New Website and Coupon!

Hey, remember back in June and July when I was super stressed out about having to learn all new programming languages to recreate my entire website as fast as possible because of a broken computer? No? Well good, because it was really stressful. Anyway, I did, and now I have a brand new website! I also own breadandbadger.net now, so it's almost like my website is in two places at the same time. Okay, not really.

One of the cool things about my new site is that it's powered by Wordpress, so it has its own blog built into the main page. I'll be updating that blog (which you can subscribe to) with all the latest news and updates for the business side of Bread and Badger. Y'know, like shops that carry our work, events we'll be at, new products, custom work I want to show off, sales and promotions, press features about us, etc. It's going to be great. You can also subscribe to our product feed if you'd like to know about our newest products the second they're released (this feed is different from the news feed above).

You've probably already noticed that I don't update this blog very often anyway, but I'll try to post something every now and then when I discover a really cool band or product or artist. Mostly, I post those things on Twitter when I find them, so I encourage you to follow me there if you're interested in my interests and personal goings-on.

Since I love my blog readers more than vanilla pudding, I'm also giving you a 20% off coupon which is good on your whole order from our website until next Friday, September 10th. Just put the code "phoenix" into the coupon field of the shopping cart, and it'll calculate your discount for you. (This coupon isn't applicable in our Etsy shop--sorry!) Let me know what you think of the new site, and thanks for reading!

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Ghost in the Machine- Kurt Cobain

Ghost in the Machine- Kurt Cobain
Originally uploaded by iri5

Just had to share this amazing work by artist, Iri5. Her medium is cassette tape on canvas. Completely mind-blowing!

[Thanks to Eye Pop Art for sharing this!]

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Hopeless Savages

True Story: I used to draw a webcomic, and I had big dreams of one day moving to Portland and getting into the comic book industry. Oni Press was my favorite comic publisher, and I even sent them samples of my work for one of their talent searches (they told me to keep practicing and send more work along in the future, which was hugely encouraging to me, even though I never did it).

One of the first comics I bought for myself was Hopeless Savages by Jen Van Meter. The story was about a misfit family of musicians and artists, with lots of musical and anglophilic references thrown in for me to relate to. I was immediately hooked.

Fast forward. Not only did my comic heroine, Jen Van Meter, run into me at a recent craft fair, but I also discovered that she's a fan of my glass etching work, as well as a knitter! I was majorly starstruck, and couldn't even believe my awesome luck. She was even nice enough to send me one of these exclusive art cards that she made for comic book conventions this summer, featuring my favorite of her characters, Zero (full name: Skank Zero Hopeless Savage--which is pretty much the best name ever!).

So, I HIGHLY recommend that you read the Hopeless Savages comics, and that you say hi to Jen at a con if you see her. She's absolutely swerval.

Follow Jen on Twitter.

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Recap of Awesomeness

Super Quick Recap of the past few weeks:

1. I taught a class and a workshop at the Summit of Awesome, and attended lots of super-awesome classes and workshops in turn. I got really inspired! Susan Beal is doing a bang up job detailing the Summit week on the Craftzine blog here, here and here (I was quoted a lot in the second link). There are hundreds of photos from the event on Flickr too.
2. I've been creating a whole new ecommerce site using Wordpress, but it's kind of tedious and there's a lot for me to learn. The good news is that it should go live within the next week. Yay!
3. Sean and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary with some fabulous baked brie (and more!) at The Farm Cafe. It's amazing to look back and reflect on all the great things we've done together in the past 7 years.
4. We've been clearing out old wood piles, killing blackberries and English ivy, and re-roofing our shed on sunny days. We also planned out our bathroom remodel when the medicine cabinet started dismantling itself, and we've been to every furniture store 3 times since then. We've already started re-planning our kitchen remodel, which won't happen until next spring.
5. Custom orders! We've had tons of custom designs to work on recently, from wedding favors, to baptism candles, and some collaborative work with other artists thrown in.
6. I finally got my badger tattoo! The blurry photo above doesn't really do it justice, but that's the best I could do while trying to click the shutter button with my left hand.
7. A new webcomic is in the works! We're still in the planning stages, but the amazing Kim Werker and I are putting together a fun crafty webcomic based on a concept that she's been carrying around for awhile. Despite being so busy with everything else, this is one of the most exciting things for me right now, and I can't wait to get it together.

[Tattoo by Lew Hess at Atlas Tattoo in Portland, OR

I love this so much, I can't even describe it. Just for reference, I asked Lew to base his design on this old Sailor Jerry tattoo of a panther with a snake.

I shouldn't have to say this, and I know it's weird, but I'd really appreciate it if you're considering getting a badger tattoo like this to have your tattoo artist redraw the design themselves and not just duplicate mine. Someone else found one of my original tattoos on the internet and got the exact same thing (same colors and everything) and it kinda weirds me out. Thanks.]

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Urban Craft Uprising Summer Show

We'll be vending at Urban Craft Uprising in Seattle next weekend, July 10th & 11th! This is a perfect time to pick up birthday gifts, wedding presents, and a little something unique for yourself.

We'll have our newest dinosaur designs, plus cute little juice glasses and some one-of-a-kind ceramic mugs and teacups for you to purchase. There's also a diy craft area, so you can make something fun to bring home with you, and the first 100 shoppers in line each day will get a sweet swag bag!

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