Etsy Texas Crafters Trunk Show!

Etsy Texas Crafters' wagon train pulls into New York City
ETC Trunk Show At Etsy Labs, 325 Gold St, Brooklyn
September 28-29, 2007

Enjoy the best arts and crafts that Texas has to offer, and visit with some terrific Texans, without even leaving the city!

The fun starts Friday, September 28, with the Etsy Labs Last Fridays Trunk Show from 6-8pm EST. Then, because things are bigger from Texas, the show continues on Saturday afternoon from 1-5pm EST.

With more than 50 Etsy Texas Crafters represented, you get a taste not only of Texan artists and Texas size art but also of terrific Texas edibles and door prize drawings every half hour throughout both shows (no need to be present to win).

And if you're one of the first 25 early birds at Friday night's opening shindig, receive a goodie bag, guaranteed to be Texas sized and Texas Special!

The Etsy Texas Crafters Trunk Show is free and open to the public -- but please rsvp to rsvp@etsy.com so we'll know y'all are coming!

Don't know how to get to Etsy Labs? http://www.etsy.com/labs/visit.html

Can't make it to the show? Attend virtually via Etsy.com workshop (link will be posted prior to shows), shop the sales in the ETC shops at Etsy.com throughout the entire weekend, and participate in an online treasure hunt (with prizes!).

Visit our website at http://www.EtsyTx.org or our team shop at http://etsytexascrafters.etsy.com for more information and links.

Silver!

It got here on Tuesday, just like they said! I am absolutely in AWE - from Indonesia to my door in 4 business days. Seriously the USPS should take lessons from FedEx.

Here's the loot:




You don't want to know how much it cost. Multiple hundreds of dollars. I got it because I will be at the DC Craft Mafia Unusual Suspects Arts and Crafts Festival on November 3rd in Bethesda, MD, and I desperately need to make more inventory. A lot more inventory!

Here is a sample of what I've made so far with my new supplies... all of these are in progress. Note the lack of a clasp on the picasso jasper and pearl necklace with the lovely silver centerpiece (in the top left corner), and the fact that the burgundy pearls are not finished being strung yet.


And, for those of you who thought that I, the perfectionist, worked in a lovely neat little creative space, this will enlighten you - a picture of my workspace as it really is. Note the snippets of silver - I occasionally drop those in my keyboard.

I want my silver!

I ordered nearly $400 of sterling silver from Indonesia last week. Although the company shipped promptly (they were awesome, seriously), my box of goodies is now in Anchorage, Alaska! I know I should be patient, and it's supposed to be here by tomorrow, but I want to play now!

I guess I shouldn't complain... 4 business days isn't exactly slow, considering that it's coming halfway around the world. But still... I AM impatient!

I've been featured!

Impybat has generously featured me in her blog! I feel so honored. Here's a link to her entry profiling my work. And here are a few items from her two shops on Etsy - Impybat and Groovyvinyl. Go check out the nice feature on my work and her stores too!

Etsy Buy Handmade Impybat

Etsy Buy Handmade groovyvinyl

Etsy Treasury 3-19-07

Unfortunately, I'm terribly behind in doing this, but I'm going to catch up as soon as I finish editing and cropping the screenshots I captured. I've discovered the joys of Treasuries on Etsy, and I thought a good way to give the artists I choose a little bit of extra promotion would be to save a screenshot of the Treasury and post links to their shop and item here. So... here is the first that I captured. This is actually a Treasury in which I was featured, so I thought I would give a shout-out and link to these artists and the Treasury curator as well.

RightAsRainCreations - the Treasury curator. She makes lotion and cards.
dylonwhyte - makes gorgeous chainmaille jewelry.
castleman - makes lovely yarn and things made from yarn (scarves, etc.)
SarahsSky - makes mosaics, stained glass, and other beautiful glass items
potteryintheround - makes felted pottery items, meaning the item is knitted and felted, not actually made of ceramic (so cool!)
muchachak - makes pouches, bags, clutches, hair clips, etc.
brokenhallelujah - crochets cute Mary Jane slippers, totes, etc.
ArtByTR - specializes in light switch covers (cooler than it sounds!), but also sells metal art, journals, etc.
The next item is mine, if you're following my pattern here. Mine is the pearl and kyanite necklace, in the middle second row from the bottom.
JMNPOTTERY - makes ceramic stuff - bowls, tea pots, etc. - I've been coveting several items in her store for weeks now!
boygirlparty - makes cool clothes and sometimes paper items
rufflebuttpanties - makes ruffly bags/purses
lesastuff - makes gorgeous wooden jewelry, some purses/bags, hats, etc.

Go check out these stores! There is so much cool stuff on Etsy you could never find it all, but I think checking out the Treasury is a great way to start. Let me know if you find something you love, because I'd be thrilled to know I'd helped out a fellow artist.

