What: Semi-Annual Warehouse Fabric Sale When: Sunday October 24, 12-4 pm for Friends Club Members, 1-4 pm for general public (Friends Club memberships will be sold at the door) Where: In our warehouse, entrance is on Rigsbee St, one block behind our storefront entrance at 548 Foster St. Look for signs. For More Info: Call The Scrap Exchange at 919-688-6960
Our fall warehouse fabric sale is this Sunday, October 24, and we are pleased to announce the list of great savings available in our warehouse and in our store. Our warehouse will be open from 12 pm till 4 pm. Friends Club members can begin shopping in the warehouse at 12:00. The general public can begin warehouse shopping at 1:00. Friends Club memberships will be sold at the door.
What kind of savings will you find at our fabric sale? Check out this list!
Fill a huge 3 ft bag with your choice of loose fabric (samples and yardage) for $10
All fabric sample books - $1 each regardless of size
End rolls of upholstery and decorator fabric - From $5 - $10 each depending on size
End bolts of fabric - $5
Modern sewing patterns - 10 cents each
Vintage sewing patterns - $1 each
Loose ribbons and trims - fill your own bag for one low price
Available fabric includes loose fabric samples, flatfold yardage, upholstery and decorator rolls, bolts, scrap fabric and more. Don't miss this chance to stock up and save!
Book Signing: Wednesday, October 20, 7pm Garth Johnson, author of 1000 Ideas for Creative Reuse
Garth Johnson will be doing a book signing for his book 1000 Ideas for Creative Reuse (Quarry Publishing) here at The Scrap Exchange on October 20th, from 7 to 9pm. Garth is an artist, writer and educator who lives in Eureka, California and teaches at College of the Redwoods. Additionally, he maintains the blog Extreme Craft and a new blog for ReadyMade magazine about his adventures with his 1905 Victorian home. Garth is also the co-host of Reconstruct: Eco-Friendly Crafts Made Easy, a step-by-step DVD that shows viewers how to make their own projects out of recycled materials.
It’s Almost Here! Our Fall Warehouse Fabric Sale is October 24
It's that time of year again — fabric sale time! Our next semi-annual warehouse sale is scheduled for Sunday, October 24 from 1-4 pm. (Our Friends members can begin shopping at 12 pm; warehouse doors open to the general public at 1 pm. Friends memberships will be sold at the door.) Don't miss out on this amazing sale! Warehouse fabric will include upholstery and decorator rolls, flatfold yardage, loose samples, sample books, sample bundles and more. We will also have sales specials in the store on fabric and sewing-related items. If you love fabric, do not miss this event!
Call for Artists: Craftland
Craftland is the Scrap Exchange’s annual Holiday Artist’s Marketplace, now in its 7th year. All items for sale at Craftland are created by local artists and crafters and are made using reused, reclaimed, or re-purposed materials. This year the Craftland marketplace will be open in the Green Gallery from Friday, November 19th thru the beginning of January 2011.
Artists who wish to participate in Craftland should complete the online application, send us 3 to 5 photos of the work they wish to sell, and provide a $10 nonrefundable application fee. The application deadline is October 24, 2010. Since we may receive more applications than space will allow, we cannot accept every artist who applies. Participating artists will be selected based on how well their work fits into the scope of Craftland, and the quality and originality of their work. Complete details can be found on our Craftland page, or by visiting the Craftland events page on Facebook.
Fall Classes are Here!
Our fall classes have started. Here is a list ~ go to our website for class descriptions and more info...
A new exhibit opens in the Green Gallery October 15 and you are invited to attend!
An Offering: La Ofrenda
Friday, October 15 – Saturday, November 13
Opening Reception: Friday October 15 from 6pm - 9pm
Our latest exhibit is titled "An Offering: La Ofrenda". Community members have come together to create this open exhibit of altars to honor and celebrate the lives of loved ones who have passed away. This exhibit was planned in conjunction with Dia de Los Meurtos/Day of the Dead festivities in early November. Each shrine, or ofrenda, serves as a memory of a special person or beloved pet in the contributor's life.
