It has been fun, but it's time to move on

Well, blogger, it's been a fun ride. I have decided that I am moving our wonderful little blog over to tumblr. The format is just easier to access and fits my blogging style better. I was never cut out to sit here and write a lot of stuff. More of a visual person, not so much of a verbal one. So you can find us and all future posts over on tumblr at this address:

http://luksicreations.tumblr.com/

I also like it because it automatically sends posts to twitter and facebook for me and that really saves me a lot of time. So see you over on tumblr everyone!

Toy Shows and Monsters

Okay, this is going to be short basically because I am typing this on  my tablet and it's just a little awkward doing so. It's been a pretty busy time so far. Lots of things being created, we have new jewelry being made using recycled paper beads we rolled by hand, and let me tell you they look awesome! Also have new painted wood pieces being made and charms and paintings just so much fun stuff! I tend to work on everything else that I neglect to share it here, but the fanpage gets hit up so you really should like us on facebook for more up to date information. I (Kiamichi) am going to be participating in the upcoming toy show at DNA Galleries in the Plaza District here in Oklahoma City next week. I just dropped off my entries for it, I painted a cute little wooden bowling ball and pin set that I ordered off of Etsy from this amazing store called IUsedtobeaTree, he makes great wooden blanks for you to paint, and I also dropped off one of my stuffed pig plushies. Here is a picture of the bowling set I made:

I had been reading Dr. Seuss books to my kids and decided to make some silly monsters you might have in your dreams and the bowling ball is a bomb to blow them up with.  It isn't very big as you can see, the bowling ball is about the size of one of those bouncy balls you get out of the 25 cent vending machines at the store. I had to hide them once I was done though cause my 5 year old kept trying to steal it.

Here is my piggy, her name is Penny, I have others but I am going to put tutu's on them, this one is just a cute little pig:

Isn't she adorable! She's really fat too, I think she is one of my favorites.

I am going to post up a poster for the show as well so if any of you are in the area you should come and check it out, there are going to be 30 or so other artists participating and they are all local. Plus the items are all up for sale as well.

So yeah, I think that's about it for now. We are also going to be in a show down in Norman, Oklahoma on March 24 at the Cleveland County Fairgrounds, which is 2 days after this one so come see us there too! Have a great day, week, month!

Painting and Stuffs

I have been busy painting lately. Now that my kids are older I am now able to do this more often than I have over the last 9 years. I  love it because it's one of my favorite things to do beside beading. I could buy out any art supply store of their canvases and be happy forever if I had the money to do it. So I have been doing a lot of bright pop art type things. It's more of what I like to do. I am not a traditional Native American artist, I don't do strictly Native motifs in my art. I do this mainly because I hate how people try to pigeonhole Native artists into this archetype of doing strictly Native inspired art pieces. When I do include Native themes in my work, I do portrait work or I do interpretations on creation stories and other stories I have heard as I was growing up. I was heavily influenced by comics and cartoon art as I was growing up so that shows in what I do. I had a stash of comic books in my room and I would sit there by my window and practice drawing in the sunlight. I would also make my own comics and flip animations. All this has evolved into this crazyness I try to put out to the masses. So enough of my rambling, it's show and tell time!

Here are some paintings in progress. I am going to paint them soon.




WIP by ~luksicreations on deviantART
WIP by ~luksicreations on deviantART
WIP by ~luksicreations on deviantART
WIP by ~luksicreations on deviantART
WIP by ~luksicreations on deviantART

Here are some finished paintings and some painted wood charms:

 
Cute Paintings by ~luksicreations on deviantART
Misc. Painted Wood Charms by ~luksicreations on deviantART
Painted Girl Charms by ~luksicreations on deviantART

And these are some images I am making into charms and stickers:

 
Charm and Sticker images 1 by ~luksicreations on deviantART
Charm and Sticker images 2 by ~luksicreations on deviantART

So even though things might be quiet on here, I am working like mad making things all the time. Maybe that is why it's so quiet on here! Until next time! 

Happy New Year!

