Carnival of the Creators - May 12, 2007
Posted by Leah on May 10, 2007
I got a *ton* of entries for this carnival (which was for May 10th, not 12th as I mistakenly wrote). If I missed your entry, I sincerely apologize - don’t hesitate to submit to the next edition. A few people submitted more than one article, and in those cases, I picked one to include. Since there are so many entries, I’ve divided them into a few categories.
Articles by and about Creative People and their Creations
Bobbi A. Chukran presents Transformations…The Art of Recycling exhibit online posted at Recycled Stuff.
Don West presents Tenacious Trees posted at Idle Minutes.
Cyndi presents Creating a digital mixed media collage posted at Layers Upon Layers, saying, “There are so many different ways to combine digital and physical art. Here’s one of my new favorites!”
Amy E. Fraser presents Dormant Canvas posted at EXALTED BEAUTY
Elvis D presents You Should Be An Actor posted at OneSmallWindow.
Kathryn presents The San Francisco Writing Life | San Fran Voice posted at San Fran Voice, saying, “A blog post about what it means to be a writer in San Francisco.”
Lexi Sundell presents Creative Burnout From Unreasonable Customer Demands | Energies of Creation posted at Energies of Creation, saying, “Burnout results from having to create ill-conceived projects. The “Omigod Ring” reached ridiculous extremes in this category.”
Derek presents Our Earth as Art posted at Acres Wild.
Articles written *for* creative people on everything from inspiration to calls for art to staying healthy
Ruth Mitchell presents Buy Outside the Box: Where Does Inspiration Come From? posted at Buy Outside the Box, Tips on finding inspiration.
Mr. Besilly presents The Power of Creative Vision posted at Mr. Besilly - One Man’s highway, saying, “The world desperately needs creative vision determined to give happiness by creating beauty. Now more than ever, in a time when we trade counterfeit happiness as if it were gold. Selling shallow and fleeting beauty to the highest bidder.”
Debra Moorhead presents The Motivational Trick that Works – EVERY Time posted at Debra Moorhead.com.
David presents How Fashion Houses and Designers Can Use Websites posted at The Alexander Report, saying, “Creative ways fashion houses and designers use websites to increase sales.”
Anmol Mehta presents 3 Most Powerful Yoga Pranayamas and Kriyas - Part 1 posted at Mastery of Meditation, Enlightenment & Kundalini Yoga, saying, “This breathing exercise enhances and develops the right hemisphere of the brain thus promoting creativity, awareness and meditative powers.”
shedwa presents LA Shorts Fest Wants Your Work posted at shedwa.
Alan presents After The Secret posted at Made to Be Great.
That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of carnival of the creators using our carnival submission form.
The next edition will be hosted at Lori Greenberg’s Blog. Last month’s host was Cyndi at Bead Arts.
Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.
Tax Day Tomorrow
Posted by Leah on Apr 16, 2007
People often ask me what the hardest part of owning a small business is. Easy answer - doing my taxes! They were so much simpler when I just had to enter in my W2 and maybe an interest payment.
Luckily, this year I saved all the important paperwork in one place, organized and everything, so it went pretty smoothly. Just answered all the questions my tax software asked and printed my return. I highly recommend getting professional help or at least specialized tax software to *anyone* with a small business, especially the first year in business. Now that I’ve been doing this for a few years, I have a system that works well for me, but I’d still be lost if I tried to do it all on my own!
While trying to de-stress during this process, I’ve been working on more resin and crocheted jewelry. I’ll post some pictures of my progress tomorrow!
More on Definition of Handmade
Posted by Leah on Apr 4, 2007
I found a page on silversmithing.com that shows the FTC guidelines for what can or can not be called handmade jewelry.
The page also shows some other useful legal information for jewelers, so I recommend it for anyone who makes or sells jewelry. It’s definitely “legalese” but they’ve picked out the important bits of information, so it’s not too hard to understand.
By the way - thanks to Karen who wrote to me regarding my previous post on this topic, which led me to looking up the guidelines. Karen also pointed out that there was a problem with the comment function - no doubt that was the result of my server move - but it is fixed now. Some permalinks have changed, so if you link to specific articles in my blog, you might need to update the links.
Handcrafted vs. Assembled
Posted by Leah on Mar 13, 2007
If you are an artist or crafter, or if you like handmade goods, you probably see the words “handmade” and “handcrafted” a lot. But did you know that there is actually a legal definition of what handmade/handcrafted is?
In jewelry terms, a piece is only legally considered handcrafted if all of the components are made by hand. This means that, unfortunately for many designers, necklaces made from strung beads aren’t legally handcrafted — unless, of course, you make the beads and the clasp yourself.
When I describe my work, I try to clarify what is handmade and what isn’t. I often make my own earwires and clasps, but not always. I almost never make the beads I use, and I wouldn’t even know where to start with cutting stones. I do make all my wire pendant frames - luckily for me, wire *is* considered a raw material, so anything I make from wire fits nicely under the legal description of handcrafted. So does sheet metal - but not the tins I use as bezels for my resin pendants. That’s a bummer, because I often make the metal and mixed media objects that I put inside the bezels!
