Sea Otter Ornament Video

I had a little fun playing with animoto this morning and made this short video for my sea otter ornaments. My last holiday shipment will be sent out Thursday morning (Dec 20) so you only have today and tomorrow to get in any last minute orders.

Free Shipping Day

Today is Free Shipping Day and while I offer free shipping on most items in my store already today I'm offering free shipping on everything in the shop, including Perma-Pets and paintings on canvas.

Delivery by Trilobite Mail not included

New Baby Rat Sculpture

I had intended for this to be part of yesterday's blog post but I still needed to put a few finishing touches on this new sculpture. Actually it's more like 3 sculptures in one setting. If you've seen my baby rat sculptures before you'll know that I like to take a realistic life-sized sculpted baby rat and put it in a cradle made from a household object like a tea cup or an altoids tin.

The latest one is an idea I've had floating around for a while, to nestle several inside a hollowed out book. Part of the problem for me is that I love books and the idea of destroying one is difficult for me, so I hit the local thrift store to find a book that I could feel okay with rendering unreadable. I found the perfect thing: Readers Digest condensed books. I have a strong aversion to abridging literature so these were perfect, they are plentiful, cheap, fairly thick, and hardcover. It's available in my Etsy shop.

Baby Rat Book Nest

Last Minute Shopping for Squidmas?

Wednesday, December 19, is the last day I'll be taking regular holiday orders so you still have time to do some shopping and have it arrive in time for Christmas. I still have lots of goodies in the shop including tentacle earrings and the new sea shell jewelry that make great stocking stuffers.If you would like your order gift wrapped make sure you mention it in the "note to seller" during checkout.

I have a couple of brand new color schemes for cephalopods that I just added to the shop: moss green and black. Also some new trilobites and tentacle earrings. If you like my facebook page there's a 7% off coupon here.

If a giant space squid hasn't destroyed the planet there will also be a special sale in honor of the world not ending on Dec 22 (very last sale of 2012). Orders placed that day won't arrive in time for Christmas but you could always get a jump start on Valentines Day or an upcoming birthday or just treat yourself to a cephalopod.

Squidmas is Coming

Tentacle Charms

Last weekend's Holiday Tentacular sale went swimmingly. Thank you to everyone who shopped or shared the sale with their friends. It's the beginning of December which means it's the home stretch for the year and assuming the world doesn't end, 2013 is so close.

I'm not going to be holding any more sales before my holiday shipping deadlines but I do have a few special offers for you. First of all I have a whole bunch of cute little tentacle charms and I'll be including one in every order until I run out.

Second, if you want to save on your order I have a special coupon code up just for Facebook fans. So like my page and then visit the coupon tab to get a coupon for 7% off your order (or click here to go right to the coupon tab). The coupon is valid through Squidmas day, Dec 21.

Also don't forget that I offer free US and Canadian shipping on all jewelry and most other orders. Check the Events & Dates page for holiday shipping deadlines, I've tried to cover all the major ones Christmas, Hanukkah, Solstice, Newtonmas, etc.

Holiday Tentacular has Begun

My big Black Fiday/Cyber Monday sale has begun. It runs through Monday, November 26. Head on over to the Etsy shop to save 10% off all items, and if you have a coupon code you can save a little bit more.

Also if you are in the Portland, Maine, area I'm at the Portland Flea-for-All and you can get 10% off here too.

Quick Announcements

Lots going on so I'm just going to list everything real quickly.

• I'm at the Portland Flea-for-All this weekend (Nov 17-18).
• I'm at the Portland Flea-for-All Friday-Sunday next weekend too (Nov 23-25)
• Also next weekend is Black Friday, I'll be holding a 10% off sale throughout the Etsy shop Friday-Monday (Nov 23-25) the sale will also extend to my booth at the Flea-for-All. And because I'm a sucker for puns I'm calling it the Holiday Tentacular! If you are impatient the sale will go live sometime Thanksgiving night instead of at midnight so I can settle into my turkey coma.
• New stuff is being added to the shop right now. Along with new cephalopod jewelry there's also tentacle earrings. seashell necklaces, and super adorable sea otter ornaments.

Gift Wrapping

Do you want to save a little bit of time during the holidays? I will gift wrap any order, even larger items like Perma-Pets.

