Category Archives: art and craft

the empire is expanding…

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ha! if only my arty-crafty biz was an empire. i’ve got a long way to go.

but i am starting to buckle down and get more serious about it. and due to an out-of-the-blue wholesale request the other day via email, i’ve decided i might as well put it out there that i am now interested in wholesaling my stuff to shops and stores. select signs, clocks and even t-shirts if you want ’em. or really anything i make, i’m willing to wholesale if you’re willing to buy in quantity. just get in touch for pricing and minimums and we can work it out.

you can see my current inventory online in my etsy shop – always accessible via the widget in the upper right of this blog, but here’s the url if you want to bookmark it: http://www.etsy.com/shop/artbymags. and please take a stroll through my picture galleries on this site using the menus to the left – they link to my flickr site where you can see pics of all kinds of stuff i’ve made over the years and see the latest things i’ve been working on in the studio.

i’m also now expanding my stencil obsession to portraits. i’m currently working on a series of pop icon prints/paintings purely based on my own interests, but am open to commissions of anyone or anything you might have in mind. i’m even doing one of my cat, sticker, and if that turns out well i might totally start offering that service for pet owners. it won’t be cheap cuz it takes time to go from photo to stencil and then also figuring out the composition and coloring of the painting, plus finding some salvaged material to paint it on. but if this is something you might be interested, please email me.

it’s time to start making some $$ with these skills i possess and stop being so passive about it. so help me out: share me with a friend (or all of your friends via facebook or twitter!), give me feedback about my stuff here in the comments , and let me know what you’d like to see/read more of here on the blog.

new small canvas, working out some new ideas about $$$

refocusing.

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after months of feeling like i’d lost my way and lost all inspiration, finally things seem to be shifting a little for me. i had a day full of energy and firing on all cylinders yesterday, which seems to happen so rarely to me now. (not sure if it was the extra cup of coffee or that big chunk of salmon – brain food! – i cooked up the day before, but i haven’t had such clarity in a really long time. it was nice.)

so i think i’ve decided to recommit to the art life. i was on the verge of abandoning it entirely, but i now am feeling new inspiration and a desire to buckle down and get serious about it. so in the coming weeks, i will be tweaking this website a little, moving some of the less art related stuff over to my new domain, margaretcoble.com (catchy, eh?), which will serve as more of an overall personal and professional site. and in so doing, i will refocus this site more on my art and crafty life and process, with the intention of making this blog more interesting to read. (and hopefully update it more frequently.) i might even shoot some video or make a podcast or something crazy like that!

i took the above picture this afternoon in my outdoor studio (otherwise known as the back yard!). i’m working on a new series or set of stencil paintings that i hope are going to turn out the way i want them to. some will be on salvaged wood and cabinet doors and such, others will be on canvas. some will be straight up stencil paintings and some will be more mixed media oriented. i have a million ideas jotted down, but the process will take a while as it requires me making a LOT of new stencils, both of pop icons and objects as well as textures and patterns. i hope the results will be interesting and aesthetically pleasing as well as marketable. it’s not exactly groundbreaking or even highly original in concept or technique, but it is something that i want to make and express and will challenge me while hopefully also paying a few of my bills. it’s a good place to start. and hopefully it will lead to more interesting things.

one of my favorite soulful house songs has lyrics that say “you’ve got to move to create change.” i love that line. this is me moving. just gotta keep it up.

so stay tuned. and bear with me. thanks!

to market, to market…

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freretstivus market, that is. TODAY! noon til 5pm – i will be there. come enjoy the beautiful day before we get more nasty weather tomorrow. and don’t forget about the last stop shop at the big top on thursday, 6-10pm (1638 clio street).

and remember, i do custom work also… so if there’s a clock or sign design you like, i can make it in your favorite color combo and have it done in plenty of time for christmas. i even have some blank scarf material in stock and could print up the scarf of your choice. so don’t be shy – just ask!

happy holiday shopping, y’all.

deck the halls…

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i’m actually pretty much DONE decking my halls… of my new apartment, that is! it’s been almost a month since i wrote in this blog last, but i have a pretty good excuse: november was moving month for me. well, first fae moved out in october, and then i had a few weeks of limbo being in the old house by myself with only half a house worth of furniture. and then i got into my new place on the 10th but took until the 20th to finish moving and cleaning out the old house. and then the last 10 days or so have been nesting time for me.

including thanksgiving, which did not end up being much of an occasion for me this year, sadly. but i still ate some turkey – some at home, some at debra’s while watching the saints game – and i’m happy to say that as of yesterday, i am about 99% done unpacking and arranging in the new place. it’s a great relief and has actually been pretty fun. today i finished stringing up a ton of twinkle lights outside, so now i have lights that run all the way down my side alley and onto my gate, with a twinkle star on the gate, just so you can’t miss the entrance to my house. it’s hard, living in a rear apartment, down a long (formerly dark) alley, with no view of the street or really even any other houses – just my shed and cute little backyard. so i wanted to do something to make at least my door stand out.

