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Tuesday, November 24th, 2009
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9:00 pm - Talented Tuesday- Dori of Sassy Clay Creations
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Yup, time for another artist interview! This time it's Dori, one of my Plurk buddies. She does some amazing work with polymer clay; I'm in love with so much pretty stuff in her shop!
What's your name?
Dori Thompson
Where can you be found on the internet? (Website, Twitter, shops, blog, etc)
SassyClayCreations.artfire.com
sassyclaycreations.blogspot.com
http://www.plurk.com/sassyclayer
Describe yourself in five words.
Creative, Happy, Old, Bold, Colorful
If you were a color, what would you be?
RED
If you could live anywhere (or anywhen), where/when would it be?
On the coast of either Washington or Oregon, watching and listening to the waves whenever I wanted.
What is your greatest dream or goal?
I would have to say I accomplished most of my goals and my greatest dream right
now is to not have arthritis.
What was your very first piece of art?
I remember a map of the US made out of salt and flour showing rivers and
mountains. Did that in 4th grade.
How long have you been an artist?
Every since I can remember. As a child, I used to draw on everything.
If you sell your art, how did you get started?
I decided I wanted to try it when I got older. And here I am.
What is the strangest thing you've ever made?
An outhouse made with polymer clay. It has a working door, a toilet seat and a
"Sears" catalog (instead of tp) inside.
Pick your favorite project/artwork- what is it and what inspired you on it? If you'd like to share, tell a little about the process you used from inspiration to
completion of that project.
My favorite always seems to be the next project that turns out the way I wanted it
to. Sometimes they don't cooperate. I would have to say right now, it would be
my clay mask I made for our Smoosher challenge. I didn't draw a picture of it, I just
saw it in my head. There it is.
What kind of advice would you give to other artists?
I have always been very picky about my work and was very critical of my work. I took some art courses in college and learned from a very fine art teacher that I should not be so hard on myself. I learned. Don't let things get in the way. Don't become discouraged. Whatever it is, do it anyway or how will you know how very good you really are?
What is your favorite:
Color? Teal Blue
Quote? By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is
noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; Third, by experience, which is bitterest. ~ Confucious
Book? Wall-E
Character? (book or whatever) Edgar Allen Poe, Sean Connery
TV show and/or movie? I have more than one. Eureka, Fast Forward, Armageddon, Sleepless in Seattle just to name a few.
Season? Fall, and in second place would be Spring.
Food? Dungeness Crab
Animal? All of them except snakes, lizards and spiders.
Art medium and/or supply? Polymer clay and anything that can be used with it.
Kind of music I listen to when working with clay. Celtic, folk and relaxing music. It is easier to work when I am more relaxed.
Thanks for letting me interview you, Dori! :D
current mood:  busy
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| Monday, November 23rd, 2009
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8:42 pm - Silliness and tormenting my kitty
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I'll do an art post soon, but right now I wanted to share the amusement that is my cat in antlers, and a few other funny pictures I've taken recently. ;)
First, Clarabell:
"Really, Mom? You're making me wear this dumb hat?"
"Maybe I can get Aunt Amy to take it off me if I act cute..."
"No such luck. I'll get you for this. I hope you like the "present" I left in the litterbox."
"I mean, antlers? Antlers? Couldn't it have been something more dignified?"
I love that Clara just sat there and took it! She glared and meowed a bit, but she mostly just sat there in Amy's arms giving me The Look. My cat is so lazy and good natured that even antlers don't cause her to get angry. I did reward her with a bunch of kitty treats, though. :)
Now onto other random pictures:
Our dustmop, sheep, and butterball. ... I mean, two dogs and a cat. Oh, and dad's boots which seem to enjoy hanging out with the fuzzbutts.
My best friend's cat? Thinks she's a parrot.
I was helping mom with decorations today and this is what I saw sitting on the dining room table:
My thoughts: "A cute fuzzy bear, okay. ...Wait, what's that below it? *looks closer* The battery pack sticks up its butt?! Where does mom find these things?"
And it's not funny, but I wanted to share my sad little tree I put on my desk today:
This little $3 Walmart (I think that's where Josh got it?) tree makes Charlie Brown's look like a great sequoia. I tried to fancy it up with a handmade skirt and ornaments, but it's still kinda sad. It just doesn't have enough branches. ...honestly, it looks pretty decent in the photo, but looking at it in person you can see all the gaps. I mean, it's pretty sad when you can fit a tree on your desk behind the keyboard.
I hope you enjoyed this silliness. I'll have to do this more often. ;)
current mood:  silly
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| Friday, November 20th, 2009
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1:32 pm - What I'm thankful for
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I figured in the spirit of a bunch of my teams and guilds doing Thanksgiving/Harvest-y things, I'd make a list of what I'm most thankful for. :)
Here's my list:
My fiancé, Josh:
That's an old picture, but it was taken right after he proposed two years ago. Josh is the most wonderful guy I could ever ask for- he's funny, he's sweet, he's artistic, he's intelligent, and he's so patient and supportive of me. I know he's always there for me and loves me as much as I love him. :) I love having a fiancé who can debate literature with me, knows about art supplies, and likes the same kinds of things I do. It really does help to be in a relationship with one of your best friends (and he was a good friend before we started dating). And he's cute! Have I mentioned how adorable he is? ;)
My friends:
That's a picture of me and my best friend Care. I loves her; for the past decade she's been my "Probably Evil" (haha, OotS reference) twin and the Pippin to my Merry. Seriously. Look:
 She's like my sidekick (or I'm her sidekick- either one works, lol) and let's just say that seventy years from now, we're going to still be best friends, probably trying to cause chaos at the retirement home and running people over with our scooters. ;) She knows me better than anyone else and is always there for me- we also share a lot of the same interests, so we can be geeky together. It's always good to have someone who is always up for dressing in costumes with you. ;)
The other friend I want to mention is one who hasn't been in my life all that long (only a few months) but I consider her one of my closest friends and I can't imagine her not in my life now- that's Ruthie. She's my best online friend and my elf-sister, and she is always there for me with support, a sympathetic ear, and is a wonderful person to bounce ideas off of. We have so much in common and we can relate to each other so well; she's the one person I can really talk about my health problems with because she understands and, while hers are different, can definitely relate. That just means so much to me, to have someone who is not only sympathetic and caring (Josh, my sister, and Care fit that bill, too), but who also understands.
