Business Matters - What's in a name: Why name a piece

For the next few weeks for my Business Matters posts on Wednesdays, I'll be discussing the idea of naming our creations. I look forward to your input too!

If you've seen any of my work, you'll probably tell that I'm a big fan of naming. So to start off this series, let's look at "why name a piece"?

Imagine...."oh what a sweet baby. What's her name?" ...
"Untitled".

or think about cars.....Car manufacturers spend a lot of money coming up with simple (in most cases!) names that give off a certain impression when people mention it...think of what "mini" conjurs up or "beetle" or "magnum" or "440"....Each name appeals differently to different people...and while the name might not make you buy or not buy that car - it has a big influence in initially grabbing your attention.








"Stuck on you" or"frog necklace"

So too with your art/craft. Naming a piece is the first verbal communication opportunity you have with a viewer or buyer. Why throw that away by using "untitled" or a bland name.

People buy art and handmade items because it stirs something within them and the title of a piece can really work towards pulling the viewer in and seeing it from the artist's perspective.

It also shows that the artist has bothered to spend some time considering a title...they thought their creation was worth that effort and I think that comes across to the viewer.

We were recently in Madrid and went to the Reina Sofia Museum of contemporary and modern art. Looking round, I felt kind of let down when the pieces were "untitled". I understand that some people think this leaves interpretation of the piece to the viewer, but it was also a lost opportunity when I could have had the chance to learn something more of the artist and understand their thinking when they created the piece...........And then there were those pieces which had a title that seemed intriguing or odd to me. With those, I looked closer and spent longer, trying to find meaning in that title and consider where the artist was coming from in naming it that way. The title was a grabber for me and made me stop and consider the piece in greater detail than I would have otherwise.







"Special delivery" or "mailbox necklace"

So until next week when I'll talk about how to choose a name, why not try to spend just an extra minute on choosing the name for a new piece, considering the impact this can have on viewers and potential buyers.

I would like to feature other artists' creations in this series and look at the choice of names or help choose a name for a piece. Please let me know if I can feature some of your work.

Stuck on you Sylvie!

Well, Findlay is hopping over the pond.......to France.

Fond farewells to James and us - but he's going to a lovely home where he'll meet some other friends like Matt the Sheep and the animals tracks - so he's quite excited. A great repeat customer, Sylvie, adopted him so farewell to Findlay. Now he's found someone to be stuck on!

Findlay the Frog

So you've met Findlay the frog this week. He is doing fine but wanted me to tell you a little about why he is called Findlay and about James. James is Findlay's new friend - that's James below. He is a very large (paper mache) frog - just amazing! He is about 4 foot square and hangs/sticks on the wall in our office making quite a statement. Everyone remembers James when they've met him. He's called James as he has little ladybirds/ladybugs sat on his back, so he seems like a ladies man...and then we thought of James Bond being a ladies man..... and so he was named James. He's taking good care of Findlay.

Findlay got his name after my brother in law. You may recall last year that I made a "my family and other animals" charm bracelet. It had charms of little animals on it - each with their name. This all started as a discussion over dinner with my nephews and sister and brother in law one night when we tried to come up with names for animals I could make that were clever or a little play on words such as Cliff and Bob the seagulls, Curdle and Cud the cows, Trotter and Truffle the pigs..... and Matt and Ted the sheep - ie mat- ted wool...get it? The family part then came into it as Matt is my nephew - and here is Matt the sheep.


Then there is Peter - he is my other nephew and so came is Pete the penguin - who flaps his wings when you pull on the fish but never manages to quite fly.......














And here is Findlay the frog. Findlay is my brother in law - so Findlay the frog is part of "my family and other animals...."
I have to confess that Findlay really doesn't do well as frog as I don't think he would ever get into one of their choruses!!!! Sorry Fin..... :-D And I think at our dinner discussion we were actually going to do a Fin the fish but Findlay sounds like such a good name for frog - quite sophisticated..... What do you think? Quite a grand and important frog....?

The only missing one from that part of my family is my sister Mary so I better come up with Mary the.......? Any thoughts?

Merry Go Round - explain how you do your art/craft

It's time for another ride on the merry-go-round! Jump on and join a group of artists/crafts-women as they link around the world and tell you a little about their lives in art and craft.

This month's question that myself and 6 other women will answer is " Explain how you do your craft."

To explain how I make my silver, I decided to make a piece and take photographs of the process along the way - better to see than read all my words. As you may have read in yesterday's post, I decided to make a frog for our little "demo".

