Slow Toys

I know it's been a while. November and December were rather full for me as I recovered from the arm injury and had to catch up. I was making candy and toys for local craft shows and my Etsy shop. There was also, of course, getting gifts off to family.

I would like to thank all of  you who have stopped by my little corner of blog land and read my blog posts. I also want to thank everyone who stopped by my Etsy store to take a peek. I was very pleased with the number of views, favorites, and yes, purchases. :) I hope you will all stop by again to see what's new throughout 2014.

While at the Christmas Craft show in town the first Saturday in December, I noticed a marked aversion to my toys. My candy, herb mixes and smoked salts were selling just fine. But, while the toys made people smile, they also dragged the children away from the display. I started asking myself what was wrong.

I went to the customer's side of the table. My signs were intact and properly displayed. The toys were hanging out in the castle. Nope, nothing wrong there. Then I started listening, over the general noise, to what was being said as the children were dragged away, or a couple of ladies left the table. "Those are way too expensive!" was common. As was, "It would be too much at half that price." And often, specifically to the children who asked for one, "I can't afford that much for a toy for you, maybe Santa will bring you one." To which any child over the age of about 6 looked disappointed, knowing they would not be receiving that toy.

After I decompressed from the holidays, I thought about this. On the one hand, my toys were selling from my Etsy shop. On the other, at the local craft show, people saw the price as being too high. (I priced the toys identically.) Now, people would comment to my face, how adorable, precious, and cute the toys were. They admired the fine craftsmanship in the construction, and remarked how I must have good eyesight. These people could actually see, and hold the toys. Yet, my toys were too expensive for them to buy. Is the local economy that bad? Or perhaps this is also the common reaction from the people who do not purchase my toys online as well? In which case, I may have a problem. Or maybe not.

My little critters are made with care and attention to the tiny details that make them adorable and cute. I hand stitch each one individually. I am not a factory, nor do I run one. One might say that these toys are part of the Slow Movement. The books, blogs, and half hour TV shows claiming you can make this or that really quick and easy has impacted those of us who know better. Art and craft take time. Hand made takes time. My time counts for most of the cost of one of my toys. While the 100% wool felt and wool batting isn't something you can buy at the local hobby store, it's available. It also costs more than the craft felt and polyester type stuffing. On the other hand, the cotton embroidery floss with which I stitch each one is available many places. I guess what I'm trying to say is that a natural toy (made with natural fibers) made by hand is vastly different than a plastic toy made in a factory. Which would you rather give to a child? Or which would you like for yourself?

Should I be worried that my prices are too high? I don't think so. In fact, I am probably not charging enough for the time I put into each one. But, for now, I'm happy that I've set a good price for each critter. I think it would be marvelous if just like Slow Food, Slow Art, and Slow Fiber, we could have Slow Toys. I'd fit right in. :)

Until next time...

So close

Almost done with the castle. I still want to see if I can emulate a portcullis on the front door. But, I can use it as is. Next is to set up a proper photo booth so I can take better looking pictures than the little table I'm working on. I've painted the stones on the outside and stained the wood visible from the outside. There is a lot more I'd like to do to the inside making it an even better prop. But, it's usable as it is now. For which I am grateful. Honestly, I'm tired of working on the castle and would like to get back to making the dolls and critters. The original plan was to have the castle done by the end of January. I guess that's typical, that things take longer than planned.

The finish on the wood parts is a stain marker from MinWax, called Golden Oak. It was easy enough to use, but had to get some ventilation because the stuff stinks.

I'm rather pleased with the results now that it's mostly finished.

Until next time...

Finally, a logo

After showing people the first logo idea, I decided to pull things way back. Keep it simple. Just using the symbol on the door, rather than everything. I rather like how this looks. My thought is to use an even simpler version of this as a maker's mark on my critters to identify them as coming from me. Yes, it could be forged, but why bother? If someone is clever enough to copy my designs, they are clever enough to invent their own.

