2018 Creativation Trade Show with Amazing Casting Products
The Creativation Trade show, held in Phoenix, Arizona is the must-go event for craft and hobby industry professionals. It is held by Association For Creative Industries or AFCI, showcasing the many facets of the creative industries from edible arts, painting & drawing, kids crafts, sewing & fabric, paper crafts and more. This year’s 2018 show was a plethora of arts and crafts manufacturers, new products, demos, classes, and networking opportunities.
Once again I was a demonstrator at the Amazing Casting Products/Alumilite Corp booth at Creativation! Here we are first day, right before show floor opening happy to have the booth up and running before the rush of attendees. It was a pleasure and honor to being working with such talented and devoted people!
So many samples were showcased in every corner of the booth!
The Amazing Casting Products Design Team had sent in a wonderful array of projects.
Anything from home decor, kitchen wear, mixed media, jewelry, toys, garden decor, and fine art applications could be found in the booth.
The demo area always had some sort art going on.
With so many samples there was bound to be some art application that would catch the interest of an attendee.
All three days I did demos; First day “Frozen in Time” How to embellish mixed media projects combining Amazing Clear Cast Resin with powders, dyes, stamps, found objects and more! Second day “Crafting Conversation Curios” How to mold and create unique handmade resin pendants, charms and curios with Amazing Casting Products! Third day “Wearable Art, Clay Time” Exploring the creative possibilities of wearable art that can be achieved using Amazing Casting Products and polymer clay! Manufacturer partner, Polyform Products
Yours truly working on the “Crafting Conversation Curios” demo.
Amazing Casting Products Design Team Leader Susan M. Brown starting with her “Moldmaking 101” demo. At this demo people learned how to make quick and easy push molds using Amazing Mold Putty that could be used with Amazing Casting Resin, polymer clay, chocolate, fondant, plaster, soap, and more! Susan also did a fun interactive game “Texture THIS?!” exploring texture plates with polymer clay while learning quick and easy techniques to make and use texture in varied mediums/applications. Game entrants were entered to win a prize package of Alumilite Corp/Amazing Casting Products & Polyform Products.
The wonderful and talented mixed-media artist Cat Kerr‘s demo “Bezel Bonanza” on the first day of the show. Demonstrating three resin bezel techniques that add dazzling dimension and texture to empty bezels combining Amazing Casting Resin, Amazing Clear Cast Resin, and polymer clay. Manufacturer partners, Polyform Products and Nunn Design. A video tutorial of her demo have be found here: Clay and Resin Dimensional Pendant
Cat’s second day of demos was “Personalized Photo Holders” was about making quick and fun personalized gifts using Amazing Mold Putty and Amazing Casting Resin.
Creativation came and went so quickly it almost seems a dream filled with good times, amazing creative people, inspiration and a gateway into the creative industries. Hope to see you there next year!
Until Next Time, Safe Travels!
2017 Creativation Show with Amazing Casting Products
This year’s Craft & Hobby Association 2017 show was a whirlwind of changes, arts and crafts manufacturers, new products, demos, classes, and networking opportunities. Formerly known as the CHA Mega Show, it is now called the Creativation Trade show, held in Phoenix, Arizona. CHA also went under a new rebranding, now Association For Creative Industries or AFCI to reflect their more broad ranging inclusion of creative industries.
Here is their lovely new logo that was introduced to attendees and exhibitors on the second day of the show!
I was once again a demonstrator at the Amazing Casting Products/Alumilite Corp booth at CHA, this time for all three days! With the show being shorter but with longer show hours everything was a whirlwind.
In the above photo the President of Alumilite, Mike Faupel is proudly showing off the products of the Amazing Casting Products line and all the artwork samples.
On the front table there was a wonderful array of artwork by Cat Kerr, Tina Walker, Kristie Taylor and yours truly.
The talented and lovely Cat Kerr did afternoon demonstrations at the booth on Saturday. A tutorial of one of the projects she was demoing can be found Here.