1. The first stage is choosing the type of metal clay. For this project I used standard precious metal clay. Metal clay is comprised of microscopic particles of silver suspended in a binder which give it the feel of clay. There are two brands of metal clay and within those, the clays have different firing schedules and different shrinkage rates. I like using the "standard" clay best for sculptural pieces - it has a nice feel and good workability. It shrinks about 30% when it goes it in the kiln.


2. So I pull some clay off and start to shape it with my hands. Before starting, I'd looked at some photos online of frogs to get an idea of their anatomy - but as this wasn't an anatomical study, it didn't have to be exact! Other times I will draw a picture of what I'm planning or make a model in polymer clay to try it out. For the frog, I just dived in and started! Here you can see the beginnings of a frog - body, eyes and two front legs with feet.



3. The back legs were actually quite tricky to figure because they fold back on themselves a couple of times ...so a little jiggling with the clay and I gently attach them. At this stage in the photo, everything is still soft clay and very delicate. It starts to dry out quickly so you have to work relatively fast. I think one of the best lessons I ever learned with working with metal clay is that this "wet" shape can be really rough. You just tidy it up when it's dry and firmer. Just get a good outline and don't try to make it perfect right now. For other more standard shape projects I would let each piece dry first and then assemble - for example boxes or houses, but with all the differing angles and shapes on animals and figures, I find assembling it all wet to be the best method.

4. Next, the froggy gets to warm up a little on a coffee mug warmer. This dries him out. Before I work on him again, I want him to be really dry. While a piece like this is drying, I normally start on the "wet" phase of another project - (and drink my coffee as there is no longer room on the warmer for it:-D).






5. Once he is dry, this is now the most time consuming part of the project. As the shape is rough, I then go over the piece and reinforce all the joints and seams and build up the details of the shape where necessary. For this froggie, his knees needed a lot of reinforcement - which is just adding clay and making sure each seam is tight with no holes. He then goes back on the coffee warmer. Once he seems structurally sound, then comes the filing, sanding and perfecting part. I use lots of different things for this, some metal files, some papers, some boards...changing what I use to find things that can fit in the tiny crevices to sand the dry clay down. Whilst the clay is dry, it is still quite delicate. At this stage, I also drilled in his two little pupils for his eyes and set in a bail so that he could hang as a necklace. This photo shows the sanded frog - ready for his next step.


6. Once I make the eyes on a piece, that's when I seem to start talking to my pieces. So now I tell him that he may get a little hot for a while, but it'll all be OK in the end and he'll be a lot stronger. And so little froggie goes into the kiln at 1650 degrees Fahrenheit for 2 hours.....and I keep my fingers crossed. This is the time when the binder part -the clay bit - burns off, and so froggie shrinks and all the tiny silver particles anneal and fuse together.


7. Once out of the kiln, froggie gets a little check over, then a polish, he's dunked in a liver of sulphur solution which adds a black patina to him. The patina is then rubbed off from most parts, but stays in the recessed areas to show the definition, eg his eyes etc. He's polished and at this stage I can leave him shiny or give him a soft brushed finish. As frogs need to stay wet I decided he needed a shiny finish.


8. So he then goes on a chain, and I check that he hangs OK and is comfortable to wear. He then gets a name and in this case, the necklace also got a name. And so Findlay the frog is born. As I was making him, I came up with a name for the necklace as "Stuck on you" - as he will hang with his little 'sticky' feet pads on you! He is also what I would call a "wearer's necklace". Remember those advertisements for BMW's that always said they were "drivers' cars" meaning the real joy is for the driver....??? Well, with this necklace, I think the real joy is for the wearer because as you the wearer look down on the necklace, you see his cute little eyes and smiling face looking up at you!!

Then Findlay gets his photo taken in a few different poses and he starts dreaming of where his new home will be. I think it was at this time that he started his first little frog song - looking for some others to join his chorus........

If you have any questions about the process - do feel free to ask. Happy to tell more or even to ask Findlay any questions.......

More on Findlay and how he got his name and the necklace name tomorrow.

Take a look at how the other artists on the merry go round do their creations.......They will post either today or over the weekend so if you don't see their post - do check back later....

http://fancypicnic.blogspot.com
http://lilypangart.blogspot.com
http://florcitasart.blogspot.com
http://easterya.blogspot.com
http://lebarduvent.blogspot.com
http://blog.glamasaurus.com