The castle is finally looking close to what I envisioned. I've got several colors of grey stones adorning all the outside walls and battlements. There are stones that aren't colored yet. I'm having a discussion with hubby about that. He advocates leaving them white. I'm looking at maybe leaving some of them white but introduce a blue-grey for the final color. Then, there is the issue of what to do about the wooden parts. Do I leave the wood natural? It's a light colored wood. Or do I stain it darker? But, I don't want to go too dark. I think there's enough dark in the darkest grey. More decisions and then a final push to get it done. Then, it's time to take some pictures. :)

Until next time...

Spots and Working

I've finally finished drawing all the stones on the outside of the castle and the battlements. I was so jazzed when I finished.

Now, onto the painting. I'm starting with the darkest gray and randomly painting the different stones. Kind of looks like a Dalmatian, doesn't it?

Lesson learned: Even in a sealed bag, acrylic paint will dry out. *sigh* I tried to save the paint from yesterday, but it was a thick scummy mess. I'll be more conservative today and not put out quite as much paint, or paint longer to use it up. I'll probably be working on it longer today, so that should work out.

Speaking of working, I'm trying something new for me. I decided it was time to take myself seriously. I've talked about being an entrepreneur for years. I've even tried a few different businesses. There were the teddy bears, the herbs, and the candy. None of them were a complete failure, but I also allowed other things to take priority. During the first two of those, I was the sole breadwinner and worked out side the home. I also became a single mom which pretty much closed down the teddy bear business. It also kept the original herb business from getting off the ground.

Today, I have a sweet husband who is the breadwinner and the child is grown and has been on his own for several years now. I have the time to create a business. But, I found that I was spreading out the household chores so that I was busy with something nearly every day. I answered every phone ring. I was spending hours cruising the internet and reading blogs, forums and articles. I was playing computer games. Nothing wrong with any of that, but I wasn't getting any of my "work" done either.

Last week, I made the decision to establish a work week. The best way to do that is to follow hubby's work schedule so that we have the same days off. I started by making sure that other than the few daily chores, like keeping up with the dishes, my household tasks were done during the off days. That includes baking and cooking meals ahead. Hubby is very supportive of this idea and he assisted in making sure everything got done. So far, so good. I worked on some aspect of business for most of the day each work day last week. This is my second week and I faltered a bit yesterday. Today, I am back on task.

By taking work on the business I'm establishing seriously, it has actually created a peaceful, less stressed feeling. I'm able to focus on the preliminary work of setting up the business without feeling guilty about the household chores. And on the off days, I'm not feeling guilty about neglecting the business because, I know I'll be working again on my work days. By the way, the castle is part of the preliminary work on the business, it'll be featured as the background for the product photos.

Until next time...

Cross eyed

Transfering the concept of small stones to the larger castle has become an exercise in patience and going cross eyed. I originally thought I'd take a few days to draw out all the little stones. After all, how hard could it be? I'm just drawing ovals, rectangles, squares and circles. They don't have to be precise, they are rocks. Well, my original thought was wrong. It took me about 3 days of drawing on and off (I couldn't do this for very long without resting my eyes.) to get the back of the castle drawn on. Three more sides and the battlements to draw yet.

Now, I think this is going to be so cool when it is finished. But, instead of a week, it's going to be several weeks as I cannot work on this 100% of the time. Here's a close up of the pencil work. Not hard, just time and eye strain.

In other news, I've got a working concept for a logo. It needs some refinement and perhaps a rest and come back to it before presenting it as a final design. Back to drawing more stones on walls.

Until next time...

Experimental Success

The first experiment was a success! This is one wall of the separate little box/tower that came with the castle. I hand drew in pencil all the stone shapes. Then, painted them in with various shades of grey acrylic paint.

I posted this on the Fiber Art forum on WetCanvas. The response was overwhelmingly positive that doing the whole castle this way would be so cool. I agree.

