DanaArts Podcast

So things are still moving along with Dana Arts. I'm working away at the site and as always figuring things out and keeping myself busy. It's that time of year where it's starting to get darker sooner and cool off a little here in Arizona. Still in the 90's, but not bad at night.

My wife planted sunflower seeds in our back yard. we already have 10 of them starting to grow. I can't wait till they all bloom at the same time. It will look so cool. I'll take some pictures once they grow up a little. So if you are in my area, it's time to start planting your winter crops. :)

So I've managed to start the process. I thought, "what the heck!". So for now I have a few libraries and a few more coming. The shanks have over 30 in it. I have parts and also some nice halos. These really save so much time if you work with t-splines and CAD to make jewelry. Most rings may need pieces from each library. Mix and match is the game. Have fun. They are listed in the new CAD section

I'll add some related videos on how to use parts to build a ring in more depth or more specific soon.

For any Martrix 8 users out there, I've been thinking about selling some T- spline library folders. They would be priced according to each folder and may have 10-15 pieces in each library folder. | just need to prepare them properly. Stay tuned it still might take me a month or so to prep everything, but the idea is there.

So I was working on my site of course and I ran into a snag. I could not get the shopping cart to work with variant options the way I needed. I found a workaround that has to do. So when selecting a gold ring to buy you will have to just add it to the cart and then a popup will allow you to add the metal color. Just that simple. It's one of those hidden simple things that hopefully doesn't confuse anyone.

So I'm still working on it. It will be a while, but the latest is a lot of rearranging and planning. I'm just throwing up the basics and then I'll slowly refine it. Nothing is permanent yet. I am starting to add some jewelry products that I already have listed on Etsy. It will take a while to add all of them, but I'm excited to finally start selling from my site for the first time. Sorry if there are any bugs. Still working things out.

I love this ring. Just woks.

You know none of us have enough time for everything. We have to pick and choose what's a bigger priority and go with that. Everything else just waits and gets pushed back till we are able to get inspired enough to feel it's a bigger priority than something else.

Well, time or no time, I have been wanting to redo my website for years now. I built the first few sites from scratch. I never wanted to use a template because they were all too constricting and didn't allow for my freedom of artistic view to be expressed. Well, technology has gotten better and I don't have time to keep rebuilding my site. It took over a year to get to the point of starting on it again. I also knew in the back of my mind that I would never finish for years to come. A little here and a little there. Just no time. So I'm bending my rule and am jumping into the template realm. This way I can actually get it done and spend more time on what I more enjoy doing and that's jewelry and photography.

So bear with me as I slowly build my site. Even with a template site it will take me some time. I hope you'll enjoy it as you see it develop. Give me 6 months and hopefully all the bugs will be worked out too. Time is an interesting thing. Wish I had more of it. :)

I thought I'd post an old video I made of a ring that I handmade. I hope to have time to make more videos. Here it is. It's an engagement ring. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tumdkoyqtl0

I just thought I'd update what's been going on lately. I found a little time to work on a video. Still a lot to do and still not finished after a few years. I need to find more time to work on it.

So far this past year I was able to make new business cards, a few new designs, receive honorable mention in the render category of the Gemvision design symposium 2012 and have lots of fun. Work is fun so I never know when I'm working or having fun. It's the same to me. :) This year I hope to work on the video, shot more photography and practice some more art. I'm getting into digital art a little more. I feel the key to it is drawing directly on screen. Without that it's not as much fun. I'm inspired to keep moving along. If I ever create anything worth while to share, I'll share.

This was my most popular ring for 2012.

I'll try and post more often. Until then, bye. :)

I always try my best to do everything. There is a lot to do and I get behind (videos still coming like I've mentioned in the past). Well, I thought I need to start marketing my work now that I have quite a few bands done. I'm doing my research and I'm going to start experimenting with it. I hope that I can figure it out. Wish me luck. :)

Lately I have been thinking a lot about wilderness survival. I have made a note that isn't quite finished on Facebook. I will be adding more photos and experiences, but for now I thought I'd share it. You may need to be a friend of a friend or my friend to see it, but if your interested in it and can't see it then let me know. I share how to start a fire with the bow drill. It's very fun and an exciting way to start a fire. Here is the link. Note on Making a fire Make sure you are logged into Facebook.