MikiCat Designs

Posted By admin on October 18, 2009

This month I want to share with you two wonderful Handmade Artisans who define the term.

First up is Tiffany Brotherton. A graduate in Fine Arts from Missouri State University, she got hooked after taking a class by Sarah Perkins, a wonderful designer in her own right. Tiffany is a tool junkie and tends to be inspired by natural forms, flower and plants. “…they are a never ending source of fascination for me.” she says. Her jewelry tends to be very sculptural and distinct as wearable art as you can see in her shop, Zoebe, on Artfire .

She advises new designers to experiment with their work and more importantly, document all your steps in notebooks “…so that you can remake something exactly rather than making it from memory.”

Tiffany and her fiancé live in a house full of animals including 2 dog and 4 cats ranging in age from 3 months to 20 years. She says they really love the furry ones.

Tiffany is offering free shipping from now through Novemver 30th and a 10% discount for anyone who reads this blog. Just enter coupon code: MIKIBLOG at checkout.

Our next artisan is Marcella Hogg who creates adorable clothes and accessories for babies. I can’t wait until I’m a graunty and hope she’s still making them when that time comes. Marcella got into her addiction when her daughter turned 3 this past March. She started making tutus and selling them on Craigslist. Wiser heads advised her to go to Etsy and The Little Ballerina was born.

The rest, as they say, is history and it’s still being made. From tutus to clippies to beautiful boy T’s, you can see her high quality and loving detail in every stitch. Her inspiration are her children. Three of them all under the age of 3! As expected, she doesn’t have as much spare time as she’d like. It usually consists of naptime and nighttime which is when she can get her bows and tutus done in relative peace and quiet.

Marcella suggests that new businesses starting out need to do a lot of promoting. “It took me awhile to get some sales, about a month for my first one.” With 3 young children I wonder where she finds time to promote, let alone make all those adorable items. For now, let’s hope she continues and even expands her craft. A very talented, and tired woman, mention this blog at checkout, and Marcella will give you 10% off any purchase from her shop!

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Posted By admin on September 29, 2009

…a very special month for us. October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. Miki lost her own mother to this insidious disease, so did her sister-in-law. One of her best friends has been battling it for years and so many other women have lost women they love and care for; mothers, sisters, daughters, aunts, nieces and friends. So we are dedicating proceeds of sales this month in their honor. October is also Domestic Violence Prevention month and is yet another thing women need contend with.

Our campaign is THINK PINK & PURPLE! We will be donating 20% of ALL sales from all three shops (website, Etsy and Artfire) to “Susan G. Komen for the Cure“. An additional 10% of all THINK PINK & PURPLE items will also be donated to “Women in Distress of Broward“. It doesn’t matter what colors you prefer or buy, you can still THINK PINK & PURPLE by purchasing something from our shops, for yourself or a friend, and know that you’ve helped contribute a little bit to the search for the cure.

We are joining with other Guilds, Shops and Teams for this fund raising campaign. This Fundraiser will start on October 1st and run through October 31st. Participating Guild studios will be donating a % of their sales for the month to one or both of the causes. We will be listing the shops, guilds and team sites participating in this event so you can help them help others.

• Artfire Jewelry Designers and Jewelry Supply Shops
• 1BeadAtATime
• Livngood – Keys to Hope keychain

***Please ‘Help Us Help’ these very worthy causes***

If you would like to add your shop, guild or team link to this list, please email us privately.

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Posted By admin on September 19, 2009

I’m not sure if I do or don’t. My partner and I attended a local Pagan Pride Festival today and had a really great time. Wish I’d remembered my camera though. (sigh) I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night and woke up early today. A little on the grouchy side and I didn’t expect much from the festival.

While I didn’t have a lot of sales, I did have a great time. For some reason, a lot of gifts came my way. The day started with a bit of negative energy from a group of people who got upset because of my “daring” to use the electrical outlet behind their tables. They were along a wall, I was in the middle of the room and needed electric. The organizers had told me to use that outlet and even supplied me with the extension cord. They kept telling me I couldn’t do it, It was dangerous. People would trip. That’s what duct tape is for and I had plenty of it.

Anyway, I decided to absorb the negative, throw it away and balance it by doing something nice for someone else. So, I did. I stepped in and calmed someone who had driven 300 miles to be at the festival and was upset with the fact that someone else had “taken over” a large portion of her spot. I figured out a solution and everyone was happy. In return, I received a beautiful silver snake chain necklace and crystal pendant. Great energy.

