Etsy Ups and Downs

Well, the good thing is that I've set up another Etsy shop at www.kitschandcurious.etsy.com. The idea of this is to sell off some of my collection that I don't have room for, or things I've acquired as part of job lots, etc. I'm quite pleased with it so far, and it seems to be getting lots of views and has been added to people's favourites. Nobody's bought anything so far, though.

I thought I had a sale from The Dolls Have Eyes. Somebody bought my Gothloli doll.
Unfortunately, it seems this was a naughty buyer. She offered to send a money order, and although I wasn't really sure how this would work between the US and UK, I was prepared to find out how we could make it work. But then she said her boyfriend lives in Scotland and he was going to send me a cheque. Great, I thought - that makes it simpler. After a few days she said that her "Scottish lover" would be sending payment in the next fortnight. This rang alarm bells - who on earth refers to their "lover" in an email about etsy payments? I asked if there was a reason why he couldn't send payment sooner. She replied to say that he'd had a fire in his house and didn't want to use his credit card in an internet cafe. Credit card? I thought he was sending me a cheque?

By this time quite a few pieces of negative feedback had appeared on Etsy. She's failed to pay a few times. I gave her a fortnight, and I've heard nothing since. Grrr! How frustrating. But mainly VERY disappointing that I still haven't sold anything on Etsy. (Sigh!)

Maybe my things are just too weird...

Big Parcel of Pose Dolls

Isn't it lovely when you get a big parcel from ebay? And even better when it's full of lots of dolls, and you have the joy of unpacking them. Last week I got these dolls from America - a set of twelve dolls of the world. Their "traditional" costumes are very shiny and synthetic; one naked flame and they'd all go up in an inferno of toxic fumes.

They were all still in their original boxes. They're quite petite for pose dolls - about 10 inches tall. I bought them with the thought that I might redress some of them, but it seems a shame to break up the set. I'm currently working on a few other redressed pose dolls, and may try to sell them on etsy soon.


I think my favourite is Miss Italy - she's got a lovely pink dress and a bow in her hair. Not sure if that's an authentic Italian costume, but who cares when she looks so pretty?


All the costumes are a bit random. Look at Miss USA here. Perhaps a kind American reader might explain to me the origin of this tartan and yellow combo. Not sure I've ever come across this traditional costume.


I'm hoping to have photos of more of my ebay buys and charity shop finds on here soon. I'm going to start de-stashing and selling on etsy too.

My downstairs loo

I really like folk art, and some of the most accessible folk art I've found is in the form of religious images and artefacts. Catholic and Hindu imagery is particularly appealing. Mexican Day of the Dead stuff is also great. When I moved house last year, I didn't know where to put my collection. In the end, I decided to put quite a lot of it in the downstairs loo. The impact of all this brightly coloured kitsch stuff in a very small space is great! Not sure what our visitors make of it, though...

This is my Cabinet of Catholic Curiosities.

Some of the statues are musical, and some of the virgins change colour to tell you when it's raining. It's a miracle!

I'm not exactly sure what the heart-shaped thing is. I've seen them in Mexican shops, although, completely bizarrely, I bought this one from Topshop on Oxford Street. It's some sort of religious charm, with packets of spice and tiny bottles of liquid. It's sparkly and looks brilliant. I wish I could put together objects in my art with such charm and panache.

Welcome

Welcome to my blog!

I thought I'd name this blog in the manner of 'The Bold and the Beautiful', and 'The Kitsch and The Curious' seems to sum up what it's all going to be about. 

I really like some of the blogs I've seen where people share their collections, things they've bought, things they've made and so on. So that's what I'm hoping to do here. I love kitsch, weird, cute, weird, silly, crazy, bonkers objects, and I try to incorporate these things into my art.

I've just set a shop on etsy - www.TheDollsHaveEyes.etsy.com, and I'm in the process of developing my website - www.TheDollsHaveEyes.com 

I've been writing a blog about dolls on myspace www.myspace.com/dollydanger 

so I thought I'd do a new blog (with things other than dolls) to go with the etsy shop, and hopefully discover a new audience. 

I hope you like it.