12.05.2014

news from "the studio"




Hi there. It's been a while, again. I've been keeping busy.

I have so many things to share, but today I am sharing something very special, my collaboration with Simone Truong, a wonderful artist from the UK who is as obsessed with flowers as I am.

Simone and I discovered each other through my friend Danielle's blog, The Jealous Curator. Simone had seen my work on The Jealous Curator back in May, and I discovered Simone's gorgeous, ethereal work on a post this past October, on which I immediately left a comment about collaborating with her. Simone got back to me posthaste, and we have spent the last month or so collaborating on these four new pieces of work, which I am very happy to present to you today.

Paraphrasing from our statement on this work:

Although working in different mediums, different scales and even different countries, Simone and I both have one element in common; our subject matter. Flora are at the center of both of our works, inevitably forging an exploration into the difference in scale and mediums. In this new work, Simone strays away from exploring the transitionary states that occur in natural phenomena to embrace the delicate and still beauty of my giant, intricate paper flowers. By scaling these large, explosive blooms back down to a size manageable on the printed page, Simone has captured their solitary beauty in a way their original capacity never would have granted. We worked together to find the tension and balance in these compositions, which were executed by Simone in her UK studio. 

To put it very simply, we have taken my giant flower heads and scaled them down to what would be their natural size and state, knowing there is nothing natural about these flowers with their hundreds and hundreds of petals made of paper. We have worked with emotional tone, composition, scale and color, and treated the pieces with Simone's beautiful and mysterious techniques, described on The Jealous Curator as akin to swiping a finger to "taste the pretty iced roses of my childhood birthday cakes".

These images of my "fake" flowers, being preserved this way, suspended in space forever, are somewhat dishonest, in the most subtle of ways. If you didn't know the back-story on this work, you might never notice that these faux flowers have way too many petals, or that they were already fated never to wilt. Reducing them and then hanging them in space, stemless, as Simone does? There is a lot of mystery in that, and I love it.

The four images below are the final products of our collaboration. We are offering giclée prints in an open-edition run, 11 x 14" on Hahnemühle FineArt Pearl paper. They are gorgeous, and I cannot wait to have them hanging in our home and my studio area. If you are interested in ordering, you can find them all here in my online shop.

I hope you like them as much as we do. It was a privilege to work with Simone. I love collaborations, and this one was a great fit.
   




On another subject, I am running a wonderful 1920's style metallic floral headpiece class this Sunday, and a few more before the end of the year. I'd love to see you in one of my workshops! Visit my workshop page for class descriptions and registration information. I have some unique classes scheduled this season.

Have a wonderful weekend!
xoxo












11.04.2014

fall workshops!



Hi there! Wow am I behind on things. I just hung and am already taking down a quick show of two new GIANT marigolds I created especially for Dia de Los Muertos this year. I'll share some more about that later this week. They are crazy big and awesome, but they took every moment of every day for the past two weeks and now my life is in shambles. I would love to return to some regular, normal-style writing here, but I just can't catch up right now. I haven't even shared Oliver's fun birthday party or some new recipes I've come up with that I think you would love. Maybe later this month.

In the meantime, I wanted to mention that if you are local, I am teaching my woodland egg ornament workshop three times this fall, and I'd love to have you join in. Here are the dates and the links to sign up. And I have several other new and beautiful workshops coming in December as well (find every single workshop HERE).

Woodland Egg Ornaments
Handcraft Studio School (Emeryville)
Sunday, November 9th
10:30-1:30 p.m.
Register HERE

Woodland Egg Ornaments
Makeshift Society (San Francisco)
Wednesday, November 12th
6:30-9:00 p.m.
Register HERE

Woodland Egg Ornaments
Handcraft Studio School (Emeryville)
Wednesday, December 3rd
6:00-9:00 p.m.
Register HERE

Have a great day, and don't forget to vote!

xoxo







10.24.2014

crowns



Here are a few crowns I've added to my papel SF Etsy shop. I somehow ended up booking a little two day exhibit for Dia de Los Muertos (with the biggest pieces I've ever made!) and so I cancelled my remaining crown workshop so I could stay focused. I had a slew of flowers I'd made for the classes lying around, so I took a day to put together a few more wonderful crowns. I LOVE them!

Don't forget the discount code for 10% off through Halloween is PETALSFORHALLOWEEN in my Etsy shop (HERE).

Have a wonderful fall weekend!
xoxo







10.15.2014

marigolds


(L): Two paper marigolds, the rest real;
(R): I'm racing the clock to construct the biggest marigold ever for Dia de Los Muertos.

Hope you're having a good week!

xoxo





10.07.2014

halloween shop!



BOO!

I wanted to let you know that my papel SF Etsy Halloween Shop will be going live at noon today. I have loaded it with a handful of lovely floral headpieces and crowns, as well as a photo booth prop set made of five great, colorful remnants from my larger scale work. I had fun putting it together, and I hope you can scoop up something you like!

I am offering a discount code to my blog, Instagram and IRL friends. The code is "PETALSFORHALLOWEEN" and is good through October 31, 2014 (Halloween).

