Janine Feminella is creator and owner of Sreang. She creates hand crafted powerful jewelry with hammered brass, electro-formed copper, raw copper, natural gemstones, healing crystals, gold and sterling silver. She lives in Smithville, Texas with her husband Joseph. They own Sign and Banner Texas, a local print shop in nearby Bastrop, Texas.
1. Why did you choose to live in Bastrop County?
My husband Joseph and I moved to Bastrop county from western Massachusetts back in 2008. we were looking for a change of scenery and decided it would be fun to try Austin, so we bought a house we found online in Elgin, packed our cat and car and headed south.
2. What compels you to spend time creating?
Growing up, my mother was always making things… sewing, crafting, making baskets, wood burning, calligraphy, you name it. She really instilled in me this passion to always be creating and trying new things. Working with my hands and watching something transpire from beginning to end helps keep me grounded and out of my head so much.
3. Tell me three things you’ve learned in the past five years.
How important it is to set boundaries.
Love is so much more powerful than hate, nothing transcends love.
To let go of the things in which I have no control.
4. What are you currently making, reading, watching, or listening to?
Well, i’ve been a little consumed lately with researching my family history and building a family tree. I’ve been specifically interested in tracing my maternal lineage back as far as possible in Ireland. Nobody in my family knew the name of my mother’s great grandmother and I was able to find her searching through handwritten baptism records. It’s been an amazing way for me to connect with and honor my ancestors.
Murray Kaough’s paintings, leatherwork and “Texas Toile” fabric are inspired by nature, particularly West Texas’ Big Bend area. She proclaims it her soul country. She loves to travel and can’t wait until the pandemic ends and it’s safe to travel outside the U.S. She lives with her husband on a few acres south of Elgin with a few dogs, cats, birds and chickens. Her kids are grown now but went to school in Elgin.
1. Why did you move to the Elgin area?
We moved to the Colorado River bottom, 11 miles south of Elgin, about 30 years ago! Amazing, right? It was truly dark sky then and so much more uninhabited. I remember how hard it used to be to find our road at night, as there were no lights around. In those days you did NOT just zip out for a pizza! I need open space and feel like I can think better if there aren’t too many people crowded around all the time. Of course this does not include dogs, animals, trees, birds….they are welcome in large numbers at all times.
2. What compels you to spend time creating?
Busy hands are happy hands, I always say! My creative outlets are not only a true source of happiness, but also a necessary component in maintaining my good health and pleasant disposition :). I’m not really good at sitting around and genuinely prefer to be doing something productive. Painting is my first love, leatherwork is my side hustle, and gardening is another form of creative expression that requires a lot of watering and occasionally produces items I can actually eat. I also write and am co-founder of WEAVE (Women Engaged Artfully in Vital Expression), a women’s group started in 2019 to support women’s creative expression and to advance the integration of the divine feminine worldwide.
3. Tell me three things you’ve learned in the past five years.
This is really a hard one, as I’m learning new things all the time! Curiosity is the fountain of youth! I guess I would say:
Persistence and discipline are the keys to success. I know it sounds dull! Make a space, set regular studio hours, and just keep hammering away at it until you produce results that please you. But try to hammer in a playful, easy-does it sort of way, where you can enjoy the process as much as the end result.
Keep stepping out of your comfort zone to keep it fresh. Cultivate wonder to feed your inspiration! Reach across mediums to try something you don’t usually work in. Maybe take a class, look at magazines, go to a museum, follow other makers on instagram, look at things upside down…PLAY!
Follow your interests. You just never know where you will end up.
4. What are you currently making, reading, watching, or listening to?
I’ve really enjoyed making nature spirit charms lately, under my Mode Less Travelled line – painted leather butterflies and feathers, imbued with good juju and meant as blessings in the world. I’m eager to start a new canvas! For some reason, I’ve been obsessed with the scarlet ibis lately, and want to work one into a painting. Also jackrabbits. And the moon…
5. Cake or Pie?
Hmmm. I guess I’m generally more of a savory than sweets person… Maybe pecan pie. But not too gooey in the center, and with toasted pecans. Are you sure you shouldn’t list cookies as a third option? I’m craving cardamom cookies lately.
