Paradigm shifts and selfies

Hello. Are you still here? I know I'm not very often, for which I apologise.

I've been doing many things, as usual, although since getting back from this place not as many as I would normally be doing at this time of year.

Rather than bore you all with all the details, especially if you've heard it all before, I'll just say "dog, dislocated shoulder, six weeks house arrest, large Barclaycard bill, child no longer child but sixth-former and workload to match, group exhibition in Brighton, illustrated talk about my work to these lovely people on Monday, still too much damn clutter in the house and DIY projects still undone".

And I'm having an existential artistic crisis. I'm not sure if that's really what it is, but that seems to cover it. Basically, I'm having a rethink. So probably not a crisis. Yet. I knew I had the autumn free to have a think, so now I'm here I might be having a wobble. I suppose I don't know what the outcome will be.

I'm being vague. Sorry. I'll try and clarify.

For example, here is a necklace I made ages ago. It's not for sale, never has been, and I wear it. It is machine embroidered, but also stitched and beaded by hand, and has a silk pouch on the back - also stitched by hand, with invisible stitching. It is quite tiny but intricate.

If I should make such a thing to sell (and I have done in my etsy shop) how much should I charge for something like this? All in all, from raw materials to absolutely finished, it would probably take a day to do this. At the rate I charge for teaching workshops that should be £150 and that doesn't include materials or overheads, that's just my time. Obvs, that's not what I have been charging. But then, they've not sold like hot cakes despite the low price.

Hence my crisis. Or do I just need a paradigm shift. Worth. Value. Or am I mad, verging on the deluded. Who knows. The selfies I took to try and get a "in use" shot of the necklace may answer that.

wistful

getting frustrated 

quite angry now

resigned to the bad selfie

Messing about on Monday

Hello again, and sorry for the lack of a post on Friday. Five on Friday will have to be Messing About on Monday!

The easiest way to see what I've been up to in the past week is to look back through my iThing photos...

1. I needed a profile photo of myself (tell you why soon, promise). Had to stand in the woods at the weekend trying to take a selfie as the Others were less than helpful, and were more interested in climbing trees and chasing the Whippet around. I absolutely detest having my photo taken, but I managed to get a half decent one in the end!

2. I finally finished my Seascapes with Knots. Again, more on this soon! 

3. Since blogging about how I work in the dining room and don't have a proper studio, I've thrown a few paddies and got very cross about the lack of space to create, so Grand Plans have been hatched. The short version is, we are moving the Girl into the upstairs office, moving Himself into the summer house, moving the midlife crisis trains into the garage, and ultimately moving me into the Girl's old room. 

However, the long version is (deep breath) we replace the outdated double glazing so we can redecorate, we empty the loft so we can move my foil stash out of the summer house, we empty the garage - including selling four bikes and buying one - so we can move the trains out of the little summer house and into the garage (either that or tear the summer house down and build a bigger one to house a desk AND trains), we declutter the Girl so we can move her, we declutter me so we can move me (ah, there's the rub), we declutter Himself so we can move him, and we move the broadband router so that the Internet reaches the little summer house.

I've moved the router, done the loft, and we did half the garage and got quotes for double glazing (yikes). Also two full carloads to the tip, and numerous bootloads to the charity shops. Feels good, very very good. But oh boy, we've only just scraped the surface. This is a project that will run and run!

4. I have also moved the foil, and if you would like to buy yourself some bargain transfer foil (use with Bondaweb, loads of videos on YouTube) then please visit my foil Facebook page here!

5. I've nominated myself to make some bunting for Newtown Arts. How did that happen??! I'm going for paper, for now, as we need a quick and colourful fix and I've just downsized my fabric stash! Doh!  Here's the start:

This is just a mock-up of how the letters might look. I haven't decided what to use for them yet - cotton? felt? paper? I will stitch things somewhere along the way, it won't all be glue!