Polymer Clay, There is So Much to Learn

So, I have been making shrink plastic jewelry for decades now.  I'm a master of the craft, self-taught.  I can make just about anything I put my mind to with regards to that medium.  But now I've found recycled tin, cardboard, and polymer clay...  Unfortunately, I have not been able to dedicate the time to these new mediums like I did the plastic.  I have a new granddaughter who lives with me so much of my after-work and weekend hours are spent around her.  Which I love, don't get me wrong, but it really puts a kink into spending as much time as is needed to learn new mediums and to continue to develop skills.

To be fair, the tin is pretty much done.  I can place the images of my choosing onto it, and I can cut it and shape it so that's a done deal, same goes for the recycled paper stuff.  Both of these mediums can be very tricky and following the processes to the letter is an absolute requirement in order to have the results I am looking for, but are so worth the time involved.  However, the clay, that is a whole new ballgame.

Polymer clay is so insanely versatile that you never ever stop learning or thinking of things to do with it.  You simply do not.  There are so many techniques, styles, etc.  It seems every day I see something new that I'd like to try.  I have come across some absolutely stellar tutorials provided by clay artists and they have been worth every single penny spent to get them, which can get pricey.  If you are really lucky you may even have the opportunity to take a class with an artist in-person.  Because each time I buy one of these tutorials, there are one or two nuggets of knowledge that are worth their weight in gold.  Unfortunately, some of the tutorials I've bought are super rudimentary and not worth even the $5 or $10 spent to get them, but I guess how many brilliant nuggets are you going to get for next to nothing?  And if you are just starting out, even these 'beginner tutorials' might have some value.

I've noticed something though, it seems that polymer clay has sort of slowed down.  Many of the tutorials I've purchased are older (by years and even a decade or two), or the publications I've purchased are almost 10 years old and I've purchased them in print used or in digital format because the magazines are no longer in print or even in business anymore.  Another thing I've noticed is that Sculpey is having a very hard time getting their clay made since the beginning of the pandemic.  In fact, it's gotten steadily worse and I think it is due to hoarding by clay artists and enthusiasts.  I can hardly find Premo! or Souffle anywhere.  When I do find it, it is in colors that I can't use.  Sparkle, opal, glow in the dark, etc.  Seriously, man, it's getting really bad.  In a way, I wish Sculpey would just produce black, white, ecru, translucent, ultramarine, cadmium red, and cadmium yellow and produce a mixing chart so that you could make any color in the rainbow from scratch.  Oh yeah, add to that bronze, 14 K gold, and gold.  I'm not kidding.  I go to JoAnns and find 4 bars of white and ecru and pumpkin in the souffle.  Then I go to Hobby Lobby and find poppy seed in Souffle and 3 unusable colors in the Premo!  Meanwhile, Sculpey III is fully stocked which any jewelry maker knows won't work for jewelry making.  Even the new kid on the block, Papa's clay has dwindling supplies.  Although I got lucky and bought about $60 worth at an online retailer that apparently had not yet been discovered.  Score one for me!

I've watched multiple videos of people using Papa's Clay and it reminds me of Kato Clay, which I've had mixed results using.  Oh btw, Kato and Fimo seem to both be a little easier to get.  Anyway, Papa's Clay is crumbly.  You need to hold it in your palms for a minute to warm it up and then you can run it through your pasta machine without the crumbles, or so that is what I have seen in the videos.  It makes me wonder if that would work for Kato as well.  I have had Kato Clay, and even after running through my pasta machine no less than 20 times, it is still crumbly!  I have thrown it away before because of that.  The good news is Kato now sells, in one pound chunks, a new clay softener AND, drumroll, please.....A super-black clay to turn all of your scraps into usable black clay.  No more muddy and unusable leftovers with weird colors! Fimo I don't care for because if you get it wet, it starts to get pasty and gross whereas the Premo! is truly water repellant and takes image transfers well.

Speaking of image transfers, there are many image transfer papers that work that I've tried.  There are some at PolymerclayTV for a reasonable price and there are some others that use T-shirt transfer paper that works well.  You can even use nail decals that can be purchased for pennies on Wish.  I love working with images so these are a big one for me.  You can also do transfers using water or heat, just do a search online and you'll find multiple videos for both.

I've really been trying to concentrate more on textures and surface techniques with the goal to make the charm look like it is kiln-fired clay or porcelain with glaze, and these are not so easy to come across.    Well, I guess the textures are, but the surface techniques using paint, ink, alcohol, waxes, sealers, etc are not easily found, and let me tell you, some of the clay I have seen is crazy amazing and leaves me wondering:  How'd they do that?  Apparently, sadly,  nobody wants to share what they've learned (because they have worked hard to figure it out).  Can you blame them?  No.  So I keep looking for clues and keys and any hints of how the spectacular surface effects are procured.  This is where my time constraints and lack of available clay seriously hinder me.

