Mold Making 2

So, I finished the masters for my key chains, and today I'm going to be pouring the molds, I think. After the last disaster where the mold box sprung a leak, I'm taking no chances today.

Instead of building a box around the object and sealing it, I'm gluing the masters straight into the bottom of a plastic cup (see picture). No way these babies will leak! Right now the glue is setting, so later today I should be able to pour latex.

With any luck the molds will come out looking good, and tomorrow I'll be able to pour the first batch of key chains! That will be awesome (Ausome). I was going to talk about another project that I might be starting today, but I decided to wing it with the molds, cuz I promised I'd talk about them more. To give a hint, the new project involves Decor. Kitchen decor to be more specific. The kitchen cabinets to be even more specific than the others.

So, tomorrow we'll probably see what kind of horrors come out of these molds, and then Friday, we may be visiting the kitchen. Take care!

Why does the business side of business suck?

I'm an artist because I enjoy creating. I'm trying to sell my work because just creating doesn't pay the bills. Selling sucks.

It's a big dilemma for me. I enjoy making art, but I don't enjoy photographing it. I don't enjoy listing the pieces for sale. I don't enjoy Tweeting, or Facebooking about my work (Oddly, I do enjoy blogging about it, though...strange huh?). As for presentation, I'm more than willing to make a work of art, but if it's flat, and I need to mat it first, I tend to stall, and stall, and stall, a lot. I've worked in a couple of different places in advertising, but when it comes to advertising my own stuff, I kind of suck at it.

It gets worse. I don't like keeping up with my receipts, I don't like doing cost analysis on my art, heck, I don't even like trying to figure out how much time I've put into a piece, because I forget to look at the clock when I'm starting something.

As for spreadsheets to keep up with all this stuff, I'm completely lost. I take one look at a spreadsheet program, and my eyes tend to gloss over. It's boring. The money side of the business, in general, just keeps me baffled. I suppose that I'm a traditional artist in that respect, or at least, I live up to the stereotype.

Oh, I'm also disorganized. Did I mention that? It doesn't help with anything. Last night, I spent over an hour looking for a bottle of glue that had fallen from where I put it (which is NOT where it belonged, in the first place). Add disorganization to all my other business problems, and it seems hopeless. But I don't think it is hopeless.

I'm not writing this to fish for advice, or to offer some magic solution at the end of the post which will fix all of these problems. It's not a plug for some system or business class, it's just the obstacles that I face in running my business. I'm sure that I'm not alone, and I think that there's bound to be other people out there who feel the way I do, too. It would be nice if I read in other people's blogs that they have the same problems I do, so...maybe me writing this out will help someone else. Also, now that it's all typed up on the screen, I can't keep ignoring it.

That's it for today's post. Time to start cleaning (again), work on putting things where they belong, and get cracking on business stuff.

Also, I've got a brain candle that needs photographed so that I can list it! Hehe. Thought you were going to get away without reading something creepy, didn't you? Ha!

I hate photography

The title says it all. Well, not really, but I don't like taking pictures of my stuff for the shop. There's so much set-up involved, and if you're like me, there's never a clean flat surface available to take the photos on. Also, in my high tech 1935 house, there's only a handful of outlets available, so finding a clean flat surface near enough to a power supply for my lights is even harder. This blog is forcing me to take more photos, though...and honestly, it's good practice.

Okay, now for the real reason I'm blogging about this. I have to take photos today. Grrr! I don't want to, I'm lazy, I don't feel like taking photos, and I always feel a little nervous about listing my things for sale...which means I'm stalling. The blog gets attention, because I am putting off the pictures.

I'm sure that everyone who runs a business, be it a little shop on etsy or a gigantic deforestation corporation, has some part of the business that they don't like to do, too, though. Eh well. If I'm ever to get rich and famous, I gotta do it. Feh.