I'm also really thankful for my other friends, of course, including my Plurk buddies, FAE friends, and street team friends because those guys keep me sane in a time when I don't get much social interaction outside the house. Thank goodness for the internet!
My sister:
My parents may not be very supportive of me, but my little sister is. She's so sweet and she's always been my best friend. Seriously, even as kids we never fought, although I did used to torment her by shutting the basement door on her and turning out the light. But what older sibling doesn't pick on their little sibling sometimes? ;) Really, we've always gotten along great and I love her very very much.
My furbaby Clarabell:
I love my kitty so much! She's always so affectionate and ready to give me headbumps and purrs when I need them (or when she wants to give me them, of course, but she's a cat so I know she has her own schedule, lol). I love her even though she thinks kitty bonding time is whenever I'm in the bathroom (since that's where her food bowl is, it's her favorite place). She's so silly!
My creativity:
Art keeps me sane and (generally, hopefully) lets me pay my bills while I can't work. I don't know how I would have been able to take this much time off from work to recover if I didn't have my art, Josh, and my parents (granted that one's kinda begrudgingly, but hey, at least I have a roof over my head and food to eat) supporting me. I don't always feel up to making things, but when I do it really does help me feel better. :) I want to always make things, and I love that selling things means I get to share it with people. I think it's so cool that there are people all over the world who have some of my art! :D
current mood:  loved
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| Thursday, November 19th, 2009
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12:38 pm - Trove Thursday- Woodland Princess
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| Wednesday, November 18th, 2009
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5:09 pm - New cartilage earring (and photography) style!
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I'm really happy with how this new style of cartilage chain earrings came out- amazingly what was in my head worked in practice! ;)
Instead of just having the one chain connecting the lobe to the cartilage, this one has two:
I'm really loving this one- the colors, the shape, the size. :) I wanted a way to expand on my cartilage earrings (since they're one of the main things I make), so I thought a "deluxe" or more intricate version would be cool. Hopefully people will like these ones, too.
I do have a question for you guys- what do you think of the orbs in the photo? Since it's colder now I'm going to be taking pictures indoors, and I found a great spot in my sister's room (and her walls match my mannequin, lol) with good light in the early afternoon. When I got pictures that day the light was coming in at just the right level to give me orbs and I think it's neat and all faerie-ish. However, I'm not sure if it makes the picture look professional and like something someone would want to buy. What do you guys think?
I'm using that photo as the main one on the Artfire listing because my sister said she liked that photo best, but on Etsy I'm using the plain photo with no orbs.
I'm just trying to come up with good ideas to make my photos look unique. I noticed this week as I was going through older listings for earrings to remake that my photo quality from '08 was terrible. They're so much better (and so much clearer!) now, but I'm still no photographer, so I'm trying to think of prop ideas and things to give my photos a unique, fantasy look. Orbs may help with this (and since I have Paintshop, I can edit some in on the days the light doesn't give me them naturally).
I think I also might want to get some further away photos, so you can see how they look with more than just the ear closeup. :)
And as I'm typing this my sister's best friend mentioned that it would be cool if I put a feather in my mannequin's hair because feathers are popular now. I have feathers (I collect them whenever I can find them), so that sounds like a great idea!
current mood:  creative
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| Tuesday, November 17th, 2009
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2:25 pm - Talented Tuesday- AJ of Erthe Fae Designs
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Hooray! Time for another interview with one of my favorite artists! :) This interview is with AJ of Erthe Fae Designs; she's one of my FAE friends (as in one of the regulars in the Fantasy Artists of Etsy team thread in the Etsy forums), and she's also the only elven bellydancer I know. ;) She makes lovely jewelry, so definitely check out her shop!
What's your name?
AJ Reardon
Where can you be found on the internet? (Website, Twitter, shops, blog, etc)
http://erthefae.etsy.com
http://erthefae.blogspot.com
http://www.erthefae.net
Describe yourself in five words.
Quiet and unassuming, unless dancing.
If you were a color, what would you be?
Green.
If you were a "Dungeons and Dragons"/fantasy character or creature, what would you be? (Can be a specific character, or something general like "elven bard", "centaur", etc).
I think I'd be a dryad, and whenever adventurers came to me for help with something in my forest, they'd have to pay me in beads.
If you could live anywhere (or anywhen), where/when would it be?
Right where I am. Arizona suits me well. I like the weather, I like the annual gem shows, and I like the friends I have here.
What is your greatest dream or goal?
To be Tucson's foremost teacher of Tribal-Style Belly Dance. It's a very specific goal, and one I'm actively working towards. There's no better feeling than being on the path to achieving your dreams.
What was your very first piece of art? How long have you been an artist?
My first piece of jewelry that I remember making was a two-strand necklace made with beads from cheap kiddie necklaces I'd cut up. I was probably 8-10 at the time. But I didn't start beading seriously until 11 years ago.