While sadly Cat couldn’t stay for all of the show, everyone at the Amazing Casting Products booth made sure she had a great time!
One of my new pieces on display was resin frame piece I created and brought just for this show.
Using an old frame, gold leaf, Amazing Clear Cast resin tinted with Alumilite’s Dyes and mixed with Alumidust powders I was able to create a vibrant one of a kind abstract piece.
There was so many samples showcased in almost ever corner of the booth! From home decor, mixed media, jewelry, garden decor, fine art and more!
Trying a new spin on my resin canvas application (such as I did for last year’s show) I painted, applied gold leaf, Amazing Clear Cast resin, real leaves on a 12″x 24″ canvas. The depth and dimension I was able to achieve was lovely.
At the end of three days of demos from 9am-6pm I was looking a little frazzled but I had a wonderful time sharing techniques, new resin applications and showcasing my skills as a designer.
One of my favorite demonstrations was using the tile molds you can see in the photo. If you would like to find out how to create your own a tutorial can be found Here.
While I didn’t get to walk the show floor like I normally would because everything was so busy this show turned out to be a wonderful and new adventure into the creative industries.
Until Next Time, Safe Travels!
Craft & Hobby Association Mega Show 2016 part 2
Time for my Craft & Hobby Association Mega Show 2016 recap, part 2! My last Post about this year’s winter Craft and Hobby Association Mega Show was about the Amazing Casting Products/Alumilite Corp booth at CHA, and this one will be of the booths and displays that really caught my eye. While there was so many more I didn’t get a chance to take photos of, thankfully many of the new products seen at CHA will be hitting craft and hobby stores in the next few months!
Spinrite Yarns, otherwise known as Yarnspirations, had a lovely color pallet of cable knit dresses with matching wigs made out of Caron yarn. The dresses were truly fashionable and designed for the modern woman.
The talented Megan Kreiner was signing copies of her book, Crochet a Farm: 19 Cute-as-Can-Be Barnyard Creations which after seeing her adorable creations in person I had to get a copy.
Along with her farm animals book she had crochet samples from her other book, Bathtime Buddies: 20 Crocheted Animals from the Sea, which this little Angler Fish pattern comes from.
The Angler Fish also has a rather cute Octopus buddy, that I just adore.
Simplicity Creative Group had a wonderful display of cosplay and costume patterns of comic book characters. Inspired by the new Daredevil series, they created a awesome Steampunk style female Daredevil using their current line of Steampunk costume patterns.
Since Simplicity now caries officially licensed Marvel Avengers patterns, Captain America and Thor costumes made an appearance along with a Thor inspired cocktail dress.
They also carry the classic DC Wonder Woman costume pattern and using their Steampunk mini dress and jacket pattern a Steampunk alternate reality version was made!
Not to be forgotten is the classic BatGirl costume pattern and an mod era BatGirl inspired party dress.
A welcomed surprise was Games Workshop, who had a booth in the new vendors section. Since I was young and started getting into painting and creating model miniatures I have bought their products. Originally their miniatures were metal but now they have highly detailed plastic figures and amazing line of non toxic acrylic paints that create so many finishes and textures. Their paints bond to many materials such as plastic, resin, polymer clay, metal and more!
I was graciously given this wonderful selection of Games Workshop’s minis and paints. I can’t wait to try them!
One of my favorite events at CHA is the Friday night Block Party they host right before the show opens. Great food, music, make n takes, prizes and networking, for sure a not-to-miss event! Here is a photo of my ever supportive husband and I, after a long day of booth setup enjoying the evening’s festivities. Without his help and friendship I wouldn’t be able continue with my art career.
See you at the next CHA!
Until Next Time, Safe Travels!
Craft & Hobby Association Mega Show 2016 part 1
Time for my Craft & Hobby Association Mega Show 2016 recap, part 1! CHA, otherwise know as the Craft and Hobby Association, has a Mega Trade Show once a year, full of arts and crafts manufacturers, new products, tech, demos, classes, designer showcases, new trends and networking galore.
