2/6/14

I know I know

I usually blerg more often. I've been totally without motivation or raison d'etre or joie de vivre or je ne sais quoi for a while. I've been without a croissant or a s'il vous plait. I've been without my latrine. And now I just want a milk au chocolat for some reason. But this is the first time I've been without voulez vous coucher avec moi in the five years or so I've been doing this so yeah, I'm not sacre bleu-ing myself over it or any kind of comment sa va.
What was the question?

I made some simple little guys though. 
In this piece and the following, you'll see a bumpy connector that manages to be rusty crusty and iridescent at the same motherslappin' time! AAAAAAAAAAHHHHGHGHG! This is our greatest achievement as a species I think.
There she is! Hello my baby.
 Should I even bother listing anything? Sales are ... man. I think everyone is suffering financially.
See that? I didn't look for a reason for crap sales over on my side of things. Because everyone's sales are shit and everyone's broke and its FINE. I mean, other than if you're starving and can't pay your heating bill during this POLAR VORTEX.               
Dun-dun- duuuuunnn!    
Whoever came up with that term deserves a Nobel prize in branding. Which is totes a thing. Did I mention that we are under like 6 feet of snow here in the Chi? The Chi not to be confused with the Shire. No that you could, what with the polar bears. 




Anypoopers. I have another destash lot for the dark gothsters out there. Click for bigs.
[ALREADY PUCHASED THANK YOU! I should only sell destash lots, man.]


 Instead of describing what you can clearly see in these pix I'm going to not. (I've never had so much italics in one post!)


Apropos of nothing, I was reading some crap about how to shut up your inner critic the other day and wanted to put in my $0.02.




embrace my inner critic, it's what makes me better, what keeps me away from average. It gives me the impetus to rework and edit pieces, gives me all kinds of ideas for changes. When I stop and truly look critically at something, that can make all the difference. It also lets me know something extremely important, which is when to abandon a project and not waste time on it.

(The red thing is iron-on monograms.)


Often if there's a project I can't get excited about or I can't seem to get myself to work on, it's another aspect of the critic telling me to give it up.



(A roll of tigertail beading cord whatever its called)



But see, I make it work. It's not just "this sucks," I make it tell me what sucks about it, what could make it better, creative and productive stuff. Make your critic sweat for you. Just saying something sucks is stupid, so your critic is being stupid, so be the critic of your inner critic, demand more of it. Yeah!

Another productive step is to ask for honest feedback from artists you admire. I've had people send me pix of something they're working on for this purpose and I tell them- this bit isn't adding anything, I'd switch those beads for something more eye-catching, if there were different ones on either side it would be less repetitive, etc. (Now, this is of course work you're asking for and it's best if you can reciprocate in some way.)


(Who doesn't want a chandelier crystal with a grungy bat on the back? That's just classy.)


I find it helps to take a picture of a project; this allows me to see it anew and much more objectively. It's not hard to decide whether we like the work of others and why, and it's possible to adopt this same perspective with our own.
So yeah. That's what I have to say about that. Your 2 centavos to go in the comments s' il vous plait.


(Some pages from this cool-ass Mexican comic book for your art journal/collage/wrapping. Guilder's in Antique Gold but it's in a little shoe polish can instead of the original huge-ass pot.)




A vintage lighter, a glass hoop, a bunch of hairpipe beads, a ammonite fossil that looks like someone crumbled fibers all over it.


A piece of antique leather glove for your thin soft leather needs. Bit of dyed crochet.


This is actually a bracelet sorta. 


A little scrap of sewy thing.

Hollow heart pendant, little metal beads.
Some decent bits. I'mna say $45. So $50 w/ship. And any extra space always gets more goodies. Convo me if you want. Whatever. 
And remember if I don't blerg for a while it's just me being rudder-less, huddled at the computer giggling at stupid lolcats, sucking on a granola bar, not a sudden brain hemorrhage you need to worry about or nothing.

12 comments:

Jiorji said...

yussss my mental vibes got to you! BWAHAHAH! uhh YEAH YOU HAVE TO LIST THEM!!

i was thinking the other day that i really miss your simple pieces...and VOILA sacre bleu you did it! the one with the flower...LOVE!! you HAAAAVE to list that one! it's so simple and delicious yet so put together and complete that it needs to be there. it's just simple! it's just a complete piece.

yeah what the fuck sales?!?! it's like ummm anyone out there?!! HELLOOOO???

we should have like a monthly meeting of a support group where we each stand up and the other bloggies say "WOW! you are AWESOME!! so great!" then clap and then the next person stands up...all in interwebz world.

umm yeah ...

dawn said...

Merci...a visual feast......love the bumpy beads and all the bits.

Sales will pick up when the sun comes out....I hope....please keep posting...you have no idea how much it brightens my day :)

Wildthorne said...

hello lady, sorry to hear you are in a rut. The winter polar vortex you are experiencing can't help either. Normally I recommend a walk outside, going to see things and getting inspired. My suggestions then are getting lost in a good book, or watching great movies, and letting your inner self rest and replenish for a bit.

