I Have A Small Commission…

 

…via Etsy to make a silver ring.  I’m flattered when anyone likes my work enough to actually buy it, be it Illustration, jewellery or sculpture.

Since deciding to make my jewellery available on Etsy and Folksy, it has become apparent just how much work has to go into the other aspects of selling to the public; things like presentation, photographing and packaging the items.  Then there’s the branding, marketing and networking, just to make people aware that your creations actually exist.

So what happens when you don’t sell out your shop within days of opening?  You start to ask yourself why. Are your items not being seen? Are the items not appealing enough?  Are they priced fairly?

To address and solve these issues takes time and effort beyond just making your products.  It also has a galvanising effect on you as a craftsperson.  It tests your resolve and dedication to your chosen craft. 

The support of people who have experience in selling their wares and gaining a commission has helped bolster my enthusiasm.  But I am still in a quandary as to whether jewellery or sculpture is in my future.  I don’t feel I can commit to both especially as I am supposed to be an illustrator.

And speaking of Illustration, my Agent has not been coming through with new work of late so I must take matters into my own hands and self-promote.   I have been going through my portfolio’s and choosing pieces to send out.  Here’s a couple of images on the shortlist:

Tree-Free, (Hemp), Pocket Notebooks

I have been puting together some leather bound small notebooks with hemp paper.  I have made a few designs and will be adding more.  They are 7.5cm x 8.5cm.  Ideal for pockets or handbags.  The hemp paper is a really good surface to write or sketch on.  The pads are hand bound with leather thong which wraps around the pages to keep them together.

I will be putting them on Etsy/Folksy this weekend.

Today I went to see the owner of a local shop which sells spiritual items, jewellery etc, to see what they thought of my silver rings and pendants.  They seemed to really like what I had created.  The jewellery ranges they sold however were mainly bought in from the Far east.  So it was difficult to see how I could pitch my prices.


I individually hand make my items whereas the Far Eastern stuff is often produced by casting into moulds by low paid workers.  They woman in the shop said that the designs sent to them to were sometimes the inverse of the symbols they were meant to represent.  This was because they would create a mould for multiple castings and not take account of the fact that the pattern was flipped.  Jewellery is produced to order, but the technicians don't always have the knowledge to verify if Celtic, Norse or whatever symbology are reproduced correctly.

I'm trying to create honest handmade items of the best quality I can in the hope that people will see something of the effort and care I put into them.  I know economic times are difficult but there is still a place for things of beauty which don't fall into the catagory of an essential item:)

 

Jewellery Now On Etsy

I tried to take some decent pictures but this Reflections sterling silver really is shiny, and it played havoc with my camera:)  I will be investing in some sort of decent photographic equipment I hope at some point:)

I am building a website at the moment but in the meantime I am putting items on Etsy: http://www.etsy.com/shop/SylphSilver

 

 

Tooling Up

There's a lot of equipment that I need to make my life a bit easier for producing jewellery and sculpture.  But until I'm established I'm just going to have to make do with manual tools or use some ingenuity.  A Bobbin sander should look like the picture below:

But as they cost from £130 upwards I decided to build my own from wood, screws, dowels, a hinge and a hasp:)  I worked out that I would need to secure a drill in place with a hinged lid before fixing a sanding drum, as there wouldn't be enough clearance to get the drill and the bit through the hole in the lid.  This meant I would need a separate sanding platform put in place after the attachment was fitted. This is located on top with dowels.  Here's the result of my afternoon's efforts,(no sanding drum yet-waiting on an order from Ebay:)):

Most of my silver jewellery is going to be inspired by the trees and plants venerated by Ancient Britons.  I often walk up local hills take in my surroundings and sketch design ideas.

Most of the plants have succumbed to the cold weather leaving few leaves on the trees but plenty of berries.  The only colour is provided by hardy plants like Ivy and Gorse.

Here are a couple of pics taken with my camera phone which I've just discovered takes HD video, so I'm going to make a couple of Video Blogs of places I often visit.

Life, The Universe And Everything...well not quite...or even close

Ok, here goes....

On Life....

First of all I'd like to extend my deepest sympathy to those involved in the M5 crash on the 4th of November 2011; to the families who lost loved ones, those who were injured and those who were lucky enough to survive.

On the night of the accident I was driving 'up country' from Cornwall with my wife and son and made our usual stop at Cullompton Services to stretch our legs.  What was unusual was having to put some more petrol in my tank.  I have never underfilled before and I have been doing this journey for 15 years. 

It was this unscheduled stop and difficulties with obtaining a coffee that proved a Godsend.  A coachload of students suddenly joining the queue at Macdonalds prevented a quick getaway, and a shopkeeper opening the coffee machine to clean it meant I would be compelled to buy a coffee from the onsite petrol station.  This provided a seemingly innocent dilemma involving a choice of danish pastries offered in a deal. My son is fussy so I deliberated for some time between the different varieties to a point where my wife nearly came in to see what was keeping me.  This delay amounted to a vital couple of minutes.

Once on the motorway in varying degrees of fog I saw the brakelights of a car seemingly stopped dead in the middle of the lane.  This car and one other were the only cars between us and the back of the pile-up.  The last car to hit the queue only seconds before had burst into flames.  Plenty of people behind me must have thought 'There for the grace of God go I,' but for me, I know the string of 'coincidences' saved us from what could have been a life changing or ending scenario.

I met my friend Aki in London, a very talented Japanese artist who I first met in Cornwall on a jewellery course.  She, like a number of artist friends, have left my county; and although I miss their company it has taught me self-reliance and fostered in me a determination to succeed albeit in a solitary quest.

Workwise...

Jewellery design is going to be my main priority; whilst at the same time but to a lesser extend I will be working on the model kit mentioned in the previous post.  I have built the armature as shown below.

But I am also going to go back to my roots to create a couple of fresh traditional 3D illustrations to send to my Agent so he knows I am still alive and hopefully spark some renewed interest:)

Change Of Plan

This is a quick rough sketch of the garage kit I'll be creating.  It will be around 30cm high and is based on a scene from the graphic novel I'm working on.

I have created the armature and started to bulk it out with foil.  I will show them in my next post.

I have found working directly with flesh coloured polymer so incredibly restricting that i have had to shelve my previous project.  The Puppen Fimo was a nightmare to blend and smooth and the addition of dilutent made the clay mushy.  Also the attempts to keep the polymer free of dust proved distracting.

I will be using Super Sculpey Firm for this build as it is a joy to work with and makes the sculpting process so much more intuitive.

St Ives And Plymouth

Here are a couple of mobile pictures taken of St Ives where I live and Plymouth's Barbican where I occasionally visit. 
St Ives harbour often gets a visit by a seal which my wife managed to capture...on film I mean:)

The harbour at the Barbican.  There are some great antique shops, cafe's etc here.