Show Crazy

by MaryAnn Carroll

I have pretty much been consumed with our first time Potters for Pets event this weekend at the CNY SPCA in Syracuse, NY. My husband Bill and I have spent a ton of time, along with the Developmental Director, Theresa Para to prepare this first time event. This all started with an idea from my son CJ who works there.

I have been a crazy person starting yesterday making sure I have inventory.... nothing like waiting until the pressure is on!! Last night I got a few new pieces made. I have such a hard time switching from making bracelets to earrings to necklaces. Last night I decided I would take my own advice and let my hands do the work and not let my brain interfere.

This is what I came up with (I still need to work on my picture taking skills)..... that'll be down the road.... probably in the distant future!

And my bracelets.... quick pic this morning.

I amaze myself that I am able to pull anything off with the way I work! I wish I had a more focused brain...

I would never have enough inventory to fill up a booth by myself, so fortunately, I do these shows with Bill and it is mainly his pottery. I find that the older I get, teaching all day poops me out! Maybe one day after retirement I will get better at this inventory stuff!

And, like everything else I do, I realized that I didn't order the little 3 x 5 bags that I love to use. They do end up costing me about 46 cents a bag, but customers always comment on them. Hopefully, my papermart.com order will be here before weeks end.

These are linen and they come in an assortment of sizes. I love them!!

Wish us luck! I did have a post started about how to create a successful show, but I don't know if it will be successful or not, so I will wait until after. I hope to take plenty of pictures. If you're local, we'd love to have you!

There are on Facebook http://facebook.com/cnypottersforpets and I also created a website (I tend to go a litte overboard)!  http://pottersforpets.com.

Since I mentioned the website, I would recommend wix.com for website building. It is, by far, the easiest I have ever used!

MaryAnn

Getting over the Big Hump

By MaryAnn Carroll

This year I started to direct my creative energy into another part of my life. We built our house eight years ago and moved in when there was still so much work to do. Both Bill and I worked as teachers at the time and we each came with one teenager in tow. They were our youngest from our previous marriages. Together we have six.

Needless to say, what you want to have happen and what really does happen are two totally different things. What did happen in terms of designing our interior to fit our style was pretty much

nothing.

This summer, during my break, I was hell bent on painting and remodeling. It was time to start weeding out the old so that I could bring in some new old.... We (I) were on our way to becoming a little obsessed with antique shopping, which lead to an auction addiction. I discovered through this process that my addictive personality can cross over to other areas at any given time. I tend to get a little obsessive until that energy or money (whichever happens first) wears out.

We are on home stretch with this project. Next summer, we are going to work on our gallary that will be in our downstairs, which currently serves as a very large storage unit!!!

One of the last things for this year's project is that we will be adding a custom country pine table that my very talented (now retired) husband Bill is building.  It should be ready to start the urethane process before Thanksgiving gets here. Here it is upside down in our living room (try not to focus on the dog hair that has been neglected). The wood looks a little rough on the underside because it is old pine that Bill was able to gather. We had to put the rougher side down to have, what I think, is very cool pine on the top. I hope to have pictures to share when it is all done.

While this project is nearing its end, we are also preparing for a show that starts today!!!  So, last night, the table sat while we got prepared. Hopefully, our older unpredictable dog Buddy does not think that we just offered him for new posts to relieve himself on while we are gone. Throughout the week I have been working on a few things. I have wanted to make dangle earrings with ear posts for a long time. I just have not been able to make what is available on the market work with my style. At one of the auctions I went to they were auctioning off metal cutters. I won the bidding war.... yup..... the addictive personality with a credit card in hand. In retrospect, I wish I would have gotten more than the ones that I did get. This particular pair cuts triangular notches. While getting back into creating the little stuff again, I finally came up with ear posts that work with my style.

I also came up with some new styles for bangles while I was practicing my soldering skills. Soldering is a technique that I am not sure I will ever perfect, but the challenge is something that keeps me wanting to try it again and again and again.....

