Color Feature of the Week : MAROON

Last week we had 500+ views!!
This week the color is MAROON and thank you all for submitting your work.
I have selected 8 talented Etsy artists here. Do check out their amazing shops.

If you would like to enter for a Color Feature on my blog, you have to do the following TWO steps,

1. Leave a comment on this blog with your favorite items from this week's feature
AND
2. Post your item matching next week's color, "BLUE" (Color swatch below) in this ETSY FORUM

Color Feature of the Week : LILAC

Last week we had 600+ views!!
This week the color is Lilac and thank you all for submitting your work.
I have selected 8 talented Etsy artists here. Do check out their amazing shops.

If you would like to enter for a Color Feature on my blog, you have to do the following TWO steps,

1. Leave a comment on this blog with your favorite items from this week's feature
AND
2. Post your item matching next week's color, "Maroon" (Color swatch below) in this ETSY FORUM

Color Feature of the Week : Fall Colors

Color Feature of the Week is back by popular demand!!
This week fall colors have been featured and 8 talented sellers have been chosen. Click on the pictures and do check out their amazing shops.
You can find other selections at this treasury as well :
http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4c97eb4caf9a8eef04ab0b35/color-feature-of-the-week-fall-colors

If you would like to enter for a Color Feature on my blog

You have to do the TWO steps to be considered

1. Leave a comment on this blog with your favorite items from this week's feature

AND

2. Post your item matching next week's color, "LILAC" (Color swatch below) in this ETSY FORUM

Potter's Guage

A simple tool which can save you a lot of time and frustration when trying to throw similar sized items on the potters wheel.

Previously I used a chopstick that is fixed on the splash pan with a wad of clay. It is efficient and super cheap and quick to set up. Several potters use this technique and they will agree that they have knocked the chopstick off its position once in a while.

Of course there are wonderful guages you can purchase but it just a lot more fun making your own. I spent 10 minutes in my garage and found a a few items which worked perfectly for this. The base is a heavy weight steel which came in the packaging of something I purchased earlier.. can't remember. It is really stable and all I did was attached a scale with a bolt (a scale not for measurement.. but that is the only thing I found with an already drilled hole) And then just attached a light weight iron rod with a clamp and I am done.

Just finished throwing these tealight candle holders with this guage and they came out great.



They make perfect diyas for Diwali.


I would love to hear about tools that crafters in all media have made themselves.

Winner of Business Card Design

Firstly I would like to thank each and everyone of you who provided input on my business card designs. I wouldn't have been able to look into all the aspects of it just by myself.

The votes for the vertical and horizontal were really 50/50, each with its pros and cons, so it was a tough decision for me.

Even though I liked the vertical more when I posted the two designs, I have gotten convinced to go with the horizontal design with the input I have got from all of you.

The vertical had many challenges.

Firstly the font of my information gets reduced and if the purpose of a business card is to communicate your contact info, it should be clearly visible.

Several mentioned about it not having a conventional convinient way to store and look up.

Even though the detail of my work was very visible, I have noticed that several people don't recognize the picture of my butter dishes. It is eye catching, but several ask me.."What is that?" And with the sculpture picture behind, my functional work is not showcased very well.

To remedy that I tried including a few more pictures of my work in the vertical design, but the orientation just didn't work. Everything got too tiny when I looked at a printout.

I tried front horizontal and back vertical, and that felt like there is an error in printing the cards.

So I am going with the horizontal design.

I moved around my addresses and website, so the info side looks more balanced.

Made changes in the images.

Removed the Black background and went with a gradient instead.

Here is the final design.

(Blurred area is where my physical address goes)


The winners picked at random for the business card design are
Jim Bob Howard
Cara Zavisho and Ben Trask

Business Card Design

I need your help again! I am designing my new business card and need your opinion.

The ones which I have are not that great and this time I wanted them printed both front and back.

Another thing I wanted to try was doing a vertical orientation.

And there is something for you to gain in this too. Please comment in whether you would like Vertical or Horizontal design and also tell me why. And if you would change something what would it be.

Two random people will be chosen to receive my heart shaped pendant (See picture below). So this is a Win-Win situation!

Winner will be announced on Tuesday August 17th, so start posting your comments!

I really appreciate your inputs!

PS: Blurred area is where my address will appear.

Vertical Option:

Horizontal Option:

Coconut Cake

Every now and then I get into baking/cooking mode. It had been a while since I baked a cake, so decided to make a simple coconut and cherry cake.

Here is the recipe

6oz butter
3/4 cup sugar (I have reduced this from 1 cup, because I don't like extra sweet cakes)

1 1/2 cup flour

1 tsp baking powder

3 eggs (beaten)

1/2 cup dessicated cocunut

1/4 cup cherries chopped

1/2 tsp vanilla essense (opt)

3-4 tbsp milk

Cream the butter and sugar till pale and fluffy.

Graudually beat in the eggs + vanilla essense.

Fold in the sifted flour+bk pwder

Fold in the cocunut with teh cherries.

Add milk to get to dropping consistency

Bake at 350 for 1/2 hour our till a tooth pick comes out clean.

Enjoy!