aha, I have been reminded!!

A little while ago I was perusing some of my favorite blogs and I believe it was Wendie Hurrell that said I needed to post some of my older sculpts on my blog so I could share them with my readers (said while welcoming me to the blog world on her blog page, thank you for that as well...very kind of you!!). So that's exactly what I am going to do. Thanks Wendie!!  (All have been sold except the magnets and those won't be for sale until after the middle of this November :) ) Please excuse any mess on my desk...back then I was more practicing then anything and wasn't too concerned with [pictures like I am now. And I am a right brained artist after all!! ;)

 Fast Eddie...with no clothes...for some reason I can't find any pics of him clothed!

 Brother and Sister Commissioned sculpt

 My Inner Demon. Not for sale.

 Carlos....Comissioned

 Madeline...Commissioned

 Michael.....gift.

 Grumpy old man magnet.

 SMILE magnet

 I have absolutely no idea where I was going with this poor uggo....

 Hippie dude magnet....chillaxin'! (with bad comb over!)

 Blueberry Kisses....not available

 Punkin's!

 Old Gypsy Lady.....sold.

 Awahili the hula girl....commissioned

 Reggie.....gift.

Daisy the Elf Bride....Mascot for Tawnis Moon....now known as One Crazy Betty!!

Sometimes things aren't perfect.

I've had an interest in paperclay dolls now for some time. I will admit that I have not done a lot of reading on them. Not because I haven't wanted to...I just haven't found the information that I am looking for I would guess. It seems there aren't a lot of paperclay doll tuts out there. I have a friend that makes them and more then anything I guess I would have learned from just watching her cute little videos that she puts on youtube! ((Hi Gia...aka Sugar Artz) I like her style of the dolls she creates...and yet i do NOT want to copy them. But I wanted to try it on my own. The only thing that made sense to me was styrofoam for an armature. Yes...I did do the cone and ball. I wanted to make a girl!! I've never worked with styrofoam really either...so this was a little challenge. But I will say I fell in LOVE with the paperclay...I even like DAS, as that's what I used on her dress. DAS is a P.I.T.A. for how fast it dries on your hands...paperclay is like heaven. I love paperclay now as much as I do polymer. I am not a sander. I HATE to sand anything. But I also like the rough texture too that paperclay leaves behind and I do my best to keep it as smooth as possible when working with it. Wow...it makes your hands work out too...I had a harder time smoothing the paperclay then I ever did with polymer, but I think I was using too much at a time. Anyhow...here is my little witch doll. She is not complete yet. I will still dress her more fully...cure the genesis paint I used on her and give her more features and better eyes (GOD it is HARD to make the eyes match in paperclay too...LOL) My doll has black dreds and will be holding up the triple moon goddess symbol when I am done. More pics to follow. But yes...one eye is bigger then the other....lol.....just like some people, all sculpts are not created equal. I'm gonna go with it, it what she seems to want me to do! And don't even ask me how to make arms...I have no clue...but someday I will know!

The "bidness" of Business Plans....

Wow...my head is spinning. It's been literally years since I have had to do any kind of "homework" or researching for that matter. Many of you know and still others don't know that I am a disabled artist. I really don't want to capitalize on that term either so I'll not go into the details of why. However, I have been blessed with the Department of Vocational Rehabilitation for those disabled people that really do want to work. Me being one of them. I have been chosen as a recipient of DVR's help to start my studio business but in order to do so I have to put in my amount of work on a business plan which is fair enough. I really don't have a problem with that at all...but wow...scary thing that!! I got so many projected numbers and new definitions like business torts, leasehold agreements, legal structure.... and sales tax and percentages that I can deduct from my expenses all swimming around my head. Its enough to make anyone dizzy! Who honestly thought that a polymer clay business would need to have any kind of liability insurance especially if no one comes to your home based studio?? Really, our only real liability is whether the sculpt breaks on the way to the customer during shipping and then it should be covered by the cost of insurance thru the shipping provider!  Then the questions that beg to be asked like...do I really need a logo and a tagline?? IS that something that is really going to help my business on the internet?? Honestly I can't ever remember seeing another sculptors page have either, other then banners, really. Do I really need to carry an attorney and an accountant?? According to them...yep. I can see having an accountant do my yearly taxes but the rest I can handle on my own with payment vouchers and Quick books. Do I really need to carry an insurance policy for a home based business? Okay I can see this one too in case of fire or a catastrophe where you lose all of your tools, inventory and supplies. So I won't contest that one. Hopefully there is a renters insurance plan out there that will cover that part too.

Then there is the target marketing for the audience. How do you explain that for a new business?? That one really has me stumped. I mean there are collectors of dolls, sculpts, fantasy art etc. They are all the target market. Me thinks I am going to have to pull the ol' thesaurus out to embellish that to be a long enough definition for the business plan. LOL.

I guess in the end more then anything most of it depends on your writing and "wowing" skills. Let's hope I can wow the heck out of them!!