Crazy Artist

So...

Have you ever just frozen up when you found yourself in the spotlight?  Have you ever had a project or an experiment be such an unexpectedly wild success that you genuinely didn't know what to do next?  Anyone?

Well, that's what happened to me, and where I've been for April and May.  Having the dealers' room table at Norwescon succeeded well beyond my wildest imaginings, and I had no idea what to do next.  My plans covered a range of abject failure to moderate success, but completely failed to account for the possibility of doing unbelievably well.  So I came home form Norwescon, did my accounting, passed out for a couple of weeks (this is fairly normal for me, as I'm an introvert and that level/intensity of social interaction is immensely draining), got up and had no idea what to do next.  My original plans for the summer included a lot of R&D, a few personally significant projects, and some experimentation with my marketing strategy (including reworking the website and ArtFire/Etsy shops).  These are all things that aren't expected to have immediate, huge payoffs.  In the wake of the immediate, huge payoffs of Norwescon I started feeling pressure to find a way to continue making that kind of money, to prove that it wasn't just a fluke. Unfortunately, getting in to other convention dealers' rooms is something that I would have to have sorted out 6-10 months ago, so just staying on that path isn't an option.
I've finally come to the conclusion that I can't really depend on shows like Norwescon for my living.  Even if I could find enough of those shows, that level of constant social engagement would probably kill me, never mind always being on the road.  I'm not going to have a hope of reproducing the particular success of Norwescon until at least Orycon in November. Because of that, the plan I originally had for summer is still valid.  The very best thing I could possibly do in order to have more sales would be to get my online sales/marketing act together.  I also need to determine what, exactly, I need in order to have something to present to boutiques, and what sort of boutiques I'm going to present to (there are a few different options here).  I need to do the R&D, because it will answer important questions about the nature of the materials available to me and may expand the range of things I can do.  And, I need to do more illustration pieces because that's what feeds my soul.

OK, so as a reward for putting up with the inside of my head for that long, here are some photos of some of the production that got done while I was panicking about business matters

First, formal portraits of finished pieces that will be available in the ArtFire shop soon if not already:

Fallout #1 enamel pendant

Fragments #1 enamel pendant

another Autumn Leaf

Leopard!

Next, a few not-so-great cell phone shots of experimental pieces:

Luminescence #1 

While this one could easily be the luminescence of the stars, it was actually inspired by bio-luminescence as observed in the wake of a sailboat.

Mosaic #1 Pendant

 Recycling at its best! I had a large illustration piece turn out not so well, and had to disassemble it so I could re-use the copper base plate. Enamel dis-assembly is done with a hammer, which left me with all these chunks and shards of glass, some with silver foil still embedded.  It couldn't be sorted back into component colors, but it wasn't un-usably contaminated, so I fired a little bit in a concave pendant and put a layer of clear on top of it to make a completely unique piece.  All the scrap from this illustration piece will have these blue/green/brown tones, but other large pieces I have to take apart will have other color combinations.

tinted faux "ivory" acrylic serpent hair pin

I think this guy's just cute, and the eyes are very tiny crystal rhinestones.  Serpents are a very Victorian motif, and I freehanded this hairpin on a whim, mostly to do strength tests on a thinner plastic.  It's held up well so far.

And finally, a couple of pics form Norwescon:

Booth setup

Me! Costumed, wearing my corset underneath, with my linen vest and fancy tentacle buttons.

The bronze hair pins sold out! This nice lady put hers to good use.

Norwescon!

That's right, I'm going to be live & in-person at the Norwescon dealers' room 4/5-4/8 (that's this Thursday-Sunday).  I've pulled a new set of pendants out of the kiln, and may have some of my new carved acrylic hair pins available (depends on how much I get done tonight). I'll also have a few spectacular pieces available in the Art Show.

After I've recovered form the convention, there will be a few announcements.  I'm likely not going to have another show until September, so I plan to keep busy with a project or 2 involving that mass of people that I mostly don't know known as "The Internet" (yes, I'm talking about you).

Further experiments in Acrylics

So I learned some new things with the acrylic this week:
Stonesetting:

 that's pearl with red crystal rhinestones, and "ivory" with white.

I also sorted out the issues with the tortoiseshell supplier, and got to work with detail carving, painting, and gilding.

So we've got "ivory" with painted carving, and "tortoiseshell" with aluminum-gilded carving. Expect to see a lot more of the paisley motif in the future.  I'm absolutely fascinated with it.

...Plastics...

Y'all remember this in-progress carved acrylic piece?

Well, it eventually got finished:

I'm reasonably pleased, but I'm probably going to go back in with the heat gun and take out a little bit of the curve. I'm working with other colors of acrylic as well:

I really liked doing these hairpins, and (while I admit they're a bit crude) I think they're pretty good for having been completely free-handed in a couple of hours. They've been tested in my crazy hair, and I didn't manage to break any of them, so they're structurally sound. The "ivory" pins have been useful, but I'll probably put an antique finish on them before I declare them done-done.  The "tortoiseshell" is a somewhat more vexing problem.  That pin was cut from a sample that took nearly 2 months to arrive, and I have reason to doubt the dependability of the manufacturer. Unfortunately, they're the only people I could find offering marbled-pattern acrylic sheets in reasonable sizes (next best minimum order is five 4'x8' sheets).  So negotiations will continue and hopefully this will work out.  I really want to have the "tortoiseshell" to work with.

