Good photos vs great ones

I admit, I'm not the world's most devoted photographer. I like creating things. Really, it is just that simple. Photographing, marketing, and selling them afterward is something I have learned to do to keep from being buried alive in art. Ok, the money is nice too. Being a minimum wage faery is not all it's cracked up to be.

I realized that the single image I had of most of my paintings was inadequate. People like to have an idea of the paintings scale. The best measurement I have is myself (several of my paintings are just that big). So myself and two dozen paintings went out in the backyard. 100 mosquito bites later, I have my photos. If I seem to be glaring in them, that's what it is. Nothing personal. Ok, so I hate being photographed. It's still nothing personal.

Photographing sculpture is a whole different kettle of fish. I was taught in art school to photograph things against a white or 20% grey background. I started off doing that, but it just wasn't working for me. The contrast is too high, and the colors look dark and burnt despite Photoshop's best efforts.

Much as the guys at Regretsy like to make fun of reclaimed barn wood, photographing against a wood background gets me my best results. Have a look at this guy, I call him Trash Fire Santa. For max irony, the can is a candleholder:

White background meh, nothing special, wood background... just works. Which one would you rather pay $175 for?

So it's been 2 weeks since I last blogged, and I've been almost as busy as I expected. (The faire was rained out the weekend before last, which gave me an unexpected break.)

Oh, the faire. If I had enough money to not have to work, I'd buy a seasons pass to all the renfaires and travel. I'd have a blog on What Not To Wear- To Faire. In it I'd feature all the people who make suits of armor out of beer boxes, or who come cross-dressed as Dumbledore (yes, both have happened). With a sub-feature of What is that THING on your head? Because I've seen some doozies.

Several of my friends have complained of nightmares in the last week, and I've had some strange dreams myself. I quit sugar about 10 days ago, and most nights in my dreams I am scarfing it down. I wake up feeling vaguely guilty and unsure if I actually binged on sweets or not. Last night I was helping a man sell rabbits at a pagan festival.They came live, though if people requested it I would sell one as steaks. One day he hadn't made much, so instead of money he gave me a large dinner to take home(this was a long dream full of tedious details). There was a chocolate mousse and I ate it immediately. It's just weird, what my brain focuses on.

Finished Goblin King Santa and Witch Costume Santa. The weather has been poor for photography, either too sunny or gloomy- light cloud cover is what I aim for. So I have no photos yet. Got a bid on the Homeless Santa Luminary on Ebay, we'll see how that goes.

Scuse me, I need to mow the lawn before I go to work. All this rain you know. I'll try to post more regularly but since I'm working EVERY day I promise nothing.

Autumn Santas

I would have a lot to show you, because I've finished more wonderful autumn-themed Santas, but my husband took the camera to Dragoncon(lucky bastid), and I don't have a backup plan. So I'll have to wait until next week to introduce you.

I can describe them, I suppose. These are ornaments meant to hang. They are about 5" standing or 3.5" sitting. One is the 'Headless Horseman' or 'Pumpkinhead' Santa. Of course he has a shiny gold jack-o-lantern for a head. He has a black cloak thrown over his Santa outfit, with details picked out in metallic silver & gold.

The second is an Autumn Harvest Santa. He's dressed in autumn colors, and straw peeks out from his costume where fur trim usually is. He's like fat little scarecrow meets David the Gnome. He wears a little brown Santa hat with more straw and holds a pumpkin-shaped sign that says 'Give Thanks.'

Third... can I admit this is my favorite idea? We have psycho Santa. He's a dirty old fellow, his eyes are yellowed and creepy, and he holds a sign that says "I see you when you're sleeping." Great for your horror movie fan, will probably make children wet the bed.

Renaissance festival opens tomorrow. I'm feeling very anxious, but hopefully that will wear off and it will be like I never left. A lot going on at work. Less said, the better, but if it gets unpleasant I may be job hunting again soon. Family owned, family drama, I guess.

