No Awesome Artist Feature? Sadface...

Sadface emoticon fine silver charm
by GSCreations - $12 USD

Ladies and gentlefolk of the blog:

It seems that I can't get always get my Awesome Artists Features up these days. And while I enjoy putting them up for viewing, they sure are a lot of work! :) For that reason, I'm probably going to start featuring some kind of rad Etsy seller every couple of weeks (cos lining them up has been challenging) and start doing real one-on-one question interviews. :)

A new year, some new changes.

Also coming up this new year:
- How to get your studio from bad to fab in one week
- Social Media Marketing: How much do you know about it?
- 5 Easy Ideas for Networking this Year
& many more!

What new changes have you been making for 2011?

Awesome Artist Feature: mr. deadfish GIVEAWAY!

When I stepped over to the mr. deadfish booth at Bazaar Bizarre this holiday, I knew I was in trouble. Scarves in the shapes of dead animals made out the upcycled sweaters? Yes, please!!!

So when I got to know this gal a little better, I knew I had to share her stuff with the rest of the world.

Introducing the founder & designer of mr. deadfish for our latest "Awesome Artist Feature": Amy Ng!

mr. deadfish

Amy wearing mr. deadfish in shirt form. :)
[Photo courtesy of Amy Ng]

Who are you? And what drives to you create!?

I am a San Francisco native that is inspired by everything around me. Generic as it may sound, I've been drawing ever since I could hold a pencil and once I discovered new media, I went bananas. Not only am I a full time video editor and animator, but on the side, I'm making daily scarves (for my 2011 challenge) and working on a children's book with a very talented friend Mr. Mito. Such inspirations can come from talented people like Camilla d'Errico and Marina Bychkova. Their choices of mediums are simply amazing and they've definitely mastered their artwork. Also, creating really keeps me out of trouble and lowers my cost of living, since I'm not going out buying drinks or karaoke-ing (though not dancing and eating lots of sweets is not reducing the thunder in my thighs)!

Alligator Scarf by mr. deadfish

When & why did you start your Etsy shop?

I started my Etsy shop in November 2008 because I just had a million things in my house that I've created. My friends always told me that I should sell my stuff and that people would buy it, but it's really hard to keep up with all the stuff that I make. I love illustrating, which got me into hand-drawing cards, but I think I just wasn't getting enough exposure to sell any. Then I started making hair clips, little squirrel magnets, modifying My Little Pony dolls, clay figures, stuffed animals, and now I'm trying to get this dead animal scarf going. Who knows what it'll be next month!

Top 5 fave books, movies, music, artists... 

I don't find myself having too much time to read nowadays, but I definitely have a few favorite movies in mind starting with a few childhood favorites. 

Movies:

The Neverending Story, The Secret of Nimh, and such tv shows like Out of This World, Small Wonder, David the Gnome, Looney Tunes, The Snorks, Jem and the Holograms and many more. Other movies I've enjoyed are Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, Zombieland, Lovely, Still, Delicatessen, Moon, The Host and many others that I really can't think of right now.

Music:

• I love eighties music, so Hall & Oates is definitely ranked up there.
• Stevie Wonder is oh-so-delightful when I feel like I need a faster pace and pick me up.
• With the sultry voice of Bitter:Sweet, sometimes this is exactly what I need for snazziness.
• If I'm feeling a bit epic, bumping up Muse will always do the trick.
• And last, but not least, The Spinto Band really knocks my socks off and gets me groovin to the tunes.

Artists:
As I strive to work with different mediums, here's a few people that drive me to love creating:

• Camilla d'Errico is awesome with her creepy sweet characters. So innocent and lovely.
• Marina Bychkova with her beautiful and sometimes twisted creations. I can't help but love and admire her work.
• Audrey Kawasaki can get rather magical with wood and paints. Her works just seems so dreamy and innocent.
• I can't forget about Scott Radke with his eerie and twisted painted sculptures. How could you not love that face?
• Christopher Conte is definitely amazing with his use of materials. I would never be able to create such wonders of art, but just looking at them makes my jaw drop every time.

The original mr. deadfish drawing
[Photo courtesy of Amy Ng]

How did you come up with your business name?
This is actually a really random story. Long, long time ago around the turn of the century, working in the photo department of a drugstore in Davis, CA., I was running a pretty high fever. Feeling as though it would be unacceptable to call in sick, I stood in that little corner of a lab and spent most of the day sweating. Those photo lab machines used to spit out a few blank cuts before and after every batch print and since I was feeling a bit delusional, I decided to draw a bunch of dead animals with taglines to them. "I am mr. deadfish. I smell bad." and it was a drawing of mr. deadfish (which a friend of mine has the original copy). Of all the animals, mr. deadfish was the one that everybody loved, so it seemed only natural to have that be my business name.

