Do You Etsy? Etsy Shop Statistics Beta Now Available!

So, I've been playing with the Etsy API and have created a shop statistics site. It's definitely a work in progress, but currently, you can view statistics about items in your shop, favorers of your listings and shop and get summary information about listings and favorers. The URL is here: http://www.etsygoth.com/. It provides some of the same functionality as the Heart-o-Matic (also a very cool site), but I've given the user the ability to sort by the returned information as well as show summary data regarding the returned results.

It's got a bit of a goth flair to it (had to throw some of me in there), but anybody can use the app. Any feedback is much appreciated as well and definitely let me know if there are any buggies running around.

So let me know what you think! I look forward to your responses! Enjoy!

Oh, and if you'd like to advertise, just contact me!

Birth of a Big-headed Man Pendant Necklace

Here we are...the beginning...an egg, if you will. My little clay BHM egg.
It's pretty simple to start. I simply make indentations where I want the eyes and mouth to be and pinch up some clay for a nose. Very rudimentary.











Next, I start creating a little more definition in the shape of the skull, browlines, cheekbones and chin.








Here's my favorite part, shaping the nose. I don't know why. Maybe it's because I always start with it. It really helps things form in my mind. It is the center from which I create my big-headed man. So I define the nostrils and the philtrum (that's the vertical groove on the surface of the upper lip) and blend the nose with the eye sockets.







The next step is blending and detailing and going over what I've already done, the cheeks, the nose, the eye sockets. This is where I tend to work too much, but the piece changes in so many ways just from the handling of it, so when I'm working on the nose, for example, sometimes it smooshes the cheekbones and I need to go back over to make sure everything is still looking good together.



The back of the piece is just as important as the front. This is part of what makes these guys such great worry stones. Feeling every curve, defining a jaw line, the base of the skull and the overall shape of the head.



We can really see the piece taking shape, developing a personality. The jawline, chin, cheekbones, nose and eye sockets are pretty well finished. Now it's just a matter of maintaining their shape as I work on the final phases.











So what's missing? We need a mouth, eh? Let's slice one open on this guy.




Define some lips for him and work on the overall blending and refining of the piece.



If I'm not going sparkly with Swarovski flat crystals, glass seed beads work great for the eyes. They come in so many colors and have such a beautiful sheen. I've chosen a lovely blue jeans shade for this little man.

Give the eyes more depth by adding eyelids and more detail.



Next step is to put the hole through the head since this is a pendant which we want to put on a necklace and add little details, like eyebrow hairs and lower lids, indentations and wrinkles, just making sure it has an overall smoothness. This is the part I love about Super Sculpey. It's like the clay "settles" and you get this really fleshy, definite smoothness that you don't always get with a lesser quality clay.





















These pics show pretty much the only tool I use when sculpting my pendants, but I also use a tiny rubber straight edge for details like the eyebrows or wherever I need to cut in some deeper, tiny lines.

Now our guy is ready for firing. Okay, so I throw him in the oven, but it sounds cooler if you say you fired a piece, which is essentially what you're doing, you just don't need as much heat for polymer clay. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a pic of this guy after cooking. If you've never seen it before, depending on how long you cook it, the clay color will begin to darken to a rosy pinkish brown. So pretend I've got that pic in here. It would basically look the same, just pinker and less shiny. At this stage, it's ready for painting.

I won't bore you with the painting process, but it's another 10 to 15 layers of different color paint that I think I'll cover in another article. I chose greens and golds for this particular piece.

So, do some wavy hand motions to signify the passage of time and we'll move to finishing off the piece. After the painting process is complete, I make a lovely, oh-so-soft, deerskin leather necklace in a chocolatey brown, finished off with sterling silver hardware and add the pendant.






















And then I name them and give them some personality traits.

This guy has such a poop-eating grin on his face, like he knows something really juicy, but he's not telling. I think I'll name him Jack. Jack's good at keeping secrets.

And, that's it. He is thusly born and sent out into the world. Good luck, Jack!

How to Put a Dust Cover on a Frame

A while back, I took down all my framed big-headed man drawings and opened those babies up. I needed to take them out of their frames and get them scanned into a digital format so that I could start selling art prints of my work. I still had the frames and the glass and foam board backing, but I never got around to putting them back together with the dust cover and mounting hardware.