If you sell your art, how did you get started?
I was 16, the holidays were around the corner, and I knew my allowance wouldn't be enough to buy nice presents for my family and boyfriend. I'd been trying to find a job, even temporary Christmas retail work, for months, and no one wanted me. There was a store at the mall who had beads for good prices, so I decided to make a few necklaces to sell on eBay. Within months, I was totally hooked on beading, and what was supposed to tide me over until I had a "real job" became my main focus. I've still never held down a day job.
What is the strangest thing you've ever made?
Definitely Cthulhu, In All His Hideous Glory. He's a 7" plush Toy Vault Cthulhu, heavily embroidered with seed beads.
Pick your favorite project/artwork- what is it and what inspired you on it? If you'd like to share, tell a little about the process you used from inspiration to completion of that project.
Same as above! He's weird, but he's my favorite. Years ago, when looking at the beaded dolls of other artists, I had the idea that it would be fun to bead my plush Cthulhu. But I naturally shy away from projects that large, so it stayed in the back of my mind until this Summer, when it was announced that the Bead Retreat I was attending was going to host an Ugly Beaded Project contest.
Now, I have a natural aversion to the idea of wasting my time making something ugly on purpose, so I wasn't going to participate. But then I thought "Hey, Cthulhu is ugly, and I've always wanted to bead him..."
Cthulhu is largely inspired by the beaded Beanie Babies created by my friend Dot Lewallen (http://speediebeadie.blogspot.com/). I studied pictures of her Beanies, then started work on mine. I picked out the beads along the way, based on what tickled my fancy at the moment. I started out with very few ideas as to exactly what I'd do where, with the exception of the details on the wings.
I spent approximately 2 months on Cthulhu, beading almost every day. He's done entirely in beaded backstitch, using Japanese and Czech seed beads in several sizes, Japanese bugle beads, and Czech pressed glass.
What kind of advice would you give to other artists?
Make what you love. Don't go chasing after the latest trend on Etsy. Choose your niche and try to be the best in it. Others will be drawn to your originality, creativity, and love for what you make.
What is your favorite:
Color? Green.
Quote? It seemed like a good idea at the time.
Book? American Gods by Neil Gaiman.
Character? (book or whatever) I don't think I could even narrow it down to a Top 10.
TV show and/or movie? Babylon 5 and MirrorMask.
Season? February and March, when Winter gives way to Spring. It's a wonderful time in Arizona. Gem show, Ren Faire, and wild flowers in bloom.
Food? Really depends on my mood, but usually something involving chocolate.
Animal? Pembroke Welsh Corgis.
Art medium and/or supply? Beads! Probably a tossup between size 11 Japanese seed beads and 4mm Swarovski bicone crystals. I use a lot of both.
I hope you enjoyed this Talented Tuesday post. Thanks, AJ, for letting me interview you! :)
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| Monday, November 16th, 2009
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11:46 am - Art update- costumed cats, dryad horns, & faerie earrings
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Time to share the stuff I've been working on this week. :)
First, the cat dolls I'm making for a trade with one of my POEST teammates:
I'll get a better picture of them when I'm done the third doll (a mermaid) I'm making for her, but I wanted to share these two first. :) They're based on her two cats; one is slightly larger and a bat-cat, and the slightly smaller one is a devil-cat. I really really like how these came out (I'm still fiddling with the cat pattern I created, but I think I've almost got it to where I want it to be), and I think when I'm done with all the dolls I have to make for Christmas and trades, I'm going to make a line of cats in different costumes for my shops. I know I want to make an Egyptian cat first, but I'll have to think of other ones I want to do. Do you guys have good ideas for costumed cats?
The other thing I made this week was this custom earring:
I'll have to find more of these fairy charms; they're the perfect size for my cartilage chain earrings.
Speaking of cartilage chain earrings, I've been coming up with a new design, but I haven't finished those yet, so those'll probably be in the next update. ;)
And last, my most recently listed item are these Dryad horns:
They're here in my Etsy shop and here on Artfire.
They started out on a whim- I just wanted to mix together some of my new Pearl-Ex powders on a pair of clay horns (I think they started off just black clay), so I grabbed a couple powders (red, orange, and gold, I think) that ended up merging really well into a coppery-color. Then I added the spiral and thought "Hmm... this part would look good green", and when I showed them to Josh, he said how they looked all tree-like and I should paint ridges on them. Unfortunately, you can't see the ridges so well in the photos, but they look like bark now. :) Next time I'll have to scratch some lines into them, too, to make them look even more tree-like.
Man, I love making fantasy things! :D
Next up are lots of dolls- that mermaid for that trade, my friend wants a Luigi (from Mario Bros) and some sort of princess for her grandkids, then I think I'm doing a trade where I'm making two Pokemon, then a kobold for Josh from his webcomic, and I have a few more dolls to make as gifts, as well as something for the swap my FAE team friends are doing. I still have to figure out what I want to make for that, though- I have a bunch of ideas and I don't know which to go with!
current mood: busy
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| Saturday, November 14th, 2009
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7:33 pm - Showing off some stuff I've gotten recently. ;)
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I just realized today that I haven't posted pictures of the awesome stuff I got from my artist friends recently. Oops! I'll have more to post when I show off the Christmas presents I bought, but I'll do that a bit later. Right now I'll just show off the things for me. ;) Some of the pictures are pretty crummy- stupid winter and it getting dark early.
I think I already showed off this clutch from Tilt Creations, but I know I didn't post the awesome charm from my friend Ruthie of Rose Works Jewelry. It matches the bag perfectly, so that's where it ended up. (I keep my crochet stuff in that clutch, so I always have it handy.)
