Saturday, January 21, 2012, 10am-2pm
Accessorize with Toys Workshop at the Exploratorium
1-2pm Makers presentation with Dale Dougherty (Make Magazine)
The Tinkering Studio’s OPEN MAKE: Toys event

WATCH  the video of our presentation on YouTube

This Saturday, Shana and I will be featured as spotlighted Makers with our Accessorize with Toys workshop for the Exploratorium’s Open Make: Toys event! Other Makers that will be there: Nathan Sawaya (amazing LEGO® brick artist, super famous!), I-Wei Huang (Toys for Bob, Skylanders developer), and Marek Michalowski (BeatBots LLC). Crafting, robots, and LEGO®, oh my! Below is a screen shot of the webpage for the event:

From 10am-12:30pm we will lead our hands-on projects of Charm Bracelets (intermediate skill) and Expressive Name Badges (all levels). You can find us at the Tinkering Studio area (see map, green area). Then, from 1-2pm we’ll be in the McBean Theater (see map, red area) for presentations and interview with Dale Dougherty, founder and editor of MAKE Magazine and Maker Faire. Q&A with the audience to follow. It’s going to be sweeet! And it’s all included with general admission to the Exploratorium. A collaboration between the Exploratorium, MAKE Magazine, and Pixar Animation Studios, Open MAKE is a monthly program highlighting the tools, techniques, and ingenuity of local Makers.

Read up on all the Makers on the Tinkering Studio’s website; well done bios. Here’s a screen grab of part of ours, or you can check the full version online

And I never cease to be amazed by how far my photos go of my artwork. The museum decided to choose the image of my Blue Steel necklace, photographed by Aura O’Brien Photography!

As I say from time to time, “Cleveland Rocks!” To read the online version, go to cleveland.com or click here to see a larger image.

I’ve been busy making my NEW stillego pinwheel hoop earrings, which are so very rockstar and I can’t stop wearing them myself, they are so lightweight, fun, and has been getting lots of attention around town. And special for the holidays, I’ve whipped up some cutie LEGO® minifigure ornaments for the oh-so-affordable price of $15 ($20 for Star Wars); how could you possibly resist now? What’s that, you say; you can’t make it on Dec 9? No worries, the gallery has some of my work in the store for the whole month (ornaments are only available at the gallery), and of course you can buy gifts online on my etsy and my rewarestyle.com website 24/7.

have a hoop custom made like this "Smoke"

minifig ornaments!

On Saturday, Dec 10, from 12-4pm our Accessorize with Toys Workshop will be doing a drop-in Ornament Making afternoon for $15. Some of our primo reclaimed toy parts will be on hand to get crafty with! Extra fun with glue guns!

make your own ornament like this person did last year @ Workshop

Here are the details:
Friday, Dec 9, 4-8pm:
emiko oye Holiday Trunk show

Saturday, Dec 10 12-4pm:
Drop-in Ornament Making Workshop

Urban Interstice Gallery
3443 26th St @ Mission St  SF 94110 

For the month of October, art jewelry web retailer, Object Fetish, is featuring my jewelry and doing facebook promos as you see here in their e-newsletter. Just go to Object Fetish on Facebook, sign up, and get 5 friends to sign up and you’re ALL entered into the drawing! With more drawings for bracelets to come. Object Fetish is a great site, international scope, and certainly an honor to be featured. Go see my page on their site!

And even better, Daily Candy featured our group as the poster child for Open Studios in The Weekend Guide which came out yesterday. Check out the post. Couldn’t ask for better promo to peeps who live in the neighborhood!

Tonight, Friday, Sept 30 from 6-8pm is our Opening Reception, so this is a great chance to scope out our entire lines before we start selling like gangbusters this weekend! Everyone is welcome.

