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- Handmade Goods - Indianapolis, IN -
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My name is Jessica Helmbold. I live in Indianapolis and work for a city park. I am a naturalist and environmental educator by profession, but spend a lot of time outside of work doing art, as well as hanging out with my dog and two cats, hiking around Indiana, foraging for wild edibles and gardening! I have a Bachelors degree (BA) Biology and a Masters in Environmental Science and I started, but have yet to finish, a third degree, in Fine Arts! I have been an environmental educator and park naturalist for 13 years and prior to that I was arts camp counselor and instructor for 6 summers. So ElaraOphelia came about as a way to merge my loves of science and art. One of my favorite quotes, "Art without science is nothing".
I have been sewing since I was about nine years old. My mother taught me how to sew. She would make clothing for me and I was so intrigued by the process that I asked to help and eventually she would teach me how to make things myself. I remember the first project I made completely on my own, a skirt, a green gingham fabric with a watermelon print. It had all the hallmarks of a beginners project, but for a nine-year-old it was pure joy to be able to say that I made something completely by myself. I was so proud of that project that during my third grade school year I decided to wear it in my class picture. It just so happens that I was in the front row of that class picture. So every time I look at that picture I am reminded of my very first sewn completely by myself piece of clothing. So that is to say that my sewing career started early. Once I made that skirt I was hooked on sewing and I have been sewing ever since.
ElaraOphelia started in 2007, a place in life where I needed extra money to get myself through part-time/seasonal jobs and extra money while I was in grad school. I also enjoyed making so much that there was no way I could keep every single thing that I ever made. I had to have an outlet for my artwork.
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When I was 9 years old, my Aunt Jennifer gave me a stuffed rabbit. She had handmade the rabbit, the outfit and everything. The dress even had my name embroidered onto it. It came with a lovely hard copy of the book, the Velveteen Rabbit, which I now consider my favorite children's book of all time! Jessica rabbit, is still with me. She sits quietly on a shelf at my mom's house at the moment, but she has gone everywhere with me. She has been there whenever I needed her. Sometimes, when one is stressed, they just need a stuffed animal they can clutch and get their emotions out with. Jessica was that stuffed animal. Just like my Aunt Jennifer had made Jessica for me, I decided I wanted to make stuffed animals that could be cherished by others for generations to come. I was living in Maine, when at a local thrift store, I stumbled across the pattern for that rabbit, fulfilling that dream I had always had. Every time a friend has a baby shower, they now get one of my detailed, handmade stuffed animals, for their child. I just imagine someone one day handing it back to me, telling me it was much loved and needed repair, just like the Velveteen Rabbit and I would gladly welcome the idea of fixing it!
Click here to see my stuffed animals.
Another inspiration for my work comes from the fact that I do not like to see waste. We are such a throwaway society that and I can’t stand how much decent stuff we pitch before thinking of alternate uses or places to donate. Some stuff is even made so cheaply, it gets thrown away quickly. Just look up the video, the Story of Stuff on YouTube and you’ll see what I mean. Another documentary on our trash issues, I would like to draw your attention to is called Bag It!
So, what does this all mean for me? I like to turn other people’s trash into treasures or art. we’re not sure about the idea of turning trash into treasure then I would like to point you to another Netflix documentary series called Money for Nothing. Is a British BBC series about an artist who takes other peoples items that are about to be trashed at the local tip and turns them into treasures. She uses the help of other local artisans and then usually does one project herself. Then she sells the art and whatever proceeds she makes from selling the art from the trashed objects she gives back to the person who was going to throw the item away in the first place. Like host Sarah I see myself as a artistic visionary for what can be made out of trash. hello I have created a link to some of my trash to treasure artworks. These include items made out of wood off cuts that were found in a local recycling dumpster. I like to collect wood off-cuts and turn them into signs and places to hang masks, keys, dog leashes or a small container of dog treats. The reason I take the wood out of the dumpster also serves another purpose. My local recycling dumpster sees a lot of non-recyclable objects. I have a feeling that if this trend continues that my local city trash service will decide that it no longer wants to even bother with the recyclable dumpsters at all. So if I can save non-recyclable items from the recycling dumpsters, then turn them into art I’m also saving our city just a little bit of trouble in having to pull these items out themselves making it a more efficient process in a small way. I say in a small way, because alone I cannot make a major impact, but hopefully I will serve as an inspiration to others so that we can eventually make a larger impact. Recycling is only as good as your citizens knowing what is actually recyclable.
