It’s official, I’ll be all set up with my own table in Artist’s Alley at this year’s Central Canada Comic Con along with my creative cohort in Nerdcrafting, (The act of making “nerd related” crafts including masks, props, costumes and art.), Jenn of GetSTUFT, (who will also have her own table). It’s gonna be a great time! Get your tickets now as I’m sure prices at the door are gonna be higher. Also, get there EARLY in the morning on whatever day you attend as last year was crazy busy! Can’t wait to see you there! 😀
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RETRO GAMERS UNITE! A Retro Video Game Charity Event..
Hello folks. It’s been forever.. annnnd a bit more. I know. To make a long story short: creative ruts + feeling low + a loss in the family * LIFE = no art being made. I’m tryin’ to come back. Also, the winter here has really, REALLY sucked. Not only very cold for a lonnnng time, but also snow. And lots of it. Spring cannot come soon enough!
Anyway, let’s get to the title of this post. Here’s the poster that you may see plastered around the city 🙂
And a link to this wonderful groups Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/RetroGamersWinnipeg
Annnd a link to their blog!: http://www.retrogamerswinnipeg.blogspot.ca/
A great event to try and help out the homeless 🙂 They’ll be taking donations of food and clothing for the Light House Mission, Winnipeg’s longest running homeless shelter! Come on down and show your support for this cause, and then explore the venue and show your retro video game love! Visit the vendors, come in costume if you like! Participate in some sweet retro video game tournaments, win prizes! Or just sit back and play some retro video games, no pressure, in the retro video game lounge. Also, come by my table and see me! Even if it’s just to say hi 🙂 $5 gets you in for the day. Kids 5 and under get in for free.
Pictured below is one of the creations I’ll be bringing to sell at my humble table. 🙂 I hope that you dig it as much as I do! ALSO, my creative cohort JENN! of GetSTUFT will be with me! Come see what she’s been up to! Not just plushies anymore! 🙂 …but she totally still makes awesome plushies 😉
Classic NES Gun Shadowbox Display made by ME! Dan J. Gutwein
Anywho, that’s about all for now. I may or may not post a drawing I did, well, two drawings, of Totoro for a friend of mine out on the west coast. If I get his OK, (as they ARE for him), then I’ll toss ’em up. Otherwise, I shall, hopefully, be updating this site regularly again. Starting today. 🙂
Maples Comic Show! I’ma be there! :D
Ooh boy! It has been AGES and, to my fans (lol,. okay there might be a few of you), I do apologize. Between 1.) Life (two boys FULL of energy), 2.) personal stuff.. blah, and 3.) kind of losing some motivation/inspiration.. call it “creator’s block”.. it lead to a big ol’ break from creating anything, let alone updating this blog and my Facebook page. But I’m slowly coming back. Now that the boys are back in school there’s a bit more time for me to be able to sit down and get back into the mindset of creating things. Sadly, no new creations just yet but I AM going to be at the Maples Comic Show this Saturday here in beautiful Winnipeg!
Details!
Maples Community Centre @ 434 Adsum Drive
10am – 5pm
Admission is $2 each at the door, Children 12 and under get in for free!
About 40 tables of comics, collectibles and loads of other stuff! Costume/Cosplay is not only welcomed but wholeheartedly encouraged! Come out, dress up, have fun! And, as always, come by my table and say hi! My friend Jenn, of GetSTUFT Plushies, will be there with some new creations too! Can’t wait to see you there! 🙂
Some projects on the horizon: Diorama’s! Leather working! Walking/Hiking staves! And maybe a painting. We’ll see. 😉
To KeyCon I Go..
It’s been a lonnnnnng time. No new creations, sadly. Just can’t seem to get my head in the right zone, given some recent garbage that a few key members of my “family” decided to sling my way. I’m still really hurt from it, but I’m trying to get past it.. and I know some would say, “Use that energy, turn it around and put it into art.”, and yeah that’s what I should be doing. Sadly no luck yet. AT ANY RATE.. enough of that crap.
