Art and Creativity Journal: The Production Line is Going!

As we draw closer to the one week mark before we go to our first outside selling event next Sunday, my "production" schedule has really ramped up.

We're talking about non-stop creativity, whether I feel like it or not!

As an end-of-the-outdoor-season event — overlapping was several other large events in town — I have been focusing quite a lot on smaller impulse type items and finally feel like I have it somewhat under control.

These are the little items I don't necessarily enjoy making (all that much!) but that serve as an important "gateway drug" to getting people interested in my work. Over the past 15 years or so, I have probably made and sold close to 2,000 small stones, all designed to sell for under $10. I still make these, and make them cheap... even though I'd be hard pressed to say that I actually "make money" from doing this. It's more a case of building the customer base than anything.

At the same time, we are trying new presentation angles including selling some of our smallest stones accompanied by small abalone shells (we do have to BUY those, of course!) as part of answering the eternal question of "what do I DO with a painted rock?"

It's now more of a ready presentation item; a litle self-contained knick-knack with an artistic and slightly mystical angle.

It might sound slightly mercenary, but there's a reason why supermarkets keep all those little trial sizes and small food packets right by where you check out!

I have also been working on cleaning up our outdoor event fixtures and making sure that our tent canopy for shelter is up to snuff and running. We did have a breakage in one of the overhead ribs a few years back and I used some "plastic weld" to put it back together and it still seems to be holding okay. Hopefully, it'll hold together for this event as well, since high quality pop-up canopy tents are starting to get close to $500.00.

And yes, I know you can probably get one from TEMU or AliExpress for $100, but it will also be broken and useless after the first event. Not gonna do it!

Another thing that remains is finishing up an improved version of our display for "wearables" (AKA pendants), which have always been a difficult thing to show in a meaningful way.

Thankfully the pieces being finished right now don't involve a lot of photography and individual pricing, as they just end up in baskets with a uniform pricing sign. They also don't get listed in the online shops because... it's just too much work for too little return.

Thanks for stopping by!

Thank You!

If you enjoy painted rocks, do check out The Hive Rocks Project and help spread the word about Hive, while also being creative!

Because I am trying to make some semblance of income — a part time living, even — I now add this footer to all my posts, in the hope that someone, somewhere, might decide to take a further look at my work, and perhaps consider supporting independent art.

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2026.09.20 AS-TXT-405/375