Posts Tagged "crafting"

Shrink Plastic Workshop at Hey Kessy + Callalily’s 10th Anniversary Album

A photo posted by Cynthia Bauzon-Arre (@arncyn) on

I’m teaching my first ever workshop and it will be on Shrink Plastic Crafting! If you’d like to learn how to turn your doodles into wearable art in the form of necklace pendants, bracelet charms, pins, and earrings, I will show you how to do it and share some techniques and tricks I’ve learned along the way. It will be on November 21, Saturday, from 1-4pm at Hey Kessy (31 E. Abada, Katipunan).

The workshop fee already includes shrink plastic sheets and all other materials, design templates, a take-home zine, snacks and refreshments. (Additional shrink plastic sheets can be purchased from me at a discounted rate if you’re a participant. 🙂 )

See you there? Please go to www.heykessy.com/register to reserve your slot!

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callalily-by-cynthia-bauzon-arre

Callalily’s 5th album “Greetings from Callalily” was released last Friday, October 23, and I’m very happy to have been part of it! It’s been a while since I’ve designed a full-blown album because almost everyone prefers buying MP3s, right? But then this is Callalily — I heard that their albums’ sales can hit Platinum — so I wanted to design something that a fan would love to have in his/her possession. I’m happy with the end result and I can’t wait to share it with you. Please see the portfolio to see what we came up with. 🙂

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Palette Palate: The first Maginhawa StrEat Food Park Art Fair

I had the privilege of taking part in Maginhawa StrEat Food Park‘s first ever art fair titled Palette Palate from August 1-2, 2015, thanks to the awesome Ella Lama who organized the event.  The fair consisted of an exhibit + pop-up shops by some of the participating artists, myself included. Here are the three artworks I displayed (on the counter, last three from the right). They might look familiar because I posted work-in-progress videos and/or just-finished shots of these on Instagram. 😉

maginhawa-streat-foodpark-art-fair-1

Setting up in the background are Ella (left) and Cheska of StrEat. On the wall from l-r are works by Megan Dino, June Digan, Mary Grace Vinas, and Andrea dela Cruz. This is actually a photo from day 2 because we got rained in on the first day and had to set up at 6 pm, 2 hours later than planned.

maginhawa streat food park art fair

Our pack-up-and-go pop-up shops on the first day. From l-r: works for sale by yours truly, Ella Lama, and Megan Dino.

Handy outdoor craft fair tip (especially helpful during the rainy season) — if your items will fit, you can use a craft toolbox (or any other box with a lid) as a “portable shop”. It allows you to arrange and label stuff and you can quickly close it — and protect the contents! — whenever necessary. 🙂

Another learning: have faith in your customers. Given the weather conditions, we initially thought that only a few people would come. To our pleasant surprise a lot showed up, talked to us and bought our stuff. <3 <3 <3 (If you were among those I talked to, THANK YOU! I loved meeting you and was happy to finally see the face behind the familiar Instagram handle. :D)

We were so busy that before we knew it, it was already 10 pm and we hadn’t even eaten. 😀 Thankfully, StrEat is open til 2am so there was plenty of time to grab food once the art buying crowd thinned out.

A photo posted by Cynthia Bauzon-Arre (@arncyn) on

Class picture from day 1 plus a few other snaps of our works in the exhibit. August 2 — Very grateful for much nicer weather on the second day since we were able to set up at 4pm as planned and I also got to take better-lit photos. Some more artworks on display. maginhawa streat art fair Works by Yang Barrios, Alexandra Paredes, Hands Love Papers, Geli Balcruz, and Karen Versoza. More artists were also able to set up shop besides Megan and myself. (Below photo) top left: rubber stamps and cards by Alex Paredes’ Rubber Ducky Stamp Co; bottom left: prints by Karen Versoza and June Digan. earnest and buddy zabala maginhawa streat food park art fair My good friends Earnest and Buddy Zabala dropped by and gamely posed for pics and even helped me sell (woohoo! I love these guys. <3 ) Here they are with my little blue toolbox (looking a bit more organized this time). The evening was a bit more relaxed and I got to bond more with my new friends. These girls are so creative and inspiring! Of course I couldn’t go home without buying some of their beautiful creations: 

A photo posted by Cynthia Bauzon-Arre (@arncyn) on

You can check out the above photo on IG to see their feeds. Included in my loot from Ella, Megan, Alex, Karen, and June are the “Light” book (which was a gift from Rob Cham!), two art cards featuring Paola Jane Esteron‘s calligraphy & watercolor work (also gifts!), and free brush calligraphy of Arn’s and my names by Sarah Francesca of Creative Curiosities. 😀