Next, another pretty thing from Ruthie:
She made that custom for me- it's green and wood, so I love it! :D
Next up, some patches from my Plurk friend Cecily of 28 Sides Designs
When Cecily Plurked that she had made D&D dice patches, I jumped right on that! She embroidered my group's name "Khrom-Vel's Champions" on both (Khrom-Vel is one of the dragons in our campaign) and "DM" on the one. The regular one is for me, and the Dungeon Master one is for my fiancé for Christmas. I'm going to show these off to my D&D group and see if they'd want some, too.
The other patch was a gift she included- it's the Windrider from the "Heralds of Valdemar" series by Mercedes Lackey, which are some of my favorite books. :) I've been looking for something to put on my Herald cloak, and this will be perfect; although I may put it on my purse for that costume, or the lighter cloak I'm planning on getting soon. Maybe I'll see if she can make me a few more. ;)
And now a bookcover I got from another Plurk buddy, Char of Char Spirit
I loved this book cover so much that I went and bought about three more as Christmas presents. ;) It's so pretty and my favorite colors!
And hey, the bookcover matches the bookmark I traded for with my FAE team friend Aquariann. How cool is that!
Man, I have some extremely talented artist friends! :D
I also want to show off some geekiness- the tshirt I ordered from the Kellogg's promotion finally arrived!
My best friend has a Star Trek shirt, so now I do, too. ;) I picked yellow because even though it's from the new movie/original series promotion and yellow is the captain's color, that's the color of engineering in my preferred TNG (my two favorite characters are Data and Geordi). Said best friend makes fun of me because I prefer TNG to the original, but even after seeing a bunch of the old episodes (hooray for CBS streaming the original!), I'm standing my ground on this one.
current mood: silly
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| Thursday, November 12th, 2009
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11:17 am - Trove Thursday- Autumn Harvest
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| Tuesday, November 10th, 2009
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2:30 pm - Talented Tuesday- Melissa AKA Niere
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Time for the weekly interview with one of my favorite artists! Niere is special in that I don't know her through Etsy or Artfire; I met her years ago on Gaia. (We're both regulars in the LotR subforum, specifically the long-running [and rather bizarrely themed] Bakshi Legolas fan thread.) Niere (yes yes, I've known her real name for a long time, but I can't think of her as anything but "Niere") is so incredibly talented at drawing people. I love her art style, which is probably why I've asked her to draw me a bunch of things over the years. ;) (She did the drawing of the faerie in my avatar, too!)
What's your name?
Melissa Hughes. Online, I usually go by Niere.
Where can you be found on the internet? (Website, Twitter, shops, blog, etc)
I have a few:
My deviantART account - http://nieregreenleaf.deviantart.com
Art blog, "An Artist's Muse" - http://niere.blogspot.com
Sims blog, "Simoirs of a Geek" - http://simoirs.blogspot.com
Describe yourself in five words.
Eccentric, artistic, lazy, procrastinator, sarcastic (Ok. Some of those made me sound like a horrible person...)
If you were a color, what would you be?
Hmm. That's one of those questions I never knew how to answer. Blue, maybe. It reminds me of water. Though I can't really explain why I feel I'm like water sometimes. Perhaps because it can go anywhere and you never know where it's going to end up? It's kinda confusing... like me. Heh. Ok. I'm just rambling now.
If you were a "Dungeons and Dragons"/fantasy character or creature, what would you be? (Can be a specific character, or something general like "elven bard", "centaur", etc).
Hm. I've never played D&D, but I suppose an elf of some kind. I'd probably find some way to be my elven persona, Niere.
If you could live anywhere (or anywhen), where/when would it be?
It's fictional, but probably Middle-earth. It's such an interesting world and seems to have a lot of beautiful places. Of course, I probably wouldn't want to be there while the whole One Ring thing was going on. That might not be so pleasant.
What is your greatest dream or goal?
To actually be able to do something with my art. I really wish I could improve enough to actually be able to make art a career. Illustration sounds like a lot of fun, but my skills aren't quite up to par yet. Maybe one of these days...
What was your very first piece of art? How long have you been an artist?
Some random scribble I did as a child, I assume. But seriously, I've been drawing since I was a little kid. Mind you, I never said I was good when I was little. Far from it. I loved to draw, but as my parents could tell you, my "art" was pretty bad. My dad told me he was surprised that I actually ended up drawing pretty well considering. I started getting "good" around the end of high school and throughout college. I'm mostly self taught.
If you sell your art, how did you get started?
Oh, I've only ever sold a few pieces of art and that was to friends. One of my college friends bought one of my prints from my senior art show for $15. I remember back in high school, one of my "friends" bought a copy of one of my fanarts off me for $2. Heck, I feel like I ripped him off. It wasn't really a very good quality print job and I think I even got a waterspot on it. He offered to buy it though. Oh, I've also done commissions on Gaia Online, but that was for virtual currency, so I don't know if that really counts.
What is the strangest thing you've ever made?
Oh dear. Strangest thing? Let's see, I've had a lot of strange fanart concepts. Like, one time I was listening to my Mp3 player and YMCA came on and I started drawing the female characters of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic doing the YMCA. Heck, I think most of my silly KotOR fanart is the strangest art I've done.
Pick your favorite project/artwork- what is it and what inspired you on it? If you'd like to share, tell a little about the process you used from inspiration to completion of that project.
