We All Started at the Beginning

I was fiddling around on Pinterest the other day and stumbled onto a lettering poster drawn up by Jessica Hische. (that's the really cool thing about Pinterest, finding artists you might not have otherwise) The original page the poster had been linked from was no where to be found, so I poked around her site a little. Looked at some of her work, peeked at her graphics, and finally took a little read in her blog. She hasn't been a prolific writer, but steady and what posts she had written were worth the read.

This POST in particular caught my attention. It's a topic I've addressed here before. One many have addressed - obviously, the topic of copy right has touched every artist in one way or another.

Where I struggle is in this, I know we all start at the beginning. I know imitation is how we learn. It's how I learned. It's how I taught 4th grade art. Do as I do and you will create the same thing, and they did. They were amazed they could create, it opened a whole new world for them and I was thrilled to have opened that door. Just as I'm immensely flattered now to know or realize I have inspired as I have been.

"When you’re learning, it’s not wrong to copy people—to learn from them the way that they learned from others before them. What many young artists have a problem realizing though, is that the work you create while practicing and learning is completely separate of what you do professionally."

That last sentence of Jessica's, "practicing and learning is completely separate of what you do professionally" this is where it seems to go wrong, isn't it? It's how many of us get started, someone sees your work while you're learning, they fall in love with it and want to buy it. It kind of blurs the lines but the sale is such an ego boost! That someone would pay you money for something you created, is just plain cool! It's just as cool the next time, and the next time, and the next, that is as it should be.

But you should never pass off someone else's work as your own.

“There’s a difference between making an imitation and selling it.
At the Metropolitan Museum of Art, you’ll often find high school students with their sketchbooks out, camped out in front of the Giottos and Dürers. It’s a time-honored way of learning: see, try to reproduce, and discover......But the 17 year old with the sketchpad is entirely different. He’s not passing off his Velasquez as a Velasquez, and he’s not passing it off as his own — in fact, he’s not passing it off at all. It’s a learning exercise, and if it’s presented at all, it’s always with the appropriate context. (“I did this in art class, from the Gubbio Studiolo at the Met.”) It also reveals what young artists finds fascinating, what they struggled with, and what they learned. It’s been my experience that these kinds of acts are met with great encouragement and support from the professional community."

As well they should be and are. As I said before, we ALL started at the beginning. We ALL had someone we looked up to, someone who inspired. Believe it or not, we ALL feel a warm glow when we know we have inspired too.
So go forth, ooh and ah, be inspired and learn. practice, Practice, PRACTICE and then practice some more. Find the style you love, let your heart move your hands and create your own works of inspiration your own works of art.

Just in case the hyperlink didn't work - html does not always do what I think it ought to do..... the full link to Jessica Hische's blog post
http://www.jessicahische.is/obsessedwiththeinternet/category/andbeingresponsivelyinspired
Read, Go Create! We'll see you next time!

Bead Soup Partners are being announced!

I was so excited for being paired with Jean Yates I immediately ran to Lori's blog Pretty Things so I could be sure I was following her blog and immediately grabbed the info for Jean Wells. Whom I am already following and think she makes some pretty cute things too her info to follow! So as soon as Jean contacted me I was super excited and it immediately dawned on me I had to edit my post PRONTO lol

Excitement - this is going to be a blast I can tell already!

Jeans' Etsy is here and we are definately going to have FUN!

If you have a moment drop by Jean Wells or visit her Etsy I'm sure she'd love to see you!

Now I need to drop a line and say Hi! myself :) Then I get to dig through my stash and/or create a little something for her :D hmmm ideas brewing here........

Revelations, Doubts and Imagination Run Amok

Meet the earrings that have caused me a great deal on introspection as of late.

Source: etsy.com via Dana on Pinterest

They're a simple style, clean and dainty, very comfortable to wear. Hoops are readily found in many shops, a breeze to make, and quick too. So why the introspection? I found the exact earrings in sterling silver in Sun Dance recently......for more than double what I charge.