IF you’re in Winnipeg on the weekend of May 17, 18, and 19.. come on down to the Radisson Hotel on Portage Avenue and check out KeyCon! I’ll have a table in the Dealer’s Room AND I will be attending KeyCon all weekend long with my amazing wife, and my partner in artsy-crime, Jenn of GetSTUFT Plushies will be showing her plushie masterpieces at my table as well. No membership is required to visit the Dealer’s Room, (for the rest of the con, membership IS required) so come give us a visit :-)).
What is KeyCon, you ask?
Keycon is a convention where fans of Science Fiction and Fantasy (SF&F) genres, along with both professional and amateur artists and writers gather in a welcoming and inclusive environment to celebrate all aspects of SF&F from books to television and movies. Conventions highlights that Keycon has become famous for include the social atmosphere found in Hospitality theme rooms. The Masqerade costume contest is a fan favourite where some contestants even spend the year prearing their costumes!
Circuit Board Jewellery!
The Central Canada Pop Culture Expo is in 4 days, (setup is Friday), and I’ll be working on things right up until Thursday evening! Here are my latest creations. A circuit board pendant, (have another small one and a larger one that’s about the size of a Toonie), and circuit board “dangle” earrings! Again, the Expo takes place on April 6th and 7th, (first Saturday and Sunday of the month), at the Winnipeg Convention Centre and the hours for each day are 10am to 6pm. For ticket information head on over to the C4 Pop Culture Expo Ticket page! Also, if you were going to attend the World of Wheels this weekend you can get $5 off a one day C4 Pop Culture Expo pass! 🙂 Come see Batman, Robin and Batgirl.. then head upstairs and see the Batmobile’s! 😀
Egads! It’s STEAMPUNK!
FINALLY! NOT a video game “stuff” update! lol
So as I was checking/chatting on Facebook this evening and a lovely lady, (who made me a template for my Steampunk tunic-style vest), sends me a message.. all CAPS LOCK asking me if I was free from 6pm – 10pm on the evening of the 27th of March as I would be PERFECT to fill in a spot for her Steampunk calendar photo shoot! I hummed and hawed, (naturally, the curmudgeon that I am), but eventually said yes. I soon realized that my Steampunk gear, (what little of it there is and how amateurish it feels to me), needed a bit of an update. Needed more flash, ooh, and aah if you will. So I give you the before and after. The first pic is of my Steampunk goggles as they were, sitting on my grey top hat, at the Steampunk Ball in 2012. The 2nd pic is of the goggles updated this evening. 🙂
2012
2013
The updated goggles have an old antique binocular lense on the one side and the opposite side has a CPU fan, stripped, painted gold, and wrapped with copper wire. I’m glad I started a Steampunky bits and pieces drawer a year ago! If you dig it, let me know 🙂 Feel free to leave comments below, email me if you like (YES, I DO take commissions), or find me on Facebook!
I almost forgot that I can do things OTHER than video game bags, earrings, key chains, etc.. 😉
NES Zelda Console and GameCube!
It’s been a while since I’ve posted, (on here at least), mainly because I wanted to hold off on posting pics until I had at least a couple projects DONE, (still have 3 video game bags that need straps and then they’ll be done). SO, at long last, some visual updates for you!
First off, my first GameCube (Black, lined with blue). This one’s neat as there are no hinges or clasps added to it. 🙂 I may add a strap to it yet, but it’s very “purse-like” by itself. This one, from start to finish, took around 4.5hrs to do. Looking at ~$70 for this one. Definitely a one of a kind purse!:
Second, is the Zelda themed NES shoulder bag with one unique addition: a shoulder strap made from NES controller cords. This came about due to two things. 1.) I was all out of nylon/polyester material for shoulder straps, and 2.) I’ve got a bag sitting here with 15+ controller cables sitting in it lol. At any rate, I dig how it turned out. It feels good, and feels fairly durable. Because of the custom cord, and interior, I’m asking $75 for this one. One of a kind, not another one like it.
