Month: October 2007

31
Oct
2007

Abstract

Well, I actually got some time to spend in the studio in the past couple weeks and I created two sculptures for my local art association’s Abstract/Avant Garde juried show. Now I just have to wait for the weekend to see if I got in.

Either way, I really like both pieces. I’ll have to post some pictures but they’re both abstractions on plant themes. Quite different from what I’ve done before but I may have to make a series of them to explore some of the other ideas I had. That’s what I like about shows and contests – it tends to make me explore new ideas and really stretch myself.

Posted by Skygrazer in my news, polymer clay, 0 comments
31
Oct
2007

Artrepreneur

Judy Dunn is a polymer clay artist who does both wholesale and retail. She offers business and marketing insights on her blog. I think I’ve also featured an article about her polymer clay cranes before. It ought to be impossible to fold those out of polymer clay but I’ve seen her do it – very carefully.

Check out her great series on wholesale shows if you think you might be interested.

Posted by Skygrazer in business and promotion, polymer clay, 0 comments
29
Oct
2007

Art Market blog

I was losing track of which blogs I had written about so far so I’ve decided to go in the order they’re listed in my reader… Which won’t make any sense to anyone else though since it will be alphabetical by category – except for the ones I haven’t categorized yet.

This is an interesting blog that I’ve just started reading. It discusses art from an investors point of view. Gives you a different viewpoint on the whole art market as well as some resources to check into for selling fine art.

This post was about buying affordable art online and is aimed at investors but would be good to look at as possible venues for artists as well.

Posted by Skygrazer in business and promotion, 0 comments
27
Oct
2007

Art Biz Blog

The Art Biz Blog is written by Alyson Stanfield and is a great resource for artists on all sorts of marketing and business topics. She also has a podcast and newsletter.

For example she had a good post about whether to write your artist bio or statement in 1st or 3rd person.

Posted by Skygrazer in business and promotion, 0 comments
23
Oct
2007

Libzoid

I think I’m going to feature other blogs and sites every so often. For one thing, they’re very simple posts to write and I can schedule them ahead of time so there’ll be activity on the blog even when I’m busy 😉

Libby Mills is a really gifted polymer clay artist, beader, and now metal worker… I’ll have to check her site to see if she has a title she uses for all that. She’s also a fellow Southern Connecticut Polymer Clay Guild member. She’s got a great eye for color and form and she’s been making some gorgeous clay and silver pieces recently.

Posted by Skygrazer in polymer clay, 1 comment
20
Oct
2007

Polymer Clay Daily

Polymer Clay Dailyis another blog you should check out if you haven’t already.. Cynthia Tinapple searches high and low for new polymer clay and delivers something new every day.

Posted by Skygrazer in polymer clay, 0 comments
19
Oct
2007

Image Etiquette

Well, the only things I’ve found so far are mentions of not stealing bandwidth for images – which I knew already but I’ll include a couple references below in case anyone isn’t familiar with the concept. Basically, stealing bandwidth is like borrowing someone’s cellphone and calling China for eight hours. Not nice.

From Wardomatic:

About jacking images from other sites for your own posts: this is a no-no. If you want to post an image from someone’s site to mention them (like we do consistantly on Drawn!), grab the image yourself and post it from your own image host. Do not use the image link from the original source’s host because you’re stealing their bandwidth!

And a couple other resources:
Knitblog
About.com

So… I think I may follow standard practice and use images (copied to my own server of course) to link to other sites. But I’ll try to drop the other site an email letting them know and saying that I’ll remove the image immediately if they don’t want to be featured. I don’t think anyone will mind since it will be promotion for them but that will make me feel better about using other peoples’ images, even for the best of reasons.

Posted by Skygrazer in business and promotion, 0 comments
19
Oct
2007

One of THOSE mornings

One of THOSE mornings… It was too hot last night so I didn’t sleep all that well. We tried putting the fan in the window (we’ve already taken the air conditioner out) and that worked really well. Until it started pouring in the middle of the night and blowing rain all over the floor.

I had put off making an external configuration test (computer stuff) for work until this morning. The server that I needed to access was down. It would have been down last night when I meant to do the test anyway so I guess it doesn’t matter. Except that I could have hit snooze like I wanted to and saved myself 15 minutes this morning.

I started driving to work but the road I usually take was closed. I think there was a tree down behind the three utility trucks and two police cars. So I made a U-turn and went the long way and then was caught in more traffic than usual because I was running late.

But it’s Friday – so I guess I’ll survive 🙂

Posted by Skygrazer in ramblings, 0 comments
18
Oct
2007

Etiquette

So what is the correct etiquette with blogs and images anyway? It seems like alot of blogs just copy images from other sites when they’re posting/promoting. It really looks great and I’d like to do the same but I’m not sure about the correctness of it all.

Do you have to get permission from each and every person whose image you use when you link to their site? It doesn’t seem like most people do since I know I’ve been linked to without notification. I was ecstatic about it actually so I’m assuming most people wouldn’t mind. And it seems like it would be rather cumbersome to send out emails, hope for responses and then try to remember what you wanted to write when you first saw the image.

But technically, isn’t using someone else image on your blog copyright infringement? Or does blogging fall under a sort of “understood fair use”? Rather like quoting from an article?

Time for some research I think.

Posted by Skygrazer in ramblings, 2 comments
17
Oct
2007

Inspiration

Polymer Clay Notes is a great blog with lots of inspiration. Some of the things I like best are the non-clay related images. After the initial “Ooooh” reaction, my mind starts spinning off in different directions thinking about how I could use that shape or this color combination or… After looking at the post linked to above, I did some searchs on shiburi (which is absolutely beautiful) then requested a book on it from the library. Then thought of requesting a book just on Japanese crafts to see what else I could find, then thought of looking for a book on crafts from India… etc etc.

The mind just makes flowing connections and it’s fun just to go with it and see where it takes you. Make sure to explore other crafts and images instead of only looking at the clay related sites or magazines. Who knows, the next major breakthrough (like polymer clay mokume gane adapted from metal work) could be yours.

Posted by Skygrazer in polymer clay, 0 comments