My Etsy shop and Clare's visit.

Yesterday I had a fun day. I worked hard in the morning so that I could enjoy Clare's visit in the afternoon without any niggling feeling. Clare is friendly, upbeat and very fun to be with. Her husband, Tim, and she also participated in Artists' Open Houses last month, through which we met. She creates something unusual. Difficult to explain, so have a look at her works. Here is her website.

I gave her some of our Fifi's, the Patagonian conure, wing and tail feathers, I kept them because they are so beautiful and because I thought one day I can make something from them, but when I saw her works which have lots of stitches and sewing, I thought she could use them for her art works. They are iridescent turquoise blue and green. Fifi used to look like in the photo, but now she plucked herself, more like grey tennis ball with wings and tails (Mike's words)

 

Fifi, the Patagonian conure

There were two main objects in the meeting. First, to get to know each other better. Second, to discuss how we could approach Artists' Open Houses in an improved way in future. As I mentioned in earlier posts, they and I were only open house participants on the north side of Canterbury. We both wished to have a greater footfall. So, I was thinking to network the artists in this side of Canterbury, to attract more visitors to our area and to achieve better results.In fact, Clare was thinking very much same. I will create a space on Internet for artists could discuss and exchange their opinions and knowledge. I will be a bit busy with my day job for next couple of weeks, and probably spend evening to build my Etsy shop. But after that, I should have some spare time.  

She appeared with a bouquet of freesias. Thanks, Clare, they have nice perfume, and filled up our lounge. Mike said that he could even smell the scent with his blocked nose! He had baked an apple and lemon cake for us the evening before, and, of course, we did a tasting. We never wait! It was delicious! Light and airy. But the next day it became moist and heavier. I prefer light and airy. But I know that I am lucky to marry a man who likes baking (and eating!).

One of my quirky pendants.

'Charlene' the Monaco princess

In the evening, after Mike went to ceramic course, I continued building my Etsy shop. I started opening process last Saturday. Opening a shop takes a long time. Especially I had never done this before, although I have sold old things in ebay before. But finally my shop is open!

My shop is here.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/midoritakaki


There are still issues to be attended. There are many listing in pendant category on Etsy, so I doubt my pendants will get lots of hits in search, as they are. I had one hit from search, so far. Also, I found taking crisp sharp pictures of little things is more difficult than I had imagined. Mike used to do photography as hobby, so he helped me, but I have lots to learn before I could use his user-unfriendly Olympus camera on my own. Another thing with photographs is that pendants etc. need some kind of props to hold them up. I used my hand made mountings for sculptures as well as pebbles. But I might be able to find or make something better.

I will see what I could do to improve these matters, and will post here if I find the solutions.