I'd have to say that my painting of my elf character Arthalion reading on the beach is my favorite piece of artwork. The character himself was inspired by Lord of the Rings. He was originally a fan character for LotR, but I took him out of that world and into one of my own creations. He's the scholarly type, so the reading was a given. The beach setting has some sort of background story to it. The reason my "story" mainly takes place by the sea (and thus the beach setting) is because of one of my main inspirations - the song "Into the West" from Return of the King. It talks about sailing into the West. So, that's sailing across the sea. Also, the line, "All will turn to silver glass" has always stood out to me. Well, silver glass reminded me of sea glass which you find washed up on beaches. Yeah. I have weird thought processes. This particular painting was one in a series of paintings. I also painted one of Niere (Arthalion's wife) and another one of Losse and Orien (Arthalion and Niere's kids) also on the beach.
It's kinda weird that I chose a painting as my favorite seeing as how painting is not my forte at all. It just turned out so peaceful looking and perfect for hanging on my wall. Plus I think I have a crush on my own character...
What kind of advice would you give to other artists?
Oh wow. I'm totally the wrong person to get advice from. Hmm. Well, make what YOU want to make. Or rather, what you're comfortable making. I can't count the number of times I ended up dreading drawing for people who had commissioned me simply because the subject was something I had no desire to draw or was uncomfortable with doing.
What is your favorite:
Color? Definitely purple. I prefer it either dark or really light. Does that make sense? I'm not too fond of bright purple.
Quote? "He's dead, Jim." Sorry, I have no profound quotes. And yes, I have been watching far too much Star Trek.
Book? Memoirs of a Geisha
Character? (book or whatever) Current top three favorite characters (from tv shows since I haven't been reading much lately) are Lorne from Stargate Atlantis, Dr. McCoy from Star Trek, and Danno from Hawaii Five-O. Yes. I have weird taste.
TV show and/or movie? Currently my favorite TV shows are Star Trek and Hawaii Five-O. That'll probably change in a month or so. As for movie, the LotR movies and Memoirs of a Geisha. I don't care that some people say the book is better than the movie and that you should therefore not see the Memoirs of a Geisha movie. It's a good movie and I still say it follows the book pretty well.
Season? Fall. I like the somewhat moderate temperatures and the trees are really pretty. This fall, however, has been kinda sucky.
Food? Pepper steak. Well, at least the way my mom makes it. I've had a different kind before (which was also good), but I'm especially found of the way she makes it.
Animal? Cats. Definitely cats. Sadly, I haven't had one in a while because mine died semi-recently and my mom doesn't want to get another one.
Art medium and/or supply? I deal mostly in pencil, so pencil. I mostly use mechanical pencils. I know it's rather unprofessional, but I never could get the hang of art pencils. I always felt like I was wasting them when I did use them. I also like using Adobe Photoshop Elements for coloring my pictures. I would use colored pencil more often, but it's harder for me to correct mistakes. Another "medium" I enjoy is Sims. Yeah. I make a lot of Sims for the game Sims 2 (some of which you can see at my Sims blog). I consider it art because I do a lot of editing on custom content - clothing, hair, etc. It really is a lot of hard work and sometimes it could go unappreciated.
Style: Since I was first inspired to really start drawing after watching Sailor Moon in junior high, anime has had a huge influence on my art. I have since tried to develop my own style that is somewhere inbetween anime/manga and western cartoon with a dash of realism. My chibis are mostly anime inspired though.
Bit of semi-random information: I have a series of characters based on several of my electronics. I personified them. It started with my first Mp3 player (which sadly broke recently) that I named Akiimei. I've since named and made characters of my old cellphone (Kikite), my new cellphone (Motoko), my Nintendo DS Lite (Drei), my digital camera (Sasa), my tower fan (Beamos, he's a robot), and my new Mp3 player (Fuu).
That wraps it up for this week's interview. Thanks for letting me feature you, Niere! :)
current mood:  happy
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| Saturday, November 7th, 2009
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2:11 pm - Art update- ears, earrings, and a gift guide
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Not too much to update this week about my art. I spent most of the time finishing two custom dolls, but I can't blog those until after Christmas, so you'll have to take my word that they came out really cool. ;)
The other main thing I worked on this week were these ears:
Yeah, I know the photo is terrible, but I finished them after the sun set so I couldn't get a good picture before I mailed them off. I'm still waiting on Josh to make me a new lightbox. Anyway, these were a custom order for someone who wanted ears with the headbands in two shades of auburn. It was funny because Josh picked up the yarn for me, but had me on the phone looking up the colors on the Joann website, so we kept saying things back and forth like "Is carrot too orangey?" "How about honey?" "Chocolate is far too brown". People at the store must have thought he was baking something, lol. (Why are so many yarn names food? Couldn't they just have one called "auburn"?) We eventually settled on "honey" and "rust". Hooray, one wasn't a food. ;)
The other art thing this week are two new earrings I listed:
These dolphin cartilage earrings can be found here on Etsy and here on Artfire.
And this purple and pink earring is here on Etsy and here on Artfire. This one gets special recognition, though, because it's in a Gift Guide! :D Really! (I was happily surprised, too- I haven't been in one since late 2007).
Click the thumbnail to view it larger, or hey, check out the Teens Gift Guide page here.
And this week I also joined another guild on Artfire- the Blogfire Guild. I mean, it's a team where all I have to do is blog? I can do that. ;) Plus it's awesome because I was able to join off-site, and since I'm at my guild limit on AF, that meant I could join this one without dropping one of my other five. Hooray!
Next up I'm working on more custom dolls, so I'll be blogging about those soon. :)
Edit: Oh! I almost forgot! Shameless promo time!
