Search results (tags) for: "handmade video portraits"

Handmade Portraits: Wood Mosaics

2008-09-19T15:54:00Z

MP4 | Youtube | Blip.tv | Subscribe in iTunes

(Music credit: Michael Chapman, Nathan Salsburg, J. Seger )

Robin and Kathy Tucker of woodmosaics stopped working in town back in 1986. After Robin's intricate wood-inlayed work was featured in The Best of Missouri Hands catalog and commissioned by Ralston Purina, they were on their way to full time crafting. Influenced by Amish quilt patterns, Robin's excellent woodworking uses exotic natural woods that range from Satinwood from Sri Lanka to Purpleheart from Central and South America. All of the wood is completely natural, with only a clear finish added to punctuate the beauty of the wood's innate color.

Choosing to live as off the grid as much as possible, Robin built a windmill so the family could hand pump their own water. Kathy made their clothes for years and they slaughter their own meat from the goats and chickens they raise. However, the one amenity they can't live without is the internet. After a dozen years of craft shows across the country, Robin and Kathy prefer to stay at home, tend to the farm and sell their goods via laptop rather than mall shows. While the juxtaposition of an outhouse and high speed internet would seem strange to most folks, the Tuckers have chosen to make certain sacrifices to keep costs down while in pursuit of a self sustained lifestyle. Living in the middle the country in Spickard, Missouri, the Tuckers keep connected through the latest in social networking via their Myspace and flickr sites, with a solar powered back-up generator in case the electricity goes out.

Watch our other Handmade Video Portraits and subscribe to our Youtube Channel!

Check out Robin's homemade videos from the farm on Youtube.

Handmade Weddings: LoucheLab's Love Story

2008-09-05T14:00:00Z

This article was originally published on March 28, 2008. We are reviving it as part of the Best of the Storque series. Enjoy!

If you're following the Handmade Wedding Series, then you probably appreciate a good love story. LoucheLab and her husband Ned have a particularly handmade story of falling in love (well, it's high tech, too). Blogging, artwork, photography, web cams, artist books and international romance all converged to get these two souls together. Below, you'll find LoucheLab's account and photographs, as well as a special video portrait we produced with them (which does have some spicy mature artwork by the artists, so be forewarned if you are watching this with your child — this is an adult love story, after all!).

Ned and I met by accident. (Which is a pretty big accident, considering that we lived about 7,000 miles from one another.) I was living in Tel Aviv, Israel, and Ned was living in the Meat Packing District in New York while packing up his studio to move to Brooklyn. We had both started blogging 9 months before — after painful break-ups. So Ned was surfing random blogs and got into mine, went to my Flickr page and looked at my art and then wrote me an email.

It was basically my art and his words that brought us together.

MP4 | Youtube | Blip.tv | Subscribe in iTunes

[Music by Barry London]

We spent almost a year apart; then I flew to New York at Christmas to meet him for the first time. Before I came he said, "I want us to make art together while you are here." My art was always very solitary, so I asked, "What do you mean?" and, he said, "I don't know, but we'll figure it out."

And we have: we made graffiti and paintings, and we took a lot of pictures of one another. After I went back to Israel, we kept on talking on webcam all the time; it was on 24 hours a day. He would wait 'til his midnight, which was my 7:00 AM, and we would talk before I would go to work, and I would rush home from the office to see him. It was like living in one apartment with a window into the other room where he was, without being able to touch one another — besides with words and art.

In the course of the months apart, we both created a lot, we expressed our love, the sexual frustration and the emotional roller coaster state with photography and paintings and street art and t-shirt making and computer art and so on. The whole relationship, between his blog and my blog and our Flickr accounts, was very public, and we had people all over the world encouraging us through the difficult times and happy for us, when finally, we made the choice of me moving to New York so we could start a life together offline.

[Me signing our Ktuba (illustrated wedding contract in the Jewish tradition). We wrote the text together and I illustrated it.]

We first decided to get married so I could stay in the United States, but as the preparation started, it became a very small part of it all. Because art was such a big part of our relationship, and because as a part of our relationship we beat all odds and made the rules as we went along, it was really obvious to us that our wedding would also be like that — intimate and important and very art inspired.

[This is me working on the Hupa. It's a big blanket like thing that in Jewish tradition serves as a roof the couple need to get married under. I spray painted about a 100 ravens on it, and my hand was sore for about a week after. The stars in the middle are tattoos we got together when I came to visit New York and met Ned for the first time.]

