Saturday, May 23, 2009
Monday, May 18, 2009
Etsy Canada Sale!
It's time for a sale!
I've joined forces with twenty-four other Canadian Etsy sellers to offer buyers some fantastic deals from May 18-24. Each store is holding their own sale and the product varies from painting and jewlery to clothing and quilting. As for my own store, I am offering 20% off anything in the shop. The discount will be given as a refund via Paypal.
Below are the links to the various stores participating. Browse around and mark your favourites.
To top off the great sales, there will be three giveaway draws of items from 19 of the stores. To enter the draw visit the ETSY CANADA blog. Good luck to you.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
How do I price my art?
I've been thinking about this post for a while now. As an artist, I have struggled alot with how to price my work and determining its' value. Now that I have decided to be more proactive in selling my work, I have had to question its' value everytime I post something on Etsy.
Etsy is an amazing site to find so many highly talented and skilled artists. I have found, however, that there are alot of artists who sell their items too low. This is great for those of us looking for beautiful things for very little. It's not so great for people like myself that realize that I have to compete with those prices. It's taken me many a years to convince myself that I deserve to be paid well for my images and ideas.
As such, I have tried different formats of my work to make it more "sellable" to the Etsy shopper. I have created digital prints of my monotypes and paintings which have turned out to be amazing in their clarity and color. I have access to a Canon Pro9000 and have found it to produce images better than anything that I have sent out so far. Being that they are still archival I think that I may use the printer for my collages which will deteriate much faster.
I have also created some glass pendants of my images which I just love. Now my images are portable!
So even with all the adjustments I've tried to make to reach my "target market", I have to say that I haven't sold one digital print or art pendant yet. I have only sold original paintings and hand-pulled prints so far. Go figure.
I would love to hear from other artists and their thoughts on pricing their works and how they market their talent.
As a side note, I would like to share with you some of the finds I've seen on Etsy. I love posting my favorites and wish I could puruse the art pages even more than I do.
I recently bought some pieces from meluseena, a.ka. Lisa Falzon. They will be hung up on my wall of inspiration. Lisa's work is fantastic and she collages with a computer in a way that I only wish I could do. Now that's a good use of a computer!
Another artist that I am kicking myself for not buying from is five in the morning. This edition sold so fast that I lost my opportunity to own such a well done print. I kept looking at it and its' description to determine why the artist was selling it for only $15 (!). I will check back often so that I don't make that mistake again.
As I opened up one of my Decor8 daily I was blown away by Natasha Morton and was heartened to see that she sells originals. I would love any painting set by her but I just might convince myself to buy one of her collages.
.Finally, I love the work by Etsy artist Francois Dyment but luckily I get to see his work all the time. I ended up marrying an amazing painter and he has really inspired me in so many ways. Francois is also selling originals and is at the higher end for Etsy prices but has a selling history that justifies this.
Tell me about your amazing finds on Etsy. Is there an artist on there that you feel deserves some more recognition?
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Breast Cancer Fundraising Pendant
If you've been touched by cancer in some way I hope that you will feel compelled to give to the cause.
Friday, May 1, 2009
Birthday Monkey Cake for a 1 yr. old
I have had the chance to dabble in cake decorating again and made a monkey cake for my niece's first birthday. This cake is a banana cake with chocolate fudge icing.
I got the design idea from Scribble on CakeCentral.com and you should really take a look to see how the cake should be done properly. I think I should've used chocolate buttercream icing instead of the glaze as I'
m not that skilled at creating a smooth finish in all the nooks and crannys with a pour-on icing. I had never made the icing before and it's quite sticky as it starts to cool.
I think with this cake I've learned that:
you should always do a practice cake
it's too hard to decorate sculpture cakes with kids
give yourself extra time and space to get messy
Thursday, March 26, 2009
A Cinderella Coach Cake fit for a 5 yr. old
Well I finally got to do another specialty cake. I really enjoy creating birthday cakes and I especially like brainstorming for the next one. Before I committed to going back into the studio to make artwork, creating cakes and baking was my only form of creativity. Looking forward to making childrens' theme cakes the most, I had freedom to make what I wanted for my oldest's first birthday cake only. All the rest of the cakes I've had to have "help" from my two daughters. So needless to say, it has sometimes been very frustrating trying to tame what I want to make and accomidate their skill level and have them help. I have to say that making marshmallow fondant with a two year old is very messy and not fun at all. How did she get it everywhere?
So this year my oldest daughter said she wanted a Cinderella Coach cake for her birthday party. To research as to how I could possibly construct this cake, I went onto Cake Central.com right away. This is a fantastic and addictive site fully of some really highly skilled artisans. I didn't find too much though except the cakes made with the character molds. Instead I did a search on Flickr and found a few cakes of the coach cake in 3-D. Armed with an idea as to what might be required, I borrowed another baking friends Wilton small sports ball mold and baked off a boxed chocolate cake mix. I usually always make my cakes from scratch but my first attempt at the coach cake with a Betty Crocker bake-n-fill proved to be a waste.
I broke the steps down to be done on several different days so I wouldn't get overwhelmed with trying to finish the cake and get the house ready for our first kids birthday party. My daughter was so excited to decorate the cake and kept asking for days beforehand if we can "decorate today". Things were going quite well with the kids and my daughter even helped create the dog driver, but it was too much for my youngest and she wasn't into decorating anymore. That meant everyone else was supposed to stop too. A quick call to Grandma and I was able to get some time alone to finish the cake. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out as it has been one of my more adventurous cakes. I'm already planning the youngest daughter's cake. If only I can get her to make up her mind as to what it will be.
Below are some photos I took during the process.
Marzipan dog with an already broken leg.
Putting in the cookie seat.
The finished cake.
Just for fun I thought I would add the wordsearch my daughter created as a "party game" for her guests. Please feel free to right click it and print it off.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Is it spring yet?
March has finally arrived and everyone seems to be itching for spring. I'm already thinking about which flowers I will plant out on the balcony. I went to the garden centre only to find the plant tables completely bare. Patience, patience.
Well, once we have to move our clocks ahead next week, that will surely kick things into gear and we'll be able to celebrate spring for sure.
Some of my fellow Etsy sellers have decided to get together and mark the transition of the seasons with the "Etsy Spring Fling" at the Cambrian Welsch Hall located at 215 E. 17th Ave., just of Main St. The 30 sellers will be showing off their new wares from 11-5 on Sat. March 21st. I for one, will be sure to attend. I'm looking forward to seeing some of the creative talent that Vancouver has to offer. Although Etsy may not have a large presence in Canada on the west coast, perhaps events like this one will change that. Hooray for handmade!
Below is a sneak peak of some of the vendors and their items.
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