Thursday, June 29, 2017

My Journey As A Creative Designer - Woodworking and Beyond #1845: New Projects (again!)

While one would think that the reason that I haven’t been blogging regularly is due to things slowing down, usually the opposite is true. As always, I have several things ‘on the go’ at once and many times I just don’t know what to do first. Add to this that the weather here in Nova Scotia has been just beautiful, and not only does that lend itself to outdoor projects (yard work, etc.) but also really makes me want to head to the beach for the day.  Our home is so close to the ocean, and in the past two years, I think I visited the beach ONCE. that is truly a crime, I feel.  Life is too short not to take some time and enjoy the things we work so hard to acquire – even if it is just enjoying our sleepy little coastal town. It is a promise that I made to myself to do so, and on Monday, I took advantage of the warm and cloudless day and headed to the shore. I wasn’t disappointed. 

up my supplies and I am just thrilled with it! She had surprised me with the fabric she used and when I saw it, I just smiled! 



The inside has several lovely divided compartments to hold lots of brushes:



I love the darker, paw print fabric that was used for the inside. It was not only cute but wouldn’t show spots or wear:





The outside was covered in brilliant, nearly fluorescent colors kitties (what else?!):





And finally, it had a pretty fluorescent green elastic to keep it closed when folded:





I know it will get lots and lots of use, and I will think of Karen each time I see it. :)  (If you would like her to make you one, you can contact her at kraftykaren@wowway.com.  I am sure she will be happy to do one in an adorable fabric to your liking!) 



I wound up not painting, though, as it was a bit windy to do so and also I changed my mind on the color scheme of the project that I was designing. 



I am working on designing the July “Quick Paint” project for Toletown painting community. (www.toletown.com)   Many of you who follow know that I am one of their regular designers, and I create one Quick Paint project and two full projects with videos per year for them. They have a wonderful community and it is very reasonable to join and the members have access to loads of fun projects, videos, and patterns. I hope you check them out. 



Doing the 'Quick Paint’ is always a challenge for me. I usually do something quite complicated and it is hard for me to do 'simple’. This time, I was determined to indeed do something “quick” and keep it simple. I think I succeeded. 



The July theme at Toletown is “Christmas in July” and I created some really cute and fun (and SIMPLE) tags that can be used as ornaments or tags or both:



For the backgrounds, I used some fun stencils by my designer friends Sandy Warner McTier and Tracy Moreau. I loved the 'retro’ look of these patterns and I felt they fit perfectly with my vision of the project. You can get the stencils (the group is called “M2 Stencils” at both Sandy’s site as well as Tracy’s site. I love them because they are so versatile, inexpensive, and can be used for a variety of projects to make something quick and fun. I hope you check them out. :)



I will also be offering up the tag surfaces on my site:



They will be up there probably by tomorrow. We are doing a site update so I will also have the pattern and surfaces for the SUMMER scatter letters I showed last week as well as Keith’s new designs.



This is his new SLDK728 Deer Rustic Welcome Sign:

It is the first of a new series of welcome plaques that he is working on. He will be doing several wildlife plaques of this type. 



If you aren’t on our Mailing List, I encourage you to join up so we can let you know when we have new things. We only send out a newsletter about every other week and we don’t share your information with anyone. We also offer special coupon codes and sales from time to time for our subscribers. It is a great way to keep up with things from us and get a little discount, too. 



On other things, I have finally found some time in the evening to get back to my sheep project. I still don’t know what I am going to ultimately do with these sheep, but they are something I wanted to create. This is the forth of the five versions that I am making:



This one also uses beautiful Valdani pearle cotton thread for the legs, ears, and face, but this time I am using 2mm silk ribbon to make the bushy coat. It is taking me much longer than I anticipated, but since I am not timing myself and do not have any deadlines. it doesn’t really matter.





I just love the 'fluffy’ texture the ribbon offers. Here is a photo with my finger  in the picture so you can see the size relation:





Here they are with their other 'friends’:





They look pretty cool all together. I have one more idea for this group and then I will call it done. you will have to stay tuned and see …



So that’s about all for this time. Besides the above projects, I have been cutting orders and doing the wood for the next installment for Amy Mogish’s Halloween Club.  As seems to be the norm of late, I have lots of things going on at once. I suppose that is what makes me happiest. It sure makes for the days passing quickly though and I am afraid if I blink, summer will be over. 



I hope you all take some time out to enjoy your days as they come. While it is important to work, it is also important to take the time to enjoy what you are working for. You never know what tomorrow will bring. 



Happy Thursday to you all! 






via Tumblr https://davidpires578.tumblr.com/post/162395181344

Thursday, June 22, 2017

My Journey As A Creative Designer - Woodworking and Beyond #1844: New "Summer" Scatter Block Design

After a great deal of rain over the past several days, yesterday (the first day of summer) was the first day that we had a day filled with sunshine in what seemed like a long time. It seemed appropriate. 



It also seemed appropriate that I was working on my new pattern that will include both the scroll sawn version as well as painting instructions for these cute and fun Summer Scatter Blocks (SLD537) that I showed as the ‘woodworking version’ in my last blog post:



While I feel they look nice like that, with all the inner lines cut on the scroll saw, I couldn’t help but think how pretty they would be if I painted them using some of my wonderful DecoArt colors. I recently obtained some of the new colors that DecoArt has come out with for 2017 and they were just too pretty to pass up on. (For those of you who would like them ALL, you can get a set of the nine new colors at a great price at the Artist Club online – DecoArt Acrylic Colors. If you go to the bottom of the page, you will see the set of nine new colors at a discounted price!) 