So recently I was getting ready for an exhibit and it forced me to get them all framed again. I called a few frame shops to find out what it would cost to get the paper backing or dust covers put back onto the frames. They said probably about $15.00 per piece. Well, I had about eight or nine pieces to do and I thought that was a little out of my price range AND I would have to lug them over there AND wait a couple of weeks until they finished with them. Being the poor, lazy and impatient person that I am, I decided to take matters into my own hands and learn how to put a dust cover on a framed picture.

"How hard could it be?" I thought. I've taught myself so many other things, this should be a cinch. A few Google searches brought up some web pages, but nothing that really told me how to do it. Also, I didn't know the term was "dust cover" so I kept searching for "paper backing on frame." Eventually, I got to a site that sold the materials in a kit that also came with instructions. Turns out, the process isn't hard at all. You just have to have the materials and know the process. So I'm here to share that with you to make your journey a little easier...I hope.

Here are the materials you will need (besides your already-framed piece):

• brown craft paper (sometimes spelled "kraft" paper)
• roll of double-sided adhesive transfer tape or -plain old Elmer's Glue
• spray bottle with water or wet sponge
• hairdryer (optional, but recommended)
• dust cover trimmer or a utility knife and straight edge (I highly recommend the dust cover trimmer. It's very easy to use.)

Once you have your supplies laid out, get your framed piece and lay it on a flat surface. The pic of my piece below shows the remnants of the dust cover that I had ripped off to remove my drawing from the frame, so just pretend that's not there. ;-) Cut your craft paper to a size about one to two inches larger than your frame on all sides. For example, if your frame is 20 x 26, add two inches to height and width, and cut a piece 22 x 28. It doesn't have to be exact. You just want the additional paper hanging over the side for cutting. Set the paper aside for later use.

Start rolling out your transfer tape onto each of the four sides of your frame, completing the process on each side before moving to the next one.

Step one: Roll out the tape


Step two: Press the tape firmly onto the frame, making sure that the tape is, in fact, adhering appropriately.











Step three: Peel the backing from the tape so that you are left with the double-sided tape sticking to the frame with another sticky side up to adhere to the paper that we will use in the next phase. Repeat this process until all four sides of your frame have the tape adhered.

OPTION 2: Apply white glue, such as Elmer's, along each side of the frame. I personally like the tape because it's not as messy in the next step.

Now we're ready for the next phase: Applying the craft paper.

Take the paper that you previously cut and dampen it in one of two ways. You can either spritz it with a spray bottle or wipe it with a damp sponge. I personally prefer the spritzing method.



Lay the dampened paper on top of your frame so that the paper is hanging over the sides. It doesn't have to be perfectly taut, since this will be taken care of in the drying phase.



Using your thumb and forefinger, crease the paper along the sides, so that the paper is folded over the edges, then run your finger over each side to press the paper onto the double-sided tape.



You don't have to do this next step, but I found it helpful. Fold the excess paper underneath your frame to hold it in place during the drying process. As the craft paper dries, it becomes stiff, so this will prevent the paper from lifting up.

This drying step can either be achieved by allowing the paper to air dry or you can hasten the process by using a hairdryer. I recommend it highly. Take the hairdryer and start blowing the paper dry. This is the cool part. As I stated previously, when the water begins to evaporate from the paper, it begins to stiffen and "shrink", removing the creases and crinkles right before your eyes. I enjoyed it. It doesn't take much to entertain me. This process will make the paper very taut and drum-like.

I've also included a video of the process below, so you can see how the paper begins to tighten up. You may want to turn your volume down, since it's a bit annoying with the hairdryer drone.




Once your paper is completely dry and taut, you're ready for the next phase: Trimming off the excess paper.

I highly recommend using a dust cover trimmer. It's specifically made for this process and will make your job much easier. Holding the trimmer at an upward angle with the point of the blade on the frame, begin making your cut by sliding the trimmer down the length of the frame. The trimmer has about an eighth of an inch lip on it so the blade will sit at the appropriate spot on the frame and guide the trimmer along the edge of the frame.

Once you've reached the bottom of the first side, pull the excess paper away and move on to the next side of the frame, repeating the process until all sides have been trimmed away.

You now have a fabulous dust cover to complete and finish off your lovely piece of art. The next step would be to apply mounting hardware, which is pretty simple, so I haven't included it in this tutorial.

By the time I got to my last framed piece, I felt like I was a pro. There are little nuances here and there, but this is the basic process. Happy framing all!