Holiday Shipping Deadlines

If you are planning to shop with Noadi's Art for the holidays here are your deadlines for ordering. These are my best estimates and not guarantees, so ordering earlier is encouraged.

Hanukkah (Dec 8-16) - For orders to arrive by December 7 you need to order by standard shipping:

• US Mail - December 1
• International - November 26 for most addresses, November 19 for Central America, South America, and Africa.
• APO/FPO/DPO - November 26 for most addresses, November 19 for AE ZIP 093

Solstice/Cephalopodmas (Dec 21) For orders to arrive by December 20 by standard shipping:

• US - December 14
• International - December 5 for most addresses, November 27 for Central America, South America, and Africa.
• APO/FPO/DPO - December 5 for most addresses, November 27 for AE ZIP 093

Christmas/Newtonmas (Dec 25) - For orders to arrive by December 23 by standard shipping:

• US - December 19
• International - December 9 for most addresses, December 2 for Central America, South America, and Africa.
• APO/FPO/DPO - December 9 for most addresses, December 2 for AE ZIP 093 

I've also added these dates to the Events & Dates page.

River Otter Ornament Video

I recently finished making a cute little river otter Christmas ornament for a customer who requested one. When I sat down to sculpt it I decided why not make a timelapse video. Okay, it was also an excuse to use the new HD webcam I got. I hope you enjoy it and if you want to request a custom ornament or jewelry please contact me. If you want it in time for Christmas I need to have the request by November 15th.

Fossil Day

This is it, Fossil Day the last day of Cephalopod Awareness Days 2012 (it is also National Fossil Day not just for cephalopods). Today is dedicated to all the cephalopods of the fossil record, the ammonites, belemnites, spirulids, and other extinct species we know only from the traces they've left behind.

The last giveaway is also today. Today's trivia question is a harder one if you aren't a paleontology geek like me so all entries will go into the drawing, not just the correct answers. Just fill out the following Google form between noon and 8pm EDT. Good luck!

The last day of my cephalopod jewelry sale is also today. There's 15% off until midnight when the prices go back to normal.

Entries are Closed

Myths & Legends Day

Release the Kraken! It's now the 4th day of Cephalopod Awareness Days and we are taking a brief detour from reality into fiction.

The sale ends tomorrow night, this is your last chance to save this much on cephalopod jewelry until next year's Cephalopod Awareness Days, so head over the Etsy shop ASAP. Also click over to Symbiartic on the Scientific American blog network to read a really cool feature on my jewelry.

Today's giveaway is super simple to enter, no trivia today just tell me what your favorite fictional tentacles creature is. Do you favor the Kraken? Cthulhu? Scylla? Or some other more obscure beastie. Just enter your answers into the Google Form and you get a chance to own this original 5"x7" pen and ink squid drawing.

Entries Closed 

And just because it's so cool, check out the Kraken in LEGO form:

Cuttlefish and Squid Day

Cuttlefish are my first love when it comes to cephalopods, they are the animals which sparked my interest. So for Cuttlefish and Squid day I have the biggest giveaway item of the week. And of course you still have until the end of Friday, Oct. 12, to head over to my Etsy shop and get 15% off on cephalopod jewelry (go on, get yourself something tentacled).

I decided to try something new and use Rafflecopter to run the giveaway and run it from noon to midnight. To enter you need to log in with Facebook or enter your email address then answer the trivia question which will give you 5 entries (make sure if you use Facebook login that you check the email associated with your Facebook account regularly). You can also gain some extra entries via social media. I'll draw the winner by noon tomorrow, October 11.

Noadi's Art Cuttlefish & Squid Day Giveaway

If you want to share the giveaway on your own blog go here for the embed code (won't help your chances of winning but you will have my thanks).

Custom Art Deadline

Creating art pieces like Perma-Pets is time consuming so I have to cut off all custom requests for the holidays on October 15th. So if you want a Perma-Pet, Baby Rat, small painting, or other piece of custom artwork* you need to contact me ASAP either by email or through Etsy.

If you want to order custom jewelry or holiday ornaments you have until November 15th to order those (but sooner is better). Also it is still Cephalopod Awareness Days so all cephalopod jewelry has been marked down 15% through the end of Friday, October 12.

* I may not be able to promise completion of larger pieces of art in time for the holidays even if you order now.

