One of the things that I have been working on since I started intenyears. is self-promotion. I'm really sensitive to being seen as 'pushy'. Maybe its was the decade of retail management experience, maybe its the fact that I can be shy in new social situations, or thinking that people won't really like what I do, then proceed to tell me about it...in detail! Guy doesn't have the same issue, luckily. He can walk in, and be comfortable with everyone and everything. Explains why one of his many hats around here is Marketing, doesn't it?
His comfort with new situations, and understanding of how I work and feel about them, is really helping me push my comfort zones and grow intenyears. On the surface, its things like...gentle insistence on trying my first craft show, the All Arts Market in March, even though I was nervous and felt I wasn't ready. Do I even need to tell you yet again what an unparalleled success that was for me? Or...getting me to apply to a Silent Auction by prepping a portfolio. We got the email at dinner last night saying my application was approved for the ARTcravings Silent Auction . Check out the website...my name is on there as an artist, and I had to have the page printed out to go on my inspiration board!
Less obvious is how much more confident I feel trying new ideas, see my previous post about 'doing things wrong'. More importantly for me, is how I now answer that famous question, "What do you do?" I am a handmade jewelry artist/designer. No other caveats or self-depreciating laughter.
Now that you know how sweet and timid and shy I am, look at my new links up top. Check out my new Events page, because I am going places, and I want you all to come along for the ride. :)
Showing posts with label guy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label guy. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Not to be outdone...
Two posts in one day, amazing. Gal is right, we have been super busy in getting her "studio" (i.e. the extra bedroom in our house) up to snuff. After clearing out more books than the Library of Congress and donating them, we had room to work. Finally the marketing and photography department have their own offices. Those artsy people smell funny and listen to classical music.
We have a new intern in the marketing department, Boris. We have no idea where he comes from or what his CV looks like he just sorta appeared out of nowhere. He tends to like dark corners and keeps to himself most of the daylight hours. I will say he is great at multitasking and helping out around the office. Here is an artist's rendering of our new intern:
Did I mention my phobia of spiders? Gal thought it hilarious last night when I looked into my light box and saw not only Boris, but his damned web with a fruit fly in it. I asked gal to remove our interloper only to have her force him behind the poster board at the back of the box! Thanks hun. I think he hitched a ride when she used the box outside last week. God, I hate spiders...
We have a new intern in the marketing department, Boris. We have no idea where he comes from or what his CV looks like he just sorta appeared out of nowhere. He tends to like dark corners and keeps to himself most of the daylight hours. I will say he is great at multitasking and helping out around the office. Here is an artist's rendering of our new intern:
Did I mention my phobia of spiders? Gal thought it hilarious last night when I looked into my light box and saw not only Boris, but his damned web with a fruit fly in it. I asked gal to remove our interloper only to have her force him behind the poster board at the back of the box! Thanks hun. I think he hitched a ride when she used the box outside last week. God, I hate spiders...
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
The Return of Guy
So I've been allowed to post again. After the lawsuit from Kellogg for the illegal jeweling of Ernest J. Keebler, I was forced to reside in the Keebler Treehouse for 3 months for sensitivity training. I'm a changed man now and elves are not friendly and cute.
As I am sure you have already seen we have purchased a new camera that makes me look like a champion photographer. It actually has legs and walks around and takes pictures for me. Well not quite but close. So I've spent my time retaking all the crappy "poser" photos from the first items we posted. Sometimes you never realize how bad something looks until you see it side by side with something else. The originals weren't bad just...ok, they were pretty lame. Now armed with the proper equipment, Gal's stuff has the photos they deserve.
Speaking of things walking around on legs, it reminds me of something I've wanted to post for a little while. I feel as though this will be an ongoing concept which I know you will all love. One of gal's favorite websites to waste time on is Cakewrecks, so I began to think, what if I did that but for all the "treasures" we find while hunting for vintage beads and other cool stuff. I'm sure someone has devoted a website (and also) their life to doing this already, but it will add some fun to our blog. I think the items will end up falling in 2 categories: one being items that don't belong in antique's stores at all and the other being "WTF?". Let's explore each shall we?