and yes, the twinkle lights will stay up year round. it’s not just a holiday decoration for me, though i did put up a few small christmas things around the house. now if only i could figure out where the purple mini xmas tree could possibly go! (i’ve run out of usable space!)

the holidays are of course the crunch time for crafty folks, and usually for me, too. but i have to say, i’m just not feeling it this year. i’m going to give it my best shot – i just got some scarf fabric in yesterday and have a handful of blank t’s on the way to get my inventory back up on the 70119 and skull de lis t-shirts, since those are my best-sellers – but i feel like, due to the move, i’m just NOW starting to think about it all and, well, it’s a little late to be just starting to get ready. i’m not really set up yet out in the shed, which is my new “studio” space, and haven’t printed anything yet in my new indoor set-up in the kitchen… but i guess i’ll be figuring it all out in the next few days!

hopefully i’ll get something new made for freret market, which i’ll be doing this saturday (12/4). i’ll also be doing frerestivus the following saturday (12/11), after much debate about whether to do the kingpin market or the esplanade holiday fest, which are both the same day. but in the end, i decided freret is just easier and more fun to do, and puts me in front of more potential customers than either of the smaller markets. my sundays are open at this point, unless something interesting comes up. and then i will be participating in the new orleans craft mafia’s last stop shop at the big top on thursday the 16th.

but that’s it. that’s all i got lined up for this holiday season. seems like not very much – i remember in 2006, right after katrina, when i was commuting from louisville, kentucky to new orleans JUST to do markets, i had something like 11 markets in 3 weeks in december! but this year three feels like all i can handle.

wish me luck! and if you are out and about, you should come see me!

almost there…

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the anticipation of moving is just about killing me. i can start moving in on the 10th, though i’m paying rent on iberville until the 20th (my 30 days notice). the days can’t move fast enough.

it feels like the pace of my life has picked up considerably in the past week or so. every day feels hectic now. i’ve started to pack up, though not terribly quickly. but the boxes are starting to pile up in corners. fae is completely moved out with the small exception of a few storage boxes in our walk-in closet, which we will get to some day in the next week or so. the house is, therefore, half empty. it feels very weird still being here, trying to maintain my routine and schedule in a half-empty, partially-packed up apartment. the cats are very confused and a little freaked out, particularly when my landlord brings people through looking at the apartment.

and, i must be crazy, but i somehow got talked into doing the freret market this saturday. i haven’t done a market probably since freret back in march or april (can’t remember, but it’s been a long time), and i haven’t really made anything new since then either. i’ve been in a creative funk. so i’ve had all this stock that i made in the spring, thinking that i was gonna stay on top of sales and stay well stocked and maybe start getting some into stores, just sitting around gathering dust. so i’m making this market a clearance sale. if you like my stuff and want to stock up for holiday gifts, now would be a good time to swing by and grab some stuff. make me a REASONABLE offer on anything and i won’t refuse. i need money for moving, and i also really don’t want to move more than i have to… so if i can liquidate some stock, less stuff to move!

i’m gonna have a $3 bargain bin of tshirts, ties, tanks, shorts, pants, and any other printed apparel i can find. cufflinks are gonna be $10. and signs and clocks and prints will be at least $5-$10 off. really – make me an offer on anything. i just want to move product.

and, just so you know… i’m thinking of not making the clocks anymore. i’m kind of tired of them, and there are now several copy-cats around town making other sorts of record clocks and selling them for way less, therefore glutting the market. i will still make custom orders – like if you just really gotta have a black and gold fleur de lis clock or blue nola heart or red scoot clock, fine, i’ll hook you up – but i’m just so tired of lugging all the boxes around and having to store so much inventory. SO… all this is to say, i’ve got about 30-40 clocks of various sizes/designs/colors left, but when they are gone, that’s it. come out to freret market on saturday, noon til 5pm, and get ’em while they last.

one last thing – and those of you who follow me on facebook will already know this – but i’m selling one of my folk art chairs from my early days (pic below). it was always one of my favorite chairs i decorated – i used to comb the thrift and furniture stores for wooden chairs with good lines and not much paint/varnish that i could strip and then custom paint in my then-geometric folk art style. this one’s a little woo-woo goddessy, but i still love the colors and the paint job has held up remarkably well for being 17 years old! one of a kind and a mags original! i’m saying $125 but really, if you like it, make me an offer. i really just don’t have space for this in my new place and i think it’s time it found a new home.

abundance

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my friend deuce says i’m scrappy. and she’s right. i have managed to scrape by, scrounging all kinds of crazy work over the years without having to ever get a “real” job. though i’ve mostly been a freelance writer/editor, club dj, and most recently artist/crafter – my “main” gigs -  i’ve dabbled in all kinds of crap since my last days working at tower records in the french quarter back in 1993 – my last regular job out in the world where i worked 30-40 hours/week.

