I recently completed a whole bunch of little ring boxes. The picture above is an instagram shot of a few of them getting ready for their resin coating.
I love making these boxes, but the resin stage can be finicky. To start off, I dripped some of the resin on my pant leg, but the rest of the process went well. The next day I checked on them and each one was beautiful and perfect. Once they were hard (or so I thought) I made the mistake of leaving them out on a table to photograph them. I think the cat must have knocked two of them over. That wouldn’t have been too bad, but the two he knocked over fell on the face of two others. The resin to resin contact sealed their faces together and ruined four all together. I was sad because they were four that I really liked in particular. It wasn’t a huge casualty but it was just the experience of the ruined pieces felt like it blemished the whole experience. Does that ever happen to you?
Still, I have many more that turned out perfectly and beautiful and are waiting, affordably, in the shop for new homes. Click on the images above to take you to the listing, where you can see even more pictures of each box. I have listed four now, but stay tuned for more.
I love Mandy’s blog and I always look forward to her updates. I especially enjoy our shared love for roadside attractions and unique touristy stops which she features frequently.
Just a quick pop in to share some new items I’ve added to my etsy shop.
I made this 12″ square pinwheel painting with chalkboard paint, so you can customize and share your own affirmations.
I made this little painting last year for a commercial project that never got the green light. I really love it a lot, but I made the painting knowing that it would be for someone else, so I am posting it to my shop now.
And last but not least:
Party on, Wayne! Party on, Garth! These confetti buttons were made for you to take your own party on the road. Each button is made up of tiny handcut paper confetti.
Earlier this year Etsy had a glitch where certain shop’s banner reverted to old ones. My shop was one of those. The problem was fixed but it got me questioning if my latest banner wasn’t enticing or inviting enough. A week or two ago I actually switched my shop banner back to the old one to see if I’d notice any difference in views.
I liked the old one because it was very colorful and the current one was pretty monotone. The old, colorful one felt more cheerful and more “robayre” to me. I was trying to think of a new look that would be colorful, cheerful and robayre when the idea of confetti hit me.
I couldn’t wait until this weekend to actually do it. I cut up all the confetti myself. I like it and I’m going to try and start adding some of the confetti to the background of product pictures as well, for an entirely cohesive look.
Check out the confetti theme on my blog, etsy and twitter.
And then, here are all my old banners in chronological order (completely forgot about the rabbit one, and I had it on my etsy shop for about two years)
Rilo kiley - silver lining by epb21
I was your silver lining, but now I’m gold.
Here is a pretty collection in silver and gold.
From top (left to right) shineel’ilboaz, Autumn Moss Blooms, Gold and Silver Garland, Silver Ruffle Wristlet, Lucite Ring Trio, Gold Metallic Abstract Painting
This week I added the first new item to my etsy shop in a very, very loooooong time. The item is the silver and gold paper garland above. It’s based on a tutorial I posted last year, but I loved the garland enough that I wanted to make some to share.
When I was going to art school, one thing that was often stressed was to stay away from square format art. It’s very difficult to make a successfully balanced composition in a square format, while rectangular images can easily be off center and still retain equilibrium. Think the “fibonacci sequence” or “Rule of Thirds”. But rules are meant to be broken and I’ve long been pulled towards the square format. Along comes the Ikea Ribba frames in 9×9″ square and my heart sang. Add in the supreme quality, basic style (not to distract from the artwork you are framing) and very inexpensive price tag and you have a product made in heaven. I can’t say I was alone in this because if you have spent a moment on any home decor website, or visited any craft or art shows you will have seen these frames EVERYWHERE.
I’ve personally based so much of my own artwork to be formatted to these frames, as seen above. It wasn’t unusual for me to make an Ikea run and drop a couple hundred dollars to stock up on these frames. Earlier this year my sister went to Ikea and I asked to pick me up some of the frames, but when she got there she said they didn’t have any. No problem, they are probably just back ordered, it’s happened before. A month or so later I dropped into an Ikea and I found the same thing. They had the white and black shadowbox frames, but none of the wooden square ones. Fortunately I still had a bunch in stock. But sadly, this morning I had an order that used my last birch wood frame, so I finally had to break down and make the dreaded call to Ikea. As I feared I was informed that they don’t have any in stock. She said that most likely what has happened is that since they are such a popular frame the supplier who makes them couldn’t keep up with Ikea’s demand, and so Ikea discontinued them out of frustration for not being able to keep them in stock. Ugh. My heart sank. Immediately I had to go to my Etsy shop and put almost all of my framed yoyos, as well as original artwork and prints in “edit mode” because the productd were all pictured in those frames.
I’ve just sent an “email” to corporate Ikea inquiring about the frames, hoping I might get better news from the top, but I’m not holding my breath. In the meantime I will have to start the hunt for a replacement product. Square frames are almost impossible to come by, and when you do see them, they are usually gaudy and/or decorative. I’m so sad right now.
Back in February, during Thing-a-Day, I designed a bow tie ring made from fabric. I’ve finally come back to those and created some specifically for my shop. They are now available here in a variety of colors and sizes. If you see one you like, but not in your size, just send me a message and I’ll create a custom listing for you.
I designed the gray background pattern on the computer, printed it out and then used my fine illustration pen to fill it in. I love how the hand drawn line work gives it an additional texture and more of an organic feeling, than if it had been solid, crisp lines.
These 1″ buttons are now available in my Etsy shop, as either pinback badges, or magnets.
I’m thrilled with the final outcome. It has articles and artwork, as well as a comic and interview with a stranger. I’ll tell you, those last two parts are what kept me from getting this issue out much sooner. The comic is the third comic I’ve ever done and all of them have been part of a series called “How to…” The “interview a stranger” article is also supposed to be an on going article in Grass & Stars. I had the idea originally when I first wanted to make a zine, way back in high school. It’s something I know would definitely push me past my comfort zone because I’m not the type of person to talk to strangers, let alone ask them if I could interview them, take their picture AND publish it. It scared me so much, that I basically chickened out for the first issue and just interviewed myself, lol. When I finally did the interview for this new issue, the person was so sweet and kind. It was a great first interview and I’m sure they will get easier for me from now on out.
The zine is 16 pages long and has a limited edition run of 26 numbered books. The cover is a hand colored relief print. After 26 the originals are gone, further issues will be open-ended reproductions, so get one while they are available.
Oh, and I can cross this off my 2010 to-do list and this makes me very, very happy :D
The new zine is available in my Etsy shop now, and if you never picked up the first issue, that can be found there as well.
