Room With A View - Welcome To My World

Whether your world is big or small, mad or wonderful, it is a wide, wide world in terms of interior design and home decor. Liven up any room in your home with handmade decor featuring coast to coast world and map graphics by the Design Style Guide team on Etsy.

This world map wall decal from rEvolv3r comes in several sizes and colors, and is especially suited to a living room or home office.

Home accessories, such as this custom decoupaged map tray from Carolina's Cottage, are sure to assist your desk or tabletop organization while incorporating visual interest into any decorating style.

This vintage globe turned wall clock from IMOTIME adds dimension, color, and humor to the art of clock-watching.

A black and white topography art pottery bowl from Love Art Works is large enough for showcasing favorite tabletop treasures while allowing the design to shine through.

Handcut and etched copper, over glossy textured red, punches up a representation of the Seattle, Washington area in wall art from Copper Leaf Studios.

Roads Traveled, an original acrylic painting from Fauve Studio, suggests a world map in striking, abstract style.

Functional art, this storage table from Kelly Guswiler Studio displays a Chesapeake Bay, Virginia chart map preserved under polyacrylic, and accented with stained glass mosaic tiling and rain glass doors.

Our Interview with Jackies Art

"Mirror of Miro" Jackie's Art

About this featured Item: This fantastic, incomparable, one of a kind table features primary colors and has ceramic, stoneware legs, with clay figure cut outs in the style of artist Juan Miro. The plexiglass table top is cut out to allow the stem of the giant gourd centerpiece to extend past it.

The dry, giant, hardshelled gourd is gessoed and painted with oils. The shapes and figures on the gourd are beaded with brightly colored, tiny glass beads.

The table is 18" in height, not including the stem of the gourd. The table top is softly triangular, each of the three sides measures about 25". This one of a kind table is listed at $700.

Who are you? I am an artist, a teacher, a mother, a wife, a friend, a sister, a daughter, a grandma, a reader, a writer, a walker – my name is Jackie Uthus.

Where are you located? We live in Grand Forks, North Dakota – white and freezing in the winter, sunny and hot in the summer and ALWAYS windy!

"Bloomin' Lamp" Jackie's Art

What do you create? I love making lots of different kinds of art, both functional and sculptural pieces. I especially love working with fibers, felting and creating tapestries, and I love working with clay. I have recently started combining the two by making pottery frames and then weaving and/or felting landscapes and madonnas inside the frame. Combining several media is really fun for me, For example, I have a piece, called Under the Sea, with cotton tapestry, brass and beads embellishing a giant stained, sculptural gourd. My featured art work has a ceramic table base, a giant gourd embellished with oil paint and glass beads, with a plexiglass top that I call Mirror of Miro. I create ceramic families and mothers with their children, functional pottery like dipping bowls and butter dishes, prairie items like grain bin piggy banks and bison and fun things like personalized fire hydrants for dogs and wedding ring depositories (ceramic outhouses) for divorced people. I try to follow where my imagination leads – sometimes serious art and sometimes fun! I love word play, too, so I developed a series of reversible ceramic plaques – some serious and some fun, like Friend/Family, Flip/Flop, Welcome/Hit the Road.

Where do you sell your creations? Besides my etsy shop (www.jackiesart.etsy.com) I have art for sale at the Canad Inn gift shop, the Dakota Harvest Bakery and Meadowbrook Gifts – all local shops. I participate in a few art/craft shows during the summer and in our city’s monthly Art and Wine Walks in our downtown area. I have good luck selling off my dining room table, too, after I open a kiln!

"Beneath the Sea" Jackie's Art

Where do you create? I have two studios – one for general art making and one for pottery, but I also make creative messes in my living room, kitchen, balcony and garage.

What inspires you? I am so inspired by my family and our love for each other, by the prairie landscape that has surrounded me my entire life, by our small town, nearly-rural atmosphere and by the little kids that I teach –their creative juices are always flowing!

Is your Etsy shop a full-time job, part-time job, or hobby? I consider my Etsy shop a part-time job. I was an art teacher for our local school district for 12 years. Three years ago I decided it was time to start my own studio and I struck out on my own. What a blessing that has been! I teach Mondays and Tuesdays – homeschool kids and afterschool kids. The rest of the week I am able to pursue my own creative interests – after I have my planning done for the following week’s teaching. I was nervous about leaving the secure environment of the school system, but also frustrated by the system, too…taking matters into my own hands put the responsibility for success or failure squarely on my shoulders. It’s been hard but rewarding work and Etsy is a slice of the whole wonderful pie!

What type of marketing is the most effective for you? I really struggle with the whole marketing issue. I’ve found that it is much easier for me to sell other people’s art than it is for me to sell my own. I shudder and shake when I go into a shop to show my work – and have a really difficult time even making the phone call to set up the showing. So I don’t really feel like I’ve mastered any of the marketing business. I’ve gone to the Etsy forums for advice and followed through this week with setting up a blog (www.jackiesart-jackie.blogspot.com). Now I’m trying to figure out how to use the blog advantageously.

What do you do when you are not creating? I love to walk outside for an hour or so every day – weather permitting. I go outside if it is warmer than 15 below F…that is my ‘breaking point’ in the winter months. Reading is an important part of my life, too, but spending time with family is my #1 priority. If I had tons of money, I’d travel lots and bring many family members along for the trips! I’ve been fortunate to travel to Japan, Guatemala, Puerto Rico, New Zealand and Australia, Mexico, Europe and Alaska. I think traveling provides great education!

