Dawn Whitehand: Visual Artist
christmas
Sunday Studio visit – Glazing in the Studio
Its a bit of a dreary Sunday today with lots of (more) rain! So I have been catching up on some glazing in the studio….
{insert pic here} oops sorry folks, forgot to take it!! lol….
Glazing of children’s works created during the school holiday workshops a couple of weeks ago – during the workshops we made Christmas plates and decorations decorating them with coloured slips…. so today I applied a clear glaze to the kids plates and decorations which will make them shiny:
The other glazing I began was the custom order I have for two hundred (yes 200) Christmas snow flakes which i received via my ETSY shop. the test turned out great so I am doing the mass production thing for a couple of days!!
If you would like to place a Christmas decorations order best do it NOW to ensure pre xmas delivery – message me here or place a custom order through ETSY 🙂
And of course the kiln is loaded with the glazed lovelies from today!! And overseen by the kiln goddess…
Well that’s about it for today – have a great Sunday/Monday/Week 🙂
Shop Small this Christmas and Support Handmade
Next Saturday, 28th November, is shop small Saturday. This is a great opportunity to do some Christmas shopping and support small business at the same time. And if you buy from a maker you are also purchasing a unique gift that is sustainable and has been made with care, rather than a mass produced product from a department store.
I have a great range of gifts in both my ETSYÂ and MADEITÂ stores to suit foodies, jewellery lovers, men and women, teachers gifts, hostess gifts, and custom orders are welcome.
As well as Saturday being Small Business Saturday, Friday is Black Friday (the Friday before Thanksgiving, which we don’t do here in Australia, but Etsy is an International platform so I am joining the fun) and Monday is Cyber Monday – what a mouthfull!
So to celebrate this weekend shopping extravaganza I have a coupon code giving a 10% discount in my #ETSY store
Christmas is looming though so cut off order dates are listed below 🙂
Also enjoy a slide show of some gift ideas for you, your family and friends.
Sunday Studio Visit – Christmas and Etsy
Yes, my Sunday studio visit is late AGAIN!! but that’s what makes it intriguing, isn’t it?
Oh well…
Today (or yesterday) has been all about playing with Christmas decorations and jewellery pieces that I unloaded from the kiln this afternoon – they are still warm as I thread ribbon through angels and wire wrap findings for ceramic earring pendants.
I have been selling alot on ETSY lately (well alot for me) which is great, and my aim is to add as much as possible for the Christmas season – I have so many pieces finished, but have not had time to photograph them and/or edit the pics and tailor the listings… these are very time consuming tasks – but I have set myself the goal (and it is now public) so there will be no stopping me now!!
So without further ado these are some pics of what I have been working on and keep an eye on my ETSY store for further additions to your Christmas shopping list 🙂
Boxing Day Sale
I have lots of new products to add to my ETSY and MADEIT stores in the New Year, so I need to make room for them.
To this end I am having a Boxing Day Sale in both stores beginning at 12.01am on the 26th December and ending at midnight – Australian time. Both stored will have 15% off storewide including FREE shipping Australia wide and very reasonable international shipping.
Use the coupon code boxingdaysale at checkout in both stores to activate your discount.
Until then have a great Christmas 🙂
Sunday Studio Visit – Custom Orders
Today in the studio I am firing the kiln …. it is a student firing full of stoneware works.
While the kiln has been bubbling away, I am putting finishing touches to some custom orders I have received through both my ETSY and MADEIT shops.
Custom orders occur if a buyer likes a certain product but want it in a different colour, or if a customer wants something specifically made for them.
Today, for example I finished a custom order on MADEIT where the customer liked a tapas setting but preferred a different colour…
It is fun making custom orders, but can be at times scary when it comes to ceramics – there are so many variables. But (knock on wood) I do tend to have a low attrition rate. When I make custom orders I tend to make two of the item in case there is cracking, warping or a glaze fault, and if both products pass muster (which they usually do) the spare gets listed in my shop. If not, the ‘second’ ends up in my own kitchen, much to the pleasure of my partner – who does 90% of the cooking!
