HUZZAH! That's me shouting with glee. I was having this weird problem see... A number of my resin pieces were coming out soft. By soft I mean SQUISHY soft. Totally not like resin should be at all. Resin is supposed to cure as hard as any other hard plastic. There's not supposed to be any squish to properly measured and mixed resin. I was measuring my resin properly! I was mixing it for the full four minutes, pouring from the first cup to the second in between. I was doing everything right and still some pieces were coming out soft. It didn't make any sense and I was getting really frustrated! Eventually most of my mixing cups broke so I bought a new batch of mixing cups.
The new cups came and after looking at them for two seconds I realized that the measuring markers were different on these cups. The line marking 1oz was in a different spot (higher up on the cup) on these cups than my old ones. To be honest with you Dianne, I was surprised. I had no notion that the reason my resin was coming out squishy might be because the cups THEMSELVES were wrong! Seriously, who buys a measuring cup with the thought or care that the actual measurements might be wrong?! I'm still kind of astounded. With the wrong measurements how could I ever mix resin properly? And it's not like just one cup was off. All of my cups were wrong. The only reason I ever got resin that wasn't totally sticky is because sometimes I accidentally over poured the amount of part A and didn't compensate properly for part B. Good thing I made that "mistake" otherwise every piece I ever made would have been totally squishtastic!
There weren't just any measuring cups either. They're meant specifically for resin casting. Everyone who has ever worked with resin even once knows that the measurements have to be as close to 1:1 as humanly possible. Defective cups make it a lot harder! Those cups are gone now though, so no more concerns about that. A whole batch of cups that were pretty much useless. Wow. I'm glad they started to break!
The new pieces I cast using the new mixing cups aren't even 72 hours old and they're rock hard. I'm really pleased about that. It's also really good to know that I wasn't fucking up somehow. I was actually kind of embarrassed about the whole thing. I thought I was screwing up somehow, that people would think I was an amateur. I'm really glad to know that it wasn't me, that it was something totally beyond my control that I had no hand it whatsoever. Good things to know! Now I can get back to casting without worry...
At least until I have to pack everything up and go to Utah. I have no idea how I'm gonna cast stuff in 107º heat. Resin needs to be at about 75º to work and we don't actually have any a/c in the middle of the freaking DESERT. Yeah, my mother is insane. No, I'm not looking forward to sweating my tits off and being thirsty 24/7 but I go anyway. Anyone have a blindfold and a cigarette?
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Friday, May 22, 2009
PLANS
Things are coming together finally. It looks like a sure thing that Jon and I are moving to Boston some time either during or before August. I would like to move at the beginning of August so that there's lots of time to get settled before his classes start. That doesn't mean we're actually going to do that though.
I'm leaving for Utah sometime in the second week of June. I'm gonna hang out there rent free for a couple months, hopefully get a job and save up. Maybe I can get a little job experience before Boston. I'm 24 and I've never had a job before. I guess in some ways that makes me very privileged but in a lot of ways it puts me at a huge disadvantage. Everywhere that's hiring wants experience and I have absolutely none. I'm sure that most of the jobs that want experience aren't really all that hard. I'm really very smart so I can't imagine that I would struggle at something like data entry, but they want experience anyway.
What I really want to do is make resin stuff and live off that, but my internet sales suck and I have no idea how to boost them. Don't get me wrong, I've sold lots of necklaces but it's all been through school. Friends and classmates were my biggest buyers. I got a lot of interest just wearing my stuff around campus. People would come up to me and ask questions, stuff like that. Now that I have business cards I can hand them out to people but school's over, so that's a bust. Anybody know a good way to self promote? I have this blog, I have Facebook and a link to my shop on there. Same with Myspace. I have a Flickr too, and DeviantArt. I never expected sales to just come rolling in with no effort on my part but I'm kinda shy on the internet because I tend to make an ass of myself.... Not really sure what to do.
I need to make some money and getting a real job seems like it's going to be more and more impossible. The job market doesn't seem to be improving. I'm just a little freaked out and worried about this is all. I'm worried that Jon and I are gonna move in together and I won't be able to find a job anywhere. I'm worried that Jon's gonna be spending all his time going to school and working and supporting me because I can't find any place willing to hire an artist with no job experience in any field. I know how to cast things, I know how to make up to a two part mold, and I know how to sew but not well enough to do it as a job. XP
Maybe everything will be fine....
I'm leaving for Utah sometime in the second week of June. I'm gonna hang out there rent free for a couple months, hopefully get a job and save up. Maybe I can get a little job experience before Boston. I'm 24 and I've never had a job before. I guess in some ways that makes me very privileged but in a lot of ways it puts me at a huge disadvantage. Everywhere that's hiring wants experience and I have absolutely none. I'm sure that most of the jobs that want experience aren't really all that hard. I'm really very smart so I can't imagine that I would struggle at something like data entry, but they want experience anyway.