I cut a set of 'blank’ pieces for my “Summer Scatter Blocks” and I painted them with some wonderful, bright and cheery colors. I then took my polka-dot stencil from Sandy McTier Designs and (you can get her M2 Stencils here) and added some cute white dots on each of the little flower pieces. 





It amazed me at how a simple addition made such a big difference. They really made the pieces look CUTE! 



After shading each piece, I  used DecoArt Glamour Dust Ultra Fine Glitter Paint in gold and brushed the faces of all the pieces. 





Next, I painted on the lettering with a light base coat, and when that dried, I applied some gold Extreme Sheen Metallic Paint from DecoArt. 





This is another new product from DecoArt that is really amazing. The “Extreme Sheen” line of paints has so much more metallic pigment in it than their usual metallic paint! When applied, it looks much like foil!



I also dry brushed some on the black sunglasses of Mr. Sunshine and it gave a lovely effect:





Overall, I really think it made the project look AMAZING! 



And it was “Easy/Peasy”, too!  



I am really happy with how it came out and I know it will be a fun project for adults and kids alike.  I will be adding both the pattern as well as the blank wood kit to the site in the next couple of days. I hope it is a project that you will all enjoy! You can get any of these great new products at the DecoArt online store or your local craft store. I really love the new paints they have for different purposes. Just when I think they can’t come up with any more new things, they surprise me with some great new products! I am always so impressed. 



On other things, I also finished up my lighthouse painting that was designed by Jamie Mills Price:



I am thrilled with it, and I will show it with more detail in my next post. 



AND  … 



Keith has a new pattern for the scroll sawyers, too:





via Tumblr https://davidpires578.tumblr.com/post/162123551854

Monday, June 19, 2017

My Journey As A Creative Designer - Woodworking and Beyond #1843: Finishing Up Some Projects

Since most of you are also creators and crafters, I am sure you understand the dilemma that we all have in finding enough time to finish all the projects we begin.



For me, it is usually a matter of not having enough time to complete everything that I want to complete. I see a new project and attack it with great enthusiasm, then one thing or another comes along and pulls me away from it, and I don’t know when I am able to return to finish.  Trust me when I say that it becomes even more difficult for someone like myself, who not only plays with many different types of media but whose job is designing new projects myself. On a daily basis, I am exposed to so many wonderful projects from my fellow designers in so many different types of crafts that it makes my head spin! Choosing which project to do next is not the hardest thing – choosing the ones NOT to do seems to be the problem. 



As a result, I often wind up with a couple of things on the go at once. My usual menu of ‘choices’ is a project that I am developing myself, an embroidery project (or two!), a home-dec project (or a list of them) and a couple of painting projects. I have learned to live with this setup, as it gives me a variety of choices and I feel that no matter what mood I am in, there is something there to keep myself busy. It keeps me being creative and thinking about the next project on my drawing table. I don’t think it is a bad thing. 



But recently, I have seen so many new things I want to do for gifts for others as well as for my own home here, that I was starting to feel a bit anxious about just how many things were partially finished. I have a couple of new things I want to start, but I couldn’t do so in good conscience until I checked some things off of the list of what I was working on. It wouldn’t have been right.



Last week, I finished up my “Maiden Voyage” Ark from Lynne Andrews’ Inspirational Ark series. Since this was the Ark with the most detail (and most passengers!) I felt this was a great accomplishment. From here on, the smaller Arks have only one or two characters and should be able to be completed very quickly. I felt it was a great hurdle. 



I also began painting my first group of three ornaments from Amy Mogish's "Classic Amy Joanne Halloween Club“. I have been cutting the pieces for Amy for months now on these ornaments and the mailings began in June. For the next three months, we will have three ornaments to work on per month so that by September, we will have a beautiful set of 12 to display on my SLDPK159A Dowel Tree (Amy is designing a FENCE and TOPPER to fit on this tree!) or on any tree, wreath, or garland you wish. I LOVE Amy’s fun and whimsical style, and it was a great deal of fun to paint up these quick and beautiful ornaments! 



I began them last week and showed you in a previous post. But I decided this weekend to finish them off. I am happy to say I accomplished my goal.  



The first set consisted of a ghost:

… a spider … 



… and some Halloween candy:



Each ornament is painted using beautiful DecoArt Acrylic paint and mediums, and glass glitter was applied. I dyed my own glass glitter using Alcohol Ink, which made it much cheaper than buying colored glass shards. This really made a beautiful, chunky and oh-so-sparkly glitter. I used the glass glitter in the center of each ornament, around the lettering that was penciled in with colored pencils. (By the way – doing the lettering in PENCIL made it so EASY and FAST to do!)  You can see how I dyed the glitter by downloading the FREE instructions on my site here: Free Patterns and Resources. I show the entire process with step-by-step photos in the download of the pumpkin ornaments. 



