Tis the Season...and a Tip

I had the odd sale on my cafepress site a few weeks ago which reminded me I should promote it a bit on my blog. (Disclaimer: I HATE marketing). I've never had a lot of sales but I do usually sell a few calendars and perhaps some gift items this time of year. Think of it as going to an art museum and then buying a postcard or print of a favorite painting at the gift shop. You may not be able to afford the original of any of my quilt art, or perhaps a favorite piece is not for sale or already in a private collection, but perhaps you might find an image of it on an affordable mug, greeting card or decorative tile or treasure box. There's even a journal with four different choices of paper. And who can't use a calendar in your studio or office? I've always been pleased with the quality of the merchandise cafepress prints my images on and the images themselves are high quality as well. Treat yourself or get a start on your holiday shopping at my shop!

Now as a reward for suffering through that commercial break, here is the promised tip. One of my art group was admiring the way I'd paired filled bobbins with their matching spool of thread by stacking the pairs on the pegs in my thread rack. Unfortunately, not all of my thread will fit in this rack, although it holds a lot of thread. So I shared this alternate method for spools stored in drawers or shallow bins. It merely requires ordinary cotton swabs. I don't remember where I read about it but I was skeptical that it would really work. But truly it does...look!

Finally, circling back to "tis the season", I've treated myself to a new lightweight winter jacket in a color for which I have no suitably colored scarf. But I was pretty sure I'd bought a very luxurious yarn a few years back that had some blue in it. It didn't take me long to find it (while I have a yarn stash, it really isn't very big), and I was so pleased to discover it not only had the right color of blue, but also some teal green that matches the jacket lining. So I've started knitting a cowl scarf from this wool/silk hand-painted fingering yarn while I watch a little snow fly outside the window.

A little printing and more cafepress

I'm down to the last few Christmas cards, some which will go with gifts, and so I took a bit of a break from writing yesterday to do some printing on fabric. (Sssh, don't tell anyone that some of these are presents!) I'm using cotton sateen that comes adhered to a stiff paper backing in a 24" wide roll. While my Epson Workforce 1100 does not accommodate rolls, let alone anything this wide, it will print up to 13" wide, and this particular backed fabric when cut to size feeds so well through it. The resulting prints look as sharp and true to color as if printed on photo paper - I just love it!

This printer hasn't gotten much use in the last couple of years, and when I printed something off on paper a few months ago, I got some odd lines running through my graphic. Printers that sit tend to develop heads that clog up. Sure enough, when I did a nozzle check, there were gaps in the test print proving that the heads required cleaning. I also took the time to check alignment to assure good clean and accurate prints. If this all sounds like Greek to you, I suggest you check the manual or help screens for your printer and work through these basic maintenance steps, particularly if you have been unhappy with the quality of your printing lately.

The difference between ICM & Adobe RGB settings

Another thing that is worth checking is the advanced setting for color matching and other settings found within the preferences or printer set-up (like unchecking "fast printing" and checking "envelop" to accommodate extra thickness). If what you see on your screen differs from what prints out, it may just be a mismatch of settings. I'd written down the settings that seemed to give me the truest color match on fabric in the past, but when I printed my first image, it was not very close. I checked the other settings I could choose from and decided to try a different one, and it was much closer to my screen image. Now for those of us just wanting to get on with it, all the time I spent yesterday morning cleaning and aligning heads and changing settings from the defaults might rankle, but with the price of ink and fabric, it is worth taking this time to get your settings right. I am so pleased with the results. And as so often happens with me, as long as I was set up and on a roll, I worked on and printed an image for my next art quilt. Holidays or not, the creative urge cannot be denied!

Angel of the Rock Journal through cafepress

And now for a commercial break. I've changed the image on another item in my cafepress shop. My "Angel of the Rock" art quilt is in a private collection, but you can enjoy it on the cover of this 5" x 8" journal. The journal is available with 4 paper options: blank, college ruled, dot grid or task pages. And does anyone use mousepads anymore? If so, perhaps you would like the mousepad I offer with the image of one of my journal quilts "Texture". Happy shopping! 