Um chandelier crystal with grungy bat is adorable, I'd take that if it was alone on its own, not trying to be a brat and separate out your stash.. i'm just saying. :) Hugs!

Unknown said...

You've been without your latrine, that means literally you've been without your toilet/loo. I take it that wasn't exactly what you meant to say ha ha. Or maybe it was and that's crazy cool.

You should list these. Just saying. ;)
Sales suck everywhere. I only seem to be able to sell supplies. I'd rather sell art... but I guess selling stuff to make art is not so bad!! Take good care

RaggedRobyn said...

Hey chickadee,
Good to read your banter today. Love the necklace's ---I agree the top one is super good.
Taking pics of work in progress is exactly what I do. I initially learnt that from a figure drawing tutor who would have a mirror in the room especially for checking your drawing in...photos...mirror...its kinda the same thing, and works in similar ways 3D=photo 2D=mirror

bluh! my heads all stuffy with a horrid cold. Eyes are weepy, brain is slow :(
Your rudder-less blerging helps

La Fileuse said...

Wow ! Was your french doppelgänger stronger, lately ? ;) Thanks for the thoughtful words. It helps a lot... And you should try some "petits pains au chocolat" with a "chocolat chaud à la cannelle". o/

Unknown said...

Hey Marina! I bet things will pick up [money-wise] in a bit. Folk are probably still reeling from the shopping season only just 6.5 weeks ago. And yes money is scarce and life is challenging these days [queue the soap opera music.] I just realized that I live in Canada, born in Canada, a Canadian citizen. Canada is bilingual and I don't speak one of the languages~French. For shame. I do use the word 'queue' though. I've been thinking strongly lately, of the idea of going back to 'the good old days' when folk didn't charge things and get an instant pop of satisfaction [with later dread of the consequences] but, rather, 'laid away [layed?]' things and paid a bit at a time until they owned the thing and then finally did get possession. I did this back in the day [in my case the 60s] and remember well the anticipation, thrill of final possession, etc. that this procedure brought. In 1979 I walked by an antique store and on the spot fell in love with a stained glass window from England [size 4.5 feet wide by 7 feet tall at the tallest as it was arched at the top, and in a hardwood frame and reinforced with steel bars as it was so huge] and I knew I had to have it as I was about to throw up so I went in and told the guy I had to have it and would he take payments like in a lay away. He totally went for it and the price was $1,200.00 so I managed 4 payments of $300.00 each and have lived with it ever since. So lately I've been thinking that etsy should have such a procedure, or an individual seller should set up such a service. Sometimes a person can come up with twenty bucks in one shot, and then another twenty the following month, and so on; instead of sixty say, as sixty might pay a light bill, etc. Okay one of these days I will learn how to leave a brief comment. Love your work, Norma, x

Emmanuelle said...

Quick word here just to say I totally agree with Norma - that system was actually implemented n the French platform I use for my stuff and customers can now choose to pay over three months if they'd like. And damn, it helps. If our small-ish French platform is able to do that, methinks etsy could too.

martinisfor2 said...

Loving the necklaces. Definitely list them. Sales suck all around and Etsy promoting cheap crap in bulk from china doesn't help. Hope you warm up soon!

A. Marie said...

You got some rusty blush going on in your latest gorgeous creations!

You know how when you're looking at something and a part of it jumps out and screams, "Look at me! Look at me!" Those two pen nibs are the most gorgeous, curvacious, vivacious vixens of feminine possibility I have seen in ages.

I'm hoping that whoever purchases the package shares their designs, because I'd really love to see what's done with those metal maidens. Haha I'd be screaming, "Don't take my pretties!My pretties!" If I saw them in my stash. Now I have to go look at some of the nibs I've collected and try and figure out why they're not laying around as seductive as the ones in your photograph. Maybe it's the lighting!

As long as the summer doesn't decide to show us the other end of extremes, I'm good. Of course, I'm not up north either, so really I shouldn't get a vote.

Usually silently observing and admiring your uniquely creative style. Have a happy dance this weekend!

sandi m said...

Oh Marina, I'm probably across town ~ and c.a.n.n.o.t stand the neige anymore! Tired of shoveling, tired of frozen temps, icicles hanging off la maison, not being able to park in le garage due to our city's diligent neige plowing. I dare Rahm to drive down ma rue. Ugh!
Post your creations in the shop, they're awesome, like you. Love the simplicity of the first collier and the one with the chunky stones.
Baa - time to shovel...encore une fois...
s


Laura Flowers said...

Been slacking on blog reading lately. I ran to yours first :) This polar vortex BS was insane! (I'm in Waukegan, btw). Loving LOVING all of your bits and it's comforting to know that I'm not the only one not selling much these days. Your sales will pick up though. Right now people are too busy shoveling snow to browse. BTW, why isn't there a move-in package for new residents to this area that comes with a snow blower and a shot gun (for when you just can't take the snow anymore)?