Where Do Animals Live While They Are Waiting for New Homes?

In a drawer! 

BLHubby brought home this steel blueprint file a while back. Didn't ask if I wanted it - just brought it home cause it was free. His company used to have rooms full of blueprint files, but now all their prints are stored in digital form so the storage systems for blueprints are now dinosaurs.   I thought I might use it for paper or mat board storage but somehow thought about an animal home.  They fit great!  I put some padded non slip drawer liner down so the critters wouldn't roll about and scratch but they stuck to the liner, matter how long they had cured (I had animals with little purple fuzz)!  I wanted the padding so I covered it with paper towels and now they have a safe bed to rest in all dust free and I can easily see what I have or don't have in inventory.   I keep asking him if they any more. 

The work table is full but our little rent house has a new tenant and I'm off to paint walls.  (Why wasn't it already done?  This is the first week the weather warmed up enough to let paint dry!)  Paint is my life.

Lessons From My First Year

Just some random and in no order of importance observations after one year.

New Ark Listing

• I never imagined that I would  love my customers so much. If I could, I would ship myself in with the box just to see it opened.  I could become a crazy stalker lady and peek in the window to see my products in a home.  That someone would shell out their hard earned cash for something I designed and made makes me adore them. 
• I have the best and most supportive family ever.  They are also talented and have contributed said talents whenever I need them.  Whether it's  BLHubby's woodworking skills, BL SIL's graphic art talents, comments on the blog, shout outs on their blogs, or marketing expertise, they enthusiastically support me. The BL Biggest boy and sweet DIL got me a web site for Christmas!
• Designing takes a lot of time, even though it's what I love the most. It also seems that I get my best ideas while working on an item, so the products evolve - for the better I hope.  It also means that I know why custom work is so expensive and why so many of my favorite artists don't do it.  I've started turning down custom requests unless they really interest me.  It's really hard to make my vision match somebody else's vision and it takes so much time it's hard to justify the work.  
• Quitting the day job means less money but more flexibility.  It also means more work but less stress.  Currently I strive to make minimum wage.  I didn't have any benefits with my day job (insurance, retirement, vacation) so I don't miss that.  I don't miss having people call me at all hours either,
  but I do miss office friends.  (Where I worked was a happy group without much "office drama".)
• I've been pushed to learn so much, and I have. I just want to paint pretty stuff but I have accounting, web design, lessons in pricing, business, marketing, etc.  I never seem to learn it all.
• Though I'm working on other marketing venues, Etsy has been the gateway to a business.  Some small craftsmen have complained about Etsy but I'm a fan.  Yes, it's huge and you have to work to get noticed but  they've been responsive and it seems to work. 
• If I get big enough to hire an employee they will be assigned to sanding.
• My worst day painting beats firing people. 

Snow, Thoughts on one Year and a sneak peak!

Snowy Woods in the back yard

 The Best Loved Household is snowbound.  So is the entire state of Arkansas.  The whole state put out notice last night that it would be closed because a "significant snow event" was coming. It came. The neighboring states are closed, too, so you couldn't get here if you tried.  We've slept in late and haven't started burning the furniture yet but soon we'll run out of firewood. (We have power and heat, no big harm, but if it's snowing you need a fire.) We've passed the 2 -4  inches predicted and it's still snowing.

Tomorrow marks the first birthday for my Etsy shop which launched me into the world of independent artist/craftswoman.  What did I do before then?  I used to fire people. Yup, I appeared with Security and a tissue box, took your badge and escorted you to the gate.  I was an on site HR rep for an international staffing company.  I did more than fire people - but mostly, I fired people.  I lost count of how many.  The client company I was assigned to first moved their plant to another state so I got to hire folks for another client.  That's usually happier, but, everyone in the staffing industry has stories about the bizarre things that happen.  For me the most surreal times were when a candidates mother called to fuss at me for not hiring her child.  (Yes, this happened multiple times.) With the economic decline, that client company quit hiring and I was assigned to the "Client From Hell".  Then I got fired.  I know there are people who would find this poetic justice.  I was relieved.  I had been miserable for a while and unable to satisfy this client (no agency in town before or since could make them happy) but I thought if I just worked harder it would get better.  Getting fired answered my prayers.

