Renegade Craft Fair

come see me at the Renegade Craft Fair this Saturday and Sunday at the Los Angeles State Historic Park from 11am to 7pm each day!

not only are there over 200 crafters to buy awesome hand-made goods from, there will also be several DIY workshops, food trucks, and live entertainment! and (fingers crossed) i should have one or two new items for sale. or at least a pretty set-up, haha. find me at booth #35! also, be sure to seek out some of my fellow vendors from Crafted, including Koko Candles, Salvage Shop, and Kelso Doesn't Dance. and you won't want to miss the amazing hand-painted pendants by my talented friend Heidi of Charmed by Heidi. 

pet friendly event, sunscreen recommended! hope to see you there!

etsy update!

my etsy has just been updated, with the addition of King Cranium (below) and some more 5x7" and 8x10" prints. i have made good, productive use out of a very slow day at Crafted.

goodbye to the old site...

as of tomorrow, my current artist site, meagansegal.com, will no longer exist. it has been a good four years, but my work has evolved, and i feel the current design is no longer well-suited to exhibiting it. and, i haven't updated it in about two years. pretty bad. i wish i could wake up in the morning and magically contain all the web design knowledge/ know-how that i would ever need. then i would update my site all the time. but i also would probably nit-pick over every detail and constantly be editing, so perhaps it's a good thing i am mostly web illiterate.

in any case, if you've never taken a look and are curious, check my website out now, because tomorrow it's coming down! a new site will be coming, and it will still be meagansegal.com. just not sure when yet. and hopefully a momerathgarden.com will soon follow. or maybe they should both be one? hmm...

awaiting deliveries

just ordered new business cards! the current ones seem to be rapidly walking away with customers visiting Crafted, so i figured i should stock up before i run out. and what do you know? yesterday i got an email for 50% off business cards from my favorite printer, 1(800)Postcards. what timing! i know they are just little pieces of paper with my name on them, but i can't help but get excited.

front

back

i also came up with a new design for a pillow. i ordered a sample of the fabric last night. these colors make my eyes sing.

print rack alternatives

between conversing with customers and fellow crafters here at Crafted, i've been thinking of ways to perfect my market stall. as much as i love and am proud of the print rack my dad helped me build (which involved a lot of guess-work for nail placement and a lot of repair work when those guesses were a bit off...), i think it is more appropriate for my weekend shows and not as fitting for my Crafted space, which is more macabre Victorian parlour than craft booth under a pop-up tent. i toyed with the idea of sawing off the easel frame and attaching the rack to the wall. then i thought that perhaps it is too bulky, and maybe shelf ledges in a fancy moulding would be more appropriate. now, however, i have come up with an idea to create framed boxes with an open top. picture a shadow box, remove the top side of the box and the glass, and hang it on the wall. it will look a bit fancier, and then shoppers can get an idea of what each print looks like framed, and when they find one they like, they can pull one out of the stack! anyone else think this idea is as awesome as i do? (please don't tell me if someone has come up with this before, i'm sure someone has, but i'd rather not have the evidence burst my bubble)

current print rack (p.s. like my new rug?!)

mock up of new design

blog love

a few places some kind words have been said about Mome Rath Garden (better late than never!):

China Shop Mag
Fresh Rag
Examiner.com

thank you, Teresa, Dave, and Sandy!

a new home for Skull x Flowers

today was the first day that my wonderful assistant, Shannon, filled in for me, running my Crafted stall this morning while i was teaching ceramics to a lively bunch of 9 to 14 year olds. and... she sold an original! i did not get to meet his new owner, but whoever you are, i hope you enjoy him! and thank you for liking my work enough to look at it every day! 

Skull x Flowers (2011)

and, here's a peek at a new skull piece i am currently working on:

Pansy for Your Thoughts (tentatively titled)

up and running!

the craziness of the past two weeks is paying off in leaps and bounds. Crafted at the Port of Los Angeles opened on Friday to a great crowd and beautiful weather.

after the frenzy of hurriedly putting together my market stall in six partial work days (broken up by a trip to San Francisco for a dear friend's wedding and the commencement of my summer teaching job), it was a major relief to have it completed. however, even better than the relief is how rewarding this venture is turning out to be. it is always great to make sales, but my favorite part of the last two days has been talking with the shoppers, whether it is explaining the evolution of my work or relating with fellow natives of San Pedro, and expressing our shared wishes for the success of Crafted and the revival of the Los Angeles waterfront.

because i have not posted since giving a hint to my plans for my stall, i'll just give a quick re-cap of its realization. basically, my dad was amazing and helped me with just about every last detail, from constructing a print rack i designed to applying two different stains to the baseboards for my stall to achieve the perfect shade of brown/black. not to mention, using about four cans of spray paint to paint all of the moulding and many picture frames gold. he commented (complained) that his lungs are probably thoroughly gilded by now.

before leaving for San Francisco, i had primed my walls, hung stretched ivory burlap with my dad's assistance, and painted exactly three black stripes. and so they sat for four days, a lonely trio. upon my return, i came straight down to the warehouse every afternoon after teaching my last class, and quickly finished the stripes, planed furniture arrangements, and cut moulding (again, with my dad) until 5pm. then it was straight home to paint furniture, cut letters for my sign, and organize inventory. at last, about an hour before opening on Friday morning, everything was completed. well, for now. i have spent the past two days, between greeting customers, drawing up plans for more displays and making notes on how to perfect my space. hopefully to come soon!

*if you are in the area (or feel like taking a drive), i assure you, a visit to Crafted makes for a fantastic way to spend your day off. and be sure to come see Mome Rath Garden in stall A195!
**thank you to my sister, Lyneigh, for the opening day photos!

dad staple-gunning burlap

stripes in progress

ta-da!