About
Hi, I’m Chelsea. I’m the Founder, Owner, Artist, Mastermind, and Chaos Goblin behind Studio Eldeen Handmade Art.
Thank you for checking out my art.
The Artist
Arts and Crafts are in my blood. Mom and Dad met at Hawkeye Tech Community College; She majored in Commercial Arts and loves to sew, he majored in Photography and loves woodworking.
They spent my formative years remodeling the house. For me, home smells like fresh paint, sawdust, and varnish; it sounds like the roar of a table saw, the shhhk of a tape measure, and the pounding of a hammer. And I got to be their Little Helper through it all. I'm so grateful for the skills they taught me and continue to teach me to this day.
I majored in Integrated Studio Arts at Iowa State University. My "Continuing Education" is through the wonders of YouTube where I learn new skills, techniques and mediums. My current list of skills includes but is not limited to:
Basic woodworking (I only do that occasionally in Dad’s shop because of space constraints); Basic sewing, embroidery, and cross stitching (I don’t actually enjoy those crafts but they are in my arsenal); Knitting; Origami; Wood burning; Jewelry making; Clay sculpting; Plaster carving; Calligraphy with dip and fountain pens; Nail art; Cricut vinyl decals; Painting on all surfaces with acrylics and alcohol inks; Mold making with silicon; Casting, coating, and sculpting with UV and epoxy resins; 3D printing; and Digital design and sculpting (my latest endeavors).
My favorite part of the creative process is problem-solving: How can I use the tools, materials, and skills I already have in new and weird ways to achieve my aesthetic goal? What happens if I do this? I love creating new things, but I rarely make the same thing more than twice (thanks ADHD). The items in my Shop are the exception to that “rule.”
I also enjoy Critical Role, Cowboy Bebop, Red Dwarf, Adam Savage, Weird Al, metaphysical workings, chocolate, cheese, bacon, stupid jokes, and kitty snuggles.
The Stuido
The Studio is the spare bedroom in the small home I share with my husband, Graeme, and our furbabies in Eastern Iowa, USA. We recently upgraded all the hand-me-down and curb-found furniture to steel kitchen prep tables, and we also installed better storage solutions for all the materials and tools. This has helped keep the crafting chaos contained to just that one room, but things inevitably leak into the rest of the house; The Gig Shelf for conventions lives in the living room and the “shipping station” lives in the kitchen LOL.
Graeme has a different full-time job but dabbles with art stuff in his spare time. He and I started learning digital sculpting at the same time and while I'm still struggling a bit with it, he's really taken to it like a fish to water. If you see something here that was digitally sculpted and 3D printed, chances are it is his work. I really enjoy the times we get to team up on a project and share in the creativity together, like we did for Wendi, the Final Fantasy tumblers, and our Masonic dice sets.
Its also nice to have someone who can see colors correctly because I'm part of the lucky 0.04% of women with a color vision deficiency! I can see red and green, but not as well as most folks can. If something's pale pink it looks white, if its a dark green it looks brown, etc. Color Theory courses in college really helped me adapt to this and most of the time it doesn’t impede my artistic goals.
Sometimes my niece inks large batches of dice for me and she does a fabulous job. Some friends of ours helped us with the Mason dice set launch. And sometimes a friend will watch our booth when we need a quick break. Aside from those wonderful humans occasionally helping me, I do literally everything else here at Studio Eldeen.
Graeme and I travel to a few Eastern Iowa conventions to sell some pieces we think the con-goers will enjoy. I'll often pick up some commissions at those conventions. I get DMs on Facebook for custom pieces, but I also have a Contact Page where anyone can email me about custom work.