Noadi's Art Blog

Now for Something Completely Different

2013-05-06T17:08:00.002-04:00

A man with a tape recorder up his nose-- Wait, that's not right.

I've been working on a project lately, just for fun really, and now it's ready to share. It's a short story, in the vein of the Dresden Files and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, that I plan on expanding into a number of stories since I really like the characters I've created. It's been a lot of fun writing it and I hope people really enjoy it.

The basic premise is that Calliope Bránán is a blood mage who has been asked by a friend to help find a child. When she discovers who has taken the little boy, she and her partner Lucas must rescue him.

The first part of the story will be going up tonight (5/6/13) at 8pm EDT. Go check it out.

Small Pricing Change and Custom Orders

2013-03-26T13:00:00.000-04:00

Time Cuttlefish

Just a quick heads up about pricing. After looking at the numbers I'm changing the prices of my jewelry and shipping. Prices on cephalopods and a few other pieces are going down and I'm getting rid of free shipping. What does this mean? Honestly not much, the total price paid will be the same but I'll be able to offer the same prices both online and in person instead of having two different pricing systems. The changes should be complete by the end of the day.

As I wrote in my last post I enjoy custom orders and Etsy just made it easier to make a custom request. Now on every item page (like this octopus) there is a button to make a custom request.

Feejee Mermaid and Stuff

2013-03-25T15:12:00.001-04:00

One of the few problems with how much time my jewelry business takes up out of my day is that I don't have as much time to create full sculptures as I would like. So when someone commissions me to make a sculpture for them it's great, an excuse to spend time on a big project instead of the usual hour or so a day I spend on personal projects (which is why those always take months to finish).

My latest commission was a Feejee Mermaid. The original feejee mermaids were taxidermy fakes in sideshow carnivals (P.T. Barnum supposedly had the original but it was lost when his museum burned down), they were made with paper mache, the upper body of a jevenile monkey, and the body of a fish. I based mine on a dogfish and (loosely) a juvenile rhesus monkey. I sculpted the mermaid from polymer clay. To make it a bit more fun and interesting I added spines and rabbit fur to the head and back. After painting the whole thing was put in a large glass jar and submerged in the same resin I use for my Perma-Pets.

Her happy owner has named her Salma. If you're interested in requesting a custom sculpture or any other custom work drop me an email or contact me through my Etsy shop.

I've also been working for the past 6 months or so on a piece I'm tentatively calling the Coral Siren. If you want to see more of my works in progress follow my WIP blog on Tumblr it's where I post quick snapshots of what I'm working on when I don't want to write a full blog post.

In somewhat unrelated news I'm trying to pick up extra cash since I need to move when my lease is up in May. I like the place I'm living but I can't afford it on my own and while my ex-boyfriend and I are still good friends it's a little awkward living together. So to that end I've joined Fiverr which is a site that lets you set up little mini jobs that you can do. So if you are looking for someone to make an Etsy banner, proofread your listings, design a business card, or edit your product photos for you you can hire me to do it.

General News and Updates

2013-03-04T07:29:00.003-05:00

Just a bunch of snippets of news.

The cell culture necklaces are up for sale in my shop. Actually I listed them a few weeks ago so this isn't fresh news but important anyway. I have both bacteria and mold necklaces (the mold is actually fuzzy!) in some really great colors and more are on the way.

Etsy just made some improvements to how coupon codes work, now when you order a thank you coupon will be emailed to you automatically. I've been sending a printed thank you coupon since Etsy first started offering coupon codes but this makes it that much more convenient.

I've been confirmed for the Artists' Alley at PortConMaine this year. Last year was a blast and I'm really looking forward to June. The Artists' Alley will be running June 21-22 at the DoubleTree by Hilton hotel near the Maine Mall in Portland. You can preregister for PortCon on the website, it's $35 is you preregister and $40 at the door. Aside from the very cool Artists' Alley there are panels on all sorts of geeky topics, game rooms, free music and other shows, and lots and lots of people in cool costumes.

Getting Ready to Start New Jewelry

2013-01-18T15:00:00.000-05:00

The petri dishes for the new Cell Culture Pendants arrived today. I'm so excited! I haven't created a completely new jewelry line from scratch in quite a while. I've created new variations and expansions pretty regularly but starting from just an idea that came to me while half-asleep listening to This Week in Microbiology is so much fun (and who thought that my bedtime playlist would inspire new jewelry?).

