Special Orders are Okay, Sometimes

Pacific driftwood with copper and red cedar wind chime, beach stone clapper.

There is much wood on our local beaches. But to find the 'perfect' piece, especially for a special order, is not an easy task. Seeing the wood packed beach, you think it should take only a minute, but instead it can take hours.

Sometimes people are hesitant to ask about having me make small changes to a completed work, or about special orders. It never hurts to ask. That's why I put information about special orders on my website.

I've done many special order projects. I recall very well the first one, which was a long time ago. It won't be forgotten by me, because it was complex and difficult. The customer mailed a large tube with drawings of what he envisioned, and I did my best to follow his blueprints. It was a challenge!

Since then, there have been many special requests. The vast majority are simply small changes to an existing work, and I complete them without any additional charge. Some I can tell from the start are going to be a ton of work, and I need to charge accordingly.

Other special orders appear at first glance to be simple, but turn out to be a great deal of work. For example, one recent one was a nicely open ended request: a nice driftwood wind chime. There is an enormous amount of wood on the beaches here, especially at this time of year. So you would think finding a suitable piece would be easy. It's not. I wanted to find the perfect piece. You can never find the perfect piece~ especially if you are looking for it!

After four trips to different beaches and many long walks, I found a piece that I quite liked. Now, after drying it by the fire, and doing the work to turn it into a wind chime, I like it even more. It wasn't the 'perfect' piece when I found it, but now it is. I hope she likes it as much as I do.

More Wind Chimes

Wow! Another whole page of amazing wind chimes just added to my website!

How do I find the time to not just make these, but take pictures and add them to my site? Well it's not a hobby, or a little craft I do on the side. It's my job. Sometimes, when I put in twelve or fourteen hour days, it seems like my life! Not a bad life, though. Most of it is a lot of fun, and it's rewarding to make things that make people happy. You can learn more about my art and my life (and even see a picture of me working!) by clicking here.

Wish I had more time to write, but... gotta go work!

Wind Chimes Going, Going, Gone

Too late~ Gone! This is the third large wind chime to fly away this month. And I don't have many left. Just one, I think. Well, not to despair. I hope to get out and make some more soon. In the meantime, there are sure lots of other super nice designs and styles still available at my website. And one really nice freestanding large double wind chime.

Here on the West Coast, Spring is in the air. Little flowers are coming up. The days are longer. And I'm loving it! I do most of my work outside. So just imagine how nice it is to have warmer weather. And dryer. Even better, the late afternoon light is improving for taking pictures of completed projects. Those short, dark winter days are awful for taking pictures. So warmer, dryer, and better light-- I'm happy.

It's clear that others have their thoughts turning towards Spring too, as I see an increase in the sale of wind chimes and garden art. One more reason for me to enjoy this change of season.

Wind Chimes for the Eye as well as the Ear

The main wind chime page from my new website. Three out of nine already sold. Not too shabby, considering the site is not really indexed by Google yet. Nice to know people appreciate my work.

Messing around with keywords, linking, and .htaccess for changed URL's, and making more of a mess than a fix. Oh well, live and learn. Or~ learn from you mistakes blah, blah. Gosh, I must be learning a lot!

Still, I'm very happy. There have been some sales, and that helps to make it seem all worth it. There were many rainy days where it was nice to have an excuse to stay inside, too! Now the sun is out, so heading outside to make more neat things. Much nicer doing that when it is not cold and raining!

Stoned Out

From the Sunshine Coast, B.C. ~ Pacific Ocean Beach Stones

Stones, stones everywhere~ but where is the right one?

Funny thing happened the other day. A customer bought two of the same beach stone wind chimes, and when it was explained to her that only one was available, that each work is unique, she asked if I could possibly make a second as similar to the first as possible. Always looking for an excuse go beach, I said sure.

Well, the beach is full of stones. But very few are suitable for my wind chimes. And even fewer look even close to the ones in the the wind chime this customer wanted me to match.

So anyone seeing me down there picking up stones, rejecting them, comparing them, would have thought I was a real nut case. In the end, I found the beach stones I needed. She will have her two matching wind chimes. You can see more wind chimes like this at my website.

Wind Chime, or Sun Catcher ~ Get $15 from PayPal

Beach glass inspired cobalt blue wind chime with copper

Sorry. You missed another one. Shipped out this morning.

But there is good news! First, there are more wonderful wind chimes, sun catchers, and art for you to discover at my new website. Some even on sale! Even better. PayPal has a promotion where you get $15 cash back on any purchase $30 or over. Now that's a deal!

So why not check out the items I have already marked down by 40%, and then get cash back from PayPal?

