The Necessity of Product

Unfortunately in the world of art,  I do not currently live in a system where I can just magically apply to be an artist and have financial support to practice my craft on a daily basis. It's really rare in this word to be able to be a full time artist and still support yourself, and artists like me are often left with only a few options. 

1. Government grants (although the Canadian system is one of the only ones like it in the world, they're still super hard to get.) 

2. Find a job other than your craft. 

3. Teach your craft. 

4. Make artistically based product that you can sell.

I, currently, do all of these things. I have some grants, I help teach a class and I also work at an adorable coffee shop. This last year however, my product line has been a little lacking, and one of my goals has been to boost it up so that I can vend in the summer. 

My friend Christopher Ayling, who blogs thedailybetter.com, made this video this week, and I decided to accept his challenge of doing the thing that I want to get better at (producing product), every day.

The things that I will start producing are these microscope slide necklaces, which started, interestingly enough, with me making this pendant out of the sample that Christopher Ayling gave me for my family project. I get comments on it all the time, and I love that almost anything you want can go on that slide.

Eventually I will make custom ones, where people can send in whatever they want to be on the slide, like the biology of your loved humans or animal companions, earth from where you grew up, fabric from your favorite shirt that's now destroyed, a piece of a letter from your lover, paint chips from that apartment that you loved, etc, etc, etc. 

But for now I will make some slides with things like plants, earth, water, and other beautiful things that you want to see on a slide. My goal is to focus on product for at least 30 minutes each day, six days a week, with the intention of having enough product for the summer, so that I can vend and possibly made custom product on site at some festivals.

Yesterday I made this pendant that incorporates a broken labradorite stone I got in India, and a curl of hair from my grandmother in between the glass in the top. 

So thanks Christopher, for the push to get my butt in gear, and I see how I'll do!

What I'm listening to today as I work-