So here is my advice.  If you see a result in any medium you like, dig, dig deep, and maybe even ask a question of the artist to see if they can help or steer you in the right direction.  Watch videos, read articles, purchase tutorials, and purchase books and magazines.  Take notes.  Take a chance, buy some things you think *might* work, and give them a try.  Use things you already have and see what happens.  Truly some of the best techniques were discovered through happenstance and giving something a go.  This is most likely where I'm headed for the kiln-fired look I've seen on some pieces.  Some of it is simply amazing and looks like kiln-fired clay.  Don't ask me why I'm stuck on that look.  Most likely because it is what I would wear and that is the best place to start.  Make jewelry you yourself would wear.  That way, if you don't sell it you can still wear it!

Inkjet Printers and Ink Refills with Almost No Ink in Them

 Waaaay back in the day (late 1980s and 1990s), when you bought a new inkjet printer, it came with ink cartridges that were full, there was no such thing as a 'starter' ink cartridge.  They were full cartridges and generally, they lasted a good long while before you needed to buy a new replacement set.  Unfortunately, in the late 80's and early 90's, the color cartridges were combined, so that if one color: cyan, magenta, or yellow, ran low, you would have to replace them all.  But in the mid 90's to mid-2000's or is that the mid-2010s?, they finally got smart and started making color inkjet printers with individual color cartridges.  This meant you weren't wasting ink, AND, each individual refill cartridge was much cheaper (back in the 90's it was about $9 for an individual brand-name cartridge).  These cartridges were also full, at first.  There was no "regular" size and "XXL" size.  Just one size that was full.  Fast-forward to the later 2000's to the present day, and the printers come with cartridges with almost no ink in them.  I am not kidding.  I don't even think they are 1/8 full.  What's worse, the 'regular' size replacement cartridges, are probably only 1/2 full when purchased.  If you want a cartridge completely filled, you must buy the XXL size and they are very pricey.  I have a Canon inkjet and I love it, I have used Canon printers for a very long time.  But, the inks don't last and replacements are ridiculous.  A regular size ink set will set you back $60 which wouldn't be so bad if the ink lasted, but I can print 10-15 color pages and the ink is GONE.  Being fed up with it I finally bought some after-market cartridges.  Two FULL XXL sets for $55.  And the cartridges are CLEAR so that you can actually see how much ink is in them (they are full to the brim).  Now I know why Canon's name-brand cartridges are black.  So that you cannot see a thing.

Epson has some awesome Ecotank printers.  You pour an entire bottle of ink for each color and can print until the print head falls off!  I think there is another brand that has done something similar.

I bought my ink yesterday from Amazon and it was delivered today.  The brand is EZink and their reviews were over 1100 5 stars so the ink has got to be decent.  I hope it is and I hope it lasts longer than 2 weeks.

That's it for today's gripe.

In other news, I have been digging into polymer clay the past few months and have completely ignored my Etsy store.  I have made less than $500 so far this year compared to $4500 by this time last year and right now I don't care.  I am not liking Etsy much and don't feel like giving them 20% of my profits.

-Peace-out

Processing Images for Online Listings

I’m not sure if I’ve touched on this subject yet, I probably have since photographing my items in preparation for listings strikes a real nerve with me.  Several years ago, taking pictures of my items never seemed tedious.  Now I can’t say the same.  I don’t know what changed, I really don’t.  I used to take tons of pictures of each of my items and I would list up to 10 items at a time!  Sometimes even more than that. I can honestly say that over the past 4-5 months, I have not listed one new item in my Etsy shop.  I have items that sell with regularity generating decent income and I’ve been so busy, I haven’t felt the pressure to get all of the new stuff I’ve made listed.  Well, that’s part of it.  Another part of it is finding the right camera for the job.  My iPhone does fine, but it lacks some of the finer details of a digital SLR and my digital SLR is 10 years old and lacks many of the newer features, like LED bulbs for white balance choices, etc.  Another even bigger part, perhaps the biggest, was losing the imaging software I had been using since the beginning...Google Picasa.  Google stopped supporting this incredibly powerful photo editing software in 2017.  I was stunned.  Now, it still worked, but when I got my new PC, shortly after Google pulled the plug, and installed it, it never seemed to work right.  The large folder list down the left side was gone, when I would import folders, they never showed up in the list, and once I imported an image and tried to rotate it during editing, it wouldn’t work.  I got so frustrated I tried uninstalling and reinstalling the software and it got even more messed up.  I have Photoshop Elements and access to other software, but none compare to the incredibly simple, yet powerful Picasa.  None of them.  It seems every time I took pictures of my items, then tried to edit them, it became a headache-inducing experience.  So much so, that I would just give up.  I have owned several versions of ACDSee, many years ago, of course, and read that it was the closest software out there to Picasa.  I didn’t want to buy it again.  Microsoft Photo on Windows 10 has got to be the absolute WORST photo editing software out there.  And here is something that I know.  Several years ago, with Windows 7 or maybe it was XP, Microsoft offered an included photo editing suite that  was extremely similar to Picasa.  I know I remember it.  It catalogued your images and offered peppy photo editing options along with many special effects, just like Picasa.  I’ll have to look it up, I know that it came with older versions of Windows OS.  I have about 300 items that should be added to my shop, they have piled up over the months, neglected because of my unhappiness with my camera, my lighting, and my photo editing software.  So tonight, after taking lots of pictures of my items, I headed back to my computer to edit.  It all came back full force.  I scrounged around and played with Adobe Elements, pass.  Microsoft Photo, double pass.  Then back to Picasa with abysmal results.  I decided to give the uninstall and reinstall another shot before throwing in the towel to frustration.  Lo and behold it freaking worked!  It re-catalogued all of my images and edits them perfectly.  I feel like a new person, like Christmas came early.  My god I cannot believe how much easier it is to edit my photos for listings.  So very thankful that it worked.  I don’t know what happened with the Picasa that was on my computer, I don’t know how it got so corrupted, but now that’s immaterial.  Picasa, I’ve missed you!

