JANE KOOPMAN ART AND JEWELRY

Messy Rest

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from a girl who has never been able to keep her room clean
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3/19/2014

Artistry and Community: Paper Making in Nepal

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It has been a while since I wrote a post about a Ten Thousand Villages artisan. This is something I like to do regularly because I so much respect Ten Thousand Villages for advancing fair trade and handcrafting, and I admire the work of their talented international artisans. Today's post is about a collective who makes something dear to my heart: paper!
Get Paper Industry owl
photo, Ten Thousand Villages

Get Paper Industry

Nepal Map
Get Paper Industry (GPI) is an award winning handmade paper cooperative that has been making paper and paper products in Nepal for almost 30 years. The cooperative started with 14 employees but quickly grew when it forged a supply agreement with The Body Shop International in 1989. GPI now employees over 70 people, plus an extra 700 seasonal workers, many of them women. The partnership with The Body Shop continues to this day, and GPI has other trade partnerships with groups like Ten Thousand Villages.

Nepal is among the world's poorest countries. Almost half of the country's working age population is unemployed or under-employed. Because of this, nearly 2 million people have left Nepal to seek work in other countries, leaving their families and communities behind. With Nepal's population of 27 million, GPI's employment opportunities might seem like a drop in the bucket. What stands out to me, though, is that GPI has provided job opportunities for such a long time through so much political and economic uncertainty, and the cooperative has provided employment for uneducated women, a demographic that typically has few employment opportunities in Nepal. 

When GPI started in 1985, they made paper primarily from the lotka plant (like this one): 
lotka plant
Get Paper Industry notebookphoto, GPI
The partnership with The Body Shop introduced GPI to various recycling methods. So for the last 25 years, the cooperative has made paper from waste paper, cotton discards from the garment industry, and agricultural waste like banana fibres, straw (jute), and water hyacinth. The GPI artisans create paper pulp by mixing the recycled fibres with water. The pulp is then pressed between wooden plates to squeeze out the water and flatten the paper, and the resulting sheets are dried in the sunshine. GPI has a waste water treatment facility to filter all the water used in their manufacturing. The entire process honours handcrafted quality and environmental responsibility.

Picture
Picture
Picture
photos, Ten Thousand Villages
If making gorgeous paper products and providing sustainable employment wasn't enough, GPI also promotes community development through its sister organization General Welfare Prathisthran (GWP). Four per cent of GPI's revenue goes to GWP, which coordinates initiatives in four major areas:
  1. Girls' education: In Nepal, girls' education is generally not prioritized. GWP's ongoing response to this includes operating five primary schools specifically for girls.
  2. AIDS awareness: GWP has over 100 staff conducting AIDS awareness activities with sex workers, factory workers, police forces, truck drivers, and students. The organization also works to prevent trafficking of girls and women.
  3. Environmental conservation: GWP sponsors planting programs to rejuvenate vegetation in depleted areas.
  4. Income generation for girls and women: GWP runs credit and employment programs to help girls and women gain sustainable income. 60 groups involving nearly 1000 girls participate in income generating programs like chicken farming, goat keeping, buffalo keeping, cow raising, paper making, and hairdressing and esthetics.
Whoa. Amazing.

It's pretty easy for me to get deliriously excited about a piece of paper. But I can get downright passionate and weepy about a piece of paper that has dried in the sunshine after being carefully mixed and pressed by a Nepalese woman working for Get Paper Industry. There's a great deal of good, compassion and strength behind that delicately textured sheet of paper.
Picture

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3/13/2014

Cheering Up with an Old Favourite: Chocolate Haystacks

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So two days ago, on March 11, I was walking around in the glorious sunshine with my coat off. Then I woke up on March 12 (yesterday) to see this.
snow storm
Ew.

I love snow, but not really on March 12 anymore. March is when my itch to garden begins, after all.