I’ve got a Sega Genesis (lined with black), a TurboGrafx16 (lined with black), and a SuperNES (lined with purple) all done.. they just need shoulder straps. Hopefully adding those this coming week 🙂 I’ve got 1 gutted NES unit and 2 gutted SNES units also ready for lining, but I’m holding off as I’m torn between 1.) just lining them with whatever colour I like, or 2.) saving them for a custom order. *shrug*. Also to come this week: circuit board jewellery.. weather permitting as I’ve gotta cut the circuit board outside. 🙂
More pics to come as I finish projects! As always, I greatly value your input. So if you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or commissions then send me an email via the link to the right, or find me on Facebook (link also to the right)!
XBox and Playstation Button Earrings!
I spent nearly 4hrs hunched over my desk with my Dremel, utility knife and pliers makin’ these lol.. in the end I made 24 pairs of earrings today. A lot of people really liked these when I had my table at last year’s Central Canada Comic Con, here in Winnipeg, so we’ll see how they do in a few weeks at the Central Canada Pop Culture Expo 🙂 $12/pair or two pair for $20!
Zelda Themed NES Shoulder Bag & SNES Shoulder Bag!
I’ve been slowly chipping away at my pile of video game consoles and video game controllers over the past week, (and creating new things like the circuit board cufflinks, NES processor chip pins, and keychains!), and I finally finished my first Super Nintendo (SNES) shoulderbag and the classic NES shoulderbag I was working on with the Zelda theme on the interior! I quite like how they both turned out. To accompany the NES Zelda shoulder bag I will make an NES Controller wallet with a matching interior to the NES console, (but with a wee triforce symbol inside it!).
NES “Legend of Zelda” Shoulder Bag
SuperNES Shoulder Bag
I always look forward to your comments, thoughts, questions, and requests! Feel free to leave a comment below, send me an email via the link to the right, or visit my Dan J. Gutwein Creations page on Facebook and message me there, (and give the page a Like while you’re at it! ;-)). And remember I will be at the Central Canada Pop Culture Expo here in Winnipeg, MB, on April 6th and 7th! Come on by for a chat, oggle my wares, buy my wares; either way, come check it out!
General Update.. With Pictures! Oooh pretty pictures..
It’s been a while since I posted here, (I’ve been updating my Creations Facebook page a few times a week though!), so let there be an update!
I’ve cleaned out 3 Super Nintendo consoles annnnnd a TurboGrafx 16! All 4 of those units will be turned into shoulder bags, (and I assure you, all 4 units were dead and what parts that did work were salvaged). Also I’ve got 11 NES Controller carcasses ready to be lined and turned into wee wallets/coin/key containers, and a Playstation controller that I’m going to turn into a pencil/pen holder (complete with magnet lined thumbstick holes for paperclips).
Also, a new idea that sprung forth from getting more than a few requests for cufflinks at the 2012 Central Canada Comic Con, (and my wife’s suggestion): Video game console circuit board cufflinks! I quite like them. Note that the cufflinks in the picture are the FIRST pair and I cannot guarantee that I can get the same cufflink backing for future cufflinks that I make.
I also made some NES processor chip button/pins.
If you’re interested in purchasing either of these products, (give my Etsy store a few weeks to a month to get going), send me an email and I will contact you with the details regarding price, shipping rate, etc. Also please note that all of the pictured items will be on sale at my table at the Central Canada Pop Culture Expo, taking place April 6th and 7th at the Winnipeg Convention Centre! For ticket prices visit the C4 Pop Culture Expo page!
As always, I welcome your comments, questions and suggestions. And if you like what you see and dig what I do, then head on over to my Dan J. Gutwein Creations Facebook page and give it a Like!
Dan J. Gutwein Creations 