We made the Morning News!

Wow! We ended up in a media blitz Friday and Saturday. KHON Morning News filmed at our workshop with Manolo Morales from 6a-8a. (with toothpicks holding up my eyelids...it was a Made in Hawaii Festival preview show...we zipped out of here to open the show at 8:30am!!!!!) We had 4 3-4 min spots! Manolo made his own Bodacious Bangle with paw print and bamboo stamps. He's beyond smitten with Bubba...his Yorkie Terrier, now 2 yrs old.
He then made a snack platter with the Tiki Torches Hawaiian Island Decal...black on copper plate.
He managed to squeeze in another segment, again with the paw print and tracks stamps, he made a cotton tea towel to take home to his pup and wife.
Finally, he participated in the fine, ancient art of Rubber Pressing.
Be sure to see the video link at the top of the blog!

We also made the 6p and 10 pm on KHON as well as KHNL!
Newscasters showed up with cameramen in tow to ask about the Festival, the economy, small business, etc. Hope some of you got to see it. We were headlines on Saturday websites of both stations!!

Stamp displays at Made in Hawaii Festival

Thank you all who contributed cards for our brand spankin' new display boards! They looked awesome. we were so busy, forgot to take photos of the whole booth. You would've been proud! Stephanie Freeman, Helen, Lilla, Mike, Erin and more made stunning works of art with our 22 new stamp designs, Aloha from Hawaii stickers as well as stamps from our existing collection. http://www.rubberstampplantation.com will shoot you over to our new designs! keep the artwork coming and we'll post your cards, etc.
Inspire us!

Stamped silk eye pillows at Stampclub

We had great fun stamping silk with Rubber Stamp Plantation stamps, and Palette Hybrid ink pads from Stewart Superior. We loved the metalics and everyone went home with a project they adored. Val found buckwheat and lavender to fill them, on the internet.

Hi Ho, hi ho...off to the show we go....a video clip

Just another day in the life of Rubber Stamp Plantation and our Show schedule. Yup, we're off to NBC to set up for the Made in Hawaii Festival...Eric bringing up the rear with a rousing chorus of the Beverly Hillbillies theme song. Wish you were here!

Mermaid...another day in Paradise...

Sharon Diskin created this amazing collage made with Rubber Stamp Plantation stamps, using Twinkling H20's by Luminarte.

Stamps used: sitting mermaid, maile, lehua blossom, coral, petite shell honu, sea plant, md. sand dollar, nautilus, bubbles.

Groovy Peace Signs

Way too cute groovy peace symbols! We just finished them along with groovy surf/paddle boards, and more...We'll be debuting them at Made in Hawaii Festival Aug 15-17 at Neil Blaisdel Exhibition Hall on Ward Ave in Honolulu. They'll be part of our new collection of Hawaiian Island Decals, as well as Rubber Stamp Plantation fine art stamps. Hope to see you there. We'll have ongoing demos at our Booth #207/208. Come by for great ideas for all your holiday gifts!

Hooked on Bangles! Bodacious Bangles

Just finished another batch-o-bangles! I'm now sooo addicted to these buggers. I'm becoming much more experimental and daring with color mixing. Also experimenting with stamps that I hadn't thought of before. Picture on the left is the Koi Vase stamp. love the way it came out.
Now off to wash up and hele on home.

Aloha from Hawaii Vintage Stickers

love the new display Rick made us for the Aloha from Hawaii Vintage Stickers. We'll use it at the Made in Hawaii Festival August 16-18 at Neil Blaisdell Exhibition Hall. Working on matted prints and posters of the vintage ephemera Makani and I've been collecting. We'll also have our original "faux" vintage fruit/cannery labels, collage sheets, and "inchie" collage sheets! We're in full swing gearing up for our largest show of the year!
We'll have ongoing demos for Tropical Etch Glass Etching Stencils, as well as Twinkling H2O's (back by popular demand)!
See you there!

Banyan Retreat, Maui

This Banyan tree is the only thing supporting what is left of this fabulous old building tucked in a cane field Upcountry Maui. One of my all time favorite hikes leads to this wonder. It had been over 10 yrs since I had paid a visit. The "street art" - amazing...the light- unfathomable.

Ashley and Eric tied the knot!

Eric and Ashley went off to SF to get hitched! They came back with Eric sporting a whole new wardrobe of fashionable shorts...

Eric works really hard!

Eric's our Design/Product Development Guy. Yup, it's an official title...and works very hard.

Not sure where this was...but we were having fun!

David recently shot off this photo...no idea where we were...tho it looks like fun...
oh, I think we had just picked up his mom Freda, and took David out to dinner for his birthday at Downtown Disney...
Rain Forest Cafe! It's all coming back. :)

What have you done with your stamps lately?