The theme of the wedding was ravens, because of — well, a lot of things, but also because they mate for life after having a relatively long period of just playing the field. (Below, you'll see me getting my wedding tattoo. I illustrated it.)

It was basically a Rabbi who is a friend and about 20 friends and family members in our studio in Williamsburg. A lot of what we made was a spur of a moment idea that took shape. Ned edited a cool music mix and we thought "this would be a nice give-away," which lead to me spray painting 40 CDs with a cool pattern, and us burning copies 'til 5:00 in the morning.

Our Rabbi told us that although we didn't want rings, we needed to exchange something of value. So we decided to get rings after all, and on the train on the way to the store, we tried to figure out what they would symbolize for us — and what being married means to us. We talked about learning and making mistakes and this being a beginning rather then a happy ending: we got both rings engraved with "Human" on the inside.

The idea of writing and illustrating our own Ktuba actually came from Josh the Rabbi, which I was really grateful about. I wouldn't have thought about it myself. Also, he suggested making some art or writing something to express how we feel about weddings and marriage, which is how the wedding book I made came to be.

We didn't have a DJ or a band or 300 people in fancy dresses or flowers or a white dresses: we had only people that we wanted there (including my sister on webcam from Israel). We had to deal with a lot of feelings and fears beforehand, rather than having too many arrangements to take care of. While the wedding was going I realized I forgot one of the decoration projects I wanted to do, but it didn't matter. After the ceremony, Ned's parents took everyone out to Union Picnic for dinner, which was at the time our favorite restaurant. Even still, we hear from people who were there about how significant and intense the whole event was, and how it's one of the most memorable events they can think of.

[Ned getting his wedding tattoo. He designed it.]

The handmade wedding theme caught on, and we got artwork from three or four artist friends as gifts, and Ned's dad designed and printed a book of the wedding pictures for us which we show off to anyone who wants to know what the wedding was like.

I always hated weddings before. I used to work for a catering service and the way so many wedding are about food or about showing off was really repulsive to me. With the way things went with our wedding, I can say that this was the best wedding ever, which is cool because it was mine!

[Married!]

What an inspiring love story. Leave your thoughts in the comments!

Watch our other Handmade Video Portraits and subscribe to our Youtube Channel!

Wedding Gift Guide | Wedding Category | Wedding Showcase | Handmade Wedding Series

Handmade Portraits: 1AEON

2008-09-04T14:49:00Z

This article was originally published on May 13, 2008. We are reviving it as part of the Best of the Storque series. Enjoy!

Gabe Molnar of 1AEON says his designs often come from his dreams. The fantastical imagery includes lions, dragons, skulls and owls ("since before all the owl hype," as Gabe says). Working non-stop in his small kitchen in Brooklyn, this Hungarian-born artist is driven to be the best at whatever he does and to push the boundaries (maybe this comes in part from growing up under Communism?). But his passion and ambition hasn't made Gabe lose sight of his humble beginnings. We were very inspired to meet the maker behind 1AEON and hear his story.

MP4 | Youtube | Blip.tv | Subscribe in iTunes

[Music by The Assemble Head in Sunburst Sound, Jukeboxer, The Fucking Champs & The Mystick Krewe of Clearlight]

Watch our other Handmade Video Portraits and make sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel and Subscribe in iTunes.

If you're interested in all things Hungarian, check out this post on traditional and contemporary Hungarian crafts.

Handmade Portraits: Maya Hayuk

2008-08-15T11:50:00Z

Muralist, photographer, painter, music video creator... Maya Hayuk prefers to simply call herself an artist, because under that moniker she has the freedom to work in whatever medium she wants at any given time.

Growing up in Baltimore, Maya learned the art of traditional Ukrainian handicrafts from her family. Her parents, both professors—one geography, one psychology—traveled extensively with the family during her childhood and bought Maya a camera at an early age to document their adventures. In high school she started shooting bands and getting attention for her work. After attending Massachusetts College of Art's SIM (Studio for Interrelated Media) program, Maya became interested in environmental art, wherein murals work in collaboration with the surrounding architecture, as well as the community who lives with the art long afterward. Maya also studied comparative religion, which has infused all of her work with a spiritual aspect ever since.

