July 31st: The Feast Day of St Ignatius, an imagined photo: Statue with Clouds at the Jesuit Center

St Ignatius, Statue with Clouds at the Jesuit Center. Photo by Wayne Stratz

I am sure there are plenty of people born on feast days of saints who don't go on retreats inspired by the spirituality of that saint, but I do. And I had gone many a year before I realized the connection.

So what is the connection. Imagination? Ignatius wanted us to imagine ourselves into biblical stories, as bystanders and key characters. By becoming part of the scene, we become part of the story and are placed into the tradition of the church. On Facebook I list my job title as CID of Nutmeg Designs , Chief Imagination Dude. Imagination leads us into places we would never experience. Our story takes shape. Imagine a JOY inside a mandala. Then design it. Then collaborate with Margaret.

Joy Mandala: Imagined by Wayne Stratz. Created by Wayne Stratz and Margaret Almon

The clouds are not an afterthought, like when a photo of a flower lands a great insect within it. I was photographing the clouds as much as I was photographing the statue of Saint Ignatius. Photography is imagination. Imagine an image recorded for history. Use the camera. My imagined designs and photographs are not crystal clear. They have some clouds floating between the idea and the finished product. Ignatius did not say how exactly to imagine a story, we may have an idea when we leap into a scene, but forcing it to play out as it was predicted foils the creative flow of imagination.

Choose a story, any story, now leap in. And follow your imagination.

St Ignatius, Statue with Clouds at the Jesuit Center. Photo by Wayne Stratz

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old words in a new font: Jazz, welcome, and breathe in Chelsea Studio

Breathe in Chelsea Studio Font. Lettering by Wayne Stratz. Background by Margaret Almon. Order your word of choice here

Jazz in Chelsea Studio Font. Lettering by Wayne Stratz. Background by Margaret Almon. Order your word of choice here

Welcome in Chelsea Studio Font. Lettering by Wayne Stratz. Background by Margaret Almon. Order your word of choice here

TBT: A hippo, A Golden Eagle Feather, and a Butterfly walk into a bar, I mean House Number by Nutmeg Designs

The Hippo Project: a house number that went to CA. Created by Wayne Stratz and Margaret Almon in 2012

I had to laugh when I saw these images were taken on April's Fools Day. When Margaret told me what the potential clients wanted on their project, I tghought it was a perfect spam joke for our business. Two four digit numbers, a butterfly, a Golden Eagle Feather, and of course a hippo.

It turned out to be true and now three plus years later, I can tell you it has not led to any hippo commissions, however, up in our studios and Red-Tailed Hawk feather is nearly complete. 

You never know where a client will lead you here at Nutmeg Designs

Close up of the Butterfly featured on The Hippo Project: a house number that went to CA. Created by Wayne Stratz and Margaret Almon in 2012

Close up of the Golden Eagle Feather featured on The Hippo Project: a house number that went to CA. Created by Wayne Stratz and Margaret Almon in 2012

The Hippo featured on The Hippo Project: a house number that went to CA. Created by Wayne Stratz and Margaret Almon in 2012

Blue Tuesdays: 7 Blue Mosaic Pendants by Margaret Almon

Blue Mosaic Pendant by Margaret Almon with a milleffiori 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

see her pendants on etsy

Blue Mosaic Pendant by Margaret Almon with gold smalti

Pale Blue Mosaic Pendant by Margaret Almon

Blue Mosaic Pendant by Margaret Almon with a Log Cabin quilt design

Blue Mosaic Pendant by Margaret Almon

Dark Blue Mosaic Pendant by Margaret Almon

 

 

Blue Mosaic Pendant by Margaret Almon with a dove designed by Wayne Stratz

With All Due Respect to Robert Indiana's Design, Our Take on Love

Original Lettering design by Robert Indiana
Adaptation and Letters by Wayne Stratz
Peachy background by Margaret Almon

Where did Wisdom emerge from?

Do you know that Nutmeg Designs has a blog, a collaboration between Mosaic Woman and myself. That is where the story of Wisdom was told.

 

Wordlessly celebrating my second glass cello

 

Posted with Blogsy

The A to Z of one word messages ~ A is for Awed

word in progress today:
April 1, 2013

At Nutmeg Designs we specialize in one word signs, and even though we have done more than one word those occasions have been rare. This month I am going to focus on words we have made and words I hope to make.

Over on Flickr I sometimes leave a simple one word comment and often it is "Awed."

What do I mean? I hope the photographer understands that I mean I am overwhelmed by beauty, by talent, by colors, by shapes, by emotions, and by the generosity to take the time to share it all for my eyes to see. To be awed is truly splendid. To show you what I mean I made a gallery featuring one photograph from 16 of my favorite Flick friends.

I am awed by flowers, jazz, friends, scientific discoveries, art, glass, birds, and love. I am awed by a God who is involved in all of this.

