Grim City Newsletter March 2010

8/9/2019 Grim City Newsletter March 2010

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/grim-city-newsletter-march-2010 1/6

achieving a firm, moldable clayThe “Kitty Clay” mixture was thenused on several experimentalprops including a shark and hu-man skull. My first impression isthat the clay is very useable al-though it is a slight bit “grainy”compared to other paper clays Ihave used. This clay acceptstexture and smoothed out quitenicely by using a paint brushcoated with paper Mache paste.

Stolloween is a master at Paper Mache Halloween art and props.

Thank you for allowing us to reprint

this article, Scott.

http://stolloween.blogspot.com/

Kitty Clayby Stolloween

Several people have asked me if there was an alternative to usingcellulose fiber insulation as thepaper source when making home-made paper clays. The answer has always been to make your own paper pulp by boiling, shred-ding and straining recycled news-paper.

Making your own paper pulp is afun and rewarding experience butit also time consuming and some-what messy which is why I nowuse the cellulose insulation for allof my clay needs. Another optionis to buy commercially availableproducts available at craft, hobbyand art supply stores.

Tonight I had the chance to ex-periment with another paper source that could be used tomake paper clay; the source is catlitter or more specifically PurinaYesterday’s News; a natural cat

litter made from recycled paper products and is 99.7% dust free.The dust free aspect is a positivebecause cellulose fiber insulationgenerates quite a bit of dust whenmaking into clay. Purina Yester-day’s News natural cat litter comes in a 15lb bag and cost me$6.99, it is available at major petstores and many large grocerystores.

The product comes in the form of paper pellets and the following arethe steps I took to turn the pelletsinto a paper clay useable for your paper Mache projects.

The pellets were soaked in water for several minutes to soften.The soft paper pellets where thenshredded with a hand blender.The water was then removed fromthe pulp by placing the mixture

onto a piece of cotton fabric (old t-shirt) and wringing out the water. The shredded paper pellets werethen mixed with paper Machepaste (flour + glue + drywall jointcompound) and blended until

NEW DARK ARTIST

GUILD MEMBERS

Grim City Members who havebeen accepted in the Guild asSKELETON CREW:

DONNATILTEDASYLUMTOMBFRIGHT

THEDEADSHALLRULERAINEY J

CONGRADULATIONS!!!!

Skeleton Crew members who

were nominated and chosenbecause of service to the Guildand participation in challengesand groups to become DARKARTISTS:

Cody Goodin

Lulu Kellogg

Essie

We are honored to have you as

Exclusive Members of the Dark Artist Guild.

CONGRADULATIONS!!!!

What is a city, but the people...

Coriolanus III

I N S I D E T H I S

I S S U E :

Featured Artist 2

Building a

Following

2

Reader’s Choice

Awards

3

DAG Awards 3

Challenges with

Cash Prizes

4

Take Advantage

of us

5

People are the

City

6

Grim City and Skeleton Crew Members Promoted

S P R I N GV O L U M E 2 0 1 0 , I S S U E 2

O F

S P E C I A LI N T E R E S T

Grim City

Welcomes 18

new members

since opening

February 1,

2010.

As of this writ-

ing the forum

has 1172 posts in

283 topics

The top forum

board is Dark

Artist Forum

Galleries

Most popular

topic (# of

views) is Vanes-

sie in the Dark

Artist Forum

Galleries

Essie promoted to Dark Artist

http://stolloween.blogspot.com/2010/02/kitty-clay_22.html

http://www.yesterdaysnews.com/products.html



http://quotationsbook.com/author/1698/





http://stolloween.blogspot.com/2010/02/kitty-clay_22.html



P A G E 2

ARTIST OF THE MONTH: LuLu Kellogg

Building a Loyal Customer BaseIf I told you that good customer service is a way to attract and keep customers, would you say, "Yadda,

yadda, yadda... I have heard it all before” ? And, what if I told you good customer service begins before you

have any customers? Sounds like an oxymoron, doesn't it? Now, what if I also told you that some of your

best customers may NEVER buy anything from you!! You ask, "Dang, Marzel... what craft glue have you

been sniffing?"