Well anyway, I had planned to do groceries yesterday, but with the treacherous weather (i.e. snow blowing sideways), I decided to burrow inside for the day. Our food supply was low, especially in the snack department, and that just wouldn't do, especially because Dan had to work last night. The man needs snacks to get through a 12-hour night shift. And hey. I always need snacks.

Normally, I like to bake to supplement our snack supply, but with my grocery shopping plans spoiled yesterday, I didn't even have the basics for baking. No flour. No milk. Limited butter.
chocolate haystacks
But then I remembered a staple treat from my childhood. Chocolate haystacks: hearty little treats full of chocolate, coconut and oats, and not a stitch of flour. And you don't even have to turn on the oven to make them. It's one of the recipes I wrote out before I left home for university, and I still have it. So yesterday, I dug out my beat-up recipe card and got to work.

chocolate haystacks
I had everything I needed to make half a recipe, except for milk. So I improvised by using some Bailey's Irish Cream instead. Tee hee. 

The short version recipe is at the end of this post, but I'll walk you through the super easy steps first. Measure out the first five ingredients - butter, cocoa, milk (or lush-like substitute), sugar and vanilla - and put them into a saucepan. Bring the mix up to a boil, stirring regularly. My old recipe says you should let the mixture boil for five minutes, but it depends on your stove I think. Really, you just need to make sure the sugar is well dissolved (I did three minutes).
chocolate haystacks
When you have a nice, chocolatey soup, add your oats and coconut. Despite what the recipe suggests, I think the ratio of oats to coconut is really up to you.
chocolate haystacks
Stir it up, little darlin.

Then, lay a piece of parchment paper down on your counter so the haystacks have a place to chill out for a while. Drop the chocolat-y oat-y coconut-y mixture by spoonfuls onto the parchment. You don't have to wait for the mixture to cool before you do this.

The mix might be a bit crumbly as you work, but don't worry: the chocolate haystacks will get solid as they cool. What I do to make my haystacks is heap some mixture into a tablespoon, and then use my fingers to mound it together and push it onto the parchment paper. If you think it's gross to use your fingers, try something else.
chocolate haystacks
chocolate haystacks
Et voila! After a while, the haystacks will get solid, and you can take them off the parchment and put them into an airtight container to store. They won't stick together.
chocolate haystacks
A note about my boozy experiment . . . 

Adding Bailey's to the haystack mix changed the flavour significantly. The irish cream flavour overpowers the chocolate quite a bit, so it's basically like having a different flavoured haystack. I still prefer straight-up chocolate, but if you're a big irish cream fan, you'd probably go mad for this variation on the standard recipe. You should adjust the sugar though. My suggestion would be to use 1 1/2 cups of sugar instead of 2 (less if you don't like things too sweet).
chocolate haystacks
From a kitchen short on resources, these mini piles of chocolate goodness provided some cozy comfort on a blustery and frigid day. Now that I've rediscovered them, I'll probably make them more often.

Here's the less long-winded version of the recipe . . .
chocolate haystacks
Preparation time: approx. 30 min.
Yield: 4 dozen
Chocolate Haystacks
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup cocoa
1/2 cup milk (or liqueur of choice)
2 cups sugar (use 1 1/2 cups or less if using liqueur)
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup coconut

Combine first five ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring regularly. Boil for 3-5 minutes until sugar is dissolved.

Stir in oats and coconut, and mix until well combined. Drop mixture by spoonfuls onto parchment paper (laid out on a cookie sheet or counter), and leave to cool and harden. Once cool, store in an airtight container.

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3/5/2014

Collaborative Upcycling, Sixth Grade Style

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Chedoke Elementary
In a sunny and busy classroom in Chedoke Elementary School, a fabulous group of sixth graders has been collecting junk for me. Their wonderful teacher, Jennifer Miscas, contacted me earlier this year to let me know her class had been filling a Jane Jar, and she wondered if I'd be interested in creating an art piece from the contents. Um, yes!

