Charms. My problem with miniature sculpting.

Anyone who has been to my online Etsy shop,  know that I have a largerange of charms available;

Gina pigs, moles, dragons,cats, badgers, swans,  duck, butterflys, stegosaurus, dogs, lizards, penguins, hedgehogs, crocodiles, dolphins, turtles, owls, rabbits, bears, bees, fish, sheep, monkeys, horses, mice, ladybirds, pigs, squirrel, elephant, starfish and seahorse!

"Looks to me Carly, like you don't have any problems with miniatures,  so what's with the title?"

As I have mentioned a lot on previous posts, I have have Chronic fatigue syndrome and Fibro myalgia. This means that my arms and hands are always in pain at varying degrees and they are often shaking and weak.

Others may just take days like this off and I did,  but after 14 years off ill,  the plan is to find ways to do a little most days (around 10 hours a week in all, if I can). It took a year of trying other jobs and I have been a professional sculptor for a year.  So 16 years disabled.

I work from my bed, but I often have to use pillows to support my arms while I work laying flat.  Luckily,  my bed is 2 single mattresses pushed together.  This is far bigger than a king size double bed. I often have all my Husband's and my pillows and duvet almost like a cloth outline of support.

Even with all this, I find that there are only some things that I can manage. I am often having to move misplaced components and fixingdamage caused by my shaking.

The other issue that I have that really affects my abilities to do miniature work,  is the fact my left eye wanders off. The tendon that holds your iris where you want it, is very loose.  This means that it often goes to the left hand corner.

I have had this all my life. My brain compensates by using my right eye, but this causes me a lot of depth perception issues.  Dyslexia (also got this) has hand eye coordination issues and the brain fog of the CFS, all mix and cause an obstacle for my brain in giving me accurate sensory information.

Luckily for me,  clay is extremely forgiving. While raw,  it is so easy to change.  You can pull it all over the place,  constantly fiddling.  If it gets too warm,  then it can go sticky,  but you either blot it on some paper or just whack it in the fridge for a few minutes  (I do the latter).

Once the clay has been baked, it is actually really easy to carve.  You can actually cut it with a craft knife. You can also sand it to remove blemishes.

I see all of this as a obstacle rather than a barrier, but I have to be realistic.  This is why I will not promise to make anything smaller than 3cm.

I know that there are many elements of the items I have made for the shop, that are smaller than 3cm.

The difference is that if I agree that I will make things that small on commission,  then if it turns out that it is one of the many things that I can't make in miniature, then I have broken my promise.  I want to be trustworthy and customer focused, so I have to make this rule.

There are tons of amazing artists who create incredible miniatures,  so the market will not miss me.

My diversity penguins

One of the first characters I made was this little cartoon penguin.  It started life as a charm,  that shortly after joined my Christmas decorations range.

I love this little fellow so much, that when I started to make boxes,  I really wanted to do one of my little penguin friend.

Shortly after making my penguin love box, we where fortunate enough to witness a wonderful landmark in the evolution of mankind;  gay civil partnerships became legal.

I was so happy  for humanity, I wanted to celebrate the occasion.  So I decided to make 4 little statues and I felt that my penguin was perfect for the job.

I made 2 gay penguins;  2 penguins kissing,  one wearing a bow tie and the other wearing a scarf in the gay flag colours.  There is a little gay pride flag on the base.

Then it was the lady's turn.

2 statues of the same kissing penguins, but this time one had a flower and the other had a handbag.  They also had a gay flag on the base.

One of each of these statues have found their forever homes. After them being avaliable in my shop for a few months,  I was contacted by a lovely lady wanting a commission made.

She said that her best friend (Jacob) was a nurse who was also gay and she wanted the statue turned into a box for his 21st birthday.

I  was particularly proud of the name badge. 

Several months after this,  I was commissioned to make a box for a disabled people's help center called "The hub". 

As soon as I decided to make this donation, I knew exactly what I wanted to make and I felt that it really had to be my penguin again. 

They were really pleased with it and it has lived in the window of the premises on the main high street in Epsom, Surrey ever since.

I have ventured into more realistic penguins,  but I will always love my original cartoon penguin.

My penguin has donned his white coat again! This time it's for a name plaque that I have made for my GP.

Assuming that I am able to keep working as a clay sculptor,  I am certain that my cute little penguin will feature in future projects.

Commissions; how I learn what you want and make it

I truly love making commissions.  I  have had quite a few and all of them have taught me loads and where really fun to do. 

I know that a lot of people who would commission work don't do so because they don't know what will happen. I can't say how other artists do theirs,  but I this is my process.

It starts by me receiving a message earlier on etsy,  Facebook, on here etc. Some have exactly what they want in their head already and some only have a really vague idea.

I start by asking a lot of questions and generally talking it over.  I  give all the options,  so that you can be the one making decisions.  There is not a lot that I refuse to make.

I tend to send pictures as well as text, as it is far better than trying to describe things. I am not a good drawer, but I have used drawings in the past.

I make sure that the customer knows that I want them to feel free to say what they think.  I am very hard to annoy,  so no worries are needed.

Once we both feel happy that the commission is properly understood,  I  work out a price.  This is not as high as you fear ☺. It will be in line with the prices in my shop.

I will also tell you at this stage or before,  how many outstanding commissions I have and when I expect to get to yours. There are a lot of times when I don't have any,  so I can get onto yours immediately.

Once you have agreed to everything,  I  take a payment of half of the price up front.  I  didn't always do this,  but I have had people who have not bought their commission.  If you have to wait until I have finished outstanding work,  I will not want payment until I get to yours.  I take payments via etsy,  PayPal and direct debit.

While I am making your item,  I will send you pictures of my progress at important bits and at the end of each working day.  This is so that you can make changes to what I have done. 

Do note that if there are an excessive amount of changes or things get added to the project,  this may increase the end price.  I  will discuss this before doinganything.

I will get your clearance before baking  (most projects get baked several times at different stages) as once baked,  you can not change it.

Once it is finished,  I will find out how much it will cost to post,  then add that to the outstanding bill  (with any extra costs from bits added ect) and give you a final bill.

Once this is paid,  I will post you your item.

I would really appreciate it if you left a review for your purchase in my shop and you tell all of your friends about me.

It is a fun process for you as well as me and I have actually made some really good friends from commission customers.