Cards

 https://www.etsy.com/uk/GwynnethRixon/listing/1042578752/trees-4-original-linoprinted-cards?utm_source=Copy&utm_medium=ListingManager&utm_campaign=Share&utm_term=so.lmsm&share_time=1627130179429

Not sure what I did there!! 

Stocktake done, some renewing started and one card listing done..I might reduce the price of some bigger prints later. 

These are what should be showing at the top- but they should also show on the Etsy link on the side bar.

And I updated my website as well...I will have to ask my brother if I did that correctly...we have it arranged that he can edit that as need be. I am very good at forgetting one last step...I must write down what that is!!

https://gwynnethrixonceramics.co.uk/news/16-restocking

Printing

 I am back in the laptop now for design work, and have wrestled with software new to me...plus remembering the old from a couple of years ago....

I have even got the laptop and the printer talking.

However I have been fooled by the printer not seeking to understand custom sizes...yet...

I want to print the back of some square cards....

Meanwhile I will stick with what the printer knows .....for now!!

The square card will have to have hand written backs...for now! 

Then they can go in the Etsy shop. High time I put more stick in there.

Tree walk

 We grabbed the chance of a walk around Hannahston reserve in a break in the wind and rain. It was a good chance to see how the brambles, hazels , elderberries and apples are ripening. Another week or so...maybe more...

Now back to eBay and bike bits..the sales are coming in...and Etsy needs some attention.

Helping others.

Power washing next door's patio.
One advantage of ghastly wet and windy weather...her grandkids will not be playing in the garden!

We are at present getting the tail end of a storm that has come over the Atlantic...I welcome the rain, but I am worried about the polytunnel. After all it is no more than a tent!!

An advantage of himself being out there? I get time to concentrate on ordering online from our usual health store company and wholefoods company.
I don't find it easy.  I have been putting it off. Silly really as they could take two weeks or more to be sent out...and who knows how long to get here.  However now I have started the process it should be easier to do it again.

Next to face putting more on Etsy.

An online artist acquaintance has started selling postcard size original paintings in her shop....perhaps I could do that with drawings? She charges £20 post paid, which is a bargain for her work.
How much would you pay for one of my drawings, postcard size?  Be honest!

Baking!!cards

100% Spelt bread (using my regular Rye sourdough starter) which took a day longer than expected to rise... well it is still chilly!
A beetroot and cacao cake using the Cranks cookbook recipe, a"pepper" cake...no actual pepper, but really an old fashioned ginger cake recipe that I had saved decades ago! It needs a few days to mature..then it is good with cheese.
And at the front a sort of granola bar with a bit of flour, not just oats, and peanut butter. Pirate likes them..I find them too peanutty and a little crumbly...work needed on the recipe which if I remember rightly is on the downsizer.net forum's recipe base, which I think anyone can access.

I have restocked the Etsy shop again..I was disappointed that the system hadn't kept the revised postage prices on the linocut cards packet..I checked after doing it, should have double checked.
More cards put in now, with dog drawings, and a set of bird drawings. 
I have shared them on fb, and will take photos for Instagram after lunch.
Drip feed stock on is the best idea...

Hopefully people will get the idea of keeping in touch by card and letter?

Still busy

We went shopping today..or rather Pirate ride shotgun and I shopped...armed with a list, us shoppers did the trolley dance around the shop...and luckily I got nearly all of The List!
Also three boxes..as Pirate is organising and mending his shed !

I have sold two packs of cards on Etsy..ok, to a fellow maker and blogger, but it is still a sale!! Incentive to carry on. More have been posted and shared and I will put more in the shop tomorrow.
My big job today after shopping was a baking session...pictures tomorrow as they haven't cooled down yet!!
We are both tired...but satisfied...an easy day tomorrow, and also we are promised someone to come and mend the soffit where the jackdaws have been trying to get in.

Up and...walking!

At last I have got something back in the Etsy shop! It is a beginning...I am aiming to have a page of prints on the blog as well...It is so long since I did the pots page, I have to work out how to do it!!

Taking stock

Starting with the small cards...
This is not my favourite job! However it must be done if I am not to get in a complete fangle.
I should be able to repost some on Etsy , just with an adjustment to the P&P as the postal rates have just increased.
Next up the larger prints, framed and unframed...then the pots.
Most of the pots are outside in the stock shed, so I am hoping for a little warmer weather for that job!

Meanwhile Pirate is busy spiking the lawns and filling a dip in the front lawn with a spare bag of earth.
I can't see the point....you can't eat grass!!

etsy shop ..Middle Road print

This is the print that I've tried on Fabbriano Uno paper that is 50% cotton fibre.
It is a cold press paper,as opposed to hot press..so a softer more textured surface.

There are three roads leading towards Girvan, this Middle Road goes directly from Maybole to Girvan.
Its a view I've seen many times on a cycle ride.

I've been changing prices on Etsy, some up and some down, reviewing the whole range including things not on there already.
I'm thinking of small prints, gift tags , notebooks... things easy enough to make and print.

A3 prints ( about 30 cm x 40 cm ) do present a problem.Not in packing,as the post office sell a nice wee box which 4.8 x 4.8 x 31.5 cm...but the problem is how this will be classified by the post office. If its a "medium parcel" it will be over £4 to send, and to Australasia over £5....even though this package with an A3 print in is under 100gm.  This calls for a visit to our best local post office in Prestwick.
Stand-alone post offices are few and far between here, and are worth supporting.