What role does creativity play in your marketing methods? Oh, I am so bad at marketing – my creativity is six feet under when it comes to marketing!

What are your goals? I would LOVE to be able to sell everything I make so I can just keep making more and more and more…I feel a thrill when I finish something new and it would be so awesome not to have to worry about what to do with the things I finish. Is that a goal or a pipe dream???

Is there anything else you would like to share with us? I would encourage all artists who are debating whether or not to take the plunge and quit a regular job to open their own studios to do it! Life is short, hard work is usually rewarded and it is so fulfilling to know that you are in charge of your own destiny!

Online store: www.jackiesart.etsy.com

Website: www.jackiesart.com

Blog: www.jackiesart-jackie.blogspot.com

Bowls - functionality mixed with style

At its most basic, a bowl is a vessel suitable for holding something - food, coins, rocks, treasures, etc. From this basic principle, though, variations on the look of a bowl is as deep and wide as the bowlmaker's imagination.
I have gone on a bowl hunt and put together a selection of bowls as imaginative as they are functional and made from a variety of materials from wood to clay to glass - enjoy!

WOOD...

Spiral Bowl (no. 51) by woodbyderaud is half walnut, half maple - a beautiful juxtaposition of dark and light woods spun into a uniquely shaped bowl.


This sumptuous bowl from Sewelson Woodcraft is made from Australian Jarrah Burl (a common species of eucalyptus). It is lathe-turned and maintains the open fissures for added texture and elegance.

This fabulous bowl from myturningshop measures 9.5" wide by 2.5" tall and is made from a rare maple called Ambrosia Maple, after the ambrosia beetle that causes changes in the wood's color to create this beautiful design - lovely!

POTTERY...

This fascinating raku bowl by Rob Drexel has an even more fascinating process behind it, which you should click and read about! The designs are made using horse hair and the lip of the bowl is painted with gold leaf. It measures 9.25" wide by 3" deep.



This set of 5 gorgeous diamond-shaped porcelain dip bowls by Amy Esther are hand-stamped and decorated with a golden glaze with a hint of green from the kiln.

Like most of their pieces, this rimmed serving bowl by Dishfuls of Doodles is sure to brighten up your table with its bold, colorful designs!

This beautifully subtle large party bowl from SheaClay is glazed a creamy-rust color, measures 12.5" wide by 4" deep and wears a lovely spiral design around the rim.

This small stoneware bowl from Pat's Pottery, with its deep blue outside and jade inside, adds speckled color to functionality and is sure to make a latte that much tastier!

GLASS...

This handblown glass bowl from CorporanGlass is apple green and white with squared designs. Completely functional as a table centerpiece or fruit bowl, it measures 9.25" wide by 5" deep.

This luscious 6"x6" square bowl by MagiCat is decorated with fused glass adding a little shimmer to its bold black and red motif.

ETC...

Fun Fact: Gourd bowls predate pottery as a handicraft. This beautifully shaped mottled gourd bowl with its painstaking pine needle bound opening by midnightcoiler took first prize at the North Carolina Gourd Festival!

I'd like to end with this fabulously lovely olive green felted bowl by GretchensCreations. It is made from 100% wool fabric and adorned with a beautiful burnt orange design of gingko leaves and berries.

Home Decor Goes Green - Part II

Last month I highlighted some IDT members who have chosen a "green" approach to making handcrafted home decor. As promised, this is Part II of that posting - more highlighting and praising the resourcefulness of these IDT artists!
Many things confront an artist who is making an effort to use greener, more sustainable materials. Namely, the cost of using harder-to-find materials can stop you cold on the path to eco-friendly goods. Hopefully, these items will encourage the discouraged to look for resources that are green and affordable!!

First up is this gorgeous, handcrafted bench from Artistic Lifestyling. It is painted with non-toxic, biodegradable milk paints (milk paints are a personal favorite of mine). Be sure to have a look at the beautiful keeping chests from Artistic Lifestyling, as well! Note: Milk paints come in powder-form, which lasts longer than pre-mixed acrylic paint - mix as you go is a great way to save money and resources while using products that are friendly to the planet!


Jalex Studios has a lovely collection of upcycled vases and lamps that reuse / recycle such things as a computer hard drive (as in the case of this chic modern vase), window brackets, bamboo flooring and napkin rings! There are so many quality products that are discarded for obsolescence - hurray for the creative spirit that can give these items new life and new purpose!

I had to add this lovely lampshade, created from old slides, from honeysucklecreations. As a photographer, I understand the commitment involved in toting around boxes full of slides that I can neither use nor depart with. I have one of these lampshades in my bedroom and it is one of my favorite pieces of functional, recycled home decor!

I just found this plant table (ooh, ooh, the top turns for easy, even sunlight exposure!) from Turnadaisy. It is made from upcycled, recycled heavy oak and at $65 is precisely the "affordable green" I'm talking about!

Just in case you don't know what to do with all of those shot glasses you've collected during your travels but no longer drink out of because you can't bear the smell of bourbon... The folks at homeECOnomics knew just what they were doing when they whipped up these fully functional, recycled candholders - sweet!

You can also find unique handforged steel hooks, rings and towel bars for your bathroom from 18th generation master blacksmith, Smythe Boone, of Boones Hooks. Not only are they stunning, but they are made from 100% recycled steel!


Last but not least (and, really, I could go on and on and on here), is a lovely sunburst glass panel made from recycled glass by The Looking Glass to spice up your west-facing windows!

I've had such a blast searching out these eco-friendly designs and I hope you have as much fun checking out their stores for other enticing, earth friendly home decor!