A Follow Up

Okay, so after my previous post I had a few people insist that no I'm not boring and I should tell my story. Well I still insist it's not that interesting but I think I should flesh out what I wrote before.

I do care deeply about what I do, I have a strong drive to create things and I have the best job in the world because of this. The thing is, while I care a lot about everything I create the main reason I create it is that I think it's fun, or cool, or beautiful. I have sometimes done stuff that has more meaning behind it (see my sculpture Odin's Runesong) but most of it is just because the idea struck me as something I'd enjoy making.

I get asked a lot why I make so many cephalopods. Do they have some special meaning to me? The simple answer is that they are my favorite group of animals and I find them fascinating. The only "message" I want my jewelry to send to people is that cephalopods are pretty cool animals.

Mini Stories Part I

I've been doing a lot of reading recently about building a brand and stuff like that. One thing they kept coming back to was telling a story. Personally my story is kind of boring, I make jewelry of stuff I find cool and interesting. I don't do it for any deep emotional reason (beyond my drive to create) or to make a statement.

So instead I decided I'm going to write little stories about my inspiration. I've limited myself to less than 500 characters for each little vignette. First up are the Octopus, Squid, Cuttlefish, and Nautilus. I plan to also write stories about their more science fiction counterparts the steampunk, cosmic, and deep space cephalopods.

Octopus

Darting in and out of crevices in the coral reef the octopus hunts for food. Tiny crabs scuttle out of the way but not fast enough. Arms dart out and wrap around the small crustacean and pull it towards it's hungry beak.

Squid

A giant squid swims through murky deep sea waters. Many of the creatures it passes are lit up by bioluminescence, glowing in this realm where the sun's light never reached. This squid isn't interested in a meal, it's trying to keep from being one itself. Sperm whales have invaded, the greatest enemy and predator of the giant squid.

Cuttlefish

A group of cuttlefish glitter in the tropical ocean waters. It's the mating season and they are on full display, flashing bright colors to attract a mate. It will be the final act of many of their lives, the females living only long enough to lay their eggs. They will never see their young.

Nautilus

As it had many times before the nautilus rose from deeper waters that night to feed among the coral. It was an old nautilus, unlike other cephalopods it didn't die after mating once but could live upwards of 20 years, it's shell was scratched and battered by the sea. Each night the journey got harder and harder, soon it would no longer be able to evade the predators.

Quick Note

Just edited my Etsy shop to add shipping to Japan. The cost is the same rate as I charge for shipping to Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. For jewelry this is $6 for the first jewelry item and $2.50 for each additional piece in an order.

Love Is in the Air

Happy Valentine's Day everyone. Usually I'm not in the Valentine's Day mood but this year I'm spending it with a special someone and feel all warm and fuzzy about it. To celebrate, I'm offering free domestic shipping with the coupon code LOVE2011 through midnight Feb. 14th (that's Eastern Standard Time).

To use the coupon code go to Noadi.etsy.com, select the item(s) you want, add to your cart, and input the coupon code LOVE2011 in the box labeled "Shop Coupon Code" on the shopping cart page.

New Tentacle Chokers

I'm slowly working on the new tentacle line of jewelry. Working out how I want them to look. Instead of a long necklace I decided to do chokers out of some stretch velvet ribbon I had and have been looking for something to use it with. They are a single tentacle made to look like it's writhing around the ribbon.



Next up is more chokers and bracelets (after getting some feedback I'm changing those to a closed cuff), along with earrings which I hope to have designed by the beginning of next week.

Tricky Photo

So sometimes I get an idea that comes with an unexpected problem. I had one of those this week with a new sculpted tin that I made and needed to photograph. I decided to make a deep sea themed mini-tin (covered an altoid smalls tin) with bioluminescent squid and jellyfish. That part was easy, I have some glow in the dark polymer clay that I mixed with translucent clay and a little bit of blue. I also layered some pure glow int eh dark clay under the transluscent mix so it would glow even more intensely. It all worked beautifully and I absolutely love hoe the tin turned out.

This is where the problem then turned up. How do I photograph something that glows in the dark? I first took the regular lighting photos then turned off the lights and started experimenting with different exposure times after making sure the clay was glowing as strongly as possible. I was able to pick up the glow okay but with the glowing pieces floating in blackness it didn't quite look right. I needed just a little bit of light to make the whole tin visible but being a long exposure (5 seconds) it had to be a really small amount of light or the image was going to be lighted too much.

My eventual solution was a small LED headlamp that I have placed on the far edge of my desk pointing at a 90 degree angle from the light tent. This tiny amount of light was just enough to make the edges of the tin and blue backdrop visible.

New Year, New Ideas

I like to start each year by reconsidering my approach to what I make. Last year it was that I was unhappy with how my steampunk jewelry was turning out so I sought out a few clear coat for them. Switching from Diamond Glaze to Ice Resin meant I had to increase my prices but the vastly better results was worth it.

This year I hope to expand my jewelry lines to new types of jewelry. In my established cephalopod lines I want to revisit making earrings and hair sticks, along with making more pins and cufflinks. I have the new tentacle line with is currently just two (sold) bracelets. I want to make more bracelets, rings, earrings, and necklaces in this line. My Cthulhu line is doing well and I'm considering expanding it with more press-molded Lovecraft inspired work but if I do it won't be until at least summer, I want to focus on the new cephalopod and tentacle stuff first.

I'm considering but haven't made up my mind yet about discontinuing my trilobite and horseshoe crab necklaces. I really like making them but they haven't sold well. I'm not planning to remove them from the shop but probably just stop making new ones to replace those that have sold. If anyone has any suggestions about these lines or thinks I should keep making them please let me know, I'd appreciate the input.

As for my non-jewelry work. I have plans for new perma-pets, tins, and sculptures in the next few months.

Happy New Years

The end is nigh! At least for 2010. I have lots of hopes and plans for Noadi's Art heading into 2011. To celebrate the end of 2010 I'm giving away a free tentacle charm with every purchase through New Years.

Starting to get things ramped up for Valentines Day too. Going to have some pretty pink cephalopods on the way along with more of the new Tentacle Bracelets.

In more personal news this is the first year in quite a while I'll be celebrating Valentines Day with a special someone. I'm with an absolutely fantastic guy that I love dearly and Valentines Day will mark just about 10 months we've been a couple (we started out as just friends and it grew from there).

Operation Bad Foot

From now through midnight Christmas Day use the coupon code BADFOOT in my Etsy shop to get 15% off any order. In case you missed my previous blog post I'm running this special to try to pay off the medical bills I incurred after injuring my foot. It's too late now to order in time for a Christmas arrival but plenty of time to get yourself a little something special for the New Year.

Last Call for Christmas and a Sale

The USPS deadline for 1st class mail for Christmas is Dec. 20. If you want to order a gift you only have until midnight Sunday Dec. 19 to order. I'll be up later than that packing orders but I can't make any promises how late so if you place an order after midnight I may not get it in time to ship on Monday.

If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook you probably know that back in September I fell and tore the tendons and a piece of bone loose in my foot and I don't have health insurance. I was very lucky and a program at the local hospital is going to cover my emergency room visit but I still have some fairly substantial bills from the orthopedist and for the walking cast I needed. I've had a pretty good holiday season so far but I would like to be able to pay off the medical bills by the end of the year and I can't with what I've made so far this month. So to try and make up the difference I'm going to be offering a special coupon code next week for all of you shopping for yourself, a late X-mas gift, or for the New Year. This is very last minute so I haven't decided on all the details yet so keep an eye on this blog or Twitter for details as I have them.

Thankfully my foot no longer looks like this.