Since the point of this exercise was to be a background for pictures of the toys, I took a few test shots of toys in front of this piece to kind of get an idea of what I might expect.

This is Reid, a Nessie.










And this is Spring. I think I need better lighting, but am pleased with the grey background.

Until next time...

Bricks and Stones

The castle is now completely primed, inside and out. It took a lot of time because I didn't want to paint everything. I wanted to leave the floors and stairs/ladders wood. I had to get in there with a really small paintbrush to avoid painting the stairs. Now onto the stones.

Ah, but not so fast. I have to figure out just how I'm going to do that. The first thing was to experiment with some homemade stone stamps. I cut a white eraser into quarters and carved out random chunks of one end. Ta-da, stones, sort of.
Of course I didn't have grey paint, only white and black. I mixed up some medium grey and tried the stamps on a piece of card stock before committing to the actual castle.

As you can see, I was having problems keeping a reasonable distance between the stones to simulate grouting. On the left, you can see where I actually took a pencil and drew out some abstract stone shapes and then went at it with a paint brush. (Paint brushes and I don't always get along.) I like the drawn and painted stones better than the stamps, so I am going to take a little more time and do this again on a scrap piece of primed wood. What do you think of these?

Work on the logo continues. I still haven't settled on a good image. I have yet another idea to work on. I will post a preview as soon as I'm somewhat happy with it to get some feedback.

Until next time...

Outside the castle - prime time

The outside of the castle now has 2 coats of primer on it. Not a lot to see, but a lot of work. Next I'll be adding primer to the walls inside the castle. It's getting there. I'm looking at more castle walls, stone walls and natural stone fireplaces to get an idea of how I want the outside to look.

The inside is going to be "whitewashed" rather than taking the stone painting inside. The exception might be the window openings where the stone window frame can be seen.

I've been noodling over a logo for the toy line I want to launch. Since I had a food based business, Mountain Godddess Candies, with an established logo. I wanted something similar, but different. I wanted brighter colors and possibly incorporating stars. It's a tough decision. The logo to the right was created by my very talented husband for the foodstuffs. I don't want an exact copy of this, but as I said, something similar. I'll keep you posted. If you have any suggestions, please leave a comment.

Until next time.

Castles take time

Well, it's been a week. I've had a lot going on, but haven't a clue where exactly all the time went. I did get some work done on the castle. It's about 1/4 done with a single primer coat. Not much to see, so no pictures of it. On the other hand, I have been looking for pictures of castle walls to get an idea of how I might want the stone to look. Here's an example...

The image is from wikimedia.org. The photographer is Imanuel Giel. Thank you for providing the image.

The other thing I've been up to is sewing dragons. I now have a flight of dragons. (I don't know are 5 dragons enough for a flight?) No photo yet of them either. I'm working on a photo set up to get some good pictures.

Until next time...

A Beginning

Another New Year and a new blog. Well, yes and no. I've been meaning to do this for most of last year, but couldn't decide how to start. And, while it may be another new year, I've never had a blog before.

First a little bit about me and my studio. I'm a bit eclectic. I have many interests and any one of them may end up here. This is about my creativity and I don't know exactly where that will lead. My many interests include candy making, book binding, sewing, embroidery, needle felting, stuffed toy making, doll making, and colored pencil. *whew* That doesn't mean that's everything either, for I have a tendency to go "ooh, shiney!" Then I try something new. :)

To start, last month I found the coolest castle in Micheal's Crafts.

I thought it would be a perfect display for the little toys I make.

While it's delightful as it is, I want it to be a little more. I am currently doing some sanding. It will then get a coat of primer. In the meantime, I've got paints and stuff to experiment with making it look like a stone castle instead of a wooden castle. I'll show more of the castle next time. That draw bridge opens up and the whole thing is hinged on one side so it opens up and you can play inside.

Until next time...