Goodbye Website Shop, Chronic Blog Neglect and more bleedin' Lockdown to get through. . .

Blog neglect taken to the lengths that I have taken it to is probably a criminal offence. . . But I just don't feel the urge these days. The Groundhog Day existence this Covid virus has caused doesn't help. At least my repetitive life involves some repetitive selling. Grateful thanks to all the bead buyers out there still accumulating the raw materials for their jewellery projects.

My website has also suffered. I only have one because I feel I ought to, and my website shop is only there because people say that a stand alone shop is a good thing to have. I am not convinced. I am even less motivated to promote it than I am to make blog posts so it is somewhat unloved right now. Most of all by me. I do OK on Etsy and sell on Facebook so really it is surplus to requirements. I am going to wind the shop up and put the beads etc on Etsy, or FB from time to time. The website itself I will keep as a source of info if anyone wishes to find out anything about my work that isn't obvious by looking at it. .

Black and white scratch design spindle bead

On the domestic front, we are down to two chickens. Not sure what happened to the two that went missing but the F word is the obvious answer, a fox got them I am guessing. No stray tell-tale clumps of feathers though so it was a clean job. Must have been a daylight raid as they sleep in their firmly shut chicken coop thingy (a converted child's Wendy House according to the previous house owner. .) They had also stopped laying a week or two ago, not sure why but it does happen from time to time I am told. I will probably get a couple of replacements next spring, maybe some more arty, feathery legged ones this time, we shall see.

We have four adult geese now as the two goslings have grown into healthy adults, just as raggedy looking as their parents. Sebastopol geese are such eccentric looking things, like they just had a fight with a shredder ;-) Noisy, but amusing have around, mostly. .

Work - More of the same sort of thing. Variations on stripe painted 'spindles' and spikes, with some nice scratch design beads thrown in. Less of the Industrial Boho side of things but I am moving in that direction again.

I did make some moulds using plastic dinosaurs. Not as popular as I had hoped but fun to make and fun to use.

I have made a couple of small assemblage/diorama things but am awaiting a bit more inspiration before I take them any further.

'Nicholson'

Backing Singers. .

I would really like to make more actual jewellery, but it is a whole new ball game and I need to get more confident that I am making the most of my work and my particular way of creating. It has to fit my aesthetic so to speak. Also, if I am going to tie up fifty quids worth of beads and focal etc in a necklace, I would need to sell stuff for a decent price. I have to feel that what I make is 'worth it', not to mention whether there is a receptive audience for it out there.

Earrings do seem to be the way to go too. Everyone else seems to make them, and they keep on selling. I assume that earrings are the sort of thing that buyers like to have lots of around, unlike necklaces. Still considering this. . .

Oh yes, I also made a couple of pieces into cool wall art, by deepening a couple of small, ornate-ish frames that I had knocking around, to make shallow, shadow box type things, into which I put a couple of pieces that were once intended to be pendants but looked good just as they were. I think they came out well. The trouble is that now we have another Lockdown I can't pay a visit to the framing shop to see what other small frames they have lurking on their shelves so I can make some more. Fah!

Oh well, I shall persevere and we will all get through this. . . The vaccine news is good, so far, and though I hate to mention politics, the US election 'should' work out for the best eventually. I must admit it has been depressing the life out of me and I don't even live there!

Anyway, stay safe and stay well,

Jon x

Well, Well. . That Went Well. . .

So after all the hand wringing and anxiety about the showcase thingy, it turned out to be a big success. A bit nuts to be honest, but in a good way ;-) So I shall most likely do another one, but not for a couple of months I don't think. Meanwhile I shall carry on listing a few things on Tuesdays and Thursdays, without expecting much to happen, it being holiday season and all.

As for us, we have no plans for Christmas yet - no idea what to get anybody for presents and no idea what we want them to get us. So no change there ;-) Funny how when you're young, you have a list of wonderful things you desperately want, but when you get older, there really isn't anything much (in anyone's price bracket!) that you want at all. Hence all those 'Gifts' you see everywhere. Things ultimately destined for the back of the cupboard but which at least tick Auntie Emma off the Xmas prezzie list. . . Cynical? Moi?

And of course we have this bleedin election coming up. I shall vote but it will be a waste as 'the other lot' are very safe in this neck of the woods, (whatever a neck of the woods actually is).

It amazes me that with all the headline writers in the world, that nobody has used the phrase 'Brexistential Crisis', not that I have seen anyway. Slackers. I thought of it on day one. God I'm so witty. . . ;-)

Meantime I shall ignore the News and stick to acceptable music radio stations like 6 Music (a UK thing) and occasionally check the BBC World Service, which is a good reminder that there is a World out there full of people with very different concerns to us, but which are just as valid. He said, piously polishing his halo.