But really, life is good and I shouldn't dwell on the little problems. Til next week then!

How to work the renaissance festival, pt 2

There are about a million and a half shops at the ren faire, and they all have stuff for sale. If you've never worked faire before, you don't want to rent one of those booths. You want to work for one.

Two years ago I answered an ad on Craigslist, and got myself hired by a jewelry booth. We all got on great, and they've wanted me back every year. Let me say I was really lucky to get hired by a reputable company. The pay is ok and always on time. Some will try to pay you in goods.... it's nice if you like what they sell, but it's unprofessional, illegal, and should be a big warning sign that this may go badly. What OTHER unusual demands might they have? What safety precautions might they ignore? So check the local Craigslist the month before a faire, but screen the posts VERY carefully.

If you are a fan of a particular company or companies, email them in the weeks before a faire. Tell them what a fan you are and that you'd like to work for them. This targeted approach works well because people are flattered that you are already familiar with and like their goods. If they have the people they need, they'll tell you so. But they might also add that so-and-so could use someone.

Go to the renfaire's website in the month before the faire. Run down the list of links, and check out the sellers website. If they need a person for a particular faire, it may be mentioned there. Again, email or call.

Lastly, you can go on the opening day of the faire and ask around to see if they need anyone. Go in GARB. Go EARLY. Hit the booths before the noon rush comes. If you look well-dressed and reliable your chances may be pretty good. After all, they will be needing someone pretty badly at this point.

Hopefully this will help some of you achieve your dream ren faire job. It will never make you rich, but every day brings something new and unexpected. Good luck!

How to work the renaissance festival

I've been neglecting my blog for the last couple weeks. Trying to cram too much in the day, because I'm coming up on the busiest time of my year. Not Christmas, but the Ohio Renaissance Festival. It runs Labor Day weekend through most of October, and it is the most fun I've ever been paid to have. My 9-5 won't let me off the hook, so the next 2 months are going to be a crazy 7 day workweek. This will be my third year. Let me share with you how you can enjoy it too. This is tailored to O-Ren, but may be similar to other faires.

At the beginning of summer, the owner holds auditions. They cast the queen, court, and a number of street characters. Peasants. Your chances of being queen.....not good. They put the peasants through some training in Elizabethan accent, and turn them loose to entertain the patrons. This could be fun, except for the pay. It's per diem, which means per day, not per hour. The amount might cover your gas and maybe a meal at McDonalds. I have never done this.

There are the people who work the food and drink booths, and the ones on trash detail. The ones picking up trash wear tabards over boy scout uniforms. I gather that the faire owner gives a generous donation to their troop in return for their help. The food & drink servers are a mix of volunteers and minimum wage workers. If you have worked fast food, you've a good chance of being hired. They are cut loose pretty quickly if attendance is poor or the weather is bad- good if you want to wander the faire, bad if you're there to make money. In any case, it gets you an employee pass and a little money. Email the faire if you want to learn more about that.

There's one more way I know of for the average person to work faire. It's what I do, and I'll cover it in my next post.

Santa demystified

Have you ever wondered how Santa gets down chimneys? Why he never seems to age? Why he only delivers presents at NIGHT?

Allow me to introduce you.....

...to the cutest vampire Santa ever.

He's not quite done....eyelashes, gilding on the buttons... but I just wanted to share. I'm half-tempted to make him a matching Mrs Claus with a halloween hairdo, but I don't think the hair will fit in the coffin...

More haunted Halloween decor!

I picked this up with the idea of turning it into a sugarskull or a masquerade mask. But then I realized the weirdest thing I could do is make an ordinary fridge magnet. To hold grocery lists, keys, honey-dos, ultimatums....With an undertone of "This better get done before I do you like I did Bambi!"

Most people are going to look at this and think country western, but to me it just screams DARK ARTS!!! Harry Potter, Severus Snape, you know. It makes my whole kitchen spookier and I love it.