Saturday 9 June 2012

Self Promoting

About a year ago I started to dabble in stamp making. I had a Lino carving set left over from university, and I bought a bunch of erasers and carved into them. Its an easy method with Fairly sweet results.




I made these amongst a few other and then found that I was finding it difficult to get erasers that were any larger. So I turned to soft Lino. The tools I have aren't very good, I aim to get better ones once the summer is over and I'll have a but more money. (my bank account is still recovering from buying myself a new car, and I have a hotel to pay for soon). I can't tell you how many mistakes i have made with this cutting set e the blade as slipped. I quickly lose my temper when this happens. I'm considering moving onto hard Lino as - to my very limited understanding, it produces better results.

I have a love for British medieval castles, so I have been creating some prints of welsh castles; mainly North Wales as that's where I grew up and these are the ones I am mostly familiar with.




My drawing style has been described as naive, which I took as a compliment. I'd say my carving skills are even more naive which in my humble opinion work with these castles. Years of wear, neglect and acid rain has left a lot of these castles far from their once glorious self. I always imagine the castles in north wales as part of the scenery, as organic shapes that have been there as long as the hills they are sat on, and the mountains that create their magnificent backdrop.




Lino printing is great because it can be reproduced, and I live that they aren't always identical, especially as I don't have a press and do it all by hand. I decided as I have, for as long as the linocut lives, the ability to produce an infinite amount of prints I should try and sell some. So I opened up an Etsy shop.
Click here to see the shop

Etsy seems to be a very popular site. I however am completely dumbfounded by it and have absolutely no idea how to traffic in potential customers to my shop. I don't understand treasuries or circles. Needless to say I have not sold one yet!




So the other day I decided I need to be advertising these prints where people are going to be looking for them. I got some postcards printed at moo.com and they arrived yesterday. This morning I sent a load of postcards to small businesses in North Wales that I feel would attract the right people to want to buy these prints. I just hope some of the people I have contacted will find the time to get in contact.
Any tips on how to get your work seen by the right people, and advertised in the right place, please share your wisdom!!

1 comment:

  1. iei! brilliant :) dwi'n lyfio cestyll chdi, gobeithio nei di clywed wbeth yn ol! gwbod ma etsy yn confusing, yr unig beth medrai ddeud ydi i 'licio' lot o betha, a 'add to circles' pobol a 'licio' siops, wedyn gobeithio neith pobol weld chdi drwy hyn! x

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