CWE Open House

Back in January I took a number of classes for women entrepreneurs at the Center for Women and Enterprise (CWE) an extremely supportive group here in SE New England. This month I was invited to set up a booth at their Open House Event to promote my business. It was a nice way to catch up with people I had met before and meet some new folks, exchange ideas and, as always, learn a little more about myself
The upshot of these three very different experiences is hard to define but I think I am learning to trust my gut a bit more with regard to what I want to pursue. I know I am most excited when I am talking about my piecework weather it is virtual or sewn and that excitement is conveyed to others. This affirms for me that those are the paths I should be focusing on.

Burriville Arts Festival

The second event of the month of September was the Burriville Arts Festival. This is the second time I have attended this festival. This is much more of a craft fair type of event... two days, outside, nice crowd. I did well with t-shirts and socks especially socks the first day (cool and a little rainy) I definately enjoy getting to meet people and getting the feedback from my customers.

This is the venue...no complaints!

Here is my booth (my dog Rasta and Larry are on the right)Another good experience for me.

Pawtucket Open Studio Event

Well this has been a very busy month. In addition to getting my Etsy store up and running I have been involved with three different events.

The first was the Pawtucket Open Studios. During the month of September the city of Pawtucket has a month long Arts Festival featuring everything from Dragon Boat races to theater openings. Many of the old mill buildings in Pawtucket have been converted to artist studios and an Open Studio weekend is a part of the Arts Festival, this year I attended as a visiting artist (my studio is in Woonsocket, close but no cigar). A few of us offsite artists got to set up in a unrented room, it was a terrific opportunity to meet other artists and people who are interested in the arts in Pawtucket.

It was hot for September so turn out was light on Friday and Saturday many thanks to the intrepid who made it up to the third floor! Sunday was cooler and we saw a few more people come through.

My roomates for the weekend were Anne Cerullo (gorgeous wheel thrown pottery) and Norma Anderson (scupture and cool stoneware whistles).
This was my booth:

Some of Anne's Pottry:

Norma's WhistlesThis is the whistle I got for my husband we have named him Oscar:

Overall it was a good experience for me, I am still developing my creative identity and attending these sorts of events seems to be helping with that process. I received positive feedback on my cards and my piecework and that means alot to me since those are the things I do that are closest to my heart. I also got an invite to become one of the artists represented at Mia's Gift Shop in Scituate another affirmation that I am on the right path.

New Etsy Store

Hooray its up, its active and I had my first sale!

Approximately a year ago I learned about Etsy and began to think about setting up a store. Back in the spring I took my first tentative steps and set up an account. I finally got serious toward the end of August and began to work out the difficult details (shop policies, shipping paypal, etc.) I finally got it up and running the first week of Sept. and lo and behold a sale!

This was a real accomplishment for me. Making business decisions is not something I'm very comfortable with and being a bit of a perfectionist I sweated every last detail like it was the end of the world. I'm still coming to terms with the idea that its a work in progress and if something isn't working I can change it so it does work

The store is going to cover many bases: jewelry, shibori, paper goods, art...whatever my little heart desires. Like I said a work in progress something that will develop through trial and success.

Here is the first item I listed My Shibori Beetle card set:

Its also the first sale I had on Etsy!

Shibori Paper Process

The paper has been unclamped

Here you can see the pattern emerging almost done
Ironed flat...now what?

30 Day Experiment

I found a link to this article on Robert Genn's website through Lisa Call's blog.
First let me say I am in awe of Lisa Call, not just for her work which is extraordinary, or her productivity which is humbling, but also for her thoughts on creativity and process and well, lets just say I admire her as an artist and secretly deep in my heart I aspire to be just like her (except y’know me)…
Anyway these posts got me thinking about how well I do or do not guard my energies… I have come to the conclusion that its not as well as I would like to think.
I talk far too much about my plans for projects and my business and I write about my plans in my morning pages ad nausem. Now yes morning pages are a dumping ground for whatever is clogging up the brain, but to quote Professor Farnsworth (Futurama) “ Oh no! She’s caught in a closed loop and he’s an idiot!”
I’m seeing a loop in my behavior, my MPs are the same every day, and I haven’t been getting much done…which leads me to the 30 day experiment.
I’m changing this behavior for 30 days to see what happens.
The Ground rules are:
· I may not discuss or write about future plans
· I may jot down ideas or sketches for my own use
· I may use a to do list (because my head might explode without one)
· I may catalog the experience as it happens, daily observation is encouraged
· I may discuss or write about completed work
· The future is mine; I don’t talk it or write it I realize it.
· 30 days, if it sucks I’m allowed to let it go and resume old ways
Today I completed 2 sets of paper Shibori making a total of 3 altogether. I really love the results I’ve gotten. It was also the very first thing I did when I got to the studio. Opening and heat setting the rice paper is so exciting because the results are so unpredictable, like little presents! Some are more special than you ever thought they would be and others are like the ???? Gift from a secret Santa (who thought I would want this?)
Here are a couple of pictures of the process from my first set

Another Step

Its been a little while since I 've posted. I ran into a bit of a bump because I'm not entirely sure of how to work this blogging thing. Bumps tend to knock me down. My frustration stems from being unable to figure out how to manage my "groups" as well as some difficulty with posting multiple images per post. I have decided to just break it down and try to figure out one step at a time...
Tonight: How do I upload an image directly from my computer??

Ok that wasn't too tough...

And then: How do I upload a second one to the same posting??

Hey I did it! Sweet!

Both of these are images of a Daffodil piece I did that is on exhibit at Day One a counseling center in Providence RI. It is made of hand-dyed fabrics, fused and stitched with contrasting threads, and I'm really pleased with how it turned out especially considering how quickly I had to turn it around for the exhibit. From pencil sketch to finished piece it took about 36 hours.