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.

Shows, Sales, and everything else!

Tine for catching up!  Most immediately, we've got a big sale going on in the Artfire shop.  There's a coupon code for half-off everything in the "clearance sale!" category.  Also there's free shipping on everything right now.  The sale will run till Tuesday.

Other big news:  I'm graduating from my jewelry and metals program this winter!  Part of this process involves having a solo show, and mine will be on Friday, Dec 16th, at Wayward Coffeehouse, at Roosevelt and 65th in Seattle from 6pm to 9pm.  I even have a postcard for it!

All of the pieces featured on this postcard will be at the show along with some other spectacular things.

Speaking of things you haven't seen yet, here's another pendant:

I'm exceptionally pleased with the smoke effect from the double silk ribbon necklace.  I think I'm going to switch everything over to silk cords and ribbons.  At the least it will lend some consistency to my presentation.

Also, speaking of shows, I'm all lined up to be in the Dealers' Room at RustyCon January 20-22, 2012.  I've got my paperwork in for the Dealers' Room at Norwescon, but I don't know yet if I'm going to get a slot.  I should probably snag an art show table to feature some of my really spectacular pieces, just in case.
OryCon was a pretty fun show.  I seriously had the slickest, most professional display of all the 3D artists.

I sold a pendant and a print, and spent an awful lot of time at concerts.  Also, I think some of the northwest convention regulars are starting to recognize me.  :-)
I'm going to be away from home and studio for a couple weeks right after RustyCon for a desperately needed vacation, during which I'll be filling my personal twitter feed with pictures of things like pineapples full of rum.  With any luck I'll come back full of ideas and new solutions to vexing engineering problems.

That's about it for now.  There will be further updates on progress towards the graduation show.  If you're in the Seattle area at the time, feel free to stop in.

There is News!

First, happy Mother's Day to all the biological moms, adoptive moms, house moms, and and other women charged with dealing with the less mature folks (including those less mature folks who are well into their 20s and better).

I got word back that I passed the jury for Foolscap, so I'll definitely be there!

Also, we finally have a Facebook Fan Page!  http://www.facebook.com/pages/NightshadeRose-Studio/212745315405599.  I'll be adding buttons and whatnot to the blog soon.


I finished "Creature of Earth".  I'm not exceptionally pleased, but it didn't self-destruct, so I'll take it.

The year's quite full show schedule

Considering that the season really started last week with Norwescon, I thought maybe I should outline where I and my work will be making appearances for the rest of the year.

May 17 - June 10:  Seattle, WA:  North Seattle Community College Student Show, NSCC gallery.  The solar system will be there, as well as whatever elemental creatures I have done.
June 24 - 26: Houston, TX:  Apollocon.  Attending, and I've got 2 tables reserved in the Art Show.  There may be a new illustration project or 2 along with the creatures and astronomy.  I'll also likely have prints available for private sale (not in the show, since they don't have a print shop and I'll be displaying all the originals).
August 12 - 14: Spokane, WA:  SpoCon.  Attending and hopefully displaying in the Art Show (haven't heard back about availability yet)
September 16 - 18: Redmond, WA: Foolscap. Attending and hopefully displaying in the Art Show.
November 11 - 13: Portland, OR: OryCon. Attending and hopefully displaying in the Art Show.

That's the schedule so far.It doesn't look like much until you start accounting for all the travel and that I'll likely have 2 tables/panels to fill at each show.  August also includes working GenCon and Pax as a demo person with Sandstorm Productions, a game publishing company that friends of mine are heavily involved with.  Hopefully next year, I'll have enough prints of things to be able to mail them in to shows that I can't attend.  At this point it's all about getting exposure.

Norwescon aftermath

So the bad news is I didn't sell one damned thing.  The good news is that I made a lot of contacts, and handed out a lot of business cards.  The prints of Fire and Water are also now available in my Artfire studio.  I'm putting stuff into the Student Show at school next week, and I expect to have at least one more element done by then.  From here on out, it's about prepping for ApolloCon in Houston at the end of June.

Norwescon

I blame prep work for Norwescon for my forgetting the Sunday night post.  It's been display-building and mat-cutting all week, and I'll probably be late again this week for recovery from the convention.  There's a good chance I'm going to tweet about the goings on on the @nrs_jewelry feed.  See y'all next week with reports on the convention and how the prints of the elemental creature pieces went over!