At my Etsy shop and Artfire shop.
current mood: busy
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| Thursday, November 5th, 2009
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12:34 pm - Trove Thursday- Fat Cats
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| Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009
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2:50 pm - Talented Tuesday- Cecily of 28 Sides Designs
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Here's the second Talented Tuesday post with another of my favorite artists; this week I'm featuring Cecily, one of my Plurk buddies. She's so incredibly talented at embroidery and costume-making- believe me, I have my eye on quite a few of her clothing items! ;)
What's your name?
Cecily Van
Where can you be found on the internet?
I have a bunch of places: website: www.28sides.com; 28sidesdesigns.artfire.com; 28sidesdesigns.etsy.com. Facebook: www.facebook.com/28SidesDesigns & www.twitter.com/silverclassics & www.plurk.com/28sidesdesigns
Describe yourself in five words.
crafty, domestic, geeky, different, bookworm
If you were a color, what would you be?
iridescent earth tones
If you were a "Dungeons and Dragons"/fantasy character or creature, what would you be? (Can be a specific character, or something general like "elven bard", "centaur", etc).
If I myself were one, it would probably be an NPC who is a shop owner but I prefer half-elf rangers....
If you could live anywhere (or anywhen), where/when would it be?
on a lake in Maine...
What is your greatest dream or goal?
to be financially comfortable and able to continue doing what I love which is taking care of my family and sewing
What was your very first piece of art? How long have you been an artist?
I don't know. My mother was always very artsy so I grew up with crafts and arts (my mother can do it all from baking to sewing to knitting to painting to embroidery to writing to being a vet tech). I really started to be interested in creating beautiful object when I was around 11ish and began with beading. When I was 14 tho, I found my passion in sewing costumes. So I would say I was always an artist but am really now starting to come into my own using my personal favorite medium (although I still dabble in jewelry making and am learning knitting and hand embroidery)
If you sell your art, how did you get started?
I've always wanted to be able to make a living doing what I love (who hasn't) and when I was "let go" of my last job and was 3.5 months preggers (and jobs were scarce to begin with) my hubby and I decided to make a go of a home business
What is the strangest thing you've ever made?
clay pheonix I made my senior year of high school for ceramics class (it's very strange looking but I love it):
Pick your favorite project/artwork- what is it and what inspired you on it? If you'd like to share, tell a little about the process you used from inspiration to completion of that project.
My favorite piece is still in my head, it's my corset skirt. I haven't had a chance to make a proto-type yet. It is very similar to my current cincher skirt but certain flaws will be fixed (like tummy control). My process is a bit chaotic. The corset skirt is inspired by the cincher skirt I already make (which is slightly altered from a commercially available pattern) but there are few things about it which I'd like to fix, like dropping the waist to get a bit more tummy control so the tummy doesn't pooch out below the waistline when you cinch it tight (which is usually above the top of the pants, very unflattering).
But my fave that is complete?? The embroidered flask (cuz it's so cool)
What kind of advice would you give to other artists?
ignore what people say if it is not constructive, find a supportive group whether it's at a local cafe or online, because if you love what you do then it is worthwhile.
What is your favorite:
Color? changes but usually one of these; green, purple or red
Quote? "Never eat more than you can lift" - Miss Piggy, although I have many more....
Book? Depends on my mood, but I love Garth Nix and Robin McKinley (as well as older Mercedes Lackey and Anne McCafferey)
TV show and/or movie? Firefly/Buffy/Gargoyles for TV...Movie: Court Jester/Wondery Man/Legend/Roman Holiday
Season? Fall
Food? home made
Animal? cat
Art medium and/or supply? fabric
Thanks for letting me interview you, Cecily! I hope you guys enjoyed another Talented Tuesday- stay tuned for next week when I interview another awesome artist. :)
current mood: busy
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| Saturday, October 31st, 2009
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12:43 pm - Happy Halloween! :D
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Happy Halloween and Samhain, everyone! Today's also my "new" anniversary (as in it used to be September 15th as the anniversary of when Josh and I started dating 7 years ago, but now it's Halloween- this is two years since he proposed. I love you, Joshy!). :) I'm going over to his (well, his parents' house) for dinner tonight and to watch our annual Charlie Brown Halloween; hopefully I'll be feeling a bit better. This ear infection has me feeling pretty icky.
I don't have a real art update post this week- I've been working on a custom order for dolls, but I'm not going to blog about that until after Christmas. The only other thing I've been working on is a few random bits for a Goblin costume. You, know, from Goblins Like These, specifically Gork. Yup, I'm a dork, but Josh was flattered that I wanted to dress like one of his characters. Like, extremely happy- it was so cute! And hey, it meant a use for the wig that didn't turn out right; I turned it into a grass skirt. Wee, I'm crafty! ;)
This is the costume I was going for:
Here's what my quick (like worked on it for an hour or two) Gork costume looked like:
Yes yes, really crappy picture of me, but I wanted to get a picture of it anyway. I need to add a few more rows on the hat (don't want to completely cover my eyes, but the hat was lower until Josh added the pipecleaners) and a bunch more pipecleaners (to cover the gaps), and I also need to add more to the skirt to make it fuller. Someday I'll have a better costume, like with an accurate vest and maybe like a bodysuit thing in goblin color, but this worked for now. :)
And it was fun- we got to play the Goblins D&D game last night, so I was able to dress like Gork and play Gork, too. Yay for crazy goblin ambush commanders!
The other things I wanted to share were about last minute Halloween things. Today is the last day for the sale in my Artfire shop:
15% off everything (costume stuff, Halloween things, and autumn things) in the "Halloween" category of my shop- just enter the code HALLOWEEN09 when checking out.
And the other seasonal thing is the EAST (EarthPath Artisans Street Team) Harvest Treasure Hunt going on until the end of November- a new prize is awarded each week and a big prize pack will be given away in November. :)
Please enter this- we're not getting many people entering, so there's a good chance you'll win one of the weekly prizes or the big prize at the end!
