SecondMoonshot

We went to the NC Art Museum and saw this picture and all I could think about was how similar these two guys ( Martin Luther and Philipp Melanchthon by Lucas Cranach the Younger) look like Beavis and Butt-Head. Perhaps the likeness Mike Judge wanted to emulate. Probably envisioned them as teenagers and went from there.  John

Probably one of my best auction purchases! John

Here is the fifth volume of framing projects, a continuation of  Volume #4 . For pricing information, go  here . An original “Gonzaga” piece of art.  This was the result of a spa retreat Zabrina went to last Saturday and wanted me to frame it. First chance to try out the new miter saw on a limited scale. One corner could be better but will only improve over time and once I get the fence installed. Not for sale. My daughter wanted her diplomas framed (don’t worry, I’ll charge her cost of materials only). Not for sale. Local Raleigh NC artist, Andie Freeman, in low limited run. Framed for Carrie.  New molding, matt board, hardware and backing with recovered glass. Emailed the artist with picture of framed art and my availability…never heard back. Not for sale. A Nicholas Berger Artist Proof, “Cord Wood”, that I kept the original frame and glass and redid the rest. For sale on eBay here . This is a pair of pictures for a framing customer. One is an original Don Pedro ( Pietro Digiorgio ) 

I have been working on a new frame product to offer in low runs and made-to-order. It is a frame to hold  a 12” LP record album (without the sleeve). I finished it up Friday and pleased with the outcome. This has been a project for a few months and slowly working on the mounting aspect and cost controls. I ame going to give Etsy a try with this and see where it goes, listed here . This is a made-to-order black contemporary square frame made to nicely present a 12” LP record album (not the sleeve, just the vinyl album). The overall dimensions are 15 1/8” high x 15 1/8” wide x 3/4” deep, the new mat board and glass interior size of the frame is 14” high x 14” wide. New quality molding with scratch free recovered glass. New Acrylic/Plexiglass is available upon request at no charge.  There is enough room behind the mat board to store the record sleeve and should you not desire to do so, will need to add a similarly sized spacer (a 12” x 12” cardboard sheet will do. The sleeve is hidden and

Our first T-shirt we got for SecondMoonshot was from Zazzle and ended up costing about $25 per shirt. That made it cost prohibitive for any quantity and I have been meaning to table into printing my own T-shirts. Originally I was going to go all-in and get my own heat press, but turns out my neighbor just bought one for similar reasons and he rarely uses it.  After digging around to find where I was going to get the transfers, I under up with Transfer Express. I thought about getting one of those CriCut machines, but really not ready to jump into that boat as not really interested in doing much more nor making a business out of it. Their editing tools are excellent and support all the image types we needed. I opted to not mess with a proof and just ordered 25 gang sheets (sheets which you can cut into the individual components).  These are 12” x 15” sheets or thereabouts and I have 2 big logos with tag line for the back of T-Shirts and about 9 smaller logos and just the name for the fr

When one of my daughters asks me for anything, they usually gets it, true for anything within reason any of our kids ask for. Throw in a “Daddy”, and I’m putty in their hands. Yeah, a bit spoiled, but there are worse things. This week was an ask to see if I can repair a torn leather strap on a what I suspect is a well like pair of sandals…maybe Birkenstocks or something, have no idea (and don’t really care). Her foster pit bull, Patsy Cline, must have thought it was a toy, one dog’s pleasure is another man’s opportunity to learn. Sure, I have some time on my hands, I can cobble and be an amateur cobbler. On a side note, Patsy was doing her second home visit yesterday by a prospective adoptive family and turns out she has allergens and the wife got hives or something….sweet….I like allergens (and Patsy). Sandals are a great sleeping aid. Returning from the adoption visit gone bad (or good from our perspective). I approached this as any first time cobbler would do, see if there is a leat

When I initially started this business, I would do all my listing defaulting to USPS Priority Shipping for packages over 1lb and offer USPS Parcel Select Ground as an option at checkout. One of the main reasons was that the Priority mail was discounted and the discount would help offset the eBay fees. While it is a little faster, it often is maybe a day more typically, so the reality is the timing is not that important if you get it out the door in a timely manner. It is important to note that the Priority does come with $100 of included insurance, however, the claim process is so painful and it has never yielded a positive result and thus it has no value to me. So I don’t do claims and just refund and treat it as a cost of business. Now I list most everything as Parcel Select by default that would have been Priority. It allows my items to have a lower overall price and has helped increase sales, albeit not by that much. The downside is that it is not insured and that there is no eBay

Ok, I have been stockpiling albums for eventual moving into the vintage LP/Album eBay category for almost a year and working to build out an appropriate stereo system so I can test the records prior to sale. The system is made up of: Sony STR-DE197 A/V Receiver/Amplifier Marantz TT1060 Turntable (probably the stock stylus and cartridge, and will upgrade at a future date) ARTcessories DJPre II Preamp Bose 201 Series II Speakers Definitely not a high end system, but I acquired the components over the last 6 months in preparation. I paid $3 for the turntable, the receiver was gifted (by a competitor, but they probably wanted me to stop compete bidding on conflicting lots!….JK, nice piece, Bose 201 speakers I got at an estate sale for $20 and finally got the DJPre II preamp on Amazon for $65.99. I also purchased the Studebaker disk cleaner and 32oz of Spin-Clean cleaning solution, both of which ran about $80, and finally a 100 pack of BigFudge Vinyl record sleeves for $32 and some clear pl