Way late as usual. Just wanted to come through here real quick and wish everyone a great 2012, it is the year of the dragon so it's supposed to be a lucky year! I was born in the year of the dragon so hopefully some of that luck will come my way (fingers crossed!) Not been a lot of action here on the blog lately, mainly because I decided to lose the L key on my keyboard and kept forgetting to order a new one, so it makes it hard to type. However I do have a new one coming so I shall be more active when that happens. Also holiday season is just so busy I kind of lost track of time.

Here is a quick rundown of what is going to be happening here:

1. Revised logo, I finally finished it. So our cute little turtle will be back as our mascot and included in the logo. I missed him, those colored dots were just not doing it for me anymore, they were temporary anyway.

2. More art is going to me included in our stores. I am painting up a storm plus making bookmarks and selling prints of some of my digital art. Also going to try to get into some local art shows.

3. New dolls. I am finally going to take full advantage of Spoonflower and make me some awesome printed plush dolls, these will be added to my already growing line of handsewn original animal plushes I make already.

4. The husband will be making more wooden merchandise as well, swords and shields for kids and adults plus small furniture for children.

5. More craft shows! Will still be going to Live on the Plaza when we can, sending in the application today for that and hopefully Deluxe again as well. We are also going to be at the Canadian County Fair Grounds in March, more on that on our facebook page. I do a lot of last minute updates about shows on our facebook page so please like it!

So far that is the to do list, I am also still trying to get other people to help with the blog but so far they are still being stubborn. I am learning web design now so this place may get a facelift as well. Especially the individual pages, I can make custom slideshows of my own without using flickr. Just need to figure out where to host them from and we are good to go. So lots of exciting new adventures for us this year, lots of growth and maybe one day I can actually make a living off all this crazy stuff I do! Be back soon! Take care everyone!

Mustache Mania

Wow, it's been a busy fall so far! Birthdays, shows, general family madness. It never seems to end. I had planned a wonderful Halloween post, but it kind of fell through because I lost track of time and the costumes just didn't get done like we wanted. So yeah, upset about it a little but it happens. Now we are gearing up for the holiday show season. Going to be doing Deluxe again this year, which we are super excited about. I love that show, you meet so many awesome people there. Also doing some smaller shows, one at my kids elementary school and one at Chesapeake Energy. So lots to do!

My daughter got me started on the whole mustache thing a few years ago. She likes to buy the stick on mustaches from the vending machines and freak people out as we drive by them in traffic. I have always made plush ones, but this time I decided to make some out of Crayola Model Magic and dowel rods so you can walk around with your stache. I have to hide them from my four year old, he likes to wear them around. His favorite is the Fu Man Chu stache. It is very easy to do. I mainly make things I think kids are going to like to play with  and plus it is made out of non toxic materials so you don't have to worry if they stick them in their mouths. Enjoy the pics I remembered to take! I actually did process photos this time ( I am so bad about that)

So here is my layout of clay and sticks. I also have wax paper on the table so I have somewhere to put them while they dry. It takes about a full day for them to totally dry enough to sit them in a container, I also make sure to flip them so both sides air dry equally. I use the Model Magic because it's just plain awesome. My daughter and I built an entire Greek Mythology Theme Park out of it and paper mache one year. It dries well and it doesn't get all crumbly, plus it stays a nice soft texture after it dries. I also don't have to bake it which is a huge plus! I have black and red here.

Next I pull some clay off and start to roll it. I put it into one piece and taper off the ends. I also did this on top of my calendar, which was a dopey thing to do. After this I shape it to the shape I want and shove a stick into the middle of it all.

I do use some sculpting tools for whatever I feel I need them for. Not much but they help when smoothing things out and curving things. Then I lay them out and let them dry.

Ta Da! Then when they are all dry, you hand them out and let your family members take unsuspecting pictures that you then put on your blog. I am sneaky like that! My sister decided to add a pop cap monocle to her picture,  my daughter just had a giggle fit because she used the ginger stache as she calls it.

She somehow reminds me of the Mayor from the Power Puff Girls. All she needs is a jar of pickles.

The fun never ends in this house, let me tell you!

Time to go, hope to update again soon, providing I don't get sucked into another black hole. See you soon!


Author:
Kiamichi

Pretty Pretty Pin Ups!