In this part of the recap I will be focusing on the Amazing Casting Products/Alumilite Corp booth at CHA. The Amazing Casting Products Design Team, of which I am proud member of, was asked to submit some of our best projects to be showcased at their booth and to do demos. I took loads of photos of the booth so lets take a tour of the booth, see the artwork and meet the artists showcased!
First day of artists doing demos at the booth, Design Team Leader Susan M. Brown, Tina Walker, Melissa Johnson and I. It was so wonderful to see Susan again and finally meet Tina and Melissa in person!
Elena Lai Etcheverry of Charity Wings stopped by the booth to talk to President of Alumilite, Mike Faupel, about all of the crafty applications and products of the amazing Casting Products line!
This year I decided to create some booth samples showing not just traditional uses for resin but how Amazing Clear Cast can be applied to paper, canvas and dried plant life.
Here is a close up of my 16X20 Autumn canvas, I wanted to show how simple papercrafting supplies could create a lovely home decor piece. The base layer is canvas painted with acrylic paint, with a thin layer of Amazing Clear Cast, some glitter and tiny gold beads. To the second layer of resin I added Alumidust powders, more glitter, mica flakes and tiny paper leaves. The third and final layer had a base of glitter and top layer of resin to seal all of the embellishments in.
Here is my 16X20 Abstract canvas, which reminds me of a Nebula. I started by casting some cabochons in Amazing Casting Resin and Amazing Clear Cast tinted with Alumilite’s Dyes and metallic powders. I painted the canvas with acrylic paint and poured a layer of clear resin, placing the cabochons on the canvas, along with different glitters and small beads. The next two layers were applied in a manner similar to the Autumn canvas.
Mike Faupel commissioned these stunning wood and dyed resin pieces from an artist in Michigan. They were created by pouring Amazing Clear Cast over wood and carved on a wood lathe.
More of my jewelry and Remelt samples on display at the booth. The Mesoamerican necklace tutorial can be found here.
Here is a close up of some of the new resin jewelry pieces I made as booth samples for this year’s CHA show.
An associate of Mike Faupel created this wonderful and rather fun Pangaea chess set. It’s all made out of Amazing Casting Resin and molds made of Amazing Mold Rubber. The artist who created the set made sure each dinosaur had a different facial expression and were all hand painted!
Melissa Johnson‘s beautiful food safe hand painted resin plates were just lovely in person. You can see one of Brenda Burfeind‘s wine bottle shaped resin cheese platters next to the plates, to the left one of Lyn Gill‘s polymer and resin pendants, and on the right you can see one of Sandra Strait‘s hand painted mini fish ponds.
The booth was just full of beautiful Design Team artwork, from Susan M. Brown, Melissa Johnson, Lyn Gill, Maria Soto, Rachel Whetzel and more, along with pieces made by Cat Kerr; my photo doesn’t do her work justice so please make sure to hope over to her blog to see her work!
There was even more amazing work from Cat Kerr, Tina Walker, Sandra Strait, and Aimée Wheaton.
This beautiful model miniature was made of out Amazing Casting Products, from the rocks, water and inner core by the very talented Lloyd’s Layouts. Their use of resin and mold making products to create realistic miniature scenes is outstanding!
The handsome Santa in the background was made with Amazing Casting Resin and my “Cosmic Radiation” gown was on on display again at the booth
For demos at CHA I decided to show how to apply resin, powders, glitters and beads to acrylic painted mini 5X7 canvases. Each day of the show I showed to apply a new layer of resin with embellishments. People responded so well the demos I already have two orders for the mini canvas art!
Once home I sanded the edges of the canvases and prepared them for the final coat of resin. I can’t wait to make more.
Come back later for Craft & Hobby Association Mega Show 2016 post, part 2!
Until Next Time, Safe Travels!