Then the group that had started the day with a bad vibe, gave me a beautiful plant. I was having hot flashes (lucky me) and some of the young girls were hanging out with me while I was making rings on the spot and fanning me with their fans. LOL I was talking to someone else, mentioning that I’d been there hours and not one sale and she gave me a malachite shard. Told me to put it in my cash box. So I did. I swear to you up down and sideways it’s the honest truth, but within 5 minutes of my putting the shard in my cash box, I sold a necklace and earring set for $50. Amazing!

What started out as a tired, bad vibing, icky day, turned into one of the most satisfying days I’ve had in a long time. Cat had almost as an incredible day, reading Tarot for a lot of people, as I did. Seems there was a log of positive energy around us which drew a number of people to her. Like I said, we get as good as we give.

So, let me send out to cyberspace, some of the wonderful, positive energy that came my way today. I don’t know if I really believe in instant karma, but the things that happened today have no other explanation. What you give you get. After all, one of the fundamental laws of our universe is cause and effect so why can’t Karma and all the rest be true too?

What do you believe?

Updated 09/20/09 11:42 PM EST: Almost forgot to mention that someone is giving us two 10×10 canopy tents. No sides or anything but this will definitely open more venues for us as we can now go to outdoor craft shows with a bit of security from the hot sun and rain. Like I said, instant Karma. WOW I’m a believer.

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Posted By admin on September 14, 2009

I’m a member of the Florida Etsy Street Team aka FEST and decided to feature one of our team members in this month’s blog. Taffy Knits is a true needle-artist making some of the sweetest knitted and felted hats, bags and objects I’ve seen, that I just had to tell you about her. Taffy Knits creations are original, quirky and reasonably priced.

Ranging from a beautiful Brick House Bag, which we hear will be featured in DIY Magazine next month, to a Felted Tea Cups Knitting Pattern to really sweet hats, these designs are a must have for anyone who loves handcrafted art.

Now Stephanie, who started Taffy Knits has only been knitting about 7 years. “We had these comfortable evenings where my children had to read aloud to me for homework,” Stephanie said, “and I wanted to be doing something with my hands that still let me be focused on them, yet doing something for me at the same time.”

Apparently she is so into her knitting, that she will often burn dinner and the kids are stuck eating it. Poor babies. But her wonderful attention to detail shows. “I like to knit an item and then felt it, because it will hold that shape so firmly.” she wrote “The Simmering Cauldron and the Tea Pot are good examples of those.”

Stephanie loves to share her craft. She teaches at the local library, her children knot alongside with her now and their friends are becoming interested in lerning too. She is helping a whole new generation find the love, peace, serenity, fun and creative outlet in this oldest of needlecrafts.

So do yourself a favor and check out this wonderful Florida artist and tell her what you think. We all need a little encouragement and the work at Taffy Knits is truly superb!

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Posted By admin on September 13, 2009

Street fairs are fun but in the heat and humidity of South Florida’s rainy season, they’re brutal as well. Cat and I attended the Third Second on Second Thursdays block party, pub crawl, art fair last Thursday. This is a relatively new event that 7 restaurant/pub owners in Downtown Himmarshee (Second Street) in Ft. Lauderdale thought up to try to bring more business to the area in this time of economic recession. We were even featured on the local news and you can see my partner on TV at CBS4. What a hoot!

Besides ourselves, there were a group of marine photographers with some really neat photos, a really great Zen artist and another jeweler who does lost wax casting and a lot of lapidary work making knives out of obsidian, etc. Rolling Rock beer and New Times sponsored the event and were there also. The event benefited the Riverwalk Trust.

While a small event, I managed to make some contacts and even sold two of my pieces. Cat managed to make quite a bit doing Tarot readings and being her usual bubbly self. We definitely plan on being there next month though I will hope and pray that it’s a little cooler. We managed to avoid the rain up until the last 15 minutes.

We had everything packed into the carriers and had just gotten ready to fold up the tables and get the car when the heavens opened up and we not only got rain, we got a downpour that had me soaked to the skin in less than 2 minutes. Let me tell you, it’s not fun being hot to the point of being soaked in your own sweat. Add a torrential downpour and while it’s cooling, it’s quite, quite uncomfortable. Remind me to avoid outdoor September events next year. I’m not even sure October is going to be any better. After all, it is our rainy season but I don’t ever want to do this again in this kind of weather. ACK!

