Archive for the 'Eco-funky' Category

The spirit of collaboration and thinking outside the box by the Urban Ashes Picture Frame Company is a Michigan success story!  As one of their first retail partners, we’re pleased to be a small part of that story.

Urban Ashes founder Paul M. Hickman will be presenting a FOUND Art Talk on Friday, June 21st at 6:30 p.m. during Artwalk Ann Arbor.  For this half hour Art Talk, Paul will share stories about working with municipalities, businesses and non-profit groups in an endeavor which creates jobs for transitional workers while keeping felled urban trees from being turned into mulch and firewood (or out of the landfills).  Paul will also talk about the latest collaboration with non-profit groups who are deconstructing Detroit homes scheduled for demolition.  His line of Detroit DeNailed frames are born from that effort. Providing work and sustainable products is what it’s all about!

The art talk will take place across the hall from FOUND at Fustini’s Oils & Vinegars on the second floor of the Kerrytown Market & Shops.  Fusinis will be sampling hor’dourves made from their incredible products during the evening.  If you weren’t already aware,  Artwalk Ann Arbor is a new one night event with about a dozen walkable venues from Kerrytown to Main Street.

CLEARANCE SAle. We have a great selection of made in Michigan Urban Ashes frames to choose from every day.  As a bonus on the weekend of Art Walk, we’ll have even more – at reduced prices! As the company has evolved, Paul has amassed a good sized group of experimental, one-offs and “seconds” that will be available for sale at great discounts. Still pretty wonderful for your favorite photos, but don’t go with what they are doing now, so they are being cleared out of the warehouse.  This special sale will begin at 5:00 June 21 – and end promptly at 5 p.m. Sunday, June 23.  Come Friday evening for the best selection!

Here’s the link if you’d like to follow Urban Ashes on Facebook.

I’ll be adding more info about what FOUND is doing for Art Walk in the next few days, but here are a couple tidbits – muralist Katherine Larson will be painting little scenes of Ann Arbor right in the shop from 5:00-7:00.  Our neighbors 16 Hands, Heavenly Metal and Metal, plus galleries on Main Street will have trunk shows or demos as well.  Food, wine, art, friends, good conversation all on a Friday night.  With time to head to Top of the Park afterwards.  Ann Arbor in the summertime, ahhh….

Using vintage metal folding rulers to create unique bracelets and rings is a novel idea for upcycled jewelry.  Lightweight and eco-funky, these are a new favorite with our customers.  Made in Wisconsin – available at FOUND.

Below are some other pieces by the same artist who uses old road signs, heavy aluminum restaurant trays and salvaged industrial metals.  Rings, bracelets AND these awesome money clips = great gift ideas!

Cuff bracelets with vintage Coca Cola tags on various recycled metal bases.

For some of the cuff bracelets, the artist used parts of old fire extinguishers.  All these have a very industrial look.

Faces and gears from old watches are great for collage/assemblage and upcycled jewelry projects.  Whenever I find them, they sell out almost immediately.   So I was pretty excited when I recently found a source in Chicago who can keep FOUND well stocked!

Our watch faces are priced individually (mostly $2-$3), plus we have mixed gears and parts for $5 per bag.  These are the real deal salvaged from broken vintage watches, not the new (made to look old) ones that you can find at Hobby Lobby and craft stores…

Not creative or skilled enough to make your own jewelry from these parts?  Well, we can help you out with that, too!  For some time, Detroit artist Rena Hopkins has been designing terrific steampunk pieces that incorporate antique bits and bobs from broken watches.  You may remember her work from the eco-funky show we hosted last Spring – her earrings and necklaces were so popular at that show that we brought her back!

Rena, aka The Divine Iguana, also creates her own designs on game pieces. 

Time keeps on tickin’, tickin’, tickin’….into the future.

gonna fly like an eagle…

do you remember that song??? 

I think I’ll go google the lyrics

Warm regards,

Mary

FOUND’s Eco-funky Earth Day weekend Art Show is almost over…. ends at 5:00 Sunday, April 22nd.  No time to write now, but are a few photos:

Above: Cre Fuller’s robots with admirer – photo compliments of Charlene Plagens.  Below: Sarah Stanton metal wall art.

Above: Bingo Twin wooden dolls.   Below: Fashion collage. Both by Marsha Filipiak.

Mirror (2 views) and cottage assemblages by John Gutoskey.

Below: Jewelry made from watches by Rena Hopkins.

Below: bags constructed from vintage neckties and handstitched heart pillows by Celibeth Donnelly.

Below: more robots by Cre Fuller.

What a fun show!  Next post will announce winner of our $50 FOUND gift card drawing.

FOUND is celebrating Earth Day weekend with an art show that features artists who do their part by using vintage and recycled materials to create eco-funky art!  For 3 days, April 20-22, FOUND will be filled with things that we don’t normally carry at the shop, but that appeal to our sense of creative reuse of materials. 

Here’s an introduction to the 6 artists in our  first annual Eco-funky Art Show.

 Cre Fuller is the Ypsilanti artist behind Tin Angry Men Industries.  I’ve admired Cre’s incredible robot lamps and sculptures for years and am thrilled that he’s agreed to bring a collection of tin men to FOUND for this show.

