Wordless Wednesday (6 month spread)

Christmas for Animal Lovers

OK, so I have to hope my family stays true to form and doesn't check into my blog this weekend. Why? Because as an animal lover from a family of animal lovers, I did some really wonderful Christmas shopping for a brother and a sister that I'm sharing with you today. Maybe you're in the same boat as me: needing some new ideas for things to give to loved ones? Well, if they like animals or their pets, have I got some tips for you!

I don't just use Etsy to sell my work, but I'm a shopper there, too. I've found a number of wonderful artists over the past couple of years and this Christmas the pet and animal theme is in focus for some of my gift giving.

I'd like to introduce you to my friend Shella of PapierAngels in upstate New York. Her main medium is papier mache which she sculpts into different creatures, often dogs and cats, but with an imaginative twist in that they are portrayed as angels, santas, clowns and ornaments. The fun doesn't stop there. The folk feeling in her sculptures is further enhanced with a paint job and antique finish for really fun and fresh pet portraits that could pass as antiques.

The border collie, shown above as a guardian angel complete with his little lamb, is especially for my sister who adores her dog Jobe. I think she will really like it because it looks a lot like her dog!

Pet portraits as ornaments, made to order!
Here's the Purrmeister-photos I sent and the piece she made...how cute is this!??

I happened to check into her shop again a few days ago, noted a black and white kitty head made into an ornament as a little angel with wings and a halo. I dropped her a note to ask if she would consider doing a version of this cat but making it a portrait of Purrmeister. Check this out!! It's in the mail to me now & I'm in love with it! I sent along a few photos of his little face to her for guidance so I'm showing her translation together with Purrmeister's mug shots here.

This might be a special idea for a personal gift at a very reasonable price: $13.95 for her ready made ornaments and add an extra $3 for personalized versions of your pet or a friend's pet.

Now my brother is another whole problem for shopping. But we were talking about our childhood fun this summer and reminiscing about a pet chipmunk he kept for awhile when we were little kids. Chippy lived in a hamster cage in my brothers room--he was really cute and pretty lucky because the ones that lived outside had to be very very careful of all the farm cats that ran around.

When I spotted the needle-felted sculptures of artist Tracye Mueller, in particular, this life-sized portrait of a chipmunk, I knew I had his gift nailed. There's a realism in her pieces that makes you do a double take! I'm hoping the NEW Chippy will find a nice home in my brother's study, maybe even on his desk.


Another whole series that Tracye features in her Etsy shop are amazing portraits of all kinds of birds! I fell in love with the chickadee and ordered one in the smaller, ornament size shown here on the right. In time, I'd love to collect many of them. But then, I've admitted before how much I love birds, how I collect portraits of them in all media and forms: photos, paintings, sculptures, carvings, etc. So now, I discovered "needle felting" which, in the hands of an artist, is a really beautiful material to use for portraits of wild life. Maybe one of her pieces would be a perfect gift for the bird lover on your list this year?

So I leave you this weekend with 2 special artists & two different shops online on Etsy. You still have a few weeks to get your very special gifts ordered for very special (lucky) folks!! At least, please take a peek at these wonderful shops!!

Don't just stop here....more observations about Christmas giving is waiting for you via the first "Tribal Blogs" Carnival blog-hop! So from here, please click this link and visit "The White Christmas that Sucked" by Tarheel Rambler

Have a great week!

And Two Years Later...

My newest design and new series of holiday necklaces,
called the "Knotted Glass" series, at WillOaks Studio for 2010

And what a two years it has been since I began trying to sell my work online. I set up my little "studio" on Etsy just over two years ago and then just about this time, in late November, made my first sale. I was pretty rattled because it had been so challenging just to assemble my work for a website and to create and post all the photos and information...I had no idea what to do when I actually sold something. You would have laughed to watch me scrambling around, trying to find some kind of envelope and all.

The ever changing, ever popular "Made With Silk" series, begun
in early February, 2010, and still evolving.
Long, fine chains of crocheted silk capture all manner of other materials,
especially pearls.

And in the beginning, not only were my photos pretty marginal, but I didn't understand how to obtain postage online, so when things really began to sell (only because I had the dumb luck to open just weeks before Christmas!) I had to keep running down to the post office to buy postage for each order. I got to know the new automatic postage machine there very well and believed I could win a contest for the fastest info input.

Original necklaces that incorporate leather, linen and silk have been gaining
in exposure and popularity.
Experimenting with different structures and unexpected materials
is my favorite part of studio work.

And then, the holidays were finished and I had no idea how to keep folks coming to visit my shop! Very challenging first year, for sure, because, who could forget, we were also into our first year of "The Great Recession." Who wanted to spend any money, much less on art jewelry...or any art for that matter?
It was a crazy time to try to launch a little business, that's for sure! But I began to experiment with this blog and to investigate a number of different social networks for artists. There really was a lot to learn besides the studio work evolution. Simply put, putting up a web site is barely the beginning because getting folks to visit....well, that's where the work begins!

Bracelets and cuffs are another structure for experimentation in my studio.
But be it a necklace or a bracelet, comfort is a top priority in all of these creations.
Yes, I believe they are art, but they are also meant to be worn.

Which was probably just as well for me because I see now I really had a lot to learn--not necessarily about how to make things--I've done that all my life-and inventing new forms is my favorite activity. But how to work within the "virtual world" and especially, within a "virtual art gallery." To this day, managing a shop online is definitely a "continuing education!"

My "Special Chain" series began in January, 2010 and new pieces continue to be added to this series on a regular basis. In fact, two new pieces for the holidays will be added shortly: one with faceted turquoise and another with faceted hematite.

So I'm taking a bit of time out here to look back for a moment and to put this blog post together. I'm amazingly swamped with holiday orders in my little studio, and it's just exhilarating! Can't help but have a Sally Fields' moment, when I step back and look at my situation at WillOaks Studio on Etsy, and think "They like me, they really like me" (well, my work anyway!) Of course, it sure helps that the overall economy is marginally better, when compared with the past two Holiday seasons.

Earrings were the bread and butter of my little studio early on,
and I continue to explore new stones and materials.

So I've got 2 full weeks plus one last weekend ahead here to do all I can to fill lots of orders and do my part to make my customers happy for the holidays. That's the beauty of my studio, as it has evolved on Etsy. Pieces are made to order. Customers return for new pieces and many have learned that it's often possible to have their orders customized, just by dropping me a note!

So thank you for dropping by to check out what's up "behind the gallery view" today, and you're surely invited to drop by my Etsy shop, maybe do a little shopping for the special women on your list. I'll do my best to come up for air & drop in here during this final stretch. Believe it or not, I've edited my photos from my recent artist residency, but I won't have time to really focus on that project until the holiday season winds down. Which is just fine. Knowing what my next project will be is like the gasoline in my engine!

Have a lovely weekend!

Wordless Wednesday (Big Cats)

More fauna from the Tucson Desert Museum...sorry I've been away!! Trying to catch up since I've been back and there simply are not enough hours in a day! But I'm very grateful as it is the time of year when orders are plentiful...when I'm lucky!


See something new today!