New store is now open! Now I just have to add the link to like everything I have online. Worth it though. I am adding to it as I go. I have a calendar's worth of images I am drawing in Illustrator right now. I was having so much fun doing them for other people I am now doing them for me. It has been a blast working on them. So check out what is there so far, remember it is still being added too for now and I need to make a banner for it.

Pretty Pretty Pin Ups at Zazzle

There is also a box for it over on the side of the blog.

Plaza District Festival 2011

We will be here, come by and see us and all the other wonderful artists and crafters who are going to be there! Support Local Arts and Buy Handmade!

How to make a holder for your yarn out of a pop bottle

Hey there fellow crafters! I come bearing a small tutorial for you, it's my first one, hopefully the first of many. First a little background on this tutorial:

My grandmother was a very creative and crafty individual. She taught me and my mom a lot of what we do today. Well, back when my mom was a kid, my grandmother and her cousin came up with this idea on how to hold your yarn so it wouldn't get tangled while you were crocheting or doing some other kind of yarn work. She was a crocheting fool, my grandma. She made afghans, dolls, scarfs, doilies, all kinds of things, so it makes sense that she would come up with this: a pop bottle yarn holder.

All you need for this simple project are the following items:

1 clear plastic pop bottle

1 pair of sturdy scissors 

That's it! For this one, I used an empty Sprite bottle. After all the pop is gone just wash it out with a little soap and water then let it dry for a bit. Once it is dry you are going to cut an oval shaped hole into one side of the bottle like you see in the pictures below:

Make sure the hole is large enough to squeeze skein of yarn in but not too big because it might fall out otherwise. Basically you are done at this point, told you it was simple. Next thing you do is put your skein of yarn into the hole you just cut. Make sure you pull some of the yarn out first because you are going to thread it through the opening in the top of the bottle where the cap used to be. Once you have it threaded, put the rest of the skein in and voila! You have a nifty gadget for your yarn! It should look like this when you are finished:

All you have to do now is start your crocheting project! My mom uses this one. She loves it. She has others as well for when she is working with more than one color at a time. Hope you all found this useful!

Art Process

Hey there everyone! Hope your summer is going well, no one has been fried like an egg or anything have they? Can not wait until this heat wave has passed. Summer is really not my favorite time of the year. It has however allowed me to get caught up on things since I refuse to go outside. I was working on a commission last night and decided to make a post out of it. I am going to share a bit of my art process with you guys. Ready, here we go!

First, I draw a sketch of what I am going to draw and then I scan it into my computer:

It is just a quick pencil sketch done on some white paper, nothing fancy at all. So after it is all scanned in I open up Adobe Illustrator and get my layers set up. In the first layer I place the image I scanned in and lock it. I use the layers above it to draw the linework and color and shade. The next three images show you a bit of what I mean:

 

This takes about and hour or so to do, depending on how bad of a perfectionist I am being. It really is a lot of trial and error and finding out what works best for you. Now here is the final product after I have smoothed out lines and added shading and all that fun stuff:

 

Pretty cool huh? There are a ton of tutorials out there in internet land. I learned a lot from them and also just messing around with the program. I prefer to use Adobe Illustrator to draw with instead of Photoshop. Still messing with the whole digital painting thing in Photoshop. But, this is mainly how I do most of my digital illustration stuff. Hope you like my little show and tell, I know it isn't very detailed in information but I wasn't writing a tutorial.  Until next time, stay cool and try not to melt!

Author:

Kiamichi

Blog Mention!

Disciples of Etsy: OKEtsy Featured Seller: Luksi Creations

We are being featured on the OKEtsy Blog today! Nice little interview to get to know us better. Check the rest of the blog out while you are there and get to know the rest of the team!

It's already been a month!?!

What happened to the time???

I swear, between this post and the last one it seems like I got sucked into some kind of vortex. Mainly because the entire household was gearing up for my daughter's dance nationals competition in Orlando. I would share pics but in truth they aren't spectacular or anything. We went to Disneyworld in between things and it was all kind of a blur. Never again lol.

