Today I met a friend, and we went to Oiseau Bleu in Montreal. This shop is independant, and has a bit of everything from crafting to knitting, painting and sculpting. We browsed around for a long time, and I was surprised to find a new line of many trends artists have created over the past 4 years. I remember going crazy trying to buy scrabble tiles, and there they were. For $5 cheaper than what I purchased them originally. Next, I found miniature artist cards, precut and packaged in many textures and papers by Strathmore. Including the collectable plastic sleeves to protect them! Totally shocked, because I was buying large sheets of paper and cutting them myself (which is perfectly fine), only I was wasting time and paper trying to get them ultra perfect and no bends. These collector cards, created by artists a few years back, are an addicitive creation for artists, and addictive for collectors. You cannot just buy one and stop. Basically the artists create one work a day, and sell them on Ebay or other online shops. I have seen some fetch over $500 USD. So I bought them and will probably work my ideas into them, mini paintings or watercolors :)
Then...since I also make jewelery, I was shocked to see what they had added in their inventory. I bought my long awaited bench block. Weights a ton sooo I could not order it online. Finally will be able to make my original jewerly tags for my pieces! It adds that personal touch to them, and makes them more original.
We then hit the Value Village in hopes of finding treasures to use for our creations. Thanks Value Village- you are a blessing and indispensable to artists everywhere! Secondhand stores are amazing for artists, you always come out with some sort of inspiration. Some people I know don't get it- but you are not sometimes there to "shop" but to get inspired. It will happen that you will find that Gucci purse hidden somewhere that u just cannot put down especially since it is priced 9.99, but plenty of objects to paint, or craft with are available, and neat appliances like hotplates and kettles for the artist's kitchen experiments. My friend was extremely happy with everything she bought. She will now begin creating her one of a kind jewelery pieces which I cannot wait to see. It's fun to see where someone begins and ends with a piece no matter what medium. I will continue building my inventory so I can soon post them in my Etsy shop!
I will post them here as well.
Now back to my pork chops a la bourgignon in the oven...
