Studio Update – May/June
Another month has gone by and so I suppose it’s time for a general update – quite cathartic and also quite good to take stock every so often. The last update was back in April which you can read HERE, so I am a little overdue.
So where am I?
After starting a part time job in March I think I’ve managed to get to the point where it’s routine and something I ‘just do’ and then I have the rest of the day for my creative endeavours, and also attempts to try and do things that earn actual money rather than these artistic flights of fancy.
As always, I always under-estimate the amount of time that it takes me to get used to something new. Even on a part time basis a new job is going to take it out of you, even if you know exactly what you’re doing when you walk into it, as I did. But as usual I beat myself up about how unproductive I was on the artistic front, or at least how unproductive I thought I was being. I managed to move a few things forward. The main thing right now though is actually making things that will make me money quickly and if they can be fun to make then all the better.
Charmed
The first thing that’s actually earning money that’s vaguely close to a creative lifestyle is reselling things. It’s not glamourous and it’s certainly not making bank but it’s proved a few things to me. Firstly, that I have a decent eye for curation and secondly, that online, it all seems to be a numbers game. Get enough skin in the game and you get at least a few bits of coin for your trouble. The added upside to this is that it gives me my own creative ideas and I enjoy a good sourcing run.
Geometry
The other thing that’s been surprisingly enjoyable and something I’m quite excited about is making fashion/costume jewellery. I started out with epoxy and some store bought molds but have moved on to water based acrylic epoxy mix as well and I have to say, the latter is probably one of my favourite things I’ve ever used. Such a beautiful feeling material when set. It looks like enamel, feels like stone. I am absolutely in love with it.
From early experiments I’d say it takes better to bangles and bracelets than arty pendant and earring shapes but it’s early days yet. I’m really excited by it. I think even if no one buys any of this stuff, I myself, will be festooned in it!
It’s also interesting to see the difference between this and standard 24 hour cure epoxy and there are also a few clay experiments in there too. I’ve also been making moulds based on some of the early clay experiments and how they interact and the best way of getting findings and what type of jewellery they should be.
It’s enjoyable and quite easy to produce in volume. So I shall soon see whether I am correct in my numbers game assertion in regards to selling online and getting some eyes on my own original work.
Home and Place and Folklore
As well as this my first Etsy shop continues to have additions to it. The audience seems to be slowly growing, however no sales at the moment, however I don’t mind taking it slow since each item I add makes it feel more and more like a shop and after all, most shops don’t get many sakes with just 23 items on sale.
Hopefully by mid year I’ll be up to 50 items and we might start to see some action. – This period has been helpful in helping me work out what I like to make aside from felt impressions of places I live in and like. It turns out, something I’ve always been drawn to throughout my life is bubbling up, folklore and mythic items sometimes with modern twists, sometimes with a fusion approach of different traditions. I’ve got a few up there now and it’s much fun to do, so that’s the first shop’s identity nicely settled. Home and Place and Folklore, I had no idea of that at the beginning of the year and its interesting how its developed once I let my interests take the reigns.
Shelved…for now
So after 20 years working in corporate business I have finally worked out what strategy means, (probably something to do with the fact I’m not counting the minutes until I’m not there any more and hating everything about what I’m doing.) So, for now, there’s a few projects that are on hold whilst I build a fashion jewellery portfolio along side the Etsy shop, then, if I wish I can come back to these.
Upcycles were always going to be high effort and a tough sell but I will return to them as although I wasn’t massively prolific, I have a lot of ideas and an ambition to do it. However it should probably be from a more stable business point of view since if I’m going to have electrics involved it’ll be more customer service heavy and lots of legal stuff to sort out.
As well as this, a Red Bubble shop which sells the odd thing without me really putting much effort in, is also a bridge too far right now and probably not the right time to build.
Art Prizes
The other reason to drop the two things above is that I do not want to lose sight of my conceptual art, which is going to be the main focus of this website and portfolio. This is stuff that I just need to get done, that is my identity.
I spend a lot of time wondering who the hell am I kidding to think that I am an artist. But then, I walk past some print that’s been sold for a few thousand pounds and I realise that if that can be counted as art, then whatever I am doing is just as valid, since whatever I am doing, as bad as it could be to eyes other than mine, it is at least not generic. At least I don’t think so, I never went to art school, or even studied art AT school, so we’re back to who the hell am I to say.
Regardless, I carry on, because I need to. So that’s that I suppose. And ironically, whilst I never applied for any prizes or barely a promotion in my former career despite being told that the sun shone out of my backside, I never felt like anything I ever did was any good, or skilful, and it never felt any more than dumb luck. Now, with this stuff, I feel confident that someone somewhere will like it and pleased enough with some of it to enter pieces into open calls (art competitions.) Highly ironic, really, since no one has ever told me my art is any good, I just believe it is.
It could be one of life’s great ironies I suppose – and if it is, then, you’ve got to laugh haven’t you 🙂
Read the rest of my blogs HERE
See my flights of fancy in my PORTFOLIO