Why the BIG paws?

A bear walks into a bar to order a drink. 

The bear says to the bartender "I'd like a gin and........................................................................................... tonic. 

The bartender says "Why the big pause?" 

The bear says "I dunno, I've always had them". :D:D:D

This was one of those old silly jokes I heard from my sister. I guess my mind is a lot like Bumble Bee from Transformers. My mind works in clips of videos, music and silly things of that nature.

So what does this have to do with my post? Well if you remember I am working on the paw print jewelry and keychains for Advanced Animal Care of Colorado. Well as you may know I am quite particular about the quality of my beads, right? So since I am such a harsh critic of my work I decided to let my husband critique the paw print beads I made thinking he wouldn't be as picky as myself.

Want to see the ones he rejected?

Yep, ALL of them. Every last one! So you are wondering to yourself. How did these get rejected? They look like paw prints the hearts are pretty. I'm confused!

 

Ok so here are 2 more paw prints. On the right you have the one that "failed" on the left  you have the one that "passed". So why did one pass and one fail? If you look at the bead on the right Ricky didn't like the more "horse shoe" shape of the dog pad and the fact that the dotted toes were so close to the top of the bead. Did your heart sink? Mine kinda did too.... BUT, he was right about some things....

I do really like the more "heart" shaped pad on the left paw print and making the paw print smaller and more centered did make it look better. I guess the right paw print is kinda big and looks maybe more like a bear paw(hence the opening joke).

So back to the drawing board I went and made all new ones!

 

The order will resemble these two prints. The pendants have the red hearts on the back and the keychains have polka dots.

So where are ALL of those "rejected" beads going? The landfill? HEAVEN'S NO. I can't hardly throw away anything I could think about recycling! After all there really isn't anything wrong with them perse, they are just different than what our idea for them was.  So yes, beads are rejected from the studio based on FUBAR results AND design "mishaps" if you will.

These beads  go to the place all rejected beads go, my mom's bead box ;)

These beads enjoy a happy "second life" in her bead box to be made into whatever else she thinks up. Why don't I sell the "seconds"? Well quality, of course! I want only my very best work out in circulation! Something we can both feel happy about :D

Now on to finish up the order....

WHAT ELSE IS NEW???....

Still working on getting the new jewelry shop up and running and everything in it's proper order. Listings to come soon....

Working on some glass testing and prepping for the holidays!

Are you ready for all of that Christmas shopping yet???!

See you soon!

xo Genea

Too many facets

Hello friends!

Do you have too many facets too? I have come to realize that lately I do so many things that I have too much variety in my business. Strange problem to have huh? I guess I just never want to get bored or feel trapped by just doing one thing. I have SO many great ideas and it's like each one of them could be it's own business!

Learning this about myself makes me happy because it means I am very creative. Instead of being able to work in just one medium I can work in many and surprising to me I am quite skilled at it as well. I do excel more in some areas than others for sure.

So where am I going with this? Well I will be sort of doing my first business related project. By business I mean I will be creating something in glass for another business in their theme!

So what is this new project?  I am creating some pet themed necklaces and keychains for Advanced Animal Care of Colorado! 

So a little side story on how we got hooked up... Ricky's mom works for Dr. Steyn at the clinic. They were brain storming what item they could give to their clients that had lost a beloved pet. My MIL suggested that they contact me to do some pet themed items. I was very excited to be asked to create a special piece for their clients! 

So to begin I created a variety of designs for them to choose. So off to work I went and these are the ideas I came up with...

 

With my love of mixed-media elements I chose to use some Scrabble game tiles. I did my first scrabble style game tile in this fashion for my design in this years BSBP Sept 2011 . This first design is a "C" for Cat and a "D" for dog. I sealed images on the back sides where the larger paw print is on the dog keychain and the smaller prints are on the cat keychain.

 

The next design was the same cat and dog theme, but with distressed tiles and different images. The dog pendant has a fire hydrant and the cat pendant has a cartoon kitty.

 

Next were my glass pendants. Since dog and cat pads are the same these designs worked for both. Paw prints on the front and hearts on the back.

 

Finally I created some simple designed keychains geared more for male clients. Paw prints on the front and simple polka dots on the back side.

What are other facets in your creative business?

xo Genea