Just go to the team blog here to read how to play- basically you just hunt through the participating shops for 5 Autumn items that have a little blurb in the description (hint- there are at least three of these in my shop), then reply on the EAST team blog with where you found them.
current mood:  tired
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| Thursday, October 29th, 2009
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12:32 pm - Trove Thursday- Spooky Good Time
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Wow! For the second week in a row I was able to snag a treasury on a Wednesday, so that makes Trove Thursday nice and easy! ;) This one is filled with members from some of my street teams- I think I have EtsyFAST, EtsyHookers, POEST, EAST, FAE, and Createability in there.
This one is a Spooky Good Time:
If the treasury is still live (it expires Friday afternoon), you can find it here, but if you want to see it after that, click the image to be taken to the Flickr page or click here to see the screencap full-sized. The "Alternates" are the ones that the curator of the treasury picks that don't show up for anyone else (at least not until they're switched in), so you get a top secret peek at them here. ;)
Here are the items I picked, to make it easy to find them:
1.) "GLASS TILE PENDANT NECKLACE - Halloween Ghost on Orange and Black" by MadeByMari.
2.) "Halloween Bat Full Moon Original ACEO" by magickmermaid.
3.) "Crocheted Halloween Candy Bowl with Ghost" by CrochetTLC.
4.) "Trick or Treat" by HowlingCaterpillars. (Alternate)
5.) "Nostalgic Halloween Flag Bunting 9 feet long" by ArtToGo.
6.) "Halloween Friendly, Designer Handknit Scarf, Fashionable Accessory for the Most Scary and Fun Night" by FashionTouch.
7.) "Festive Halloween Bracelet" by celestialautumn.
8.) "Eek and Boo the Halloween Brother Sock Critters" by keenaskreations. (Alternate)
9.) "Witching Hour Halloween Ornament" by CraftingTheSacred.
10.) "Jack O'Lantern (carnelian, sterling silver) Earrings" by BrighidsForge.
11.) "Ghost and Goblins Mini Halloween Cards Set of 8" by OneFoldDesigns.
12.) "PUMPKINS And PUSSYCATS Witchy Handmade Halloween Carry All Tote Bag" by prettyspooky. (Alternate)
13.) "Secrets of the October Moon, Skeleton Key Choker" by KarenElizDesigns.
14.) "Batty Pumpkin - Halloween Art Yarn that GLOWS in the Dark" by WeirdAndTwisted.
15.) "5 Halloween Party Favors - Skull and Bones Beaded Wrap Bracelets Each in A Decorative bag" by SpiritedWoodland.
16.) "Trick or Treat Magique Door" by threadsofmagique. (Alternate)
current mood: tired
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| Wednesday, October 28th, 2009
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2:58 pm - Can you guys go vote?
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Just a quick post- my Halloween Cat Chainmaille necklace... you know? This one:
It's in the Artfire Artisan Jewelers Guild's October challenge. Now I'm not asking you to vote for it since that's definitely not fair (I hate when people tell people to vote for them), but please can you go vote for your favorite? The poll is to the right on the AJG blog.
Thanks, guys! :)
current mood:  hopeful
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| Tuesday, October 27th, 2009
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11:19 pm - Talented Tuesday- Ruthie of Rose Works Jewelry
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Yup, a new feature for my blog! With Talented Tuesday I'm going to post interviews with some of my favorite artists who are all fun and talented people. Trust me, you want to know them!
When I decided to do this feature, I knew exactly who I wanted to interview first. I met Ruthie online a few months ago and she's fast become one of my best online friends. She's so sweet, positive, talented, helpful, and funny, and I always enjoy talking to her. We also have a lot in common, and her obsession with purple is on par with mine with green. ;)
What's your name?
Ruthie
Describe yourself in five words.
Eccentric, Eclectic, Artistic, Focused, Random
If you were a color, what would you be?
PURPLE
If you were a "Dungeons and Dragons"/fantasy character or creature, what would you be? (Can be a specific character, or something general like "elven bard", "centaur", etc).
I would either be a purple dragon or a fairy of some sort....
If you could live anywhere (or anywhen), where/when would it be?
I would live sometime in the future when there was a cure for asthma and migraines...and all sorts of other diseases!
What is your greatest dream or goal?
I want to grow up to be an eccentric old woman. Like a crazy cat lady, only not with the cats because I'm allergic to them, all indications are that I'm well on my way!
What was your very first piece of art? How long have you been an artist?
I don't remember! I know when I was a little kid I used to draw princess dresses, which is funny, because I was a total tom-boy. Mom also taught me lots of little crafty projects, although for some reason I couldn't understand crocheting at the time, and now I love it! My first piece of jewelry that I remember making was on a loom with seed beads...but I'm not even sure I finished that. The first piece that I made and actually wore was when I was 15. It was a wire-wrapped bracelet and I was so proud of it! Looking back at it now I can see that it had a lot of promise as far as color and composition went, but that the workmanship was pretty shoddy :P
If you sell your art, how did you get started?
My friends and family had been telling me for years that I should sell my work, and I had always secretly dreamed of working in a bazaar or fair. While I was away in school a friend told me about Etsy (and bought the first piece from me). I had been working building an initial inventory. I also was getting really sick around that time. Opening my Etsy shop gave me an outlet for my creativity and something to do as I battle my health problems.
What is the strangest thing you've ever made?
Hmmm...despite the fact that I tend to be rather random...I don't think I've made anything that strange!
