Shipping Nationwide

I have been entertaining the possibility of nationwide (and eventually worldwide) shipping for a long time. It is kind of hard to do, seeing as I'm 15 and don't have a credit card, but it's definitely a future possibility. I am looking to expand our little business and I think this would be a good place to start.
I do have an Etsy shop and while I can't use it now, it will be available to me and all of you in the future. I guess I'll settle money payments that way, so that takes care of that. Probably through PayPal. (Note: I tend to undercharge according to friends/family. So if you think you're getting a good deal, then you probably are. But it's gonna change when I start to include shipping factors. Read on.)
The only real issue is packaging. Boxes cost a lot, so that will increase the price considerably (too bad for you, but I guess you already know and are used to that). I can deal with that. But then there is the issue of the fragility of my items. I tend to sculpt small scenes that are very detailed and could fall apart easily in the mail. I think this could be avoided for the most part with proper packaging, and this is where I need help. For those of you out there who ship miniatures elsewhere, especially polymer clay miniatures, please advise. How should I package them? When I bring them to my friends at school or whatever, I use small boxes with stuffing. The stuffing keeps them safe in my backpack, etc., but it would definitely not hold up in the mail. As soon as I can figure out this issue (and don't tell me to not include fine details. They're my signature thing. I mean, I'll try to make it a little less detailed, but really. You can't know what is or isn't going to fall apart until the person who ordered it contacts you all angry saying it arrived broken into a million pieces.) and the issue of payment methods (which should get resolved with age- I know most of you out there are thinking that it is ridiculous to expect a 15-year old entrepeneur to start this), I will start to ship nationwide. So expect it in the future.
Another note: I think I mentioned this in the last post, but again- the website is still having problems that Cali and I are working to fix, so to keep up-to-date with pictures of stuff we've made, check out Flickr (Firefox979). See you later, hot potater!

Formspring/Flickr

Our website has been having problems lately, because I think we've reached the 'storage limit' and can't fit anymore pictures- or that's what I thought until we deleted some pictures and the new ones still wouldn't upload. So rely more on Flickr now. If you have any idea how to fix the problems we've been having with http://www.webs.com/ then please let us know.


Here's the Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/firefox979


I recently discovered a nice little question/answer website called Formspring (perhaps you've heard of it?) and created an account there. I actually created one because of another polymer clayer, theshiri on Formspring (check her out and tell her I sent you!), who does really awesome really cute stuff on YouTube. So, ask me questions there too and don't be afraid to be anonymous. Here's the Formspring: www.formspring.me/firefox979


The picture is of the earrings I made Caitlin, made to look sort of like granite. I caned them using two canes, 3 colors each. Really simple. Canes took me 2 minutes each to make, earrings maybe 6 minutes each. But they turned out awesome. The letters imprinted in the middle are her initials- C and N.

Student work

My friend Caitlin was at my house the other day with her little brother, Christopher. It was some sort of party. I showed her my art room and the Clay Table, and she loved the miniatures/jewelry but was scared of the idea of sculpting.

I kept encouraging her and saying that there was no wrong way to do it because it's art and stuff like that. That's the good thing about sculpting- you can do whatever you want with it. She had had experience with ceramics- actual clay- before and quickly recognized that in theory this wasn't much different, but in actuality, there were a lot more options with polymer clay. I started her off with some small models to copy- a flower stud earring, a donut. Soon she became bold enough to do something of her own- a plate of pancakes. I let her use some of my pre-made syrup- TLS with soft pastels. Here's a picture. I also made her earrings while she was there. The flower is GITD, BTW.

I call it 'student work' even though she's technically not my student, but if/when Cali and I do start teaching, I would start off with simple things like food and this is probably how it would turn out.

Thanksgiving...or Christmas? And soft pastels

Guess what? Right. I went to Michaels again. So did Cali. We also went to the gallery and submitted more scenes/jewelry. But you know what's disappointing? I keep forgetting to take pictures before I submit them. Well, more like, I cook/glaze/finish them last minute and don't have time to take pictures. I need to stop that. It's sad. But oh well, there'll be more cool work in the future. Just not enough space...on our website. I'll work something out.
As for what I got, that would be...eight packs of clay, gold powder (funny story- Cali spilled most of hers today and now her floor is sparkly), and nature mini cookie cutters (Sculpey brand).
As for what we submitted, Cali put in three pairs of earrings and took two out (the ones with the old finishings and without glaze). She's already on Christmas stuff. I put in a double set of earrings, ghost studs and pumpkins. They're really not all that heavy, but they look like it. I also put in a scene, a fall/Halloween scene with a girl under a tree reading a book with a black cat. She's leaning against the tree next to the hay bale with a pumpkin on it. It took a while, which is why it's the only scene I brought this time. I used translucent for her skin instead of flesh to see the effect, and it looks like she's a porcelain doll. It's pretty neat.
So as for the holiday seasons, Cali and I are in disagreement over something. Now, I know the stores usually go like five seasons ahead with their decor, and she wants to start with Christmas stuff now (skipping Thanksgiving entirely) while I think we should do Thanksgiving now and wait until after Halloween do start doing Christmas stuff. What do you think? Should we be doing Thanksgiving...or Christmas? Leave me a comment telling me. What season are you buying for?
I still have the pumpkin tutorial up and Cali managed to make use of it (no one else has said anything about it, so does it work? Or not? If it doesn't I may as well take it down). I'm thinking of doing an actual video for YouTube, where all the other awesome tutorials are. That would be a good idea. I'll start experimenting. But there is one thing I need...time.
Now, since you've been so good at listening/reading so far, I will give you another idea. I've been watching tutorials on YouTube and I've noticed that one cool tool a lot of the sculptors use is...are...soft pastels. They're really good for subtle coloring. Great for mixing with TLS to make stuff like syrup (on pancakes) among other things. Buy them at Michaels and Hobby Lobby and other places that sell craft stuff. If you already use them, tell me what you think. I've just started using them but they're pretty neat.
So...bye for now! A bientot! (Yes, I'm taking French)

Pumpkin Tutorial

I finally made that pumpkin tutorial, converted it to a PDF, and here it is. I'm not sure if it works, so please tell me if it does or doesn't. I'm new to this whole PDF thing.

http://www.filejumbo.com/Download/E43243046F41AE36

Michaels Haul, Art Gallery, and Fall!

I finally added the Codex to the sequel site, so if you've been waiting for those (not that you have) then there they are. I apologize about the lack of new pictures, but the storage limit is pretty close and we'll have to do some Fall Cleaning there.
I just went to Michaels again and got soft pastels, a carrying case, more colors, and more tools. Never can get enough of that place. I'll include a picture.
I used the pastels to do a little pancake project off of a tutorial on YouTube, and if you want the channel and all that, the link is...on the sequel site blog. Yes. So if you want it, you have to make a little detour. Hope it's worth it (it totally is).
So our work is now in the Market Street Art Gallery, and if you want details, check out the YouTube vid. Find me on YouTube under Firefox9799, or just search 'AwesomeClaySculpting'. We're pretty psyched about being able to sell stuff and all that, not that anyone will actually buy, but we're proud. We got some requests because of it, too.
Some of the scenes I included are the Pumpkins/hay bale scene (on Flickr) and the Graveyard Scene, which has yet to be photographed. Maybe I'll stop by and take a picture of it in the gallery to make it official. Cali included basically earrings, pendants, and a scene/figurine or two. I did two scenes, a simple Fall earring set, and a Halloween bookmark, 3 of which haven't been photographed yet because of time limits and their simplicity. I'll make better ones and take a picture. So, see you soon! Bonsoir and au revoir!