We were given suggestions as to how to finish the sides and backs of our ornaments, and I decided to do this black and white check with an orange stripe going through the center of the light checks. I loved it, but it was a little stark for the tone of the ornaments, so I used DecoArt’s Black Ice Glamour Dust Ultra Fine Glitter Paint to add some sparkle and tone them down. Since the black glitter is suspended in a black, transparent base, it did the job well of subduing the bright white checks. It looked beautiful – like the edges were dipped in sugar – and I loved the effect. I wanted even MORE sparkle, but I didn’t want to further darken the edges, so I added another layer of Crystal Clear Glamour Dust Ultra Fine Glitter Paint and it looked even better. I wish you could see it in person! 



For final touches, I added some orange and black Baker’s Twine for hangers (Baker’s Twine is Amy’s trademark!) and I also added three little glass pumpkin Lampwork Beads at the tops of my pieces.





They were the PERFECT accent for these beautiful ornaments and they look just fabulous! 



I am watching those in our Facebook Group (Classic Ornie Halloween Club) to see how the members are finishing the backs of theirs and then I will decide what I want to do with mine. They are plain now, but I am sure by the end of our journey here, I will decide to put something on them. I was thinking some type of plaid, but I saw a member added checks and I may like to do that. It is fun to see all the interpretations of the others who are doing this project along with us. I invite you all to join our Facebook Group and either paint this fabulous project with us or just cheer us on. It is a great way to be inspired and share your creativity. 



When I finished my ornaments, I spent the rest of the evening working on my lighthouse plaque that was designed by Jamie Mills-Price. 





It is nearly done now, and I added some Lupin flowers to my plaque, as they are native to Nova Scotia. I also have some other 'surprises’ for the frame, but that will be for the next blog … (You can get this pattern at Jamie’s site http://www.betweenthevines.com) I love all of her patterns. 



Finally, this weekend I also began working on my own design. This is a set of scatter-letters for – you guessed it – SUMMER! 





via Tumblr https://davidpires578.tumblr.com/post/162006050464

Friday, June 16, 2017

My Journey As A Creative Designer - Woodworking and Beyond #1842: Now There Are Three (Sheep)

Yesterday was a difficult day. Most of you who read or know me know how much I love kitties. Cats and kittens have always been such a big part of my life. Most of my life I have had at least one cat and most of the time more than that. To me, they aren’t only pets but valued members of my family. 



Many of you remember that this past December, I suddenly lost my dear feline friend Pancakes to illness. He had gone into surgery that was intended as ‘exploratory’ and never made it back. I was devastated, and have still been struggling with his loss to this day. While I love all of my cats, Pancakes may very well have been my “pet of a lifetime.” I don’t think I will ever be able to 'get over it’ fully. 



Earlier last year, Keith’s mom had lost her beautiful little kitty, Lacey. That has hurt as well. I still kind of look for her every time we go to their home. While Lacey was older and we knew she wasn’t feeling well for a long while, it still hurt tremendously to hear of her passing. Another piece of my heart went with her. 



I have mentioned our good friend Lee several times here in my posts. Lee was our neighbor at our old apartment and has a heart of gold. He travels down to the wharf every single day to care for the feral cats that people abandon. He feeds them, cares for them, and to most of the kitties, Lee is the only human they will allow to have contact with them. He has adopted several kitties of his own – all 'misfits’ that would otherwise certainly not survived. To me (and many others) he is a hero, and a couple of weeks ago I had the honor of attending a dinner the village had to honor 'unspoken volunteers’ that helped our community. I was so pleased that Lee was recognized for his kindness and dedication to the kitties. 



Last month, though, one of Lee’s five kitties became ill and passed away. It broke my heart to say goodbye to Doobie, who was a beautiful creamy beige boy. I went with Lee to the vet that day and while it did bring many of the sad feelings of losing Pancakes back (not that they ever diminished really), I found comfort in that Doobie passed in peace, with calm dignity. 



Since then, Lee has adopted a new kitten that he calls “Gibbs”, and Gibbs was settling in nicely with his other four. 



But yesterday morning, I had some terrible news. Lee had messaged me the night before that his youngest kitty, Loki, had become ill. He was only seven years old and was just a kitten when Lee got him, right around when he moved near Keith and I. I remember the day he brought him home and Loki could fit in your palm. He grew to be a big boy and I grew to love him dearly. When we lived at our old place, we kept our washer and dryer in Lee’s apartment (it was larger than ours) and we went over weekly to do our laundry. There wasn’t a time when Loki didn’t come out to greet me when I came by. I fondly called him “my boyfriend”. Even after we moved, I still came by just to visit him every couple of weeks. He always loved to be fussed over and had a personality that I loved.   I was so sad to hear that he wasn’t feeling well.  



As I got ready yesterday morning to go to the vet with Lee and Loki, I received a message from Lee that Loki had passed away. It crushed me. 



I couldn’t help but think that a year ago, between us, Keith’s mom, and Lee (our inner circle here) we had nine kitties. Now four of them have passed away. We all live in different areas so it isn’t anything in the water or environment, but just a matter of circumstances. But I have to admit that my heart is in tatters and I am truly struggling with keeping my positive attitude some days. I don’t know what to say. 



As a designer, creativity is an important factor in success. These past several months, I have been fortunate to be working with other designers and doing more 'production-type’ work. It keeps me busy when my heart is just not happy. It keeps me connected and knowing that I am providing pieces that make others happy helps. It is a good stepping stone to keep me moving in a positive direction, even when I don’t feel like thinking. I am ever so grateful. 