New Jewelry Coming and Wholesale Information

2013-01-15T13:00:00.000-05:00

Cell Culture Prototypes

2013 is off to a busy start for me. I've been developing some ideas for new jewelry than I'm pretty excited about. The big one are the Cell Culture Pendants. I've made a few prototypes of this new deisgn, they're real small petri dishes filled with resin to look like microbiology specimens. The prototypes were made with some votive candle cups to test out the idea, the real petri dishes are on their way and as soon as they arrive I'll start making these necklaces.

I also have new specimen jars coming, with a new axolotl specimen (big thanks to the person who custom ordered one last year, I just loved the idea so much). Also along the same vein I bought some resin jewelry molds and I'll be using them to create some new designs using the specimens that I think are pretty cool.

On a different note I've finally put together some proper line sheets for wholesale customers. I would love to have more wholesale business but without line sheets it was hard to give a good overview of everything I make and the available colors and styles. They're available on my website and also on Google Docs.

Sea Otter Ornament Video

2012-12-18T11:47:00.000-05:00

I had a little fun playing with animoto this morning and made this short video for my sea otter ornaments. My last holiday shipment will be sent out Thursday morning (Dec 20) so you only have today and tomorrow to get in any last minute orders.

Free Shipping Day

2012-12-17T09:30:00.000-05:00

Today is Free Shipping Day and while I offer free shipping on most items in my store already today I'm offering free shipping on everything in the shop, including Perma-Pets and paintings on canvas.

Delivery by Trilobite Mail not included

New Baby Rat Sculpture

2012-12-15T14:00:00.000-05:00

I had intended for this to be part of yesterday's blog post but I still needed to put a few finishing touches on this new sculpture. Actually it's more like 3 sculptures in one setting. If you've seen my baby rat sculptures before you'll know that I like to take a realistic life-sized sculpted baby rat and put it in a cradle made from a household object like a tea cup or an altoids tin.

The latest one is an idea I've had floating around for a while, to nestle several inside a hollowed out book. Part of the problem for me is that I love books and the idea of destroying one is difficult for me, so I hit the local thrift store to find a book that I could feel okay with rendering unreadable. I found the perfect thing: Readers Digest condensed books. I have a strong aversion to abridging literature so these were perfect, they are plentiful, cheap, fairly thick, and hardcover. It's available in my Etsy shop.

Baby Rat Book Nest

Last Minute Shopping for Squidmas?

2012-12-14T08:29:00.002-05:00

Wednesday, December 19, is the last day I'll be taking regular holiday orders so you still have time to do some shopping and have it arrive in time for Christmas. I still have lots of goodies in the shop including tentacle earrings and the new sea shell jewelry that make great stocking stuffers.If you would like your order gift wrapped make sure you mention it in the "note to seller" during checkout.

I have a couple of brand new color schemes for cephalopods that I just added to the shop: moss green and black. Also some new trilobites and tentacle earrings. If you like my facebook page there's a 7% off coupon here.

If a giant space squid hasn't destroyed the planet there will also be a special sale in honor of the world not ending on Dec 22 (very last sale of 2012). Orders placed that day won't arrive in time for Christmas but you could always get a jump start on Valentines Day or an upcoming birthday or just treat yourself to a cephalopod.

Squidmas is Coming

2012-12-01T15:18:00.001-05:00

Tentacle Charms

Last weekend's Holiday Tentacular sale went swimmingly. Thank you to everyone who shopped or shared the sale with their friends. It's the beginning of December which means it's the home stretch for the year and assuming the world doesn't end, 2013 is so close.

I'm not going to be holding any more sales before my holiday shipping deadlines but I do have a few special offers for you. First of all I have a whole bunch of cute little tentacle charms and I'll be including one in every order until I run out.

Second, if you want to save on your order I have a special coupon code up just for Facebook fans. So like my page and then visit the coupon tab to get a coupon for 7% off your order (or click here to go right to the coupon tab). The coupon is valid through Squidmas day, Dec 21.

Also don't forget that I offer free US and Canadian shipping on all jewelry and most other orders. Check the Events & Dates page for holiday shipping deadlines, I've tried to cover all the major ones Christmas, Hanukkah, Solstice, Newtonmas, etc.

Holiday Tentacular has Begun

2012-11-23T10:48:00.004-05:00

My big Black Fiday/Cyber Monday sale has begun. It runs through Monday, November 26. Head on over to the Etsy shop to save 10% off all items, and if you have a coupon code you can save a little bit more.

Also if you are in the Portland, Maine, area I'm at the Portland Flea-for-All and you can get 10% off here too.

Quick Announcements

2012-11-17T08:00:00.000-05:00

Lots going on so I'm just going to list everything real quickly.