Bead and component work wise, just to wind down from the showcase frenzy of a few days ago I have been making a few simple, textured disk beads using one or two of the small, wooden, Indian printing blocks I have accumulated in the last few years.

My simple technique was to squash a small ball of poly clay into one tex block with the flat, reverse side of another one to give me a deeply textured, slightly irregular, disk with a flat back. The inspiration being those old stamped coins from Roman and Saxon times (or before in other parts of the world).

On some of them I pressed the back of a block onto the raised texture to flatten it out slightly and to give it a faint wood grain texture.

After baking, I messed around with alcohol inks, gilder's paste and maybe some discreet sanding and waxing and some rubbing to emphasise the resulting textures. In case you were interested. . .

No domestic drama on the home front since the 'wheelbarrow incident', thankfully. Though the down side of life being relatively uneventful is that it doesn't make for very interesting blog posts. . .

Though, as we appear to be living in 'Interesting Times' right now, uneventful is good.

Until next time, Jon x

Comet

The Ups and Downs of Retail, A New Venture and The Wife in a Wheelbarrow. .

A bit of a gap between posts again, so sorry about that. I am slowly getting into the habit of blogging again. I heard on the radio that blogging is becoming more popular again, I wouldn't know about that, not exactly having my finger on the pulse of these things these days, but if true I applaud this trend.

Anyway, having been thoroughly spoiled by my work selling really well on Facebook over the last 12 months or so, I have had a couple of evening listing sessions that have been somewhat lacklustre. Not that I actually expect to sell out of my ten or twelve items every time but I must have got used to it at some level because I felt rather bereft when only two or three things sold. Bloody artists fragile ego again ;-)

Well, retail has its ups and downs I'm told.

The worrying part of this for me is that I just signed myself up for a 'Showcase' on the 26th at -

https://www.facebook.com/groups/LBAGalleriaSellersGroup

And if levels of interest are as low as the last week it could be a bit of a disappointment.

Distressed Digital Mid Century pus LEDs

The other thing is that it starts at what is a reasonable time for those in the USA but a silly time for me here in the UK. I'm not going to be kicking off my show at flamin midnight, thank you very much. I'll be in bed asleep! So I will list when I get up in the morning, which will be when most of my USA buyers will be in bed asleep. . . Sigh. . . And it finishes at midnight the next day, which is early evening for USA people, and probably the time they start to go online. Moan, groan, whinge. . .

Simple rustic spikes

So not ideal but we'll see what happens. I have made some very nice things to list so if you are around on the 26th Nov any time between 7.30 a.m. UK time (2 or 3 a.m. approx. various USA time zones) until midnight UK time (6 or 7 p.m. various US time zones) check it out.

Another model railway figure piece

Just to add to stress levels, my wife slipped on a bit of tiled floor and hurt her foot badly, she couldn't put weight on it and it started to swell up. As it was Sunday night we decided to wait and hit the A&E dept at the local hospital the next day if it was still bad in the morning. The thing was, she had to get over to her studio, across the yard to use her computer to email an Art group that were expecting her to take a workshop the next day. Obviously it had to be cancelled.

We don't have any crutches lying about the place, so we tried a walking stick, no good, a broom, improvised as a crutch, no good.  . . I was debating trying to give her a piggy back across the yard when we remembered the wheelbarrow ;-)
So I trundled her across the yard. Luckily it was a clean wheelbarrow, and luckily we are not overlooked. . . It did add some levity to a somewhat fraught occasion.
We got to A&E the next day and she had x-rays etc. Nothing broken thank heaven but she needed crutches for a day or two.
I also managed to put my back out helping her get around, but not badly. . Fun times ;-)

Is it a Bird?

Anyway, on a positive note, our pond has been refilling in all the wet weather we have been having. it almost completely dried out in the summer, which was worrying. The geese weren't happy either. So now we have a reason to feel pleased when it rains, and so do the geese ;-)

Digital Mid Century. .

Wish me luck with the showcase, and have a good Thanksgiving all you USA folks.

Jon x

Been a long "Month". . . ;-) The Perrennial Sticky Subject - Pricing - Greed, Guilt and Overthinking

Well, I signed off my last post with the words, 'See you in a month' or something along those lines. Yeah right. . .  ;-)

I kind of lost a bit of enthusiasm and motivation for writing about what I have been doing. I just settled in to making stuff and selling it on Facebook, and repeat. . Things I could have talked about but never felt the urge to do so. I still posted on Instagram, and kept my Etsy shop ticking over but my blog was sidelined.

So, six months later, I am making the effort to post again.