Jane Jar
Jennifer encouraged her students to fill the classroom Jane Jar with the scraps, trifles and toss-aways from their own lives, along with the trash items I usually collect. So, in addition to the plastic bottle lids, candy wrappers and dried up pens and markers I'm accustomed to receiving from my garbage collectors, this sixth grade class collected such things as pencil stubs, broken toys (awesome!), worn out school supplies, random stickers, and frayed friendship bracelets (I'm sure the friendships have far outworn the bracelets). The jar is not only an assemblage of upcycling treasures, it's also a time capsule: a time capsule I hope to capture and honour in the artwork. I'm going to upend this brilliant jar, let the contents scatter all over my desk, and see what ideas spring forth.
Jane Jar
This collaborative project represents everything I love about upcycling and art: a bridge for strangers to meet, a chance to capture moments in time, an opportunity to take a pause - however brief - to think about what and how much we throw away. And it's the start of something completely new. Lots of the junk in this jar will emerge in the art that I'll create for Jennifer and her sixth grade class. The rest of it will eventually find a purpose in something else I make, be it more artwork or a piece of jewelry. The possibilities are curious, colourful, exciting and abundant!

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2/19/2014

Sweatshirt Upcycle: A Cozy Rescue

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upcycled sweatshirt
I am very attached to this orange sweatshirt. There's no reason for it: it's old, the drawstring for the hood has long disappeared, and orange looks terrible on me. But it's cozy and lumpy and soft and warm, and I love it.

So when I got a stain on it a few months ago, I was dismayed. 

I've had it in my mind more and more that I'd like to upcycle my clothes that are worn, stained or ill-fitting. This seems to me a responsible way to manage my wardrobe: it would save me money and allow me to save beloved pieces. It would also prevent my clothes from becoming part of the pile of second hand store discards that get shipped overseas by the pound. (Millions of pounds of bulk second hand clothes get shipped from western nations to developing nations. There are mixed opinions about how these shipments impact local economies.)

The only problem with my upcycling ambitions is that my sewing skills are, well, scarce. I have lots of ideas, but I'm not sure I have the skills to execute them. Serendipitously for me, some inspired young women in my church decided to start Sewing New Hope: a community sewing circle. 

Since January, we've hauled out our sewing machines every Thursday night and done some sewing between sips of coffee and intervals of conversation. Among this lovely group are some ladies with mad sewing skills, and they willingly help the rest of us who don't always know what we're doing. Each week has a project or sewing skill to focus on if we want, but we can also work on our own projects. This is my opportunity to bring some of my upcycling ideas to life, and I figured I'd start with my beloved orange sweatshirt. 

Here's what I did.

Okay, so you can't really see the stain very well in this photo, but trust me, there's a stain. In the next photo, you'll see what the weird circles are.
upcycled sweatshirt
I cut circles out of some cotton t-shirt scraps in brown, light blue, medium blue and burnt orange. With safety pins, I pinned the circles onto the back of my sweatshirt because I wanted to create reverse patches (that's what I'm calling them, anyway). Following the advice of one of my smart sewing circle friends, I hand-basted the circles onto the shirt so that I wouldn't have to deal with pins while working with the sewing machine. For those of you who are sewing newbs like me, basting is loosely stitching something in place. It is also, of course, what you do when you cook a turkey.
upcycled sweatshirt
And another tip for those with limited sewing experience: sewing circles with a sewing machine is not as simple as it might seem. Maybe modern machines can be programmed to sew curves - I have no idea - but my old-school Singer sews straight lines. This means I had to use a very light touch with the foot pedal and lift the sewing machine's presser foot every few stitches so that I could turn the fabric. I used brown thread to stitch all the circles.
upcycled sweatshirt
Here's what my sweatshirt looked like after I sewed the circles onto the back and turned it right side out. 
upcycled sweatshirt
Next, I cut the sweatshirt fabric from the front of the shirt to reveal the patches beneath. With one hand inside the shirt holding the patch, I pulled the front fabric up with my other hand to separate the two pieces of fabric. Then, I nipped the front fabric, being careful not to cut the patch, and then cut out a circle along the stitching.
upcycled sweatshirt
upcycled sweatshirt
upcycled sweatshirt
upcycled sweatshirt
So there you have it: my beloved cozy sweatshirt reinvented. Not only is the unsightly stain gone, but my shirt has a unique and colourful new style that I'll be glad to wear. 
upcycled sweatshirt
upcycled sweatshirt
Sorry if I've blinded you with all the orange. 