Pick your favorite project/artwork- what is it and what inspired you on it? If you'd like to share, tell a little about the process you used from inspiration to completion of that project.
I have a series of bead woven necklaces that I've designed. The first one was designed in response to a challenge by Team Big Damn Crafters, and I so fell in love with the design that I've made several since then! My most recent piece is dedicated to Breast Cancer Awareness and 50% of the sale will go to the Susan G. Koman fund. You can find it here:
What kind of advice would you give to other artists?
There are two things that are important you balance as an artist. Be true to your self, but also be aware of what works selling. To make money as an artist you need to be aware of trends and what work sells, but if that's all you focus on, you'll lose your inspiration as an artist. So make sure that sometimes you make things just because you love them! If the things you love happen to be what's selling...congratulations!
What is your favorite:
Color? Purple!
Quote? "If you only knew all the things I wanted to say and didn't..." Anne of Green Gables
Book? Oh don't ask me that! I have a list of about 50...
Character? (book or whatever) Again...I have a list of about 50...
TV show and/or movie? There are so many! I love anything scifi, fantasy, and I love crime dramas...
Season? Summer
Food? Anything chocolate!
Animal? Tiger
Art medium and/or supply? Seed beads :)
You can find Ruthie's shops here on Artfire and here on Etsy. Her art blog can be found here, and her blog with her writings, book reviews, and randomness is here.
That's all for now. Tune in next Tuesday for an interview with another talented artist! :)
current mood:  cheerful
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| Saturday, October 24th, 2009
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8:27 pm - In need of a chair
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Fairly short update today; I haven't been feeling too great today, so I don't want to sit at the computer too long. I'm hoping Josh can get me a nice computer chair for Christmas- right now I'm using a secondhand chair my sister's ex boyfriend got from a deli where he worked. Needless to say, it is not a good desk chair, especially for someone with back problems. Plus I'm planning on sitting at the computer a lot over the winter and watching tv and stuff on that (since I obviously can't craft outside in the winter), so I'll definitely need something better. So yeah, if anyone knows a good place to get an inexpensive but comfy desk/office chair with good back support, please let me know!
I've got two things to update about today:
~ My Plurk friend ViridianMuse posted my interview on her Artfire blog today. Thanks, Chelsae! It was a lot of fun to fill out, too! :D
One of these days I'll get around to putting together the list of interview questions I started a while ago because I'd like to start featuring artists on this blog. I like reading about other artists and their inspirations and work, so I think this would be a fun feature, especially if I ask odd questions. ;)
~ Josh linked me to a webcomic (reallifecomics.com) this week that's been running a story arc about crochet and yarn. Said story arc starts here and is still going. I can definitely relate, what with having a fiancé who I always end up making video game-related art for (and strangely enough, I've also been tempted to make him a Mario quilt, but haven't had the chance yet).
LOL! And there's like a comedy act going on behind me. The dog keeps trying to climb up on the bed, but can't jump up there (I don't know why- she's not that small, and the puppy half her size can do it), so I have to pick her up. Except she keeps jumping down whenever she hears something, then ten seconds later wants back up. What am I, an elevator? I'm the cat's servant, not yours, dog. :-p
current mood:  sore
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| Friday, October 23rd, 2009
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12:07 pm - Art update- plushies, ears, earrings, sale...
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Time for rambling about stuff I've been working on and listing!
~The green elf wig- well, I kinda gave up on this for now. It may still work, but I've put it on the back burner for now.
~Dolls, dolls, and more dolls: I have four, likely 6 custom plushies to make, 4 of which have to be done and to the person by Christmas. I'm not going to blog about the two I'm working on first until after Christmas, but I will say that the first one is well on its way- it's got a body and some pants. Tomorrow I'm going to do the sleeves, then start on the second doll in that commission so I can make the accessories for them at the same time. I'm kinda stressed out about these, but I think if I can do a little bit a day, I'll be fine. They don't take that long to make (a week, tops, for each one), but I'll admit to getting stressed out easily. I got some custom order inquiries this morning, but they're all for things that don't too long to make (earrings and ears this time), so I'm going to finish those today if the people are interested.
After these are done, I need to start working on Christmas presents, so probably not much new for my shop for a while. The good news is, I do have a bunch of items made a while ago that I still have to list.
Here are some of the most recently made and/or listed things:
These were part of a trade/sale with my FAE friend Aquariann. Neither photo shows how pretty the things turned out; the horns are a really shiny yellow-green with brownish gold spirals, but I mixed some glittery powder into the brown paint to make it a bit sparklier. The ears are also sparkly- you can sort of see in this photo that I used silvery lamé yarn in with the tan. While making them I couldn't help thinking just how much like rice crispy treats they looked, with the light tan and the shiny whitish bits. Or maybe I was just hungry, lol.
Yup, more cartilage chain earrings. I call this one "Queen of Hearts" because it just reminds me so much of the playing card (or hey, if someone were planning to dress as the character from Alice in Wonderland- it would work great with a costume like that). This can be found here on Etsy and here on Artfire.
And I'll mention this pair of earrings because they deserve love, too, but they're not available at the moment because they just sold and will be going off to a new home. :) I really like these, so will likely be making more like this.
Psst! Don't forget about my Halloween sale going on in my Artfire shop!
I'm pretty sure you still have time to get the items before Halloween if you're in the US since shipping usually only takes about three days to get there. And hey, a lot of my shop is in that sale- ears, jewelry, runes, waist cinchers (one of these days I'll have to get better pictures of those- they're really cute!), and bracers.
current mood: happy
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| Thursday, October 22nd, 2009
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11:51 am - Trove Thursday- A FAE Halloween
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geeky
