Three Treasuries

This seems to be a good week for Treasuries. I just listed my Pennsylvania Wildlife bracelet yesterday and it already has been selected to appear in two zoological-themed Treasuries: one dedicated to deer and the other to turkeys.

Deer, Deer, Deer curated by andboriginals

Turkey Fashion curated by MollysMuses

My mixed-media piece Osprey Vision is also included in a Treasury related to vision.

All the Better to be Seeing You With curated by KitzieG

Anatomy, Stars, and Feathers

My Anatomical Heart Cuff is currently being featured in a Treasury, the ANATOMY of Etsy, curated by JulieMarieSink:

I've also added two new necklaces to my shop. One has a hint of Native American influence and was inspired by the ghostly white of nocturnal hunters in the branches, while the other is a slightly steampunk, industrial take on a popular sailor's tattoo.

Barn Owl Song

Nautical Star Necklace

Post-Craft Show Reflections

Two days before the show I was sick in bed with a fever, major sinus congestion, head and body aches, along with a throat that felt like someone had made a few harsh passes with a cheese grater through. While I do have regular ailments (migraines, some allergy issues) it's been some time since I've actually caught a serious virus and this just seemed like a perfect case of Murphy's Law in action. The worst part of it cleared by the end of the next day though and I just had to tangle with the congestion on the day of the show.

In this photo you can see the three white pedestals I used to add some height to the display. Two were vintage finds from Etsy and the largest one is actually a cake stand from Target.

To my delight, the craft show went surprisingly well. I was afraid my inventory of prints and jewelry wouldn't adequately cover the surface of the two tables I brought, but in actuality I could have used a third table. I was anticipating one or two sales which I was hoping would cover the $40 entry fee, but I ended up selling enough to cover the investment I made in the EZ Up Tent, a sturdy Samsonite table, and the entry fee. Those items weren't all of my investments for the show of course, but they were the major ones (I probably would have ended up buying most of the jewelry supplies anyway). The overall reaction to my work was really positive and I was invited to participate in two other upcoming area shows.

In the background you can catch a glimpse of the letterpress printer's tray I used to display my earrings.

Several years experience as a customer service agent in a phone center has left me rather pessimistic and jaded when it comes to dealing with people in a business capacity, and that position made me wary of dealing with potential clients at the show. (I still have a day job with the same company but in a different department with minimal direct client contact so things are slightly better now.) Thankfully I found that the context of the show was so different than at my place of employment and I could be at much greater ease interacting with the public.

Here's a sneak peak at the necklace I was posted about two entries ago, along with some other soon-to-be-posted necklaces.

I'm planning on participating in next year's show and perhaps one of the shows to which I was invited later this year. Right now though I just want some time to be free to leisurely create for my own fulfillment again without a looming deadline, although deadlines are certainly motivating. I have been gradually adding some items from the show to my Etsy shop and there are more items to come (I still need to properly photograph some of them)! There are also a few more photos from the show forthcoming, including one of the paper bunting I made.

My print display system consisted of vintage drawers from old sewing machines. You can also see the manila tags I stamped with pricing information.

Panic Mode

The craft show I've been trying to prepare myself for the last six months is now looming only eight days away and panic mode is truly starting to settle in. In comparison to my normal, not-in-preparation-for-a-craft-show production rate, I think I've accomplished a lot, but when I think about setting all of my current items out on the display tables I feel like my booth will seem a bit sparse. I keep on consoling myself with the fact that it will be quality over quantity and I do think that is true, but I will still like to have more items to offer. I'm expecting to pull several all-nighters in order to add a selection of more affordable items like earrings and basic leather cuffs to assist with this issue. As this is the first craft show I'm participating in more than a decade, I don't expect my booth will be the top notch, most high tech, polished, and über-professional one at the event, but I hope it will rise above the amateurish, be creative, and compliment my work.

I've been planning to redesign my logo and overall "look" as I no longer think it best suits my current style, but in the midst of actually crafting work for the show I just haven't had the time to do so. This means that I'll be using my current business cards and I did not get the opportunity to have an official banner printed. So in lieu of a sleek, vinyl banner I made myself one in the form of a paper bunting. I was inspired by the photos Cathe Holden took of various booths at the San Francisco Renegade Craft Fair (oh how I wish we had Renegade Craft Fairs around here!). Almost all of the crafters featured made their own signage in the form of buntings (even the logo at the top of the post incorporates one), so I decided to try my hand at one. My work doesn't really jive with the primary colors and triangular pennant-like shape of the more traditional buntings some of the San Francisco crafters used, so I modified the design a little bit to suit my style and so far I'm really pleased with the result. I still need to string the individual flags to hang them as a unit and I want to create a spacer flag with the image of an old skeleton key to separate the two words, but otherwise it's all done. Last week my boyfriend and I wandered into Creative Inkling, a scrapbooking and craft shop in Lahaska, PA, for the first time and I bought all sorts of goodies including some gorgeous letter stamps which I used on my bunting. In addition to those I purchased some other items I plan on using for my other signage including large manila tags which have vintage postcard typography on them. I'm planning to use those as signs to list the various prices for my matted prints.

Not So Frida

I started work on what I hoped would be my pièce de résistance for the upcoming craft show: a bib-style, intricately-tooled statement necklace featuring a portrait of a notable Mexican artist whose life and work I find intriguing. Although I'm well-versed in drawing the human face, this is only my second attempt at carving and tooling a semi-realistic one in leather (I would consider my first attempt to be the La Catrina necklace). I thought it was going fairly well but when I started on the painting stage I realized that the likeness was only rather vague at best. The jawline should be more square, the arc of the eyebrows is off, the nose is too broad, etc. The image itself is turning out well, but not if I expect people to immediately recognize it as a portrait of a particular person.

I guess I shouldn't be so surprised. Unless you're drawing a caricature, achieving a likeness is an exercise in subtlety. Even a small shift in the contours of the features or a minor, unintentional change that affects the proportions throws it all off. When designing and creating a piece like this in leather, there are so many stages from the original sketch to the finished piece that sometimes things get lost in translation.

(1) First is the pencil sketch which is then inked to determine the final lines (2). Then I take tracing film and trace the drawing onto it (3) to make the re-usable pattern. From here, the pattern is transferred to the cased leather with a stylus (4) after which it is carved with the swivel-knife (5) and then tooled (6).

Normally a slight change from drawing to tooled piece isn't a big deal. It happens all the time so even if I use the same pattern on multiple occasions, each version is bound to be one-of-a-kind, but in this case accuracy is vital to a likeness and I lost it along the way.

I was really saddened by the lack of likeness and I almost abandoned the project. My boyfriend said that I should just continue with it and disregard the original plan: be content with a necklace featuring a vignette of a regal Mayan woman. What do you think?

Another Treasury!

My original illustration Golden Age, Silver Screen was graciously featured in a Treasury by Janine616 dedicated to ACEOs: ACEO Mania

Renaissance-themed Treasury

My matted print DeerWoman is currently featured in an Etsy Treasury created by Bohémienne Ivy along with some other lovlies: Vive la Renaissance.

I've removed the remaining jewelry items from my shop as additional inventory for the craft show I'm participating in next month. They, along with some brand new jewelry pieces, will most likely be returned to Etsy after the show if they do not sell.