Have a great day! xoxo




9.29.2014

what's crackalackin'?


Hey there, long time no see.

I wanted to show my heavily filtered face here and check in. In the photos above I'm wearing something that I might be teaching or sharing a tutorial for in the late fall/early winter, so keep your eyes out for that. Who doesn't need a sparkly and shiny half shower cap for the party season? I know I need it! I will also be loading my Etsy shop with a few new floral crowns and headpieces for Halloween at the end of this week or beginning of next week, just FYI.

I'm coming off of a stretch of hard work, and I've been documenting a ton of it on my Instagram account (@tiffanieturner) if you care to take a peek. I just finished a big commission that was long overdue, and taught a few headpiece classes that I'll recap when I have time over the next few weeks. I have been wheeling and dealing with a major cosmetics line to possibly do some visual merchandising for them, and also trying to secure a potential exhibition in Hong Kong for Chinese New Year in February. I've been busy developing some new things, like the headpieces above, and working with a few new materials. The play aspect of that has been pretty rewarding, as far as hitting on new ideas. I've also been improving my grant and residency writing skills and am hoping for the best on those. And, I was selected by the judges at Martha Stewart Living as a finalist in the American Made awards. The contest is now just about how many daily votes I can garner, so it is unlikely I will get any further in the process. But if you would like to support me and papel SF, you can cast six votes a day through October 13th at the following link. Thank you in advance if you are so inclined to help out. 


All of this led to me getting scared straight about sleep. As many of you know, I work until 3:00 a.m. on average, three to five nights a week. Last Sunday I was so sleep deprived that I finally hit a wall. I couldn't sleep because my head was a mess and couldn't get my brain to stop hurting. I finally truly realized that I am going to have to shell out for a little child care if I really want to keep doing this work and keeping up my end of the bargain over here as far as bills and the like. So now I've vowed to sleep at least seven hours every night. My body is still getting used to it, and I'm running into some insomnia, but I never want to feel that squeezey pain in my brain again, and obviously I never want to be that exhausted of a parent or spouse or friend again, either. 

So, that's what's new with me. If you've left a comment on the blog over the past few months and it hasn't been moderated or responded to yet, I'm sorry. I love my blog and the people I have met through it, and I want to get back here regularly one day (what about my donut project!?), and I really appreciate when you write here, even if I don't get a chance to respond. 

I hope you are all well, if anyone is still out there! Have a great week, and get some sleep!

xoxo,
Tiffanie





9.05.2014

american made awards 2014



It's that time of year again where I ask for your vote in the Martha Stewart American Made awards. Some seriously exciting things are happening for me lately, and being considered by the judges would be the icing on the cake. (More later about the craziest week of opportunities I just had!)

It looks like I have not been selected as a finalist at this writing, BUT there is still a chance for me to grab one of the 200 "wild card" slots by having my papel SF American Made page shared through social media. 

Here's how you can help, if you are so inclined. Click through to my papel SF American Made page and you can share it on your Facebook page or Twitter feed through the social media buttons provided there. You can also read a little more about how papel SF got started, where it's headed, and other good stuff like that. I think the deadline for this is September 9th, 2014. If you would share the link, it would mean the world to me.


I thought really, really hard about what "American made" means to me, when asked, and I filtered my answer down to something simple, written maybe too simply, but something I feel I came to honestly.


WHAT DOES AMERICAN MADE MEAN TO YOU?
American Made is the process of finding what it is you truly want to do and being lucky enough to be able to try to do it. Whether it be someone working in their garage after they get home from work and their kids are in bed, or someone striking out on their own to start their own business, being fortunate enough to be able to pursue those things in one way or another means American Made to me.


Have a great weekend, everyone! 
xoxo







8.27.2014

paper godetia + bougainvillea tutorial



I'm very excited to share my latest project as Carte Fini's featured artist. This one is much simpler than many of the ones I've done for them over the past year. I just discovered godetia recently in the checkout line at the grocery store and now I'm hooked. I bought a bouquet, worked up some blossoms, and now can make about forty of them in a sitting without batting an eyelash. They are dead ringers for the real thing! The bougainvillea are more of a gestural representation of that flower than the actual thing, but they look beautiful, too.

Here's that link:

Have fun with it!








8.25.2014

i'm still here



Hi, it's been a while. I took a few weeks off in July and August. We took a road trip to Portland and Washington, which was lovely, and I spent some serious time focusing on the kids, which was much needed. Now they are are back in school (so sad), and I'm back to work.

I just finished up a new tutorial for Carte Fini, so look for that soon. I had a very successful sale with One Kings Lane in mid-August and was one of their featured San Francisco artists. I talked about some of my favorite San Francisco spots. You can read that here, if you're so inclined. This week I am trying to finish a commission for someone who has been patiently waiting since May, pulling together Oliver's birthday plans (he's turning five!), doing some major "renovations" around here that make our place so much more livable (a dining table!), getting my photo taken by Chloe Aftel (exciting!) and probably a lot more things than I can remember right now. Next week I'm trying to keep my slate clear to finish up every single grant and residency application I am looking at, all somehow due right around the same day. Then it's on to workshop season! I'll make some more announcements soon, but right now you can see and register for all of my fall and winter workshops here.