Now. What shall I upcycle next?

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2/7/2014

Studio Reorganization Mission Complete!

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After a month of sorting, pitching, pondering, cleaning and arranging, I have finally completed my mission to give my art studio an overhaul that will make my work experience more organized and inspiring. It was a more intensive process than I had anticipated because, the deeper I delved into the clutter, the more meticulous my sorting and arranging became to help this reorganization be effective for the long haul. 
art studio organization
art studio organization

So, let me take you on a little tour. Yay! This is what you see when you walk in the door. On the right is my macho work area for stuff that involves pounding, drilling, torching and smashing. On the left is where I more gently work on art and cards.
art studio
First stop on the tour: my art desk. I had two goals when I rearranged my desk: create lots of work space, and keep close at hand the things I use a lot. I have organized my most-used art tools into a series of pottery and wood containers along the back edge of my desk. The art supplies I use the most sit on a lazy susan (I'm bad at putting things away, so this caters to my bad habit). All my pens and markers are organized in those little plastic drawers and the organizer that sits on top of them (which I made with toilet paper rolls). In the bottom right corner of the photo you can see where I toss my trash and recyclables.

I'm really happy with this workspace now. I've got lots of room to stretch out my work, and I've got most of what I need right in front of me. And I love sitting by the window.
art studio
Beside my desk is a little caddy that holds random (and painstakingly organized) scraps that result from my creative adventures. I won't bore you (or risk being made fun of) by itemizing them all. The drawer unit on my desk holds administrative-ish stuff, like labels, a calculator, and the receipts I accumulate through a week. The unattractive drawer unit under my desk holds bags of various sizes and scrap paper that I use for experimenting or making paper. Maybe some day I'll try to make that thing look a little more pretty.
art studio organization

To the right of my desk, I have stored frequently-used art supplies within easy reach on low shelves along the wall beside me. My tubes of acrylic paint hang on the wall from binder clips: now they're easy to access, and they look funky too. (Thank you, Pinterest universe, for the idea.) I got a bargain on a bunch of plastic trays at a local reuse centre, and I used them all to keep my full sheets of paper organized. A tower of paper makes me happy inside.
Picture
On the left side of my desk, I've stored more art supplies and tools. Here you might notice some of the things I wrote about in my last blog post: binders that keep my scrap paper organized, wine boxes that store cutting tools and embellishments, and the fabric box unit that stores my ribbon scraps (in the lower right side of the picture). The thing on the wall above the ribbon scraps in a clementine box that I've fit with wooden dowels to store spools of ribbon.

This is an Ikea shelf that anchors to the floor and ceiling, so it's very sturdy and un-wobbly. It's great for storing all my clumsy sketchbooks and pads of paper (on the top shelf). The shelves are adjustable, and I've set up a short shelf in the middle to store large pieces of paper that need to stay flat. One other trick you might notice: a section of an Ikea wine rack keeps my rolls of paper organized, and laying a piece of cardboard across the top of it creates a mini shelf.
Picture

The back wall of my studio is home to upcycled materials. The centre column of this shelf holds the upcycled materials I use the most, including postage stamps, bottle caps, beach glass and vegetable bags (sorted in bins on the floor). A couple more bins of upcycled stuff sit on the low shelf on the left. I wanted to keep my upcycled materials together in one place so that, when I sort through loads of garbage, it's easy to organize and put away. In another corner of the studio, I have a bin unit that holds other upcycled materials I don't use as much that patiently wait for their debut in a new project.