In the mean time, things have been developing on the business front in certain interesting ways. We are officially showing at Deluxe Indie Craft Bazaar again this year! I am extremely happy about this. We had such a great time at it last year and are much better prepared for things this year. I can't wait to see who all sets up and talk to all the customers. We have also been acknowledged by Zazzle.com as one of their ProSellers! This means something, I am still learning about it, but it is exciting nonetheless. I got a cute little badge to put on our storefront there and I think we will get more traffic because of it, not sure, like I said, still reading on what it all means. So we are slowly growing, which is fantastic! I am glad for all the support and people who like us enough to buy something. It makes me so happy! So thank you!

Been working on small commissions here and there, it's been a lot of fun. Still doing the pin ups. I have lots of examples in the Deviant Art gallery. Working on some bookmarks right now. Going to put them up in the etsy shop in the printables section. Also going to bead some team logos for sale as well.  Gearing up for shows in the fall, that's when we like to do them. Weather is nice and you don't feel like you are going to melt. That's about all for now, let me leave you with a pic of my sis, daughter, and youngest son taking you to the gun show:

Thank you! They'll be here all week! Take care everyone!

More Pin Ups

I am taking commissions on them for a while through Fiverr. You can also go through here and Paypal if that is more convenient. $5 a pic. If you want something more elaborate it will cost more, as is it's basic black line art with out too many details, colored of course, with a simple background color. So here is the newest one I have done:


Pin Up Commission 2 by ~luksicreations on deviantART

I am having lots of fun doing these. Been wanting to for a while but life and other things were more of a priority. Now I have the time so full speed ahead!

Hats and Girlie Pics

Just a few things I have been working on. Still doing random drawings to pump up my portfolio, which is always fun, but also going to start selling some prints so I have been drawing for those too. If I get enough money together I would really like to transfer some to canvas. Also been doodling on some hats. Was hoping to get them painted and heat set for the weekend but I don't think it's going to happen cause of time. So some quick pics and then I am off to finish things up for the show at the Funky Hair Ranch in Edmond on Saturday!

Have a nice weekend! If you are in the area hope you stop by the show!

Attack of the Plush Doll Monsters

If you follow me on twitter, you would have seen I said something about sewing some plushies. Well I did, and I feel like showing them to you now. Not only that but my awesome husband has started making these amazing hand carved wooden swords and wands. I have added a page for them at the top of the blog here. He plans on making other things other than just swords and wands. He wants to make canes and bows and arrows and all kinds of really neat items so as he makes them and I get pictures of them they will be added to the flickr stream. There have been lots of new pictures added to flickr and they are on here as well in their respective pages, so take a few minutes to check them out.

On another note, my sister is relocating back home after many years away, so hopefully I can get her to let me post more of her process photos here since she will be living close by now. Now, on to the pictures!

Here are all those dolls I made. 

There is a flying pig in there, some ponies, a couple of dinosaurs, a frog, an octopus, a snake, some mustaches, and a pair of riceballs. I am going to save them for the show in Edmond next week. What doesn't sell I will put up in the Etsy store, plus I will make more. The pig has to be my favorite new one.  He is really fat and squishy.

Here is a couple of pics of the swords my husband made:

There was a dagger and a wand, but some kids snatched them up before I could get pics of them. He carves them all by hand. Our sunroom is covered in wood shavings and sawdust! As I am typing this he is sitting out there carving a broadsword and several wands.

We are gearing up for the show at the Funky Hair Ranch in Edmond next weekend. Hope you can come by and visit us if you are in the area. I love doing shows, you meet so many interesting people and see so many interesting things. As always we will also be setting up in the Plaza District next month so come by and hang out with everyone there. That's about it for now. I have a four year old waiting for me, lol. Will update again soon!

Just a regular day in the life

For my family at least. We sit here and play with glitter and hot glue. Here is my daughter making a pickle bacon rocket for her science class:

And here she is after she painted her face, cause that is what happens when you give her a paintbrush:

Then she attacked her brother with it:

Handsome, and colorful!

As all this crazy was going on, I was beading on this:

and I was also building myself a light box out of poster board and duct tape. I think it came out pretty spiffy if I say so myself. Why buy a light box for $80 when I can spend around $3 and make one myself with some trusty duct tape. Here it is in all it's glory:

So then I took pics of my awesome new business cards I ordered from MOO.com. I got their mini cards cause you get more of them for your money, plus I love the size. I also love how smooth Moo's printing is and the paper they use is sturdy, and you get cool little boxes to keep them in!