Amy working late into the night on her newest scarf
[Photo courtesy of Amy Ng]

What does a day in your life look like? 

*Beep Beep Beep* It's six am. She shuts off the phone and pushes the blankets off the bed, allowing the chill to fully wake her. Fast forward. Six twenty, looking for all day parking in the SOMA. Video editing, animating, awesomeness. Three thirty, go home. Four pm. Spread out the colorful cut up upcycled sweaters and think about what to make for the day. Sometimes ideas are given by friends, but mostly, it's random. *snip snip snip* Cutting out the pieces. Six thirty, make the best dinner ever consisting of meat, veggies and carb. Seven thirty, finish working on scarf until the hours between eleven pm and one am. Rinse, repeat. What messes up the mix is when there's some action happening like going out. Evenings are condensed, then.

Social Squittens
[Photo courtesy of Amy Ng]

What other favourite hobbies/activities do you enjoy?
I'm trying to have this monthly thing again called Social Squittens (A squitten is a cross between a kitten and a squid, demonstrated above, where I organize events such as rock climbing, archery, hiking, or various activities around the bay. I think one of them is definitely going to involve that new trampoline park that opened up in the Presidio. Social Squittens were created to meet cool new people. I have so many awesome friends and they all wanted to meet each other and meet more new friends, so I asked my friends to invite their friends. It usually ends up just being one large hangout session, but it's fun.
I also love animating and video editing. I'm a producer for my friend Marlon Torres of Torres Studios and he's one of the most talented people I know. He's simply amazing and I love working with him. You can see our WWII short film at papernautilusfilms.com.


To find out more about mr. deadfish and what Amy's up to, check out the links below:

BLOG // ETSY // TWITTER // FB

Now, for the GIVEAWAY:

Head on over to the mr. deadfish blog to find out how to win a FREE SCARF of your own!

Awesome Artist Feature: Etta + Billie

Lavender Body Créme
with Certified Organic Ingredients
by Etta + Billie - $23.95 USD

At the risk of sounding like I'm only a bath & body review blog, I'm featuring one of my all-time favourite local artists - Alana Rivera from Etta + Billie!

And you guessed it - she makes amazing bath & body products! But she's also an amazing human being.


Although seriously tired from preparing for Renegade Craft Fair's Holiday Show in SF, Alana greeted me with the warmest hug in the world late Sunday afternoon. Having only met her once before in person, we'd been coordinating meeting up again since the previous Renegade that summer.

You could win these awesome
soap samples in our Giveaway!

As always, her products are fabulously luscious, both in fragrance and quality. I walked in and drifted away with just a tiny bit of Geranium Patchouli Body Créme on my wrist - a little bit of heaven in cream form. :) She also passed me some of her new soaps (which I'd been looking forward to trying out)... freakin' wonderful!

And now we'd like to pass along a bit of luxury to you! Alana has graciously offered to do a giveaway of some samples of her bestselling soaps!

Find out about the story behind the raddness by reading a little more about Alana (late night dance parties & bike-riding included), followed by how you can win some of her wonderful soap here at nerd JERK!

Etta + Billie

Who are you? And what drives to you create!?

I'm a small town girl who loves San Francisco, laughing until I cry, making up words that I incorporate as my own private slang, baking, cooking, bargain hunting, reading, and window shopping on the internet.  The things that drive me to create are my passion for food (seriously, I am obsessed and have been since I was 2) and pushing the limits for creating beautiful useful 100% natural products.

Bitter Orange Soap
with Certified Organic Ingredients
by Etta + Billie - $9 USD

When & why did you start your Etsy shop?

I started my Etsy shop in February of 2009.  After making soap for almost four years I realized that I wanted to share my passion with others and grow my hobby into a real business.  I had been enamored with Etsy for a while and knew that it was a great platform for my products.  Plus getting my own website together seemed ridiculously daunting.

Describe your creative process

A lot of my inspiration comes from food. I peruse Tastespotting and Bon Apetit regularly. I tend to get some of my best ideas when I am just about to fall asleep or while I am on the bus (random - I know).  I always keep a notebook with me so I can jot my ideas down.  I will go through my lists and figure out what I think will actually work with my product lines.  For most of my soaps I sketch out the design on paper first and figure out what ingredients will give me the colors I need.  Sometimes I do test batches and sometimes I just go for it and make a whole batch.  I love the anticipation of cracking open one of my soap molds after 48 hours and cutting into my latest creation to see how it turned out, its always a surprise.

Top 5 fave books, movies, music, artists...
This is so hard but here goes:


Books: Persuasion by Jane Austen, Notes from a Small Island by Bill Bryson, Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Harry Potter Series


Movies: Goonies, Dazed and Confused, Center Stage (don't judge), Amélie, WALL E


Music: Led Zeppelin, Arcade Fire, Feist, Band of Horses, 80s music in general

How did you come up with your business name?
My business name is a combination of my grandmother's names.  I spent a lot of time with both of them as a child and as I grew up I started to appreciate what supportive, loving, fearless and tenacious women they were.  I wanted to make sure that I honored them somehow when I decided to embark on the crazy path of entrepreneurship.