I have to say I enjoy going to craft fairs and events though setting up and breaking down are hard on my back. We’ve also got to work more on setting up the right type of display. we’re still working on that. As you can see, we bought a couple of folding, adjustable tables from Sam’s Club. (Thanks Yahoo Groups!) Cat found some inexpensive black tablecloths and the pretty gold scarf cloths for the tables online. I’ve been collecting display pieces and think a lot about how to show everything. But it’s not easy. We’ll be getting a banner made and perhaps next time I’ll remember the bracelet display. [sigh]

But hey, I sold some jewelry, made some contacts and had a fun time. Isn’t that what it’s all about?

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Posted By admin on September 2, 2009

This article is coming out of a wonderful discussion I had with a very talented goldsmith who is trying to educate people on exactly what custom work is. He writes this whole article on his site where he talks about fabricating a ring for you, or making a wax carving and then manufacturing it for you, or say you want stones on it, you may have your own or you may want to buy from him. Stones come in all qualities so you can spend most of your money on the highest quality stone or go for the glam and save. There are so many individual pieces that go into making a custom piece that people tend to shy away from it. All of the above mentioned type work is what most people think of as ‘custom’, but actually, anything can be custom. A simple droplet earring in the colors of your, a wire wrapped ring, with the birthstones of your children, a funky necklace made to complement your grandmother’s old brooch, they’re all custom pieces. The most important thing he taught me was… “If you can’t walk into a store, point at something in a case and buy it, it’s ‘custom’. So when you think of custom work, don’t think ‘expensive’, think ‘exact’. You get exactly what you want, rather than simply choosing from what’s available!

That can be a great boon to someone who absolutely LOVES this earring, but would much rather have it in silver and red, or copper and peach or any other metal, crystal combination. It’s very easy to do and in some cases, such as doing this gold earring in silver, will actually cost you less. But you’ll still get the bragging rights of “It was custom made for me.”

The person I’m talking about I just met on the Orchid forum part of the Ganoskin Project. Pete Schlosser has 7 years experience as a gold smith in the trade, currently lives in Minnesota with his wife and is seriously thinking of moving down here to Florida. In true southern tradition, We all would be so plea-ased to hay-uve y’all come and live dowen here with us. LOL Of course I think the move is a while away. Considering between Jupiter, Palm Beach Gardens and Palm Beach is not an easy choice. I’m all the way down in the depths of South Florida so anything north of Boynton seems foreign to me. I just gotta get me out more. LOL You can find Pete’s site at The Goldsmithy. In his own words, “How fast things change. Here’s my website, now ancient in design (2003?). Every piece shown is that old, I never update the site even though I probably should.”

Anyway, I’m hoping that you will learn a bit more about what custom work is and why you should always ask if someone will customize a piece for you. It’s the best way to get exactly what you want, at a price you want to pay.

Miki

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Posted By admin on August 27, 2009

They’ve just given us a way to have our Artfire Studios on our Facebook Fan pages and you don’t have to leave Facebook to find everything we make and sell. I think it’s awesome and hope you’ll check out Mikicat Designs Facebook Fan page and our new Artfire Kiosk. It is so cool.

In the meantime, I’ve been working on some new pieces. A 4-in-1 European chainmaille Ring in Sterling Silver, and a really small micro Byzantine weave in 14k gold and Blue Titanium. I haven’t priced them or even gotten decent photos yet. But that will happen. Here’s a picture of the 4-in-1 Ring. It’s so pretty.

I also made a pendant to match the Snow & Ice Earrings I sold. I was so inspired and it came out so nice, I almost don’t want to give it up. But when you get a custom order, you can’t keep them for yourself. (grin) But it did come out nice and sparkley and pretty and matches perfectly with the earrings of which there are one more pair left!

The end of the month is almost here and our Grand Opening hullabaloo is winding down. I’ve also put some great things up for sale and reduced prices on the Website, our Etsy shop and our ArtFire Studio. Now is the time for some great savings on beautiful handcrafted items for yourself or to give as gifts.

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Posted By admin on August 18, 2009

Okay, I’m blocked for blogging. While I love to write and think I do it well, I don’t always know what to write about. After a wonderful chat with the Florida Etsy Street Team tonight, I was complaining about not having any sales. I’ve been with Etsy for many months now and only made one online sale… to my cousin in Atlanta. I’ve been waiting and waiting for another sale. Well, we had a fun FEST chat. Talked about Florida sales tax laws, Facebook business pages and how to get fans, some of the wonderful work that others do, blogging and tips on selling, and more. Joining this team makes me feel a part of a community. We’re all handmade artisans and whether we work in fiber, clay, ceramics, photography, painting, jewelry or any other type of art or craft, we’re a community brought together with one common goal. To help each other learn from our mistakes. To guide others over the pitfalls we fell into. To learn from each other the things we need to learn to make a success of what we love to do and to never give up hope.