ShyViolet

New ACEOs

I've just listed a few new ACEOs on Etsy.

This one is Stripes I, the first in my Stripes series. The paint is metallic, which is why the photo looks so funny. It's $5, and you can see more information and purchase it here.

This one is Minima II, the second in the Minima series. The first was sold pretty quickly, and the third I traded last week. The ink is actually a very dark purple India ink, not black. It's $4, and you can see more information and purchase it here.

This one is Color Wash VIII, the eighth in the Color Wash series. The paint is a wash of metallic gold acrylic, which has black India ink over it. It's $5, and you can see more information and purchase it here.

Sales!

Hurray! All three of these pieces sold in the past week! I can make duplicates of some of them, so if you're interested, please just let me know!

I just listed another ring on Etsy. You can see it here - purple quartzite and sterling silver wire.

Twilight - Amethyst and Sterling Silver Asymmetrical Necklace

Luxurious faceted amethyst pillow beads drape dramatically from delicate sterling silver wire. The asymmetrical design is bold and sophisticated. The necklace measures 16.5 inches, including the full length of the top section of amethysts, and is finished with a sterling silver hook clasp.

You can buy the necklace here.

New ACEO!

I just listed this ACEO on Etsy. It's ink on 120lb. watercolor paper, and it's only $3 since I smudged it a little. Phooey. But I have since gotten better pens, so hopefully that won't happen again. It's still archival, and I think it's still cool looking. And $3! You can't get much cheaper than that for an original.

www.shyviolet.etsy.com

ACEOs

I've just started adding ACEOs to my Etsy shop. What are ACEOs? Well, they're basically little playing card sized pieces of artwork - originals, prints, whatever. The only rule is the size must 3.5 inches by 2.5 inches. You can find some more info at Art-Cards.org.

All of my ACEOs are originals. So far, all the ones I've listed are acrylic and ink on watercolor paper, but I'm also dabbling in collage and have some more ideas in the works. You can see my ACEO section of my Etsy shop here. All my ACEOs so far are only $4 each! That's quite a deal for original art! It's a great way to collect original art from many different artists and explore different styles.

Pictures of Rings!

These are the rings I made. The first is purple quartzite, the second rhodonite, and the third rose quartz. All the metal is sterling silver, handmade and wrapped (actually it's all one piece of wire per ring!) and accented with tiny little sterling beads. The first one turned out larger than I had planned, about a size 9, but the others are about a 6.5 and a 7. I'll have them all listed on Etsy in the next few days. I also made a whole pile of ACEOs today! I'm excited - I started several new series. Right now all the ones that involved paint are being "booked" (new word!), being smushed under some heavy books so they flatten back out. Hubby wanted them flat before he took pictures of them for me. Imagine that!

ShyViolet.net

Abundance

This is my most recently listed item on Etsy and on my website. It's a pretty simple necklace, but I really like it. The stunning green stones are actually green (grossular) garnet! It also has little faceted flat squares of labradorite (one of my favorite stones), tiny faceted amethyst rondelles, and tourmaline heishe beads, all on sterling silver. The chain is also sterling. You can see it here or here on Etsy.

Soooon, I will have more pictures! Stephen's still working on doing the photoediting for items that he photographed a while ago. Several of the items have recently been sent to galleries, so that's kind of annoying - there's no point in listing the items now, although we have good photos for them!

I'm working on several new things now. One is a design for reading glasses holder / brooch. I'd like to have it be at least semi-easy to replicate, since one of the galleries thinks that they can sell quite a few. But first I have to come up with an idea that works and is open to quite a bit of decoration, since apparently the ladies who are interested in them do NOT want something boring and cheap! If I can find a design that works, this could be really helpful.

More updates to come...

ShyViolet.net

Rings!

I made my second, third and fourth rings today. The first I made several years ago. I used a lapis bead and did something similar to the ones above. Sorry - credit goes to whoever made and photographed those - I don't have a picture of the one I made. Neither do I have a picture of the ones I made today (yet!). But they are similar to this design by Eni Oken, except I didn't build up the nest so high. I didn't buy the tutorial for the ring, since it seemed pretty easy (it was). But her tutorials are great, and her work is exquisite. I love looking at it, and although I obviously am not a copycat, her work is one of my great inspirations. I've used several of her tutorials, and they're great - clearly written, great photos, etc. The rings I made today used purple charoite, natural rose quartz, and rhodonite with sterling silver wire and little sterling accent beads.

