Life Along The Artist's Way

It never occurred to me growing up to become an artist. Art wasn't in my field of awareness. Like every little girl, I wanted to be a nurse and then I wanted to be a high school History and English Lit teacher and that's not the way things went.  Long story short, somehow I ended up an artist and I can tell you that life along the artist's way is a crazy roller coaster from the highs of the creativity flow to the lows of the real cost of living.

It looks like there will be 10-12 purses ready to deliver on Sunday. Each purse averages two days to make. Let's say those are eight hour days since many are more like twelve and a few are shorter. The gallery takes a 50% commission. Based on the asking prices, I will receive somewhere between $4.56 and $7.81 an hour BEFORE expenses. To earn minimum wage, I'd need to double my prices plus. I can so understand why parents do not want their children to grow up to be artists - LOL.

With paint and glaze, the light wooden colored handles became glossy black. You're probably tired of me being so amazed by how I manage to make things work but the idea of painting the handles rather than buying the correct color is still quite a new concept for me. It's very delightful to work this way. I highly encourage you to explore what if and how can I questions. They will lead you in fascinating directions.

These round red buttons were in a scoop of buttons from the now closed store. Red not being one of my day-to-day colors, they've been waiting a long time to be used. Paired with some flatter, denim colored ones, they make great purse feet.

In retrospect, the red strip may not have been the best choice. It was originally denim and possibly should have stayed that way. Oh well - this is still a very cute purse and the strip gave me the opportunity to use up a whole bunch of red buttons - which are surprisingly labour intensive to sew on - and to play with the idea of balance and secondary focal points and the tension of moving the eye between points. I learned about secondary focal points and creating tension in one of my favourite how-to books - Greg Albert's The Simple Secret To Better Painting. The info is applicable to more than painting, even to clothes.

I had five small black ball buttons and one large. I love the way they look along this front strip and it was another opportunity to play with tension. They mimic the beads sewn to the flap although those are hard to see in a picture. The main button is a flat, matte black. There's a magnetic snap underneath. I've been using 14mm slim snaps and may change to a larger size when I re-order - if I re-order. I'm determined not to invest a lot of money in this purse venture until I see what direction it's going in. Thankfully, I still have a good dozen snaps in stash. There's something to be said for stash except when you run out of things.

Yesterday, I wrote a list before I went to Fabricland and only bought two of the four things on the list. One item was a 60mm rotary blade and they were $21.00 and not on sale so I'll wait. Another was flat trim. Also not on sale. Also waiting. I bought a zipper because I needed it immediately and Howard encouraged me to buy one rather than have him shorten the other one - VBG - and I bought a tassel because they were 50% off and it was the perfect color for the next purse. I think I deserve an at-ta girl for that. I did not even look at the bargain center.

With each purse, I've been trying some new ideas even though many of the steps are standard. The procedures are becoming more streamlined and I'm learning a lot. Even so, I'm getting tired of purses. You might be too. I'm telling myself to hang in there. I have a few to finish this week plus the paperwork and then I'll deliver them on Sunday. Carolina - the gallery owner - wants several more a month later and even so I'm going to finish the black skirt and sew a garment before moving on. I think that's important.

Talk soon - Myrna

Grateful - galleries. It sounds like they take a lot but they also take much of the risk and free me up from travelling to and from and standing at sales so I can create.

P.S. - the red purse is 8" x 11" with a 3" bottom and one open pocket and one zippered pocket. It's $250 if you're interested. Let me know. My email address is in the sidebar.