ERA Graphics - Summer 00 Newsletter

NEWSLETTER ~ SUMMER 2000 ~ V.2 No. 3

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Summer 2000

After the last newsletter we received a note (albeit a nice one) indicating that the newsletter was a bit too wordy. So for those of you who are pressed for time here is an executive summery:

Daytona Beach = good show
Portland = great new class
New doings = ERA featured in new book
The Hun = Grumpy as usual

See ya!

We have not heard from the phantom subscriber in some time now (after eleven prior requests for a subscription to this newsletter), and to tell the truth we kinda miss her. So come on back, all is forgiven.

Doin' the Dance
69-007H

So, for those who have the time for my rambles, much to say so little time, but read on and we will give it a try.

road kill and other major league sports

As many of you know I do very few shows each year. The ones I favor are the mixed media conventions, I guess because I am a mixed media kind of person. The Artful Journey in Daytona Beach is one. A great town (it smells permanently of sun tan lotion) with a terrific mid sized convention center, and a great crowd drawn from all over the Southeast. The show is produced by Donna Kazee and is in its second year.

To the delight of many, they got to meet and chat with The Hun who accompanied me only because I promised him a vacation afterwards. Grumbling and huffing, he schlepped the booth and product to Daytona and helped setup. Wonder of all wonders he also came and helped with the Spirit Guide Vessel class which I taught before the show. "What else would I do?" he grumbled, "sit on the beach and look at the bikinis?" I had him sit in the back and mind the ovens. He even grudgingly complimented several of the participants on their work.

From there we spent a week with some very old friends who have a house on one of the barrier islands off the coast of Georgia near Savannah. Truly a beautiful part of the country. And Savannah was a wonder, a beautiful old city settled in 1733 and built on a plan of squares. There are dozens of beautiful tree-shaded squares with magnificent old houses, lovingly restored. We visited the oldest continuously operating Synagogue in the US, dating from 1736. It was designed along the lines of a gothic church, since they were not sure how else to build it.

Dragonfly Medallion, Sm
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And The Hun got to renew his acquaintance with the Waffle House, a chain of southern fast grease. It never fails to amaze me how much junk food that man can devour.

On the trip I ran out of Nymo thread for a bead project that I had taken with me. God forbid I should travel sans project! After searching in two cities and numerous craft and bead shops I can see why crafters from some parts of the country descend upon the craft shows like those poor starving Eritrians when the relief trucks arrive.

Oh yes, on the way up to Savannah we stopped off at Paula Amari's shop, Old Town Crafts in St. Mary's Georgia. It was such a delight to see Paula and her husband Frank again. Paula has created one of the most beautiful and best-stocked stamp stores in the country. And St. Mary's is worth a visit for its beautiful old restored buildings and a ferry ride to Cumberland Island for a picnic, a la Martha Stewart. It was in a little church on the island that JFK Jr. got married.

The reason this newsletter is a touch late is that I have just gotten back from Portland, Oregon where I attended the Bead & Button Show. Good but not great. Next year it will move to Milwaukee and Embellishment will also be someplace other than Portland since the convention center is scheduled for a refurbishing.

The Intuitive Collage class I taught at First Impression with Vicki Reinhardt and Deve Blackburn was spectacular, if I do say so myself. Everyone came in a bit on the apprehensive side, especially since we refused to show them any examples of what was expected or what a finished piece might look like. But once they got into it they created like champs and left babbling and on a high. The results, eight messenger cards which form the start of a personal deck. Oh yes, Vicki and Deve did some card readings at the end, it was really a kick, and everyone loved hearing about their inner selves.

We are rescheduling the Spirit Guide Vessel class and the Wild Women Fetish Pin class I was to teach at Laurel Ford's Create-A-Card studio in Aitkin, Minnesota on June 23rd and 24th. Sign-ups were a little light so we are moving the date to Friday, September 8th. Laurel can be reached at (218) 678-3787. Aitkin is about a 90 minute drive from the Twin cities.

Women of the Village I, Lg
234-001K

unmounted is buffo hit

Readers of the last newsletter know that I have made the decision that, as of July 1, 2000, I will offer only unmounted dies to retail customers. I will still be offering mounted stamps to wholesale customers.

