Friday, August 13, 2010

Let us not be too particular. It is better to have old second-hand diamonds than none at all. ~ Mark Twain

I am not much in a writing mood, so just an update on the latest designs, and the reaction to them.

Here are some more ART TO GO Series 2. Sized the same as the last ones, with the square ones being 2.5 cm square, and the larger rectangular ones being  2.5 cm x 3 cm, not including the bail heights.





This past week, I purchased a few more enamel colours. I got myself some bright pink, some deep chocolaty brown, some violet and some copper. The copper has not been too successful, as it doesn't show well on the sterling. Too bad, I thought it had great potential. Just above, all the rainbow colours with a little bit of the pink to "punch" it up.




Here I introduced the brown, with gold copper and green.










Here the brown with the black and gold was quite effective. I had the black before, but had shied away from using it. No more. I think it works very well.




here I used some of the white which I'd had as well. Used in small bits to contrast with other colours, it can work, but is more effective when overlaid on another colour.







Above and just below - loving the pink with the other colours!













I finally took the plunge, and did a completely black background with a few bright colours overlaying it. I love the result.




The ART TO GO Series 1 and Series 2 have been very well received, as have been the Tree of Life designs. This past week at the gift show, I took orders for quite a lot of the Tree of Life pendants. 

The ART TO GO Series 1 was not shown at that show, however. I have sold a couple of them and people are loving the uniqueness of the designs. In person they show extremely well. Some better photographs may help, but mostly I think the 3-D nature of them is not captured well enough in the photos, and it's a shame.

As for the ART TO GO Series 2, everyone loves them. I have a sold a couple in retail sales, but so far no wholesale orders, in spite of the fact that everyone who sees them says they are gorgeous, they love them, and they think they have huge potential. Go figure. When I see an idea of which I think those kinds of thoughts, I jump on ordering them. Maybe it's just a matter of time, and the orders will come. Currently, none of them are in my Artfire store, as the entire display has taken a trip to Edmonton, where they will be on display at the Alberta Gift Show from Sunday the 15th of August to Wednesday the 18th of August. If you are there, check them out in the ShantiOm booth: Hall E, booth #2235

If you would like to order one of the ones pictured, drop me a line, and I'll reserve it for you, and ship when the displays are returned from Edmonton.

Meantime, I have now been applying the ART TO GO Series 1 technique to rings, and it looks fabulous! Can't wait to get those ones cast, and show them to you. New paintings too when I next update.


Wednesday, August 4, 2010

One essential ingredient for being an original in the day of copies is courageous vision. ~ Charles Swindoll

So, last week I promised to show you ART TO GO Series 2.  I am very excited about this line, and when I had them at my show this past weekend, they got great reviews!

ART TO GO Series 2 is all about having a miniature, abstract painting on sterling (and maybe eventually on gold as well), which you can wear on the go. One-of-a-kind pieces again, so that no two will ever be the same. 

I started out with 2 pieces of leftover sheet sterling, and experimented to see if the enamels would behave the way that I wanted, and if I would be able to achieve what I had in mind. Hence, they are strangely shaped, which is artsy and I think effective. However, in the effort of keeping the prices low, I have, for the time being, opted to go with more traditional square and rectangular pieces, more similar to canvases. The labour on creating oddly shaped pieces would triple, and therefore the price would increase significantly. Having said that, if someone would like a custom piece, I am more than happy to oblige, and will create oddly shaped pieces for those customers.




Piece #1 is about half an inch wide and with the bail included the height is 2.25 inches.




Piece #2 is about half an inch wide and with the bail included the height is a little more than 1.75 inches.



















Pieces 3 through 8 (above) are 2.5 cm x 3 cm, not including the bail height.




























Pieces 9 through 17 (above) are all 2.5 cm x 2.5 cm, again, not including the bail height.

I love the way some of these have great texture with the enamel, and the way it has swirled and mixed.  They'll be added to my Artfire studio soon. Please let me know what you think of them, I'd love your feedback!