Why? Well. . .

I am overthinking myself into a semi-catatonic state about pricing and the seeming necessity to justify same. And I need to work out what is bothering me and why. . . And I need to bore you with it too.

The trouble is that when I make one of my larger, assemblage style pieces, and feel that said piece is extra pretty damn special I want the price to reflect that, but don't feel I can get away with charging the price I feel like charging. Often I end up not putting the piece up for sale to avoid having to worry about how much to charge etc. . . Then it just sits there looking at me. . . ;-)

It feels like I am literally asking too much of my buyers. It doesn't feel 'right'. That it's somehow mercenary and demeaning to link financial value to my subjective opinion of a piece. I'm an artist, I should be above that worldly commercial stuff ;-)
But then again that is a pretty silly, naive, and unrealistic angle to take on what is a commercial decision. It betrays contradictory emotions about money and creativity. I make stuff in order to sell it, or at least with that possibility very much under consideration, I enjoy the process of selling and get a kick out of making, not huge, but certainly useful amounts of money every week, so why do I feel it is somehow wrong to want to ask for more when I deem it appropriate?





Is it lack of confidence? Because I might be wrong, and the piece in question is actually a load of rubbish and not special at all.
In which case nobody will buy it of course. .

Who do I think I am? Do I have an over inflated idea of what my creative efforts are worth?
Same answer as above.

Not wanting to appear greedy is definitely one reason. But then who is judging?
If something is considered too expensive nobody will buy it. Duh. . .

Another reason is that I seem to closely identify with the commercial consideration of the buyer. After all, they have to sell whatever they make using my work, at a profit, and I worry that they will be left with an expensive piece of jewellery that nobody will buy due to the price they have to charge, which will be all my fault! ;-)
In which event, of course, they will curse my name forever and never buy from me again.

So I feel somehow responsible for other people's actions and decisions, which is also silly, naive and unrealistic. . . though possibly faintly endearing, or just annoying. It annoys me!

So where are we? In a tangled mess, that's where. .

As you will no doubt have worked out ages ago, the obvious course of action this hand wringing and overthinking is pointing to is to shut the heck up, get over myself, charge whatever I feel is right and take the consequences.

Sorted. . .

Thank you for indulging my tortuous mental processes, it's been useful for me anyways ;-)

See you next time, could be sooner than you think. . Less than six months anyway.

Jon x

Blog Neglect Hits new Heights, Ideas are Everywhere, Including the Strange Case of The Mirrors and The Guinea Fowl,

The New Year's Eve gig we played at our local pub had a masked theme, so I spent a happy half hour knocking up this fake primitive mask out of some packaging I had lying around and some acrylic paints. I couldn't really see to play while wearing it, so it didn't stay on long ;-)

Well, first things first - Happy New Year!

May it be full of love, light and creativity and all that stuff. . .

I have been pretty busy with all sorts of things over the last month or two, and as a consequence, not really in the mind set to write blog posts. When you are busy, some things have to be put aside, and as blog posts are a kind of ephemeral extra, they tend to be victim number one.

Victim number two, though by no means an ephemeral extra, has been bead making. I took the opportunity to take a break, as cramming in the the odd hour or two in my workshop, between serious DIY and catering for Xmas guests is not really useful or satisfying.
A break meant that I could take stock and do the New Year thing of taking a step back and looking at where I am and what direction I might take next. This break also meant sacrificing a couple of week's potential earnings, but you can't make the proverbial omelette without breaking eggs. . . Well, you could try, but it wouldn't be any entirely sane person's idea of an omelette really. . .

Some of the serious DIY I have been busy with. Faux panelling with corbels and bits. The right hand door has since been replaced and stained etc, and the wall behind the clock is a gingery dark brown. Very cozy and old looking.

So here I am, somewhat shamefacedly blogging again. Thank you for your patience ;-)

As you may have noticed over the months, my work often goes off on tangents, triggered by something I just discovered by accident, or just came across in the course of day to day life. Sometimes a process, sometimes an object or type of material. I have developed an instinct for noticing potentially useful happy accidents, and due to the positive response I get, the confidence to pursue them further.

Mirror shard, poly clay backing, blue alcohol ink, copper bail

So when I accidentally broke the mirror we had put out in the garden for the Guinea Fowl it triggered an idea. . .
Wait a minute, you put out a what?
It's a bit of a long story, but I will be as concise as I can.

We have two guinea fowl which potter about our large garden and the surrounding area, including neighbour's gardens. Everyone seems OK with this as they are harmless and quite amusing to watch if not to listen to (!).

