Life on the Road with Artistic Artifacts

We’ve been in the same location for years, first as Artistic Artifacts and now as Artistic Artifacts/Batik Tambal.

Last week, July 24-27, my husband Dave and I vended at the Quilt Odyssey Quilt show, held in Hershey, PA.

It takes several days to prepare and pack for a show, and then an entire day (sometimes more) to set up. The show ran from Thursday to Sunday. No matter how tired vendors are after a long and busy show, we have to pack up our booths on Sunday and then drive home. And then, once home, there is the unpacking and putting the store back together. A vendor’s work for each and every show requires additional days of preparation and work before and after.

Our booth (pictured above and below) is 10 feet deep by 20 feet long. The Goal is to pack as much into our traveling store, but still allow customers to enter and shop!

Along the back wall we exhibit samples of how our products can be used. Do the samples encourage you? Do they inspire you? Are you happy that we have them? Or do they overwhelm?

As you can see in the photo above we even hang product from the ceiling! I made the sample quilt hanging on the right with our Woman with 3 Birds on Taupe (portion shown here) panel, which was designed by Jaka, one of Indonesia’s most popular and recognizable batik artists. This panel is now on sale for just $13.00. The hard to photograph background color (a warm taupe with violet tones) of this panel has made it difficult to sell online, so I’ve marked it down, but trust me, it’s gorgeous!

Above, bins of our popular Australian Fabrics, which are inspired by original art by Aborigine artists. In the center front row are our new floral patterns from Down Under. The pillow on the right is one I made when I wrote earlier this year about Piecing and Piping... Unblocking a Creative Slump.

Above, our exclusive Combanasi batik fabric, wonderful solids from Art Gallery Fabrics, and commercial batiks from Robert Kaufman. Hanging on the back wall are two quilts using Indonesian hand-drawn batik panels. The one on the right side was designed and quilted by Batik Tambal founder and original owner Trish Hodge using panels by Jaka, and on the left side features a Hari Agung panel and is a work in process by me (It needs beads!)

Above, more quilts, more fabric... and look at that panel!

Above, a table full of sarongs, printed and hand-drawn batik printed Indonesian fabrics and handwoven Bali cottons.

Copper batik stamps, known as tjaps, on display, including examples of both new and vintage tjaps. We produce more than 30 patterns of tjaps for our customers, each individually hand-crafted. Beautiful on display, wonderful to use as the basis of a Shiva Paintstik rubbing.

Above, a wall full of batik panels from Indonesia, each hand drawn/painted and signed by the artist.

Above, Stewart Gill products and additives (my favorite fabric paints) along with Inktense blocks and pencils from Derwent.

Above, a temping little bit of Tentakulum Handpainted Fibers, Havel’s scissors (the best!), Angelina fibers, products for printing onto fabric from your computer and Mistyfuse sheer paperless fusible.

Wooden printing blocks, hand carved in India, and PROFab Opaque Textile Paint. Have you ever tried deColourant with your wooden printing blocks? It works great!

We were very excited to learn that a Quilt had been entered into the show using panels by our artist Jaka. Louise Holder of Lawrenceville, PA won Second Place in the Large Quilt, Predominately Pieced category (photo below).

Her quilt is titled The Garden of Eden and is 97" x 105". It is machine pieced, hand appliquéd, and hand quilted. She writes “the batiks found a leading role in this quilt where pieced, appliquéd and hand painted blocks became the supporting cast. I worried about everything working together as I decided where to place them. Last July this was an idea but today I see it displayed...I can only say Wow.”

Detail of The Garden of Eden above. Dave and I enjoyed meeting Louise. She told us that she works by collaging the items together as she goes. We agree with her that the results are WOW!

The winner of a prestigious Judges Choice ribbon is Linda Cooper, a long-time teacher at Artistic Artifacts! You can learn her kinetic quilt technique (which is featured in this winning quilt) at our shop on August 23 — visit our website to learn more and register. These quilts look difficult, but Linda is a wonderful teacher and we haven’t yet had a student walk out with anything less than a spectacular 3-D (and two-sided) quilt of their very own!

Her quilt, one side of which is pictured above, is named When Flowers Party and is 36" x 33". It is machine pieced, hand- and machine-appliqued, and machine quilted. Linda writes that “it amuses me to think that flowers have a secret ‘party’ life. This kinetic quilt has flowers (fused to the aluminum from beer cans) that rotate from the more formal arrangement to my painted fabric party side.” You can see two of the bottom flowers are in the process of rotating ... Linda was rightfully pleased with the careful way the show organizers hung her mobile-like quilt so that it was shown to its best advantage!

Nancy Lebow also won a ribbon, but I couldn’t get a photo of her quilt. Nancy, will you email us so that we can include you?