longview

Sunday, 11/16: The Fairhaven Pub and Martini Bar, Bellingham (last night of the second preliminary week)

Tuesday, 11/18: Edmonds Center for the Arts, Edmonds (first night of the semi finals)

Wednesday, 11/19: Liberty Theatre, Puyallup

Thursday, 11/20: Laughs Comedy Spot, Kirkland

Saturday, 11/22: Lucky Eagle Casino, Rochester

Check out one of the shows -- you'll have a great time.

Frankenscarf Winner Announced -- -

A couple of weeks back, I posted a new product idea -- Franken-scarves -- and to get some feedback about pricing, I asked folks to post a comment saying how much they thought I should charge for them. I picked a number out of a hat and that person won their very own Franken-scarf. The winning number was 13. And http://rekojrants.blogspot.com/ posted the 13th comment on my blog. Check out her Etsy Shop. Congratulations! Enjoy your Frankenscarf!

What the heck is a Franken-scarf? Well, you take some old t-shirts, or a jersey top sheet and you sew them into strips. Then you free-motion embroider the heck out of it and a Franken-scarf is born.

Here's another one:

2008 Glitter-Off Championship

I got into a glitter-war with this woman. I thought I would have a chance since most of my Shower Arts use glitter. I was wrong. Competing in the Glitter-Off was a huge mistake for three reasons: #1 Rebecca is an artist who has experience with glitter. #2 Rebecca was recovering from surgery and had huge amounts of free time to devise a plan. #3 Rebecca is evil. In the beginning, it was a passing comment during an email exchange about a bARTer Sauce trade -- I don't even remember exactly what -- but something about how we should have some sort of glitter-off competition. I immediately forgot about it. But Doug was soon reminded....when he went to get the mail and there was a huge envelope just full of glitter that was getting all over everything. Well done, Rebecca, well done. I thought forever about how to get her back but came up with nothing. So I made her a trophy and mailed it to her. I admit defeat in the 2008 Glitter-Off Championship. That does not however, mean that I give up my right for revenge. Now, go watch Rebecca glittering up a pig.

I'm SICK -- but Look What I Got

I sneezed yesterday at work and all of a sudden, I'm completely sick. It was weird. For the past few days, I've felt like I was fighting something off and I think that sneeze was my last chance to rid my body of whatever was trying to get in. My body lost and now I'm in my jammies doped up on all kinds of decongestant and cough syrup. I apologize in advance if this blog is "wackier" than normal. And now...the bARTer Sauce update:

bARTer Sauce is an experiment in trading for art and odd objects. The basic idea: whatever I get, I trade for something else. And then I trade that thing for something else again. And on and on. The only rule: everyone who trades with me has to tell me a story. About anything. Just a story.

First Jen -- I call her Jen Snuffalupagus because she has a really long last name and I can't pronounce it. She traded me these two pieces for a giant painting of a pigface.

Here's us making the trade at my studio: Then Tara traded me one of the Twisted Tree t-shirts that she designs and screen prints for a painting of a two headed boy. Here's us making the trade at the EtsyRAIN show in Kenmore.

And finally, the vintage, tattooed farting duck that I got from Nik for a Red Screamer. Here's the awesome farting duckie:

Heck yeah! If you want to trade for anything you saw here, visit bARTer Sauce, create an account and send me a trade offer. There's more available for trade than just what you see here. Check out the full list.

Franken-scarf -- Rahr!

So I'm making a new thing now. Something OTHER than Shower Art -- I know, crazy! A few months ago I became obsessed with making Franken-scarves. They are scarves made out of upcycled t-shirts and jersey top sheets. I do free-hand machine embroidery all over them and they are reversible.

(keep reading to find out how you can win your own Franken-scarf!) Here's the first one I ever made:

And ....a close up....

Franken-scarf #2

#2 Close up

So....my question is: What would you pay for a Franken-scarf?

They take about three hours to make but the supplies are relatively inexpensive. The t-shirts are free or almost free so far. I have to buy embroidery stabilizer ($1 per scarf), sewing machine needles ($1 per scarf) and thread ($7 per scarf).

Post a comment on this blog with the amount you think I should charge for each Franken-scarf and I'll do a random drawing in two weeks to see who wins their very own Franken-scarf.

I had this idea months ago and dragged out my old sewing machine that I haven't used in about ten years. It kept eating the bobbin thread and sewing in big, crazy annoying stitches so after I took it apart to "fix" it -- I ended up throwing it away.

Which necessitated a trip to Michaels to buy a new sewing machine. I found one that has pre-programmed embroidery patters in it and lets you do free-hand embroidery as well. And it just so happened that I could buy the floor model at a huge discount.

So...

I did.

It's been true love ever since.

Craft Show Sunday

You know you want to go.

I know you want to go.

My cat, Karma, knows you want to go.

Why don't you just go?

The first 50 people in line get a super fantastic swag bag FILLED with great stuff. And I DO mean great stuff -- I do not mean stacks of business cards -- I mean awesome stuff that would probably take care of lots of your holiday shopping.

And in other news...the viaduct just fell on my studio...

There was a car accident on the viaduct right above my studio. Luckily, the car was just barely stopped by the guard rail but it could have come smashing right down onto the sidewalk in front of my shop. Or in it. All the debris fell on my A-frame sign which is now surrounded by police tape. Eeeeeek! I hope everyone is okay!