My college major was business management, so I am confident in my pricing structure. At least I was. The business woman in me is chiding me to revisit that structure. Etsy's workshops have all been focussing on pricing lately too, which only adds to it.

I think to myself if the items I make and sell are also found elsewhere for more than double I am seriously undercharging for my work. On the other hand I live in an economically challenged region in the US and I don't want to seem to be overcharging. See the dilemma?

I thought I had solved that by charging a healthy- for this area - hourly wage, and by the time all the math was done for factoring price, my wages would be boosted and still reflect a fair price. A recent workshop hinted that I should be charging almost quadruple for my wages, seriously? hmmmm the price of those hoops would support that theory as well.

ah but the flip side to that coin..... several of my pieces take far more time to create than a simple pair of hoops. Hours and hours would kick my prices out of the reach of all but a few. While I wouldn't mind selling to those few :D I am not completely artsy (business major remember lol) I can be practical and do realize that being able to sell to more than a few is actually a good thing! Truly when I say from my heart and hands to yours, that's what I mean. I want you to have my jewelry. For that to happen the price must be affordable...... but still, I need to be fair to me. My prices need to reflect that.....

On the Desk: is an explosion of beads and wire. I'm not kidding! My brain keeps kicking out ideas that my hands MUST try NOW before the last piece is done!! My UFO's have multiplied like bunnies. What's worse is I've been ummm borrowing precut pieces for this from that because it's the right size and I really want to see if it works sigh. Monkey brain! Swinging from idea to idea as if they were branches. It has actually gotten so bad that my To Do list actually reads:

Dust
mortar rocks
lay stepping stones and soaker hose
write blog post AND ideas for later (it bothered me I was behind!)
sketch ideas BEFORE exploring & FINISH at least ONE UFO
finish painting Paige's room (touch ups and bath)

etc etc

I did manage to actually finish one pair of earrings. I finally got around to using that gorgeous Seraphanite I bought with my winnings some time back, sweet sweet earrings. I was actually a little worried they looked a little too much like a pair Cleo has in her shop. That is a problem when you have similar tastes with a friend who also makes gorgeous jewelry. You really don't want to look as if you're borrowing (or worse) their ideas, even if they inspire you.

Well this blog post could easily have been turned into several!! So I'll leave it for now and see you next time!

Busy Busy! Summer is almost here!

I'm sorry I missed last weeks posting! My son Alex has been having a wonderful couple of weeks and I have just been absorbed in his joy! We were invited to an awards banquet and were considering blowing it off. Who wants to sit for a couple hours and listen to how wonderful everyone else's kids are when you're pretty much inclined to think yours are every bit as wonderful, right? lol His instructor tells him it's a must attend, so we put the good clothes on lol and omg he's Student of the Year!

He opted to compete in Skills USA this year. Alex is second year auto shop and really enjoys it, but regretted not trying last year. His scores on the written test were so high it earned him an invitation to the AAA Ford Competition in Batesville at Mark Martin's. Only 10 teams are invited and scholarships are awarded to each participant.

Each team is given a car with the same problems. They each have one and a half hours to find and fix all 9 problems. Alex was the second team to get their car started and were the fourth team to finish. They lost points here and there, never having worked on air conditioning they completely passed on trying to locate the problem and fixing it - turns out it was a plug unplugged under the dash oops! So they finished in 9th place. But to be 16 and to be in the top 9 in the state is such a huge honor! I just really couldn't ask for any more than that, it was such a great learning experience for him. He came home with tools, a scholarship and a job offer!

Since auto shop is no longer just a class in high school - it's vocational study at the University. He also has completed his course of studies and "graduates" tomorrow night.

It is finals week at the University and my younger daughter is finishing her freshman year. It's so hard to believe how fast this year has flown by! She has her classes scheduled for next year and have made sure she's met all her requirements to keep her scholarship going. She's really looking forward to getting her Etsy shop up and running this summer - be on the look out for updates on that front!

