Stones and Etsy
Stones #4 28" x 19"
After my posting at the end of March showing all the artwork I completed for the year I had to admit to myself that while I’ve been busy in my studio I really hadn’t done as much on the business side of things as I had hoped. So the last few weeks I’ve worked to try to catch up on this stuff. While not nearly as interesting as making art the business stuff isn’t as bad as it seems to be when the tasks are lurking unfinished on my todo list.
I still have a lot to do to feel I’m on track but I’ve got a few big things crossed off my list so I feel I’m on a roll.
This past week I added several more items into my etsy shop.
Most notably I’ve added the 6 pieces from my Stones series work to this shop. I made these quilts not long after returning from a 5 month trip in New Zealand. I found myself near water during most of the drive around the islands and I found I was fascinated with the smooth rocks that are found in such places. Here in Colorado our rocks are rather jagged so every where I went I picked up stones.
Although I do have the above small pile of rocks from a river in New Zealand, I was sad I couldn’t bring them all home with me as the suitcases were bulging. So I made a series of quilts to capture the essence of these wonderful smooth stones.
One of my favorites is shown at the top of this post but check out my etsy shop for the others. For some reason I even made a purple version.
You might notice Stones #3 and #5 are missing from the list. This is because #3 was never finished (maybe someday) and I sold #5 at the gift shop at Quilt National one year. I’ve always wondered who bought the quilt as it seems people either really like these quilts or they say "They look like a bunch of cookies - what’s with that?".
In addition to the small works I’ve also listed a few of the postcards I have left after the Postcards on the Edge show from last year and a couple tshirts that I dyed the last few days.
I wear tiedye tshirts at least 50% of the time as I love making the shirts. I’ve never read how to make the traditional swirl and other well known patterns when making shirts and prefer to just play around.
I’m not looking to get into production tshirt dyeing but I thought I’d do 1 or 2 shirts every time I do a batch of fabric and see how it goes.
Posted by Lisa in: Abstract Contemporary Textile Art, Art Marketing, Marketing
pixie said,
April 26, 2007 @ 3:12 am
Hi Lisa, from Wellington NZ, and my house by the sea. You probably drove/sailed right by me. You don’t have smooth stones? wow. I think that’s all we have!
Shan said,
April 26, 2007 @ 6:38 am
Hi Lisa,
Your stones look technically complicated to create. Is this the case? This one makes me feel like I’m looking at river rocks resting under the shallow water.
I’m not a quilter but I’ve been reading your blog for a while and have recently been reading some fabric designer’s blogs. Hmmm, maybe one of these days I’ll actually make something with fabric.
I loved your fabric organization post. Your dye colors are gorgeous.
Sue O'Kieffe said,
April 26, 2007 @ 7:04 am
Hi Lisa,
We have a lot of smooth stones here on the North Coast of California, too, and so I understand your fascination with them. I like the quilt you are showing here. Circles are a challenging design element. Good luck with Etsy!
~Sue O’Kieffe
http://sacred-circle-mandalas.blogspot.com
Lisa Call said,
April 26, 2007 @ 12:00 pm
Pixie - we do have some smooth stones in the rivers but most of them are fairly jagged as they come from our Rocky Mountains!
Shan - these are actually much simpler to make than my pieced quilts. The fabric has a heat sensitive adhesive applied to the back of it. So it is collaged and layered as you might paper and then justed ironed and it all sticks together.
Thanks Sue. I rarely work with circles since I mainly piece and they are pretty difficult to piece. But it’s fun to do something different every once in a while.
jafabrit said,
April 26, 2007 @ 1:20 pm
I like the shirt :) and I LOVE those stones. I used to find really nice river stones in New Jersey and they were great for my face paintings. People still want me to paint faces on stones, but there are no decent stones around here and I can’t be arsed to go and find any.
Ugh! the business side of art, but yes, it has to be done.
Diane Clancy said,
April 27, 2007 @ 2:23 pm
I love these Stones quilts!! I have gone over to Etsy too and just love your Stone work there!
What a good idea to be dying the t-shirts as you are dying your cloth. You are so inspiring!
Have you heard of ArtFlock? Ed from ArtFlock posted this in my blog the other day.
“ArtFlock.com doesn’t charge to list work and you don’t have to sell all the artwork you list so it’s ideal for promoting you and your work - not just selling it.”
He wrote more in the post Abstract Design IX
http://www.dianeclancy.com/blog/index.php/2007/04/23/abstract-design-ix/#comment-86
I am curious what others think,
~ Diane Clancy