Mixed Mayhem Studios

More Monitor Tinkering + Vintage Glass

I'm still trying to figure out if I can get the two monitors + my laptop to work. I got my package today from newegg.com with a powered monitor splitter. It was a bit more money than I really wanted to part with at the time, but the cable my boss let me test out at home didn't cut it. Mostly because my laptop didn't have a port for it. Lame. Either way, I figured the powered splitter was a better idea as far as picture quality goes.

Vintage Glass Focal Point Assortment

It looks ... a little grainy in a weird way if you're staring at a solid white background, but the color quality is a lot better so I'm not too concerned. Anyhow. I still haven't figured out if another monitor is going to fly because, well, I'm missing a VGA cable. Go figure, right? Haha. Luckily enough my mom's boyfriend has a spare, and if that fails, I can temporarily borrow one from work. It's not like we're using them since they're hooked up to monitors that are burnt out.

Techie stuff aside, let's talk about these totally amazing bits of glass! They're vintage glass "stones" from the early 1900s. They were a bit of a splurge, but for the quality they were well worth it. Especially since I only paid for five! Look at all those beautiful extras that I ended up with! So excited! Plus, I hadn't bought myself something fun to work with in a while. Most of my money has gone towards necessary things like findings and wire as of late.

My fav of the bunch!

My fav is this smokey, brown, pear-shaped one! It would make for such a magnificent pendant. I'm also really loving the clear round-cut pieces. I think they would be fantastic wrapped into a ring. I've been tinkering with learning how to wire wrap rings, so I'm definitely thinking they shall be some of my first test subjects. Love, love, love the facets!

In other news, I'm definitely looking forward to the weekend. I've a whole mess of work to do, and the convention is drawing ever more closer. This weekend shall be dedicated to updating my portfolio, figuring out the monitor mess, and working on jewelry of course! I have some really bright, whimsy beads on the way. Perfect for the convention. I've been pining for them for quite some time, and I know they'll do great at the show. Anime conventions are all about colorful, brash, showiness.

Previews shall follow this weekend in amongst everything else.  :)

Preparing for AnimeFest

As I've announced previously, I am officially in the artist alley this year at AnimeFest, and I'm very excited about it. I've attended artist alley's before at anime conventions, but never with any serious conviction. This will be my first official convention/art show/event/whatever you want to call it as an official business.

Yeah, I've done it before and I've had my state tax ID for a long while, but I've never put it to use. This will be a big first, and I am so jazzed. AnimeFest traditionally I've always done the best at sales wise. I'm hoping that history is willing to repeat itself. I didn't attend last year due to some familial issues that need taking care of first, but I did attend the year before.

That year was also the first year I ever sold more than one or two pieces of my jewelry. In fact, the number of pieces of jewelry I sold out-performed the artwork and commissions I took while I was there! I was positively blown away. That's part of why my art here lately has been more intently focused on artisan crafts rather than my illustration work. I love both dearly, but if there's even half a chance that I can somehow turn a profit doing something I love you can bet that's the route I'm going to take.

That all having been said, I am amping up at the moment to finish up displays and product for the show. I'm a little (more like a LOT) stressed between Day Job work, home, and this but I'm handling it well. I had to wait until the last moment to really do any spending for the supplies I needed because of my mother's unemployment. That isn't something I'm going to dwell on right now, though. Staying positive here!

The table is paid for. Badges for me and my assistants are paid for. Funds for the hotel room have been budgeted and set aside. The rest is all icing on the cake and can be adjusted as needed according to said budget.

Check me out and my extra monitor! Yes, that is my artwork on the screen. :D

One really fun thing I'm tinkering with is having dual monitors to go with my laptop! It's going to be a pain to set up and drag up and down from my hotel room, but I think it will be worth it. I've seen it done a couple of times by people before at conventions, and it has always entranced me. I also recall other people enjoying the display, too.

Specifically what I'll be displaying is a slideshow on one monitor of my digital artwork. Or, if I'm working on something in Photoshop, people would be able to watch. In person. Right there. LIVE! Which could also lead to my being able to do digital art commissions at the convention. That would be SO great, because digital media is way more economical than traditional media. It's hard to run out of pixels in Photoshop pending your machine is in working order.

That's the idea anyway! I'm actually trying to hook up two monitors to my laptop. My laptop's video card so far seems powerful enough to swing it, but we'll see. I'm still tinkering and trying to determine if getting just a basic Y-cable will work, or if I should opt for a powered cable. I have a feeling I'll probably need the powered cable which is a bit pricier, but we'll just have to wait and see after a bit more experimentation.

If the two extra monitors are a no-go, well, one extra will do the job just fine. Why do I need three in the first place? Well... the idea is to have a monitor off to the side that I work off of for business transactions that no one can see. I'll be using my laptop to process credit cards, and also I'll have spreadsheets up to track my inventory and sales.

Speaking of which! I need to dig up my old sales sheets and get them updated and functional again. I love making spreadsheets and lists. Weird, I know. Plus I can plug in all of my expenses for the show itself to track my progress. I'm hoping to break even. I usually do. At the very least, I would like to make back the money I've spent on the hotel room itself as that is my biggest cost for this show.

That's enough tinkering for today, though. I've still got a lot to do this weekend plus household stuff that needs taking care of.

Thanks for reading!

BSBP Beads!

Eeee! I got my beads today from Deanna, my Bead Soup Blog Party partner! If you're reading this on Blogger, you can check up on my previous post about the party at Tumblr. I post there quite a bit more often than I do here. I just like the functionality of it better than Blogger.

No worries, though! I've no intentions of abandoning my blog here. It's much too convenient to follow my other fav bloggers this way. Plus, my blog posts here automatically post as a link on Tumblr.  (Edit -- Actually, this might be a lie. In my absence from blogging, it seems Tumblr no longer imports content from other sites... buzzkill.)

BSBP beads from Deanna Chase of Chase Designs ♥

Anyhow! Back to the important stuff -- BEADS. Look at these amazing beads I got in the mail from Deanna! Ahhhh! So impressed. I am going to have so much fun playing with these. I don't typically venture much into using glass aside from the occasional Czech glass bead, so to have beads handmade by a lampwork bead artist is totally amazing, new, and EXCITING.

I positively adore the colors. Lime-y green and blue = love. Seriously. I don't what kind of necklace I'm going to turn this into, but it is easily destined to end up a favorite. There's noooo way I could give this up for sale. Haha. Besides, I wear blue and green very often.

The actual blog hop and posting of what's been made from these beads won't be until mid-September per the rules of the Party, but you can bet I'll be tinkering with my beads ASAP.

In the interim, I'm thinking my friend and I are going to do our own little bead swap just for the heck of it! Should be interesting. Because it seems like even when we're working with very similar materials, what we each create is drastically different. Love that!

P.S. I updated my blog layout! What'cha think? I think it's much more suitable, especially since it has my current, updated logo. And it matches both my ArtFire and Etsy jewelry shops -- both of which should have some new listings tomorrow for those who are in a shopping mood. ;)

That's it for now!