Holiday Break

The creative journey is on hold as the studio work table has been taken over by Christmas card preparation. I do enjoy this process, choosing cards that resonate with image and sentiment, recapping the year in a letter for those I only connect with periodically from season to season, adding a personal note to show this is not just an automated process. I guess I enjoy it also because I love being the recipient of the cards and letters that show up in my mailbox each Christmas. It's a different kind of staying in touch from our ubiquitous electronic one, a tradition I doubt I'll ever give up.

I've also been busy updating my cafepress shop - it's not too late to order gifts in time for Christmas. My "Idaho Maple Leaves" image has been added to the tile coaster (available in both framed and unframed versions) and keepsake box. And you can now find my "Willow" quilt on notecards that can be purchased individually or in packets of 20.

Still available are t-shirts and sweatshirts, mugs and totes, stickers and magnets with my Idaho Beauty Block logo and motto (Quilting...an alternative lifestyle) as well as two calendars of my favorite art quilts and journal quilts. And don't forget the new items with oak leaf image recently added. Happy shopping!

Postcard Postcards

Oak Leaf Fabric Postcard - Sheila Mahanke Barnes 2013

I think I'm done making oak leaf fabric postcards for awhile. It's been fun and informative and just a little bit addictive. There may be more of these in my future, but for now it's time to move on. And as much as I might like to make one for each and every reader, that isn't going to happen! Instead, I've added an image of one of my oak leaf fabric postcards to some of the products in my cafepress shop. The next best thing to the actual postcard might be the picture on a photo postcard. They come in sets of 8 and can be purchased here. I've also added the image to a lovely mahogany tea/recipe box and a business card holder.

I know I've said this before, but I do plan on more updates to the shop. In the meantime, check out my two calendars of favorite art quilts, cards, mugs and gift items. Some of these may be going away soon.

New Items In My cafepress.com Shop

It wasn't diversions or distractions that slowed down my progress on adding this calendar to my cafepress.com shop, but huge files and slow dial-up service! Oh, if Santa would only bring me high speed internet access for Christmas... Anyway, it features 12 of my birch tree inspired journal and art quilts and may be purchased here.

I also added this porcelain tree ornament featuring detail from my "Angel of the Rock" art quilt, now in the collection of Holy Spirit Episcopal Church of Sandpoint ID. Click here for more information.

See this post to read about other items recently added, or just go to www.cafepress.com/IdahoBeauty to see what else I have to offer.

It's a great relief to get this done. Now back to creating!

Twitter

"Bluebird of Unhappiness"
June 2006 Journal Quilt
Sheila Mahanke Barnes

The previous post dealt with whether or not blogs should be used for sales. If you haven't already, be sure to read Lyn Mettler's clarification of her statement in the article referenced. The issue is not as black and white as that article suggested.

Lyn also maintains her New World PR blog here. I found lots of good information about Twitter on it. If you currently Twitter, or are on the fence about Twitter, she may have answers to some of your questions.

Do I Twitter? Only on a personal basis to keep up with a relative I'd otherwise correspond with or talk to much less frequently. Do I want to open my creative self up on Twitter for the hoards to devour? Well, I guess my tone here answers that question! I just can't be "on" 24/7. Somewhere must be a private life to escape to.

The journal quilt pictured above, by the way, was started in a class by Charlotte Warr Anderson. The name partly came from my own unhappiness with both her method and her design - birds like this are not my thing!

Selling through blogs

I spotted an article in Sunday's paper by Kelly K. Spors about using social media to bond with customers, read here:

This was geared toward small businesses in general, and covered the importance of internet phenomena like Twitter, Facebook and blogs to create a presence, interact with customers and the like.

The thing that struck me was, after mentioning the various networking options, it relayed advice from Lyn Mettler of Step Ahead Web Strategies: "...it's important that businesses don't use social media to directly try to sell their products." And then quotes her directly: "Clearly, these tools are about being authentic and not selling."

This advice came as a surprise since I am aware of artists who successfully sell art on their blogs and I was considering doing the same. It's not that they don't have separate websites for displaying art for sale - they do. It's not that they are hobbyist - they are fully engaged in trying to make at least part of their living from selling art.

So what do you think? Is it inappropriate or bad business sense to be selling art on a blog? Does it turn you off when a blogger you follow suddenly posts something for sale?

And yes, today's picture is totally unrelated to the topic. It's just that my geraniums are doing so well this year and I know you all like pictures with your posts.