Now lets hope for a few sales, even if just on those I've reduced in price!!

I'm looking forward to getting the new small prints in the shop..with the cards and envelopes at £4, the small prints could be £2.50....

sales!! and wedding stress....

These will be winging their way to St Paul in Minnesota tomorrow morning, if I can get to the post office in time!!

Its a relief to think Yes, I AM doing something right!!

Wedding preparations proceed..unfortunately the Grouch who owns the village Beer Tent wont let us use it,so we are hunting around for as many gazebos as we can find!!  Grass has been mowed, patio pressure washed,yard swept....lets hope Mr Grumpy wont spoil the day.  (He is also the landlord of the pub where we will be getting married...we're working with his wife...long suffering, very hard working,marvellous cook.....)

We had been hoping to have straight line grass sprinting a la NZ and Oz...but if we have that on the village rec it involves risk assessments, pl insurance and possibly a council licence...£££££. Our one hope there is the Laird, who owns a lot of land...and who is coming to our wedding celebrations....!

We also have to think what will suit the coelics (allergic to gluten) , Crohn's disease sufferers, Lactose intolerants, veggies (most of my family) and vegans....

this covers about 20 + if not more...

But as the lady who is doing teas agreed,do something veggie and that often goes before all the veggies get to it!! 
The trick is to do something nice, don't tell the ones who don't need to know, that its special...and you all enjoy the same thing.

Now we understand why people employ others to organize weddings....

On sale...at last!

One listed, now the wording has been sorted, the rest shouldn't take too long

watching ink dry before selling

Similar job to watching paint dry...

The large oil based inkprints have been blotted twice,but the cold weather probably hasn't helped the drying process.

I'd hoped that the water based ink on the cards would have dried quickly, this morning's job is to blot them all. Once dried I can do the card backs and put them in the shop.

The next decision is how many per packet? I'll try them singly I think, plus one of each in a mixed packet.  It wont change the postage and packing unfortunately, so some might feel a multi pack would be a better bargain.

printing small blocks

First one..

then some....then many

Ten of each design...fifty cards.  It will be very good when these sell!!

I've worked late, but my study turns into a bedroom for two nights from tomorrow. It was a good incentive to get moving on this.

while watching the ceremony.....

The Closing Ceremony of the Commonwealth Games was both moving and entertaining in turn.
I've been glued to the laptop, watching different sports..or listening out for what I wanted to watch while being busy on other tabs!!
Before the Ceremony I got a sheets and towels wash through, and they dried beautifully in the sun and brisk breeze.

At intervals I added cards to the Etsy shop.

Luckily the dry washing came in before the Ceremony started, already dry,for as soon as it finished, down came the rain!
The house is clean and tidy (ish!) for The Oily One and a workmate should be here for a couple of nights this week.

Things can be too tidy..there is a small bag of mini pegs for hanging cards, somewhere....I've rigged up lines of thin twine on a wall to peg up the latest big prints to dry out of the way. It has been taking weeks, despite having been well blotted. Pegging it up will mean less chance of smudges, and more room in the house as they lie on a pasting table in the living room.

Can I find those pegs?

Here is the print..Old Hedge, Storm Brewing, Girvan Valley

cards on Etsy

I've had a sale!...only four cards, but incentive to put a few more in the shop.

I'll gradually put more in, more likely to get noticed than all at once.
Here's hoping for more sales!

doing the work

Selling is more work than you expect.
 Photographing, packing, composing the listing on Etsy, sharing that on fb and blog....At least once the paperwork is done and you get a sale,all you have to do is post it.

I'd rather sell locally, but there are no outlets suitable near here. There are craft markets and farmers markets..I should investigate these further, perhaps.

I do have memories of freezing markets with little sales so I don't feel too positive !!

I've made a start on the list,which is the main part of the job!

etsy shop preparation

portrait session for cards..hope to get some on there tonight

posting and keeping on

More cards in the Etsy shop.

Took a few of the new Seasonal ones to a cafe in Prestwick, but the new owners are not interested really...so I just left some seasonal cards and all of the images of the cafe .  Some will be good enough to sell elsewhere. I doubt if I'll see any sold by January, so I can gracefully retreat from there and try a cafe in Ayr.

Which has far better coffee....and exceedingly good food...and art on the walls....

Keeping on keeping on at home...looking forward to starting box moving next week. Sorting papers and filling the shredder and recycling and rubbish bins.

Keeping the Pirate going,but he is finding all this stress hard work.

I'm finding it hard to raise enthusiasm for training be it gym or the turbo trainer..I'd love just to go out and potter on the bike, but the thought of getting cold and gritty and wet.....we're missing the worst of the storms, but it still gets pretty miserable.

printing...

Making seasonal cards using a photo from our working visit to Skye last January. Funny how it can be easier to see the value in an image after a while...
must put some on Etsy tonight.

getting rolling again...

This year's seasonal cards have been started..I wonder if these will sell?

A batch of ink cartridges, with a10% off, cost about the same as our half-price new gardening tool....

We "bit the bullet" on both and bought, in the hope that we can earn something from them.

The Pirate enjoyed using his new toy, sorry tool!!