Artists are: Kelly Nedderman, Rebecca Deans, Jenny Reeves, Masami Kelly, Raissa Bump, me, Derek Duncan, Shana Astrachan, Jeff Burwell, Jenny Windler

Here are the details:
What: Open Studios with 10 Members of the Metal Arts Guild
Where:  724 Studios in the Mission
724 Valencia St @ 18th St (next to Mission Cheese), SF CA 94110  googlemap here
When:  Opening Reception Fri, Sept 30, 6-8pm
Sat, Oct 1, 12-7pm
Sun, Oct 2, 12-5pm

Also find our event on Facebook !

me and Rebecca Deans at Opening Reception

Jennifer Shaifer, Harriete Estel Berman, Garth Johnson

Joining us throughout the hour will be three of the symposium presenters: Jennifer Shaiffer (historian and gallerist, NYC), Harriete Estel Berman (artist, Professional Guidelines founder, ASK Harriete blog), and Garth Johnson (artist, educator, writer, ExtremeCraft.com).

If you would like to call in and say hi or ask a question, you can call: (646) 716-5718. Don’t worry if you can’t tune in live, it will be archived for future listening!
Go to: Metalsmith Benchtalk on Blogtalk Radio .

TIP 3: Take Note & Be Accessible

LEGO party, photo by Becca Bond, styled by Anders Ruff

Pay attention to how people respond to your work, feedback from your customer base, and who your customers are/what your niche market is. For instance,  I discovered early on that my largest client base were moms, not young women. Be open to feedback about your designs and don’t be afraid to ask what they would be inclined to purchase (“If I designed this as a pendant would you be interested in it?”)

Be Accessible: means have a web presence. As I’ve said in my lecture, “If you aren’t online, you don’t exist”. Sounds harsh, yes, but we live in a global marketplace, largely due to the accessibility that online markets afford. Invest in the time to set up a website or blog, an online store either through your website, Etsy, Supermarket, Custommade, or any of the other online retailers out there.

Also get involved in social media: have a business page on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, and connect with other crafts people on crafthaus.ning.

Have as many of your professional images posted online, along with your artist statement and image description. Flickr is great for setting up collections of your work. Add descriptions and make sure to do those tags!

This weekend is my biggest craft show of the year and my debut on the main floor of the American Craft Council Show at SF Fort Mason Festival Pavilion! Starting Friday, Aug 12 through Sunday, Aug 14, it’s THE CRAFT EVENT to see; this year it is only one pavilion and so the creme of the crop craftspeople have been juried in (I’m honored to be among them!). I’ve been busy making new work and setting up my magical lego “tea party” themed booth (special thanks to my professional artist friend, Aimee Golant for her expertise in booth setup).

It’s going to be AMAZING, plus there is a full line-up of artisan live demos all weekend, and a Hot Glass and Beer event on Friday. TODAY ONLY you can get 50% discount off the admission ticket (normally $12) by purchasing online through EventBrite using discount code: SF2011GUEST. Click HERE to get discount tickets.
Come by and say hi, get a home-baked treat and see what I’ve been up to these last few months at the bench! Note: parking is tricky up there at Fort Mason on the weekend, so consider public transit, carpooling, or parking in the outlying neighborhoods.

DETAILS:  American Craft Council Show
Where: Fort Mason’s Festival Pavilion, SF
Booth: 630, East Wall, mid-back
When: Friday, Aug 12, 10am-8pm  ($5 happy hour discounted tix after 5pm!)
Saturday, Aug 13, 10am-6pm
Sunday, Aug 14, 10am-5pm
Admission: $12 regular (discounted tix online through Aug 11)
url: http://shows.craftcouncil.org/sf

new work by emiko-o. model photo by Aryn Shelander

Winters Brush

Tip 2: Take Risks, Don’t Get STUCK: Balance

No one wants to be pegged as a one-trick pony, so even though you may sell a ton of one design in one style, don’t get stuck just putting all your focus on making the same thing over and over. Sure, making new work is a risk, but you have to allow yourself to play (don’t put the pressure on yourself that everything you make has to be a hit seller) and make work that you enjoy. I’m not saying to abandon old pieces that have sold for years IF you still ENJOY making them. Making work just for the money shows through to your customer, plus the work that you love is much easier for you to sell.