What else? I'm starting to enjoy running, very much actually, but when I'm in the thick of working it's very hard to get out there, and now the days are getting shorter. Still looking to find a great routine. Somehow, the way we reorganized our flat recently has bought me a little more time. I have a place to keep my work now while we eat, and I think it's just easier to clean now, so that's great. I'll figure it all out soon. Just feeling lucky to have this life right now, as always. 

I'll be back soon with that new tutorial. Have a great week!

xoxo





7.25.2014

dahlias



I recently completed an order of thirty-three dahlia headpieces in white and faint-to-bright pink. They were created for a fantastic patron saint and new friend. Here they are arranged in a color gradient that would hopefully make Lisa Solomon proud. It was such an undertaking that I thought I should share them. Somehow I only managed to photograph the pink ones, but they were all so pretty.

 






7.21.2014

summer headpiece workshops



Isn't she gorgeous?! She really is, AND she worked very hard on that amazing headpiece! Love the way she draped the pompom trim.

I just finished up teaching my paper flower headpiece workshops for the summer at Makeshift Society in San Francisco and Handcraft Studio School in Emeryville, my usual haunts. Luckily for me, a lovely woman named Elda (who had taken my giant paper rose class back in May, see here fantastic rose photos here) showed up for class again with her camera. She took some very beautiful shots while we were working away at Handcraft Studio School. I love the way she captured the space and the mess we made there. This is a nose-to-the-grindstone class, but very much worth the effort and very fun.

Photo credit goes to Elda (pictured here) for all shots herein except for the godetia and rose still life, above.

I spent most of today writing up descriptions, gathering photos and booking all of my fall and winter workshops, so stay tuned for those registration notifications, coming soon. I even booked my first workshops in Los Angeles for early in the new year. Very exciting!

Now that my classes are over for the next month, and my giant dahlia headpiece order has been delivered, I'm sleeping. I thought you should know! I'm still as tired as can be, hopefully just working at such a deficit that it'll take a little more sleep to catch up. But I feel very normal, and that is great for all of us! I'm so glad for the time with the kids unfettered by exhaustion and nonstop paper cutting, but I'm itching to start new things, too. I'll be taking lots of notes during my down time, that's for sure. xoxo





6.25.2014

round up: summer so far



I am enjoying another wonderful summer with the kids, and I thank my lucky stars as always. The weather is cold cold cold. We've got our summertime fun list ready, and we are savoring every day. That might sound overly poetic, but that is what is going on right now, and I know how lucky I am. 

I am also juggling two LARGE commissions, preparations for my upcoming workshops, and trying to finish my papel SF website and new CV for grant and residency applications, all seemingly due on July 15th. So, still as tired as always, although trying to wrap it up by 1:00 a.m. the nights I work now.

I started writing here three years ago to document our summer together, and David and I frequently pour over these "round up" posts to reminisce about our life together (here is the archive of my first month of blogging, so sweet). I couldn't let any more of this summer get past without some photos to look back on, even if they are only dumped from my phone.

I hope you are having a great summer, too. xoxo

Stella and I get every morning to ourselves now, so nice. Also, new flowers for upcoming workshops.

 Making pretzels with a friend, a banana slug and kicking back in Berkeley with friends.

 Old shoes, a trip to Castle in the Air, regular Thursday cafe date for my computing needs.

R + D, delivering finished HEADS, working on an order of 34 dahlia headpieces!

 A cold library and bookstore day in the Upper Haight, dance party hijinks.

 We kicked off summer with four days in Point Reyes Station in the yurt we've stayed in for ten years.

Olema Valley horse trail hike, first night BBQ, sunset (and three visible planets one night). Best day.

 Yurt selfie with skylight, how Oliver plays Boggle, "The Gatekeepers of Senorah".

 Volcano painting, local Point Reyes flowers at Toby's downtown, stages.

 An amazing bounty of bracelets from the amazing Cathy Callahan, the misery of working where we eat, Charles Rennie Mackintosh for so much inspiration.

 Paper flower headpiece workshop revamp. I'm loving it.

 A Saturday lunch in the redwoods with close friends, and I cleaned the kids' room, my Father's Day gift to David.

La Urbana for the man of the hour on Father's Day.

 First pool day in Novato of the year, getting some help with my website at Makeshift Society, shelf shot.

 My hedgehog, tart plum tart at Kathryn Clark's in Sonoma, and a Slip 'n' Slide, too. Kathryn has taken me into a wonderful fold of artists including Katrina, Lisa, and Sonya, and it's been lovely to be around them and to have them to talk to about the practical and not-so-practical things.

 Devil Moose, big thumb, and a living room I spent my only free time of the week rearranging. WHY?

 A great family Sunday. Breakfast at home, then Flora Grubb and some home improvement research, then some In 'n' Out. Love This Giant is the soundtrack of our summer and Oliver and I like to dance to it. Also, fighting my first and most ridiculous parking ticket.

Tickle me. Sweaters all the time in June, another trip to Novato for a long
stretch into evening at the pool with friends. Good times. :)








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