Nautilus Night

It's Nautilus Night! The day dedicated to celebrating the most ancient group of living cephalopods.

Today's giveaway is a 7"x5" Natural History Nautilus print and handmade polymer clay nautilus shell pin.

TO ENTER
Click the link below to go to a Google form and answer the nautilus trivia question.
Answer Nautilus Trivia

THE RULES
1) You must enter between 12pm and 8pm EDT on Oct. 9, 2012.
2) Open to US residents only (sorry).
3) You can only answer the question once, duplicate entries will be deleted.
4) You must enter a valid email address, it is the method I will use to contact the winner.
5) There is no 5.

If you want some nautilus jewelry head over to the Etsy shop to get 15% off your order of any cephalopod jewelry.

Share and enjoy.

Octopus Day

It's Octopus Day! The kickoff of Cephalopod Awareness Days.

Today's giveaway is a 4"x5" print of my painting "Octopus in Kelp Forest" and a crimson tentacle pin. If you want your chance to win the giveaway go check out the Facebook page between 12pm an 8pm EDT today for how to enter.

Remember there is 15% off all octopus, squid, nautilus, and cuttlefish jewelry in the Etsy shop through October 12th.

Cephalopod Awareness Days are Imminent

It's almost time, I'm so excited! Cephalopod Awareness Days kicks off at midnight on October 8th. I was going to write a post with all the information again and pictures of the giveaway items but I decided instead to just make video.

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Cephalopod Awareness Days 2012!

It's almost the most important time of the year! Cephalopod Awareness Days are next week, October 8th through 12th. Of course as I have since 2008 I'll be holding a sale those days plus some giveaways.

I forgot that last year Cephalopod Days were extended from 3 days to 5 days, so I had only planned to do 3 giveaways. Now I promised a giveaway for each day and I'm sticking to that plan. Originally I was going to put up a trivia question each day but 5 days of trivia might be stretching things a little. So while some of the giveaway days will include a trivia question some will also feature other ways to enter the giveaway to mix it up a little bit.

Here's the deal:

• 15% Off all octopus, squid, nautilus, and cuttlefish jewelry in the Etsy shop. This is the biggest sale discount I run all year, so if you want to do some early holiday shopping here's your chance.
• The giveaways will mainly happen through Facebook so please like my page so you will see the posts (though I will share the links to the Facebook posts on Twitter as well). I will be posting the giveaway each day at noon EDT. At the end of the action period (8pm EDT) I will draw one random person who completed the task to win the giveaway.
• Octopus Day 10/8 - Dedicated to all the 8-armed species. Giveaway item is a 4"x5" Octopus in Kelp Forest print
• Nautilus Night 10/9 - Celebrating the shelled cephalopods. Giveaway item is a 7"x5" Natural History Nautilus print
• Squid Day/Cuttlefish Day 10/10 - For all the tentacled ones and the midpoint of the celebration. This is the biggest giveaway item, a one of a kind cuttlefish necklace.
• Myths and Legends Day 10/11 - Release the Kraken! Giveaway is an original sketch.
• Fossil Day 10/12 - To coincide with National Fossil Day we celebrate all the cephalopods of the fossil record. Giveaway item is an ammonite shell necklace.

If you want to learn more about Cephalopod Awareness days check out the official website or Like the Facebook page.

And the winner is...

So the final tally for voting on the new animal ornament is in. The Dumbo Octopus won.

However I already make octopus ornaments so really that is just a variation not a new animal. So here is what I'm going to do. I will make a dumbo octopus variation on my octopus ornaments but I still need a new ornament design so that brings us to the runner up: the Sea Otter.

So I'll be making otters as well as dumbo octopus. I hope to have some of the new ornaments of both designs in the shop within the next couple weeks.

Things are Getting Busy

Lots of upcoming events here at Noadi's Art. New holiday goodies are right around the corner, I'll be announcing the new ornament design tomorrow afternoon (go vote for your choice). I'm also making lots of new jewelry and ornaments, and I will finally be adding my seashell jewelry to the shop in the next couple weeks.

This is my busy season so there are lots of upcoming events and deadlines. Here's the timeline for the moment, I've also created a page here with all the information.