Maharajah's 6th and jedi gem bracelet

Balance: I’m a staunch believer in making important exhibition pieces as well as production, ready-to-wear. While the exhibition work may take longer to sell if at all, it definitely helps bump up the perception of value towards your production work. Once you start showing in exhibitions in galleries and museums, your work gets broader exposure (more press!), and validates you as a serious, skilled artist in the eyes curators, buyers, and collectors.

seattle times & American Craft articles

Tip 1: Professional Quality Photography

This is THE MOST IMPORTANT TIP for getting exposure for your business, if you are overwhelmed and don’t know where to start, focus on getting professional photography of your work. Less than professional photos will not bode well on how you as an artist are perceived by the industry/editors/curators. First impressions are everything so why not wow people’s socks off from the get go!

If you aren’t a skilled photographer (yet), best to hire a professional studio photographer and ask if you can observe the shoot. Some won’t mind if you quietly look on while they shoot your pieces, but it’s best to ask.  Do your homework before your appointment and look at magazines and books for the type of shots that you are attracted to and bring these to the attention of your photographer so they know how to style your shots. Also, if you have strong ideas for the composition of your shots or how the pieces should be oriented in the shots, do some quick mockup drawings or quickie photos to give to your photographer. ALWAYS GIVE PHOTO CREDIT TO YOUR PHOTOGRAPHERS for images that you use, for print and web.

Lark Books (Sterling Publishing) and their 500 series is a great place to start looking at photos. Just released this week is their “greatest hits” of the 500 series books, titled, 21st Century Jewelry: The Best of the 500 Series. I was one of the jurors for this compilation and you can read my quotes and see my work in this hardbound, gorgeous publication. Available now on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

photo by emiko

If you want to take your own photos, make sure you are using a camera that is not a point-and-shoot (or your smartphone), but more on the professional level. There are camera stores that will rent cameras, lenses and lighting by the day, and this a great way to test out equiptment before investing in your own. As I started taking more photos with work on a model, I needed a lens other than my usual 90mm macro, so I rented a great portrait lens (24-105mm) for a few shoots at $30 a day, which is a deal compared to how much it costs to buy that lens new ($1100). Now I own that lens, but it was worth it to test it out before making such a big investment. Make sure to use a TRIPOD so that your photos are as crystal clear as possible. You don’t need a fancy set-up or even lights; for years I shot in the bathroom over the tub using natural light since it was a diffused white and perfect for what I was shooting. Check out my current set up in my living room:

Shoot TONS of photos, more than you think you need. And shoot in RAW mode if possible. Shooting JPGs means that your losing information in your files as they are compressed.

After shooting your photos you will need to be well-versed in photo editing software like Photoshop. Taking a class at a community college is great for keeping up with the latest versions of software. Fortunately, software is getting easier to use, and what used to take an hour to digitally correct, can now be done in a few steps with programs like Adobe’s Lightroom and Camera Raw photo editors. Online tutorials like lynda.com are super informative, especially if you have specific tasks or tools you want to focus on learning. You will need to understand how to create files from your master image for print and web for magazine/book publishing, for juried show applications, and for online viewing.

One interesting thing I’ve noticed over the last few years is that editors are drawn to images of jewelry on models, rather than just jewelry by itself, even if the jewelry is not the focus of the image. Model shots tell a story, give a human element, plus add a reference to scale of the work in relation to the body. Much more editorial and eye-catching to grab a reader’s attention. I suggest shooting both the work on the model and by itself so you have options for different scenarios (online shopping sites vs. jewelry book vs. fashion blog). Practice really does make perfect, the more you shoot, the better trained your eye will be! Last, but not least, experiment and have fun!

Read more about Professional Quality Photography on this week’s ASK HARRIETE blog.

photo by emiko

photo by Aura O'Brien Photography

photo by Aryn Shelander