Everyone that is except our immediate neighbour who was a touch upset by their habit of pecking at his patio doors and leaving a bit of a mess on his doorstep from time to time. Was there anything we could do about this, he wondered.

Well, other than having a quiet word with them, which wasn't an entirely serious idea, or getting rid of them, which was out of the question, we couldn't really come up with anything. So we did a bit of research.

Guinea Fowl are social creatures and live in quite large flocks in the wild, so we wondered if the reason they were hanging out by, and pecking at the windows was because seeing their reflections made them think they were amongst other Guineas.
So as an experiment we put a couple of spare mirrors we happened to have left over from our house move, out in the garden.
This did seem to get their attention, and they did spend time in front of the mirrors so we hoped for the best.
The neighbour hasn't complained since, but he has found a new partner recently, which might have mellowed him out a bit ;-)
(he looks after two boys in their early teens on his own, which must be a bit stressful)

So crossing fingers, that has amicably solved that little issue.

Not easy to photograph any of these mirror thingies. . . The copper came out looking a bit brassy in this pic

Now, to the happy accident part.

One of the mirrors was leant against our household compost bin. This bin is rather full and the seams are opening up somewhat. It needs emptying but I figured a well aimed kick might help close it up a bit. Only it wasn't a well aimed kick, it caught the mirror and smashed it to bits. (it was cracked already to be fair, so I didn't claim my 13 years bad luck). I was on my way to the waste bin with said bits when I had a 'Hmmm. . I wonder.  ." moment and headed for my workshop instead.



A mirror is basically a sheet of glass with silver nitrate on the back, so, I figured, that backing could be scraped off in such a way as to make interesting patterns. I carefully broke off some small bits of mirror and reached for the Dremel and the grinding bits.
It worked quite well, (I quickly realised I should wear a face mask as inhaling fine glass dust is not such a great idea.) so I made a few drops/charms using this technique. Extending the process to involve polymer clay backing, both coloured and non coloured.

I'm enjoying these little 'man' motifs. Kind of petroglyph - ish ;-)

So there you have it, how Guinea Fowl related disruption can lead to creative innovation of a modest kind ;-)
Which supports my long held belief that the wonder of life has a lot to do with it's random and absurd moments. . .
Until next time, which will not involve a wait as long as the last time,
Cheerio
Jon x

They combine nicely with other objects, so you may see more of this sort of thing in the next few months

Holiday Recovery, Scooter Trauma, Earring Unsuccess and Back to the Creative Stuff. . .

Well, I'm back from holiday. It turns out that at was as hot back home as it was where we went. Who'd a thunk. . .

But it did have the Med, lovely food, motor boats to hire and suchlike distractions. It was mostly relaxing. . .

Although we did just manage to avoid wiping ourselves out on a hired scooter. Scooters just don't handle like motor bikes! Horrible things. I didn't feel fully in control of it, the weight was all wrong, so we turned it in half a day early before something nasty happened. I did manage to drive slowly and sedately into a thorn bush, while negotiating a sharp turn on bumpy track, which was less than fun but not injurious. . . So no more scooters for me, ever.

Loggos harbour, from the track up to the deserted windmill, Paxos

The funny thing about holidays is that it takes a day or three to recover from them, which seems to negate the point of them in the first place ;-) It didn't help that the  journey home took all day, including a 5 hour coach ride that stopped every bleedin' where between Heathrow and Norwich, and didn't have wi fi, so I missed the World Cup Final. . . Anyway, enough moaning. Well done France, and Croatia, I might add. And England, for a work in progress, we did OK.

I managed to get back into the workshop for a reasonable length of time, once the recovery from the holiday was complete, and continued my experimentation with bits of wire and neglected beads. Some of which were very successful, and others which were frankly, a bit mad. It was good to relax into an extended bit of creative activity again.

Demented pendant

I got round to listing some stuff on LBA Galleria Elementals at long last, and sold most of them, so that kept me in a good mood. 

Oh yeah, I was forgetting, I tried some earrings on LBA Designers Galleria, but got no takers, some nice comments but nobody flashing the cash. Interesting. I feel that earrings are perhaps a longer term  sell than components. Maybe my Etsy shop is the place for them rather than short sharp exposure on FB. Dunno. Maybe they weren't what people actually wanted or they would rather buy the beads and make the earrings themselves. I might try a different group to see if that makes a difference. It's all a learning curve, and none the worse for that.

simple unsold, but not unloved spike earrings

Still no rain here. The lawn is brown and the pond is as low as we've seen it. Still, it does mean I don't have to cut the grass. Oh well, it will rain eventually and no doubt we will moan about that too ;-)

I'll share my most recent makes next time, so until then, have a good one.

Jon x

some textured spikes, just to keep my hand in. .