John T. Unger has added Face of Spades masks to his line since I last checked out his shop. These wonderful pieces of intricate metal art are created from 100% recycled materials, primarily discarded garden shovels. Each of the pieces in the current collection is $59, and there's a good assortment to choose from. John T. Unger is also in Handmade Lookup.
11/14/2010 update: These masks seem to be currently unavailable.
Fey Handmade is an artist/artisan collective offering a wide selection of jewelry, clothing, accessories, housewares, gifts, and more. The company is based in Ashbury Park, New Jersey, but the artists are located all over the United States.
Click here to visit site.
Artfire is a small (relative to Etsy) community of crafters and artisans, with an easy site to navigate. The bulk of the Artfire crafters seem to be into making jewelry. Most of the other categories, and there are many, have from 0 to about 100 items offered. But that makes the site much less daunting a proposition.
Desiree Gillingham-Produit creates fine art lighted wall sculpture and Tiffany style lamp shades using natural sea shells. I read an article about her shades a few years ago and curiosity lead me to call her to set up an appointment. I wanted to see for myself what this reviewer was raving about and Desiree's studio was not far from me in Carmel Valley.
I had purchased a hand wrought floor lamp a couple of years earlier from a local iron artist, but had never come across the right shade for it. That lamp was not on my mind when I called Desiree, but as I stood in her studio that day surrounded by the glowing beauty of her shades I knew my search was over.
Alan Masaoka is a glass artist. He does commissioned architectural stained glass, and glass artwork. We had neighboring studios when I was in Carmel Valley. Well, actually, my studio was in the alley behind his. I would direct people to my studio by first asking if they knew their way to his. As often as not they did, so I'd tell them to just walk through his studio, out his back door, then up the stairs to mine. Why not give 'em the scenic route?
Novica uses the internet to provide a global showcase for artists and artisans working in cities and villages in the Andes, Bali & Java, Brazil, India, Mexico, Thailand, and West Africa. The artists set the prices for their offerings and Novica takes a percentage when they sell. This model gives the artists a good deal of control and also keeps prices very reasonable. Shipping charges are also low if you're patient and don't mind waiting a couple of weeks or more for your delivery.
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