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Miranda Guillory is the artist/owner of The Paper Quillory where she creates beautiful and playful works of art with strips of colorful paper and glue.
Miranda loves playing with paper and exploring its many possibilities. Quilling is the art of creating filagree from rolled bits of paper and has been around since the Renaissance, when nuns and monks would roll gold-gilded paper remnants trimmed during the bookmaking process. They would use them to decorate religious objects as an alternative to gold filigree.
Miranda lives with her husband David near downtown Elgin.
1. Why did you move to Elgin?
Our rent was going up and up in Austin so we started looking to put all that money towards something we could own. We quickly learned that we wouldn’t be able to afford to buy in Austin. We looked for months in just about every town on the outskirts of our emerald city, looking for something that we could feel really good about, our forever home. We finally found it in Elgin. My husband and I moved here almost 6 years ago and haven’t looked back.
We love the small town atmosphere and the burgeoning creative scene.
2. What compels you to spend time creating?
Oh, I just have to. I get this anxious need to make something. Anything. Sometimes I’m not in the mood for quilling and I’ll just stare at all of my art supplies, maybe skim through some art books, until I find something manageable for the moment. I’m not very good at sitting still and have to at least be moving my hands. I find very few things more satisfying than creating something beautiful out of nothing.
I also have a tendency to feel my emotions pretty intensely and I find paper quilling, specifically, to be a very meditative process. It’s surprisingly time consuming and I’ll get lost in it for hours, feeling grounded and peaceful once I’m finished.
3. Tell me three things you’ve learned in the past five years.
I’ve learned that just because something I create isn’t my favorite, doesn’t mean it wont be someone else’s. I used to trash a piece if I didn’t like where it was headed half-way through. I thought that everything I put out into the world had to be, in my mind, a masterpiece. Over time I’ve discovered that some of my least favorite works might make someone else smile, or feel seen.
I’ve learned that I’m no use to anyone if I don’t take care of myself. When I’m stressed or burnt out, when I feel unhealthy, when I don’t take care of my head and heart, I can’t REALLY show up for my work or my relationships. It’s hard to put yourself first. I wasn’t raised that way. I’ve had to learn what those little things are that feed my soul and I’ve had to learn to put them in my schedule. I’ve had to learn that it isn’t selfish. When I take care of me, I’m better equipped to take care of the people I love and to take on the world (or at least my little corner of it).
Most recently, I’ve learned how much I need to be physically around my family and friends. I am an introvert. I LOVE being home. It’s my safe space and all my favorite things are here. I like going out but I’ve always kind of had to pump myself up for it. Now that I’ve been forced to stay home I am desperate to see people face to face. I miss hugging, high fives, and giving back-scratches. I have often said that I need to be home or I need to be alone. Turns out I also need to be around people.
4. What are you currently making, reading, watching, or listening to?
I’m usually working on a few projects at a time. Right now I’m doing a commissioned paper quilling of a vulva. I’m also playing around with a sunflower design. And I just about always have a breast or two in the works.
Currently on my nightstand: The Love Song of J. Edgar Hoover by Kinky Friedman, Gorey’s Worlds by Erin Monroe, and The Show Won’t Go On The Most shocking, Bizarre, and Historic Deaths of Performers Onstage by Jeff Abraham and Burt Kearns.
Watching just about everything on Netflix and Hulu currently have to offer. Just finished Letterkenny, Ozark, and Baskets (I HIGHLY recommend this one).
I’m listening to a lot more KUTX lately. They seem to be playing all their best stuff now that more people have time to listen. We recently got a puppy, so I took up running again and LCD Soundsystem has been helping me through that.
Bean & Noodle 