What does a day in your life look like?
Wake up at 7 or 730, get ready, ride the bus or bike to my day job downtown, work all day - periodically checking emails and my shop, get home, make a list of what needs to be done for the evening, make dinner, pack orders/make product/wrap and label product, answer emails, update my calendar and data entry programs, go to bed around 11 or 12. :)


How do you combat "creative blocks" in your life?
I luckily haven't had to face one of these yet...


What other favourite hobbies/activities do you enjoy?
I love to get lost in books, bargain hunt on craigslist, collect 80s prom dresses, bake especially fruit galettes and banana bread, read Sunset, Real Simple and Bon Apetit, late night dance parties at a friends house, movies, getting sucked into the next Bravo show, and walking around my neighborhood.


Check out more about Etta + Billie here:

WEBSITE // TWITTER // FB // BLOG

---

Now, for the GIVEAWAY...

To enter to win a set of Ends & Pieces Soap Samples sent to your home, you have many options!

• Visit & "Heart" Etta + Billie on Etsy
• "Like" Etta + Billie on Facebook
• Find a new favourite item from Etta + Billie & post it on Facebook or Twitter
• Feature this blog post on Etta + Billie to promote this GIVEAWAY on Facebook or Twitter
• Start following the Etta + Billie blog
• Feature your favourite product by Etta + Billie in an Etsy Treasury & post the link in the "Comments" section of this post
• Start following this blog - "nerd JERK - Inspire Your Inner Geek"

= OR =

• Just LEAVE A COMMENT :D

After completing your entries, post which items you did in the "Comments" section of this post. For every item done, you'll receive ONE entry (10 possible entries available)! Winner will be randomly chosen on Saturday, 25 December & announced Sunday, 26th December, 2010.

I hope you all get a chance to try out these rad products & enjoy them as much as I do!!! 

Thanks & good luck!

The Awesome Artist Feature series will be running every Monday on nerd JERK: Inspire Your Inner Geek.

nerd JERK reaches 100 Sales!

HOLY CRAP!

We've finally done it! We reached 100 sales on Etsy!

When I got an order for #99 (Kirby - pictured above) at 2 AM from Erik in Bristol, UK, I had no idea I'd get another within a few hours! Our 100th sale was for a Mini Bob-Omb for Joan in IL, USA!

How freakin' exciting! :D

I can't wait to get these orders done and ready to ship, but I've got a deadline to make a ton of inventory for the Bazaar Bizarre show this weekend in San Francisco, CA. I'll also be teaching people how to make Nerdtastic Felt Ornaments at the Cocktails & Crafts Party on Saturday night! They look a little somethin' like this:

If you're in the San Francisco area, you should come drop by! I've got a special Coupon Code that gives you a 50% discount on tickets for the Cocktails & Crafts Party! If you buy one ticket for $10, you'll get the second for free! The event includes delicious drinks, DIY craft tutorials and even decadent cupcakes!!!

It'd be great to see a friendly face or two!

Thanks so much for supporting nerd JERK for the past 100 sales. Here's to 100 more!

Geek Chic Guide - "Battle Against Dysentery III" Telethon Donors

We've been getting excited about the "Battle Against Dysentery" for weeks! And it's happening RIGHT NOW! It started at 12 PM EST and will be going until 12 PM EST on Sunday. As a sampler of what kind of swag you can win if you tune in and make a donation, here's a treasury! :D

'"Battle Against Dysentery III" Telethon Donors' by NerdJerk

Some of the awesome items from the lovely Etsy Sellers that donated to the GeeksWithIssues.com's nerdy charity event "The Battle Against Dysentery"!!! The money raised from donations goes to 2 children's charities trying to help kids have a great holiday (some of which are in hospice care). Feel free to donate whatever you can (even $1 helps to try to make the $5000 goal) at http://www.GeeksWithIssues.com/charity - and get a chance at winning some of these awesome items!

Dragon Warrior / Quest ... obesolete $10.00	Amoeba and Paramecium M... whatnomints $14.00	Star Trek Science Offic... YellowBugBouti... $35.00
HOLIDAY SALE - Bob-Omb ... NerdJerk $54.40	Microscope Felt Magnet whatnomints $6.00	Shyguy plush - SMB2/Dok... obesolete $25.00
Candied Bacon Gift Pack... HashDelectable... $13.85	One 5 in. x 5 in. Steel... GothicRagDoll $21.60	Metroid Plush obesolete $25.00
HOLIDAY SALE - MINI Goo... NerdJerk $12.80	One 5 in. Gothic Rag Do... GothicRagDoll $15.00	HOLIDAY SALE - Green Ma... NerdJerk $33.60
Bacon of the Month Club... HashDelectable... $36.00	One 4 in. x 4 in. Steel... GothicRagDoll $14.50	HOLIDAY SALE - Convo Ca... NerdJerk $30.40

Generated using Treasury HTML code generator by Whale Shark Websites.

