lovely sunday
Oh, that's right, every day I'm supposed to do this.
Sunday, lovely autumn weather and Dan is home. We haven't been out yet. I don't look forward because an imminent deadline means I have to blow leaves again. They're sweeping tomorrow and the recent weather brought down a shitload more leaves. I bet if anyone read this, at least one said "I hate those damn blowers" to herself. I know. I don't care for power mowers either. I would just use a rake but most of my problem is spruce needles and willow leaves. Neither responds well to raking. A rake fine enough to handle them would be a broom and that won't do the lawn any favours. Blowing works a treat, though, so that's that for that and when people stop using power mowers every week, I'll stop using a leaf blower three or four times a year.
Dan spent the morning working up a bitch mood but finally let it go when I pointed out that we can afford to get a new power supply if his is fried. He started just being typical bitchy but the trouble with his computer had him at a point where the critters were getting spooked. Even the goldfish were behaving nervous! Timmy is upstairs in the loft taking in the sunshine that still floods through the little window. Sam is right beside ground zero trying not to get attacked by the angry man working on a computer next to his cage. Sarah is laying in a heated bed wondering how dangerous things are. I think Dan had some breakfast but perhaps he's due for lunch.
I got another box done this morning. That puts me at 2 of 6 for the next batch. I'll make it to 31 (I'm ahead by one) before the end of the month and possibly 36, but to get up to 48 by then would mean rushing some and I don't want to stress them. That causes sloppiness and fewer coats of paint.
Tom visited yesterday. I went and picked him up and he took my van home. That way he can use it a bit and bring it back to visit again later. We had a nice enough visit. I don't remember a lot of it but that's just because it wasn't different from other visits. We sit smoking dope, drinking coffee, eating something, pie in this case, and talking while videos play on the tv. Mostly break.com videos.
So we were looking at my etsy listings for the boxes and Tom agrees the lack of interest is probably the failure of a camera sensor to pick up sparkle and depth. Depth of course would require stereo photography and the sparkles are such pure intense light that they just burn out the image in that spot. What comes out on the photo is a pale speck of the colour that the sparkle represents. How could it be anything else? How can your monitor shoot a streak of pure sunlight through the image like these jewels do? If it were cut gems the sparkle would be imagined but as painted boxes, only someone who works a lot with nail polish would insert the right sparkles.
I still think when I take the box lot to a store they'll sell like cupcakes. it's too bad the folks online will miss out but what care I who gets them as long as they love them and I get remunerated for my materials. I'm really hoping a retailer will suggest a decent price that compensates me for some of my effort too, but I will just have to see. I know my base point but what the retailer's experience says it'll go for determines what I get out of it. They always have set formulas for commissions whether they buy outright, or more likely pay out only on sales. What I have in mind is leaving them for the entire christmas season and then if the retailer wants the space back, retrieving them in january along with any sales income. If they are selling I'll bring in more as often as I can make them, try and keep up with sales if it's really good. if they keep selling I'll keep making long after january. While I intend to stop at the end of the 2 digit system, there's no reason I can't add the whole alphabet and get 2600 or so more boxes. If they're successful enough to command a reasonable price, like 3 digits, or my pleasure at making them remains undimmed.
Currently they're still making me smile, quite broadly, and I am also fine with tagging them and putting them away in a box and letting go. I'm charging extra for the marble but it's really more about the fact that they're all underpriced and the marble seems more valuable. they ought to be at least double what I'm asking, and that's still not paying me for my work. Artists don't get paid properly, though. I don't, however, trust my own idea of how much a dollar buys. I see artist work on there priced in the tens of thousands and can't imagine how they find a market at those prices. The work is certainly worth it, and spectacular, but who can afford that? Then I wonder if maybe I just don't understand the numbers.
Darn pup keeps squeaking for attention upstairs so I"m going to post this.
Sunday, lovely autumn weather and Dan is home. We haven't been out yet. I don't look forward because an imminent deadline means I have to blow leaves again. They're sweeping tomorrow and the recent weather brought down a shitload more leaves. I bet if anyone read this, at least one said "I hate those damn blowers" to herself. I know. I don't care for power mowers either. I would just use a rake but most of my problem is spruce needles and willow leaves. Neither responds well to raking. A rake fine enough to handle them would be a broom and that won't do the lawn any favours. Blowing works a treat, though, so that's that for that and when people stop using power mowers every week, I'll stop using a leaf blower three or four times a year.
Dan spent the morning working up a bitch mood but finally let it go when I pointed out that we can afford to get a new power supply if his is fried. He started just being typical bitchy but the trouble with his computer had him at a point where the critters were getting spooked. Even the goldfish were behaving nervous! Timmy is upstairs in the loft taking in the sunshine that still floods through the little window. Sam is right beside ground zero trying not to get attacked by the angry man working on a computer next to his cage. Sarah is laying in a heated bed wondering how dangerous things are. I think Dan had some breakfast but perhaps he's due for lunch.
I got another box done this morning. That puts me at 2 of 6 for the next batch. I'll make it to 31 (I'm ahead by one) before the end of the month and possibly 36, but to get up to 48 by then would mean rushing some and I don't want to stress them. That causes sloppiness and fewer coats of paint.
Tom visited yesterday. I went and picked him up and he took my van home. That way he can use it a bit and bring it back to visit again later. We had a nice enough visit. I don't remember a lot of it but that's just because it wasn't different from other visits. We sit smoking dope, drinking coffee, eating something, pie in this case, and talking while videos play on the tv. Mostly break.com videos.
So we were looking at my etsy listings for the boxes and Tom agrees the lack of interest is probably the failure of a camera sensor to pick up sparkle and depth. Depth of course would require stereo photography and the sparkles are such pure intense light that they just burn out the image in that spot. What comes out on the photo is a pale speck of the colour that the sparkle represents. How could it be anything else? How can your monitor shoot a streak of pure sunlight through the image like these jewels do? If it were cut gems the sparkle would be imagined but as painted boxes, only someone who works a lot with nail polish would insert the right sparkles.
I still think when I take the box lot to a store they'll sell like cupcakes. it's too bad the folks online will miss out but what care I who gets them as long as they love them and I get remunerated for my materials. I'm really hoping a retailer will suggest a decent price that compensates me for some of my effort too, but I will just have to see. I know my base point but what the retailer's experience says it'll go for determines what I get out of it. They always have set formulas for commissions whether they buy outright, or more likely pay out only on sales. What I have in mind is leaving them for the entire christmas season and then if the retailer wants the space back, retrieving them in january along with any sales income. If they are selling I'll bring in more as often as I can make them, try and keep up with sales if it's really good. if they keep selling I'll keep making long after january. While I intend to stop at the end of the 2 digit system, there's no reason I can't add the whole alphabet and get 2600 or so more boxes. If they're successful enough to command a reasonable price, like 3 digits, or my pleasure at making them remains undimmed.
Currently they're still making me smile, quite broadly, and I am also fine with tagging them and putting them away in a box and letting go. I'm charging extra for the marble but it's really more about the fact that they're all underpriced and the marble seems more valuable. they ought to be at least double what I'm asking, and that's still not paying me for my work. Artists don't get paid properly, though. I don't, however, trust my own idea of how much a dollar buys. I see artist work on there priced in the tens of thousands and can't imagine how they find a market at those prices. The work is certainly worth it, and spectacular, but who can afford that? Then I wonder if maybe I just don't understand the numbers.
Darn pup keeps squeaking for attention upstairs so I"m going to post this.