Last but not least I've changed my profile picture on Etsy. In embracing the hand made movement, as we all have, I've decided to make my hands in the process of making one of my filigree pieces my new avatar. Though I suppose technically since it is still me, it's just a new profile pic! Big Grin!

The idea came to me when reading the forums at Etsy. They were discussing a silent protest showing their disproval of a manufacturer as having been chosen as the seller of the week. Ooops!! This as they are cracking down on drop shippers and resellers or at least trying to step up their efforts. Then a team mate of mine on the wired team is suspended for her rather wordy thank you for supporting hand made announcement while she places her shop on vacation for rebranding. On her blog she shared a photo of her hands.

And well darn it if hand made isn't ALL about our hearts and hands and so it just makes perfect sense to me.

So here they are my hands as avi - though I guess I could have used a full size pic instead of the avi sized one huh?

Be good to yourselves, enjoy your summers! Thanks for stopping by and we'll see you next time!
Dana

Happy Tax Day?

Looks like I missed last weeks post - got a little caught up working on taxes :(

So I'll share a little music befitting the day......



Here's hoping you've got yours done too!

What's in the Garden.....

While I'm nursing the hubs back from his surgery I thought you might like to see what's in bloom in my garden. It will be another couple years before it's in it's full glory again, transplanting always takes it's toll but as you can see, the Iris's seem to be adapting quite well!


We have wild black berry EVERYWHERE up here it's been a battle to get it under control, but the fresh berries are wonderful and the flowers are much appreciated too, especially by the swallowtail community!


The hostas seem to have survived last years summer melt down and the peony seems to have as well. I'm pretty sure I've lost my roses but their root stock survived, it will be interesting to see what they reveal themselves to be. Sadly the deer seem to have bitten the top off of one my lillies :(


My seedlings seem to be doing well so far, the little paper pots and cloches I made for them seem to really be doing the trick - of course I think what helps most of all is the cats aka the magpies haven't discovered them in the laundry room. As of now I have cantaloupe, tomatoes, petunias and a hummingbird mix successfully started. No true leaves yet, so successfully getting them into the garden remains to be seen. It almost made 90 today, already! Getting the seedlings in the garden may be only the first major feat of the growing season. Hoping to get some more veggies going soon and get some more of my garden transplanted too!


Since writing this to put in the queue - which I forgot to do lol) the cantaloupe and tomatoes have true leaves yay! and the peachy orange Iris are blooming now too! I've even brought my first bouquet of the season in!! The honeysuckle has started blooming and the boxwood is close behind and then the air will be heavenly to breathe! If I were smart I'd cut a peach Iris and some Cherokee rose for a bouquet too, no I should wait for the box wood to bloom first!!
I love spring :)!

Thanks for stopping by, we'll see you next time!

One Dragon's Eye Ring Finally Finished!

I finally finished it! Alex has waited very patiently for this day .... sometimes not so patiently, but he's a good kid and his patience has paid off.

I had finished his pendant and was almost finished with the ring when I received a custom order for another ring. It came out great, my customer was pleased but Alex's ring had been set aside and sometimes it's harder to begin again than it is to start.

I had sized Alex's finger and checked the size of the ring several times. I did not however even once check to see if the sizer and my mandrel agreed as to what that size was. When I finally was ready to start back up I checked size on his finger and it was waaaaaay too big! Set aside again until I could figure out a way to size it back down, the shank was already wrapped.

Alan's surgery is tomorrow and I haven't been feeling creative but was looking for something to keep my hands busy. There it was, Alex' ring sitting there on the desk, waiting to be finished. I've always said the blessing of having several projects in the works is even if you aren't feeling creative you can work at finishing something. So I picked it up, finished weaving the little piece that was half done, tucked it into place, turning the ring over while doing so. The fix became so obvious I wondered why I hadn't thought of it sooner and within the hour the ring was finished and fit just as if it were made for him! LOL

He's wearing it today and was calling it his class ring as he walked out the door. A very custom class ring!

A reminder of what his pendant looks like.



And the matching ring!



Side view



Thanks for stopping by! We'll see you next time!
Dana