Little by little I feel my own creativity returning. Yesterday, as you can imagine was not a good day. Thank goodness I was 'caught up’ for the first time this year and had nothing imperative hanging over my head. I had a good cry in the morning, took it easy most of the day, and by evening I felt like moving forward on my sheep projects. I had to do something to get my mind in a better place. 



The sheep are something that I just wanted to do for me. I don’t know if I will develop them as a project. I haven’t decided yet. I have to think a bit more about the logistics of them, but they are something I just wanted to do 'for no reason at all – other than to just do them.’ I wound up finishing the third one last night. I was grateful for the concentration it required. 



The first one was done in all Bullion Knots:





… the second in Bullion Knots and pearls:





… and the third sheep is done in all glass stones, beads and pearls. I think it looks pretty cool:





I began by encasing a clear, glass cut cabochon in small glass seed beads for the center of the sheep. I built around that using various sized glass beads and pearls. I think the look is different and fun:





As a group, they look pretty nice:


I still have other ideas for 'different’ sheep. I will continue to show them as I work on them. I haven’t quite decided as to whether I will make them as individual lapel pins or apply them as stumpwork to a larger piece. I am still thinking it over. 



I am probably going to lay low for the next few days. I just feel the need to step back for a couple of days and try to heal and cope. While I have many ideas and projects on the go, I don’t know which direction I feel like going. Maybe I just need a little rest. I am sure I will be picking up projects and working on them over the weekend, but I don’t know which ones yet. I have some things to do here around the house, too and it may be a good time to do that. 



I hope you enjoy seeing these little 'versions’ of my sheep. For some reason, they make me happy. 



I’ll take it. 



Have a wonderful weekend. 



via Tumblr https://davidpires578.tumblr.com/post/161888671354

Sitting on the Dock of the 'Bay

In the writing of Franz Kafka, particularly The Trial (Der Process) and more so The Castle (Das Schloss), we find works which have been described, accurately I would say, as dark and at times surreal. The focus is largely on individual alienation, incomprehensible and oppressive bureaucracy, the seemingly endless frustrations of man’s attempts to stand against the system, and the futile and hopeless pursuit of an unobtainable goal. The term ‘kafkaesque’ has since come into our language to mean something which is characteristic or reminiscent of the oppressive or nightmarish qualities in Kafka’s work. If the current geopolitical scene isn’t depressing enough for you these days, I suggest a wade through The Trail at least.

Franz:


Recently I have been through a process with Ebay which is probably most accurately described as kafkaesque. I entered a maze which seemed like it would be straightforward enough at first, but then turned in a different direction.

A little background: I joined Ebay in 1999, and have completed hundreds of transactions there, both as buyer and seller. I have a 100% feedback rating, and am 'Above Average’ as a seller, whatever that means. The Feedback system was initially something I found attractive about Ebay, that buyers and sellers would be generally seeking to preserve their good reputations and that unscrupulous sellers and deadbeat buyers would be exposed though the folly of their actions. Sounds good in theory, as they say.

That system seemed to work pretty well, however around February of 2008 Ebay changed their policy regarding Feedbacks. In a bid to clamp down on the practice of tit-for-tat feedback, eBay began preventing sellers from leaving negative feedback on buyers. While some measures were also added to the benefit of seller, in general this move was one which I would tend to characterize as pro-buyer rather than pro-seller. Why I have come to believe that I’ll get to soon enough.

Over the years, I’ve have made several hundred transactions -a minor league seller by most standards on Ebay - and 99% of these transactions have gone smoothly. In recent years I have listed for sale various essays and monographs from The Art of Japanese Carpentry Drawing (TAJCD) series on Ebay. There, I mark the prices of each essay up several dollars in order to cover Ebay’s listing and selling fees. Direct mention is made in my sales listings, and in a follow up message I send after a sale: buyers can save money if they contact me directly to purchase. Most buyers of my TAJCD material have been direct, through this blog, however there is the odd sale happening on Ebay once in a while.

The essays themselves are described in the Ebay listings as “… in .pdf format” - those words in bold and a larger font size for emphasis - and since they are in .pdf format, shipping is  of course free. Thus I am quite willing to sell this material worldwide and that indeed is how my listings are set up. There have been past sales of TAJCD material to most places on the globe, save for Africa.

Nowhere in my Ebay listing is it suggested that I am selling a book, either in softcover or hardcover, and nowhere in the ad is a physical book pictured, as you see with most any sales listing of an actual physical book for sale. Most buyers well understand that I am selling .pdfs, however once in while someone misunderstands, or doesn’t read the listing in adequate detail, and thinks that they are buying a physical object.

I would like to offer hardcover editions at some point, but it remains a costly proposition given the modest scale of the print run and large format book size required/desired.

I had a buyer  on Ebay recently who thought he was buying books, and when they didn’t arrive in his mailbox asked my why, and I told him they had already been sent to him via email, and that I had emailed him on the day of the sale and told him about the transmittal of the download links. I told him that there were no physical books on offer and such is clearly stated in my ad(s). Unfortunately, he then got somewhat belligerent about it, demanding a refund and doing some grunting and saber-rattling. Yawn. He hadn’t downloaded anything, so I gave him the refund after cancelling the download links which had been sent previously. The less time I spend dealing with people like that in my life, the better.

