Chameleon, rabbit and faces; New items I have listed today.

Hello everyone! It has been a glorious day again here in Canterbury. I saw a young mother in a sundress with straps with flip flops during a dog walk. We still have three days left in March. We are having a great time in this very unusual warm weather.

I have listed new things on eBay and Etsy today after work. He is on eBay now. I was not going to sell him online initially, because I thought that his long ears and feet would be damaged in transit. But I got confidence in packing, this morning.

I am the second biggest rabbit Midori ever made, Uhm, and the cutest.

 
 Reason? It's this. This morning, I packed a delicate rabbit girl to be posted. I found a box which came with its own foam fitted in. On top of this, another black foam sits. So, I thought I could make a padded box like this by myself for this rabbit.

I took our loyal Topaz to the post office again, to post this packet.

I also listed a brooch and a pendant.

Lovers who came in from the cold

Charlene

  On Etsy, my chameleon is back! It is a little one this time. He will sit in the palm of your hand. Small and Perfect!

Small and perfect!

I was not taken to a post office, again.

Face series accesorries were born by chance.

My face series was not planned, but born by a chance. I made a tiny face to run a test for the underglaze. Clair in our ceramics course, saw it and liked it. She suggested I could make a brooch from them. Actually, when I made it, I told Mike the same thing. But his reply was, Ahem, 'It looks too spooky'. I couldn't wholly deny the spookiness of the face then. But having found the similar mind, I ventured into a new sphere. Ta-da! Accessory making.

At first, I made four male faces as a test. I liked them, and I enjoyed making them. They are small, about size of 50 pence coin, but it took a long time for me to make, and even a longer time to decorate in detail.

'Lovers'

Then, I began to expand to female faces. Some have hair, some have big cheeks, and some have big eyelashes. It was very absorbing. In the end, I made about 30.

Then, the problem arose. I had no experience in making any accessories. I had never touched beads even. To be honest, I had never interested in beads and handmade accessories because I felt they were too girlish! LOL But, I remember Sally, the manager of Kent adult education, once told me that one lady sells findings etc in town. So I found her shop, and asked questions, and bought some parts.

They are my first 'products' on my Etsy shop. They are small and lightweight, so it should be easy to pack and ship. That was my rationalisation.

'My best friend'

Although I have never modelled anyone while I was making, one of them resembles one of high school friend! I only discovered the resemblance recently. There was a big Reunion for our grade in Japan, and he was organising the event, and I have exchanged emails with him, and saw photographs of his speech there. 'Oh Gosh, I made him without knowing', that's what I mumbled in front of my PC, looking at the photos!

'I am a real dog, not ocotopus'

 

In an email, he said 'I was told at reunion that my friend and I were nicknamed 'Squid and Octopus duo' behind us. Why was I octopus?' It is a difficult question to answer in any means, specially after about 3o years. (Don't calculate my age...)  You know, teenage girls are renowned for their cruelty especially when it comes to boys in the same class. So I quote one of my best friends, 'Well, I think he looked like one!' 

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.