all tarted up

As our inventory grows, we need more ways to display our collection of awesome handmade items. We’ve recently scored a number of vintage fixtures and display items.

A crazy metallic fiberglass jewelry bust, bought on Ebay. The cosmetologist’s head on the floor is a find from my Dad, who is always finding the most remarkable things. She has a splotch of pink color in her chopped-off hair, and the label on the bottom says her name is Viola.

These 3 little boxes came from a thrift shop in Germantown, all on the same day.

This lamp used to be in my living room, but I think it’s great for displaying jewelry.

Another contribution from Dad, a white “Carilite” suitcase, maybe from the 60’s. It works really well for the works on paper collection.

The suitcases work for all kinds of things. The one on the left is actually a briefcase, also from the thrift in Germantown. The lovely green leather one on the right is a gift from Dad’s friend Harry Lowe, Glenside’s finest sign painter and blues guitarist extraordinaire. We visited his shop recently and Sean sat in with his band, the Limekiln Crawlers. Those guys sure know how to belt out the blues, not to mention being wonderful people.

We love the vintage stuff. It’s fun to collect the right pieces to add to the store’s charm and character, but sorry, they’re not for sale. Handmade is where it’s at.

fabtacular trunk show

Salesmen used to travel far and wide, peddling exotic goods out of their immense trunks, hence the name. Our next event will feature three artists of divergent styles, traversing the city to show us some wares, play music and have a little wine and cheese.

Nicole Rae Styer has an unmistakable way of embellishing the living daylights out of something. She layers tons of different fabrics together with decorative stitching techniques to create her playful designs. VIX has a collection of her handbags, neckties and panties (above, in suitcase on right) as well as some clothing and accessories.

Lauren Marsella (first in our sporadic series of VIX Picks on this blog) is a Philly artist currently specializing in hand-colored shrink plastic renditions of cultural icons. She makes jewelry out of them. 

Music of the electronic variety will be provided by Artless Living. They will bring their laptops and possibly various other gadgets with knobs and things. They probably won’t need a trunk for all of them, though. It’s all digital these days.

Join us, won’t you? You’ll have a fabtacular time.

VIX picks 4/10/08

Sorry to have trailed off with the “vix picks” feature. To those still biting their nails about it… well, the wait is over. Introducing this week’s featured artist, quilter extraordinaire and Satellite cafe owner Wendy Papadopoulos.

She made one of her “nightmare blanket” quilts just for VIX, depicting a giant alien robot in the process of destroying our civilization. It is shooting flames at a Hummer with its laser beam eyes.

The city burns in the background as more alien forces attack from the air. Meticulously hand-quilted in a variety of fabrics and decorative stitching.

We are proud to say that this is the most expensive item in the store.

another fun party

Thanks to everyone who came out for our Gocco event! My Mom came to help out and take pictures (wearing her VIX shirt, of course)!

Visiting artists Amy Walsh and Kate Duncan each did a Gocco demonstration. They brought gift tag designs especially for the occasion. We got to see the whole printing process start to finish. First they burned the image into the screen with the special flash bulbs, then inked it and printed out dozens of copies. We hung them around the room to dry, adding a festive touch to the space.

Amy did a dreamy cityscape design, and Kate offered some gift baskets collaged with scientific illustrations. We had pre-printed old-fashioned “to/from” images on the back. They turned out great!

Melissa and Jim favored us with enchanting medieval/celtic music on harp and flute. Although Melissa admitted she wasn’t feeling her best, they sounded wonderful and we were happy to have them.

Later, we and many of our guests walked a few blocks down the Avenue to attend yet another party, the grand opening of Studio 34, the new yoga/wellness center. It seemed like the whole neighborhood was there! It’s a tremendous second-floor space that seems to go on forever. They host frequent art openings as well as yoga, Pilates, reiki, therapeutic massage and more. We missed the raffle (dang!) but caught the Citywide Specials, our favorite good-time bluegrass band. What a fun evening!