Woo hoo! Faux Tin and Faux Lithograph Jewelry are Finally Here!

Yes, that's right!  So excited to share some of my latest creations.  I am now working in recycled tin, recycled cardboard, and copper and brass jewelry.  Primarily recycled tin though.  I am absolutely loving it.  I keep finding new methods to use with the metal, new textures, new shapes, colors, images, all of it!

After having worked exclusively in shrink plastic for close to 20 years, I have found a new love.  So exciting!

Materials are readily available, I can go garage sale-ing or to thrift shops and walk out with an armful of tin boxes.  All waiting to be turned into something gorgeous.  Tin does require more attention than the shrink plastic in that it has to be cut down, trimmed, panels cut out, shapes cut, edges sanded and in most cases, I have to apply imagery.  That's me, all about the illustrations.  That process in itself is quite time-consuming, but gosh is it worth it!  I've inserted several pictures of some of the items I have made.  Can you tell I'm proud?

I have many listed on my Etsy store site.  Go have a look if you are interested.  My items are unique,  very well made, they are competitively priced, and gift-boxing and shipping are free!

See?  Busy, and this is just the tip of what I've made so far.  Stay tuned for more and have a great weekend!

Buh bye, Weebly...

So, that was an exhaustive experiment that netted me zip, zero, zilch.  To the tune of $35/month for ten months...

Not sure where I am going to go from here.  Weebly was an absolute bust.  I didn't have Google do a crawl until a few months ago, but that never worked either (very confusing) and I think partly because my fauxshowart.com URL was still somehow tied to my Etsy account when I was using Etsy Pattern (which was also a major fail).

So here I sit, trying to figure out my next move.  I have considered offering items for sale through Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.  Much more casual, no middleman, but there would be a trust issue buying from an independent seller.  I'm just so tired of Etsy and their constant money grab.

I guess my next look will be at the more art-related sites, Aftcray, Artfire, and the like.

Fast-forward to July 2019...

....I didn't care for Aftcray, Artfire, etc. Perhaps it was because at the time I had over 300 items in my Etsy shop and even though there was a good importing tool, it would have taken centuries to get it all set up and readjusted.

So I'm still only on Etsy, but I have done something different.  I pretty much let all of my items expire and I currently only have about 40 listed (few are of shrink plastic, more on that later).  I know I have probably covered this in an earlier post, but three years ago, during the summer months, I was grossing $250/week at my little shop.  Life was good.  Then Etsy re-vamped their Etsy Search, and sales plummeted in May of 2017.  They never did recover.  From there it has gotten only worse and let's face it, when little money is coming in, the drive to spend all of those hours taking photographs, editing photographs, measuring each piece of jewelry, and writing out listings, loses its polish.  I have more fun just making them, but then I look over and have a HUGE pile of finished items, none of them listed.  Argh!

I am also on to new things.  I am currently burying myself with recycled tin and cardboard jewelry.  I absolutely love working with these mediums, almost as much as my beloved shrink plastic.  There is more to it than the shrink plastic because I have to prepare the used tin metal and cardboard before I can even use them, they need to be cut up, sanded, textured, cut out, I then have to apply faux lithographs (a whole other involved step, a secret method, so don't ask...sorry!), and/or decide how I wish to further cut up a piece of recycled tin for use as-is without lithography.  It's a much bigger undertaking, but the good part is, the applied images are pretty much water repellant, and the jewelry is metal, which is more sturdy than the shrink plastic.