Craft & Hobby Association Mega Show 2015 part 2
Time for my Craft & Hobby Association Mega Show 2015 recap, part 2! My last Post about this year’s winter Craft and Hobby Association Mega Show was mostly about Amazing Casting Products/Alumilite Corp., my samples and demos at the CHA. This post will be about some of the new products, booth designs and awesome artists at CHA!
I made sure to drop by the Linpeng International Inc./Fiona Accessories booth to visit with Fiona and Jimmy and to see their new beads for 2015. They had a wonderful selection of new tear drop crystal beads in all kinds of wonderful colors I had to order.
Along with the new mixed color strands of hand painted beads Fiona and Jimmy were happy to show some of their new Bohemian pendants and beading accessories. They buy beads from manufacturers from around the world so you can find a wide variety of beads from China, Japan, India, Czech, countries in Africa and more in their booth.
Linpeng beading supplies can be found at many craft and hobby stores, Fiona Accessories finished jewelry can be found at chain gift shops in the US and you can order their beads online.
Cousin Corporation of America had a stunning Fairy Tale themed booth display, which had a very Once Upon a Time feel to it. Cousin is starting new environmentally friendly improvements through recycling, conservation and sustainability. Their booth decor had elements acquired from thrift stores and upcycled art turned totally glamorous.
This lovely chain dress overlay had a wonderful temple dancer feel to it and I think with a soft cut black dress underneath it would be perfect for a Renaissance Fair!
Cousin’s new mixed bead hanks next to another one of their lovely necklace and fabric displays.
This bib necklace on display had a wonderful Southwestern riverbed feel. I loved the use of warm color tones with the cool color of turquoise.
Spellbinders had a huge and rather multifaceted booth, with loads of displays and make n takes. The display that stopped me in my tracks was the opulent display in their booth by A Gilded Life.
Spellbinders and A Gilded Life now have a licensed line of dies, bezels, pendants, jewelry findings and trims sold online and at art and craft stores. Photos do not do their work justice!
Midwest Design Imports, a whole distributor of boas, artificial birds & butterflies, craft items, and more, had a wonderful selection of fairy, woodland characters and glass minis in their booth. However what caught my eye was their very humorous and full of character line of artificial owls of all sizes. I think those adorable owls will be perfect for Autumn-themed craft classes and displays! A rather cool aspect about Midwest Design Imports is all the feathers they sell are byproducts of other industries, and would have otherwise been discarded.
I had to meet up with the talented Suzann Sladcik Wilson, book author and CEO of Beadphoria, Inc.. Cheerful and happy to talk about jewelry projects and ideas, Suzann was looking great in the The CHA Designers in Action Showcase event. Tiffany Windsor of Cool2Craft, on her way to the Showcase, decided to photobomb us, making it all the more fun!
Suzann had a lovely display of her soldering book, jewelry and upcycled necklace folding cards.
On the other side of her jewelry display Suzann’s first book and other beautiful beaded creations.
A new booth this year that I found the last day of CHA was Bead Fairy TV, owned and operated by Jolene Star (AKA the Bead Fairy). Specializing in bead tutorials, online classes, beading kits and more.
I just had to walk into her booth; the colors, beads and just positive feeling was addicting. Do check out her beading 101 videos on YouTube; they are fun, funky and bound to get you beading. You might also know Jolene her from her store Bazaar Star Beadery in New Jersey.
Spinrite Yarns otherwise known as Yarnspirations made a huge booth display showcasing yarn and amazing artistic talent. “Yarnia” as they called it was inspired by the theatrical versions of the The Chronicles of Narnia. The first yarn creation to greet you was Jadis, the White Witch in her battle gown.
Next was the Pevensie boys in their armor.
The White Witch in her snow gown with wolf companions.
Last but not least Mr. Tumnus, the faun and Lucy Pevensie at the lamp post.
There was so much more that I didn’t photograph but in the next few months I will be receiving my orders and trying out new crafting goodness with all the new products!
Until Next Time, Safe Travels!
Ancient and Contemporary Inspired Artistry