This is a collection of some of my favorite stamped projects....
1. Left: (No longer black) leather Italian boots I found at Goodwill.
At the toes...Leaf Mandala Stamp.
The instep...Bali Cloth Design.
Stamped with Stewart Superior black fabric ink.
Toe tips are double stick tape stripes with alternating copper, gold, and silver glitter.
Painted with Dr. Ph Martin's Ready Tex Paints.
Rose lame, copper, gold, pewter, silver, brass.

2. Center: Stamped candydish.
Stamped using Rubber Stamp Plantation Tolum stamp with black fabric ink on the underside. Sponged Ready Tex metalic paints. Sealed with several coats of polyeurathane.

3. Wood Heart Door Hanging by Stephanie Freeman.
Wahine, and Post Card Rubber Stamp Plantation stamps. I LOVE this!!!

Let me know what you think!

Shelf above my desk

Rail Station in San Diego

Shower at the Vetiver farm

Best part of "Farm Day" is Woody's outdoor shower! Water is sweet, fresh, and warmed by the sun.

Smile Spa and Karaoke-our neighbor

Altered Art/Altered Space

Syndee Holt told me that you always get great photos by using a car in the sun! (I think...) So we clipped off some foliage from the tree that needed trimming, and set up the "studio" on Mary's car! This photo will be the base for our upcoming Ad in Altered Arts magazine. I kind of wanted to epoxy them on and drive away!

Stephanie's Vintage Sticker cards!

Just rec'd an amazing package of cards and books Stephanie made using Rubber Stamp Plantation stamps, and Aloha from Hawaii Vintage Stickers!
David will be at Ben Franklin, Market City, in Kaimuki tomorrow (Sat. 5/17 10a-noon) leading a "make & take" for their annual "Paper Party"! I hope you can join him.
These dimensional cards are the models for Stampclub this Monday eve. Join us 5:30-8pm.

Mary and Deb playing "tourist"

In the 20 plus years I've lived in Hawaii, I never walked through the Halemano Plantation Photo Op garden! So here we are! Right next to Dole Plantation, Fabulously tacky, a definite "must" on everyone's list!

David and Max joined us at the Vetiver Farm

David and Max, my brother and sister in law, trekked up to the Vetiver Farm with us on Tuesday. Max and I rode the planter while Mary and Dave filled in the spots we missed. We were able to plant 7 rows! Lo and behold, Woody found 1st gear on the tractor! Prior to this, it was truly the "Lucy and Ethel" show...trying desparately to keep up with the planter, barely able to breathe from laughing so hard!

Gas pump in Caracas, Venezuela...approx $0.11/gal

Mary and I were in Caracas a year ago November...just prior to the elections. Gas prices then were about $0.11 per gallon (about $1.00 to fill up a tank for a small car!). Prices now have inflated to $0.14 per gallon!
I had to take this photo when we filled the tank and it was all of 80 cents!

Sat. Farmer's Market-Kapiolani Community College

luscious pineapples at KCC Farmer's Market every Sat. am. Quite the jammin' place to see and be seen. Unfortunately, they no longer allow dogs!

Tropical Etch...my favorite vase broke!

I'm soooo glad David had photo'd my favorite vase made with our Tropical Etch glass etching stencils! This one was relatively easy to make, tho have yet to find a similar vase to replace it.

To create this I used:
2 packs of Tropical Etch 4 in Lau'ae stencils
2 packs of Tropical Etch 2 in Lau'ae stencils
(I had extras from both size packages leftover to use on other projects)
Glass etching wood handle pick with burnishing end (to remove unwanted part of the stencil and burnish any air bubbles, or "tents").
Etchall Creme (reusable!)

Foreground is "reverse" etched using the 2 in Lau'ae (fern) design. I masked off the spiral stripe first with blue masking tape. I then placed the stencils in a random patern leaving the white leaf stencil on the glass, removing the background. The leaf stencil served as a mask, and the background of the stripe was etched.

The etched leaved in the background resulted from removing the leaf design (4 in fern/lau'ae), and leaving the background portion of the stencil. I used masking tape to cover any exposed glass areas within the stripe area I had portioned off for the larger stencils. This resulted in the leaves being etched by the creme while the background of the area was protected by the remaining part of the stencil.

This was a stunning piece 8 in at the base, 12 in at the top and 18 in tall. It was in several gallery shows and led to quite a few orders for similar pieces that sold for $75-$225! I also gave a few away as wedding gifts! Check out the YouTube videos and our site for instructions and to order stencils for your showcase project! http://www.rubberstampplantation.com

Vetiver keiki (slips) in rooting hormone bath

Farmer John washing Vetiver

Woody washing the dirt off freshly harvested Vetiver plants.

Where we ready Vetiver for planting

Emily and Halia at the Vetiver Farm

We had a great day of Vetiver harvesting on Saturday. Woody harvested a row of adolescent plants from a very weedy row. The stock was amazing. Great yield. Keiki were abundant. We seem to really have the processing down. Woody hauls the harvest to the washing station. He cleared a great spot under a tree where we trim and soak the keiki in rooting hormone. We'll go up on thursday to plant.