Also, the quality of shrink plastic is horrible.  Yes, I'll come across pockets of good stuff, then it goes bad and I'm on the search again.  It's funny.  I have amassed an absolutely enormous hoard of good plastic (at least 2000 sheets of it) not to mention about another 1000 sheets of both gold and silver (no longer made).  I use it when it strikes my fancy, but I have zero intentions of further replacing it.  Until a quality supplier comes along and stays, this woman is done searching.

Maybe I Should Change the Name of My Blog?

Since it isn't strictly shrunk plastic, perhaps "Shrunken Treasure" wasn't the best choice...

I have been dabbling in all sorts of media lately and I'm loving it.   My history with shrink plastic is verrrrrry looooooong indeed.  Close to 20 years.  Sadly, the heyday of inkjet printable shrink plastic is behind us.  Shrinky Dinks was sold off over two years ago and so many who had thrown their hats into the inkjet printable shrink plastic ring have long since pulled them out leaving few choices for shrinky dink artists like me.  In the interest of the love of vintage illustration and jewelry, I have embarked on a journey to try new things!

My first stop is printed metals.  Tin, copper, brass, aluminum, steel, whatever.  The result has been nothing short of amazing and there are many ways in which to get an image onto metal.  The process is much more time-consuming, but the outcome, jewelry that is actually metal, is superior to shrink plastic in that it is much more resilient.  I have had many in the past comment about how they aren't "into plastic jewelry".  Those people are missing the point;  shrink plastic is fun, it's beautiful, lightweight, and the level of care I give my jewelry is quite wonderful.  But, it is plastic and as such, can be broken.  Shrink plastic is not for everyone.  What I love about printed metal or faux tin or whatever you want to call it, is that it is much more water resilient and won't break.  Now, metal can be bent, but it is just more permanent than it's plastic counterpart.  Also, it is still very lightweight and easy to wear so that doesn't get lost with the switch to printed metal.

My second stop is printed polymer clay.  Again, lots of ways to get an image onto the clay.   A plus is it's ready availability (all crafts stores carry it).  The transferred images look good.  My only dislike is that it can be heavier.  Not a lot, but it is heavier and it's thicker so that clean crisp look I get from plastic and tin can't be duplicated.  However, I will say some of the illustrative jewelry I've seen has been great none the less.

All of that being said, there is just so much to try that it has left my head spinning.  I am always trying and making new things.  My Etsy store has suffered for it.  I now only have about 25 active listings as opposed to my usual 275+,  but I'm okay with that.  For now.  I'd really like to establish new additions to my line-up and not have them simply limited to shrink plastic jewelry.  I believe that mixed media is where it's at and where I'd like to grow my business.  We'll see!

Utter Confusion about SEO

Where do I begin?  I opened my store, fauxshowart.com in January 2018.  No traffic, nothing.  To be fair, I didn't really do much with it until the past couple of months with regard to SEO and asking Google to crawl my website.  I didn't have my SEO set up properly and honestly, I still don't think that I do.  The directions provided by Weebly are obtuse which surprises me since they are a web building company and I feel the instructions should be ironclad and precise.  Maybe I'm just thick.  The places where they tell you to enter your SEO, are not the same sections (they don't have the same names in the page builder), so it's really puzzling and highly frustrating.

Google and other search engines like Bing now require you enter a verification tag so that they know you are the owner of a URL.  This makes sense to me as you do not want someone to make requests for a site that is not theirs.

In order to be put into Google Analytics and or Search Console, you are given a clump of data that must be pasted into the head of each page of your site.  This allows for tracking and analytical information gathering.  Easy, right?  Wrong.  Here is why.  I had an Etsy Pattern site for about 14 months.  For the site, I paid for my own URL.  fauxshowart.com   Well, when I closed Pattern and opened a Weebly site, I had to get a 'key' from Etsy that I carried to Weebly so that I could retain my store's URL, which I renewed for a year.  Great, right?  Maybe not.  I asked that Google Search 'crawl' my site to catalog it only to find 11 broken links.  They were links to items that were no longer available, in other words, sold, on my Etsy site.  What Google Search did was crawl my old Etsy Pattern website, which is no longer active.  How is that even possible?

What's worse, the name in Google Analytics is Faux Show Art - Etsy.  ???  I'm completely confused and really quite upset about the entire thing.  It can take Google a long time to crawl your site.

I'm going to have to dive into this again and probably even call Weebly support to help me muddle through all of it.

It's this type of thing that keeps people bound to entities like Etsy and it's unfortunate.  Etsy is as expensive as Ebay, they are no longer about cottage makers and artists.  They allow mass-produced items to be sold on their platform and I want nothing more than to be free from that.

Later