And winter proceeds apace...

January was interesting, exciting, and incredibly busy.  It was mostly getting ready for the dealers' room at RustyCon, which was a whole different animal than my usual con experience. First, there was having to take an art show display and turn it into a booth:

It still needs a little bit of polish and some more lights, but I love that I have a banner now.  The young man ducking down in the back is my friend Nick, who was lending assistance.

Then there was getting the promotional giveaways ready, which involved pressing 500 buttons:

Having Zazzle print 500 tags:

and then combining them into complete swag bag inserts:

That took the better part of an afternoon, and I learned some lessons about print layout for these things.

After that was the final pre-show creative push, where I had a really good kiln day and tried out some new styles (I'm exceptionally proud of the tiger stripes):

Then, much to my chagrin, we were snowed in for several days:

We were in fact snowed in right up until the last possible moment to load in for the show.
We did alright at the show. Mostly sold claws, but if you had your eye on Directions #2,

I'm sorry, but it's found a new home.

Two days after RustyCon, I went on desperately needed vacation, and came back well refreshed. The last week or so has been spent trying to close my accounting books for 2011 so I can do taxes.  I'm almost done with that.
So, the next few weeks will hold listing the new stuff on Artfire, making more new stuff, adding some more storage to the studio (and possibly getting a new/modified bench), finishing accounting, and getting geared up for NorwesCon at the beginning of April. Here's hoping it all goes smoothly.

Show News! And help please

First, the big news: I got my acceptance email from Norwescon Dealers' Room Monday! That means I will definitely be there with an abundance of stuff. Now I just need to make some decisions about hotel arrangements and locate an assistant.

 The graduation show went well. There was a decent turnout and some sales. I'll be making more leaf things, as they continue to be very popular.

My Professor's only advice about my display was that I should probably have more color.  I'm inclined to agree, and am looking for ways to incorporate my shade of purple into things.  I'll almost certainly be able to add some in the sign and frame, and there may be a new tablecloth or overlay as well.  The fun part is going to be transferring the aesthetic from an art show display to a dealers' room table.

So I mentioned above that I need some assistance with Norwescon. I need some assistance with Rustycon as well. The job mostly involves covering the booth during lunch and if there ends up being a daytime panel I need to go to, as well as help with setup and breakdown. There's a con badge in it for the person chosen, and likely some meals as well.

New Technology and Life Before Handbags

Firstly, a reminder for the graduation show:  This Friday, 12/16, Wayward Coffeehouse (SW corner of 65th & Roosevelt, Seattle).  Be there, drink coffee, buy art!

Now on with today's show!

There's a lot of new technology in the studio lately.  We learned about electro-etching a few weeks ago, and I finally got set up for it in the studio.  The first piece is a thing of beauty.

The first etched piece!

Subsequent pieces have been similarly successful.

My instructor has been encouraging us to look at plastics at an alternative material for some time now, and I finally got around to exploring it.  It turns out that acrylic can be made to substitute for a number of natural materials that are difficult, expensive, and/or unethical to obtain, like ivory, ebony, and bone.  You can carve it , dye it, and heat form it.  This is an in-progress shot from the beginnings of a hair-comb I'm carving from black acrylic:

proto-comb

I hand-sketched the knot right on to the backing paper and sawed and filed from there.  It's currently just about ready to be molded (for later resin pouring) and formed.  There will be pics when it's done.

This is another carved piece in ivory acrylic:

carved ivory acrylic

This pic was only just taken, and it has a ways to go yet.  The carvings need to be cleaned up, the whole thing needs some dye, and there may end up being some inlay work.

A lot of my playing with etching and plastics is headed in a particular direction.  This is an antique chatelaine:




Pre-WWI, this was one of the more popular options for women to carry around the things she would need during the day.  The attachments were called accessories, and could often be switched out depending on what was planned for the day.  This one has a pencil, a little notepad called an "aide-memoire" (these frequently had ivory or celluloid pages that would be erased and reused), a compact or pill case, scissors, a container for a thimble or tape measure, and a whistle.  A google image search will show almost limitless options for things to hang on your chatelaine.
I'm working on a couple of these and a bunch of accessories, and how they might be updated with modern materials and accessories.  I already carry a number of things (bus pass, key-cards, a tape measure & a flash drive) on tags and hooks on the outside of my purse despite the fact that the handbag itself is ginormous.  I already have this flash drive and am planning to make more:

The jump to a proper chatelaine is really not a big one.
I figure the modern chatelaine would include a cell case, credit card case, flash drive, change purse, plus whatever tools you need for what you do.  I always have a tape measure, and often need a box knife (they make tiny adorable ones) and a B&S sheet metal gauge.  I'd probably also have a little change-purse-type bag for Carmex and the like.  I'm especially fascinated with the aide-memorie and its reusable pages, since there are some things in the world I can only work out with a pencil.  This is another case of "pics when it's done", which hopefully will be taken Friday afternoon before time to go set up the show.