The left column of the shelf stores all my substrate and t-shirt scraps, and the right column holds my printmaking and sewing supplies. 
Picture

My grunt work station didn't change very much through my art studio overhaul. The biggest thing I did here was sort through all my beads and modify how I store them. I grouped them together by material (i.e. glass, wood, semi precious) and colour, and moved some of them into the side drawers of the desk to alleviate some clutter.
art studio

Welcome to my studio's walk-in closet, the unglamorous hideaway for the things I don't know what to do with. Well, that's less true now because I spent some time organizing this little cavern too. 

Until now, my inventory, packaging materials, and shipping stuff were in different places in my house because they didn't fit in my studio. The reorganization in the studio meant that I could empty some things from the closet and make room for a shipping centre of sorts. I emptied most of the drawers in the dresser (most of which hadn't seen the light of day in many moons), and relocated their contents (much of it to charity). Now the drawers store shipping and packaging materials. My jewelry and card inventory now rest on top of the dresser (foreground), along with the rest of my shipping materials. My artwork is the only part of my creative inventory not stored here: it's in another room in the house where the temperature is more stable than this sketchily insulated closet.
art studio
Shipping is a much easier process now that I don't have to run around to three different places to put together a package.  

So there you have it, folks! I feel relieved and excited to have this reorganization project finished. My workspace is now inviting and organized, and still bright and quirky the way I like it. I have no doubt that the arrangements and decor will continue to change over time, but this is a good foundation: a great way to start the year.

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1/31/2014

Organization Ideas for the Art Studio (and anywhere else, for that matter)

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So, January's nearly over, and my daunting art studio organization project is nearly done. Next week, I'll do the dramatic "reveal" of my new space, and in the mean time, I thought I'd share some of the tricks I've used to get there. I've gleaned many of the ideas from books and Pinterest, and some I even came up with all by myself.

Cutting Through the Clutter

art studio organization
This idea from Kathi Lipp's book The Get Yourself Organized Project helped me feel less overwhelmed as I approached the chaos in my art studio. Lipp suggests that, when you begin to clean up and organize a room, you have ready three boxes and two bags. In Box 1 you place anything lying around that needs to be put away within the room. In Box 2, you place the things that belong in other rooms of the house. Box 3 is for the things you want to give away. The two bags are for garbage and recycling.

In the photo, you can see my three boxes. Using this little system cleared the clutter so that I could focus on organizing my space. After all, what's the point of putting things away if you don't know where you're going to put them? The three boxes also kept me on task. Instead of getting side-tracked by putting things away in other parts of the house, I just put them in my "other rooms" box to deal with later.

Scrap Paper Organization

scrap paper organization
I have a lot of scrap paper, and keeping it organized has always raised my blood pressure. I never know where to put it, and more so, I don't know how to find the pieces I want to use when I need them. 

I came up with this idea, and I'll see how it works: I sorted all the scrap paper by colour, assigned each colour a binder, and organized the paper in each binder with page protectors. The page protectors help me organize the scraps into similar sizes and shapes - as you can see below - so that I can find exactly what I need when I'm working on cards and art. 

I adhered coloured stickers to each binder's spine so that I can easily pull the binder I need off the shelf when I want to use some paper or put it away. As you might have guessed, the white binder stores white and off-white papers. The binders are within easy reach of my art desk to accommodate my laziness.

scrap paper organization
scrap paper organization

Mmmm . . . Wine Boxes

wine boxes
Wine boxes are great for storage. They look nice, they have lids, they have handles, and they have compartments. And if you're lucky, they smell like wine.
wine box storage

Herding the Hoard of Ribbon Scraps

Like scrap paper, I have a lot of ribbon scraps. They have sat overflowing in a plastic container in a tangled mess that looks like a bowl of spaghetti. To start sorting this out, I untangled and unknotted the ribbon spaghetti, and sorted it into different types, like fabric, wired, gift-wrapping ribbon, string, etc. I had an empty small storage unit with fabric boxes and figured this would be great for keeping the ribbon organized. 

