Its deadlines eve's eve after a stressful day of mixed results I am feeling more positive now. I have spent some time reflecting on the results of this project and what i am trying to achieve on the whole. Due to my personal circumstances being financially stretched so thin my money is now transparent. I have been thinking about my work as a business what would sell my competitors the ides which could perhaps generate some well earned cash to help fund my next projects. It occurred to me that if i was able to stockpile more tiles and decals i could quite happily while away the hours of the evening in front of the TV creating decorated tiles for use as wall art coasters or decorative wall tiles. I had already had a very positive response from those around me on my first batch and its fair to say that the second decal batch were experiencing teething problems.
Back to Mondays findings to explain further. I knew something must be up as Mr V had come to find me in the studio. It turned out that far from firing perfectly as i had expected my tiles to do at the lower temp i set on Friday. The tiles again came out with very patchy burnt out decals, not completely i must add, and i don't entirely dislike the effect, it was just not as i had expected to find them. I had a long conversation with Mr v and he supposed that it was my method of application which had cause the problem, and it is true to say that i did experience a little trouble smoothing out the decals as i applied them and did not as Mr v has since suggested I use a rubber kidney to smooth out any air and water bubbles. I thought i had applied them at all times the same as the first successful experiments with the vintage decals. after taking further i suggested it might be the tile surface which was the culprit although the decals that id had printed did appear to be less sticky than the others id used before.
These problems together have lead me to think that i should perhaps produce the tiles if i intend to sell them on either manufactured tiles where the accurate decals were necessary and using a kidney to ensure a good application. Or if the hand made approach was necessary to try spray the glaze to achieve a more even finish along with insuring the tile surface underneath is as smooth as possible.
I need to remember that it is perfectly acceptable to produce work on either bought white ware or blank white tiles i would just have to adjust the selling price accordingly.
The other main learning point of the day was that Monday was photo shoot day !
Exciting but nerve wracking as i have only ever really used my own camera in natural light situations. The closes I've ever come to the studio in terms of my own work was being Abbeys assistant during the breastfeeding brief photo shoot where i was please to be able to provide some creative input.
I have just realised i have told a small fib here as i did have a quick couple of shots o the light table on Friday under the supervision of Tom who i had not spoken to much but have found him to be very patient and helpful. To be fair i did actually get some great shots in that very quick session.
Mondays shoot was very enjoyable I learnt a lot very quickly through trial and error mainly, i had not realised how sensitive the different objects were to the lighting settings, i was constantly fiddling with e settings to adapt to the different shapes and sizes as well as angles of each photo. The time i had went very fast and i did intend to continue taking more later in the day if there had been time-which there wasn't in the end.
I have forgotten to mention that i sent Sunday night putting into practice what Cheryl had suggested putting my surface pattern designs done made in Photoshop into context. Therefore i decide to use the print offs to make gift wrap demonstrated by wrapping up boxes. Also some gift tags and cards, it proved to a very successful use of my time and i was please with the results on the whole but i would had i had more time have perhaps planned them out slightly more accurately or even if i was to productive them for sale i would consider having them printed professional if they proved cost effective perhaps similar on price to postcards.
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