October

• International Cephalopod Awareness Days - October 8-10 - Sale on cephalopod jewelry plus a giveaway each day.
• Custom Order Deadline for Sculpture & Art - October 15
• Halloween at the Portland Flea-for-All - October 27-28 - Come shop for a last minute addition to your Halloween costume if you are in the Portland, Maine area. Flea-for-All hours are 10am-5pm.

November

• Custom Order Deadline for Jewelry - November 15
  
• Pre-Thanksgiving Shopping at the Portland Flea-for-All - November 17-18 - Flea-for-All hours are 10am-5pm.
• Black Friday-Cyber Monday Sale - November 23-26 - Kicking off the holiday shopping season in the Etsy shop.
• Holiday Shopping at the Portland Flea-for-All - November 24-25 - Flea-for-All hours are 10am-5pm.

Cephalopod Necklace Options

Etsy has rolled out a great new prototype feature so listing variations. This means that for some of my jewelry you can now select the length of the cord and it's material.

I'm still working on updating all the listings. When I'm finished you will be able to choose the length and cord material for all cephalopod, sea horse, trilobite, and horseshoe crab necklaces.

Specimen jars and Lovecraftian jewelry are still going to be resized by custom request only.

Just a reminder, you can still vote on which animal I create as an ornament this year.

Holiday Preparations

I'm ramping up production for the holidays and I'm asking for input. Every year I add to the roster of animal ornaments than I make, like the platypus and ceolocanth. Last year I added a beaver thanks to my brother mistaking on of the platypuses for a beaver.

This year I'm letting my fans pick. Go over to facebook and vote on which animal you want to see me make this year. If you don't like the options you can add your own. I'll use the animal with the most votes by Sept. 26 (in the event of a tie, I'll be the deciding vote).

Cthulhu Trivia #1

CTHULHU TRIVIA #1 Answer today's question correctly for a chance to win a 4"x5" Cthulhu Spawn Print. The question will be open from 12pm-8pm EDT. I'll randomly pick one correct answer to win.
Rules:

1. Open to US residents only (sorry). 
2. You must include a valid email address. 
3. You must answer the question correctly. 
4. You can only answer the question once, duplicate entries will be deleted. 
5. There is no 5.

Click here to answer the trivia question.

The Shadow over Labor Day

Monday, September 3rd, is Labor Day in the United States. Friday, August 31, I'll be the featured Artist of the Day for the Call Girl of Cthulhu Kickstarter campaign. They will be giving away a special Cthulhu figure to one person who support the project that day.

Since these two events are the same weekend and I usually do a small Labor Day sale I decided to make it a Cthulhu weekend. Here's a rundown of the weekend goodies:

• 10% Off Sale on Etsy
• Cthulhu Figure Giveaway from the Call Girl of Cthulhu project on Friday
• 3 Giveaways of a 4"x5" Cthulhu Spawn print on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.

Here's how the print giveaways will work: I will post a Cthulhu related trivia question each day on Facebook and Twitter with a link to the question on Google Docs at 12 pm EDT and you'll have until 8pm EDT to answer the question. At 8pm I will close the quiz, reveal the correct answer, and pick one correct answer randomly to receive the print.

Call Girl of Cthulhu

I was asked to participate in a pretty cool project. The creators of a film project titled "Call Girl of Cthulhu" approached me to donate one of my Cthulhu Figures to be given away during the Kickstarter campaign to raise money to make the film. I don't usually donate my work except for the occasional local charity but it's a Cthulhu movie so it's a worthy cause in my opinion. Here's how they describe the movie on Kickstarter:

CALL GIRL OF CTHULHU

She's turning wet dreams… into NIGHTMARES.

A virginal artist falls in love with a call girl who turns out to be the chosen bride of the alien god Cthulhu. To save her, he must stop an ancient cult from summoning their God and destroying mankind.   

Inspired by the works of H.P. Lovecraft, "Call Girl of Cthulhu" is the result of months of research, aiming to create a gory, fun homage to the master of horror.  

The entire screenplay is one giant Easter Egg for Lovecraft fans. 

With endless slimy monsters, an ancient cult, and a healthy dose of T & A (tentacles and ass), we're going to need our biggest budget yet. 

If our Kickstarter campaign is successful, "Call Girl of Cthulhu" will be the sixth feature film from our Baltimore based production company, Midnight Crew Studios.  