As far as my art goes, I take the utmost care with the items that I pull out of the recycling and trash dumpsters. I clean the items thoroughly, I sand where needed, I fix them up in anyway possible before turning them into art. Then I add my magic touch, a bit of my creativity to it to turn it into something completely new and unexpected. Click on the link below to see my recycled items art.
Next I want to share a little bit with you about the history behind my ceramics work. I took my first ceramics class when I was about 10 years old. It was basically taking slip-poured ceramics and painting them. I didn’t enjoy the class very much because the instructor was very finicky. She would often take my work and touch it up. I have some pieces that don’t look like they were even done by a 10-year-old. However the class did open my eye today art of ceramics and I knew someday later and pick it back up when I had a chance to be more creative with it. Fast forward to high school. My freshman year of high school I took an art 101 class. In this class we explored the many forms of art. We did drawing, painting and pastels and ceramics. After taking that class, I decided that ceramics was my favorite form of art. I really enjoyed making 3-D objects that often had a utilitarian purpose. So for the next three years of high school I took ceramics. I even continue to take ceramics in my first semester of college. Since I wasn’t majoring in art and I only needed one art credit for college and I was being graded for my ceramics work I decided to take a break from ceramics until I could do it just for fun. Since ceramics is something that is very hard to do at home without the right kind of equipment unlike painting or drawing that requires just a tablet of paper or canvas, a pencil and a paintbrush and paints, I knew I would have to hold off on doing ceramics for a while. We're talking about having a large section of your house (don’t even try an apartment) rewired for a kiln or finding a studio to work in your time off. Fast forward about 15 years and I took a job that actually included an on-site arts center. I work for Garfield Park Conservatory, which is part of Indy Parks and Garfield Park as a whole has a multitude of community facilities one of which is an art center and they offer ceramic classes. I now get to pick up where I left off on my love of ceramics. For the last five years I have been taking classes at the Garfield Park Arts Center. In the fall the Art Center usually has a fair, where I can sell some of my ceramics work. While I often participate in that, I also decided to create an online shop as well. Click here to view ceramic items for sale.
My ceramics work is usually derived from my love or nature, but also my love for nostalgia and ephemera. I like to make handmade ornaments to represent the best parts about my state, or other states I have lived in. I like to make ornaments that pay tribute to our favorite dog breeds and my love of science, among many other things. I also like to make jewelry and utilitarian items like soap dishes, spoon rests and essential oil diffusing car air fresheners.
Now to talk about how I got interested in making soap. A few years ago, I took an enrichment class through my church on soapmaking, taught by a fellow member and high school chemistry teacher. While making soap with lye can be a complicated process, having this first lesson made me feel more confident in my ability to do it myself. I am not sure I would have jumped into soapmaking on my own, without the help of a hands-on class. After that class, I found myself sequestering a large plastic tote bin to house all the supplies I was going to buy for soapmaking. Sometimes, you invest a lot of time and money buying materials for a hobby, only to find that you have no time to really do it. Soapmaking is perfect, because you can make a huge batch in an afternoon and be set for a couple of months of personal soap use. Even when scaling up production to sell, I found it not too difficult, as I got more proficient with each batch. Soapmaking went from taking half a day to only an hour or two!
Why do I love soap making? I believe in the medinical power of herbs and spices. In fact I grow a tremendous number of herbs and spices in my own garden. And I was looking for an outlet to be able to use them. I had used them in the past to make myself cups of herbal tea and for my own cooking, but I wanted to do so much more, to be able to use herbs, spices and native plants in every aspect of my life. I teach classes on wild edibles, herbs, herbal teas and work at a botanical garden, so this was just another natural outlet for my love of the uses of plants. All my soaps are made with all natural, mostly organic ingredients and plants from my own garden. The colorants I use are either extracted from plants, minerals or animal products such as bee pollen.