I have had a couple of buyers in the past who thought they were purchasing physical books and when nothing showed up in their mailbox after a while - in some cases a month, in other cases many months - they have filed a claim against my seller’s account with Ebay.

Note that when one looks to file such a claim on Ebay, the first thing the site tells you is to make contact with the seller and see if you can resolve whatever conflict there is on hand. Reasonable enough, isn’t it? For some reason, some folks don’t do that step, and go right to the 'nuclear option’ and file a claim against me. That’s an interesting thing in and of itself.

When I have sold an item and shipped it, I send an email to the buyer, on the 'My Ebay’ messaging system, thanking them for the purchase and letting them know that the essay has been sent to the email associated to their Paypal account by way of 'Transfer Big Files’, which is a large file transfer service that I employ. Then I leave the buyer feedback on Ebay, and, at some point later, the file service sends me a notification by email when the download has taken place. Transaction complete, smooth and easy.

When an essay is purchased and sent out, the message sent to the buyer on Ebay, and I see that the file service download notification does not come, I have learned to take notice. While there have been TAJCD buyers in the past who have purchased an essay set and then only downloaded some of the material, for whatever reason, the person who purchases several essays and then downloads nothing is a signal to me that something is amiss in the transaction. I have learned to send a follow up email to check in with them. In some cases buyers have signed up to Paypal with an email address which they no longer use, or have closed out, and they don’t receive the download links. A situation readily resolved with an email.

A couple of years back I had a buyer from Quebec who purchased the essays, then downloaded the links, asked me when he was going to get the books, and hearing that no books exist then filed a claim with Ebay. That situation was solved relatively quickly. I phoned up Ebay customer service and explained the situation, and the agent I dealt sorted it out right away, denying the buyers claim against me. Just took one phone call, and the agent both grasped the situation and was able to take immediate action on the matter. This set an expectation on my part I guess as to how quickly such a situation could be resolved.

In March of this year I sat down to check my email in the morning and saw that 5 essays had been sold to a fellow in Spain - I’ll call him Luis. Paypal for the 5 essays had been received and I immediately sent the file links to the buyer, along with a note to him in 'My Messages’ on Ebay. Then nothing happened. No downloads and no response on Ebay to my message either. Hmm….

I sent a follow up email the the buyer’s address associated to their Paypal account, to no response again.

Nearly 2 months pass. On May 11th of this year I sat down to check my email in the morning and saw that Luis had filed claims against me for the 5 TAJCD essays, along with a note asking when he will receive the essays.

Okay. When a claim is filed against a seller on Ebay, something happens concurrently: Ebay makes a claim for the full amount against your Paypal. If you had $100 in your account, say, and there was a claim against you for $150, then you would find your Paypal account $50 in the red. Essentially the seller is presumed guilty and then has to prove his innocence in order to recover the money seized by Ebay on their Paypal account. Then a process unfolds, shall we say, as the claim is processed by Ebay. A month is allotted for this process.

In the past, the few times I have had to deal with a claim against my seller account, I was able to enter evidence into the proceedings by uploading attachments to the case, such a screen shots from the 'Transfer Big Files’ site, shipping receipts, and relevant emails. Now though, that function is gone from Ebay’s 'Resolution Center’ (and I use that term loosely). You can’t upload or email anything, not to the case itself or to an agent at Ebay. This effectively eliminates the entry of useful evidence into a claim where there are two parties at odds. Why they do that now is anybody’s guess.

In this case I awoke to find both the 5 claims files as well as my Paypal account $170 or so in the red. I was not what you would call stoked. I clicked on the link to the first claim, for the Volume I essay, and the next page I was taken to was in… Spanish. The buyer, who has a feedback of '0’ on Ebay - he just joined recently I guess - had evidently filed his claim with Spanish Ebay.

I can’t read Spanish however, and the translation Google provides is hardly perfect. Nevertheless I worked my way along the pages, as they were decipherable, and filed my response to the buyer, letting him know that the download links had been sent to him shortly after purchase and that they went to the email associated to his Paypal account. I would much prefer to let him know in my response which email it was sent, typing it out explicitly, however Ebay won’t let you enter email addresses into your Messages. They are trying to prevent buyers and sellers for making purchase arrangements outside the purview of Ebay, and that makes sense they would want to do that, but in certain cases this blocking of email addresses can thwart effective communication.

After I filed my response to the first case, I decided to call Ebay customer service to see if the situation couldn’t be resolved immediately, as it had in the past.

I call the general number, and of course one starts off with the robot. A few button pushes later, and insistent calls for 'agent!’, and I get to talk to my first customer service representative. This person spoke in an accent and used certain expressions which suggested to me that English was not their native tongue. A plowed onward. I explained to the agent the situation: that the buyer apparently did not read my ads in detail and has thought he bought books not .pdfs, and has filed a claim against my account despite my efforts to be communicative with them previously. This first agent can only handle things so far however. Eventually I get bumped up to the supervisor on the floor. They tell me that Ebay Spain controls the claims in this case and that I will have to wait until the wheels turn there. I am also told that I do not need to file a reply for each of the 5 essays, as they are all pretty much the same thing and that the reply I made on Volume I would be fine.  Okay, I said I would sit tight and see what happened. Total elapsed time for that phone call was nearly 1 hour.

