Merry-go-Round: Failure sucks: but Instructs.

It's time for another ride on the merry-go-round! Jump on and join a group of 9 artists/crafts-women as they link around the world and tell you a little about their lives in art and craft.

This month topic is: "Failure sucks, but instructs".

Recently I received a message from a fellow seller  in Dawanda, she asked me how to know what customers want and how to make sales.

I think the major failure to all of the sellers is that we cannot make sales. This especially sucks when you just start your business.

I haven't answer the question to the fellow seller yet. The main reason is that I really don't know how to answer it. I think it over and over in my mind and try to make a good answer when I drive or do some other things.

But all I can say is that you try to perfect what you are doing, don't worry too much on sales and customer likes. If you really have wonderful products, people will come to buy from you.

If you enjoy what you are doing and you don't need to worry about money, you can try to put all your effort to make beautiful and unique products. Something that people will say "wow" when they see it.

One thing I believe that in the Internet world, if you work hard, your products are unique and excellent, there are plenty of lovely people somewhere out there will notice them and buy from you.

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One excellent example is one of the friends that I get to know from Dawanda. She closed her shop a year ago and recently she just opened her shop in Dawanda again. She sells mainly watercolor paintings and prints. In about only a few weeks, she already sold many items. She has improved her products so much during the time she closed her shop and every item makes me feel so excited. You can visit her shop at:
http://en.dawanda.com/shop/Morgenlicht-Kunst

I want to learn from her as well.
That's all from me. There are many other lessons to learn as small business owners. It would be very valuable for you to visit others to find out more about it:

Jenny at Jenny Karlsson design
Wendren at Wren
Sara at Sara's Texture Crafts
Charlotte at Fancy Picnic
Marian, Florcita's Art
Agathe at Le Bar du Vent
Fabienne at Easterya
Ruth at Birdland Creation 

Red Bird Flower Abstract Art Square Glass Pendant

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This glass pendant is made based on the Bird and Rain painting. It is a square glass pendant of 1"/2.5cm.

 My baby gets used to the school these days. She no longer cries when I leave her to the teachers there. I am so relieved.

There were a big sale in Dawanda last week and I can only concentrate on processing orders most of the week. I hope to do some watercolor or acrylic soon.

Blue Bird Cherry Blossom Square Glass Pendant

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This is really a beautiful pendant.  Turquoise is one of my favorite colors. I love it in the bird. It is made of crystal clear beautiful hand-made glass tile by SunAndMoonCraftKits .

It sits so nicely with the pink jewelry box.

 

Hello! Girl Flower Garden Bird Laptop Skin and Print

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Hello little bird! A girl is talking with a little bird in her garden.

I like simple black lines and colors all the time. I was thinking of putting some colors on the tree, but later felt that the patterns of tree without color are better.

I am still trying to get more design of girls so that I can make a 2010 Girl, Spring and Nature calender.

Details of the Girl

You can see the wood block mounted print:

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The laptop skin is fresh and clean. It can match most of the laptop colors such as silver, black or red.

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Just some updates of my baby going to school. She cried so hard this morning when I tried to leave her there. I really feel like not to put her in school anymore. Sigh....

Twitting Among Cherries Bird Flower Recent Most Popular Print

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This is the recent most popular print: "Twitting Among Cherries".

My daughter started to attend a pre-nursery school these days. Today is the third day and I am so happy that she pretty much gets use to it already.

In the Flower Mountain Girl Dear Original Acrylic Painting

Acrylic on Stretched Canvas

size: 30 x 40"/76 x 110cm, $2800 (S&H not included)

I normally will look at the finished painting for a few days and examine it to see if there is anything that I need to modify. This is what I did to the Girl and Deer painting. I found that the lower part of the painting is not bright enough due to too much mixing with white colors. I used more birght colors instead this time and find that it looks more fresh and beautiful.

Today is a very fine day thus, the photo is much more brighter.

Tree Life Birds Abstract Landscape Glass Pendant

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I made some glass pendants these days for some customer orders. I like this one very much. It has rich color and beautiful shap of the tree.

 

The pendant looks very pretty in a jewlery box.

Girl With Dandelion Dress Garden Flower Romantic Print and Laptop Skin

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I have planned to develop a girl charactor series based on Spring and Girl and Peonies. This is the new one of Girl with Dandelion Dress. It depicts a girl walking in a garden path with abstract flowers.

The details of the girl is:

I am planing for a 2010 Calender of girl series if I can make 12 designs within time.

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Girl and Deer Flower Mountain Landscape Original Acrylic Painting

Acrylic on Stretched Canvas

size: 30 x 40"/76 x 110cm, $2800 (S&H not included)

I got this painted these two todays. It is a big painting and the way to paint it is very different from a small canvas. The acrylic paints tend to be bright when it is wet, but turn to be much darker when they are dry. Thus  you need to control the hues well.

I like the acrylic colors. When you put layers on canvas, the acrylic color will show a bit of the underneath colors. The mixed colors are very beautiful. See the detail below.

 

It is difficult to take a photo of such big canvas. I found that it is a bit fuzzy at the sides.

The painting will be hang on my living room now. But it is still for sale. As it is very big, I need to find out the shipping cost. If you are interested in it, please email me directly.

Interview in Dawanda Blog

I am so delighted to read my interview in Dawanda Blog about my art, inspiration and products. If you are interested, please read it there.

I am so happy that my art is well accepted in the Europe hand-made site. It inspires me to continue to work harder and develop new products.

St. Joseph Kindergarten and Girl and Deer Flower Landscape Print and Laptop Skin

 

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I am planning for the painting to be hang in the living room of my new home. This is the one that I am going to paint. The Girl and Deer. I try out the painting in the computer first. The actual painting will be in acrylic on stretched canvas.

Sometime, the painting is almost the same with the computer version, sometime it is a bit different. I think the acrylic painting has more texture and is not as even as the computer version.

St. Joseph Church Kindergarten

For the last few days I spent most of the time visiting kindergartens and child care centers and try to locate an ideal place for my daughter.

I have only two important criteria for an ideal school. They are 1) It ideally should have a big open space that do not need air-condition all the time. 2). It has caring and skillful staff.

I am delight to find the St. Joseph Churge Kindergarten. In a small country like Singapore, it is very difficult to find a kindergarten with bright, airy and very big class rooms and playground. It is also far from main road which means less traffic pollution and noise.

 

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Berry Bird Flower Tree Print and Laptop Skin

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Berry bird is vertical oriented print. Some of my customers want to have this in laptop skin. The laptop skin version is cropped in the center. I think it looks beautiful on a laptop.

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Relaxing in a Pond Bird Flower Garden Pink Print and Laptop Skin

This is the laptop skin of bird in the pond in pink version. There are many blue version printed. But this is the first time the pink is printed. It is really beautiful when you look at the actual print with very clear details. I didn't put it as a print in my store as I feel that the pink is not so nice. But after look at the print, I think it is perfectly beautiful as a print. Now it is here in the store and you just need to click the link below to order.

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Calla Lily Flower Watercolor Painting Art Glass Pendant

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This is for the love of calla lily that is made from the original watercolor painting. I think it is cool to wear an original watercolor painting pendant.

It's Friday again and the Chinese Mid Autumn Festival is near the corner. Which all of us have a wonderful weekend and festival.