Think back.... Do you remember people who wouldn't answer your mail and telephone calls, or their response

to you was spotty at best? Can you remember folks who would like to talk to you, but would try hard to cut

you off from speaking so they could continue to talk? I am sure you have a person or two in your life that

promises things and doesn't deliver on the commitment most of the time. Now think, are those people in your

life? Do you refer your friends and family to those people? Do you have respect for those folks, or do you

feel like running away when you see them coming?

If a blog follower has a question, compliments an artist on their blog, or even has something to ask of them,

you will find a lot of artists very non-responsive (the bigger the artist, the more non-responsive-- though that

is not always an indicator). However, offer to buy something from them, and then you have their attention...

kinda. Treating people like that will not foster and nurture the kind of customer base you yearn for, just as it

won’t in non-virtual reality (i.e., real life).

Your following has dollars it wants to spend and everyone is completing for that dollar. The customer wants

as much value as their dollar can buy, so the customer tends to be choosy on how they spend it. Good cus-

tomer service from an artist BEFORE they even buy anything from you will do a lot more to get them to seeyou as a credible artist of integrity, that makes a good product/art, than the package you try to wrap your

image and art up with (i.e., branding).

I have followers and friends who are very supportive and very interested in what I do, but do not want to buy

my art. Many of them have referred people to my blog, posted about my articles and giveaways, participate

on my blog, put my button on their side bar, tell their friends about me, have great leads on resources and

give me realistic feedback about my blog and art that I use to improve. As a result, I would not be where I

am today without them. They have brought me more business than people who actually buy my art.

Follow these tips to build your loyal following: (Continued on page 5)

http://coastalsistersnews.blogspot.com/

http://www.coastalsisters.com/

Don’t miss her interview on DAGs blog! Dark Jewelry

Dark Graphic

Mixed Media









March Mini Month Challenge: Readers Choice Winner

P A G E 3V O L U M E 2 0 1 0 , I S S U E 2

Can you

believe

it…. Our

first read-ers choice

resulted in

a tie. Our

first

Bloody

Heart Mini-

Monthly Challenge winner is

Pattee. Pattee lost a good

blogger friend this past month, Renee. This

sculpture was inspired by her passing. See all Pat-

tee’s art at

http://www.odd-dolls.blogspot.com.

Our Second Winner is the

Whimsical Goblin. She is a

sculptor who creates in a

dark and creepy style. She

create Ooak (one of a

kind) Sculptures, Mixed Media Sculptures, and

Art Dolls using Polymer

Clay, Air dry clay, Apoxy

sculpt and Apoxy clay. Hal-

loween is her favorite holi-

day. See Darlene’s goblins

and other pieces at http://

www.hauntedhag.blogspot.

com.

you nominate does NOT have to

be a member of Grim City to win!!

Here is how to enter: Send us anemail at [email protected]

that provides us with the name, and

the link to the blog you nominate.

State why you think this blog de-

serves this award; be specific and

concrete. If there are certain posts

that exemplify your feelings, please

include the link and tell us what we

will be viewing. The only catch to

nominating someone who is not

you, is that the blog owner must

give their permission for the nomi-

nation. So, please ask them firstbefore submitting your email. All

Submissions are due by June 1,

2010. Blogs that have been nomi-

nated will be viewed from June 1

through August 1st. Winners will

be announced in the FALL issue of

our newsletter.

Do you know of a cool dark art

blog ? Do YOU have a dark art

blog? We are looking for nomina-tions for our Dark Artists Guild

Blog Award. Categories are: Best

Graphics, Best Art and Best Writ-

ing for the year 2010. Our blog

award is given out only yearly and

there are only three winners each

year. Winners receive an award

they can post on their blog. The

winner also gets an announcement

and link on our blog , and a feature

in our newsletter. The blog owner

DAG/Grim City AWARDS- Seeking Nominations

Creepy Orphan SocietyThis new group provides aspace to open your own

Creepy Orphan Gallery. This isan on going challenge that hasa yearly Best Orphan Award.Come and join us.

New Review

Steam Punk Located in Dark Art / Genre,Steam Punk was created toinvestigate the darker side of Steam Punk and incorporatethis genre into challenges.What do you know aboutSteam Punk? ! Come and postit here!

