Crafts by Chris » Crafts by Chris

in the studio – where does the time go

Chris — Wed, 02 May 2012 13:17:33 +0000

Where does the the time go? It’s May already. So much going on. I had company Thursday through Sunday last week. Twenty years ago today my hubby and I were married. Our oldest son graduates in less than three weeks. We also have three nieces graduating this year (hubby comes from a big family). Oh, Mother’s day and the son’s 18th birthday are in there too.

So, what’s going on in the studio? A custom bead order. Color mixes for the Premo Fall 2012 polymer clay color recipe ebook, which I hope to get done sometime this month. I probably won’t get to the Kato and FIMO versions until June. I’m also working on my homework for Teaching Art Online class.

My Etsy shop was looking rather chaotic with color recipe ebooks, tutorials, beads and jewelry, so I split out the beads and jewelry into a new shop – Crafts by Chris Studio B. I’m still working on moving things over and adding newer things, but it’s getting there.

kato spring 2012 color recipe ebook is here!

Chris — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 16:48:21 +0000

Those of you who have been patiently waiting for the Kato Spring 2012 Color Recipe Ebook, It’s here!!! Hot off the virtual press, it can be purchased here on my website or in my Etsy shop.

monthly muse – floral

Chris — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 14:28:51 +0000

March’s Monthly Muse is all things floral. Big or small, bright or pastel, realistic or abstract, anything goes.

Not sure what the Monthly Muse is. Each month I will be your Muse by providing an inspiration challenge. The idea is to step outside your comfort zone, try something new and have fun. This group is open to all artistic mediums.

Playing along is easy…you can join in any time throughout the year. Upload your photos to Flickr, add them to the Monthly Muse Flickr group and tag them with the corresponding monthly tag. For example this month’s inspiration will have the tag MM3.

in the studio – advertising and back issues

Chris — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 14:58:11 +0000

My business up to this point has been built on word-of-mouth referrals. I decided this year to step it up with some advertising. I’m starting small…small is definitely the key word here. Grabbing someone’s attention with a 125 by 125 pixel ad is not an easy thing to do.

Here’s what I’ve come up with so far, but I’m not sure I’m happy with either one.

So, which ad grabs your attention? Or do you not like either of them? Leave me a comment and let me know what you think…I can take it.

Switching gears here, I pulled a muscle in my back and along my rib cage which had me on pain pills and laying on ice packs most of last week. It happened while exercising. Yes, exercising is dangerous to your health. When they say if an exercise hurts, to stop doing it…well, I continued on and paid the price. I’m up and around this week, but still moving slow. I managed 6 color mixes yesterday before my back was screaming at me to stop. So, while I am working on finishing up the Kato color recipes ebook, it is slow going.

Update:
Other ad ideas

where you purchase your polymer clay

Chris — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 15:13:11 +0000

Where you purchase your polymer clay is important. Case in point, I was in the middle of working on color mixes for the Kato Spring 2012 color recipe ebook and opened a “new” package of magenta. The first thing I noticed was that the color in the middle of block of clay was much pinker than the outside. I thought maybe it will be ok once I condition it. Nope, the color cured a totally different shade.

So, now I’m beginning to panic, thinking that the magenta color had changed drastically and that all my color recipes were wrong. Sent a message to Tony Aquino from Van Aken, the makers of Kato Polyclay. Excellent customer service! Found out that this block of magenta was 3 years old. Huh? I just bought it a couple months ago at a local Hobby Lobby. I’m guessing this Hobby Lobby doesn’t have a very high turnover of their clay and/or someone found an old box buried in their store room. I definitely won’t be purchasing clay from them again.

This means that the Kato color recipes won’t be available as soon as I had hoped. Once my clay order arrives I will get them finished.

monthly muse – tribal

Chris — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 16:28:11 +0000

February’s Monthly Muse inspiration is all about tribal prints in neutral colors like black, white and tan (Nomad). If you’re feeling bold… try adding a pop of color, like Tangerine Tango or Deep Orchid. Or add rich gold for a luxurious look.

I did manage to find a little time to make something for January’s Monthly Muse inspiration…

I’ve been hard at work on the color mixes for the Kato Spring 2012 polymer clay color recipe ebook and hope to have it ready to go soon. Next on the agenda is working on taxes and cleaning my studio. It’s amazing how quickly the mess gets out of hand. What are your plans for the month of February? Anyone working on something new and exciting?

FIMO spring 2012 color recipes and a blast from the past

Chris — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 17:50:49 +0000

Yes! The FIMO Spring 2012 color recipes are done and the ebook is now available right here on my website and in my Etsy shop.

The blast from the past happened a couple of days ago on Facebook. My friend Amy posted a couple photos….

…These were the beads that were on the cover of of Polymer Cafe magazine (Summer 2006). The frenzy refers to the good ole days of eBay when bidding frenzies often occurred.