What are you working on now?

When I saw Donauluft's blog post today I felt thrilled by the mere fact that what she had been working on wasn't what she sells in her shop; rather, she had been working on a way to present what she sells.  The creativity and ingenuity excited me and I asked if I could her include her project here.

This is what it means to be an artist.  You find ways to overcome barriers and that includes the presentation of your work.  I never really gave much thought to the how's of taking pictures for jewelry, I think too I take it for granted that on etsy many jewelry artists take amazing photos of their work by laying it this way and that way or having a model wear it so I never think about how challenging it must be.  What I loved about Viktoria's project was she doesn't have a model and was wanting another way to show her work.  How unique is this, she made her own model!  Rather than buy a mannequin head she set out to make her own.

Her description:
This is an experiment I never did before. I really would like to have a model to take one picture of all my earrings to show the relations of size. Not a perfect, flawless, but a funny one, with big ears,...a striking character. So I bought modeling clay and started to shape a head. Clay would have been better than this "modeling clay" which is smelling awful and not very smooth.  

 ..of course it has to be sanded and finished after drying complete, and maybe some hair would look nice.............to be continued.

You can read more description on her blog.  Click the above image to go there and be sure to look out for her new model in her etsy shop! thank you for letting me post this Viktoria!

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Next is Gretchenmist. Her love of art combined with a background in graphic design and publishing sets the stage for her works in progress, a 2011 calendar. She also blogged about these calendars which you can read here.  This isn't her first time making calendars either and this year she has a few changes.  She writes:  there was a method to the image~month matchup this year: I chose an image for each of my family members! I've had this habit from childhood ~ checking to see if my favorite happens to be on my birthday month and was so happy when my oldest son made a request for the November image! Hope you like your month!

Above are some original collages made with mixed media on paper. I scanned the originals then colour corrected in photoshop. I designed and layed out the pages using indesign.

I print and trim each page to size and get a neat hole drilled at the top. lastly: thread the blue lacy yarn through the hole to hang.

and the finished product:

The 2011 calendar is here! To celebrate I'm including a 13th image** for free with all pre-orders placed up until September 27th. {i'll be posting pre-ordered calendars on September 27th}.
The calendar has 12 pages featuring a brand new mixed media collage on each page and hangs from a beautiful lacy ribbon/yarn loop {which can be removed}.

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And lastly, Jill of GlazedOver.  She is sharing her Salt and Pepper Shakers. Her profile description says a lot about the unique personality that wafts off of each piece she creates.  "I've been hand throwing and slab building clay forms for over 15 years. Most of my work is functional and tends toward earthy design vocabulary with an occasional inclination toward the eccentric or anthropomorphic. I am partial to earth tones and warm hues but can also find inspiration in a bold, splashy palette." 

Her above description:  Seeing the trees for the forest - these are freshly pugged logs of clay ready for use. Makes a potter drool!

Salt and pepper shakers and mugs in process. The salt and pepper shakers in the foreground are complete, those to the right are not. The tub on the right margin is filled with slip which is the "glue" that is used to connect pieces of clay together. Finally, in the back are some mugs (the handles are what are looking so neat in the middle of the shot) and at the very top margin is a stack of more slabs waiting to be shaped into mug starters.

On the drying rack - scroll handle mugs and S&P shakers (plus an oddball bowl made from a coconut shell mold and some buttons)

Above, the end results!  Lime Popsicle S&P Shakers and Lime Popsicle Ginormous Stoneware Coffee Mugs w/ Curly Handle (set of two).

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Thank you so much everyone for sharing what you do!  If you are a team member and want to share your works in progress visit our flickr forum for details.