After a slew of youtube videos showed up on my home page; "digital is the way to go", other than etsy fees it's all profit and makes money over and over again. Don't worry about the million competitors!!!!
Blah, blah.
I actually upgraded chatgpt fully planning on using this tool to into the digital market! I picked gpt's brains with many prompts, got to the point where I asked what niche should I jump into. Gpt gave me a list of categories, trends, marketing ideas and I settled on digital products for baby nurseries.......and off I went to create.
I popped my head up after about 12 hrs. of creating designs and yes using AI for some. Then I had a thought I should go take a look at the competition and see what's selling.
Seriously, omg......and I take full responsibility for my stupidity. I went to etsy, looked up this category and found ONE page of digital products for the nursery! ok, what? Why did gpt give me this info? Hours of design work down the drain!
Today I was watching an interview about AI and I swear I was hit by a 2x4 when I heard:
Imperfection is what makes us human. Don't lose your humanness to AI. In the future people will not want cookie cutter perfect items - they will be wanting and willing to pay more for handcrafted items.
Johnny come lately here......while browsing youtube a few months ago, I came across this video:
Capt. Mike - Microwave Kiln Bisque
I was truly impressed and shocked that with this kiln I could make ceramic jewelry and small ceramic pieces at home! There are several helpful videos on his channel and I learned from all of them, although he does put a lot of focus on glass fusing.
There's quite a learning curve to this particular craft, most of it is trial by error. You will find little information available across the internet specific to making ceramics with a microwave kiln.
Jumping right in......
I purchased my kiln through Amazon - Approx. $43
Next you will need a dedicated 1,000 watt microwave. (there is no way you can ever use this microwave for food) of course you will need clay!
You need to have an open air space, especially where there is a window you can open. I put my microwave outside in my screen room.
You must have heat resistant gloves!
My first microwave kiln! That arrived with absolutely no instructions whatsoever!
Same thing happened when I purchased a 2nd kiln. No instructions.
You're on your own.
Bottom of the kiln with 4.78 raised shelf
The depth of the kiln is about 1.5"
Shelf Liner
You will need to get the shelf liners for your unit.
For the large unit you will need the 4.7" round.
While waiting for my fist kiln to arrive I started making a batch of clay pieces
to be ready for my first bisque firing.
Everything went great..........the first time!
Soon the problems will arise, without rhyme or reason.
Most especially when you don't let your pieces dry thoroughly. The pieces could be the same size, same thickness and boom, there's an explosion. During the first three minutes during bisque firing phase is when a potential problem could appear.
This is what I'd call a boom!
This occurred during the first 3 minutes of bisque firing. You will hear pop, pop, pop........as the pieces pop and explode. In the photo you can see that 2 of the pendants are fine, but 2 have exploded. I keep a bowl of water nearby and then gently remove the 2 good pendants off the shelf, and dump the rest in the bowl of water. Continue the firing process.
Typically, a 1/8" thick piece will take from 4-7 days to dry. I've dried larger pieces that take up to 2 weeks or longer.
Capt. Mike uses 3 minute increments to fire and I do the same. He mentioned that for bisque firing it may take anywhere from 15-18 minutes. Glaze firing takes less time. I focus more on the fire coming from the kiln to know when to remove from the microwave.
You can checkout my Artsy Whims Shop for samples of items I've made with the microwave kiln.
If you're anxious to get going you will need some clay to play with:
From Amazon you can purchase Laguna - Whiteware Clay (Low-Fire)
or my favorite place is www.clay-king.com - White Earthenware Clay (Low-Fire)
Note: The microwave kiln can only fire up to 6 cone, so therefore the clay, glazes, underglaze transfers, all need to be for low-fire.
Not sure how I missed this announcement!! It is true that since joining Zazzle my focus has been on designing and not hands on creating. I sure miss the creating aspects. Thinking I'll setup a shop on Michael's! Got to keep the juices flowing - use it or lose it!
