sodacrush

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Hello! ♥

I haven't updated this journal in a long time so here we go-


1. DD on my Jan Sketchdump



I haven't come on DA in some time so I actually found out when someone messaged me on Etsy asking for a Jellyfish. Anyway, thank you to princepal for the DD, and thank you to everyone who +faved and commented! I'll try to reply all the comments, though I'll probably take some time getting to it because I already have weeks of backlogged comments to reply to. And I've edited the sketchdump to add some comments on the most frequently asked questions for now. I didn't think people would be so interested in sketches but since it seems quite popular, I think I might do a Feb sketchdump too if I have time to scan them. (Also, if anyone is interested in following my sketches/doodles/jewelry, you can find me on instagram sodacrush)


2. Permissions

I get quite a few comments here and there asking if it's okay to draw pictures/make jewelry/comics/stories with stuff I've posted. Yes, you can use descriptions/designs if you like, but please don't sell anything that is 100% based off a design I drew - because I do plan to make/sell some of these things. If it's only a small part of a picture/comic etc. I probably won't mind you selling it though. And please let me know if you do make anything, I'd love to +fav it


3. Commissions

Commissions are still closed, including requests for designs from the sketchdump. The jellyfish seem pretty popular, so maybe I will try to make one just to see if it works out. I'm really busy with school right now so I'll only reopen commissions when I can commit more time to them, and I'll announce it on DA when I do

Current commissions to finish:

and


4. Wire Jewelry

I've also got a lot of questions about prices/selling the recent pieces. For now, they are not for sale. BUT I will eventually reopen sodacrush on Etsy to sell them, and accept commissions for wire-wrapped pieces too. I'm still undecided about pricing because at my current speed/skill, each piece still takes a couple of days to make if I work nonstop. So even pricing them at $100+ will earn me less than minimum wage, not counting the immense cost of all the equipment.

It was a lot easier when I just counted this a hobby, although I think it's a little selfish to spend so much money on making things I don't sell. We'll see how it goes


5. Giveaway

I was talking about a Christmas giveaway but I've been so so busy there just isn't time . But I do really have a huge pile of things to give away, I just need to get a good time to settle everything and organise it. I'm really sorry to those who have been waiting! I promise it will happen (eventually) OTL. I was thinking I might just do a random draw among all my watchers and then notify the winners, instead of doing a pageview thing like last time.


6. Personal things

I'm actually really stressed out right now and it frustrates me to no end. I get stressed in school because I'm falling behind on schoolwork and having trouble with some guys who won't let me alone. I'm always short of time to get things done, and I have to waste time going roundabout ways to/from class to avoid these people, plus being so guarded all the time. And then I make jewelry, but I go through periods where I hate everything and anything I make looks ugly and I'm really unmotivated. So coming on DA stresses me out, seeing all the comments and questions I haven't replied, especially when I'm in a savage mood and seeing comments like "nice work" on stuff makes me feel like "no, it's hideous" etc. Of course I don't want to reply comments when I'm being so sulky, so I just let them pile up until I feel happy enough to mean it when I say "thank you"... So, I'm sorry for always leaving things for months and uploading stuff but not replying to comments and personal notes. I don't want to vent my bad mood on anyone and I'm really grateful for all the kind comments and support of everyone here. ♥

Ending on a happier note, I'm so so excited about the new Star Wars movie, and that Fall Out Boy is back together . I've been listening to their new single nonstop, and also to this absolutely lovely song, I Love You by Woodkid: www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQu8FO… (Watch the MV, it's amazing I promise.)

♥Jasmyn

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Hello!

Exams are over and my Etsy is back up: www.etsy.com/shop/ValkyrieCout…

Commissions are still closed, but I can do requests for colour changes of existing designs.

I'm really not sure if any orders placed now will still reach in time for Christmas! The shortest shipping time to most countries is 4-6 working days, but at Christmas there might be some delays.

Also, I'm planning a Christmas giveaway which I'll update about soon

♥Jasmyn

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UPDATE 2: WE HAVE OUR WINNER(S)

This has been really exciting! And since it went so quickly and was a little confusing, I'm going to go ahead and declare TWO winners, congrats to you both

They are:

, who was the FASTEST in sending me both 50,002 and 50,502 pageviews
AND
, who was the CLOSEST both times and caught the 50,001 and 50,5001 pageviews

The exact 50,500 pageview was actually caught by my sister, who is having a screaming fit right now because she's ~ineligible~.

The winners are final and no further screenshots will be accepted, thank you very much everyone for taking part!



UPDATE: No one caught the exact pageview, so I've reset it to 50,500. And this time, send me your screen shots even if they're not exact, and if no one catches the EXACT pageview, I will give it to the next closest (e.g. 50,5001). Thank you to those who've sent me screenshots, I'm changing it to 50,500 because I know some people have caught the 50,001 or 50,002 pageview but didn't screenshot it. So this new number at 50,500 is to give a fair chance to everyone




Hello~

I'm still really busy with school BUT the 50k kiriban is going ahead as planned and this is the necklace that goes to the winner:



This necklace retails for $109 and there are three colour combinations available - Silver with a black stone, Gold with a red stone, and Gold with a dragon's breath glass opal (pink with blue flashes) so the winner gets to choose whichever s/he wants. The other colours will be available in my shop after that.