 Rena Hopkins is a Detroit area artist who will be bringing “steampunk” jewelry created from such found objects as watch parts, old keys and game pieces, but as you can see on her website, the Divine Iguana wears many other artistic hats as well.  We think you’ll love her jewelry as much as we do.

Many of you know and wear the  jewelry we carry by Ann Arborite  Sarah Stanton.  For this show Sarah is doing wall art with an industrial flair for us!  Sarah is inspired by unusual materials, textures and patterns and loves to work in metal.  We’re looking forward to seeing the larger pieces she’ll bring to this show. 

Hailing from Royal Oak, Marsha Filipiak has been a stained glass artist for a few decades, but recently became facinated by digital minipulation – her use of vintage photos and ephemera as source material is what we like.   Made by Marsha digital collages are mounted on salvaged wood blocks and embellished with found objects for a whimsical effect.

Seamstress and artist Celibeth Donnelly is a jack-o-all-trades and master of many!  She’s the inspiration behind this show and friend of many of our favorite artistic people.  For this show, we’ll feature her new line of bags made from vintage men’s ties, as well as her delightful collage prints and notecards.

Last, but not least, we’re thrilled that John Gutoskey has agreed to participate.  I’ve long admired his creative process and attention to minute details.  We know that he’s bringing the mandala created from salvaged game parts, and look forward to seeing what other mixed media assemblages he’ll have at FOUND for this special weekend show.

Dates and times for Eco-funky Art Show.  April 20-22 at FOUND.

Opening Reception.  Friday April 20  7:00-9:00 p.m.

Saturday April 21  9:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m.

Sunday April 22   11:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.

Hope to see you there!

Earth Day 2012 is April 22nd.  FOUND has a special eco-funky art show planned for that entire weekend.  We believe artists who use recycled materials are doin’ their part to save the earth.  Here’s a quick preview of our poster!

I’m really excited to be featuring these 6 artists – all of them use recycled, found or vintage materials in ways that make me very happy!  Watch this space for details about the artists and what they’re bringing.

A few weeks ago, we went to Beckman’s handcrafted show at the Merchandise Mart in Chicago and found some great new things to carry at FOUND.  This week, our orders started to arrive!

Chicago jewelry designer Veronica Riley Martens works with colorful beads made from South American tree nuts called tagua.  This is a newly popular, eco-friendly material that was previously used to make lovely carved buttons in the early part of 20th century.  We’ve had a variety of vintage tagua buttons at the shop before.  The meat of the nut is noted for it’s ability to take colorful dyes.  In natural form, it resembles ivory from elephant tusks, thus is often referred to as vegetable ivory. It’s smoothness makes it easy to carve. When plentiful “modern” plastics became available that could be used to make cheaper buttons, tagua nut use fell from favor during the 1930′s.  Fortunately, there has been a resurgence of products being made from this plentiful natural material.

Veronica includes this info with her jewelry: ” Tagua Nut Beads are made from the fuit of a palm tree from the South American rainforests.  This eco-friendly product helps sustain rainforests by harvesting a renewable resource without damaging the trees.  The use of tagua nuts also provides jobs for over 35,000 people in Ecuador alone. (pronounced TOG-wa).” 

All the tagua nut jewelry at FOUND is designed by Veronica Riley Martens and handcrafted in Chicago.  We love the necklaces, earrings and rings she sent us in a wonderful palette of greens, orange, grey and brown. 

The material is lightweight and easy to wear.  Stop by and see our collection and the sample nut – we think you’ll be seeing a revival of the buttons, beads and other products made from the versatile tauga nut in the future!

 Register to win a roll of Santa/Believe ribbon by posting a comment below.

Things in your garage can be transformed into holiday decorations with very little effort (or money).   For this project, we started with a rusty shovel, cleaned it up a bit clear Briwax -  then made a simple bow using inexpensive burlap ribbon and a cute Santa ribbon we carry at FOUND.  Some berries are wired behind the bow to give it a bit more interest.  What do you have in your garage that could become a holiday decoration? 

Comment on this post for your chance to win a roll of the Santa ribbon! 

Note: you won’t see your comment immediately.  I needed to put in controls ie those crazy  words that are hard to decipher  as a roadblock to the nasty little trolls that roam the web.  I love it when real people comment though and will push the approve button when I go online to check.

Regards,

Mary

I haven’t posted many photos lately - so here’s a bit of what you’ll find at FOUND right now:

Vintage Sault Ste-Marie pillow

 And more of the A2 pillows – this time done up square instead of rectangle.  Avail in white or cream.

Some odd vintage things. Like these old dog license tags that were never used.  Just 25 cents each!  Fun to add to projects.

Tin cans that float, with fishing line and hooks.  Only a couple left.

I think this is to adjust your TV antenna – don’t need to do that, but I think it looks cool anyway.

Once fruit was shipped through the mail in bushel baskets.  I think these lids would be cool hanging on a wall or as a background for collage.

More photos another night…

We’re prepping and bringing in fresh vintage finds almost every day.  And the UPS guy says hello on a very regular basis.  So stop by and see what’s new at FOUND!