$0 to start a basic store
Looks like there's a 4% fee when you sell an item. It's definitely worth researching further.
I love trinket boxes! I truly believe my interest of treasure boxes started in childhood. I was a sickly child and would end up at the doctor's office more times than I'd like to remember. But what I did love was the very large treasure box in the office lobby that was filled with lolly pops and other goodies. As a child, it seemed quite magical. There's just something about digging through a trinket box!
Throughout my home I have many trinket boxes and it's even surprising to me the items I have stored in them! Bring a little magic into your home!
In 2008 I purchased property in Western South Carolina. On the property was a main home and several out buildings, with 3 acres of land. Only the land where the home was built was cleared, basically the home was surrounded by forests on three sides. It was a haven for a short time in my life.
When I moved to the property I was deathly ill, well it felt like death! A sinus infection from hell kept me immobilized and in bed. Plus it was winter, with snow covered grounds. Every morning I would attempt to sit on the open porch overlooking the forest and it was there that I saw the pitch of a roof in the distance and part of a window pane. I just figured it was another out building on the property but was too sickly to explore.
I called a friend that lived in the area to come by and look for me. Well she did, I still get chills when I recall this memory. She took a walk to the area and reported back that there was nothing there! I was totally shocked, I could see the structure clearly every morning!
I must be delirious I thought!
What she said next changed my perspective forever. She said "welcome to the fairy realm, you can see this because it's only meant for you to see".........ok, what? Is there a fairy realm? What I know for sure is what I saw with my own eyes. So.........Some Things Have To Be Believed To Be Seen!
Since this time in my life my curiosity and fascination continues on this topic and many more. You just have to be open to the possibilities.
I created a selection of Fairy products in my shop. Here's another favorite:
Oh I just loved the mini series The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart, which can be found on Amazon Prime.
The story takes place on a Flower Farm, which is also a refuge for abused women. They learn how to use flowers and the meaning of flowers to express their emotions. Of course this reminded me of tussie mussie's! I have not thought about them in years!
Tussie Mussie's were born out of the Victorian era and the Language of Flowers. It's really a beautiful tradition.
I've brought this practice to life in a series of herb plaques:
I love polka dots! They make me happy, they make me smile. When you see a polka dot pattern you just know that it's going to be fun!
So I went looking into the history of polka dots.......
The origin derives from the Czech "Polka" dance in the 1800's. The polka dot pattern was born and has thrived through the centuries.
Memorable polka dot appearances include:
Marilyn Monroe and Lucille Ball wore polka dots in the 50's
Twiggy and Goldie Hawn made them popular in the 60's
Princess Diana and Julia Roberts donned polka dots in the 80's & 90's
and polka dots are still alive today!
I'm currently working on some old hollywood glam designs and I can't help but include polka dots, small and large bold dots! Polka dots add an eclectic flavor.
I was one of the ones that lost my job during lockdowns and found myself searching on the internet for online opportunities. That's where I came upon KDP and of course millions of youtube vids.
I was so green. I had no idea about none of it. Of course I jumped into the vids I found but still I was confused, like where is step A.
I finally gave in and purchased a basic KDP workshop. $$150 MISTAKE! Of course I didn't know at the time what a mistake it was and how basic the information in the program was. It was very well organized but very basic.
But I didn't give up. Next I took a $99 program, that was over the top, worth every penny. It went very deep into marketing..........right into the last module that strongly suggested that you needed to spend $500 PER BOOK buying ads on Amazon in order to get huge sales! What if you chose the wrong book to advertise?
That was the end of my KDP experience. I knew I would never be able to compete with the larger accounts that could afford massive advertising budgets.
So here I am with Zazzle, determined to do this without having to buy a workshop! BUT, zazzle is different than any other webstore I've had over the years. There is definitely a steep learning curve and the first thing I learned is that you can't fight the zazzle algorithm.......so it's time to step in line!
