February Troy Night Out- Featured Artist Colin C. Boyd

Remember that tomorrow is February Troy Night Out so bundle up and come have some fun! Lots of stuff happening here in Troy. Come on down and eat, drink, shop and look at some great art. Culture is king (and Queen of course) here in Troy! This month our featured artist in Colin C. Boyd with his new illustration series, Thunderbird's Mid-West Dream. You may recognize some of his sculptural work (Mastadon) from MASS MOCA's Kidspace and the Albany International airport (Cormorants and Whale) and his work with Collar Works Gallery right here in Troy. Check out his website here. 

Artist Statement

Colin C Boyd

Illustrations

Thunderbird’s Mid-West Dream

This series of illustrations are an exploration of the muse and phenomena that inform my work as a sculptor.  A narrative loosely weaves characters and objects, the subjects of work past and future.

Colin C. Boyd, Mining, 2013. 5”x6.5”. Ink, watercolor and foil. 

Forced Change Results

It's been a LONG time since I last posted and A LOT has happened. I have a little more time to keep up on the blog now.  The BIG news is that I opened my own small store about a month ago in beautiful downtown Troy, NY. 


Come visit us at our new location in beautiful downtown Troy, NY. Our address is:

TandJ Soap
271 River Street
Troy, NY 12180

Our hours are
Tues-Friday 11AM-6PM
Saturday 9AM-5PM
Sun & Mon Closed

The holiday season was great, I have got to meet so many wonderful people and the vibe here on River Street and in Troy as a whole is great. You really need to come check out all the wonderful shops around me. 

Here is a picture of my store sign and some of my soap shelves. I will take some better pictures as soon as some new fixtures I ordered get here. These were taken with my cell phone so don't mind the quality! 

My soaps on some shelves

Store Front

Job security

Is there such a thing as job security anymore?

I spent my 20's trying to find job security by throwing myself into my teaching job only to have it taken away in my 30's. This has left me (against my will) time to reflect many things. A mourning process happened, especially since I loved my job. It was how I identified myself. Since I threw myself into my career I spent most of my later 20's neglecting the important things in life such as friends, family and even myself. As a result I lost a few key people in my life. I was doing all of this for my fear of losing my job- I was trying so hard to gain job security. I went from sad, to angry, to feeling defeated, to feeling excited about a new beginning, then anxious again. It was exhausting!!! 

I have applied to many jobs, including ones outside of the teaching field. For a few I was told I was overqualified for. Since when does having an education work against us? 

Now is the crossroads- I needed to reflect and be angry and sad but I cannot stay here. Anyone going through this can agree- if you keep reliving your past then you can't move forward. You get stuck there and become a miserable person. 

The new question is, how and can I become self-sustainable in my soap business? How do I create my OWN job security? I sell at a couple stores, do my Saturday Farmer's Market and have my etsy shop but this is not enough at this point. How can I take those assets and make more sales? I need to keep creating new and exciting products. I need to really put myself out there.  This is hard without money, but I am going to try as hard as I can. I have come to realize that customer's like a story along with their products and as my students can tell you I am pretty good at that! 

I am also not afraid to share every aspect of myself. I am emotional but like to think I am honest with who I am. I will never change that. Some may see this as a weakness, but I see it as a strength. How can I get this to work with me? 

My business cards are amazing, my product photos are good, my product is good- maybe I need to build my own website, or just utilize my blog more. I could really use a small business mentor! 

Change can be good, even a forced change.

introducing,,, Strawberries and Cream!

Strawberries and Cream Soap Handcrafted Cold Process Vegan Friendly

Treat yourself or a loved one to our sweet summer soap. Our Strawberries and Cream handcrafted cold process vegan friendly soaps smells like sun-kissed notes of ripe, juicy strawberries with a touch of juicy citrus. A fruity treat that is simply irresistible! Yum! 

For gentle exfoliation I have added real strawberry seeds into this soap. They are not scratchy- but mild. The coloring for this soap comes from rose kaolin clay.

Use this as a body soap or even a shaving soap. Clay is amazing in soap because of ability to add a nice "slip" to bar soap recipes, also making this a great shaving soap! Clay also has skin softening and exfoliating properties. 

Our soaps smell as great as they look and are a real treat for your skin! We use only the highest quality vegetable oils to handcraft our cold process soaps. Each bar weighs about 4 ounces and is wrapped in our label with ingredients clearly listed. Our soaps are moisturizing and have great lather! 

Forever and a day

Oh Blog, I love you and I am sorry I have neglected you for so long! Teaching full time this year and soaping part-time has become very consuming!  Here is an updated schedule:

Saturday, June 9, 2012 10:00AM-5:00PM
16th Annual Art on Lark 2011Presented by the Lark Street BID

Saturday, June 16, 2012
Troy's River Street Art Festival
10:00 AM to 6:00 PM
River Street Troy, NY 

Delmar Farmer's Market
Every Saturday Starting June 2, 2012 -December 2012!
9AM-1PM
Bethlehem Central Middle School
332 Kenwood Avenue
Delmar, New York
http://www.delmarmarket.org


So the inevitable finally happened and I will be laid off on June 30th. I have made the decision to try and focus on soap for a year and see where it takes me. This means you will see the blog back up and running! Hope everyone is well. 


xoxo, Theresa

Top 100 Tutorials of 2011

Top 100 Tutorials of 2011

Wow!!! What an AMAZING list of craft projects! Put together by http://thelongthread.com
Top 100 Tutorials of 2011
There was lots going on in the craft world this year. So much that I can hardly keep up anymore, but I’ve tried to round up 100 of my favorite craft and sewing tutorials of the year from around the internet. In the sewing category, I’ve included the free projects available from my book 1,2, 3 Sew. Looks like I actually have a few more than 100 projects listed here. Go make some stuff this year!
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