GLOW CREATIONZ Online Shop - official launch

My online shop has been set up through FELT (New Zealand's online marketplace for handmade goods) and I am now ready for the 'official launch'. 

Check it out at www.glowcreationz.felt.co.nz

Here are some screenshots:

3 Days to go until the Official Launch of GLOW CREATIONZ

GLOW CREATIONZ has kept me busy for the last few months. The slide show below shows the current range of products I have been working on.

GLOW DESIGNZ will become GLOW CREATIONZ

I have been working on some glow in the dark designs and today started designing a business card and other promotional material. To my dismay, I discovered that 'Glow Designz' is a website and marketing company in America (I was so sure this name was not in use when I checked a few months ago) so I have been searching for an alternative. I really wanted to have 'Glow' in the name, as it is a succinct description of what my products will do, and 'nz' at the end because all my products will be made (by me) in New Zealand. There are so many different businesses with names containing Glo/Glow but my Google search could find no reference to 'Glow Creationz', therefore, I will now be moving forward under the name GLOW CREATIONZ.

GLOW DESIGNZ by Claire Fairweather

A New Year, a New Month, and a New Project to start work on: GLOW DESIGNZ.

I am excited to start developing a range of Glow In the Dark (GITD) products, which I will try selling primarily online. My initial idea was to make GITD Christmas tree decorations. It is a bit early in the year to start marketing these, so I will try some 'stars' for Matariki. I will also make some 'Glow-Tags' for emergency kits/camping gear and novelty ones for children's school bags.

I have many other ideas but will see if I have any success with the online sales before expanding my range of items.

Glow-in-the-dark flowers made from plastic drink bottles

I had a little play last week, after seeing online how to make flowers from plastic drink bottles. To make mine different, I added glow in the dark centres and edges to the petals. Hoping I might sell some of these at the local market for Mother's Day.

Flowers made from plastic drink bottles

Shown in daylight and in the dark 

The next Arts Collective event is the Mid Winter Mingle

I will be exhibiting two pieces at this event, held at the Whangamata Club, 404 Port Road, Whangamata. They are not my usual polymer clay mosaics but large sand paintings on canvas. One is titled 'Daybreak in Paradise' and the other, 'Moonlight Glow', incorporates photoluminescent powders so it will glow in the dark.

 

Results of glow in the dark polymer clay trials

If you use glow in the dark polymer clay, you might be interested in the results of an experiment I started a year ago. At the time I had started to make my own glow in the dark polymer clay by mixing GITD powders with white translucent Premo, as per the instructions on https://thebluebottletree.com/diy-glow-dark-polymer-clay/ from Ginger Davis Allman. To start with I used the powders from Vadien, as mentioned in Ginger’s article but they cost so much to ship to New Zealand that when I had used those up, I ordered more GITD powder from a local company in New Zealand (www.glowinthedark.co.nz), which seemed to work just as well. I now just use green GITD powders as this colour has the strongest and longest lasting glow. 

I was using GITD polymer clay to make products (Swirl-StoNZ by Claire) to sell at craft fairs and, after a customer query, I wanted to see how well it performed and if it was suitable for use outdoor. So I made three lentil bead shapes, approximately 2.5 cm (1 inch) across, with the GITD polymer clay and baked them as per the manufacturer’s instructions. The unmarked one was left on a shelf in my studio (fairly shaded), the one marked ‘S’ was left on a sunny window sill and the one marked ‘W’ was left in a bowl of water (on the desk in my studio, fairly shaded). I left these samples for a whole year and then tested them to see how well they glowed in the dark

Left: shelf  -  Centre: sunny window sill  -  Right: water

My first observation was that they all looked different colours in daylight. It may not show that well in the photograph but most noticeable was the lentil that had been in the water (after drying) was quite white and opaque looking, it had lost its translucency. The lentil bead that had been on the shelf was translucent with a slight brown tinge (even though I had used Premo White Translucent and not regular Translucent). The one that had been on the sunny window sill was translucent with a slight green tinge, almost like it was glowing green but in daylight, I am guessing this was because the photo-luminescent particles in the clay were super charged from being in a sunny position all year.

Photo taken as soon as samples were put in the dark

They say 'a photograph does not lie' but my eyes seemed to see quite differently to this photograph. The centre lentil, which was the one that had been on a sunny window sill, appeared much brighter than the other two that seemed to glow the same.

Photo taken 2 minutes after samples were put in the dark

After two minutes the centre lentil was still glowing much brighter but now the right lentil that had been in the water was not glowing as strongly as the one on the left that had just been on the shelf.

Photo taken 5 minutes after samples were put in the dark

After five minutes the centre lentil was still glowing brighter, the other two were not glowing as strongly but appeared to be similar. 

As I am writing this, I realise that that there are flaws to this experiment. I should have continued to observe the degree of glow for longer than 5 minutes, say again after 10 minutes, half an hour, and hour, etc. Also, would it have been different if the lentil in the water had been placed on the sunny window sill, rather than on my studio desk which is quite shady? 

When I started this trial, I was just curious to see what would happen to the GITD polymer clay that had been immersed in water. I do not think I will bother to repeat or refine this trial but I do feel confident to say that the glow in the dark polymer clay made into a lentil shaped 'stone' should be fine for outdoors. After one whole year totally submerged in water, the polymer clay had not deteriorated and the GITD powders incorporated in the clay still glowed. Exposure to sunlight improves the intensity and length of glow time.

Aroha Nui (with afterglow)

Aroha Nui (with afterglow) - in daylight and darkness

This polymer mosaic is my first one to incorporate ‘glow-in-the-dark’ tiles. They outline the central heart shape when the lights go off, hence the reference to ‘afterglow’ in the title of the piece. Aroha Nui means ‘much love, with deep affection’ in Maori (the language spoken by the indigenous people of New Zealand).