I will be accepting entries from notes OR email, and checking the timestamps to see who sends the first screenshot of the 50,000th pageview of my profile page exactly~

So drop me a note on DA or email me your screenshot at sodacrush[at]gmail[dot]com.

Other than that, I'm planning another giveaway in december, this time the items are smaller but there will be more of them to be won So until then, I hope everyone is enjoying life.

♥ Jasmyn

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Breaking the self imposed hiatus to rant! I've been on DA for quite a few years (this isn't my first account) and I've never really been bothered by art thieves or suchlike, but recently I found out that someone actually ripped all the pictures and descriptions off my Etsy site (without my knowledge or permission, obviously) and relisted them on his own website for a tidy profit. I'm not the only person whose jewelry was up there, and I've already contacted them to let them know about the site, as well as asked the owner to take them off, though I don't know yet if he will. A screenshot (edited out the address/links as there's no need for anyone to harass him, I've already contacted the other people involved) with comparison to the original price:



So, I guess art thieves don't just stick to images nowadays. The saddest part of this is, he's someone who makes jewelry himself and I actually watch him on DA because I admire his work. If you're such a good artist yourself, why try to make a profit off other people's work?

Just signal-boosting this issue on DA - to the people who SELL jewelry, keep an eye out for people who keep inquiring about your work, or about postage to many different places, as this might mean they're sending it to other people. And to the people who BUY jewelry, do support the original artist and try to make sure, if you're buying handmade stuff online, that the site is legit owned or approved as a seller of that artists' work.

And just for the record, my work is only available on my two Etsy shops: www.etsy.com/shop/ValkyrieCout… and www.etsy.com/shop/sodacrush. If you see it anywhere else, it's most likely a reseller. (And please let me know!)

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All this just made me think more about what it really means to be an "art thief" - and I think it boils down to taking credit OR profiting from someone else's work without their knowledge or permission. I don't believe in jealously guarding "secrets of the trade" or things like that - I think my FAQ and supplies lists alone is actually more than enough for anyone who wants to make similar types of jewelry (or even to replicate one of my designs) to do so for themselves.

With jewelry, even more than other forms of art, it's easy to have similar styles and items especially if you work with the same materials or items from the same supplier. I myself have encountered problems like that from both sides, insinuations of copying aspects of other people's designs, as well as looking at someone's items/descriptions and knowing it was based off one of mine. And so now I'm much more wary when making new things - indeed, I haven't posted anything new in a long while because I've been trying to find something other than the brass filigree I've been doing. I saw a comment a long time ago where someone said "no jewelry of this kind is original or worth making, because the people who assemble it didn't carve the original designs".

I'd never actually thought about it that way, and I'll admit it was a bit of a paradigm shift. I don't fully take his point, because I think that some of the jewelry created by the people who work in this style is the most beautiful I've ever seen At the same time, I understand the logic behind it. And here's something to consider:

My dear,

There's no such thing as 'original' in this world. We are born, and we learn. We have no choice but to take from those who accomplished what we want to accomplish.

See, we are faced with the choice of either threading our own path blindly, with all signs pointing to our failure, or to look forward and glimpse at the direction our predecessors traveled successfully. The choice is easy being that we fear death, and thus originality is non-existent.

What we can do is better upon the path our predecessors set. We can turn that dirt road into a paved highway. We can take that steam car and make an electric car. We can… so forth and so forth.

    It's not where you take things from – it's where you take them to.

Falsely yours,
Jean-Luc Godard

I really couldn't have put it better myself, and I do think that without being inspired by others, the work we are capable of producing in a complete vacuum isn't worth much at all. Digressing into my mythological/literary interest - I'm sure loads of people have heard of the film/musical "My Fair Lady" (it's been called the "perfect musical"). And this "perfect" creation was based off George Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion, which drew from Gilbert's Pygmalion and Galatea, which was in turn inspired by Ovid's Pygmalion. And these are just the most direct descendants of that first great work, not including the long list of works that have included a Pygmalion motif - from Shakespeare to Disney's Pinocchio.

(I will shut up about books now), but my point is - one point of inspiration can lead to so many other brilliant works, and there is so much in this world to explore and draw inspiration from. So instead of trying to gain fame or profit from taking something wholesale from someone else without even understanding the hard work and beauty that goes into it- why don't we take a step back, and try to learn from it instead? Instead of stealing art... make some of your own


♥Jasmyn

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Hullo! ♥

School has started for me and my workload this semester is going to be really heavy, so I probably won't have time to post many new things in the next few months I'll be on a short hiatus from DA, I'm just posting this to let you guys know that I'll be updating my blog: www.sodacrush.blogspot.sg more often about what I'm doing, instead of spamming DA with journals and WIPs!  

Also, the 50k kiriban is still going! So if you catch the 50k pageview, either upload the screenshot to Scraps and send me a note on DA, or email it to me at sodacrush (at) gmail (.) com Here's the necklace to be won:



I'll still be checking back periodically to reply to notes/comments and such, and hopefully one day I'll have time to start making new things again

♥Jasmyn