over the years, i’ve worked in some capacity as a: landscaper, bar back, house cleaner, community activist, paralegal/investigator, personal assistant, screen printer, dog sitter/walker, housesitter, blogger, eBay assistant, data entry/gallery assistant, photographer, film festival projectionist, a/v tech, film curator, publicist, promoter, booking agent, event organizer, graphic designer, and, most recently, census enumerator. i’m sure there are other things i’m not remembering right now.

but one thing i seem to keep coming back to, over the years, is selling stuff. i’ve always been a big fan of thrift/antique stores and yard sales, and have always been a collector of various things. but at many different points in my life, i have supplemented my income by reselling things, as varied as cds, records and books to random collectibles, clothing, furniture and all sorts of other items. it’s kind of where i first got the idea of doing art/craft out of recycled objects, this dealing in “things.” it’s a fun game, trying to figure out what items you can score for cheap and then find someone willing to pay you more for… but i guess it all comes down to the fact that i just love objects. things. i like to make them, i like to find them, i like to collect them, i like to sell them.

so yeah. in this time of flux in my life when what i keep thinking i really need to do is find some regularly occurring work – aka a “real” job, even if it’s just part time – what seems to keep dropping in my lap is more of the scrappy gigs. when i first returned from festival, my friend nita told me she really wanted to start liquidating her lifetime accumulation of collectibles with the eventual goal to clear out her house so she can sell it and move. it at first seemed really overwhelming, cuz let me tell you, she has a LOT of amazing stuff in her house. but we started breaking it down into manageable bites and we’ve been steadily listing things on eBay every week and slowly things are selling and moving out of the house. we’re not really on a time table – we’re moving pretty slowly, in fact – but it’s been a steady thing. i’m not making a ton of money on it but i think it will eventually pay off, and nita is a dear friend who has helped me a lot over the years and it feels good to be helping her do this big thing in her life.

i haven’t really been thinking of it like a “job”… more just like a “gig,” a side thing to keep a little money flowing, to pay for the groceries or whatever while i keep looking for other, more regular, work. but as i’ve been spreading the word that i’m working on nita’s “estate sale” via facebook and twitter postings, another friend has now approached me about helping her sell off a crazy amount of stuff she has had accumulating since well before katrina. this one feels more like a “job” cuz it has a time limit – she asked me to make a website with pictures of lots of the stuff that will be for sale, list bigger items on craigslist and eventually work towards a big yard sale in october – and she’s paying me a generous hourly rate. it’s less of the collectibles/art variety and more of the household every-day stuff variety, but it’s still a vast amount of stuff, much of it in new or gently-used condition and for which she should get decent money.

it occurred to me yesterday that, with a little effort, i could probably turn this into a “job” – self employment, obviously, but something regular enough to call it a job. i kind of really enjoy the work, even though much of the listing-on-the-computer part is tedious, it’s fun poking around in other people’s stuff and learning what other people are willing to pay money for. but are there enough people who want to de-clutter or sell unwanted things who are willing to pay me a decent hourly wage and/or percentage of their sales and don’t know how to do it themselves? it’s not rocket science, you know, selling things online. but there are some tricks and shortcuts and after doing it in one form or another for the last 15+ years, i guess i do know a thing or two about it. but enough to make my rent and bills each month? i don’t know. and how do i find those people who would be interested in this type of service?

so this is what i’m pondering right now, while i continue working on both of these projects. i haven’t stopped looking for other work – in fact in the past few days, i’ve registered with three different temp agencies, so maybe that will pay off with some kind of work, and i’m still hustling to get that security gig working saints games at the superdome – but i think i’m really just not very good at this “looking for a job” stuff. i write and send out resumes and cover letters for all kinds of jobs. i check craigslist, worknola.com, idea village, nola.com classifieds, simplyhired.com, and a dozen or more other local job boards on a regular basis. i check the internal job listings of and submit applications to all kinds of corporations and companies that i think sound good to work for (whole foods, ups, home depot, etc.). i’ve put my feelers out with friends who work all over the place.

so far, nothing. not even a call back. so how can i not keep doing this other stuff that keeps falling in my lap and is generating me some amount of money?

oh i just don’t know. i guess what would be ideal would be to get one or two part-time gigs that were closer to “real” jobs, meaning, working for someone else who was willing to cut me a paycheck, AND keeping doing the other gigs that seem to keep falling in my lap. wouldn’t it be a nice problem to have to be really super busy and have MORE money than i knew what to do with for a change?

that’s what i’ll be envisioning for now – more than enough. more than enough work. more than enough money. more than enough love. no more scarcity for me, thanks. it’s all about abundance now.