Get behind this and watch it here:





And please DONATE (even just $1) here:

Awesome Artist Feature: BunnyDee

There are many people in the Etsy community that I admire, whether it be for their photos, descriptions or products. And then there are those Etsy Sellers that I really want to get to know: What's the story behind that illustration? How did you come up with the concept for that piece? What inspires you to be awesome?

Introducing the Awesome Artist Feature series!

In this series, I'll hand-pick outstanding artists with some fantastic work I truly find interesting. So interesting, in fact, that I'd like to share these finds with the rest of the world!

My first Awesome Artist Feature in the series will be with Danielle Gundry-Monji from BunnyDee! A new member of the SF Etsy Street Team, Danielle's been fairly active in the SF Etsy group, which was what caught my eye. When I saw her avatar on my Craftopolis page, I had to check out her stuff... and INSTANTLY fell in love!


Seriously, pretty much everything in her Etsy Shop had a nerd JERK as a Favourite within 5 minutes! So, I had to email her to let her know how rad I thought she was.


Not long after that, we'd established that we were both giant nerds: from a great love of books, to digging the tunes of Kings of Convenience, to a common crush on Alan Rickman, there were some uncanny parallels in our tastes. 


Please enjoy these freakin' awesome insights to a new face around Etsy: 

BunnyDee

Danielle of BunnyDee working on a new idea (Photo by BunnyDee)

• Who are you? And what drives to you create art?

My name is Danielle Gundry-Monji but thats too long to remember so I go by bunnydee.  I'm a lady from a small town who lives in the city by the bay. 

I think what drives me to create art is the little girl inside of me who always wanted to be an artist. It was always my answer when my parents asked what I wanted to be when I got big. I'm driven by my dreams, much of the imagery I reference comes from little inspirations I run into on a day to day basis. 

• When & why did you start your Etsy shop?

I've been a buyer on Etsy for quite awhile.  I started actually selling on Etsy a little over two weeks ago.  I was driven by my friends and family telling me to get over my fears and jump in and try it! 

• Describe your creative process

My creative process is a bit random.  If I get a spark of inspiration I try and write it down.  If I'm at work I write it down on a sticky note so my pockets are often filled with random notes and sketches.  I have tried to make a habit these days of not stopping something mid idea.  Take it all the way through to the finish and that just pushes me all the harder.

Color Keys - by BunnyDee - $25 USD

One of my favourite parts of interviews is really getting to know an artist's taste. And one of my favourite ways of finding out someone's taste is thru the classic High Fidelity "Top 5" method!

• Top 5 fave books, movies, music, artists...

Books:
This is pretty hard to answer considering I actually work at a bookstore!
Harry Potter Series by J.K Rowling
Animal Family by Randell Jarrell
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick
Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
Coraline By Neil Gaiman

Movies:
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
The Piano
Annie Hall
The Harry Potter Movies!
Labyrinth

Music:
Any soundtrack by Michael Nyman
Jocelyn Pook
Nico
Kings of Convenience 
Simon and Garfunkel 

Artists:
Also another hard one!:)
Maurice Sendak
Aubrey Beardsley
Harry Clarke
Egon Schiele
Gustav Klimt

Love to Read - by BunnyDee - $25 USD

• How did you come up with your business name?

It is actually my family nickname.  My family calls me Bunny Dee.  It became my business name when I realized that Danielle Gundry-Monji is a bit too hard to remember or even spell.  BunnyDee works just right for me.  

• How do you combat "creative blocks" in your life?

I try and find a new place to draw. Something to spice up the scenery. I check out fashion blogs, color blogs and look over my favorite books with works by my favorite artists.  I throw on some classical music to get me jazzed about making something!

• What other favourite hobbies/activities do you enjoy?

I love photography. When I'm not drawing I'm usually out trying to take photos. My grandfather was a photographer so I think a bit of that is in the blood.  I enjoy reading, a wonderful thing about working at a bookstore is being surrounded by inspiration.  

• If you could have brunch with any person (alive or dead), who would it be & why?

Probably Alan Rickman.  Because I'm the biggest Severus Snape fan.  I'm a HP geek to the max.  I have a tattoo of a golden snitch.  

To find out more about Danielle & check out some of her works, feel free to click on the links!

BLOG // ETSY // TWITTER // FB // WEBSITE

The Awesome Artist Feature series will be running every Monday on nerd JERK: Inspire Your Inner Geek. If you'd like to participate, feel free to email me at nerdJERK@gmail.com!