Maya has painted murals around the world, and her work has been featured in magazines, album covers and ads campaigns. Her improvised style and bright colors seem to be part of a new resurgence in psych-folk art that is pinned to a higher consciousness: one that inspires good vibes. Maya says that with her murals, "the narrative can be as simple as 'I like those colors'" and it doesn't have to go deeper than that with her audience. Maya's work has become something more than a precise painting on a wall. It's a part of people's lives, and a living thing that people interact with and tell stories about.

(MATURE content in the video: if you're watching this with your child, be prepared to answer some questions about female body parts.)

MP4 | Youtube | Blip.tv | Subscribe in iTunes

(Music credit: Barry London, The And Group, Hold Me)

Last spring Maya headed to Braddock, PA to work with Braddock Active Arts organization to help revitalize a once thriving steel mill town, now part of the forgotten post-industrial landscape of America. Sixteen different artists from all over the world gathered to contribute environmental art that ranged from the functional to the inspirational. With the help of the teens from the Braddock Youth Project, these artists added a little life and hope to this depressed town.

Although Maya makes part of her income from licensing her imagery and painting murals, her bread and butter comes from selling rock posters, t-shirts and books of her designs. Maya's work will be featured at the upcoming Democratic National Convention (Bright Future, pictured below) and at the Mahan Gallery in Columbus, Ohio this fall.

Watch our other Handmade Video Portraits and subscribe to our Youtube Channel!

See Maya's website for more of her work: www.mayahayuk.com

Handmade Portraits: lepinkchocolat

2008-08-08T14:22:00Z

Karolina Kubik, aka lepinkchocolat, adores French luxury. Her gorgeous, handcrafted jewelry is an homage to the ultimate cultural pleasure, the French Patisserie. During her studies at the art and fashion school, Duperré, Karolina decided to apply her drawing skills to polymer clay molding. Her miniatures of pastries, cookies and cakes are a wonder to behold. Karolina's technique is so well honed that the mini-cakes and macaroons make the mouth water!

MP4 | Youtube | Blip.tv | Subscribe in iTunes

(Music credit: Eric Beug)

Etsy sent independent filmmaker Gabriella Kessler, aka gkessler, to visit Karolina at her home and studio in Paris. (See Gabriella's film production company's site for more information on her work.)

Watch our other Handmade Video Portraits and subscribe to our Youtube Channel!

Handmade Portraits: MV Knits featured on YouTube!

2008-08-03T20:25:00Z

Today, August 3rd, 2008 YouTube has featured one of our Handmade Video Portraits on their front page! Please watch our portrait of shepherd Susan Gibbs and then subscribe to the Etsy channel on YouTube and Itunes to keep up-to-date on the latest Etsy videos.

Check out the Martha's Vineyard Fiber Farm's blog and flickr site. You can also check out the Etsy Labs flickr site for Calder Martin's photos from the shoot.

Watch the rest of the Handmade Video Portraits series and leave a comment! Let us know if you find the stories inspiring and enlightening.

Handmade Portraits: Julia Pott

2008-08-01T12:00:00Z

Artist Julia Pott began drawing at an early age. After watching her first Disney film, she knew she wanted to be a cartoonist, which later meant becoming an animator. Her thesis animation from Kingston University, My First Crush, is a sweetly nostalgic vignette of anthropomorphized animals talking about their first crushes. Beautifully rendered and lovingly assembled, the little film touches the hearts of anyone who has ever longed for love.

MP4 | Youtube | Blip.tv | Subscribe in iTunes

(Music credit: Elijah B. Torn)

Julia's illustrations and animations are usually about love and revenge. However, Julia's frilly aesthetic and her handmade illustration style give her drawings, cards and films a touch of pure sweetness.

Etsy sent independent filmmaker Gabriella Kessler, aka gkessler, to visit Julia at her home and studio in London, England. (See Gabriella's film production company's site for more information on her work.)

Watch our other Handmade Video Portraits and subscribe to our Youtube Channel!

Handmade Portraits: maryink

2008-07-25T13:12:00Z

Mary Helt and Chris Sittel of maryink met at a party while visiting their families in Nashville. At the time, Mary was living in New York City working as a photographer's stylist and Chris was working in Florida at a silk-screen studio. They started visiting one another, having t-shirt parties and coming up with new project ideas.

