What a Month!

So far this month,I've had major dental work done; started several new projects for the holidays; tried to learn about

how to use my new embroidery machine with little luck and feel really behind on all the things I wanted to produce for this
Holiday season.

MJ is working on drawings for our first Pet Shop of the Old Ones coloring book. I'm designing a flying monkey and some special dragons; as well as trying to
get a couple of new chihuahuas and a few Futhark cats done too. I just sold Miguelito a few days ago. I'm working on a new kitty his size in red. I want to call her Ruby Tuesday.

This little fluttercat and Ruby have the new glass eyes I got from VanDykes. I'm really liking them because I don't have to worry about the glass eyes changing color or scratching so easily.

I hope I can get everything done. We'll see what happens .

Flying Monkeys or Why I have problems with the Wizard of Oz

I don't know about you, but these guys scared the crap out of me when I was a kid. I mean the the evil witch was scary and so were a lot of the other characters, but hands down those monkeys were the most frightening.

When we moved out here to California so that MJ could pursue an effects career, it was funny to find out that most effects guys felt that the flying monkeys were some of the freakiest images in film history. I was kind of glad to know I'm not the only one with monkey problems.

I guess I'm working on a flying monkey sculpt that will eventually be a character in my storybook/diary, The Conjurer's Workbook http://thepetshopoftheoldones.blogspot.com/
as a harbinger of doom, because villains do have to have cool or scary minions.

I am so happy with the glass eyes from Van Dykes. I've finished one piece already and am very impressed with how they look. My monkey is going to look amazing with the glass eyes I've chosen. Here is a link to Van Dykes. http://www.vandykestaxidermy.com/category/1/?source=aw-glasseyes&gclid=CKve1ISs-o0CFRLxhgodsmP0Kw
If you need any kind of eye, these are great for the price. They have all kinds of other interesting materials too.

As I was designing my monkey, I used sites that just had primates and birds. I opted out of watching The Wizard of Oz because while it's monkeys may have inspired me, it still scares me a little.

Censorship as a Marketing Tool

I've been surprised how much fuss there has been lately on Etsy about censorship. I have no problem with someone not wanting to see certain things. That's fine by me.

I really didn't need to see that poor dead bat in that Twinkle Twinkle... piece, but if someone wants to use dead animals, bones or recycled fur or leather in their work, I have no problem with them doing so. I don't feel the need to be their jury. My wanting to cry when I saw it was my problem.

My husband MJ does pin-up art as well as many different types of illustrations and I realize this is something that can upset some people. I think his work is beautiful and others might be offended. I understand .

I wonder if it would be a good idea if we did have filters so we could screen out things we don't want to see. Deviant art has a system of filters that are simple to use and I use them myself when I want to bypass something.The on-line community is so huge and diverse that finding something you don't like is pretty much guaranteed. I don't think getting hundreds of thousands of users to agree on a set of rules is the only thing we need. Search tools that work and can be set to filter out the things we want to see or avoid are really needed.

The idea that sellers are trying to get things banned so that they will have a better chance at selling their work was brought up in one of the censorship threads I was reading. It's an interesting idea and I see it as a definite possibility. The worst problems I've had with someone objecting to my work was a doll/plush maker. I just decided to take it as a compliment and move on.

It's sad if fear of competition plays a part in another seller trying to get certain art banned. So many people on Etsy are new to selling and to the Internet and trying new things is scary. I used to hide my dolls in a closet. It's taken me several years to be able to be proud of my work and be able to accept all of the comments, good or bad, that have come my way. So I understand fear, but I don't understand attacking others to overcome your fear.

I hope that Etsy makes the "not" function more obvious for inexperienced Internet users if they don't set up filters. The idea of a new member e-mail packet with helpful hints that is automatically sent when a person joins Etsy might also help inexperienced people. But I guess in the end, time and experience will hopefully help people develop the confidence a person has to have to be successful.

A New Idea

My husband has been after me to write stories to go along with my Pet Shop of the Old Ones animals . I've decided to experiment with creating the stories and possible illustrations. I want the book's format to be like a binder or workbook that can have pictures, charts and extra diary pages added to it.

I created a separate blog to create a possible diary page here
I don't have any illustrations done yet, so I used pictures of my actual sculpts on this page. http://thepetshopoftheoldones.blogspot.com/

I'd really like some opinions. Thanks for your ideas in advance.

They Work by Night...Or at least some of us do

I'm a night person. I like to work between 2pm and 2 am the most.




I seem to work out my most difficult design problems late in the evening. Sitting quietly and meditating or doing something totally unrelated to my sculpting often brings a possible solution. But figuring out solutions to design issues in my dreams doesn't happen very often for me.

I used to keep a notebook by my bed, but it wasn't much of a help. I don't sleep for very long, but I sleep very deeply. I even get up and do things and even have conversations with my eyes wide open, but ... I have no memory of any of it. During these times, I filled the notebook with artistic gems like stick figures with word balloons that say "Cookies are good."

Working late at night also gives you the chance to catch old movies and have quiet time to yourself. Of course a movie like They Drive By Night is only good for the chance to see Bogart and to watch the rest of the cast chew through the scenery. I'm not sure why, but I was watching this movie when I came up with my first HexCat design. Maybe it was a gut response to the dog I was watching?