First Thursday - The Boofday Edition

What a nice pre-birthday celebration. Seriously, I posted a little blurb on the bottom of my bARTer Sauce newsletter last week that if thy wanted to hang out with me on my birthday they could come by on First Thursday during the Art Walk. And people showed up. Some with CAKE! Kelly Lyles baked me a german chocolate cake that we ate all of even though we had no forks! I should have taken a picture but I was too engrossed in CAKE! She put a little mutant baby on the top. It was super-duper good. My cute studio partner, Kimberly, made me a Happy Birthday Rosalie sign on our chalkboard. Super cute. I got the most evil looking teddy bear lamp as a bARTer Sauce trade from Emmett (now he and Kate are contractually obligated to make art projects with me & Doug next week). Brit (the creator of the paper bag puppet costume that Emmett got for the bear lamp) even stopped by long enough to see the trade happen in person.

Here's a close-up of the Evil Teddy Lamp:

I got the best belt ever made by the woman who made the best skirt ever, Betsy. I'm wearing it today and two guys stopped me on the street to tell me how much they liked it. Guys. And I don't think they were being smarmy...I think they actually just liked it. I got to visit my friend Sara at her art show down the street at 619 Western and deliver her Shower Art I promised her ages ago. Tim & Veronica brought me Betty Boop paraphenalia and an awesome ring that will totally come in handy if I ever get into a fight. They're awesome! And Doug, the best husband ever, surprised me with a skirt I fell in love with about 9 months ago in Les Amis. He's been carrying it around in his car for 9 months waiting for surprise me. It worked! Sorry Betsy -- I think I'm going to have to relegate your skirt to number two best skirt in the world. Don't be sad though -- that's still pretty good. The night was a little bit of a blur -- in part because of the level of activity -- and in part because of the red wine.

MMmmmmmmmm....

Thanks everyone!

Look What I Got - A Double Sauce Post

My two most recent bARTer Sauce trades are both terrifying and also very, very, very, super-duper cool. First, Nik from Scary-Art.com (who is a rather frequest Sauce trader) gave me this painting of a Two-Headed Boy and a Robotic Bug sculpture for an Evil Looking Doll Lamp and a Space Alien in a Ship. Two-Headed Boy makes me giggle. He has so many eyes. And the teeny, tiny fangs are terrifying. And the Robotic Bug...... He's silver ....and POINTY!

And then on Wednesday, Gary traded me these four "Punked Up Nun" sculptures. I put them in the window of my shop and people have been walking by all day and shreiking. Awesome.

A close-up of my favorite: Sister Mary Dreadlocks:

If you're asking yourself, "What the hell is she talking about?" then you probably don't know about bARTer Sauce, my experiment in trading for art and odd objects. You should check it out. It's sometimes funny.

New Shower Arts for You to Look at and Stuff

We made some new Shower Arts recently...Enjoy.....and you can see more at Ugly Baby.

Look What I Got

The lovely Betsy from Baddins Design is one of my new favorite people. She was in the midst of the "skirt controversy" of early 2008 when my friend Sara totally ganked an awesome skirt that I wanted to buy out from under me and wears it often. Betsy made said skirt and was selling it at the Punk Rock Flea Market. She also makes pillows that say, "Fuck you very much." And now I have a pillow that says, "Fuck you very much." It is awesome. Anyway, Betsy wanted to know how to use a knitting machine and I said I would teach her. And I did. And in exchange she made another one of the best skirts in the world and gave it to me. I love her and will do whatever she wants until the end of time. I can't stop staring at this skirt: She also just did a bARTer Sauce trade with me. She's hilarious. Seriously hilarious. I got the fake fetus of her grandmother's dead twin sister that they found while doing an autopsy and she got a teeny tiny landscape painted on an actual pill. Here we are making the trade: Betsy runs an Etsy shop, Baddins Design where she sells her art and her vintage finds. She is special. You should check it out and buy a bunch of stuff from her. And if you don't feel like doing that, then just read her blog, Betsy Makes Things.

Are you asking yourself rigt now, "What the hell is bARTer Sauce?" Good. Because I'm not telling. Live in wonder. Jerks.

Look What I Got

I call it "Super Bright Kisses" for reasons I think might be obvious. I recently did a bARTer Sauce trade with a nice lady named Laura from my EtsyRAIN group. She makes pottery and stuff and sells it in her Etsy shop: LAS Designs. You should buy one of her mugs. I have two and I drink coffee out of them all the time. I highly recommend coffee -- and Laura's mugs. Read Laura's story that came with the bARTer Sauce trade. Read about the trade. Here's some pictures of Laura's super-cutie-potato-face son who came to the trade too and seemed obsessed with Shower Art. He's a winner in my book:

Here's Laura and I doing the trade at the September First Thursday Art Walk in Pioneer Square. I always stick my tongue out for the first picture for some reason. And the second shot is where I go for moderately normal. If you would like to trade me for "Super Bright Kisses" or anything else that is currently available through bARTer Sauce, get in touch -- rosalie(at)bartersauce.com. What the hell is bARTer Sauce? It's an experiment in trading for art and odd objects. The only rules: Whatever I get, I trade for something else. And everyone who trades with me, has to tell me a story.