After a few years of living apart, they finally moved to the Virgin Islands to start their original silk-screen design company, maryink. While Mary is the designer behind maryink, Chris functions as the steady hand behind the printing process. Mary's designs have a 1970s Scandinavian and folk art influence, and she also incorporates elements of embroidery, weaving and bitossi pottery. The shop is known for its interesting designs, silk screened votive candles, jewelry, tote bags and t-shirts.

Even though living in the Virgin Islands was paradise, running a business proved difficult. Chris and Mary soon packed up and headed back to Nashville, where the low cost of living allowed them to dedicate themselves full-time to maryink.

MP4 | Youtube | Blip.tv | Subscribe in iTunes

(Music by Michael Chapman, Jukeboxer & Fred Wallace)

You can watch more of our Handmade Video Portraits, and we'd be so thrilled if you'd subscribe to our free Etsy iTunes podcast.

Handmade Portraits: Built by Wendy

2008-07-18T14:00:00Z

Without role models to guide her, self-taught fashion designer Wendy Mullin of Built By Wendy went from selling her handmade dresses in her front yard to owning four stores across the U.S., running a successful clothing label, collaborating on pattern designs for Simplicity and authoring the Sew U book series. As part of Etsy's Handmade Portrait series, Wendy took time out of her busy schedule to talk with us about how she's built her business from scratch. Her sense of style and process are rooted in making garments by hand, and though she's not an Etsy seller, Wendy's beginnings are similar to many handmade clothing makers getting their feet wet in businesses on Etsy. Her passion, hard work and drive got her where she is today.

MP4 | Youtube | Blip.tv | Subscribe in iTunes

(Music by Jukeboxer & Lineland)

Wendy did a lot of drawing, arts and crafts as a kid living in the Chicago suburbs. Her mom, a seamstress, saw that she had an artistic tendency and encouraged her to explore. In high school she focused her creative energy toward photography and video, but with a sewing room back at home, she always found herself making things. During college in Kansas in 1989, Wendy started selling her handmade clothing in record shops where she worked.

After moving to Manhattan and showing her work at Steven Alan's showroom, Wendy got quite a bit of press for her clothing and guitar straps. She now has shops in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Los Angeles and San Francisco. If you like clean lines with a bit of fun nostalgia, you should have a look at her collection at Built By Wendy.

You can watch more of our Handmade Video Portraits, and we'd be so thrilled if you'd subscribe to our free Etsy iTunes podcast.

If you're into how-to books, join us on Monday, July 21, 2008 in the Virtual Labs to meet Crafty Mama author Abby Pecoriello. More details here.

Handmade Portraits: MV Knits

2008-07-11T11:00:00Z

After quitting her day job in Los Angeles and moving to Martha's Vineyard, a quiet island off the Massachusetts coast, Susan Gibbs aka MVKnits had a great idea. She started Martha's Vineyard Fiber Farm and figured out how to make a living making yarn. Why not use the local food movement's model of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) and apply it to a yarn harvest? Shareholders pay for a share in the yarn harvest as a way to support a local farm (or in this case, a local farm supported through the internet) and in return they get weekly updates, photos from the farm, an invitation to the shearing and ultimately a share of the yarn.

[Music by Barry London & Charlie Parr]

MP4 | Youtube | Blip.tv | Subscribe in iTunes

Check out the Martha's Vineyard Fiber Farm's blog and flickr site. And check out the Etsy Labs flickr site for Calder Martin's photos from the shoot.

You can watch more of our Handmade Video Portraits and we'd be so thrilled if you'd subscribe to our free Etsy iTunes podcast.

Handmade Portraits: Topsy Turvy Design

2008-06-27T15:27:00Z

Milliner Kim Dye of Topsy Turvy Design has always had a passion for history. From a young age she built elaborate sets and costumes, in an attempt to recreate the bygone eras she'd read about in books. Nowadays, her handmade hats channel this passion and combine her interest in theater, costume, puppetry and architecture. She dreams of the day when everyone will return to dressing up for every occasion with hat and gloves. However, for now she makes do constructing beautifully anachronistic hats for burlesque and circus performers, and the occasional fashion daredevil.

MP4 | Youtube | Blip.tv | Subscribe in iTunes

Etsy sent independent filmmakers Anne Alvergue and her husband Michael Isabell, aka milorocks, to visit Kim at her home and studio in Oakland, California. (See Anne and Michael's film production company's site, EyeSpyFilms, for more information on their work.)

