And then there was Clay......

Meet Pete! He is my latest Personification of Nature.

Oakmen have proved popular Personifications of Nature. Pete is a gift for my friends 40th Birthday, he is modelled on her Father Pete who's a real character!
As you see him now, he's in his raw state - only just finished handbuilding him yesterday.
Now starts the scary part of slowly drying him out, if he drys too quickly he'll crack. So he's presently lying in a cool frost free place draped loosely in light plastic, I'll check him frequently, but I expect it to take a full week before I'm happy to do the 'First Firing'.

I've lost 2 Personifications previously in the Firing process - the clay thickness dictates how it shrinks and cools, causing stress to where the clay thickness varies and of course as you can see even though I try to keep the clay thickness uniformed the nature of the piece means this is hard to control.

So, fingers crossed for the next stage!
Here are a few of my previous Personifications of Nature:

Oakman 2000

  This is my first Oakman, there have been four including Pete.

  (not to mention the two that cracked during firing)

Jack Frost 2003

Jack Frost and Applejack live in my garden.



Apple Jack 2003

 



In the Beginning.....

There was a lot to do!

1. Set up a business account that doesn't charge. Tick

2. Become a member of the FSB (The Federation of Small Businesses - members get free banking with the Co-operative, plus loads of opportunities to network at monthly non compulsary meetings, not to mention free business and legal advice etc... for starting fee of £125 , £100 a per year then after )Tick

3. Build a Website. Yet to do

4. Create a Facebook 'Artist' page showing all previous work. Tick

5. Set up Paypal to take card payments. Tick

6. Try and get my head round using Paypal via my mobile. In the process of

7. Take account of all present stock and equipment. In the process of

8. Become a member of LinkedIn join relevant groups and research other Arts and Crafts People, find out what works for them, ask advice. In the process of

9. Start a Blog ( taking some advice - customers like to see who they are buying their Handmade/Original pieces from, so a blog is a good way to introduce yourself, plus it can be linked into your website, when it's built, allowing them to follow you.) In the process of

10. Create Twitter account and link to FB page - the same reasons as above. Tick

11. Start an account of all incoming and out going finances. Yet to do

12. Investigate Amazon, Ebay and Etsy. Tick

13. Open an account with Etsy (Seems best place to start). Yet to do

14. Open an Account with Amazon (Already had one from selling back DVD's - need to be up and running before I commit to a merchant account monthly payments though). Tick

15. Set up workshop/space - somewhere to concentrate on the piece in hand. In the process of