What I really want to do is make resin stuff and live off that, but my internet sales suck and I have no idea how to boost them. Don't get me wrong, I've sold lots of necklaces but it's all been through school. Friends and classmates were my biggest buyers. I got a lot of interest just wearing my stuff around campus. People would come up to me and ask questions, stuff like that. Now that I have business cards I can hand them out to people but school's over, so that's a bust. Anybody know a good way to self promote? I have this blog, I have Facebook and a link to my shop on there. Same with Myspace. I have a Flickr too, and DeviantArt. I never expected sales to just come rolling in with no effort on my part but I'm kinda shy on the internet because I tend to make an ass of myself.... Not really sure what to do.
I need to make some money and getting a real job seems like it's going to be more and more impossible. The job market doesn't seem to be improving. I'm just a little freaked out and worried about this is all. I'm worried that Jon and I are gonna move in together and I won't be able to find a job anywhere. I'm worried that Jon's gonna be spending all his time going to school and working and supporting me because I can't find any place willing to hire an artist with no job experience in any field. I know how to cast things, I know how to make up to a two part mold, and I know how to sew but not well enough to do it as a job. XP
Maybe everything will be fine....
Saturday, May 16, 2009
SCHOOL'S OUT FOREVER
YEAH! I made it to the end and graduated! I have a BFA now. It's pretty sweet.
My family was here for a week and that was pretty awesome. It was so great to see my mom and little brother especially. I'm closest to them in the family. We spent time at the beach, we went out to dinner, we cooked dinner at the house. Jon got to meet everyone and that was really awesome. They all seemed to really like him and he was charming and funny. It felt so good to have someone I'm proud to introduce to my family. I never have to make apologies for Jon. He's awesome.
It's been a full week since the graduation ceremony... I've been using my time wisely. Playing FFIX, then I'll move on to Wild Arms 3, FFX, FFXII, or Chrono Cross. I love RPGs. I love stories and puzzles and intrigue and misteries to solve and little widgets to find and sidequests. I just love it. I've got a bunch of DS games like the new Zelda and all the Phoenix Wright games currently out. I've got some of the old FF games on DS too. How exciting!
What I really need to do is start casting resin every day but I need to get more resin first. Maybe I can ask Jon to take me to Michael's this afternoon when he gets back from work. What I really want is a gallon kit so that I don't have to worry about this shit for a while but oh well. It'll have to wait. I'm really hoping that having more time to dedicate to my resin stuff it'll take off and start selling more, at least online. Most of my sales have been to friends and classmates, but school is over so that well has dried up. People go nuts over some of my necklaces and stuff... but none of them have an Etsy account. Some of them have never even heard of Etsy. I need to either find a bigger, even more popular place to sell my stuff or I need to find a way to advertise better. I've never been very good with the social networking stuff because I'm always afraid to a) seem like an asshole for plugging my own stuff b) make an idiot out of myself somehow. I guess it's time to get over that. I don't really know the best way to advertise on a forum or something like that though. People on the internet, and in general I suppose, don't like to share their "secrets" because they're afraid of being out sold or they're just an asshat. People in the States don't like to share their money making/customer grabbing ideas or strategies because we're all a bunch of jerks.
In the mean time I will be making more stuff. I want to do some pieces that are just stripes of glitter, maybe with some candy stripes too. I have ideas... But right now I'm gonna get back to FFIX. It might not be the best game ever but at least it's fun and a great way to lose track of time.
My family was here for a week and that was pretty awesome. It was so great to see my mom and little brother especially. I'm closest to them in the family. We spent time at the beach, we went out to dinner, we cooked dinner at the house. Jon got to meet everyone and that was really awesome. They all seemed to really like him and he was charming and funny. It felt so good to have someone I'm proud to introduce to my family. I never have to make apologies for Jon. He's awesome.
It's been a full week since the graduation ceremony... I've been using my time wisely. Playing FFIX, then I'll move on to Wild Arms 3, FFX, FFXII, or Chrono Cross. I love RPGs. I love stories and puzzles and intrigue and misteries to solve and little widgets to find and sidequests. I just love it. I've got a bunch of DS games like the new Zelda and all the Phoenix Wright games currently out. I've got some of the old FF games on DS too. How exciting!
What I really need to do is start casting resin every day but I need to get more resin first. Maybe I can ask Jon to take me to Michael's this afternoon when he gets back from work. What I really want is a gallon kit so that I don't have to worry about this shit for a while but oh well. It'll have to wait. I'm really hoping that having more time to dedicate to my resin stuff it'll take off and start selling more, at least online. Most of my sales have been to friends and classmates, but school is over so that well has dried up. People go nuts over some of my necklaces and stuff... but none of them have an Etsy account. Some of them have never even heard of Etsy. I need to either find a bigger, even more popular place to sell my stuff or I need to find a way to advertise better. I've never been very good with the social networking stuff because I'm always afraid to a) seem like an asshole for plugging my own stuff b) make an idiot out of myself somehow. I guess it's time to get over that. I don't really know the best way to advertise on a forum or something like that though. People on the internet, and in general I suppose, don't like to share their "secrets" because they're afraid of being out sold or they're just an asshat. People in the States don't like to share their money making/customer grabbing ideas or strategies because we're all a bunch of jerks.
In the mean time I will be making more stuff. I want to do some pieces that are just stripes of glitter, maybe with some candy stripes too. I have ideas... But right now I'm gonna get back to FFIX. It might not be the best game ever but at least it's fun and a great way to lose track of time.
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