(Music credit Jon Brooder)

Want to learn more about burlesque and circus couture? Check out our coverage of this burgeoning fashion phenomenon!

Watch our other Handmade Video Portraits and subscribe to our Youtube Channel!

Handmade Portraits: Betty Turbo

2008-06-20T12:49:00Z

East Nashville artist Agnes Barton-Sabo aka Betty Turbo is all about cupcakes and moustaches! Agnes grew up in Alaska with an artistic family. Mom was an incredible seamstress who made matching outfits for Agnes and her dolls. Dad was an art history professor fascinated with animal spirits and great grandma was an interior designer in the 30's. Agnes took inspiration from her family and went on to college for photography.

After school she moved to East Nashville for a letterpress job at Hatch Show Print shop. Letterpress became a way for Agnes to combine her interests in photography, vintage advertising, beards and cupcakes!

MP4 | Youtube | Blip.tv | Subscribe in iTunes

(music by Matt Hopper)

Check out our other Handmade Portraits and Vanessa's post on Hatch Show Print Shop. Here's a link to other letterpress items on Etsy and sellers in Nashville.

My Visit to a Luthier in Tennessee

2008-06-13T15:24:00Z

In early May I went to Barren Plains, Tennessee to visit James Peters, a luthier and Etsy seller Armor Guitars. He plys a trade after my own heart, as a fellow woodworker, though I’ve yet to muster the patience required to build a fine instrument.

I remember when James first joined Etsy and listed a guitar. It was something I’d been waiting for with patient curiosity – when would the woodworkers appear? (There are now dozens of them, I’m happy to report.)

To coincide with the re-launch of Alchemy, I requested a custom guitar from James. The supreme benefit of a handmade guitar is working with the maker to spec out the instrument. James asked a lot of questions and I answered as many as I could. I knew I wanted something smaller than a dreadnought, and with a well-defined “waist” (in geetar terms).

He told me what he had, including wood from an old piano that would be used for the soundboard (the top). He mentioned things I had never heard of, like a side port so the player can better monitor his or her own sound.

At the heart of Etsy is the connection between the maker and the buyer. So when James began building my guitar, I asked if I could drop in for a visit. We’d recently begun making our Handmade Video Portraits, and I thought he would make a rich subject for such a portrait.

Tara and I headed to LaGuardia airport here in NYC, and a couple hours later were “deplaning” (when did this become a word? they used it over the intercom) in Nashville. James lives about an hour north of the city, so we rented a car and drove through the flat countryside up to Springfield.

We drove past James’s house a couple times before catching the entrance to his gravel driveway, where a large ruddy dog named Jazz announced us. After meeting James and his family (who are also Etsy sellers), he led us over to a small structure beside his house. Inside, a cornucopia of tools and the smell of sawdust greeted us.

James gave us an eight foot by eight foot tour, up and down the woodshop. Everything inside had a story behind it, including his handmade jigs.

Day turned to night, and we ate a home-cooked dinner around the fire pit on his back porch. A musical family, James, Laura, Cody, and Carson, played songs until a light rain began. It felt like a Tennessee night as we drank Tennessee moonshine; it felt worlds away from my Brooklyn home.

That night Tara and I drove back to Nashville through the winding country roads, missing most major turns at least once. We were staying at a B&B that looked like something from a children’s doll closet, and smelled like old books.

The next day as we pulled into James’s driveway, he greeted us with his morning coffee in one hand, a cigarette in the other, and this prediction: “Looks like a tornado later today.”

Tara set up the lights and camera in his woodshop while James and I paced around the several-acre property. Towards the back was a half-standing wood-framed hut, looking tired in the tall grass. Jazz scouted the perimeter for intruders and small game as James talked about the future. The hut could be a guest house, I could help fix it up.

MP4 | Youtube | Blip.tv | Subscribe in iTunes

When the filming began, James sat in the bright studio light, facing me and trying not to look at the camera. This took a bit of getting used to, but he soon settled into his easy wisdom and the portrait proceeded. At the end he played a couple songs for us which is all I’ll say about that. Nothing I type can color them in. (Watch the videos for South and Let Her Go.)

The day ran on like days are wont to do. The sky that foretold a tornado gathered but did not fall, and after a thunderstorm it was a big blue expanse again. James and his family went about their daily work: he carved, she painted, others read and like a subway platform, every now and then I heard live music from somewhere in the house.

