It’s been a little more than three years since I hopped on a tandem bicycle with my soon-to-be husband and rode through the streets of Kensington with some of our best friends to get hitched to my best friend. While our marriage has fared quite well in the subsequent trio of years, the tandem suffered a different fate, basically falling apart right after the wedding. Last summer, we entrusted the tandem to the fine folks at Doylestown Bike Works upon the urging of a friend of mine who has been involved with DBW since they opened in 2011. Ever since we picked it up in April (and no, it didn’t take that long for them to rehab it–we’re just delinquents), I’ve been meaning to show off the fantastic work they did. Our anniversary seemed as good as any occasion for a little show-and-tell (even if I’m a few days late for that, too).
All posts tagged tandem bicycle
Arts Festival Aftermath
This past weekend, I participated in the Trenton Avenue Arts Festival. It was an experimental endeavor, for sure, and my friend and fellow artist, Beth Nentwig, agreed to participate in the experiment with me. My mom also contributed some very cool bracelets that she’s been making for the last several months. From a sales perspective, the event was an abject failure. I sold nothing. Not one thing. Not even a single hand-printed linocut card. Needless to say, it was disheartening.
In the 24 hours following the event, as I reflected on the festival, I figured I had a couple of ways to approach it. I could take the defeatist approach: “This is proof that the things I make have no value, and therefore I should just give up making them and trying to sell them.” But that’s not really my style. Plus, one data point hardly seems like enough to draw conclusions about the value of one’s work or whether exhibiting at future art festivals has value. I could make excuses (some of which might even be valid): “The festival goers were cheap. The rain kept people from making last-minute purchases. The audience wasn’t right.” That might make me feel a little better about myself, but it really doesn’t prepare me for future sales endeavors. And it’s not really my style, either.
Merry Bikemas!
It’s holiday crafting time in the Wittzler household, and I’ve been wanting to make my own Christmas cards for several years. This year, I decided to make it happen. I haven’t actually made my own cards yet, but this week I printed up a bunch of holiday-themed cards using my trusty tandem bicycle linocut. I printed up two versions–one on kraft paper and one on white paper. I’m kind of partial to the kraft paper, but that’s just the kind of girl I am. I think they’re super cute (see below), and they’re for sale over on Etsy if you’re interested. If you’re Philly-based and interested in them, send me a note, and we can skip the Etsy thing.