Oh, the PayPal cashback promotion is good at any site that uses PayPal, even eBay. You can find out how it works here.

I don't know how long this is going to be available. You can sign up, and then you have plenty of time to use it (or not use it, as the case may be).

So that's the 'push, push, push' for today. But hey~ maybe you can forgive a little pushing, if it puts $15 in your pocket.

'Push, Push, Push'

You're too late! You missed the boat! This one sold yesterday. But don't despair. There are more beautiful works at my website.

A reviewer of my blog just wrote they liked the ‘push, push, push to try to get people to buy.’ That got me thinking (oh, oh).

It’s tough making a living selling art or crafts. You can make all the amazing things you want, but if you can’t sell, the dog’s not going to eat.

As the reviewer noted with approval, I am upfront, and don’t sneak up on people. I believe in my work. It’s a big part of my life. it’s what I do. Along with pushing.

I thank the reviewer for not being annoyed and for an honest, thoughtful assesment of my blog and my new web site (the appearance of which has now been vastly improved from when he or she saw it— I hope).

Now if I could only think of more ways to push...

Second Major Revision Done

After many (many!) hours, I finally finished the second major revision of my new web site. From starting off just one month ago knowing zero about how to do any of this, I'm now feeling pretty good. But a ton of work! I need to wait for the googlebots and other bots to come by and, with luck, do a better job of indexing. It would be nice if people could find me!

Sitting at the computer is not something I am used to, at least not for longer than maybe an hour at a time. To spend so much time in front of this thing has made my head feel like a big ball of cotton fluff. Even though it is raining, and ugly, I am going to take my pup out right now for a real long hike. Some fresh wet air~ I believe that will do the trick.

If you do take a quick spin over to see the new site, be sure not to miss the 'On Sale' page. Some really good deals!

A Little Longer than Expected

Beach glass style kaleidoscope mosaic wind chime. Copper chimes with a beach stone clapper. Tung nut oiled red cedar. On sale now at my web site for 40% off the usual price.

The more I learn about making a web site, the less I seem to know. I've gotten to the point where I really, really wish I knew a lot, but understand that I know next to nothing. It's frustrating. Well, for now, I've done the best that I can. My head is about to explode, so I will give it all a break, take the pup for a long walk, and get back to making some neat things.

But I did manage to complete all the work on the sale section of the new web site~ although it took much longer than I had anticipated. These are all the things that came back from a local gallery that just closed. Rather than sell them as brand new (although they do look brand new!), I decided to sell them at 40% off. A good deal. Why not have a look?

Bad New ~ Good News

Cobalt blue beach glass-inspired copper art wind chiime. Was $227.50 ~ Now $142.50.
Many other items will be featured on my new 'sale' page of my web site in upcoming days. Just Click here to see them, and be sure to check back often, as I get the images up. Save 40%

The bad news is that a small local gallery where I had some of my work just closed. (I never did think it was such a good idea to open it up three flights of stairs!). That's too bad; I know the owners had high hopes for it. I believe they will be moving to a new location in the summer~ hope they choose more wisely!

The good news is that since everything I had in that shop was out of my home, I decided not to sell it as brand new. Everything is on sale at 40% off! Well, that's good news for shoppers... not great news for me!

I have four items set right now, and will be adding more as I get the images taken, and as time permits. So be sure to check back often. I hope to have several more added tomorrow, or on the weekend, depending on how the weather here holds out for pictures.

Taking Time to Breathe

Don't you just love big rounded beach stones? And don't you just love copper? And how can you resist wind chimes? So what's keeping you? Why don't you check out my new web site and see more? Unique designs, top quality, reasonable prices. And for the month of January, if you email you can receive 50% off your first purchase when you buy a second of equal or greater value! Click here to see some really amazing creations!

After working almost all of yesterday on my new website, I decided to take a very long hike today with my pup. It was great! We walked up the mountain, and before long we were into some nice snow. Not enough to make walking a struggle, but enough to make everything look beautiful. Wish I had taken the camera along. Then again, sometimes it's best just to enjoy.

Tomorrow, back to working on some new creations. It's so cold out, it will probably be painful out there, working with glass and copper. The copper is particularly hard to handle, as it always seems to be several degrees colder than the air. That's not possible. But it feels like it!

Sale to Celebrate

I'm so happy to have managed to set up my own website, I've decided to have a January sale.

All the prices already include shipping (expedited mail and insurance) to the USA or Canada.

I've never offered such a huge discount before. Why not treat yourself (or a friend).

Just Click here, to see all the amazing things I have made for your home, office or garden. Enjoy~

Making a Web Site is not so Easy!

