Moving

I'm moving my blog to my own website. I'll leave the old entries here, but for new stuff, please visit me there!

30 Days - Day 2

Today's task is to evaluate our shop announcements and improve them. My previous message was:

Welcome! I'm adding new inventory almost every day. Hope you enjoy looking. :-)

I've changed it to:

Welcome! I add new inventory almost every day, so be sure to check back often. Feel free to email or convo me to discuss custom work.

My shop policies are outlined in my profile. For more about me and what I make, have a look at my blog at http://www.caelista.com.

Hope you enjoy looking. :-)

________________

I do think it's an improvement, although fewer items are visible on the page now.

"30 Days to a Better Shop"

Along with a group of people on Etsy, I'm going to spend the month of October thinking about the little ways I can improve my online presence. This is a really good idea kicked off by Christina Perdue. Since I just started my Etsy shop, there should be lots of room for improvement.

Day 1's task was to set monthly and long-term goals for our businesses. My goals for October are:

1. Make at least three more sales.
2. Bring the number of items in my shop up to at least 30.
3. Write blog posts at least 3 times per week.
4. Continue to network online and reach 150 friends on Myspace.
5. Revamp website.
6. Have fun and explore new avenues of creativity.

My long-term goals are:

1. Earn over $10,000 per year from selling my work.
2. Continue to pursue my own way of doing things and establish a recognizable style.
3. Draw enough web traffic for my site to pay for itself--or more.
4. Explore new materials and methods.
5. Have my work featured in craft magazines and/or on crafting sites.
6. Try selling at craft fairs/shows.

Famous Artists: an informal poll

The other night I was thinking about Picasso and how his name always comes to mind when I think about famous artists. I started wondering if he was like the default for Artist in most people's minds. Picasso was the first name Christian thought of too.

In an Etsy forum I asked, "Just off the top of your head, when you think of 'famous artist' what's the first name that comes to mind?" Out of the 40 people who were kind enough to respond so far, here's the breakdown:

Warhol (6)
Monet (4)
Picasso (3)
Degas (3)
da Vinci (2)
Dali (2)
Basquiat (2)
O'Keefe (2)
Van Gogh (2)
Matisse (2)
Michelangelo (2)
Pollock
Rothko
Kahlo
Boticelli
Escher
Ditchfield
Haring
Brassai
Kandinsky
Renoir
Modigliani
Mondrian
Chihuly
Chagall
Rockwell
Wood
Pavlova

I'm glad I asked! People came up with a lot of interesting names. Only three women, which is a shame but not too surprising.

Hmm

Someone recently posted a thread on Etsy asking how many of the crafters and artists there are lefthanded. Quite a few people are. Well over half of the people who answered, when the normal occurance of lefties is about 13%.

I use my left hand for writing, sewing, knitting, crocheting, and many other tasks. I just realized...maybe the reason I have such a dislike of following patterns and instructions is because I always have to reverse them.

Several people have written in the Etsy forums that following patterns doesn't work for them. I wonder how many are lefthanded?

My obsession

Cat toys are my new obsession. Every time I make one I get ideas for three more. I've spent a few hours today working on a design that isn't cooperating. A couple of mockups didn't work out, but I've almost got it now.

Who knows where this dark path will end??! In the meantime, I'm developing quite a collection and my cats are happy.

Today's project: tea staining

I had some unbleached muslin that I wanted to add a bit of color/age to for some cat toys I'm making. Tea staining works to add age and character to natural fabrics but won't work on synthetics. Someone might be interested in the process, so I took pictures:

Step 1:



Boil water. For each yard of fabric, you should use about 4 cups of water. Pour into a bucket or bowl and add a couple of teabags for each cup of water you used. I put in seven bags of regular old Lipton tea. Let it sit for ten or fifteen minutes until it's dark brown. To help set the stain you can add a tablespoon of vinegar to the water.

Step 2:



Add your fabric and get it all wet. Use a spoon if necessary to push it down. As with any kind of dyeing, the more you swirl the fabric around and loosen it up, the more evenly the color will be spread. If you leave the teabags in at this stage they will make darker spots on the fabric, which you might like.





Step 3:



Wait. The longer you leave the fabric in the tea, the darker the color will be. It will always appear lighter after it is rinsed and dried, so let it sit until it's a bit darker than you want.







Step 4:





Rinse. Squeeze out the excess tea and run the fabric under warm water. It will lighten considerably.










Step 5:





Add a couple of drops of dish soap to your rinse water to get the rest of the tea out of the fabric. Rinse thoroughly.











Step 6:





Spread out to dry on an old towel. You can dry it in the dryer but it may leave a bit of stain behind.






All done! Now I have several pieces of darkened fabric to use. Mine came out with a fairly even tan tone, which works for my purposes. Good luck applying this technique to your own projects.