I decided to use this project as a way to see if I could improve my Cthulhu Figures a bit. First thought was to use some of the black swarovski crystal rhinestones I have for eyes and then I thought a base would be a great idea (one I've had before and just never did). I'm really happy with the results and I do plan to make more with bases but not the rhinestone eyes (like the effect but not enough to deal with the headaches of setting them evenly.

The giveaways for the Kickstarter project will be starting around August 28, and 35 Etsy artists have donated items to giveaway to backers of the project. You can follow Call Girl of Cthulhu on Twitter and on Facebook to find out more.

Clay Vacation is Over! Also Other News.

So my 30 days vacation from touching any clay whatsoever is officially over. As I wrote before though I'm still not going to be making any new jewelry for a little while, I'm spending a few weeks working on sculpture and continuing to paint. Since the clay vacation is over I won't be producing as many paintings as I did in the last month but I have a goal of at least one new painting a month. I'm hoping to have some fun new sculptures by the end of the month and be completely refreshed and ready for the holiday rush.

You can still get the free printable bookmarks for signing up for my mailing list (in fact those aren't going away unless/until I create something cooler to download).  Please send in pics of the bookmarks colored by you or a kid in your life by August 18 and I'll post it up on the blog and email you a coupon code for 10% off in my Etsy shop.

One last update: since I'm in redesign mode I'm in the process of creating a new theme for the official site at Noadi.net that I hope to launch sometime this weekend. It's lighter and brighter to go with the new photos and has some cool new features. Here's an early sneak peek:

Etsy Shop Redesign Complete

If you've visited my Etsy shop recently you've probably noticed that it was looking a bit strange. The survey from a couple weeks ago was pretty overwhelmingly in favor of the new lighter photo backdrop so I've rephotographed everything and have been switching photos over the last week. The redesign is now 100% complete and I'm really happy with the look.

Next on the agenda is getting Noadi.net overhauled with a new theme and more content.

Free Printable Bookmarks

So I'm nearing the end of my vacation from clay and my latest project is a series of bookmarks. Once I finished inking the drawings before painting in watercolor I scanned them in black and white.

I decided to make the bookmarks available as a free printable download to anyone who subscribes to my mailing list*. If you are already a subscriber, check you email inbox, I sent out an email for all current subscribers so you can download it too.

Since they are in black and white have fun coloring them! If you color the bookmarks and send me a photo or scan by August 18th (that's two weeks from now) I will post it up here on the blog and send you a coupon code to use in the Etsy shop.

I do plan to finish these bookmarks in color and have them printed to sell in the shop. I don't have an ETA for that yet since I haven't finished painting them and the printing company I use can be a bit slow sometimes.

*of course if you want the bookmarks but not the newsletter I will forgive you for unsubscribing

Please Vote in this Survey

I just put up a little survey to see which if two photo backdrops people like more. One is the backdrop I currently use and the other is a new one. Please click this link to go vote. Thank you.

Clay Withdrawal

When I started my self-imposed vacation from all things clay I didn't realize I would go through sculpting withdrawal. I keep looking longingly at my supply of polymer clay. I know I need this break and time to focus on drawing an painting so I'm going to stick with it for the remaining 3 weeks. I am allowing myself one concession: I can work on sculpture and jewelry concepts as long as I'm only sketching ideas and not actually working with clay.

 In related news I started up a new blog on Tumblr that is only for my WIPs so I have a central place for posting them. Go check it out. I'll be posting progress shots of my work, 2d for now and sculpture and jewelry once the clay vacation is over along with notes on the process and answering questions if I get any.

I've finished a couple paintings and some more Bargue plates over the last week. The paintings are up in my Etsy shop.

Life at a Thermal Vent - 4"x4" acrylic painting on canvas board.

Orange Cuttlefish - 7"x5" watercolor

Bargue Plates 5-8

Polymer Clay Vacation

I love what I do, I have the best job in the world. So I'm being proactive and taking a vacation from sculpting anything for at least a month. I have a single custom order to finish in the next few days and then I'm putting away the clay and focusing on drawing, painting, and art education for a full month. Once the month is over I'm going to work on figural non-cephalopod sculpture for another month.

