Just a mention – my friend and inspiration, Holly Gage, has a great calendar for sale that makes a wonderful gift for the artists and crafters in your life. Check it out.
Bronze jewelry
As promised – Pics of the newest textured copper pieces
I just took these pieces out of the kiln this morning, and they finished up in the tumbler about an hour ago. No patinas yet, but you can get a good idea of the results.
I was surprised the holes turned up in the big piece, but I rather like the way it looks anyway. I may add a few more holes before I finish it. One of my hoops broke, but I’ll just turn it upside down and add it to its twin to make an interesting pendant instead. Mistakes are so much fun, aren’t they.
Don’t forget that you can still order from my Etsy shop and get it by Christmas if you act quickly. Click on the link at the very top of this blog above the words “Barking Dog Gallery” to get there. Happy Holidays.
Donna
“Friends Don’t Let Friends buy Department Store Jewelry”
Can’t find the texture you want – Make your own.
There are so many different ways to introduce texture into your designs. You can press leaves into polymer clay, water etch, use two part silicone molding mixes. But I like to play with my art – I guess that’s why I’m also a pastel artist — I like to actually have my hands in the medium. Must be leftover from my early days with finger paints. For whatever reason, I want to have a bigger part in creating my textures. I’ve used the new scratch foam, but the designs are just not crisp enough for me. My method is perfect for those of us who spent a good part of their high school years making holes in the square erasers with the point of their pencils – I carve my own textures and designs. I could carve into those same types of erasers I had as a teenager, but I long ago discovered Nasco Safety Cut.
At less than nine bucks for a 12×12 inch sheet, it lasts a while, especially if you remember that you can use both front and back, and all four sides! After picking up all the latest Dockyard carving tools at the last Convention, I was ready to go. I’ll share a few pics of some of the carvings I did, and some greenware copper pieces made from these textures that are cooking in the kiln even as I type. I’ll let you know how they turn out.
The Cleanin’ o’ the Vans
Aye – Tis that time of year. The time of year when artisans and crafters everywhere finally get to use their van to transport family and friends – not boxes, tables, displays, and (God help us all) concrete tent weights. No more will we look away in shame when someone asks, “Who is driving?”. We gleefully say goodbye to yet another season of selling, and clean up our studio and nestle in for a long winter next to our nice warm kiln and torches. We finally get to visit the local car wash, and utter those wonderful words, “Give me a classic wash, and there’s a little extra in it for you if you vacuum the trunk.” .
For the next few months, people will come to us. We’ve scheduled classes, enticing potential students in with promises of wine, cheese, and wirewrapping lessons.
Of course, by April, our displays will be bursting with newly made jewelry, and our carefully hoarded stash of cash will be pitifully low, so we will once again dust off the tables, risk a C6-7 herniation to reload those tent weights into our sadly misnamed Mommy Vans, and wander the countryside once more in search of “our public.” But for now, I am enjoying figuring out how to get three tables of jewelry onto one bookshelf in my studio, and petting the dog nestled under my feet.
I Wanna Be Wanaree
Wanaree Tanner always creates the most beautful and unique pieces.
Now she has posted this great instructional video.
After watching, I only have one question … How does she keep her nails so clean!
Goggle Analytics – Useful or early indicator of Attention Deficit Disorder?
After spending the last few weeks photographing everything in my studio, and dutifully placing each item in my Etsy shop, http://www.etsy.com/shop/Barkingdoggallery , I finally had to pay some attention to marketing the items in the shop. Now you must know that I consider myself pretty e-marketing savvy, but just to make sure I didn’t miss anything, I got Derrick Sutton’s book “How to Sell Your Crafts Online” http://www.amazon.com/Sell-Crafts-Online-Step-Step/dp/0312541260 . Great book, in nice simple terms for those of us who are… well….simple. I few good ideas I had not thought of, and finally a cogent explanation of why I needed to begin using Google Analytics to analyze what was going on with my sites.
The problem is — it is almost too much information! Now I am stewing over questions I never had before. Like — Why do am I more popular in the Ukraine and Russia than in Europe or South America? What is it about my jewelry that appeals to a people best known for nesting dolls and delicious if original recipes for cabbage? Why is my “bounce rate” so much higher today than yesterday? At 55 years of age, I thought I would have to adjust to a lower bounce rate every day – now I find that it varying from day to day!
I probably spent at least an hour perusing the search words used to get to my shop. “Art Glass” I can understand, but “Organic Lesbian”! I finally went to google.com and entered the words “organic jewelry” to see how many pages would go by before Barking Dog Gallery would show up in a search. I could almost feel my mind going into a REM state as I surfed over waves of spiral this, and goddess that. I was somewhat startled to see handmade bronze doggie armor in the midst of my search, but at least it brought me back to reality, and the realization of how much time can be wasted trying ti figure out the impossible.
I have reached the conclusion that Google Analytics falls in the same category as weighing yourself, or calling your parents in Idaho. It is important, helpful, and even required, but you should definitely not fixate on it, and no more than once a week, at most!
I am, however, enjoying having an Etsy shop full to the brim with new items. Linda’s art glass looks lovely, and the alcohol inks I have started using on some pieces really add a touch of color that can easily be missing from an “all silver all the time” type of shop. So, my friends, enjoy your web seaching this week, just remember to keep it in check. Here’s hoping your “bounce rate” is improving every day!
Only a Few Days Left!
Only a few days left till we pick a winner! Better odds than you’ll get anywhere else!
Barking Dog Gallery is sponsoring a great Early Christmas Gift contest. In two weeks we will put all the names of our blog subscribers in a bowl and pick a name for the winner of this beautiful pearl and fine silver necklace. So if you have not subscribed yet, now is the time to do it! Just look on the right of this blog’s screen and you’ll find two ways to subscribe. Click on the link below the words “E-mail Subscription” and enter your email directly, or look further down the right side to the “Networked Blogs” section. Click and follow the directions. Win a wonderful gift for yourself or someone who appreciates handmade fine jewelry.
Best Way to Spend a Weekend
I love, love, love spending a few hours wandering through a really junky flea market. Today I was in Greenwood, Delaware looking for a few unique or weathered boards to paint, sheet metal for Linda to make into a coffee table top, and any other inspiration I could find. Turns out the entire flea market/junk yard was its own work of art. Take a look at some of the pics I took while I was there. I came away with several really unusual windows and another great weathered piece of wood for painting on.
Bluegrass and Craft Fairs – Perfect Together
Last week was the Lewes Historical Society Arts and Craft Fair. An end of the row spot between the food and the bluegrass music — what could be better.
I spent a wonderful sunny fall day surrounded by incredible music. Sales were good, and there was a lot of interest in my painted windows. I had just sold another at the Manayunk show a few weeks ago, and now this one:
During the show, a lovely young American Eskimo dog and her caretaker came over and her caretaker asked if I could do another similar window, but with the lovely dog’s image instead of the somewhat swirly cat.
This is the result:
Now I am off to deliver the new painting to its new family. Yet another show this weekend at the Baywood Art and Craft fest on Route 24 a mere 2 miles from our home. Come out early – we have limited hours (9-1 only). Lots of wonderful local Delaware Crafts! Christmas (shudder!!!!!) is just around the corner.
BARKING DOG GALLERY 