About 10 days later a reply finally came from the buyer on 'my Messages’:
Dear Chris;
I don´t know exactly why I have to download linkks for the 5 essays. You said it is in my email address but I can´t fibd it, nor in the spam. What I need to know is when are the five essays going to arrive . I paid for the five books last 29th March and I haven´t received any.
I would be very grateful if you make clear what the problem is .
Looking forward for your response.
Okay! This looked like something resolvable. Obviously the buyer was thinking he had purchased physical books, as I suspected. I wrote back to him in 'My’ Messages" and clarified the situation further.

The next day, May 23rd, came the reply:
Good evening,Certainly there was a misunderstanding and I am a little bit disappointed.Anyway I want to inform you that in my e-mail address I only have the pdf file for volume V and I have already downloaded this one. Please, If you could send me the other ones I would be very grateful.
Looking forward to your response.
To which I replied:

No problem. I see you downloaded Volume V, and will re-send the links to the other Volumes you purchased in a moment. You will receive one download link per essay. I ask you to stop the claim against my account, as it has frozen my Paypal and this is inconvenient for me.

I resent him the 4 download links he was apparently missing, and on May 24th, he sent me another message:
Everything is ok now. Thank you.
I already knew that he had downloaded the essays, so it seemed like the whole hassle was about to be over. How wrong I was - everything was not okay.

On May 25th, the very next day, I received the following message from Ebay Spain:


Well, I guess Luis had simply gone on his merry way and had not closed the claim from his end. Nice. I do not presume he was malicious, more I presume he doesn’t understand how Ebay works and doesn’t use Ebay much.

It was strange to me though that the 'deciders’ there at Ebay Spain had refunded the buyer for one of the essays, when all 5 essays are pretty much the same sorta thing, and all were purchased on the same day. Why refund just the one?

Anyway, I was irked but confident that this could all be cleared up with another phone call to Ebay, especially given that there was a trail of communication in 'My Messages’ showing the buyer had accepted that he would receive the downloads and had gone ahead and downloaded and seemed happy with the resolution.

This time I escalate through the same levels at Ebay customer service: robot, customer service rep., customer service rep. supervisor, and then, up yet another tier to 'appeals’. Yes! The 4th stage is reached!

After I explained the situation in detail to each of humans involved, I was faced with explaining it all again to the person in the 'appeals’ department. The story in itself was becoming a heavy weight to lift. Eventually, the appeals agent told me that because these cases were being handled by Ebay Spain, it was Ebay Spain that needed to be contacted. The appeals agent told me that they would send an email to Ebay Spain, and that i would be hearing back from Ebay Spain in another day or three. Total elapsed time of that call: 1 hour and 20 minutes.

On May 27th I hear from Ebay Spain at last:

Thank you for contacting us about case ******1534 for the following item:
332026225082 - Japanese Carpentry Drawing, Volume V (PDF)

We’ve reviewed your concerns and have reversed the outcome of the case. You don’t need to take any additional action to reimburse eBay for the refund paid to the buyer, and eBay will make no further attempts to seek reimbursement from you.
Okay, progress. But what about the other 4 essays and the claims against them?  I checked the Paypal account and the money for the Volume V essay had indeed been returned to me.

The next day, seeing nothing had changed, I phone up Ebay again, passing once again to the vaunted 4th level, and appeals agent (a different one than the time before of course). Again, I was told that Ebay USA couldn’t do anything about the claims filed from Ebay Spain, but would send them an email. Total elapsed time on the phone: 1 hour and 15 minutes.

On May 31st I receive a lengthy email from Ebay Spain:

Greetings Chris,

My name is Luzciana, from eBay’s Guarantee Program, and I contact you for the 5 transactions that you have completed with the buyer: “krinkncrank”.

Chis, after reviewing the 5 claims I inform you the following:

1. Item: 330572399076
Case: ******1222
Note: I have closed the claim and eBay not take action. You should expect the funds associated with this transaction to be released in the following 14 days.

2. Item: 332026225082
Case: ******1534
Note: This case was closed by mistake on our part, in buyer’s favor. Therefore, on the appeal for this case, we have granted the decision in your favor, and you should receive the refund for the original amount within the following 10 days of the case decision (approximately June 7, 2017).

Regarding the 3 remaining cases (******1412, ******1630, ******1734), there is a decision buyer’s favor, and we have not deducted the amount of your paypal account yet, nor have we collected it on the invoice. In these cases I’ll ask you that you wait until June 7, 2017 and check your eBay’s invoice and your paypal account, if in either of the two we have done the collection or discount, you must notify us immediately, so please reply to this email if this situation happens, so we can offer you a solution for this 3 cases.

For now I recommend to follow my recommendations and wait at least, until June 7, 2017.
Well, now I was even more baffled. So, now they were saying that the decision on Volume 5 had been a mistake on their part, and that they had now decided in the case of one of the other essays to close the claim. Why that essay? And why is the refund going to take 10 days, as they seem to be able to put a hold on my Paypal lickety-split?

They asked me to wait until June 7th, which I did. Nothing changed, the day came and went. Still in the red in my Paypal, no refund as promised, and the three remaining claims were still open. I tried emailing Ebay Spain using the address they sent the emails with, however these were undeliverable. There was no way to communicate with Ebay Spain directly

Time to call Ebay again. Same deal as the time before, more emails to Spain - and even a phone connection to Ebay Spain where I learned they had limited ability to understand English, but said they would email a response soon.  Total elapsed time for that call was 1 hour and 25 minutes.