Right now I have my Etsy shop fully stocked (in fact I still have about 50 pieces done that I need to list in the next week or so) so I don't need to make anything right now. A 2 month jewelry making vacation will help me be all refreshed and ready to focus on the holiday season. I've already started this by playing with my new heavy body acrylic paints and making this quick little 7"x5" painting on canvas board of a jellyfish swarm and it's already up on Etsy in the brand new Paintings and Prints section.

My current project of the last few days is to work on copying Bargue plates which is a traditional drawing exercise. If you want to learn more about Bargue plates I suggest reading this great thread on ConceptArt. I'm not doing these with quite as precise a method as described because part of what I am doing is an exercise in learning to judge relative distances without laying any measurement devise down directly on the plate I'm copying from. If you are interested in downloading the plates to work from go here.

PortCon Wrap Up

So PortCon has come and gone and it was fantastic! Hands down the best event I've ever participated in as a seller and the folks running the Artists' Alley were fantastic. How well did it go? I sold more in 3 days than I do in an average, non-holiday season, month. I count that as an overwhelming success and it was a lot of fun. I'm a huge geek so being around hundreds of fellow geeks and chatting about Cthulhu and Dr Who with people stopping by my table was fantastic. I'm definitely going to sign up for next year.

The down side? I was around hundreds of people for 3 days and people are walking germ factories. I've got a cold now.

PortCon this Weekend!

So the big weekend is almost here. I'll be in the Artists' Alley at PortCon bright and early Friday morning. If you are at the con, please stop by and say hi. I have a stack of 10% off coupons for my Etsy shop to anyone who buys something and since I have so many if you introduce yourself and tell me you read this blog entry I'll give you one too.

Speaking of my Etsy shop, since I'll be so busy at PortCon I'll be putting the shop in vacation mode Thursday night before bed and it will be back up by Monday, June 25.

Birthday Sale

Saturday, June 9th, is my 30th birthday. I might actually need to start acting like a grownup. Nah, that's no fun.I am however having a 10% off sale in the Etsy shop through the end of Sunday. If you are in the Portland, Maine, area stop by the Portland Flea-for-All on Sunday, June 10th, for 10% off in person.

Octopus in Kelp Forest Painting

If you follow the Noadi's Art Twitter feed or Facebook page I'm sure you've already seen it, for those who haven't however here's the new painting I just finished in watercolors. I'll have prints available in my Zazzle shop soon and eventually high quality art prints on Etsy as well.

We Have a Winner

The voting for the new jewelry line is now over and we have a surprise winner. There were a lot of write in options, including some great ideas that I may use sometime, and the winner was a twitter suggestion: Cephalobots. It won with more than double the votes of the runner up. Thank you to everyone who voted, I was pleasantly surprised by how many suggestions other than my original two (Technopods and Cyberpods).

Vote on the Name of my New Cephalopods!

Below you can see the prototype for my new cephalopod jewelry line. I can't decide what to name them so I put it up as a poll on the Facebook page. So go vote for Cyberpods or Technopods (or leave your own suggestion). The option with the most votes at the end of a week will win.

Cthulhu Spawn Prints for PortConMaine

It's now less than a month until PortConMaine, June 22-24. I just got a bunch of prints of my Cthulhu Spawn illustration that will be available there.

Also I will be at the Portland Flea-for-All again tomorrow, May 27, from 10am to 5pm.

New Jewelry and Next Flea-for-All

After my first weekend at the Portland Flea-for-All I learned some really important things. First of all I had a lot of interest but also a lot of comments about how my jewelry was too bold or out there for a lot of the people shopping. This isn't usually a concern for me when selling online because the beautiful thing about the internet is that you can have very niche products and still sell if the right people are seeing them. When selling in person I need to appeal to a broader audience than just the type of people who buy from my Etsy shop (and that audience changes, I'll have a different selection when I'm at PortCon than at the Flea-for-All).

So to broaden that range of jewelry I offer, including in terms of price, I spent the last week creating a new line of jewelry that fits in with what I already make but has a little more mainstream appeal. So I have a new line of fun, colorful, seashell jewelry. Some are hand formed and some are press molded from silicone molded I made using real seashells. Currently these are only available in person or for custom and wholesale orders. If you are interested in them please drop me an email 

Speaking of the Flea-for-All, the next date I will be there is May 13th (that is Mother's Day) from 10am-5pm. You can find the Flea-for-All at 125 Kennebec Street in Portland, ME (it's the old Asia West showroom).

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