Birds in Water and Wax

 

The flock is all here. This week we went from the raucous watercolor gathering above to 9 new mini wood panels sealed in beeswax. Yum!

 Oh the darlings - Oh the dears! I'm in love with each and every one. 

I truly am finding it difficult to think of packing these precious feathered friends up to deliver to Habitude tomorrow night for their Ballard Arts Walk debut.

Fortunately with the help of my newest studio addition - a lovely little Epson flatbed scanner - I'll be launching these little guys in a flurry of watercolor prints. I love the atmospheric effect of the beeswax so much that I'm thinking of preparing my prints in much the same way - by cutting out the bird and sealing it onto a wooden panel with beeswax. What do you think of that? Good idea? Bad idea? Better to leave the prints as prints on nice paper? Or perhaps I can offer both - prints on wood panels for less cost than the originals or prints on paper for those economically inclined bird art lovers.

These are the things I'm contemplating today as I prepare to pack up and load out for 3 (yes, three) more shows. In case you are in the Seattle area this weekend this is where I'll be:


Ballard Arts Walk
May 14th - June 10th 2011
Open Reception May 14th 6 - 9 PM
Habitude

&

Conor Byrne
Group Show with artist friends James Caudle and Jim Pirie
May 14th - June 10th, 2011

Art Biz Lessons

In response to this post on wholesale inquiries and pricing, I have finally raised my prices a bit. Most items were not increased by much. I feel that I struck a balance between viewing all my items as if they were already marked at wholesale prices (which would have meant doubling everything!) and not raising them enough. I was armed with pricing worksheets and the consultation of friends. All of the advice I had received basically just reinforced what I already knew - that I was priced too low. The wholesale situation helped a lot. Etsy is not the place to discount my stuff. It is a retail outlet and we should treat it as such. My retail prices will help me better contemplate a future wholesale inquiry and it also allows for a teaspoon full of more self art worth. Cheers to that!

The comments on this post are fabulous - I do recommend reading through if you already have an art/craft business or if you are thinking of starting one.

And as a balance to that side of myself wanting to be el cheapo I've finally added a sale section to the shop.

I returned from vacation and hit the ground running. Half the point of this post is to just get my head around all of things in the works and underway!

The day I returned from the coast I went to a planning meeting for I Heart Rummage and was graciously asked by the organizers, Cassandra Lanning and Anna Perrone, to join them as the third organizer. As I mentioned in a previous post, the IHR crew has already begun planning for I Heart Indie Holidays - a triple spot holiday slew of craft goodness! Three shows spanning three NW cities over three weekends.

November 24th at the Seattle Center Pavilion

December 2nd in Portland at the Wonder Ballroom

December 9th in Bellingham at the Majestic

Rekoj will be heading up the Portland market push. First things first - vendors needed! I'm pretty excited about these shows - not only will they provide tons of holiday sales and shopping opportunities, but it also is a chance to meet and work with some of the other strong NW indie craft organizations such as Crafty Wonderland, PDX Supercrafty, and Church of Craft to name a few!

On top of all that I've been getting super focused and busy preparing to sell at Bumbershoot. I need to have all of my merchandise ready to go by August 25th - ACK!!!! Not only does this require... well... MAKING STUFF - but it also provides a grand opportunity to stop slacking and get my website back up and running, finally get a studio message line and get a new set of business cards printed up. My oh my so much to think about.

And then there is Etsy - a newly formed Etsy street team has gathered and is rapidly building excited momentum - group called EtsyRain. I'm meeting up with some of them at a supply swap tomorrow afternoon which not only will help clear up my studio a bit but will be a fun way to network with fellow Etsy sellers.

After Bumbershoot I'll be using my brand new tripod to take tons of gorgeously clear photos of all the new work to upload to the shop - unless I completely sell out in which case ... well, give me another day or so...

And currently on the back burner is the new functional art co-op boutique ICONOGRAPHY, opening soon which is being headed up by another I Heart Rummage vendor Deviant Design.

Rekoj will be involved in that as well.

Rekoj is a nut that's what.

The view from my Roof

Much time has passed. I successfully moved from little ol' Oly to bustling downtown Seattle. My day job is a mere BLOCK from the Pike Place Market. I walk to work. I daydream while staring out the window to the Puget Sound.

After months of exploring and adjusting to this new life I'm beginning to ramp the business momentum back up. My art never took a hiatus during this time, but the business of art did. Now is time to return. To get back on the bike of the Website and the Etsy and Blogging.

It Officially starts for me this coming Sunday. I will be selling all my hand painted goodies once more at IHeartRummage. You can find me in the middle of the front room. Look for the green dresser and come by to say HI!