I'm at the Portland Flea-for-All this weekend (Nov 17-18).
I'm at the Portland Flea-for-All Friday-Sunday next weekend too (Nov 23-25)
Also next weekend is Black Friday, I'll be holding a 10% off sale throughout the Etsy shop Friday-Monday (Nov 23-25) the sale will also extend to my booth at the Flea-for-All. And because I'm a sucker for puns I'm calling it the Holiday Tentacular! If you are impatient the sale will go live sometime Thanksgiving night instead of at midnight so I can settle into my turkey coma.
New stuff is being added to the shop right now. Along with new cephalopod jewelry there's also tentacle earrings. seashell necklaces, and super adorable sea otter ornaments.

Gift Wrapping

2012-11-12T13:00:00.000-05:00

Do you want to save a little bit of time during the holidays? I will gift wrap any order, even larger items like Perma-Pets.

Holiday Shipping Deadlines

2012-10-29T08:18:00.000-04:00

If you are planning to shop with Noadi's Art for the holidays here are your deadlines for ordering. These are my best estimates and not guarantees, so ordering earlier is encouraged.

Hanukkah (Dec 8-16) - For orders to arrive by December 7 you need to order by standard shipping:

US Mail - December 1
International - November 26 for most addresses, November 19 for Central America, South America, and Africa.
APO/FPO/DPO - November 26 for most addresses, November 19 for AE ZIP 093

Solstice/Cephalopodmas (Dec 21) For orders to arrive by December 20 by standard shipping:

US - December 14
International - December 5 for most addresses, November 27 for Central America, South America, and Africa.
APO/FPO/DPO - December 5 for most addresses, November 27 for AE ZIP 093

Christmas/Newtonmas (Dec 25) - For orders to arrive by December 23 by standard shipping:

US - December 19
International - December 9 for most addresses, December 2 for Central America, South America, and Africa.
APO/FPO/DPO - December 9 for most addresses, December 2 for AE ZIP 093

I've also added these dates to the Events & Dates page.

River Otter Ornament Video

2012-10-24T12:00:00.000-04:00

I recently finished making a cute little river otter Christmas ornament for a customer who requested one. When I sat down to sculpt it I decided why not make a timelapse video. Okay, it was also an excuse to use the new HD webcam I got. I hope you enjoy it and if you want to request a custom ornament or jewelry please contact me. If you want it in time for Christmas I need to have the request by November 15th.

Fossil Day

2012-10-12T12:00:00.000-04:00

This is it, Fossil Day the last day of Cephalopod Awareness Days 2012 (it is also National Fossil Day not just for cephalopods). Today is dedicated to all the cephalopods of the fossil record, the ammonites, belemnites, spirulids, and other extinct species we know only from the traces they've left behind.

The last giveaway is also today. Today's trivia question is a harder one if you aren't a paleontology geek like me so all entries will go into the drawing, not just the correct answers. Just fill out the following Google form between noon and 8pm EDT. Good luck!

The last day of my cephalopod jewelry sale is also today. There's 15% off until midnight when the prices go back to normal.

Entries are Closed

Myths & Legends Day

2012-10-11T12:00:00.000-04:00

Release the Kraken! It's now the 4th day of Cephalopod Awareness Days and we are taking a brief detour from reality into fiction.

The sale ends tomorrow night, this is your last chance to save this much on cephalopod jewelry until next year's Cephalopod Awareness Days, so head over the Etsy shop ASAP. Also click over to Symbiartic on the Scientific American blog network to read a really cool feature on my jewelry.

Today's giveaway is super simple to enter, no trivia today just tell me what your favorite fictional tentacles creature is. Do you favor the Kraken? Cthulhu? Scylla? Or some other more obscure beastie. Just enter your answers into the Google Form and you get a chance to own this original 5"x7" pen and ink squid drawing.

Entries Closed

And just because it's so cool, check out the Kraken in LEGO form:

Cuttlefish and Squid Day

2012-10-10T12:00:00.000-04:00

Cuttlefish are my first love when it comes to cephalopods, they are the animals which sparked my interest. So for Cuttlefish and Squid day I have the biggest giveaway item of the week. And of course you still have until the end of Friday, Oct. 12, to head over to my Etsy shop and get 15% off on cephalopod jewelry (go on, get yourself something tentacled).

I decided to try something new and use Rafflecopter to run the giveaway and run it from noon to midnight. To enter you need to log in with Facebook or enter your email address then answer the trivia question which will give you 5 entries (make sure if you use Facebook login that you check the email associated with your Facebook account regularly). You can also gain some extra entries via social media. I'll draw the winner by noon tomorrow, October 11.

Noadi's Art Cuttlefish & Squid Day Giveaway

If you want to share the giveaway on your own blog go here for the embed code (won't help your chances of winning but you will have my thanks).