The Witches CauldronSecret Society

While this group is open to everyone youmust apply to be a member. This group

revolves around the ideas that art can bespiritual practice, history of spiritual artand how to change your life through thecreation of art as a spiritual practice.

http://www.odd-dolls.blogspot.com/


http://www.hauntedhag.blogspot.com/




http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_naKfCG4dsmQ/S5ADeSP1THI/AAAAAAAAD6w/fvbjm7iarhs/s1600-h/BlackHeart.JPG







P A G E 4

Inside Story Headline



This story can fit 150-200

words.

One benefit of using your

newsletter as a promotional

tool is that you can reuse con-tent from other marketing

materials, such as press re-

leases, market studies, and

reports.

While your main goal of dis-

tributing a newsletter might be

to sell your product or service,

the key to a successful news-

letter is making it useful to

your readers.

A great way to add useful con-

tent to your newsletter is to

develop and write your own

articles, or include a calendar

of upcoming events or a spe-cial offer that promotes a new

product.

You can also research articles

or find “filler” articles by ac-

cessing the World Wide Web.

You can write about a variety

of topics but try to keep your

articles short.

Much of the content you put in

your newsletter can also be

used for your Web site. Micro-

soft Publisher offers a simple

way to convert your newslet-

ter to a Web publication. So,

when you’re finished writing

your newsletter, convert it toa Web site and post it.

be out of context.

Microsoft Publisher includes

thousands of clip art images

from which you can choose

and import into your newslet-

ter. There are also several

tools you can use to draw

shapes and symbols.

Once you have chosen an

image, place it close to the


words.

Selecting pictures or graphics

is an important part of adding

content to your newsletter.

Think about your article and

ask yourself if the picture sup-

ports or enhances the message

you’re trying to convey. Avoid

selecting images that appear to

article. Be sure to place the

caption of the image near the

image.

If the newsletter is distributed

internally, you might comment

upon new procedures or im-

provements to the business.

Sales figures or earnings will

show how your business is

growing.

Some newsletters include a

column that is updated every

issue, for instance, an advice

column, a book review, a letter

from the president, or an edi-

torial. You can also profile new

employees or top customers

or vendors.


words.

The subject matter that ap-

pears in newsletters is virtually

endless. You can include sto-

ries that focus on current

technologies or innovations in

your field.

You may also want to note

business or economic trends,

or make predictions for your

customers or clients.

N E W S L E T T E R T I T L E

P A G E 4

Are you Taking Advantage of Us?

We sure hope so!There are numerous places

where DAG members can

promote their art with DAG.

First, you can put a picture and

link in the Links section of the

forum at Grim City. This is

accessible to everyone includ-

ing visitors. Next, you can

create your own gallery in the

Grim City Forum which is also

accessible to everyone. You

can put a link to your profile

page from Grim City directly

on your blog, or use Grim

City's Blog Button with a link

back to your page or gallery.

As of this newsletter, Dark

Artists have a link on the last

page of the newsletter. Skele-

ton Crew members have their

name listed with a link also on

the back of the newsletter.

Have you won a art challenge

recently? Have you been pub-

lished? Have you participated

in a show? Send us a brief

email with 3-5 pictures with

the who, what, where, why

and how of it and we will post

it in our blog, or in our news-

letter.

By participating in challenges,

everyone becomes eligible to

be published in our blog and

newsletter as well as eligible

for awards and other forms of

recognition which markets you

to our fan base within and

outside DAG. In addition, next

month we will beginning ourTwitter marketing plan which

means when you get recog-

nized you will be tweeted

about to almost 1000 follow-

ers!!

There are additional Privileges

for Dark Artists: You can have

a blog button with a link back

to your blog or site or gallery

on OUR Blog and website.

However, you must send an

email request to us with a

picture of your blog button

and your URL to take advan-

tage of this benefit.

DO YOU WANT MORE

BENEFITS? Of course you

do!! Then helps us with this

task by volunteering and par-

ticipating in the forum. This

will allow the administrators to

fulfill future goals such as: our

own auction site, our own

shop, our own magazine andother publishing goals as well

as fully developing our use of

marketing tools like Facebook

and Twitter!

Three New Challenges with Cash PrizesChallenge 2010. Open to

Anyone.

Challenge- Technique:

Film Noir. Theme: Cats,

Guardians of the Under-

world. Accepting Sub-

missions May 25 through

June 25, 2010.