With only a single exception your comments on the change have been very positive. And as I said previously:

As nothing in my world is fixed except death, taxes and The Hun's complaining, if anyone wants one or two mounted stamps as a gift, or for any other reason, I will be happy to accommodate.

mold boards

Just a quick note to let you know that we are pressing mold boards as fast as we can. We took over 200 to Daytona and sold out completely. You can see all 12 designs here.

Mold Board #9

ok, ok. last plug for kerchunk ... this quarter

Kerchunk is simply the greatest zine for online stampers. (As for the name, it is the sound the stamp makes when hitting the paper.) I keep mentioning it because there are so many new subscribers to the news letter who may not be aware of its presence. And for those of you older subscribers who have ignored this plug in the past and not availed yourselves of a great experience

Kerchunk has the most comprehensive set of stamping links anywhere. You can also order your craft, and other books there through Amazon.com and the cybertwins (Xina & Liz) get a tiny little commission which helps keep the zine going. You can find this great zine at: www.Kerchunk.com

My continued plugs for Kerchunk has nothing to do with cross marketing, commissions, payola, kickbacks and the like. I just like it!

read my lips!!!

In the last newsletter I wrote about the illegal use of my images in transfers to polymer clay (I saw their use in a magazine article.) When confronted, the author started off saying that the images were clip art, etc. OK, here I am bopping along at Bead & Button and chanced upon a booth that was selling glass beads with the images sand blasted in using a masking technique.

Neat! Hey wait a minute, several of these beads included my art work! When I asked the "artist" where she got her images she indicated that she used a web site for clip art. When I advised her that this was my web site, my art and that it was protected under the copyright laws, she said, "Well I never expected to see any of you people at this kind of show!" Nice apology. The other people standing there were appalled, some had their mouths hanging open. It finally dawned on this dim wit to look ashamed and she then pressed a bead with one of my images into my sweaty palm, gratis.

It never fails to amaze me that some people (thankfully very few) who call themselves artists, violate the basic principals and rights of other artists with impunity. As an artist, the value of my work lies in my ability to use the fruits of my talent exclusively. As with many other artists I have taken all the appropriate steps to protect my work. Furthermore, I have been one of the leaders in the Angel Company movement. What's a poor girl to do when "artists" like these are running around loose?

Tatooed Sun II, Lg
233-001L

somebody likes the hun!

Well The Hun has got himself a pen pal. Christine Platt from Rochester, New York, a former pastry chef and a major league mother, gardener and stamper, e-mailed him after the last newsletter and they have been burning up the wires with foodie talk ever since.

trauma update

We are happy to advise you that Linda Sarine's little amulet bag child, who was medevaced in from Pennsylvania (the patient had an amputated left leg and needed immediate care from the head bead neurosurgeon to reattach it,) is out of the ICU and doing fine. She wishes to thank all of you who took the time to write and send cards and flowers.

Linda wrote: "I can't thank you enough for fixing my little girl! She has finally had a good night's sleep and is feeling great. She did comment to me that she absolutely loves her new shoes! She also is very happy about her new flower belt."

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a little self promotion never hurt anyone

Thought I might bore you with the following:

Some of my work is featured in Diane Maurer-Mathison's new book, "Art of the Scrapbook: A Guide to Handbinding and Decorating Memory Books, Albums and Art Journals", Watson-Guptill Publications, New York. Aside from my work, this is one terrific book as it covers just about everything, from bindings, to covers, to making your own paper, working with photographs, creative lettering, etc. If you can afford just one book on scrapbooking or journal making this is the one to get. (And remember to order it through Kerchunk: Art of the Scrapbook)

We heard from an old friend, Vesta Abel of Comotion, she is alive and well and still in business. She is starting to appear at shows again. Vesta is just finishing up a new book for North Light Publications on stamping and is using some of my images.

lost images

Remember last newsletter when we were perplexed about several web surfers who had trouble bringing up certain images from our site? Well as it turns out, web mistress extraordinary Xina, had left in a bit of her last spell and incantation when she placed the latest images. Sorcerers are supposed to clean up after themselves, just like the sign says in the office coffee room "Please cleanup after your spells, I am not the head of your coven!". All spells, as you well know, do not work uniformly but are a hit or miss proposition. A little eye of the newt and some spider web from a mountain cave and allll better.

my pit poodle

As you read this Winny, or Graphic Winter Storm, will be nursing her new pups. She gave birth to five huge ones: four boys and a silver girl. All are spoken for. We will keep you informed and post pics. This is her last litter and she is going into retirement along with Seattle Slew and Bill Clinton. Curious company!