That is pretty much it for now. I have been going non-stop. Hopefully, once the table is all set and the house is cleaned and back in order, I will just work on creating small again. Bill just built a small gas/wood kiln out by our large wood kiln that I will write about next week. 

Wish me luck at the show!

MaryAnn

Oh.... my current kitchen table..... a mix of everything that is going on..... pieces of wood that need practice stains before I stain the new table, a sander that I wore out refinishing furniture that just needed to have a new velcro sticky thing added, paint stirrers for all 20 different paint samples that I bought.... and, finally... jewelry on the far end.

Do you ever get like this? 

True to your Art, True to your Business or Both?

MaryAnn Carroll

What is the most important to you as an artist? I think most of us would say that it is that we remain true to ourselves, grow from our experiences and perfect our techniques. I agree.

On the other hand, there is an art of selling. With show times coming up for many or if you sell online, I think you need to ask yourself if there is a balance in what you do?  This has been an ongoing discussion with my husband Bill Perrine and me. He has been a ceramic artist for many, many years, but started to create wood-fired pottery in 2008. At the time, he was not going to "bend" from being the artist that he was. I respected that, but as time went on, I started to give my female perspective on his work. Although beautiful, much of what he created had a masculine feel to it. Don't get me wrong.... I love most of it!

Although, I love what he does and he is incredibly talented, we have had many discussions about who the buyers are.  I travel with him to shows and have my little section set up for jewelry. I have paid lots of attention to how people shop when they walk into your both.

I can assure you (I think I will actually tally it this year) that the majority of your buyers are women. Once again we found ourselves having the same discussion and he came up with a way to stay true to himself while thinking about his buying "audience".

Those are a few examples of what will be going into the wood-fire kiln in a couple of weeks. The beads that will be going in still remain in one big ball of clay sitting on the kitchen table......

So, this is my take on his sales. I know you are dying to know...... "what's my take on my sales?" Well, it is basically the same thing. I have learned that some of my best work often sits because of the price tag. I also learned that I have to learn the art of creating for my audience. I am in a small gallery in Cortland, NY called Cinch Art Space. It is a great little shop filled with art from over 40 vendors.

Being in Cinch has been a learning experience for me. I had to know the community (near SUNY Cortland) and think about who the other buyers are. With that said, I began designing a range of jewelry from simple to complex. When I create simple it allows me to keep the price down. On the flip side of that, I tend to get bored easily, so I have to balance simple and more complex.

There you have it. I would love to know what strategies work for you.

On a completely different note, we have a few other things going on. Staci is offering a fabulous pendant giveaway. You can click HERE to read her post and leave your comment. Please remember to comment on the blog so that you will be counted when drawing a name.

Karen's non-profit organization Rare Species Conservatory Foundation is currently going through some difficult times. If you have a passion for preserving wildlife and our environment, please go to her website to read about their very important mission. You can also get to it by clicking the link on our sidebar. Funding is always needed to keep organizations like hers going.

Lastly, for those of you that might know me through online friendships or "in real life", you probably know that I am a big advocate for political injustice, particularly for those who are in prisons all over the United States for crimes that they did not commit. My passion evolved from one of the worst experiences that changed my life forever. The case involves a loved one and since it is not completely closed (despite the fact that it is now in year 4), I am not going to go into any details, other to say that it was very close to ending up like so many others who did not end up as "fortunate" as we did with wrongful convictions. I know we do not like to believe that the corruption can sometimes be on the side of the "good guys", but it can be and it has been.  I am offering a sale/donation to help Charles Erickson. You might have heard about the case since it has been all over the media. If you would like to learn more about how you can make a purchase while donating at the same time, you can click HERE. There is also a link on our sidebar.

Today, I do not only want to thank-you for supporting artists who create handmade with handmade, but also thank-you for supporting causes that are there to right the wrong.

MaryAnn