And I've also spent entirely too much time working on a crazy idea I had - a riveted piece with bits of silver and rubber and.... it's driving me insane. I had to stop before I got frustrated and threw the whole thing out. I don't know what I'll do when I gather up my courage to approach it again. I need to do something easy to conquer my frustration.

www.shyviolet.net

Wild Rose Tourmaline Bracelet

The newest addition to the Garden Collection, Wild Rose is subtly sophisticated. Two strands of small translucent tourmaline rondelles range from deep rose to delicate pink, yellow, and through shades of light and deep green shading to black. It is finished with a delicate square sterling silver clasp. It is 7.5 inches long. You can check it out at my Etsy store or at my website.

I've been working really hard to promote my jewelry recently, but I'm unsure whether it will pay off. I've joined EtsyLux, a group of Etsy sellers (Street Team) focused on promoting the finer works on Etsy. It's not just about pricing (although that is a large part of it). Part of it is a mentality - although there are sellers who sell gorgeous stuff for pennies, we're trying to promote the idea of Etsy as a place to get quality artisan pieces, not just handcrafted steals. Some of it as about the quality of the work, but sometimes artists (who make beautiful things - not just beginning crafters!) drastically undercharge for their time, expertise, and materials, either consciously in order to be competitive or simply because they don't value their work as they should. EtsyLux is NOT about overpricing - in fact many of us are STILL undercharging. But we're trying to recognize the value of craftsmanship, and promote that value to others as well. We value our own work enough to be confident in charging a price that's fair to us and to buyers.

I've also joined EJA, Eclectic Jewelry Artisans (another Street Team on Etsy). This group is more focused on jewelry (as should be obvious by the name).

www.shyviolet.net

Dog Park Frustration

My hubby and I take our dog to the dog park (an area on campus where you're allowed to have dogs off-leash - the only such location in the area) every now and then. We have a sheltie mix, who needs LOTS of exercise or he gets kind of nutty - runs laps in our apartment, that sort of thing. We want him to run and play, to get out his energy. He's a good dog - well behaved, always gentle, loves people, slightly scared of dogs but never snappy. He just runs to us and hides when other dogs sniff him too much.

Since he's scared of dogs, we try to mostly stay away from the big crowds of dogs and people at the park - we're there for him to run, not to be intimidated. This time, the weather was gorgeous, so we even brought a picnic. We sat well away from everyone, on our own.

BUT STILL, we were bothered! First, a dog that had jumped in the lake ran way the heck across the park just to sniff our dog, who of course ran around trying to get away. The big wet dog ran all over our picnic blanket, nearly body-slammed me while I was trying to protect my sandwich (sitting down, no shoes on), and then shook off 18 inches from my food! And of course the clueless owner was 150 feet away, calling the dog to no avail, etc. And did she apologize? No! Of course not!

Then later the same dog, an unneutered male, harassed and barked at another dog while it was trying to get out of the lake. The clueless girl took several minutes to even realize and decide that her dog was a problem, and then of course it was "Oh, why are you barking? I don't know what the problem is!" rather than doing anything for another minute or two before she pulled him away. Meanwhile the other dog was getting seriously tired because it couldn't get out (the edge is a concrete retaining wall, not just dirt).

Then we walked our dog through the other dogs to let him meet some of the smaller, less intimidating ones. He was doing ok with that until the SAME dog came over and chased him around a little. He wasn't really threatening, but our dog was scared. I know that was something to be expected, and I don't fault the owner for that really. But then, when our dog was cowering under my husband's feet, the dog lifted its leg and URINATED on my husband's leg! Of course we jumped away and pushed the dog away, but do you imagine the owner even knew?

NO, she was eating chinese takeout up with some guy. Now, I'm all about having a picnic in the glorious weather - we did that ourselves. But when you've had AT LEAST 2 instances of your dog being a problem in the last 30 minutes (and those were just the ones that we saw!), you ought to have the decency to at least pay attention to him!

I wanted to go up and chew her out for it (which is pretty unusual, I hate confrontation, but I was pretty ticked), or at least TELL her. But my sweet hubby said I shouldn't, because it wouldn't make any difference anyway. Irresponsible dog owners have problem dogs because they're irresponsible - someone alerting them to the fact that their dog is a problem makes no difference because they already know, they just don't care.

Now I wish I'd said something.

And it's not like she had a difficult to handle breed or anything, either. It was a yellow lab - any doofus who makes an effort can have a reasonably-behaved lab. And it would be one thing if she had a difficult dog but was there constantly TRYING to keep him in line - I would have assumed maybe he was a rescue dog, with a history of little discipline, that she was working with, or at the very least that she CARED enough to make an effort. But no, she was just oblivious and didn't care when it was obvious he was causing problems.

I'm glad she didn't have a more difficult to handle breed, like a pit bull or rottweiler - not because they're inherently bad dogs, but they're more dangerous in the hands of a clueless and uninvolved owner than a lab might be.

Phooey on irresponsible people.