Recently, I came across a bottle of Tanqueray Gin being sold in a vintage booth. Now Tanqueray has been around for 100+ years, so imagine how excited I was to find a rare bottle of Tanqueray to take back to the house and nurse. But wait a minute...it's a new bottle...and it's empty...and they want 10 dollars for it! How could I resist that offer? Now keep in mind a new FULL bottle of the stuff only costs 17 bucks down on the corner. I bet the owner of the booth is scratching their head wondering why this bottle just won't move. File under: Doesn't belong in an antiques store.
Now for the bread and butter of this post. This next one is actually what really got me thinking about doing this. I love Toy Story the movie, it has great animation, wonderful values for children to learn and all those cool toys. If I had the spare time I'd build those toys for all to enjoy in real life. I mean, I'd put my blood sweat and tears into those bloody things. But wait, what if someone had the vision to do this for me? What if they put all their love, adoration and heart into handcrafting these toys? Well I now have the pleasure of putting up for your consideration someone who had that vision, that determination, to make these thoughts a living breathing, tangible reality. I know give to you my gentle readers, baby's head in a vase.
Now, I know what you are thinking, "Where can I get one fo those for myself?" And as tempting as it would be to tell you where you can purvey this fine object d'arte, I'm keeping it a secret. Why spoil it for everyone else who will no doubt walk by and wonder just who the f*ck in their right mind would conceive, design and build this thing? Oh I know:
Now I know what to do with that empty bottle of Tanqueray:
Until next time...
As I am sure you have already seen we have purchased a new camera that makes me look like a champion photographer. It actually has legs and walks around and takes pictures for me. Well not quite but close. So I've spent my time retaking all the crappy "poser" photos from the first items we posted. Sometimes you never realize how bad something looks until you see it side by side with something else. The originals weren't bad just...ok, they were pretty lame. Now armed with the proper equipment, Gal's stuff has the photos they deserve.
Speaking of things walking around on legs, it reminds me of something I've wanted to post for a little while. I feel as though this will be an ongoing concept which I know you will all love. One of gal's favorite websites to waste time on is Cakewrecks, so I began to think, what if I did that but for all the "treasures" we find while hunting for vintage beads and other cool stuff. I'm sure someone has devoted a website (and also) their life to doing this already, but it will add some fun to our blog. I think the items will end up falling in 2 categories: one being items that don't belong in antique's stores at all and the other being "WTF?". Let's explore each shall we?
Recently, I came across a bottle of Tanqueray Gin being sold in a vintage booth. Now Tanqueray has been around for 100+ years, so imagine how excited I was to find a rare bottle of Tanqueray to take back to the house and nurse. But wait a minute...it's a new bottle...and it's empty...and they want 10 dollars for it! How could I resist that offer? Now keep in mind a new FULL bottle of the stuff only costs 17 bucks down on the corner. I bet the owner of the booth is scratching their head wondering why this bottle just won't move. File under: Doesn't belong in an antiques store.
Now for the bread and butter of this post. This next one is actually what really got me thinking about doing this. I love Toy Story the movie, it has great animation, wonderful values for children to learn and all those cool toys. If I had the spare time I'd build those toys for all to enjoy in real life. I mean, I'd put my blood sweat and tears into those bloody things. But wait, what if someone had the vision to do this for me? What if they put all their love, adoration and heart into handcrafting these toys? Well I now have the pleasure of putting up for your consideration someone who had that vision, that determination, to make these thoughts a living breathing, tangible reality. I know give to you my gentle readers, baby's head in a vase.
Now, I know what you are thinking, "Where can I get one fo those for myself?" And as tempting as it would be to tell you where you can purvey this fine object d'arte, I'm keeping it a secret. Why spoil it for everyone else who will no doubt walk by and wonder just who the f*ck in their right mind would conceive, design and build this thing? Oh I know:
Now I know what to do with that empty bottle of Tanqueray:
Until next time...
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
And now a word from the Marketing Department...
So, as "gal" mentioned, there is a "guy" behind the scenes and he is me. We figured that while she handles the creative side in regards to making the jewelry, I'll handle the fun stuff such as (but not limited to): web design, marketing, heavy lifting and photography. Often times the "offices" of the marketing department overlaps the design department, (i.e. our workspaces on the table co-mingle) but overall we work well together. Personally, I don't really find this as a surprise, but I'm sure "gal" would answer differently.
We've already had some learning experiences in this venture and as time goes on, we thought it would be fun to share them with the world. We are by no means suggesting our lessons are unique but if you're here reading this, you must care about us in some form or another. So in that regard, here is hard fought lesson number one: scale.
