A New Venture

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I have spent all night setting up a big cartel and a facebook page for the business criteria of the course. Still steaming ahead with the old papercutting and loving it more every day. I will also be setting up a new blog specifically for the business, but use it as my main blog, so I guess this is where me and Raingirl part ways. I didn't really use this blog as much as I planned to. So much of the course has consumed me from morning to night, you tend to binge work especially when a project draws near, so it leaves little time for anything else. We have one fair on the 17th May and then FP which promises to be a hum dinger..lots ofo talk about installations and life size displays.
Signing off, Claire
xoxo

Trends and Prototypes

So now we are on the penultimte assignment. To create 6 samples of work for our Final Project. I was told to draw, so I spent 3 weeks collecting images and refining them. I tried portraits, posters, sketches and cartoon strips. I liked them all for different reasons but then I tried papercutting and fell in love. Paper and stationery has always been a love, and I always knew I could do more than just draw. So now I'm sculpting little pictures with paper

Results of Fair

Following yesterdays sale, where I made my target of thirty pounds, and a little extra, I am able to see what was a seller and what wasn't. Polymer clay mini charms didn't really sell, just one, same with the polymer and glitter sets..but the little birds, an impulse sale priced version of the Home birds literally flew away. As with the kawaii rings. My beloved resin only sold one, so all in all, someone liked everything I made, but most people liked the clay birds. Which is funny, because I loved them the most (after the resin..but I like sparkles, what can I say?All my life I've been scared to follow through with what I think is best..I've made some pretty disastrous decisions and they have been on whims, but most things that happen, I say 'I KNEW that was going to happen'. The fair was an excellent learning tool to me, because it showed me something unexpected, about myself and other peoples work too. So here are some bullet points

• KNOW YOURSELF If you make something you know to be good, commit to it. Have faith in your taste. A few people who like your stuff attract a few more, and so on.
• DONT CONFUSE PEOPLE My stall looked like three peoples stall. I was scared to edit and commit to one theme, thinking people wouldn't like it. My defensiveness made me take a tutors well meant advice the wrong way, and I threw the baby out with the bath water. Instead of sticking to the bird theme, which I love, and obviously most people loved too, I diversified and tried to cater to everyone with miniatures of everyday objects...clever, but quite useless unless they are explained.
• DONT STICK TO THE RULES This is art, not physics, and rules are guidelines. Some people bent the rules and did really well, proving people do have money to spend, or will find it if they like it. I really wish I'd taken some of my larger bird nests along, as I think they would have been sold, and made me a lot more money

So in two hours I learnt more about selling my stuff than I would have in a year of classroom theorizing. Invaluable, and I'm really going to take that on board for next time. I've found a common ground between what I like, and what people want to buy, and I'm really happy with where I see Raingirl going. I'm also working on a new technique and excited about the future. So, despite average sales results, I had a really positive experience yesterday. Go Raingirl MCR!

A sneak peak of new stock in development stages

Disney Princesses All Real and Stuff

This is so cute!

click to see THIS on their website..Wish I'd thought of it first