Custom Art Deadline

2012-10-09T20:00:00.000-04:00

Creating art pieces like Perma-Pets is time consuming so I have to cut off all custom requests for the holidays on October 15th. So if you want a Perma-Pet, Baby Rat, small painting, or other piece of custom artwork* you need to contact me ASAP either by email or through Etsy.

If you want to order custom jewelry or holiday ornaments you have until November 15th to order those (but sooner is better). Also it is still Cephalopod Awareness Days so all cephalopod jewelry has been marked down 15% through the end of Friday, October 12.

* I may not be able to promise completion of larger pieces of art in time for the holidays even if you order now.

Nautilus Night

2012-10-09T11:59:00.000-04:00

It's Nautilus Night! The day dedicated to celebrating the most ancient group of living cephalopods.

Today's giveaway is a 7"x5" Natural History Nautilus print and handmade polymer clay nautilus shell pin.

TO ENTER
Click the link below to go to a Google form and answer the nautilus trivia question.
Answer Nautilus Trivia

THE RULES
1) You must enter between 12pm and 8pm EDT on Oct. 9, 2012.
2) Open to US residents only (sorry).
3) You can only answer the question once, duplicate entries will be deleted.
4) You must enter a valid email address, it is the method I will use to contact the winner.
5) There is no 5.

If you want some nautilus jewelry head over to the Etsy shop to get 15% off your order of any cephalopod jewelry.

Share and enjoy.

Octopus Day

2012-10-08T12:08:00.001-04:00

It's Octopus Day! The kickoff of Cephalopod Awareness Days.

Today's giveaway is a 4"x5" print of my painting "Octopus in Kelp Forest" and a crimson tentacle pin. If you want your chance to win the giveaway go check out the Facebook page between 12pm an 8pm EDT today for how to enter.

Remember there is 15% off all octopus, squid, nautilus, and cuttlefish jewelry in the Etsy shop through October 12th.

Cephalopod Awareness Days are Imminent

2012-10-06T13:00:00.000-04:00

It's almost time, I'm so excited! Cephalopod Awareness Days kicks off at midnight on October 8th. I was going to write a post with all the information again and pictures of the giveaway items but I decided instead to just make video.

Cephalopod Awareness Days 2012!

2012-09-30T09:06:00.000-04:00

It's almost the most important time of the year! Cephalopod Awareness Days are next week, October 8th through 12th. Of course as I have since 2008 I'll be holding a sale those days plus some giveaways.

I forgot that last year Cephalopod Days were extended from 3 days to 5 days, so I had only planned to do 3 giveaways. Now I promised a giveaway for each day and I'm sticking to that plan. Originally I was going to put up a trivia question each day but 5 days of trivia might be stretching things a little. So while some of the giveaway days will include a trivia question some will also feature other ways to enter the giveaway to mix it up a little bit.

Here's the deal:

15% Off all octopus, squid, nautilus, and cuttlefish jewelry in the Etsy shop. This is the biggest sale discount I run all year, so if you want to do some early holiday shopping here's your chance.
The giveaways will mainly happen through Facebook so please like my page so you will see the posts (though I will share the links to the Facebook posts on Twitter as well). I will be posting the giveaway each day at noon EDT. At the end of the action period (8pm EDT) I will draw one random person who completed the task to win the giveaway.
Octopus Day 10/8 - Dedicated to all the 8-armed species. Giveaway item is a 4"x5" Octopus in Kelp Forest print
Nautilus Night 10/9 - Celebrating the shelled cephalopods. Giveaway item is a 7"x5" Natural History Nautilus print
Squid Day/Cuttlefish Day 10/10 - For all the tentacled ones and the midpoint of the celebration. This is the biggest giveaway item, a one of a kind cuttlefish necklace.
Myths and Legends Day 10/11 - Release the Kraken! Giveaway is an original sketch.
Fossil Day 10/12 - To coincide with National Fossil Day we celebrate all the cephalopods of the fossil record. Giveaway item is an ammonite shell necklace.

If you want to learn more about Cephalopod Awareness days check out the official website or Like the Facebook page.

And the winner is...

2012-09-26T20:36:00.000-04:00

So the final tally for voting on the new animal ornament is in. The Dumbo Octopus won.

However I already make octopus ornaments so really that is just a variation not a new animal. So here is what I'm going to do. I will make a dumbo octopus variation on my octopus ornaments but I still need a new ornament design so that brings us to the runner up: the Sea Otter.

So I'll be making otters as well as dumbo octopus. I hope to have some of the new ornaments of both designs in the shop within the next couple weeks.