A Review of 2017

I made one of my New Year’s Resolutions for 2017 to 'be proud of my creative artwork' and I think I have managed to achieve this.

This year has resulted in some successful dot mosaic pieces but also the confirmation that as much as I love making them, the time involved does not make them viable to sell (apart from reproduced as greetings cards). So I think the dot mosaics will have to remain as a hobby.

I have also been developing my idea for Swirl-StoNZ, as a New Zealand made souvenir/gift in the lower cost bracket, so I can get back into doing some craft markets, which I have missed. After much practicing to master the technique, I had built up some stock and made some display panels ready to launch Swirl-StoNZ by Claire, at the Labour Day Art and Craft Market at Mission Bay, on 23 October 2017.

Disappointingly, this event was cancelled due to the bad weather so, I had to wait until the Christmas Art Markets at the Estuary Art Centre at the beginning of December. This was my first proper event selling and demonstrating how I make the Swirl-StoNZ (apart from selling a necklace and earrings set in an exhibition at the Estuary Art Centre and a few small pendants in their gallery shop).

The Christmas Art Markets turned out to be a big success, helped by a feature in the Hibiscus Matters local newspaper. The newspaper article had a photograph of a bowl of Glow-in-the-dark Swirl-StoNZ, which I had made for the Mission Bay event to attract children to my stall. These were so popular they sold out in the first hour. People came specifically because they had seen them in the newspaper. Consequently, I spent the next week making another batch of Glow-in-the-dark Swirl-StoNZ (discovering in the process that making my own glow-in-the-dark polymer clay was better than the manufacturers), so I could get them into the gallery shop before Christmas, for all those that were disappointed that they had sold out when they came to my stall at the Christmas Art Markets.

For years I have been trying to find something creative I can make that I can turn into a small craft business. I know, from the initial success, that I can build on the Swirl-StoNZ, with several branches on the idea to explore. So, 2018 will definitely be the Year of the Swirl-StoNZ for me.

Here is my 2nd batch of Glow-in-the-dark Swirl-StoNZ

They will be packaged up and go to the Estuary Arts Centre 

in Orewa (NZ) on Tuesday morning (12 December).

2nd batch of Glow-in-the-dark Swirl-StoNZ - even better!

I know a lot of people were disappointed that the glow-in-the-dark Swirl-StoNZ, featured in the local newspaper, were sold out when they came to the recent Christmas Art Markets at the Estuary Art Centre. These glow-in-the-dark (GITD) Swirl-StoNZ were so popular, they sold out within the first hour, mainly bought as 'stocking fillers'.

I have unsuccessfully tried to find some more suitable GITD polymer clay locally, as there is no time to order it from overseas and get more made before Christmas. So, I have been experimenting with making my own.

Thanks to Ginger Davis Allman of www.thebluebottletree.com for her article about DIY glow-in-the-dark polymer clay. Luckily I had a small quantity of the GITD powder, which when mixed with translucent polymer clay makes it glow in the dark. It is actually brighter and longer lasting than the manufacturers versions of GITD polymer clay.

So this weekend, I am making a second batch of GITD Swirl-StoNZ, which will all go to the gallery shop at the Estuary Art Centre on Tuesday morning. I will definitely be ordering some more of this GITD powder, so I can make my own GITD polymer clay for use in the future.

And just for fun...

This is my artifical garden of succulent type plants and pebbles, made from polymer clay - the fun thing is that it glows in the dark...

Glow-in-the-dark garden

Creations from clearing my cupboards

I have not posted for a while because I have been busy making and gaining more experience. As the Mission Bay Art and Craft Market it coming up towards the end of this month, I thought I would clear my cupboards of all the things I have bought and never got round to trying - hopefully I can then sell them off at the market and other events leading up to Christmas.

Here is a selection of things I have been doing:

Kiwi picture - polymer clay baked on canvas

Glow-in-the-dark bangles

Glow-in-the-dark brooch

Red Indian inspired mask

I have experimented with Sculpey 'Bake and Bend' clay, as I thought it would be good for making rubbery flowers and other decorations for flip flop clips. I know it is really a childrens clay but I was disappointed that it was so sticky as well as soft. Will not be using it again! Have not photographed these yet, as I am waiting for my supply of shoe clips to arrive, to complete them.

After reading posts on the Clay Polymer Yahoo Group about creating faux rocks and pebbles, I had a little dabble at that. Here is a piece of rolled clay with black pepper inclusions, a couple of pebbles (I think they look more like birds eggs) and a granite effect 'boulder'. I have used them in my 'artifical garden', which is featured in my next post.

Faux rocks and pebbles

I have also made eight more HANGAs that I started a long time ago and never finished. They were trial pieces, heart and diamond/square shaped. I will add photos of these to my HANGA website www.hanga.co.nz

While I may have got a little distracted, trying all these different things, I have really enjoyed myself playing and experimenting - but now I need to get focused on my next 'big idea'.

Fun pebbles

Just for fun, some covered pebbles with the 'glow in the dark' eyes, I made last week. I also tried photographing them in the dark but unfortunately, with my camera (even on the night setting), the glowing eyes did not show up in the actual photograph.

Mini oven

This is my new acquistion (Farmers had an Easter sale on) - a mini oven, which will be dedicated solely for baking polymer clay. I have been conducting temperature trials today (to make sure the temperature remains relatively constant, with no temperature spikes), with clock and clipboard. The test strip I did baked OK, I just need to pluck up courage to bake a proper piece in it.

All I have done today, is to bake a load of 'googly eyes'. I wanted to try out the 'glow in the dark' polymer clay before making anything serious with it. It did not use much of the clay to make the eyes, and I thought I could use them on some of my covered pebbles, just for fun.