ACEO 365 - No.17 - 23

Here's an update on more of my recent ACEOs :)

No.17 - Border Collie dog in pencil and watercolour (Sold)

No.18 - Arthur Brown, a resident of Hexley, works at the Climatology Centre and sits on the Town Council. Drawn in pencil and painted in watercolours and acrylics.

No.19 - Chimp in watercolours and Quink with dip pen/ ink line work.

No.20 - Squirrel drawn in pencil and painted in acrylics.

No.21 - British landscape in pencil, watercolours and acrylics (Sold)

No.22 - Hexley pier, pencil, watercolours and acrylics (I'm planning on painting a larger version of the Hexley pier too)

And finally No.23 - Emperor penguins; pen, watercolour and acrylics (Sold)

These ACEOs (unless marked as sold) are for sale in my Etsy shop. I will be listing prints of the penguins and squirrel but if there are any of my ACEOs you would like prints of which aren't listed in my shop please let me know!

The next ACEOs I'm starting are of a swan and another landscape. I always like receiving your comments/ feedback :) - what are your favourite ACEOs or is there anything you think would make a great subject which I haven't done yet??

Pick of the week..

Don't these cakes look good enough to eat? They aren't cakes though, they are candles and wax melts made by Becky of Purple Sparkle Crafts.

I hadn't seen wax melts before coming across these - you melt them by placing one in an oil burner with a tealight underneath. They look so good though I wouldn't want to melt them!

Apart from the candles and melts Purple Sparkle Craft also sells bath and body products and original artwork. You can take a look at her shop on Etsy here.

Treasury feature

This morning I had a nice surprise and found out that I had been featured in an Etsy treasury :)

It includes my new ACEO of a Hexley resident called Arthur Brown. The treasury is titled A Mysterious Death and A Mysterious Stranger, I would never have thought of including Arthur Brown in a treasury like this but it works really well. The items were chosen by jewelryvixen and could be images taken from a scary murder story, I like that you could make up your own story with the items - what was the murder weapon? Is Arthur Brown the murderer or the victim??!

Sketchbook - Hexley research

Today I thought I'd just share a few pages from my Hexley sketchbook. Before starting new illustrations I wanted to do some more research, so here are a few of my sketchs on researching Victorian/ Edwardian homes which I plan to use when drawing houses from Hexley. :)

Hexley houses

Here are some more ACEOs from my 365 series. I am using this series as a good excuse for experimenting with different subjects and techniques, so here are 3 ACEOs of houses...

These are the sorts of houses you might find residents of Hexley living in. :)

No.14 Pen on watercolour paper

No.15 Pen and watercolour on watercolour paper (in the distance you can see a Solo Dirigible Balloon in use!)

No.16 Collaged pen drawing over red and gold wallpaper - I imagine that the wallpaper is decorating one if the rooms in these houses, and the garage on the left could be home to a Hexley carriage or is possibly a little workshop for one of the town's inventors!

As usual, all of these ACEOs are for sale in my Etsy shop :)

Buttons...

As promised here's an update on my vintage buttons. Finally the lounge floor is clear of buttons and I have sorted enough to photograph some and start to list them in my Etsy shop! :D

Thank you to everyone who commented on my last buttons post, it seems that the most important thing is good photos when selling buttons and knowing what they are made of doesn't matter so much. After reading the comments on the Etsy thread I started, and doing some further research, I think I can work out what some of the buttons are made of though.

I've tested some of the plastic buttons with hot water to see if they have a smell. - If it smells of formaldehyde it's bakelite and if it smells like vick vapour (camphor) it's celluloid. - I have some buttons that definately smell(!) but I'm not that sure of what!

These purple buttons had a strong smell, but I'm not sure if they are bakelite/ celluloid?

Some more purple buttons, these are light weight and have a metal back. From seeing others similar to this I think they are celluloid tight top buttons.

These butterscotch ones didn't have a smell and the colour on the ones with shanks is worn so you can see a lighter colour underneath, so they aren't bakelite.

I'm not sure what these black buttons are made of, but it's like pvc - they have a shiny but almost rubbery type texture.

If you think I'm wrong about any of these or have any other suggestions please let me know! :)

I was pleased with how the photos came out - the sunlight was definately better than artificial light. The only problem is that it's winter and we aren't getting many sunny or even half bright days so I don't know when I'll be able to photograph the next lot.

If you're interested in buying any of my vintage buttons I will be adding them regularly, so check my Etsy shop often for updates! :)

What's new?

It's been a while since I last posted here so there are a few things to catch up on.

Firstly; the free advertising space on Craft Count. My advert was on the site for about a week (longer than the 3 days I was expecting) and from Google analytics I can see that it led to some extra views in my Etsy shop. This was only 2, 3 or 4 extra views a day though and I don't know of any sales I had from that, although some of those views may turn into sales in the future.

As the Craft Count site is still new that probably affected the number of views I had. So my conclusion is that although it didn't lead to any sales now it was free, so worth a try, and I wouldn't rule out trying fee charging advertising on this, or a similar site, in the future when a more established site could lead to better views and hopefully sales.

I also wanted to share more of my recent ACEOs from the series of 365 ACEOs for the year - which I am quite behind on already :( Maybe 365 was a little ambitious!?

No.8 - An ink (Quink) drawing of the Invisible Man based on a project I did a while ago. This has sold already, but I might do some more on a similar theme. I like how black Quink, when mixed with water, splits into different colours from blues to yellows -it reminds me of the chromatography we did it chemistry lessons at school :)

No.9 - 13 are all kaleidometric patterns (patterns made from circles). When I was about 8 or so I was given a book about these patterns and have enjoyed making them off and on ever since. They are quite time consuming to make - each starts by drawing a pencil grid: drawing a circle with a compass and dividing that circle with other circles and lines. Then the patterns you see here are made by drawing shapes and lines based on, but not restricted to, the grid.

These are all mixed media pieces and I have used them to experiment with acyrlics (which I haven't used much for a long time), watercolours, different pens and ink.

These kaleidometric ACEOs and other ACEOs are for sale in my Etsy shop. :)

I haven't forgotten about my buttons either - they just take a long time to sort but I'm hoping I can post more on them very soon!