CHALLENGE Details:

$2.00 per submission. 1st

place- $40.00, the DAG

Award, the art piece and art-

ist bio in the newsletter and

blog. 2nd Place-$ 10.00, DAG

Award, Art and Bio in the

newsletter, 3rd- DAG Award

and the art in our Newsletter.

Join DAG forum to sign up,

get the rules on May 3rd,

2010.

Graphics Group is hosting

an bi-annual Dark Digi-

tal Collage Challenge

2010 . Open to all.

Challenge - Theme: Dark

aspects of Chinese Mid-

Autumn Festival. Accepting

Submissions from May 15

through June 15th, 2010.

Graphic Group will also host

an bi-Annual Photography

Email DAG:

[email protected]




P A G E 5V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 1

This story can fit 150-200 words.

One benefit of using your newslet-

ter as a promotional tool is thatyou can reuse content from other

marketing materials, such as press

releases, market studies, and re-

ports.

While your main goal of distributing

a newsletter might be to sell your

product or service, the key to a

successful newsletter is making it

useful to your readers.

A great way to add useful content

to your newsletter is to develop

and write your own articles, or

include a calendar of upcoming

events or a special offer that pro-

motes a new product.

You can also research articles or

find “filler” articles by accessing the

World Wide Web. You can write

about a variety of topics but try to

keep your articles short.

Much of the content you put in

your newsletter can also be used

for your Web site. Microsoft Pub-

lisher offers a simple way to con-

vert your newsletter to a Web

publication. So, when you’re fin-

ished writing your newsletter, con-

vert it to a Web site and post it.

you can choose and import intoyour newsletter. There are also

several tools you can use to draw

shapes and symbols.

Once you have chosen an image,

place it close to the article. Be sure

to place the caption of the image

near the image.

This story can fit 75-125 words.Selecting pictures or graphics is an

important part of adding content to

your newsletter.

Think about your article and ask

yourself if the picture supports or

enhances the message you’re trying

to convey. Avoid selecting images

that appear to be out of context.

Microsoft Publisher includes thou-

sands of clip art images from which

ternally, you might comment upon

new procedures or improvements

to the business. Sales figures or

earnings will show how your busi-

ness is growing.

Some newsletters include a column

that is updated every issue, for

instance, an advice column, a book

review, a letter from the president,

or an editorial. You can also profile

new employees or top customers

or vendors.

This story can fit 100-150 words.

The subject matter that appears in

newsletters is virtually endless. You

can include stories that focus on

current technologies or innovations

in your field.

You may also want to note business

or economic trends, or make pre-

dictions for your customers or

clients.

If the newsletter is distributed in-

Caption

describing

picture or

graphic.



Caption describing picture or

graphic.

“To catch the reader's attention,

place an interesting sentence or

quote from the story here.”

P A G E 5V O L U M E 2 0 1 0 , I S S U E 2

Building a Loyal Customer Base

Continued from page 2

1) Answer emails from fans and peers- If you can take time to answer emails from

fans and peers, especially from the people you do not know, they will never forgetthe gesture. While you may be a very popular artist with tons of emails and realisti-

cally answering everyone might be too time consuming, there is something you can

do. Create 5 pre-formatted emails such as a general "thank you", "thank you for

your interest", and “I am not available, but will get back to you". With a few per-

sonalizations to these emails, you can generate an adequate email in seconds.

2) Accept Awards and Recognitions- I cannot tell you how many bloggers do not

accept awards that are given them. Not only is this an insult to someone who is try-

ing to recognize you, but the impression people are left with is that you are "too sexy

for this blog award!" Many of these bloggers come up with all kinds of excuses

about why they can't, but just as many bloggers do not even make an excuse. There

is nothing that says you must comply with all the RULES and there is nothing to say

that you cannot change them. So, if you only have time for a quick thank you post

and you can only think of two bloggers to pass it on too, do it .

3) Answer questions about you and your art- If someone emails you about you or

your art and you cannot answer them specifically; merely respond by thanking them

and telling them that you will be adding the answer to this question on a future post.