On June 11th I at last hear back from Ebay Spain:

Hello Chris,


I am Gabriel D. Team eBay customer, first, I want to wish you a good day and thank you for belonging to our community on eBay.

I am contacting you regarding the appeal request for cases # ******1412 , ******1734 , ******1630 .

This is to inform you that thanks to the information you provided have been able to verify the case and I am pleased to inform you that it has approved the appeal of the case, so you’ll see in the next few hours the updated your account information.

I congratulate you on your excellent management as a seller and I apologize for any inconvenience caused.

I hope you have a very good and happy day we wish you well on eBay in the future.
At last, it’s over!

Or was it?

I check my Ebay account and saw that the claims are all gone from my seller account. In fact, all claims from all time are now gone from my account, like it was wiped clean. Weird. Then I checked Paypal, and to my considerable chagrin, saw my account was still in the red. The money was still held.

I thought I’d wait another few days in case it took a while for these things to process.

A few days later, and my Paypal account remained

via Tumblr https://davidpires578.tumblr.com/post/161878474654

Thursday, June 15, 2017

This Bookshelf is co

This Bookshelf is composed of 100% solid wood, no particle board, MDF , or PLASTIC. … fully functional accent bookshelf,  Heavy Duty Ball bearing slides on this unit have an operational work load of 220 pounds each, ensuring smooth reliable operation every time, we’ve also added completely concealed 200 p…

via Tumblr https://davidpires578.tumblr.com/post/161862294454

Wednesday, June 14, 2017

My Journey As A Creative Designer - Woodworking and Beyond #1841: Classic Amy Joanne Halloween Ornament Club

One of the best things about being a designer is that I get to ‘hang around’ other artistic and creative people. With all the negativity in the world these days, it is good to have a place to focus where only positive thoughts are allowed inside. That is how I treat my “Creative Place”. 



Because my Creative Place is not a physical location and more or less a state of mind, I can be there anytime I wish, any day of the week. I only have to shift my thinking a bit and I can bring myself to that spot where things are 'better’ and I am calm and happy. It helps keep me focused and productive and positive when things sometimes don’t go as planned. But one needs to realize that this doesn’t just happen automatically. It is a conscious effort on my part to decided when to visit my Creative Place, and if the outside world is shouting at me too loudly, it is sometimes more difficult than you can imagine for me to arrive there. Sometimes it takes a little practice. 



After yesterday’s update, I found myself at a point where I was 'in between projects’. I did the usual tidying up of my workspace, but since I did a substantial amount of organizing recently, it took no time at all. I found myself in the desirable place of making the decision of what to do next. Do I work on some existing projects or start something new?  I have a couple of things on the go, but I still had some things that I wanted to start. As you know, I have been involved in several directions and I find it sometimes difficult to keep up with them all. But you can’t blame me for trying. ;) 



Lately, I have been busy cutting the wood pieces for the Amy Mogish’s Halloween Club. As you all know, I love creating realism and very detailed artwork. But there is something about Amy’s style of charming creativity that continually draws me in. Her whimsical designs are adorable and they look like they are fun and stress-free to create. After tackling the beautifully intricate Ark from Lynne Andrews that I showed in yesterday’s post, I was ready for something that would be quick, easy and cute all the same. 



Decision made. It was time for me to pull out my own ornaments and start the Halloween project!





This series is done on a chalkboard paint background. One thing I love about Amy’s designs is that she often mixes painting with colored penciling. For these ornaments, the lettering is done in pencil, eliminating the stress of trying to paint fussy letters. The characters are also lots of fun and even though it doesn’t show in the pictures, full of beautiful glass glitter for a nice contrast of the flat, chalky surface and the sparkly, chunky glitter. I just love them!



I base coated and traced the pattern onto my first set of three ornaments. . . 



Then I began painting the little ghost. (He is the first one of the 12!)



He was fun, easy and stress-free to make. I watched some Netflix shows while painting and I thoroughly enjoyed the process. 



By the time I was ready to go to bed (only a short time later) he was nearly done:

st, and September. That way their ornaments will be all ready to use and display in the autumn. There are lots of perks with the club as well, and both Amy and I are offering special coupons for club members to use, making it even more of a value! 



We have a Facebook group that you can join here: Classic Halloween Ornie Club 



You don’t have to join the club to be in it. We can always use cheerleaders and others to enjoy our progress. We hope to see you there. 



Finding ways to de-stress is important. For myself, I find the best way is through creating. When I am making something pretty or fun (or both!) it is hard to be brought down by the rest of the world. I am lost in my “Creative Place” and for the time I am there, I am happy. 



I hope you find your “Creative Place” too. 



Happy Wednesday to you all! 



via Tumblr https://davidpires578.tumblr.com/post/161815129869

My Journey As A Creative Designer - Woodworking and Beyond #1841: #1841 Classic Amy Joanne Halloween Ornament Club

One of the best things about being a designer is that I get to ‘hang around’ other artistic and creative people. With all the negativity in the world these days, it is good to have a place to focus where only positive thoughts are allowed inside. That is how I treat my “Creative Place”. 



