Saturday 27 October 2012

Autumn Leaves. Decal Walls360 from Zazzle

Zazzle has recently introduced many new products which I am only just catching up with. They now have a set of wall decals in many different sizes, shapes and configurations, which could have many uses around the home or work place - including schools. This was my first experimental design on this range of products and whilst working on this I tried out many of the configurations. I haad so many ideas; I just need a little time to actually design some viable products.

What is the fuss about? These decals can by put up anywhere, taken down and stuck up again, over 100 times. They leave no marks and no residue. Perfect for a quick change of decor in those little corners or in a childs bedroom. Take a browse at some ideas and I am sure that you will find some ideas of your own. Here is my first trial product:-

There are many more designs in, as I say, many shapes and sizes. This one is very much larger (but can be customised to a smaller size to make it less expensive. It uses abstract patterns:
Autumn Leaves Wall Decals
Autumn Leaves Wall Decals by ChinaberriesEmporium
Browse Leaves Wall Decals

This time of year must be the best time to visit many of the arboreta which will be showing their trees in autum foliage. In the UK, one of the best known must be The National Memorial Arboretum which is open all year (except Christmas day with free entry. Another very well known and well visited arbouretum is that at Westonbirt, a must see option for lovers of trees. And not to forget Batsford Arboretum which claims to be the UK's most visited.

For non-uk residents, just Google your country name + arboretum and I am sure that you will find many splendid examples near to you.

All of these and many more, will provide wonderful displays of autumn colour in October of almost any year

Sunday 21 October 2012

Humerous quotes on Basic Tee Shirts

One thing it is easy to do is to find quotes on the internet, just google and you will find so many. A site which I have used for my last batch of Zazzle products is Hilarious funny quotes; one of the many. I have taken a few of the quotes and made them into a two-parter, the second part being the punch line and have used these on some basic white Tee-shirts. Let me show a couple of examples:-

ASK NO LIES Tee shirt
ASK NO LIES Tee shirt by artyfax
Browse Text T-Shirts

Of couse these are just the basic Tee, there are something llike 537 different styles which can be accessed via the customisation button. This is on an orange coloured texxt button on the bottom left of the image. 

How about some Tees from other stores, Mine are not the only gems around.

You can stop laughing now

thanks for your attention.

Tuesday 16 October 2012

Basket Weave Design On Zazzle

Visiting one of Birminghams old historic houses, Castle Bromwich Hall last week I was looking through a volunteers bric-a-brac stall and found some textile squares for patchwork quilts - which I though I could put to use in my crafting/art.

Once home I decided to photograph the textiles and record the patterns. One in particular caught my eye, a woven basket work pattern, I decided that this could make a good abstract design for some Zazzle products. So here are a few example of the latest additions to my Zazzle store on this theme. I have photo-shopped the pattern to give a selection of different colours, if you like the pattern but not the colour, watch this space or perhaps contact me via Zazzle; I will have whatever colour you would like but it will take a little time to get onto products.

Basket Weave Mug
Basket Weave Mug by artyfax
Create one-of-a-kind personalized cups from zazzle.com.


Of course there are lots of other great funky and humerous designs:-

Wednesday 10 October 2012

Using sillouettes in designing Zazzle products

How to decide upon new designs for Zazzle products. I wish I knew what sold well but I find it difficult to make any conclusions in that area.

I tried google and found several links but they do not seem to be able to be specific. Zazzle itself has a list of many niche areas available on an excel sheet but it is simply a list of of subject areas. No indication of which areas do well. It offers lists of trending themes, best sellers and most wished for but again these do not seem to be very helpful.

I am ready to give up and just do what I have been doing which is to create designs which I think are worthwhile and hope that someone, somewhere will fancy them. And try to have them available on as many products as possible. I am beginning to think it may be PROMOTION all over again. I understand CEO when I read about it but simply don't do enough of it. THIS has got to change - I need to get involved with promotion if I hope to make anything from the time I spend on the PC.

When I first started posting, I was not interested in making money on-line. But as it became possible to see some potential I started to feel disapppointed that I wasn't making more. A change in targets I wish had not happened, but it did. Now I need to start making sure that I do whatever I can to raise that total even though I am so frustrated with most things about the internet.


In particular, I am frustrated with Redgage
A site that you have to be daft to work with. It is still in beta after several years and is so full of bugs it rattle. I achieved their $25 dollar payout limit this summer but they said they had changed their mode of payment for off-shore members. For this piffling amount I was expected to provide there chosen partner with enough details to know me better than I know myself including a photocopy of my passport. Imagine that, sending my passport over the e-mail system to a company in a foreign country - well no thank you we all know how security is a sieve for most banks and internet companies. I have tended my resignation, they can have a cup of coffee on me!

Examples of the lapse of security on the internet are:-
Mossad, one of the most seccreetive secret services
Facebook
IT&T i=pad mail users
Cahoot internet bank
Barclays bank

and many more later examples abound on the internet.

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But the reason for this post was not to unload my frustration with Redgage on your shoulders but to post one or two of my latest designs. I have been playing with sillouettes. These are great fun and very simple, even simplistic. Will they find a niche? I don't know but here is a sample.
stallion sillouettes, tote bag
stallion sillouettes, tote bag by artyfax
View other Horse Bags

Lots more sillouette designs horses and other images on my Zazzle stores.