On the other hand, you may wish to consider that someone who may be inquiring

about you or your art may also be someone who is considering purchasing art from

you, featuring you in an article, or asking for a commission. Ignoring these emails

may not be in your best interest. Remember, online you never know who you are

really talking too.

4) Share your Technique- Taking the extra time to publish special post that share

what you make and how you make it is very appreciated by followers. Often, people

in guilds or clubs will tell others about post like these for inspiration and ideas.

5) Giveaways- give back to those who so generously support you in word, deed or

spirit.

6) Invest in your Karma: Support Other Artists- It is common that many artists donot extend themselves beyond their own blog! If you want to build a loyal following

return what has been given to you. If someone comments consistently, pay a visit to

their blog and leave a comment. If someone has posted about you on more than one

occasion, mention them in a post as well. What you send out/give will return to

you!! This not just a philosophical/spiritual saying, it is good business sense as well.

7) Accept Invitations- Whenever possible, accept invitations even if you can only stay

a few minutes, or leave a comment. If you cannot accept, take the time to say

THANK YOU!!

8) Post Often- I have been guilty of skewed reasoning. Somehow, I convinced myself

that I needed more than one blog. One blog for art, one for paganism and one for

ghost hunting and.... What I was doing it taking the whole of myself and compart-

mentalizing myself with different blogs. The error is that I cheated my followers out

of variety and the complete picture of myself. I over burdened myself and was notable to post enough on all those blogs-- I was even having trouble with two! It is

silly, the idea that a blog can only be about one thing. If you are one of those rare

people who spend most of their time on the computer making posts on multiple

blogs and it works for you... great!! But, too many times it doesn't work and as a

result those blogs diminish in attention and following. Do yourself and your follow-

ers a favor and keep ONE, well organized, frequently updated blog. You will dimin-

ish your stress, keep and attract more followers as well as increase your interest

your readers.

What are you

want in our

forum? Do you

have ideas, share

them with us.

Email us

at:dag@darkarti

stsguild.com

April MiniChallenge:Dark Flowe

2nd Quarte

Challenge:The Seven

Deadly Sins



Newsletter: Writers and Reporters

Moderators: Forum Groups

Marketing and PR Group Members

Editorial Staff: Writers and Reporters

Dark Sewing Forum Moderator, Soft

Sculptured Dark Dolls Forum Moderator

Please email DAG for an explanation of

each position. Each position is flexible in

its requirements. Accepting a positions

earns you more exposure opportunities,

maintains your DAG Status or allows you

to move up in our ranks!!

PEOPLE are the City:

Submissions Welcome

Citizens of Grim City are wel-

come and encouraged to submit

their writing, ideas and refer-

ences within the forum! Have

you written something on your

blog in the past that fits within a

subject in the forum?? Have you

used a new product or create

your own techniques? Please feel

free to post it in the appropriate

group, or even leave a brief syn-

opsis with a link to your blog

article. The forum has been de-

veloped to network artists, pro-

vided education and inspiration to

assist all citizens to grow as art-

ists and retailers of art. We can-

not do this with out you. Each of

you hold something special to

contribute and we look forward

to your submissions.

Available Soon!

Dart Artist Guild Administration:

Editor, AdministratorMarZel – The Shadow

The Play of Light and Shadow

Administrator,, Moderator

Darlene Curtis – The Goblin

The Whimsical Goblin

Administrator, Moderator

Michelle Schafer-The Crow

The Studio At Crow Haven Farm

DARK ARTISTS:

LuLu:

http://www.coastalsistersnews.blogspot.com

Cody:

http://www.codyland.blogspot.com

Essie:

http://vanessies.blogspot.com/

Skeleton Crew Members:

Caroline, Christen, Deadspider, Gailhr, Mastapring,

New Age Dolls, Oddfae, Rainey J, Pattee, Ravenfae,

Chad Savage

If you are a Dark Artist

Member, look for the 2010

Blog Badge to be available

soon. This certifies you as a

Member in good standing of

the Dark Artists Guild.

Fans and Members, be

on the look out for new

Grim City blog Badges.

DAG MEMBERS

Positions Available

http://www.theplayoflightandshadow.blogspot.com/


http://www.thewhimsicalgoblin.blogspot.com/


http://www.thestudioatcrowhavenfarm.blogspot.com/








Grim City Newsletter March 2010

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