Store Updates and Upcoming Projects

The photos are complete!  Listings are up, and that means I did about 18 in a day.  10 for the bookmarks alone and another 8 for kanzashi pieces! 

Bookmarks came out awesome! I really hope they sell.  And I have already sold off one of the kanzashi, the denim blue kiku. 

I also just finished checking inventory for a very special project. 

Since our kickstarter has officially failed, we are moving on to the website to open our own store front where people can donate money to receive kanzashi made by the artisans in the group.  Truthfully we had many people donate and we still wish people to be able to recieve the rewards promised in the kickstarter.  There will also be a strictly donation feature, so that if you do not wish to recieve anything for donating, you don't have to.  All funding will go directly to the publication of the book.

I am making several pieces, including single flower hair sticks in a range of color choices, as well as large pieces like the Big Blue Beauty and the tutorial rose.  Bobby pins will also be available, but only because they have already been made. I have a TON of little orange and pink blossoms to put on bobby pins. I might make some in the other color selections, but no more of the pumpkin orange and coral. 

So far the different color hair stick selection will be white/ice blue, baby pink/coral, pumpkin orange/coral, pumpkin orange/goldenrod, black/china red, and midnight purple/tea green.  I want to incorporate as many color variations as i can, but without over-investing myself.  As it is i have to make five of those each.  YAY *sarcasm*, but it will be easier than making 30 of the same color combo. 

I am also trying to get that custom order out of the door as quickly as possible.  I have the first one thread wrapped, but not the second.  With my wrist acting up it has been difficult.  The first one was very difficult to finish.  But I have been resting the past few days focusing on updating things like listings, deviantART, and coordinating with Ariel, the team leader for TZARTISAN. 

Also on the docket, I get my insulin pump on Monday, March 7.  I am beyond elated.  As a diabetic, I have worried so much about food, weight management, injections 4-5x a day. Yeah  you read that right.  Sometimes it's 5 injections a day.  And I cant have all those needles and stuff around my autistic son, and it limits my activites. As it is I have signed up for a camping trip with my daughter for girl scouts, and I wouldn't be able to go if a) they didn't let me bring my own food and b) i was injecting insulin.  Its too unpredictable.  Too many things go wrong.

Ok, off the diabetes rant.  

But the point of that was, I will have an easier life overall, and hopefully I can get all these projects out the door in time. Ugh.

TZARTISAN Still Going, Store Updates, Personal Stuff

Bookmarks are finished!
I have about 50 or so that have tassels and another 30 or so without. Some were just too big to leave space for a tassel.  Next up is photos and listings, which will take some time. I plan on breaking them down by tassel color and the variant patterns therein. Each bookmark has a different pattern, even the ones cut from the same paper set. It's going to mean a lot of photos, and a lot of photoshop. 

I also finished the small side piece that's part of my big custom order.  It came out awesome! And i have learned to balance the weight with these things petty well. It's the same color scheme as the two bouquet pieces, but for some reason the colors come across much more vividly than in previous attempts at photography. 

Custom Hair Clip

I still have a few pieces to put finishing touches on, like that pink and white kiku and a more casual round petal kiku in two shades of denim blue. That one is getting a clip.I need to do more clips.

And with the sale of two hair stick flowers, it's more inventory that needs replacing.  But exposure is way up, and my Etsy site is racking up the hits. So i am not complaining about replacing inventory,  lol.  And I have a ton of fabric in stock to work with. Good times!

It looks like big blue beauty is going to be sold off for funding the tutorial book project. I'll give details on that when I have them. That's all part of the TZARTISAN team development and ideas being passed around.  I would love to see her go to a good home. I was going to keep her, but she's more of a cosplay piece.  I don't generally wear stuff with a bira bira. If I had to pick one to keep, I'd remake my wisteria piece. Without a doubt. If I ever find the time.... not that THAT is a bad thing. It's been a good kind of busy on this end. 

Especially in personal areas.  I've had a lot of struggles with my insurance, but several of my doctors are going out of their way to help me.  It has been a challenge, but I am getting the services I need.  And with those doctors, we have made several breakthroughs that will get me back on track to better health.  

Ok fine.  I'll just tell you.  I'm a Type 1 diabetic, with endometriosis, and bipolar disorder. I have a slight PTSD because of my 5 year old hyperactive autistic son I have to watch constantly.  My husband and daughter are both severely ADHD.  My life revolves around medical stuff. 

So why do kanzashi?

It's my passion, it gives me something to look forward to every day.  Custom orders keep me going in life.  I don't care about the money, I never really did.  It's nice, but I always spend it on more supplies, more books, more projects.  Or sometimes I help out a friend.  Or I fund a tutorial book, lol.  But kanzashi to me, is something not medical.  It is a beautiful creation of meticulous love.  It isn't counting carbohydrates, or taking injections, or having 10 different alarms on your phone for keeping track of blood glucose testing, pill reminders, injection reminders, it goes on and on.  

Kanzashi is my escape.  Making people happy, seeing praise for my work, it's all I need to let the rest slip away into the background. 

Don;t forget the Kickstarter!!!

 

Kickstarter Fail? And Store Notes

Well, it's been a little over a week now and the kickstarter has pretty much failed.  Unless we can make 1,000 a day until the campaign is over, there is no way the numbers work out.  So unless I can get an internet miracle, I don't think it's going to happen. 

Glad I haven;t gotten to all those rewards yet.

