The earrings from Australia’s Melvellous (Mel) are cheeky and fun.
She features everything from gingerbread houses to avocados to boobs for people who are comfortable making statements or wearing jokes on their ears.
Melvellous is part of EarringLover.com that has gathered together over 400 artists in AU and New Zealand to market them online.
We rarely look at packaging and branding and such on PCD but Ukraine’s Iryna Chajka (eteniren) has gathered a gaggle of girls on cards to show off her stud earrings.
Iryna specializes in pale and delicate polymer succulents and flowers that show up particularly well against her girls’ hairstyles. The cards make the earrings much more dramatic. Smart marketing. Do you have a favorite?
A flock of angels will flutter through PCD this spring as we raise travel funds for the 3 Samunnat women who will visit the US in October for training and market development.
Gita, Pramila, and Kopila are anxious to meet face to face with those who have supported them and watched the Nepal project grow for 11 years!
The angels are elegantly draped in repurposed sari silks. Each artist has given her celestial creation a personality, tucked a special message for you under the bodice, and folded it into a gift bag.
Each costs $50 and will be mailed free in the continental US. Ron Lehocky is spearheading the effort. Make your checks out to Ron Lehocky. Mail to: 1763 Casselberry Rd, Louisville, KY 40205. Contact him at rlehocky@bellsouth.net
If you’d like to support Samunnat in other ways, you can click on the Paypal donate button next to the angels in the right column on PCD and make a donation in any amount. The ladies share their excitement on Instagram. Learn about Samunnat in a nutshell here.
I’ll be escorting the visitors and will talk about our plans, ask for your suggestions and help in upcoming posts. With your help, we can do this!
Note: Ron’s address is correct now!
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When metalsmith Gabriel Craig took to the streets of Richmond, Virginia to acquaint people with handmade jewelry arts, he used polymer clay to introduce the concept.
His guerrilla marketing techniques earned him a story in the current issue of American Craft magazine and it’s an interesting read about the value and meaning of handmade items. Click on the bottom picture to see the video.
You readers have long understood the popular appeal and immediacy of polymer clay. We don’t necessarily see it as a gateway drug to metalworking however. For us it’s a daily vitamin that we appreciate as an art medium in its own right as demonstrated by the works of so many artists on this site.
Thanks to Elise Winters for the link. Have an inspired weekend.
BlockPartyPress’ Tamara Shea is a prolific polymer clay artist, chalking up her 1000th online sale at the end of June. Her cloud nine design is a new one in her series of designs that combine her love of block printing and painting with polymer.
I marvel at her work and at the effort that such volume demands. Look here and here to witness the quality and consistency of her many appealing pieces.
The recent American Craft Council-sponsored conversation between artists from traditional and trendy marketing backgrounds got me thinking about the young savvy marketers in our craft. Names like Meredith Dittmar, Heather Powers, Shannon LeVart, Betsy Baker, Eva Soehjar, and Tamara Shea spring to mind (there are many others). These artists are busy with online galleries like Etsy, Kaboodle, Trunkt, DaWanda, Stylehive, Flickr…to say nothing of the blogs and social networks on which they stay active.
I’ve heard a number of artists my age disparage online galleries but it’s hard to dismiss the numbers. Both camps can learn something from each other and this talk (audio only), though it’s a bit slow in places, gets the dialogue started. Give a listen.