And finally I am awed by Arlee Bird, who came up with the idea of a to z and has created quite the phenomenon.

So what are you awed by?

Mosaic Woman is going places on her A to Z and today she celebrated a piece of Canada... Alberta

Celebrating Colorful Letters: a garden sign commission emerges

Margaret and I must be doing something right because house number and word signs commissions have been steady business for Nutmeg Designs. Today I cut out what will be our 8th house number of the year. I don't tend to complain, but hey, I am the dude who love to create things like this:




... And nearly every commission features white or off-white or black or dull pink glass for the lettering/numbering. Then Margaret gets to play with colors in the background. Well a while back we made a welcome sign with some splendid orange glass. A new client dug it. I redesigned GARDEN, and then with a pile of scraps I went to work. Placing the pattern pieces down here and there to capture all that glass had to give.

A Few of My Favorite Things 7 ~ Diners, especially The West Main in Lansdale

There is a running story/joke that Mosaic Woman likes to tell about how I never "even had Chinese food" before I met her.  My family did not eat out that much and when we did it tended to be diners.  Now Mosaic Woman has introduced me to Chinese and Thai and Indian, and Mexican, and ...

However, I introduced Mosaic Woman to diners and ever since the West Main Diner moved into Lansdale, it has become the world  headquarters of Nutmeg Designs.  
















Warm colored walls and booths sure did help to draw us back for comfort food.  The friendly staff and usually no need to rush helps us to think through things.

At the beginning of my break, we met to plan out the rest of 2012.   Today as we ate breakfast and lingered over coffee, (essential for brainstorming), we made plans for 2013.  Goals for the year.  Hopes for Nutmeg Designs.

Oh and one more thing, I may be a bit biased by the owner's (well the male of the couple) first name and what greets me at the top of the specials every morning we convene a meeting ~

To Show or Not to Show, that is the question at hand

We (Nutmeg Designs) have had some amazing days and moments at craft shows, but we also have had disappointing and grand weekends wishing we were home finishing up commissions in the studio, or having friends over for pizza, or being rested for teaching, or going to a movie...

So we are going to look at data and combine it with our emotions to come up with what will likely be a less than perfect plan.  Here is data number one.  Margaret compiled a list of super customers, folk who have shown continued support of our art.  I was convinced that shows would be minor, but to my dismay the only thing that beat it out was friends made at work.  So clearly I have to keep my day job of teaching and keep doing shows.  Well, I knew that already.

But we will be doing less shows.  Our white board of commissionshas had a steady list on it for many months and we trusted that that would not change, so we signed up for far less shows during the holiday rush.   (take your imagination into our studio with your very own commission)  Who knows, maybe we will get to a movie.

My day job is still needed, but we feel little pressure for Mosaic Woman to get a gig.

But wait, lets add up those friends... 61.30% of our super customers are friends that have emerged from many a place.  No wonder I have made pizza for 48 friends in 2012 and still have many people on the "I want to have them over" list.  And being a super client is not required to be invited.

at the end of the year we will examine our sales from 2012 using some new software.  More data!

celebrating those who celebrate us: #1

collaboration mosaic by Margaret Almon, Suzanne Halstead, and Wayne Stratz

In this month of three craft shows (North Penn being this coming Saturday), I chose to be immersed in a class on the art of being an effective physics teacher and Margaret is immersed in a class on learning the code needed to create an artful website.  The launching of the website is approaching, for now I would like to celebrate some who have written testimonials, which will float in and out of the new website:

So far, I've had two occasions to buy gifts from Nutmeg Designs. The recipients 

of these gifts were delighted, I was happy with the reasonable shipping 

rates and fast turnaround, and it felt really good to give beautiful, lovingly 

hand-crafted works that I was able to buy directly from the artists.

 Andrea Wolper, jazz singer  

Andrea's take on tunes has left me hopeful that talented musicians will continue to move out in new directions.  She is on my list of people I want to see in concert and I can imagine one day creating a design inspired by her music.

           I have commissioned two pieces from Nutmeg designs, both gifts to gooverseas.  

Each was uniquely suited to the recipient, and carefullypacked to travel

 -- and beautiful!  

Michelle Francl, Quantum Chemist/ Theologist  

Michelle's passion for writing about both science and God is welcomed in my unfolding life.  She is a living example of how I desire to view creation,  with the eyes of an evolutionary biologist and with the spirit of one who walks with God.

More celebrations will come.  Thanks to all who have written such wonderful words.  If inspired to write a line or two about the art/people/spirit of Nutmeg Designs, you can do that by using this form.   

21 words , 21 mosaics

Hope in the Dessert
Wayne Stratz and Margaret Almon

There is something emerging in the two studio one bedroom row of Nutmeg Designs.  Margaret and I are planning a big project and you can help us by letting us know what words you would like us to create out of glass...