I then tried to figure out what to do. I knew that what  I did the best was make things, really great things. I had thought about an Etsy shop that focused on the very under-served area of toys, clothes and decor for boys.   I love tutu's and frilly stuff but I remember being a mom of a darling boy and being frustrated that fancy children's stores had twice the space devoted to girls that they had for boys.  A friend of mine had recently expressed her frustration on finding little cute stuff for her darling boy.  I had started to design and make some special toys that the little ones that visited my house could play with and that I hoped would outlast me.  I wanted my descendants to fight like wild weasels over them (nicely of course).   Thus, the first thing made for the shop was the Noah's Arks.  The little BLGrands got early versions for Christmas.   BL Hubby worked with me on the construction of the Ark.  He's good about putting my ideas into place even though I have different ideas about how thing should look than he does. Now, he usually builds the arks I can build one if I have to but I love it that he will bang out some when I need them.  I then take over with all finishing.  I do all the cutting and construction for the animals.

The wooden toys have taken over the shop, at least for now, but after a year I'm way happy.  That someone would pay me to make stuff that I love to design and make seems like the heaven.  Next post I'll list what I've learned after a year. 

I did get some sun yesterday and got photos of two new Noah's Arks so they got listed today as well as a sale on the oldest Ark in the shop.  I've got a sneak preview below of something new that is coming.  BLHubby spent his snow day cutting and trying to make the wood fit my imagination. Take a look.

Design Inspiration Day - Piggies!

Wooden Noah's Ark Pair of Pigs by Me

 Been contemplating some new piggy-centric designs and as my usual mode of operation I'm looking for inspiration from my book shelf (happily reading instead of working).  Here's some of my favorite pig visuals:


Some are simple pigs.  This image isn't even from the story it's the end paper!

 "Pigs" art by Michael Martchenko"

"It's Bedtime Wibbly Pig" by Mick Inkpen

I love Wibbly. I love Mick Inkpen.  Viva la Pig.


I've got old pigs, or rather, piggies from old books. Usually my vintage 1940's or earlier books make pigs overly realistic and rather ugly but I love these piggies. 

"Plump Piggies" no artist named

 I first saw "Plump Piggies" in a local antique mall with the pages framed beautifully and I wanted to get pregnant and start decorating a nursery.  I can see it now with gray walls, simple white furniture and these accents of pale pink piggyness It's a good thing everyone doesn't pass these images framed so pretty or we would have a huge population explosion. 

"Gerties Not Alone" by Norman Chartier

I found an extremely didactic little gem at the thrift store and though the story is dreck the barnyard art is lovely.  Love this pig. Yes, I cut up the book for my notebook.

The best pigs ever though, are the piggy world of  "Toot & Puddle" books.

"Toot & Puddle" by Holly Hobbie

Ms Hobbie is the artist that drew the wildly popular little pioneer girls of the same name in the 1970's.  Her story goes that she was under contract and had to produce Holly Hobbies long after she became sick of them.  She vowed to never draw or paint anything she didn't want to and when finally free she set to raising a family and painting just for herself.  Fast forward, one of her daughters was in graduate school and contracted cancer. The treatments made her loose her hair, made her skin pink and swollen so that she would refer to herself as a "piggy" and sign notes to her family with little pig drawings.  Mom sent her pig sketches in return.  Though her daughter lost her life to the cancer the piggie drawings became Holly Hobbie's ongoing project and turned into the  "Toot & Puddle" series of books.  They show the adventures of two little pigs (I believe they are cousins) that live together but Toot travels the world and Puddle loves to stay at home. 

 "Toot & Puddle" by Holly Hobbie

Don't you want to pinch this piggy bottom?  If I could ever paint light this wonderfully I could die happy.

How Many Sanding Machines Does One Girl Need?

The BLHubby has always been crazy about tools.  When he recounts his happiest days there's our marriage, birth of the kids and one is when we were young parents and we went to a local police auction where for only $10 he was able to get a big metal tool box that when opened was full of Craftsman tools.   I've been strangely adverse to using or buying many tools.  Sure I had a sewing machine but really - a single needle can make anything, can't it?  I guess I was raised on stories of rugged pioneers entering the wilderness with just axe and carving out land for crops and a snug home.  BLHubby  used to negotiate - he'd do a project for the house and I'd agree we needed to get him some new tool to do it with.  I had one tool to my name, a jig saw.  I could and did,, make most anything with that and a 4 way screwdriver.  Things have changed.

