Beach Market!!

The weather was just awful on Saturday morning but I was determined to get to the Beach Market in Blackmans Bay and meet some fellow crafter's that I've only meet on line and I was seriously in need of some shopping therapy!!:)!!

So bribing BF with coffee and crepes for breakfast he caved in and drove me to the markets...I don' know how to drive you see:(

Anyway we made it there in safely as did so many others, they are a hardy race these Tasmanian's!

As we squeezed our way into the front door the first person I noticed was Rosie from NOTIONS!!

Even though it was very busy we where able have a few chats each time I passed.

Her work was so beautifully displayed I could have stood there admiring just how everything looked when I noticed this little brooch with a little black crow bird perched on a cage..Rosie must have known I was going to be there!! So yes I had to buy it!!

Next door to Rosie was Ruby Victoria with her beautiful lino prints, printed tags and lables. We talked for a while and she gave us a demonstration with her awesome printing machine, go check out her blog there is a great post there now with a photo of her press!!

And then in the middle isle was Loopy Designs!! Loopy makes very desirable bags, purses, needle and pencil rolls and heaps of other necessities. All in beautiful fabrics. Loopy's little zipper purse with the little babushkas was too hard to resist!!

There were lots of other lovely stores and people I wanted to meet but time was running short lots more things to be done and places to go!

A great day was had despite the rain and wind!!

Thank you and say hello to some new buddies!!

Thank you to everyone who made a comment in my last post....I'm going to investigate this issue further. The dreaded 'D' word discipline is important, I know that when I was working I could turn out about 6-8 finished background designs, get ruffs ready for the next day, help my assistant, color and the layout department. Advise animators and FX designers. All in a days work, week in week out for almost 2 years full time. No way could I have done this with out having a plan and making lists...so why is it that working from home I don't have the same discipline?
What I'll do is search other peoples work practises and list them here, I don't expect to follow rigidly to plans but I would like to know how others break there days up when working from home trying to run a business.
But now onto something new that was created in the studio this week!!!

Fernando


Ben


Esther

Pip

You can find Pip and Fernando for sale at my Etsy shop ....right now!!

sunday studio

What's wrong with this picture, besides the obvious need for organization and more storage containers??

and a sneaky peek at a new design!!

I think I have to start organizing my weeks better. Monday, Tuesday I can paint....Wednesday and Thursday is Sewing..Saturday should be book keeping...yuck! And Sunday reward day!
Sunday will be reserved for experimenting and making things for family, friends and me, with a bit of gardening thrown in.
Do other people have a work flow routine that they stick too, write me a line or two in my comments and I'll do a post about it.
Also book keeping how often do you do it and what is the best method for you? I've downloaded a template from Etsy to help with my book keeping but I'm still not convinced it is the best method.

I had a Notion

Take a peek at notions and see who's been talked about!
While there take good look around as notions makes some very beautiful brooches and bookmarks, all beautifully displayed.
There are also some very cool and crafty links to click on!!

finished and in progress

Annie and the white rabbit is finished!

Billy the Kid is progressing nicely!

Belle Starr in progress

John Wesley Hardin...in progress

And then there were six that hopped, hopped into the shop!

And don't forget Little Black Cow's Etsy Shop is having a big, big Winter SALE.
The sale will last for 7 days only!!
I've also added three new designs "kittens who lost their Mittens"

New painting WIP

Billy The Kid

!!Sale!!

Yes Little Black Cow's Etsy Shop is having a big, big Winter SALE.
The sale will last for 8 days only!!
I've also added three new designs "kittens who lost their Mittens"

out of the bag!!

Concept drawing for the three Kittens

The 'Three Kittens, who lost their Mittens"

Two of the three kittens

A teeny tiny mitten

Three little kittens they lost their mittens, and they began to cry,
"Oh mother dear, we sadly fear that we have lost our mittens."
"What! Lost your mittens, you naughty kittens!
Then you shall have no pie."
"Meeow, meeow, meeow, now we shall have no pie."
The three little kittens they found their mittens,
And they began to cry,
"Oh mother dear, see here, see here
For we have found our mittens."
"Put on your mittens, you silly kittens
And you shall have some pie"
"Meeow, meeow, meeow,
Now let us have some pie."
The three little kittens put on their mittens
And soon ate up the pie,
"Oh mother dear, we greatly fear
That we have soiled our mittens."
"What! soiled you mittens, you naughty kittens!"
Then they began to cry, "Meeow, meeow, meeow"
Then they began to sigh.
The three little kittens they washed their mittens
And hung them out to dry,
"Oh mother dear, do you not hear
That we have washed our mittens."
"What! washed your mittens, you are good kittens."
But I smell a rat close by,
"Meeow, meeow, meeow" we smell a rat close by...