I wrapped long pieces of ribbon around toilet paper rolls, fastening them with tape. I had some sections of narrow cardboard tube (no idea where I got them), and they were perfect for wrapping short pieces of gift-wrapping ribbon. Short pieces of fabric ribbon got wrapped around clothespins, an idea snagged from Pinterest. 

It took a while to do all this, but now that it's done, I think it will be pretty simple to prevent ribbon spaghetti in the future.
ribbon organization
ribbon organization
ribbon storage
photo, craftstorageideas.com

Organization for Lazy People

I will be the first to admit that I am bad at putting things away. If something can't be put away quickly, I put it off. There. I said it.

So rather than fight it, I am arranging things in my studio to accommodate my laziness. One way of doing this is to employ what I will call the piggy bank tactic. When I'm sorting out my upcycled materials, I find it tedious to pull containers off shelves and open lids to put things away. I realize how ridiculous that sounds. Nevertheless, I thought I would make life easier for myself by cutting slots into the lids of containers so that I can just drop items into their proper places, like putting coins in a piggy bank.
I use postage stamps in my artwork, and I have a lot of them. I store most of them in ice cream containers organized by country or continent (clearly, I eat a lot of ice cream, and I'm not ashamed). With a slot cut into the lid of each container, I don't need to pull anything off the shelf when I put my stamps away. I just deposit each stamp into its designated container.
art studio organization
Similarly, I have a giant hoard of bottle caps that I use in art and jewelry. I keep the caps in a large flat box so I can easily pick through them when I work on a project. When I'm not using the caps, the container sits on a shelf under a stack of other containers, so it's a little tricky to get to. I cut a slot into the lid so I don't have to unearth that large container each time I put away bottle caps.
art studio organization
Over the next few months as I work away in my studio, these organization ideas will be put to the test. I have high hopes that they'll help me stay organized and make my work easier. 

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1/21/2014

A January Project: Organize my Art Studio

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art studio organization
I've been sort of dragging my feet into the new year because, throughout the closing months of 2013, I resolved to dedicate the month of January to getting myself organized. I'm not one for new year's resolutions (because I know I won't keep them), but January is the natural time to take stock of how last year went in my home and with my business, and determine what needs to get done in the months ahead. November and December were a flurry of activity, and I looked forward to January when I could take some time to assess. Now that January is here . . . I feel pretty sluggish about making plans and getting organized.

Besides business planning and attending to some household projects, I am trying to reorganize my art studio this January. Not that I didn't try, oh, maybe eight times already in 2013. Each time I went through a crazy busy few weeks, I got frustrated with the clutter and chaos that accumulated (see evidence above). This month, I'm determined to devote the time and energy to designing a creative space that will really work, that needs only minor adjustments in the year ahead. As I embark, it feels a little insurmountable.

See Jane Get Organized.

So, I've decided to document my haphazard journey through the headaches, blank stares, and exasperated sighs of sorting out a busy space so that others - especially other messy creatives like myself - might learn some things along with me.

I've thought a lot about what I need my art studio space to be. I've done a lot of research about storage ideas and room layouts (oh, how I love you, Pinterest), but when it comes down to it, the most clever or most beautiful ideas won't work if they don't suit my space and my work habits. So, I've come up with three qualities that my art studio must have: 
art studio
markers

1. Practicality

The things I use the most must be within easy reach (in close proximity to where I work, at a shelf height I can reach).

I need some empty spaces where unfinished projects or odds and ends can reside until I have time to put them away. Several organization blogs and books I've read say that you shouldn't have empty spaces where clutter can accumulate. Clearly, those authors are not as flawed as I am: my reality is not so orderly, so I'm going to accommodate my more casual working style. So there.