I’m planning two jewelry making tutorials in the next few weeks that will illustrate the difference between handcrafted and “assembled by hand” (the term I use for jewelry I make usinng pre-made components). I will describe how to make a piece of jewelry using objects you can buy at craft and/or jewelry supply stores, and then I will describe how to make something that looks very similar that is entirely handcrafted.
Even if you don’t make jewelry yourself, I think you’ll appreciate seeing how much more work goes into a piece that is entirely handcrafted versus a similar assembled piece. (Of course, many assembled pieces also require loads of time and skill, but that’s a subject for a different post because I could go on for a while.) I hope that you will also be able to understand why I (and many other jewelry makers I know) use a combination of handcrafting and assembling techniques in creating jewelry. While it is often the case that the extra time and effort to handcraft a component adds a lot to a piece of jewelry, sometimes assembling beads and other manufactured components is not only adequate, but results in an equally attractive and high-quality piece of jewelry. Watch this blog, or subscribe to the feed, to see my upcoming tutorials!
Vickie Howell’s Book Tour
Posted by Leah on Feb 2, 2007
Vickie Howell, host of the DIY Network show Knitty Gritty, and a member of the Austin Craft Mafia, came to Berkeley yesterday on her book tour for a new knitting book she wrote. I thought it would be really fun to check it out, even though it’s not a jewelry event, because I’m a member of the Pleasanton Craft Mafia - a spin-off of the Austin group.
Vickie is talented, fun, and very sucessful at what she does - it was really fun to meet her and see some of her work in person. I like to knit - I find it relaxing, and something that keeps my hands busy when I’m watching TV - but I’ve never tried anything nearly as detailed as the things she makes. Her book, Knitty Gritty Knits, has a lot of cute projects in it. I think most 20-30-somethings who knit would like a lot of the projects in the book. There were things in it that I would wear, or that I’d like to have for my home, and honestly, that isn’t usually the case when I look at knitting books!
The event, which was held at Stash in Berkeley, also included a “yarn tasting” where people got samples of Vickie’s new line of yarn. So…I now have very small balls of three really nice yarns to play with, and I think I’m going to work up some knitted or crocheted jewelry with them. The yarns are all made from natural fibers, and they are sport weight, which is pretty thin, so I think they will be perfect for making jewelry.
Here’s a link to the Vickie’s book on Amazon; it’s also available at yarn stores, I’m sure.
Knitty Gritty Knits (DIY): 25 Fun & Fabulous Projects (DIY Network)
She has a couple other knitting books, one for kid stuff & one for teens:
New Knits on the Block: A Guide to Knitting What Kids Really Want
Not Another Teen Knitting Book
The Tucson Gem Shows
Posted by Leah on Jan 11, 2007
The annual Tucson Gem Shows are coming up in a few weeks. For the first time in several years, I don’t think I’m going to be able to attend the shows.
For hobbyists as well as professional jewelers, the Tucson shows are a must-see. Some shows are open to the public, while others require a resale license, business cards, wholesale invoices, and various other types of paperwork as proof that you really are in the jewelry business. Even if you aren’t in the business, there are plenty of shows you can attend.
There are bead shows, gem shows, shows that sell rough for cutting or making cabochons, finished jewelry shows. too demos, and jewelry classes for all levels of jewelry making expertise. Plus, industry experts from all over the world are there, and there are networking opportunities, such as Ganoksin’s Orchid forum dinner.
One of my favorite events to attend is Rio Grande’s catalog in motion, where you get to see just about everything from Rio’s tool catalog demonstrated. Last year I learned how to use the Tri-cord knotter for pearl knotting, and saw demos of all kinds of fun tools for everything from metalsmithing to beadwork to resin. It’s very inspiring, and tempting to blow a few months’ salary on tools!
If anyone reading plans to go to Tucson and is wondering about different shows, feel free to contact me (michon at michondesign dot com). If I can’t go to Tucson this year, I can at least talk to people about it and live vicariously that way!
Links to check out
Posted by Leah on Nov 27, 2006
A couple of my favorite art/craft/creativity blogs have great new posts in the past week.
First, if you have some time, here’s a long post on creativity, prioritizing, and all kinds of issues related to living a creative lifestyle on In A Minute Ago. Sharon also mentiones an older post she wrote on visual journals, which I think is worth reading.
Luann Udell has been adding to her series on getting started. She’s currently up to the tenth post on this topic, which is called “Why didn’t they buy my work?” This is a valuable post for me to read and re-read, as someone who is illogically afraid of the possibility that a store might not want to carry my work. Luann’s other posts in this series are also very good, and I recommend reading them all if you have, or want to have, a business selling your creative work.
Art Business Blog posts
Posted by Leah on Nov 3, 2006
Luann Udell, a successful jewelry and fiber artist, writes a great blog that I often read when I’m feeling uninspired. When I grow up, I want to be as successful as she is, and have her ability to come up with so many good blog topics.
For now…I just wanted to share a couple of her recent posts that I think are very thought-provoking for anyone wanting to start (or grow) an art/craft business. Since they are called “Getting Started #1″ and “Getting Started #2,” I’m hoping that there will be a number 3, and maybe even some that go past getting started, in this series of posts.
Anyway - Getting Started #1 is all about finding your medium and your story, and Getting Started #2 is about making high quality work. Both are very worth reading, if you want to start an art/craft business, or even if you are like me, and have a business already, but like to get advice from people who have been doing it a lot longer and learn from their experience.