And to celebrate the my new kittens I'll be having a SALE at ETSY shop....so make sure to get in quick the sale will last for 10 days only!!

pictures from Etsy treasury

Thank you to all those people that have put my work onto Etsy Treasury! I've tried to make my own Treasuries but found it difficult so well done!

Annie and the white rabbit

Black and white water colour. Annie Oakley .......2008

Annie and the white rabbit...2009

Just can't seem to get Annie Oakley out of my head. This morning I started a little painting like the one I did last year but in acrylics and in colour. While waiting for the paint to dry I sketched up a few more little characters and sorted through some old characters for other paintings.
Believe me I have over the years kept just about every scribble I drew and filed them away to be used someday for animation....as time has gone on I can't see myself ever putting time away and animate especially on my own, its a very time consuming business. but I don't want to just chuck out these characters....ahhh next best thing immortalize them in paint!

kitchen experiment 1,2 and 3

my willing participant.

mold making, experiment 1. It said on the packet of sculpy, in tiny writing, bake in oven set to
270 degrees for 10-20 minutes. Now that is just stupid...in hindsight now that I did a bit of research!

experiment 3...success!
Low oven set to about 120 and left to bake for 10-20 minutes.

So what happened to 'experiment 2?? It melted.
Bellgrave's modeling clay, does not bake in the oven it is plasticine and will melt like the witch in 'The Wizard of Oz'!
I've had all this clay in a little suitcase for years and had forgotten what it all was. well now I know.
Next step is to make a cloth body. Oh I'm using a tutorial from here.

But before I do that I better get back to work on my new designs!

shhh secrets

secret design peep

Jenny loves Benny

About a month ago I came across a bear artist JennyLovesBenny....(named after Benny who was Jennys much love dog), her work in undeniably the sweetest and most adorable bears, cats bunnies, elephants and other animals that I have found....well there are others but today i wanted to mention her work as I bought one of her kits. I've never used mohair or cotter pins to make a jointed doll and fell in love with her little chickadee. Jenny works from melbourne so it didn't take long for my parcel to arrive. I picked a rainy day to work on my project. And it was so easy and I love the cotter pins they are so cool and the mohair was very cute but I was shaking in my boots making sure I cut it as instructed trying not to snip the mohair on the other side!
Chickadee now is one of my cute little props that you may see from time to time playing with my own art dolls.
So I'm quite hooked on using these materials now and can't wait to make my own jointed dolls.
JennyLovesBenny also has an etsy shop and her own shop where she sells her own little critters and supplies for making dolls and bears. Her blog also features free tutorials and free patterns!!

6 new etsy listings

Robert

Pin

Petal

Emma

Bruno

Andy

These six are now up for grabs in littleblackcrow's Etsy Studio....go take a peep or even purchase one....Christmas is not that far away!!

Six More!!

black bunny

pink pokie pants

Miss Red

Miss Perky

Little Patriot

Black ellie #1

Six more critters went off yesterday!

My last six sold as quickly as the first so I'm very busy indeed keeping ahead of orders.
This month though I've made over 30 all up plus trying to squeeze in some time to work on new designs. And you may have noticed a black elephant, yep he is the first one I've made.
I'll be posting up a few more dolls in my etsy store today so go take a peep later tonight!!
Other news is that I finished the 'Feature Film' course which was a lot of fun and met some really nice people. Loved working in amongst the organized kaos and it was so cool learning new things.
Unfortunately though wont have time to work on the feature film as my dolls and catering jobs are keeping me busy this and next month....which is a good thing as these things are my only source of income at the moment!
Oh and with halloween approaching and then Xmas shortly after that I'm going to have to be very organized and plan well ahead making sure I've lots of stock ......so what am I doing here.....
gotta go!!
But before I do head off to the abyss which is my studio.I'd like to thank all the people that have recently joined and followed me on my blog. And there has been a lot as I've been kept busy peeping in on your blogs too, having a great time reading and looking at the work you do!
cheers