I was looking forward to another night around the fire, but there were things to do back in Nashville. Tara and I met up with several other Etsy sellers, Mary Ink and Betty Turbo, and then went down to Broadway for a night on the town. All I can say is, where have all the acoustic guitars gone in Nashville? It was all flash electric whizzin’.

I miss James, his family, his house, his woodshop and Jazz. I left Tennessee with the hope that my guitar, as I’d left it, would be completed over the next month. James even hinted that he might deliver it in person to Brooklyn.

Packing up that hope, I flew back home just in time for a board meeting and the noisy hustle of New York City.

Postscript:

Alas James had to mail the guitar because he had some gigging to do. Here it is, in its new Brooklyn home. James keeps checking in, making sure I'm feeding it well and giving it plenty of exercise.

[photo by Vanessa]

See our other post with ArmorGuitars and other Handmade Video Portraits.

Handmade Portraits: Armor Guitars

2008-06-09T18:24:00Z

James Peters enjoys what he does. Waking up every morning and working in his woodshop in the back of his house is the "bees knees" as James says. Once there, he makes custom acoustic guitars. He is, as it's called, a luthier based in Springfield, TN.

After moving to Nashville in 1989 and having some success in the country music songwriting industry, a friend asked James to repair his guitar. It was after that experience that he realized it would be easier — and more enjoyable — to build acoustic guitars from scratch rather than repair old ones. That's when James started Armor Guitars. He's never looked back.

MP4 | Youtube | Blip.tv | Subscribe in iTunes

It turns out that James and Laura Peters (and their sons Cody and Carson) are one of the first families making a living selling their handmade wares on Etsy. Laura's Etsy shop is EarthArt (recently profiled as an Etsy Success Story) and Cody, one of their sons, is BarbedWire. They reside in the country, make music and art together, and live in what Laura calls "a little Shangri Las." Laura's advice to everyone is to turn off your television and she cites this as one of the many reasons that the Peters family is so close and creative.

James Peters doesn't just make guitars: he has been a musician most of his life. Below are two songs performed by James.

This song is called "South" and was written by James Peters, Gerald Guinn and Yvonne Guinn

The song is called "Let Her Go" and was written by James Peters and Susan Gilbert.

Watch more of our Handmade Video Portraits.

Handmade Portraits: Elizaveta

2008-05-19T17:17:00Z

Canadian artist Elizaveta makes giant, playful, handmade necklaces using an odd assortment of items. From My Little Pony to hair rollers to Bubblicious bubble gum, her outrageous designs take people by surprise. Combining influences of haute couture designers like Alexander McQueen, Comme Des Garcons and rapper Flava Flav, Elizaveta makes one of a kind jewelry like no other.

MP4 | Youtube | Blip.tv | Subscribe in iTunes

[Music by Barry London]

Watch our other Handmade Video Portraits and subscribe to our Youtube Channel! Also, you can check out other international stories in our Etsy World Tour series.

Handmade Portraits: Reiter8

2008-04-11T17:12:00Z

Reiter8 takes sailboat sails that would otherwise go to the dump and has created a line of bags and pillows that she makes out of the canvas. Watch the video to see her process. Check out her "Marketing Department!"

MP4 | Youtube | Blip.tv | Subscribe in iTunes

(Music by Jukeboxer)

Have you seen all the handmade portraits so far? Check 'em out here! You can also subscribe in iTunes and they'll be downloaded automagically.

Handmade Portraits: Junkprints

2008-04-04T21:30:00Z

This is the first in a series called Handmade Portraits. These mini-documentaries are intended to tell stories of handmade ingenuity and feature artists who are an inspiration to the Etsy community and beyond.

Meet Chanel Kennebrew, aka Junkprints. Chanel is a photographer, graphic designer and occasional art director who got sick of having her designs watered down, so she became an independent garment producer as Junkprints. And avid illustrator since childhood, Chanel combined her skills ito create unique designs that have social commentary, or as she calls it, "Chanelovision," about the world around her. She tells it like it is, but has a playful style and spirit that inspires you to get out there and make things!

MP4 | Youtube | Blip.tv | Subscribe in iTunes

[Music by Tough Dumplin Productions, Barry London & Jukeboxer]

Let us know what innovative artists and makers that you'd like to see profiled in a Handmade Portrait. Also, make your own video and tag it with "Handmade Stories" on Youtube — we'd love to share your stories with the world!