Finally, an almost-complete class picture which I nicked from Megan’s Facebook album ;

maginhawa streat foodpark art fair

I’m joining another art fair soon! Please stay tuned for more details. Meanwhile you can always check out my feed to see what I’m currently up to. 😉

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Playing shopkeeper at BGC Art Mart 2015

I have renewed respect for everyone who stands all day at a job — they are the bees knees. 😎 As I’ve said before, I joined this year’s Art Mart in Bonifacio Global City on a whim at my friend’s encouragement. Drawing is my first love, graphic design was a career choice. I figured that if I want to reboot my career as an illustrator, I need to get my work out there in the open. I didn’t know what to expect but I thought it would be a good chance to find out which of my products sell the best before I place them for sale online, right?

So I applied, slightly nervously because Arts at BGC had sooo many guidelines and requirements. Fortunately I passed but then I only had 14 days to prepare before the actual day so those two weeks were spent in panic mode.

My art prints have been ready for a while but I had to make many more pieces of shrink plastic accessories to justify my being in a craft fair. I limited it to just 10-20 pieces per design so that I could handcraft each one with care and inspect them for durability.

I also had to think about how to properly display my work. I found an old cassette tape crate — obviously not being used anymore 😆 — in my room at my parents’ which I re-purposed and used as my card display rack. I used cheap cork boards & little chalkboards from Saizen and propped them up on mini easels to display my shrinky dink necklaces, bracelets, and pins. The little wooden frames, bowls and basket were stuff we had on hand here at home. The green necklace stand is an old gift from my friend Chinggay, and the red “tablecloth” is unused fabric that I bought way back in 2004 in Nippori in Tokyo. (I was planning to have my friend Tippi turn it into a top when I bought it but it slipped my mind! Now it has a new purpose.)

Catch my ate twin Cynthia Bauzon Arre @arncyn’s #crafts today at Boni High street!!!

A photo posted by Quark Henares (@quarkhenares) on

What I didn’t expect:
1) The heat! Our tables were right in the middle of the activity center which has. no. roof. And oh my gosh there were no tents! 😯 The very nice organizer apologized profusely and said that she really fought for the tents but sadly, we were out under the scorching heat for five hours. Thankfully Arn and I had a small umbrella in the car but it didn’t help much — I’m as red as a lobster right now.
2) The wind. Don’t get me wrong, I’m thankful that there was a breeze at all but my display was in constant danger of falling apart.
3) The almost never-ending throng of buyers from 4-9pm and even beyond. Happy problem. Not complaining. 🙂

business booming at @arncyn’s booth here at #bgcartmart! they’re here ’til 9!

A photo posted by ramon (@ramondeveyra) on

Lessons learned for next time:
1) Bring lots of water in a cooler. There was very little chance to leave my table — besides, it was one of the rules that “the artist should always be present.” If not for a kind soul, Alexander de San Miguel, a comics scene friend, we would have dehydrated. Alexander pleasantly surprised us by bringing us drinks from time to time without us even asking him. 🙂
2) Bring sunblock!!! And an umbrella.
3) Wear breezy, comfortable clothing. My t-shirt was light-colored and thin enough so my upper body was okay but my skirt was made of somewhat heavy fabric. Next time remind me to wear linen.
4) Have more prints available. I ran out of some but at least now I know which of the drawings are the favorites.
5) Bring lots of small bills. Self-explanatory. 🙂
6) Take a few little breaks to go around and visit the other stores. I regret not being able to check out the amazing stuff in the market because I was glued to my booth. 🙁

A photo posted by Cynthia Bauzon-Arre (@arncyn) on

Also very grateful for the support of Arnold who gamely stood there in the sun to help me out. <3 We were both exhausted at the end of the day but we were happy to have met so many people. I also loooove that we got to make friends with some customers and fellow artists/crafters. <3 If you were among those whom I talked to on Saturday, thank you so much for dropping by my booth. My smile that day was thisbig because of you. 🙂

shiba inu bgc art mart
By the way, remember the pet portraits I made of my friend April’s shiba inus before? Here is one of the dogs, Mya. 🙂

I would love to talk more about the experience but I’m sleepy now so I’ll just leave you with my photo album, here.

Will I do this again? Definitely! But maybe just twice a year at most. Right now what I need to focus on is making more illustrations and finally getting my locally-based shop up and running. It’s up! 🙂

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I'm Cynthia Bauzon-Arre, a Filipino watercolor artist & graphic designer. I live in QC with my graphic novelist husband Arnold and our friendly marmalade tabby Abbas. This blog has been chronicling my life, likes, and loves since 2001. [ more ]

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