Bumbershoot Prep

My Bumbershoot bags are nearly packed. The pendants are all packaged, tucked and labeled and lined up in little rows. All that remains on my to do list is to finish carving my new price tag stamp and to use said stamp to finish tagging and packing the textile pieces. 5 Shoulder bags, 8 hand bags, half dozen kid shirts, a dozen cuff bracelets, 20 checkbook covers and 75 pendants.

Whew!

I'm interested to see the outcome of Bumbershoot and I'm keeping my
fingers crossed for success ... but oddly enough that doesn't necessarily
mean a sell out for me. I think what I want is an affirmation in some
form or sign or interaction that pursuing this path with my art is the
Right Thing To Do. A conversation, a new connection, a smile - all would bring the feeling of success I think.

Or maybe I feel this way because
even if I don't sell a single thing I will still feel that I am a
success. Purely just because I set out to take on this monumental thing
and I did it. And the momentum of it will continue. Makes me feel like
having a ruby red glass right now to celebrate!

A Reward for all the Hard Work

Here we see Rekoj's Reward. Rekoj purchased these darling earrings at the end of last week as a personal reward to self for getting through last week. It is oddly enough - my first ever Etsy Purchase. Which blows my mind because I've been on Etsy for over a year. I'm just not much of a real shopper - more of a constant browser!

These lovelies hooked me in multiple ways.

One - they are earrings and I've been on an earring kick lately.

Two - the seller's whole shop has GREAT pictures. I mean - look at that darling print for the item backdrop.

Three - the seller had very concise write-ups

Four - the seller posted a sale promotion on her blog which got me to look in the first place

All fabulously simple Etsy "how to's" and all things I could do better with in my own shop. Once I start posting again after Bumbershoot I will be keeping Ambika in mind as my posting role model.

Right When You Need It

Sometimes things do work out.

Actually, they usually will.

Sometimes, you just have to push through the week of production - late nights and coffee cups and movie marathons because you got tired of the radio and bleary eyed mornings and bruised palms from over-use of a pair of pliers and brain static from the over-extension of your multi-tasking button and then Friday hits you. Friday. Already.

And then help was offered.

If someone is sincerely offering help and you sincerely need it - then take it. It will bring happiness to both parties.

Sincere thanks Denise. Without you, this bag would not be full today of happy-packaged-ready-to-go-awesomeness. You rock.

Pendant Packaging

I absolutely love being able to use something that was to otherwise be thrown away. So imagine my excitement when one of the architects I work with let me know about an entire box of expired product sample cards that were to be thrown out!

These very sample cards will become the packaging / display for my pendants at Bumbershoot. Now I just have to figure out how to get my name or logo on the front. I'm thinking some clear little labels with the cord wrapped up in recycled bag plastic and taped to the back ... we'll see!

I'm curious as to what other up-cycling others have done for packaging?

I just ran a quick search and didn't find much - maybe I was looking in the wrong places! But what I did find was the AWESOME tutorial on making your own bubble mailers from Etsy seller 27Things. Ah the power of the internet to distract us to no end. I bet I know how these little pendants will be mailed now though if anyone choses to buy one after I upload them to Etsy...

Hoards of Pendants

Today on the studio table we have exactly 80 wood burned, hand painted, signed and varnished Rekoj pendants. Say hello to the Rekoj Summer Pendant line!

It sure is powerful to see a month's worth of work you love compiled into one spot. I know I done good when I want to keep each and every one to myself.

This post is my first excercise in letting each one of these darlings go.

Soon one may even belong to YOU!

Part of what I love about reading the blogs of other artists is that I love seeing the process that artists go through to get to a finished piece.

Now, a business card design isn't exactly fine art per se... though some call it the ultimate design challenge.

A biz card is a major player towards a potential client or customer's first impression. It plays a key role in your brand identity and is a placeholder for the "feel" of your business/work. It is a simple little piece of your company that a customer can take with them.

Now, combine all that business card brain churn with the fact that they usually are ordered in large quantities which brings out my image commitment phobia quirk. (I can't even commit to a single design which is part of the reason why I am anti-screen print for my work!)

Needless to say, the process of "whipping up" some new business cards for myself was a bit more challenging than I initially thought it would be. So I spent hours playing in photoshop, tossing out just about everything. Finally deciding to toss photoshop itself - for the design process anyways - and I went back to my good ol trusty sketchbook. Back to the drawing board shall we say. And this is what finally came out of it. And I'm quite a happy girl.

Rekoj Design Article on Associated Content

An update on the interview I did for ShopEtsy : Dawn submitted the article she wrote to Associated Content and it was published which is awesome! It means that she got paid for her efforts and little ol' fledgling Rekoj got a little bit of publicity. You can read, rate and comment on the article here as well as link to other articles of "associated content" such as a couple of great ones on what it's like to be a seller on Etsy.com. Hooray!