Because my Creative Place is not a physical location and more or less a state of mind, I can be there anytime I wish, any day of the week. I only have to shift my thinking a bit and I can bring myself to that spot where things are 'better’ and I am calm and happy. It helps keep me focused and productive and positive when things sometimes don’t go as planned. But one needs to realize that this doesn’t just happen automatically. It is a conscious effort on my part to decided when to visit my Creative Place, and if the outside world is shouting at me too loudly, it is sometimes more difficult than you can imagine for me to arrive there. Sometimes it takes a little practice. 



After yesterday’s update, I found myself at a point where I was 'in between projects’. I did the usual tidying up of my workspace, but since I did a substantial amount of organizing recently, it took no time at all. I found myself in the desirable place of making the decision of what to do next. Do I work on some existing projects or start something new?  I have a couple of things on the go, but I still had some things that I wanted to start. As you know, I have been involved in several directions and I find it sometimes difficult to keep up with them all. But you can’t blame me for trying. ;) 



Lately, I have been busy cutting the wood pieces for the Amy Mogish’s Halloween Club. As you all know, I love creating realism and very detailed artwork. But there is something about Amy’s style of charming creativity that continually draws me in. Her whimsical designs are adorable and they look like they are fun and stress-free to create. After tackling the beautifully intricate Ark from Lynne Andrews that I showed in yesterday’s post, I was ready for something that would be quick, easy and cute all the same. 



Decision made. It was time for me to pull out my own ornaments and start the Halloween project!





This series is done on a chalkboard paint background. One thing I love about Amy’s designs is that she often mixes painting with colored penciling. For these ornaments, the lettering is done in pencil, eliminating the stress of trying to paint fussy letters. The characters are also lots of fun and even though it doesn’t show in the pictures, full of beautiful glass glitter for a nice contrast of the flat, chalky surface and the sparkly, chunky glitter. I just love them!



I base coated and traced the pattern onto my first set of three ornaments. . . 



Then I began painting the little ghost. (He is the first one of the 12!)



He was fun, easy and stress-free to make. I watched some Netflix shows while painting and I thoroughly enjoyed the process. 



By the time I was ready to go to bed (only a short time later) he was nearly done:

st, and September. That way their ornaments will be all ready to use and display in the autumn. There are lots of perks with the club as well, and both Amy and I are offering special coupons for club members to use, making it even more of a value! 



We have a Facebook group that you can join here: Classic Halloween Ornie Club 



You don’t have to join the club to be in it. We can always use cheerleaders and others to enjoy our progress. We hope to see you there. 



Finding ways to de-stress is important. For myself, I find the best way is through creating. When I am making something pretty or fun (or both!) it is hard to be brought down by the rest of the world. I am lost in my “Creative Place” and for the time I am there, I am happy. 



I hope you find your “Creative Place” too. 



Happy Wednesday to you all! 



via Tumblr https://davidpires578.tumblr.com/post/161812701294

Tuesday, June 13, 2017

My Journey As A Creative Designer - Woodworking and Beyond #1840: The "Maiden Voyage" Completed!

After what seemed like a long, long time, I have finally completed the first (and largest and most complex) piece from Lynne Andrews’ Inspirational Ark series! I can’t express the wonderful sense of accomplishment that I feel right now. It isn’t that the piece was particularly difficult or complex, but it has been painted at a time when I have been incredibly busy (ironically – from cutting ARKS for this series) and my part of our business was somewhat being re-shaped and turning in a new direction. Needless to say, I am very excited. 



The piece itself is incredible:



Lynne Andrews’ attention to details always amazes me. With the entire Ark measuring about 9" wide and 8" tall, she fit the cluster of ‘passengers’ onto the piece with beautiful artistry.





The colors are also amazing, and when one thinks of a palette of Prim or country colors, we don’t expect to see the beautiful, vibrant tones. It surprises me each time I paint her designs. 



Noah himself is cute and comical. 





“My” Noah came out looking like a mix between Christopher Lloyd and Santa. He has a slightly worried expression on his face which I can possible attribute to the amount of stress he is feeling in wondering if he “forgot” any of his passengers. (Unicorn, Noah. Unicorn!) 



Each of the places on the Ark holds something new to look at. The little turtle on the left:





… and the snake on the right . . .

a>)  The group is not only for painters but for others who want to cheer us on. It is fun and amazing to see all the different 'versions’ of the pieces. 



The entire set is quite impressive:





There is a smaller Ark 'ornament’ for each month (plus a bonus piece – the reindeer) and I even developed a little dowel tree to display the Arks, if one wants to do it that way.



Lynne has created a design for the topper and a 'wave’ fence for the bottom of the tree:



It makes for a nice presentation. 



I re-worked the tree design though since the above photo was taken to be a bit more stable:



ter today. I know I mentioned that it would be sent yesterday, but we had a slight change of plans and decided to wait one more day. It will have a special discount coupon code in it that is good site-wide, so be sure to sign up on our Mailing List if you plan on visiting us. (Those of you who are in Amy Mogish’s Halloween Club – Hang on to your one-time discount and use this for now – only one coupon can be applied at a time!) 



Keep watch for your copy and code later today. 



Well, that should do it for today. I hope you enjoy seeing my piece finished. I don’t know why, but it feels fabulous to have this one in the books. I have had so little time to paint for my own personal pleasure that it seems like a huge accomplishment. I know most of you understand. 

Happy Tuesday to you all!



via Tumblr https://davidpires578.tumblr.com/post/161788331139