Then BLHubby bought me the scroll saw.  I couldn't make the animals for my arks without it.  I think that saw was a "gateway tool" cause I've been converted to the necessity or at least convenience the right woodworking tool can make when doing a job.   BLHubby has become a "tool pusher" or I have become a "tool enabler".  Our wood shop has become filled up and I claim many of the power tools as "mine".

Look at the number of sanding machines I use regularly.

 THE ORIGINAL LUDDITE SOLUTION 

I always do some hand sanding. Especially after things have been sealed.  Years and years ago BLH went to an auction and came home with a few cases of industrial sanding belts for the grand sum of $25. They are about 12 feet long and for way too long I've been using them for hand sanding. I just tear them into usable pieces. I thought I had used them all when he found one last box in the barn.  I used to give each kid a piece of sandpaper and let them work on wood pieces.  They thought it was fun and all sanding does something to wood so they were amazingly effective and it's good for a child to labor at something productive.

THE BIG ONE

BLH brought this home last year and I wondered what to do with it.  It took me a while to learn to use it but it's what I use first when smoothing out my little animals.  Last week I was rounding off the bum of a little bear when the sander groaned and green sparks started flying out the bottom confirming that it was inhabited by aliens that were trying to go back to the mother ship. I hit the "off" switch and unplugged it but there was black smoke curling up and a horrible smell.  To my shock and surprise,  when I thought about finishing the animals without it I panicked!  Hand sanding, no way! Fortunately,  BLH had bought the extended warranty so for the cost of another extended warranty on a new machine I was back in business. Whew!

THE BELT SANDER

Every little animal gets a ride on this to make sure their feet are level.  BLH brought this home when he caught me trying to use his hand held belt sander to level off feet.  He was afraid I'd do damage to myself. (I only scraped my fingers - didn't take them off.)

THE RANDOM ORBITAL SANDER

I use this to finish the sides of the arks and bear houses.  Hand held and multi purpose. This is the first "electric" sander I got used to using.

THE LITTLE ONE

I found this in BLH's tool box and I've adopted it as my own.  I first used it to shape the elephant's trunk but It also shapes ears, horns, tails and I can sand the tummy of the little animals. 

This isn't every sander in the shop. There are some I never use that BLH claims.  But wait, I think we do have a little "mouse" detail sander that would work inside the arks.  Maybe I can find it.  Do I need a 12 step program?

Waiting..Waiting...

What's this Hot Mess?  This is me trying to stage and photograph new arks - but we can't till we get SUN.  My photos are really dependent on natural light (note the poor color in this photo).  It is cloudy, overcast, foggy even.  It's been cloudy all week.  Sun was forecast for yesterday.  The promised sun didn't appear.  Yesterday they said it would clear today.  This morning my favorite weatherman would not commit to sun, but he thought we might have some this afternoon - if the snow is late.  I've heard of rain dances - does anyone know how to bring sun?

Old Toy Inspiration

I find inspiration everywhere but sometimes I really fall in love. 

I found this here on Etsy. 

I look at it and drool.  Not that I'm really collecting very expensive vintage toys but I love the look.  This was made by Fischer Price, I'm not sure when but I love these pre-plastic era toys.  For fun I searched other vintage Fischer Price toys and found these pull toys.

This pull toy I adore.  Circus images aren't as popular now as they were in the 1940's or 1950's.  We worry about how animals are treated and we even think clowns are scary but this circus wagon is so happy!  I love the elephant and tiger.

 This duck is so cute.  I don't know if this if before or after Disney's Donald Duck but it's clearly similar.  I think it's lots cuter.  Don't you love the little feathers on his but?

 I love the colors here.  This is a different manufacturer, I think.  The orange, green, blue and yellow look very "now".

Fisher Price did lots of Disney themed toys and usually I'm not found of them but these are part of an Easter Train based on a Disney cartoon.  I love the animals on wheels. I find myself imagining every animal I see on wheels.