• About
• Advertise
• Chat Room
• Prizes
• Twitter Conversation
• Where to Hear Us
• Guests
• Contests
  • Ho-lympics
• Stuff from the Show

DeBorah Beatty and Lorelle VanFossen: The Art of the Handmade Gift

Posted Friday, December 18th, 2009 by Lorelle VanFossen 

During the Holiday Marathon this weekend, DeBorah Beatty and Lorelle VanFossen will be sharing stories and asking for yours on the making and giving of handmade gifts.

Making gifts by hand has been around longer than Santa. While not around as long as Santa, DeBorah and Lorelle give gifts developed hundreds, even thousands of years ago, before there even was a Santa! See the gallery at the bottom of the post for images of the artwork and handcrafts of DeBorah and Lorelle.

DeBorah Beatty is a life coach and consultant and host of Living a Created Life podcast on Bitwire Media and her Living a Created Life blog. She is also a master tie-dye artist.

For many years, she and husband, Rich, have created phenomenal artistry with tie-dye with their Rainbow Factory on scarves, clothing, purses, bags, jewelry, and art work. They work with overlaid dyes, fabric paints, creating traditional and original dyed patterns that dazzle the eye and spirit. Her work is not limited to fabrics, but covers a variety of media, mixing and matching as her artistic eye directs.

Her love of artistry has also led her to teach workshops and training programs to help develop artistic skills, including art programs and day camps for kids in Walla Walla, Washington, and for adults in Washington and Oregon State. In an interview with American Apparel, she explained:

“There are so many kids who are into art and can express themselves best through that medium. But because of cutbacks in school budgets, are classes aren’t available anymore to many children,” DeBorah Beatty explains. She adds that art is a universal way of communication and is particularly helpful for children with special needs: “Some kids are learning disabled and art allows them to function ‘normally’ in a school setting. Also, children need to express themselves in other ways than just language.”

For her, crafts are a way of self-expression, but also a process of educating and sharing.

Lorelle VanFossen is known mostly for Lorelle on WordPress, helping bloggers learn how to blog and work with WordPress, and travels around the world giving keynote presentations and training workshops on blogging and social media, so her favorite hobbies are ones that are very portable. Called a geek and diva of web tech, her heart sings most when playing with fabric, yarn, thread, and the camera.

She is a long time nature and travel photographer, and you can see examples on Taking Your Camera on the Road along with her husband, Brent VanFossen. She also loves to play with the 17th century lace making technique called Tatting, taught to her by her husband’s grandmother VanFossen. She learned how to knit from her mother a few years ago, and has made scarves, hats, washclothes, and a variety of beginner projects as gifts. She’s also experimented with sewing and quilting from time to time.

A long time novice at doll making, Lorelle loves to experiment with all kinds of media to make dolls, from knitting and fabrics to sculpture. Unfortunately, almost all the gifts she makes she gives away immediately, onto the next project.

When I work on a project, I hold the person I’m making the gift for in my head and heart, thinking about them, their life, our friendship, how this might make them smile and recall our lives together, too. For me, the magic of creating handmade items is the giving, not the keeping nor selling. People tell me all the time that I should sell my crafts. While that works for some artists, as a businesswoman, it would take all of the fun out of it to turn my craft into a business. And I wouldn’t think about the one person I was making this for. I’d have to think of the many.

Join Lorelle and DeBorah as they share their tips, techniques, and ideas on handmade gift giving, and asks for your stories on your favorite crafty gifts this holiday from 1-2PM PST during the Holiday Marathon.

Call (toll free): 888-334-4248
Email: studio@holidaymarathon.com
Twitter: @holidaymarathon

4 Comments

©2010 Bitwire Media. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms of Use