As usual, getting things ready for the Plaza District next week, so make sure you all come check us out!

Cymbals, Strings, and Other Things

It's a new line we are implementing. My sister makes some really awesome jewelry out of repurposed drum cymbals and bass guitar strings her friends donate to her (she has a lot of friends in bands!) She is out of the Dallas area. She has made a page just for her so here I am pimping it out like a good big sister should!


http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cymbals-Strings-and-Other-Things/125373974206456?sk=info

Go check it out, like it, share it, stare at it. Love it!

Upcoming Shows and Stuff

Don't you just love my incredible ability to come up with exciting blog entry titles, I should share my amazing secrets with you all some time! (I have none, they are horrible, I acknowledge this)

It has been a while since there has been anything posted here and I sincerely apologize. Things have been a little crazy here at Luksi Creations central lately. We finally decided to dive head long into making this a viable business. My mom and the rest of my family have jumped into the ship and we are all trying to work together. I (Kiamichi) have final say and quality control over things though. My mom (Cathe) is amazing and has gotten all our legal and financial stuff under control and well, the rest of them are busy making things and brainstorming ideas for where to go and how to display and advertise and all kinds of stuff. It really requires a lot of work and I am grateful now that I am not doing it all alone. My goal is to eventually have a physical store, but I know that will take some time. I have a friend who started much in the same way I am and she just now opened up her store in Tonkowa, Oklahoma. It has taken her around 10 years to get to that point, but it can be done! So we have been adding merchandise and getting rid of merchandise, because a lot of it you really don't know if it's going to work until you have heard some customer feedback, which has been tremendously helpful. If any of you out there who have bought our items could send me some pictures of you wearing it or with it that would be great! I have a nice little album on the facebook fanpage for pictures like that.

Ok, now for the upcoming show list I have been meaning to post for the last month. ( I know, I know!)

Live on the Plaza OKC, OK: Every second Friday of the month. We will be there, except for July because we will be in Florida pretending to be Disney princesses and heroes. So we will be there these dates though:

May 13, June 10, August 12, September 9, October 14  all from 7-11 pm

JC's Funky Hair Ranch Art Show in Edmond, OK:

May 28, 2011   22 East 3rd Street, Edmond   9am-5pm




Will update this list if we are accepted to any more shows, we are hoping to get into the plaza district show again this year and are going to apply for deluxe again as well. Booth fee money is another catch we are getting used to. 


Here is something I have been meaning to share for a little while, it's an illustration I did for a dear friend of mine. She is a strawberry fiend, it's her favorite berry. I drew it in Illustrator CS3.

Will be selling as a print soon. Finally found some place that will print with the budget I have so will be adding original prints and cards, bookmarks, and paperdolls soon! Also will be updating the Etsy shop over the next week. Taking pictures of merchandise now so check us on facebook or twitter for the latest updates! Back to work now, lots to do!


Author: Kiamichi

Beading Gone Wild

Been busy beading lately, so much so that I wasn't paying attention to the time! I can't believe it's been a month since anything has been posted here. I really try not to go that long. I apologize. Let me share with you what I have been working on lately. First up are the pieces I am working on for my husbands grass dance outfit for the upcoming pow-wow season. There are two of these, so far one is completely finished and I am working on the other one:

Here are some headbands I have made that are available in the Etsy store. I have several more in the works. Having to find time to bead for work and bead for family and still do some artwork in between! It's fun though, I like all the work!

I have also been working on some screenprinting designs for some shirts I am going to do. My mom, Catherine, is making some new jewelry. I am in the process of uploading some to the Etsy store, so check in during the week, lots of new items are becoming available every few days.

We are also going to be showing every second Friday of the month in the Plaza District at their Live on the Plaza events. I can not tell you how exciting it is for us to be part of it! It really is great being able to be part of this amazing local artist community we have growing here in Oklahoma. There are so many awesome people and the things they are creating are astounding. So look for us there every month and quite possibly other places, will keep things up to date as to where you can find us! Plan to get back to at least posting every two weeks, if not weekly again. Maybe get some of the others to post something, if I can convince them to come out of their shells hahaha.

Author:
Kiamichi