I have a lot of things to store in my studio: upcycled materials, tools, art supplies, books, shipping and packaging supplies, and jewelry making supplies, to name a few. I want to group them together according to their purpose so that it's easier for me to find things.

2. The Capability to Evolve

My work habits and projects change over time, so my storage and organization can't be so permanent that they can't be altered. That is to say, I don't think I'll ever have a studio with spiffy built-ins or wall-mounted shelves, a la HGTV. I opt for open shelves and an eclectic hoard of different sized containers that can accommodate my changing work.

3. Inspiration

art studio organization
I spend a lot of time in my studio, obviously, so it needs to be a space in which I want to spend time. It must be bright and comfortable, and most importantly, it must inspire my creative senses. For me, that means using quirky upcycled storage pieces, hanging other people's artwork on the walls, taking some time to add decorative flourishes to mundane storage items, and having an idea board where I can tack up random images/objects that tickle my fancy.

Starting at the End

It's hard to know where to start when I survey the mess of bits and pieces that call my studio home. So, I have tried to picture what I want the end result to be. My hours of Pinterest perusing have shown several possibilities that usually fall under two extremes.
The Magazine Art Studio Perfectly Staged for Creating . . . um . . . Conversation?
craft room
source: Pinterest
Seriously? White shag carpet? Imagine it in six months with paint globs, glue gobs and tiny pieces of paper all through it. Certainly, there is a place for everything, but as soon as the occupant of this idyllic aqua oasis takes anything out of a mason jar to do some work, they'll have nowhere to put it. Unless they wear a giant apron with big pockets. But that would be rather uncomfortable.
A Real Artist's Studio Where Chaos is its Own Form of Organization
Picture
source: littlemichaelbigworld
True, this is more representative of my sense of order, but I would cry if I had to work in here. This is the art studio of twentieth century Irish artist Francis Bacon. I get a little short of breath just looking at this photo. How did this guy find anything? Perhaps he knew what was in and under each heap of stuff. I often use my creative nature as an excuse for my messiness, but this is a little extreme even for me.
I'd like my studio to be something in between these two extremes. I can sort of see it, so I've started setting to work. I'll keep you posted . . . .

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11/27/2013

Snow in November . . . Yipeeee!

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Picture
This morning, November 27, I woke up to a world covered in a lovely blanket of snow. It's been a long time since we had snow in November in Hamilton, and unlike most people, I'm thrilled to see the snow arrive early. I love how clean and gentle it makes the neighbourhood look. This is the view from my studio window: plenty of inspiration here.

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10/23/2013

Homemade Applesauce from my Backyard

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August and September were very busy with various festivals and shows where I had the opportunity to show and sell my work. I love doing shows, but it leaves little time for much else, so I promised myself that, after the last show in early October, I would take a couple weeks to focus on things outside the studio. One of these things was harvesting and processing the apples from our backyard apple tree.

Our First Apple Harvest!

apple tree
Since Dan and I moved into our house nearly seven years ago, we have been trying to rejuvenate the apple tree and the cherry tree in our backyard. Efforts with the cherry tree have so far been . . . fruitless (bad pun), as the ants and aphids have had the upper hand. The apple tree has fared much better. After some years of pruning in early spring to promote tree growth, and this year, pruning in late spring to promote fruit growth, our tree produced a sizeable crop of apples! We are so excited! We haven't quite figured out what kind of apples they are: so far our best guesses are Spy or Royal Gala. What we do know is that they're delicious.

Many of the apples are good enough for eating fresh from the tree. Others, not so much: they're on the ground, partially rotted, or still on the tree after being sampled on by squirrels, worms and birds. As my mother taught me, nothing so good should go to waste, so I decided to make applesauce with the more unglamourous members of our apple crop. Applesauce is a versatile commodity: Dan can take it to work as a snack, I can use it in baking and cooking, and we can eat it with meals.

I thought I'd explain the process I used to make applesauce so that you can do the same with fall apples you find at the farmers market or in your own backyard.

