Improving my displays for a local shop and more

 

I have started working on the Christmas ornaments that I will be making for this year in the past I haven’t started on these until late November. I have purchased 6 medium sized glass balls and 6 small glass balls to make into ornaments. Here is the first one.

This navy, silver and pearl ornament sparkles in the light!

 

 

I have my crochet hooks on display in a local shop hanging out in a cup and they aren’t selling and I suspect its because it is difficult to see the colors and size of the hook and this is my first attempt at a better display for them I am not thrilled with it and will be re working it tomorrow. This display measures 11 inches long and 3.5 inches long.

 

I have the same issue with my pens they are hanging out in a cup and aren’t sell so I made this display. It will hold 9 pens and hopefully increase the sales. The pen holder measures 8 inches long and 3 inches wide.

I love the colors of this pattern purple and turquoise is beautiful! This little cylinder is a pen in the making.

I have continued to clean up in my studio and found a box of small glass jars I had forgotten I had. I had gotten the jars a few years ago in hopes I would make a while bunch of Bottles of Hope. I haven’t done any of these bottles in a year so decided it was time to start making them slowly as I do other projects.

A Tree canvas, 2 boxes and a score!

 

I recently covered a 8x10 inch stretch canvas in polymer clay. I was inspired by several different pictures of trees created using polymer clay and this is my interpretation of a fall tree.

The solid blue black ground is surrounded by a textured frame highlighted with silver. I made a series of about 10 polymer clay leaf canes. This was the firs time I had made leaf canes

My husband liked the picture enough that he asked if he could have it for his office at work.

 frame

 

edge of picture with more leaves

 

My next inspiration came from a twist I saw on a retro or extruded cane.

lid of box

 

lid off and the inside

side view

 

Next I did a square box with the same colours.

 

I have several other ideas floating around between my ears but nothing that is quite coming together. I did pick up some little 4x4 inch canvases last week. I have been looking for small canvases for several months so I am excited to get to work with them.

I am on Facebook a little too much and follow way too many local swap ‘n shop type pages. A couple days ago I saw a quiet little add posted for some polymer clay items that someone was selling. After chatting with the person it turns out she was giving away all the art supplies. I commented and went to pick up the goods. I came home with 4 banker boxes full of goodies plus some some stuff that didn’t fit into the boxes.

 

 

Here is just one picture from that wonderful score! In total I came home with over 200 pieces of polymer clay. I have sorted through the treasures and shared with two friends and have another box of items to share yet.

A new canvas in the works

I am slowly returning to the studio after more then a month off to focus on family and the garden. Over the weekend I started to work on a 5x7 canvas. I started by dripping alcohol and acrylic inks onto the canvas and letting them dry. Then I created about 10 very simple polymer clay canes.


this is also a 5x7 canvas covered with inks but I wasn’t thrilled with it
For well over a year I have been wanting to improve the storage in my studio and hadn’t been able to find the funds. I found a used cabinet for $20 recently and then found one new and on sale for $60.

When the two new cabinets went into my studio a large book case was displaced and went into my son’s room and that move bumped another shelf out of his room and into my studio.

I have a very large armoire in my studio yet that will also eventually be replaced as well.

Doodling for fun

 

I recently came across a group on Facebook that decorates index cards for fun. I loved the idea right away. I haven’t joined the original group as I wasn’t up for the challenge of 1 index card a day for 60 days. I have joined a smaller local group that is doing the index cards on a more relaxed basis. Here are the cards I have done so far. All of these designs are done on 3x5 index cards

Link to original group  https://www.facebook.com/groups/daisy.yellow.ICAD/

 pencil crayons and markers

 crayon rubbing and markers

 

markers and pencil crayons

crayon rubbing on texture sheet, markets and printed images

 

markers

alcohol inks, salt and polymer clay words

 

back ground done with alcohol inks

This phrase came from a Etsy news letter a close friend sent me. It was the push I needed and I have now opened my Etsy shop. For the moment I have only one item listed but I will certainly add more soon. http://www.etsy.com/shop/SaylorDesigns?ref=pr_shop_more

Artistic Metamorphosis

 

In my quiet moments I have been thinking about my art and what I have done in the last few months. Over winter when I was accepted in a two new shops I applied some serious and unneeded pressure to myself to create more items. I made quite a few boxes and covered a few pens. Although I have sold a few things in one of the shops the other shop has shut down and as far as I can tell I made no sales in the 6 months that I had my items for sale in that shop.

This has led me to doubt what I am doing and why. I don’t have any answers yet. I have found a couple of good things to read online regarding my doubt and feel buoyed by the conversations I have had with friends and artists. Taking these things into consideration I have chosen to clean up my studio table and close the door and ignore the space for a little while. I do have a few ideas percolating and I have a full scale studio sort and clean up planned over the summer. I have given myself permission to ignore it all for a while and enjoy the summer weather and my family.

I am certain I won’t be away from my clay for too long as I enjoy it and love the satisfaction of completing a well made object that hopefully brings joy to someone else. I have realized that for me it is much more important to enjoy the process then to focus on the end results being a sale.

I have a box or three of finished items that I would love out of my home. I am considering starting my own Etsy shop soon as well so I have another outlet to sell small things that are easy to ship like crochet hooks, pens, magnets and business card cases. I also have a lead on a wonderful bright and cheery gallery about an hour away that I am working up the courage to approach and see if they will carry my things for sale.

For now I will take a break from the studio and let myself and the muse recharge and hope that I can find new inspiration.

 

Group Pictures

 

Today I got a phone call that one of the shops that has carried my art since this past March is closing this week. So I drove out to the shop and gathered my pieces up and brought everything home. That led me to count my finished crochet hooks. I will show you the picture and then tell you how many there are. I also took group pictures of all my other finished items.

 

 

4 business card cases the bottom right one in orange and black is sold

 

completed boxes and canvases

 

14 completed pens

 

4 incomplete pens

 magnets

 

32 crochet hooks

At the moment I am preparing for my first Ready to Ship (RTS) sale that will be hosted by a page on Facebook. The sale will start on June 5th and run for a week. I will be listing crochet hooks, pens, magnets and business card holders as they are easy to ship. I will post the link for the sale next week.

Learning a new technique

 

This past Sunday I gathered with my polymer clay guild and one of our members taught us a wonderful technique by Bettina Welker called The Pixelated Blend Cane http://www.beadworx.de/2012/07/03/the-pixelated-retro-blend-cane/ This is a technique I had been wanting to try for several months and I kept getting distracted, and didn’t make the time to jump in and try it.

 

This is the pattern I made with my guild. I am very happy with how it looks and love the colours. I applied the pattern to a business card case which my husband has claimed.

 

 

Today I attempted the same technique on my own with a slight difference and got this more random design in my pattern. I love this one as well. I also applied this colour combination to a business card case that I may keep for myself.