Wow, what a week.

Did *very* well at the silent Auction.  Sold about a third of what I brought and have managed to pay my studio rent again!

Also, I now have a small case on display at the gallery at Blowing Sands Studio!  If you're in the area, stop by and pick something up.

Finals are nearing, and I've been putting so much energy into the business that I'm massively behind on my schoolwork.  So, this coming week probably won't be terribly exciting.  Next week is finals, and after that, I'll have a whole new body of work to talk about!

ups and downs

I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving.  Mine was reasonable.

Down:
So the display case at Wayward is a no-go.  The smoke shop next door caught fire on Monday night, and Wayward has a bunch of smoke damage, as well as some questions about the structural integrity of the building.  They are closed for the foreseeable future, until further notice.  I'm going to see if I can get Balderdash Books & Art to take the case out of sympathy.
I have yet to hear back from that boutique further up the Ridge that I was talking consignment with.  I will be pinging them again soon.

UP:  Wow, I'm ridiculously busy.  Silent Auction is on Tuesday.  I've received all my cases, and now need to get them arranged and labeled, and the bid sheets made out.  I think (hope) I'll do well there.  Also, the Leaves should be debuting on Etsy and Artfire tonight or tomorrow, along with some more planets, as soon as I finish them off and get pictures.


The Holiday Season has begun, and I need to make the most of it despite my slow start.

Sales Outlets and General Design

***all apologies!  I wrote this on Saturday with the intent of posting it on Sunday, and then completely spaced it.***

Firstly, a plug for the Silent Art Auction at North Seattle Community College.  It will be on Tuesday, Nov. 30 from 10am-6pm on the ground floor of the College Center building.  If you're in the vicinity, please stop by.  I will have a lot of things for sale, along with all the other fantastic artists among the students, faculty, and staff of NSCC.

Secondly, I'm definitely going to have a small case of various enamels at Wayward Coffee for at least the holiday season, hopefully longer.  It will, for starters, be mostly leaves and a couple of Different Worlds pieces.

Thirdly, I love design.  All design.  I also love it when an organization, particularly a non-profit, turns out to have a deep, honest, ingrained, expansive sense of humor.  If you take these 2 things and put them in a blender, you get 826, a coalition of non-profits dedicated to helping kids become better, more enthusiastic writers.  One of the ways they help support themselves (ans also have bases of operation) is by having physical storefronts selling humorously surreal products.  Some time ago, I followed some links to Echo Park Time Travel Mart, but thought it was just some temporary art installation project.  I walk by Greenwood Space Travel Supply several times a week, and noticed that they were connected to some non-profit having to do with writing, but didn't think much further on it.  Today I followed a link on Etsy to The Museum Of Unnatural History, and in a scramble to find out where the hell I could get some of those posters, I finally put all the 826s together.  There are a number of stores on unique themes scattered throughout the country, and now I want to travel around to all of them and bring home awesome things.

It's been another one of those weeks.  I had my first Etsy sale.  They bought the two best items in my shop, so I've been scrambling all week to replace them.  I don't think I've mentioned previously, but I'm still a student, currently attending 3/4 time (taking 10 hrs this quarter).  So between class and various forms of homework, I only get about 3 days a week in my own studio making things to sell, and things end up taking longer overall. I ended up making 4 new pendants, 2 planets and 2 moons.  One of each is now listed on Etsy, and the others have gone into a "Miniatures" display case that the Art Group at school is putting together for a few weeks.  At least this way more folks will see my stuff.  I'm also going to have quite a few entries in the silent auction at the end of November.

Anyway, back to what I've been up to:
I'm continuing to play around with engineering.  I'm bezel-setting everything right now, and it doesn't look quite as bad as I thought it would, though I'd prefer to go without the frames if I could.  The pieces for the moon-phase bracelet turned out to be scaled wrong, so that one's gong to be a choker/collar instead.  I completely forgot to take an in-process picture yesterday, but I should be able to do so tomorrow or Tuesday and then add it to this post.  I'll probably scale everything down and attempt a more bracelet-sized piece in a couple of weeks.

Business problems I *REALLY* need to work out soon:
What's next after Different Worlds?
What can I do at lower price points?

ETA 10/25/10:
The moon-phase choker in progress.  Hopefully it will be done tomorrow.