As well as finishing the custom orders I also made a couple of handbuilt vessels – since I was rolling out clay anyway – one vessel will be part of my MADE BY NATURE series, and the other was a little experiment…. just for fun!
So, I will leave you with some pictures of the custom orders I finished off today 🙂
If in Australia you have until December 12th to place an order which you should receive before Christmas…. international orders should be placed by December 5th. Orders can be placed after this date, but there is no guarantee they will reach their destination before Christmas.
Buy Handmade for Christmas
OK, I am going to do the annual bang on about buying handmade this Christmas – but it is really important!!
We live in a world of mass production and mass consumerism, and this can be an alienating influence on how we see ourselves in the world!! Buying handmade helps to heal some of the disconnect we feel from society and ourselves. How? Because a handmade product comes directly from the maker…. it contains their passion and emotion, and this flows through as the product is used in our everyday lives – whether it be jewellery, tableware, sculpture, drawings, journals, clothing….everything…. we touch it and it touches us.
This is why I am so passionate about being an artist and a maker.
In this post I am going to concentrate on my MADE IT store. I joined Made It a few years ago, out of curiosity and to check it out when I began designing tableware and jewellery under my brand DeeDeeDeesigns. I began stocking my shop earlier this year, only with my tableware, wanting to concentrate on promoting this range.
The thing I like about Made It is that is all about handmade, and is a platform only for Australian sellers. While purchases can be made internationally, the product you are buying is 100% Australian made – this is great for the economy and great for Australian makers.
It just so happens that this week IÂ am a pick editor on Made It…. so click HERE to view lots of great Aussie gift ideas just in time for Christmas!
In the meantime here are some pics of some of the handmade tableware available in my Made It store – bowls, coffee cups, tapas sets, condiments dishes, candle holders, trinket dishes – all great for Christmas gifts, including secret santa and teacher gifts, or even to adorn the Christmas table!
Want to Give Handmade this Christmas?
This post may be a little late, but I have been ssooo busy creating stock for the ‘makers’ hubs I am participating in this year for Christmas!
If you are in Ballarat or surrounds, or if you feel like a country drive, you can visit me – and other makers – at two locations this week.
I am participating in the Pop Up Collective at Backspace Gallery in Alfred Deakin Place this coming weekend, Friday- Sunday, and I will also be selling tomorrow night (Thursday) 5-9 at the Makers Hub at Mitchell Harris Wines, where Sagria, gourmet pizzas and exclusive shopping will all be featured under the one roof!!
Now if you aren’t in the Ballarat area you can always visit my Etsy shop for unique handmade Christmas gifts, which if you order within the next week or so should be delivered before Christmas day ( hello Australia Post).Â
Can’t decide what you would like to give as a gift?? My Etsy store also accepts Etsy gift cards, which can be redeemed for anything in store!!
If jewellery or ceramics are not your style I also have handmade sculptural paper works at the Unicorn Lane Gallery on display till the 20th December, and available for sale. These delicate works would make beautiful and unique Christmas pressies for the art lover in your family or circle of friends.
So, I hope I have cleared up some Christmas shopping dilemmas…. and below are a selection of images available in the “Makers” hubs I am participating in…. ( the faceted bowls are exclusive and are not available on Etsy)Â
UNIQUE CHRISTMAS GIFTS: ORDER NOW IN TIME FOR XMAS DELIVERY
UNIQUE CHRISTMAS GIFTS: you can purchase limited edition fine art prints and gift cards featuring my ceramic sculptures from my online Facebook store.
More gift options are available from my Fineart America profile, and I am also available for personalised orders and commissions.
Oder NOW in time for Christmas :-))
The images shown below are of an artwork Lava Rock that has been acquired in the Gangjin Celedon Museum Gangjin, South Korea. The detail image is available as a gift card or fine art print. There are many more on the links provided above. If you see a sculpture or texture that is not available let me know and I can create it as a print or card.
All Prints and cards are LIMITED EDITION.
Sorry to go all commercial on you, but as an artist I’d rather sell art than get a 9-5 in an office!!
HAPPY CHRISTMAS SHOPPING 🙂 (of course they are also great for birthdays, anniversarys, etc)
This work by Dawn Whitehand is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.