The team is discussing what to do next, to get the book out there and published.  There has been a lot of valid debate.  There has been some drama.  I don't know what the future holds, but I feel I gained a lot of experience out of this venture, not to mention the contacts of several of the women that make kanzashi around the world.  I have already won.  I don't care if the book gets published.  It would be great if it did, but I never expected the kickstarter to take off and actually make 20k. 

too many bookmarks

So I am back to focusing on work and custom orders.  The pink double bouquet has had a small piece added to the set, a hair clip with 2 blossoms, a leaf, and small shidare.  So I have been working on that.  AND the bookmarks are finally going to make an appearance.  I ended up giving away ALL the ones I made at Christmas.  And they were all well received.  I have some legitimate bookmark tassels for accent, and just finished backing and trimming more than 40 bookmarks. Not a small task, as you can see by the photo.


******* Mini Tutorial on Bookmarks!*********

To make the bookmarks, I take a 6inch, 15cm square chiyrogami paper, and cut it into three.  Then I layer them on top of each other to make a sheet 6 inches wide and about 8.5 inches tall.  Then I cut THAT into another 3 pieces, 2 inches wide each.  Then I back them with a strip of colored cardstock and trim the edges with a knife.  Next up I will take a gold gel pen and mark the back corner of each with the store initials.  Then each gets laminated in a 5mm thick lamination pocket.  Make sure to leave a small space at the top so that you can punch a hole for your tassel or decoration.  Satin cording doesn't stay on very well, but ribbon or tassels work great.

***************************************

I still have kumihimo waiting in the wings when this project is finished and photographed.  But I have been collecting washi paper for a while now, and I needed to clear out my storage.  Plus i think they might do well in the store.  if not, well, they were cheap to make, though time consuming. 
I still have more to go through as well.  But the colors aren't nearly as nice as these are. 

Kickstarter and Custom Orders!

Custom Order

KICKSTARTER HAS BEGUN!!!!!!

Click the link for direct access to our campaign! We have all sorts of rewards including hair accessories (of course), craft kits, and major pieces up for grabs!!!!!




The picture on the right is my latest custom order, the design I drew up previously.  It's coming along rather nicely, and the colors blend really well.  There are thread wrapped gold accents on the leaves you can;t see. 

I have also been stocking up on my washi paper and will be getting back to those bookmarks fairly soon, hopefully as soon as the custom order is over and I have more of these kickstarter rewards out of the way.  I miss paper.  But it will mean I have to suck it up and get some bookmark tassels. It's not a huge amount of money, I just want to wait adn make sure nothing ELSE comes up between this project and the next. 

I am getting tired again.  Medical insurance has not been kind to our family this year, and we are having to pay a lot more for my diabetes supplies and insulins. But such is life, or suck is life, however you want to look at it. 

Another note of great news! We have offically shut down donations for the Elizabeth Comer Medical fund! We raised $850 for her medical costs! THANK YOU to all who donated, purchased from my shop, or purchased from Elizabeth's shop. 

Kicksarter Begins Next Week!!!

Ok, so the Kickstarter project begins next week.  The book is mostly ready for publishing, now all we have to do is fundraise! and the best part of all, if we finish this book, there will most likely be more!

I still have a ton on my plate before that though, with this custom order I am still working on, though the blossoms are finished.  I still have 4 leaf pieces to make before I can start final assembly and thread wrap. And the hair pins are going to be a problem, as they are much smaller than I expected them to be. We shall just have to see. They are at least heavy gauge metal. 

And on top of that I have a million kickstarter rewards to do, but that is on hold until I can get my order of centers for the flowers in.  Had to make a special order for that one. But when you need 90, it's more than most stores will carry, lol.

And of course, I am still working on a few more casual pieces to put on clips instead of pins or sticks.  My hair clip department is lacking. Right now I am working on a rounded petal denim blue two tone.  The darker color is some of the last in existence, it was a limited run color.  I am glad I ordered a yard of it when I did, but that was 2 years ago. This will be the last big piece I can make with it. 

I also got some chiyrogami paper at the craft store the other day, when I need a break I will do some bookmarks.  I am still searching for some beads with a large center so I can decorate the tassell, but at this point, I am thinking more of just getting some bookmark tassels off amazon, and just forget about making my own.  Time/value of money after all. 

And of course I still want to get into kumihimo, but I think that might have to wait until April at this point.  It is a time consuming task, and while I do love those repetitive moves and patterns and intricacy, I am just swamped with other things.

Like kickstarter.

To know more about our kickstarter project you can check out our website HERE and sign up for details.  But we have submitted to kickstarter, we have been approved, just closing up last minute loose ends before we start. 

Kickstarter Rewards

It's getting closer, and us artisans are getting stressed. I know I am, lol!

With some new information from kickstarter we had not previously been aware of, we have to change our kickstarter rewards system, and it's taking a bit longer to submit than we would like. 

For rewards I am contributing:

30 single flower hair sticks
30 bobby pin sets
20 double sakura on hair forks
1 big piece, the exact piece from the tutorial

Kickstarter will not allow us to submit coupon codes or gift certificates as rewards.  Bleh.

This book is a pretty huge deal for most of us and I am really excited to be published.  I just hope we can make our major goals.  And most of us artisans that can are making contributions, so there will be lots of rewards to go around.

My last custom order until mid-year (the big sakura 2 piece set for the obi) is coming along very nicely.  The colors match amazingly well, and I am down to the last few flowers.  still have 4 or 5 to go.  But until my leaf color comes in, I am afraid there isn't much more I can do in the meantime.  Except, of course, kickstarter rewards.