Thanks for sharing your opinion (remember, hit submit)

Wordless Wednesday ~ Words: Collaborations with Margaret Almon

Welcome Sign in Blue and Violet by Nutmeg Designs

Hope Spiral in Spring Green and Blue by Nutmeg Designs

Imagine Mosaic by Nutmeg Designs

Joy Mandala by Nutmeg Designs

Really, thanks for the break from commissions

Forgiveness by Wayne Stratz

Last Sunday we set up our show at Pebble Hill Interfaith Church and there was plenty of creations that emerged in January.

Last August I took a big circle to the Jesuit Center and came home with a design.  The goal was to have our biggest mandala made in time for the show, so after New Years, I went for it, and the result is what greeted you.  As I went along I saved the scraps, and check out what Mosaic Woman did with them...

Sunset Spiral by Margaret Almon

I cut out Joy, twice, and twice I dug what Mosaic Woman did around my letters and design pieces...

The first Joy Mandala collaboration:
Margaret Almon and Wayne Stratz

And

Joy In The Sky by
Margaret Almon and Wayne Stratz

Margaret also had the time to finish this:

Spiral of Hope by
Margaret Almon and Wayne Stratz

and to go color crazy:

Rainbow
by
Margaret Almon

I ordered some blue glass so I could finish my second Red-Tailed Hawk:

and the one I imagined...

Imagine by
Wayne Stratz and Margaret Almon

and then finally with time running out I made the one sun catcher I needed for the show:

Sophia Spiral by
Wayne Stratz

so yes, as I begin to work on some commissions that just entered our lives, I am most grateful for a January to imagine and create for our exhibit at Pebble Hill.

Vlog: 2011 really did begin with 2012

yes, we made these (and more) in 2011



music is from Andrea Wolper  Parallel Lives

A Future Wordle: Nutmeg Designs

in our recent newsletter we had a link to this simple question and got several answers, but we are hoping to get a few more responses:  Thanks for taking the time during this busy season.  What is Nutmeg Designs, well this is Nutmeg Designs? 

What is a Wordle?  Here is one I made with my students:

I'd rather be...

feel free to fill in the blank. For artists it is often "I'd rather be in the studio", which happens to be the title of a great book by Alyson B Stanfield .


The thing is that in most cases if you don't leave the studio, you don't make sales. So you have to venture out to craft shows and twitter. To networking events and facebook. To conversations with friends and flickr. To family events and blogs. To spiritual retreats and there and here.

As for us, Mosaic Woman and I have made an effort to venture out and it appears to be paying off. We have a list of commissions to work on from a college friend, a close relative, a craft show attendee, a flickr friend, a Dave, a blogging friend, a friend made at a retreat.

So now we need to be in our studios, because we told the world that We Are Nutmeg Designs.

But that means I have less time to blog and tweet and .... so, am I saying I would rather be out of the studio. Not really. We love what is happening here.

Thanks for all the support

Crafting on Thursdays--- a growing collaboration

Today I drove to Ambler where I met a man who proved to be a happy client. No photo of that collaboration, because his wife will open it on Christmas Day. I designed the lettering then cut out 42 pieces of glass to spell out what the client wrote down on a slip of paper. Mosaic Woman took those pieces and creates a mosaic. This is the collaboration that produced a JOY, HOPE, JAZZ, GARDEN, and House Numbers.



The photo above is an example of one style of picture frame made by Mosaic Woman. A couple of years ago one was bought at a craft show. Several weeks ago the client e-mailed us to ask for 25 frames. At that point we were in the midst of Holiday craft show delirium, but as I did with the above mentioned project, I encouraged her to take on the commission. I said I would help, and help I did. I painted the wooden frames. I was given several types of glass of one color (she did red, green, blue, and earth tone frames) and I nipped and nipped and nipped to produce tiny pieces. Then I cut out 4x6 pieces of clear glass for each frame and helped to put them all together.

We did it while creating new projects to take to shows. The shows are made so much easier because we are in this together. When the show ends we both have our jobs to do to get the booth torn down into the pieces that will fill the Fit. We do this slowly and mindfully. And so far peacefully.

We are in this together. We are Nutmeg Designs and we break glass.

To fly solo: Stratoz's stained glass at the Pathway School Craft Show

When a good friend at the Pathway School told me they were considering having a craft show. I responded that Nutmeg Designs was booked through the first weekend of December. She scheduled their show on the 12th. I handed her a check.

Weeks later when Nutmeg Designs met at our corporate headquarters, a booth at the West Main Diner in Lansdale, I suggested to Mosaic Woman, that maybe it was time for me to fly solo. It was her courage that got this business going. In fact, I was on a spiritual retreat when she first filled the car with her mosaics and headed out to do our first show.

Since then most of our exhibits have been together. For the first time ever I have a large enough inventory to do a solo show. This is mainly because of the huge burst of studio energy I had following my most recent retreat.