My first creation of '07. I wanted to start the New Year by making something amazing~ so here it is! The wood base section especially pleases me. It is hewn from an old tough cedar stump, left over from logging. Usually, people just yank these up and burn them. Well, it turns out the wood is just beautiful! And being from the very bottom of the tree, harder than most cedar. For more information, or to purchase this very large double art wind chime, Click Here.

Well, when I first sat down with nearly zero in the way of skills to make my website, I thought it was going to be tough. Maybe beyond me. Then, after fooling around a little, I thought it was easy. Ha! Wrong. It turns out that this is one of those things where the more you learn, the more you understand you have to learn. Still~ I have learned a lot, and the site is starting to look okay. If you haven't dropped by, why not check out what a fellow with zero skills can accomplish? Click Here to see my site~ and any suggestions greatly appreciated!

Web Site ~ I did it!

Kaleidoscope Beach Glass-inspired Art Wind Chime. For more information, or to buy, Click Here.

After years of putting it off, I resolved to make a web site. Knowing nothing about HTML etc., you probably can understand why I put it off! But, in the end, it was not too hard. It is still rough, in need of tuning, you might say (if your nice), but it only took one day, so far. Easier than I thought it would be. Any comments would be very much appreciated. You can visit my new site here: tsk Design Home & Garden Art

Thank You Notes

Large natural beach stone wind chime. The stones are smooth and rounded. The chimes are large and musical. For more information, or to buy this wind chime, Click Here.

I had a nice, busy time selling, packing and shipping before Christmas. Now several people who received my work as a gift have actually emailed a thank you note to me ~ How nice is that! My goodness, I have enough trouble getting my thank you notes off to those friends and relatives who were kind enough to give me something, without tracking down the person who made the gift.

That these people take the time, and care enough about the gift, to actually send me a note, now that is thoughtful! Now I find myself writing thank you notes for the thank you notes.... this may never end! Honestly, there are so many nice people. It's really great to know they enjoy my work.

Late Christmas Shopping Tip

Beach glass-inspired wind chimes, suncatchers, deluxe birdfeeders~ something for everyone!

Can't decide what to get for someone special? Sometimes it is really hard to choose. That's why this year I am offering gift certificates. And the code to use in a nice card can be emailed to you, so you never even have to leave home to do your shopping. Even better, you might get a discount. See the details by Clicking Here.

An Inch Bigger Would Cost $300

Would you guess that an artist might be influenced by the post office? I can assure you, that is the case~ at least for me. Sometimes I do enjoy building big, but must always have a tape measure handy, and the table of maximum sizes for regular mail. This large freestanding driftwood wind chime is a case in point.

The driftwood section lifts right off the cedar plank. It had to be designed like that for ease of shipping. But the main thing is, one single inch longer and it would exceed the maximum for Expedited mail, and need to be ship Perolator; the postage jumps from $60 to $360. So when I get the urge to build big, I keep my tape measure handy.

I always feel great when something like this sells. And then I feel not so great, because I realize I need to pack it. A real challenge! It takes time, a lot of packing materials, and some skill and imagination. No, the jobs not done until it's on its way. Once it's shipped I feel great~ until I start to worry about all three packages arriving in good condition!

Last minute shopping tip: Gift certificate cards now available! Click here.

Got Snow? How about Helping Out the Birds?

Deluxe red cedar art bird feeder wind chime. No~ the birds are not in the least frightened by the chimes. The beach stone clapper produces a sweet sound, either from the wind, or often when birds land or take off. Treated with an exceptional foodsafe tung nut oil finish. For more information, or to buy this wind chime, Click here.

Not into feeders? Not to worry. A huge selection of unique, very well crafted creations for the home, office and garden. Quick shipping. Great gifts! To see an amazing selection, Click here.

But remember~ shipping can take a little longer from Canada, so don't wait.

Holiday Gifts ~ Unique, Well Crafted~ Special!

Wow~ Already December? Time Flies. Well, the good news is that there is still plenty of time to order a really special, unique gift. From small ornament suncatchers to giant freestanding wind chimes~ all unique, all well crafted, all special. From $20 delights to $400 WoWs, all sorts of treats for the home, garden or office. Why not check out my store? Click Here to find that perfect something ~ surprise someone this year!

Snow Days

Unusual weather here on the Sunshine Coast. We rarely get snow, especially this early in the year, and especially so much. Most often if we do get some, it starts raining within a day or so, but this stuff is sticking around. It's cold!

The kiddies and the dogs are having a ball. I felt bad, because I like to ship orders right away, and could not get out on Monday. Fortunately, there was a brief break in the weather yesterday, and I could dart out to the post office and also pick up a few groceries. Now we are back to... Snow!