Saucy!

Here's what I used and what you'll need to make applesauce:
  • apples, obviously
  • cinnamon stick (optional)
  • lemon or lemon juice (optional)
  • an empty sink
  • a good-sized heavy pot (or two if you have lots of apples)
  • a wooden spoon and a ladle
  • a mesh strainer (or a food mill if you have one)
  • a good-sized empty bowl (that can withstand heat)
  • containers for your finished applesauce
apples
After picking my apples, I dumped them in a sink full of water. (This picture shows about a quarter of what I actually started with.) Then I removed the nasty bits, stems and pits, and cut the apples into quarters. You don't have to be too careful about coring the apples because you'll pass everything through a strainer in the end. Many people leave the pits in, but I didn't because I'm picky like that.
pan full of apples
You can fill your pot with apples all the way to the top because they will cook down. I added about an inch of water to the pan, and threw in half a cinnamon stick, a squeeze of lemon juice and a slice of lemon peel. The cinnamon adds a little spice and sweetness, and the lemon juice preserves the colour of the apples and adds a little tang. 

Next, I put a lid on the apples, brought them to a boil, and then turned down the heat to let them simmer for about 45 minutes (the time will vary depending on your stove and what variety of apples you use). And let me tell you, the house smelled amazing: talk about aromatherapy. 
cooking apples
As the apples cook, you'll want to stir them once in a while so all the apples get a chance to soften up. Here are my apples midway through cooking, after a good stir.
Picture
When the apples became a sufficiently sloppy mess, I ladled them into a strainer over a ceramic bowl. I pressed the apple mush through the strainer by mashing and stirring it, a great workout for my out-of-shape arms. The process is much easier if you have a food mill, but I found the strainer surprisingly effective. You'd be amazed at how much sauce you can squeeze out of those apples. I kept stirring until I had less than a handful of goo left in the strainer.
making applesauce
homemade applesauce
Tada! Beautiful sweet, tangy, pink homemade applesauce. 
jars of homemade applesauce
I let the applesauce cool thoroughly and then spooned it into jars. After cooking two pans full of apples, I ended up with 20 cups of applesauce. Not bad. The jars I used to store the sauce have a capacity of one cup: this will make things easier when I need the applesauce for baking, plus one cup is a decent serving size for one or two people. All my applesauce is now in the freezer, ready for its various wonderful uses.

Depending on the apple variety - or combination of varieties - you use to make applesauce, you might want to add sugar before serving it. My backyard apples - whatever they are - are sweet enough to stand on their own.

I grew up making applesauce with my family. My parents would get all of us kids around the table to help with all the steps. I never imagined I'd be doing the same thing so many years later. There's something very beautiful about seeing the entire process, from bud to blossom to fruit and all that fruit can provide.

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9/10/2013

2013 Greenbelt Harvest Picnic

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On August 31, I had the delight and honour of being part of the Greenbelt Harvest Picnic. Now in its third year, the Harvest Picnic is organized by Daniel Lanois, a prolific producer, songwriter and musician who was raised in Hamilton, Ontario. The event celebrates the farmers, growers, artists and artisans of the greenbelt in and around Hamilton, with over 12 hours of live music provided by up-and-coming and well-known acts.

This is such a fantastic event: it's like no other music festival I've ever been to. My husband, Dan, and I have attended the Harvest Picnic with family and friends for the past two years, and have always enjoyed its intimate and celebratory atmosphere. This year, I displayed some of my artwork and jewelry, and being at the Picnic in this capacity gave me a deeper appreciation for the festival's spirit. People walk around carrying stalks of garlic and bunches of kale purchased from the farmers. Parents and kids learn together about seeds and plants, and the various creative processes represented by the many artists and artisans. I met wonderful people of all different ages and walks of life, living in various parts of the region (and further afield), all feeling pretty warm and fuzzy about the place I'm so glad to call home.

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    Jane Hogeterp Koopman

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