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new news of xina

Xina, aka Christina Gibbs, our web mistress, leader of SkyBluePink Web Designs, coeditor of Kerchunk your leading online stamp zine and great web link directory, software engineer at Clarify Inc. and all around good gal, is back from her vacation on Raisa, an entertainment planet in the delta quadrant. She choose a holodeck trip as part of her package and went for a tour to Spain in the year 2000. She did bring back some goodies for all (even though they are virtual gifts), including some Spanish saffron for The Hun. Now she greets everyone with Hola! The various aliens on Babylon 5 are perplexed at this breach of protocol since Hola in Galactic Standard means Jerk!

new bead kits

I located an importer at Bead & Button who found some beautiful old glass Dragonfly bead molds in Czechoslovakia. They are having them pressed again after almost 60 years. We will be featuring them in a new necklace kit in the near future.

As readers of the last newsletter know we are offering super high quality, limited edition bead kits, with antique and/or specially designed focal beads. Between Embellishment and the followup orders about 65% of each edition is now sold. We have two new kits in the prototype stage and now that Sheila is on the mend will get them up on the site soon. For the full story and great photos of the present kits, check us out at: beads.ERAGraphics.com

bistro hun

Summer is here and this is the time to take advantage of the spectacular fruits crowding the produce stands. A great way to treat your family and yourself is with a pie, some shortcake, or a crisp, buckle, slump, betty, tart, fool or cobbler.

What's the difference? Well they are all easy to make, like fast, if you just make the dough ahead of time. But first:

Pie you all know about, Deep dish, is with only a top crust. For a non soggy bottom crust just blind bake it first (without filling), 15 or 20 minutes to a light brown. I also like to coat the bottom crust to ensure that it will not get soggy while it stands around, try a fruit jam glaze (bring two tablespoons of apricot jam and a bit of water to a boil, and brush it on the baked shell.
Crisps are baked fruit with a topping of streusel (flour, sugar and spices).
Betties are the same thing except that the streusel is made of buttered bread crumbs.
Shortcakes are made from uncooked (but sometimes macerated) fruit covered with a sweetened biscuit dough.
a Buckle is fresh fruit mixed with a cake batter and topped with a streusel.
whereas a Fool is layered cooked fruit with whipped cream, much like a trifle but without the sponge cake layers.
however, a Cobbler is a shortcake with cooked fruit, that is, it is topped with biscuit dough and then baked.
while a Tart is an open face fruit dessert with the fruit either cooked or uncooked (for uncooked fruit blind bake the crust first and glaze the fruit with the jam glaze mentioned above for a really pro look). This is the easiest one to make.
And a Slump? Hey anyone know what a slump is?

As to the dough, many people are frightened by making a rolling out pie dough. Several tips:

Use very cold water, and not too much, just enough to bring it together.
Work the dough very little, a food processor is great but do not overdo it. Pulse it several times just until the fat is incorporated.
Chill the dough at least one hour, even overnight. Dough freezes well. Make a big batch, divide it into individual pie amount and freeze. Take out a packet the night before and voila! a no sweat pie.

Lastly, there are three major kinds of dough you can make. In classical cooking parlance:

Pate Brisse = flour, water shortening and salt.
Pate Sucree = as with Pate Brisse but with the adding of a small amount of sugar, two or three tablespoons.
Pate Sable = essentially cookie dough, the same as pate brisse but with lots of sugar and eggs. A tough dough to work but a crust to die for!

tips etc.

Check out a new zine on polymer clay, called Polyzine. You can locate it at: www.poly-zine.com. Cost is $20.00 a year.

Buy low, sell high!

That's all for now!
Roberta