About one week into our venture gal and I were perusing on Etsy looking at the different beads that were available. In a stroke of genius I decided to sort from most expensive to least, just to see what the "top" beads where and what their prices were. We came across this beautiful watermelon tourmaline, fate and destiny intertwined, it was meant to be ours. It was green on the outside, gorgeous pink on the inner band. We both immediately fell in love with it and I'm sure both had visions of this being the gem to kick start our store and be our first sale. (ok, so I might have added some extra drama for effect, but you get the point.) We ordered this gem and another few things from this seller, who is based in Thailand, and preceded to wait.
About ten days later we get the package notice (actually we missed the delivery and had to go to the Post Office) but of course it was still out for delivery. The next day rolls around and Gal goes to pick up the gem to end all gems; I still wish I could have been in the car to see her face. Below is a transcipt (more or less) of the ensuing phone call:
Gal: Hey, it's me...how are you?
Guy: Good, at work the usual fun stuff. What's up?
Gal: Well, I went and picked up the package...
Guy (giddily): And...is it everything we hoped for and more?
Gal: It's really pretty. Green on the outside, pink on the inside. The other pieces are cool too.
Guy (sensing a strange tone in Gal's voice): How big is it?
Gal: Well, it's thicker than I thought.
Guy: Wow, that's great. How big is it?
Gal: It's a little smaller than I envisioned...
Guy: Like how much smaller, is it the size of a quarter?
Gal: Umm...
Guy: A dime?
Gal: Ummm, I'm in the neighborhood at the bead store, I'll show you.
So Gal shows up at work and hands me the package. This thing must have had like twelve layers of bubble wrap around it. I carefully unwrap the gem and lo and behold it looks like...
You know how if you actually suck on a Jolly Rancher until it gets really thin right before it disintegrates in your mouth? Combine that with the diameter an Altoid, then shave off a few millimeters and you've got it. Right.
Well there you have it. So, the marketing department learned a valuable lesson that day: Always check the scale of your purchase, otherwise you're making necklaces for the Keebler Elves.
We've already had some learning experiences in this venture and as time goes on, we thought it would be fun to share them with the world. We are by no means suggesting our lessons are unique but if you're here reading this, you must care about us in some form or another. So in that regard, here is hard fought lesson number one: scale.
About one week into our venture gal and I were perusing on Etsy looking at the different beads that were available. In a stroke of genius I decided to sort from most expensive to least, just to see what the "top" beads where and what their prices were. We came across this beautiful watermelon tourmaline, fate and destiny intertwined, it was meant to be ours. It was green on the outside, gorgeous pink on the inner band. We both immediately fell in love with it and I'm sure both had visions of this being the gem to kick start our store and be our first sale. (ok, so I might have added some extra drama for effect, but you get the point.) We ordered this gem and another few things from this seller, who is based in Thailand, and preceded to wait.
About ten days later we get the package notice (actually we missed the delivery and had to go to the Post Office) but of course it was still out for delivery. The next day rolls around and Gal goes to pick up the gem to end all gems; I still wish I could have been in the car to see her face. Below is a transcipt (more or less) of the ensuing phone call:
Gal: Hey, it's me...how are you?
Guy: Good, at work the usual fun stuff. What's up?
Gal: Well, I went and picked up the package...
Guy (giddily): And...is it everything we hoped for and more?
Gal: It's really pretty. Green on the outside, pink on the inside. The other pieces are cool too.
Guy (sensing a strange tone in Gal's voice): How big is it?
Gal: Well, it's thicker than I thought.
Guy: Wow, that's great. How big is it?
Gal: It's a little smaller than I envisioned...
Guy: Like how much smaller, is it the size of a quarter?
Gal: Umm...
Guy: A dime?
Gal: Ummm, I'm in the neighborhood at the bead store, I'll show you.
So Gal shows up at work and hands me the package. This thing must have had like twelve layers of bubble wrap around it. I carefully unwrap the gem and lo and behold it looks like...
You know how if you actually suck on a Jolly Rancher until it gets really thin right before it disintegrates in your mouth? Combine that with the diameter an Altoid, then shave off a few millimeters and you've got it. Right.
Well there you have it. So, the marketing department learned a valuable lesson that day: Always check the scale of your purchase, otherwise you're making necklaces for the Keebler Elves.
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