Like I said, it was a great chat tonight. A bit fast and it went quick, but I loved it. But the point I’m trying to make is that good karma comes to those who do good. Something happened before I even got to the chat. Something I didn’t know about because I hadn’t checked my email or my store before logging on to chit chat with everyone. When the chat was over, the first thing I did is what I usually do before going to bed… I checked my Etsy site and, just for the heck of it, clicked on Sold Orders. WOW, color me floored when I found that someone had bought a pair of earrings.

This is my second sale online since I opened the store back in April. I’m so glad that I can make a few more of these as they happen to be one of my best sellers at craft fairs but they are limited edition. Once I run out of the components I won’t be buying more and will go on to new designs and ideas. So I am thrilled that someone finally found me, who wasn’t a relative, and liked them enough to purchase.

This is so exciting. I’d like to feel it more often. But I don’t want to use this blog to blatantly advertise just myself. So next week, look forward to a blog about tomorrow night’s Florida Gold Coast Gem & Mineral Society Meeting where, I hear, one of our new members will attempt to teach some of the old lapidarists or is that lapidaryists (lapidaryers?) how to do wire wrapping. This I have GOT to see. LOL

Miki

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Posted By admin on August 5, 2009

Almost a year ago I created a pretty loopy chainmaille earring with Swarovski Crystals. I decided to call it Atlantis Spring. Since then, I’ve had requests to make the same earring in different colors. So, I decided to create them after the seasons. Yesterday, I spent 4 hours making jump rings in the size I needed, and creating the same design in my version of the Four Seasons.

Atlantis Crystal Spring uses 4mm Swarovski bicones in Aqua, Light Rose AB, Crystal AB and Tanzanite. I’ve varied this for others exchanging Tanzanite for Violet and Aqua for Aqua AB. The Aurora Borealis effect of these crystals creates a rainbow of colors when the light hits it just right. These colors explode with the promise of Spring.

Atlantis Crystal Summer, made with gorgeous Swarovski colors in Peridot, Light Rose, Jonquil and Light Peach, is beautiful combination that reminds you of the soft colors of hazy, lazy summer days.

Fall reminds me most of the changing of the seasons. Though I live in South Florida, which doesn’t have much of a fall to begin with, I remember from my years in the north the beautiful colors of the changing leaves on trees. I used the colors Erinite (a beautiful Swarovski leafy green), Topaz (for the orange tips of the leaves), Jonquil (for that touch of yellow) and Smoky Topaz (just the right amount of brown).

Lastly, there’s Winter. Cool, chic, mysterious. I chose the colors of Jet for long winter nights, an icy Crystal AB, the beautiful new Air Blue Opal looking like the evening snow and Black Diamond AB.

All of these are currently available on my web site. Eventually I will be adding the choice to custom pick your own colors. But for now, if you want to choose your own, just email us. Whether you choose 1, 2, 3 or 4 colors, each pair of earrings has 24 4mm crystals with a 4x5mm Swarovski Simplicity Crystal AB dangling from the bottom.

One last thing… while the earrings are made from Sterling Silver jump rings, the headpins are now made with silver plate. I do offer the option of upgrading to ball headpins (as seen in the Spring version) in Sterling, Argentium or Fine Silver for a small extra charge. I really would like to know what you think of these color combos and suggestions for others. It’s such a fun earring to make. I can even imagine them in pearls and crystals for a beautiful bride. In fact, I think I’ll create a pair like that right now.

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Posted By admin on July 17, 2009

This month I am also featuring Haffina Creations! A wonderful blogger, artisan, designer and Guild Master. This wonderful woman not only writes articles for Handmadenews.org but also formed the Artfire Chainmaille Artisans Guild, creates some beautiful jewelry and sells it in her studio. She’s even started to make polymer clay beads and opened a new studio just to sell them to other artisans. Check out her blog and learn all about her latest passions, what’s news and how, like me, she just doesn’t find enough time to do everything she wants to do.

Haffina is offering a special Christmas in July sale so check out her offerings at her Artfire studio.

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