The opening reception will be held on Friday October 15 from 6-9 pm. The opening will include festive folk music performed live by Durham's Trainspotters. Food will include savory empanadas from Angel's Nest Farm and Bakery, plus Pan de Meurtos and other fresh-baked sweet pasteries from the Compare Foods Supermarket.
Attendees are encouraged to bring mementos of a loved one who has passed away to the opening reception that can be added to a large communal ofrenda. This ofrenda will evolve throughout the month! Examples of mementos could be a photo, a favorite (packaged) food or candy, a random object, book or even a poem! There will also be an opportunity to create a small shrine in our Make and Take Room during the reception to add to the show!!
An Offering: La Ofrenda October 15 – November 13 Green Gallery at The Scrap Exchange Opening Reception on October 15, 6-9 pm
The Scrap Exchange wants you! We are inviting the public to contribute to our next Green Gallery exhibit titled "An Offering: La Ofrenda". In conjunction with Dia de Los Meurtos/Day of the Dead, you can celebrate a loved one, beloved pet, or ancestor who has passed away by creating a small shrine (la ofrenda) in their honor.
Shrines should be no larger than a shoebox (they can even be in a shoebox!) and can contain photos, objects representing favorite activities, favorite colors, or symbols of favorite foods of your beloved. Shrines can also include a written remembrance and the name of the person or beloved pet.
This show is not juried and is open to the public. Shrines are not required to be for sale. All ages and skill levels are welcome.
Shrines should be brought to the gallery and placed or hung between Monday, October 11 and Thursday, October 14, from 3 pm until store closing (5pm Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday; 6pm Thursday). If you would like to contribute a shrine but these hours are not convenient, please contact Retail Manager Julia Gartrell to see if you can to make alternate arrangements.
The opening reception will be held on Friday, October 15th. Feel free to come in costume! This exhibit will run from October 15 through November 13. For more information, call 919-688-6960.
"Meditations: A Fiber and Mixed-Media Exploration of Meditation"
by artist Candace Thomas and friends, September 17-October 9 in The Green Gallery at The Scrap Exchange Reception on Friday Sept. 17, 6-9 p.m., with free food, drink and art-making activities, open to the public
The whirring of a sewing machine is often all Chapel Hill fiber artist Candace Thomas needs to meditate her way out of a creative block. With her latest hurdle, that machine took her full circle, sparking a new group exhibit called “Meditations” at The Green Gallery in Durham’s The Scrap Exchange. "Meditations" opens Friday September 17. An opening reception is scheduled from 6-9 pm and is free to the public.
Subtitled “A Fiber and Mixed-Media Exploration of Meditation,” the exhibit features an interactive sewing exploration and other works by Thomas, as well as mixed-media creations by Triangle artists Sauda Zahra, Karimah Abdusamad, Alexandra Smith and Terra Omni, and D.C. artist Kath Robinson.
Thomas originally planned for a solo exhibit, but she lamented to a friend months ago that she hadn’t yet thought of a theme.
“My friend said, ‘What do you think about when you sew?’ ” Thomas recalled. “I said, ‘Hold on, let me call you back.’ So I stand at one of my older machines and put my pedal to the metal and just listen to that ‘shhh-shhh-shhhh.’ It was like prayer for me. I was supposed to call her back in 15 minutes and I didn’t call her ‘til the next day."
Thomas began exploring books on meditation, prayer and mantras, she contacted fellow artists, and the exhibit took shape. An integral piece is an interactive station at which visitors to the gallery will be able to write down affirmations, prayers or any positive thoughts and sew them into a long, circular strip of fabric. Among the other works are an interactive labyrinth, a mandala and a quilt with pockets in which people can place their prayers.
“It’s not going to be a lot with the exhibit,” Thomas said of her own contributions, “but it’s going to be where I am right now -- looking back at views on God and prayer and meditation and spirituality. Not to define who God is or what God is but just that repetition of my sewing machine and how it’s able to balance me when I’m about to go to pieces.”
The exhibit is also about friendship and inspiration, Thomas says.
“I love talking about life and art with my artist friends especially, because we can go to the moon and back,” she says. “It takes me back to going to church as a child and watching the women get the fire, the spirit.”
Some of her friends’ contributions will be a surprise to Thomas – at her request. She knew their art would fit together naturally. Her only stipulation was that nobody’s work could involve stress or negativity.
“It has to be about living and meditating,” she says, “and bringing all of these things we have within us out to share.”
The Green Gallery is open during store hours: Mon., Tues., Wed. & Fri., 11 a.m.-5 p.m.; Thurs., 11 a.m.-6 p.m.; Sat., 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sun., noon-5 p.m. Admission is free. 548 Foster St., Durham. For more information call 919-688-6960, or go to http://www.scrapexchange.org/.
We've just received a shipment of Brand New Books! This awesome selection of books will inspire even the most seasoned artist or crafter and are definitely worth checking out. You can find them in the Artists' Marketplace section of the store.... Great Gifts!
Who's Your Dada? by Linda and Opie O'brien teaches you how to make whimsical toys out of recycled materials.
Sweater Surgery by Stefanie Girard has great project ideas for making accessories and clothing out of old sweaters.... just in time for Fall.
Mixed Media Collage by Holly Harrison has beautiful paper project ideas that would be fun to execute with Scrap Exchange materials.
Material World by Cat Wei gives instructions for fun projects that will splash up your house--- perfect things to make with some super fly Scrap Exchange fabric finds!
Altered Clothing by Kathleen Maggio helps you reinvent old clothing into a funky new wardrobe.
Featuring Durham artist Bryant Holsenbeck's work on its cover, 1000 Ideas for Creative Reuse by Garth Johnson is an incredible visual dictionary of Creative Reuse projects large and small. Truly inspirational. Also, author Garth Johnson is the keynote speaker at Reuse Conex (www.reuseconex.org), the first national reuse conference which is being held October 18-20th in RALEIGH!!!
Green Guide for Artists by Karen Michel gives tips and recipes for how to keep your studio safe and earth-friendly.
Print & Stamp by Traci Bunkers is a fantastic book that demonstrates how to make lovely stamps out of everyday objects.
Inspired yet!? I want to buy one of each! Come on down to the Scrap Exchange and see for yourself how amazing these books are!
We want to introduce you to another product that we receive often, but that usually goes unnoticed in our store. Say hello to the commercial fabric sample card! OK, we know at first glance that this item is not as fun or exciting as other scrap materials we receive. But we invite you to take a second look, and experiment with this little gem.
Fabric sample cards are produced for sales staff to sell fabrics used in office and commercial buildings. We receive thousands of them during the course of a year as product lines are discontinued. They are cool to look at, but what in the world could you possibly do with them? As always, we have a couple suggestions!
The sample cards provide a fabulous array of color, texture, pattern and size.
As you can see in the pictures, some sample cards are already 3-hole punched! They are ready for you to use an alternative page in a binder, journal, scrapbook, or altered book. You could use the sample squares as frames or backgrounds for photos, pictures and text.
Some sample cards, like the one below, include fold-out pages, adding another level of complexity and interest to an altered book or journal project.
Several of the manufacturers fuse their samples between two sheets of heavy duty cardstock. You can cut the samples out from the page and transform them into an alternative mosaic tile! Depending on the sample cards that you choose, your tiles could include a wide variety of sizes and shapes.
The following picture shows you the side of a few "tiles". Some tiles were cut with a border and other tiles were cut without a border. Notice how the fabric is fused to or sandwiched between the cardstock layers. As a result, these chips are thick and durable. But you can still easily cut them out using a utility knife or a rotary cutter. I used a rotary cutter to cut these tiles out from the sample cards.
Ready to experiment with these fun and colorful fabric sample cards? We have a barrel full of them at The Scrap Exchange and have priced them at 25 cents per 8.5"x11" card.
