cookie chang commercial

Here's my latest project! A stop motion animation promoting my artwork. I'll write more  about creating all the props, characters, sets (including carved wooden mushrooms) later.

Music: "cookie chang kicks it like an art machine" written and recorded by Ramey Holsman

Contact me for commissions! And visit cookiechang.etsy.com

Kpie voice and easel paintings by Kate Cooper kpie88.etsy.com.

all images and sound copyright ©2011 Ramey Holsman

grouchy pink grrl makes an etsy treasury!

Uh-oh, uh-oh, Punky Brewster, we'll always be the best of frie-ends...

Hey, I haven't thought about Punky in . . . forever! But Britt (brittg.etsy.com) has and she's put together an adorable etsy treasury of items she thinks "could be for a modernized Punky Brewster," including my very own grouchy pink grrl sweatband (which you can purchase here)!

Thanks Britt! =(V)

cookiechang.etsy.com makes a top five!

Cheers Melissa Carter (CASEmethod.etsy.com)! She listed cookiechang.etsy.com as her top five etsy shops! Have a look HERE.

instructions for your hand-painted art patch

Thank you for purchasing your very own hand-painted, original ART PATCH by me, Ramey Holsman (aka cookie chang)! I'm repeating the instructions that came on the label and adding some aftercare tips here . . .

IRON-ON INSTRUCTIONS: Always pre-wash clothing (t-shirt, coat, trousers) before adhering art patch. DO NOT USE fabric softener. Hats and bags may be a little more tricky to wash, just make sure the item is clean or new. The iron-on backing is "HeatnBond Ultrahold," and states it will adhere to most surfaces.

1. Peel off backing paper.


2. Position on desired material, adhesive side down.

3. Place clean, blank paper (bond works best), on top of patch and firmly press pre-heated iron (WOOL, low setting, no steam) for 8-10 seconds. Allow to cool before testing. If a corner or side is not properly attached, press iron down for another few seconds and allow to cool before testing again.


AFTERCARE:
After properly ironing on your art patch, you want to take care of it so it lasts! All of my art patches are hand painted with fabric paints and inks, then heat fixed for permanency -- which means you can machine wash them, but make sure it is always COLD water, then line dry. (The adhesive is heat sensitive, so if you put it in a hot dryer, the adhesive will heat as well and the patch will most likely fall off.)

Often when you take the item of clothing out of the wash, the art patch may well look like this -- all wrinkly (sometimes even more than shown):


That's OK. Gently flatten it by hand as best as you can, then set your iron on WOOL (one notch over is fine):

Place a clean piece of white paper over the top of your art patch. Regular bond works best:


Once your iron is heated, firmly press for approximately 3-5 seconds. This will flatten the patch and strengthen the adhesive bond. DO NOT iron the patch without a clean piece of paper between the iron and patch.


Don't over do it on the time. Just iron long enough to flatten out the patch, then line dry as usual -- no dryers! Your art patch should last and last . . .


And of course, be sure to check cookiechang.etsy.com often to see what new creations are waiting there for you!

gO!bama! new products on etsy

Hey hey! We've got a new President today! I'll be watching the whole Inauguration do on BBC1 in just a couple hours . . . but before that, I had to post my newest items at cookiechang.etsy.com.

To mark this very special occasion, I've created gO!bama buttons (badges) and you can mix and match from six different colors.

Also, check out my "have a dream" buttons, featuring my digital illustrations of Barack Obama and Martin Luther King, Jr.

Now, you could probably live without these, but why would you want to? Especially when it's such a great deal! I mean, where else can you buy 3 high quality, handmade, 1" metal pinback buttons with full-color, laminated, original designs such as these for only $2.50? Well, cookiechang.etsy.com of course!

Happy Inauguration Day 2009 and congratulations to the 44th President of the US of A!

mert hoody doll on etsy treasury with banksy!

Hey, just a quick THANK YOU to Isabelle (ptitebaloue.etsy.com) for including my mert hoody doll with crumfiti action pack in her fabulous treasury! You can only view it HERE 'til Monday, 12 January 2009. But if you don't make it by then, at least have a look at this screen shot -- note I'm on the same page as banksy. Whoop whoop! =(V)

NEW ITEMS on etsy!

Yo yo. After a wonderful visit with my famdamily in the Portland area, and Christmas, Boxing Day and the New Year back in Jolly Old England, I'm back in the proverbial cookie chang saddle and ready to rock 'n roll!

When I returned, just before Christmas, I came back to a huge button (badge) order from purple-heart.com. Seems Claudia has a penchant for selling the "holy cow" out of cookie chang 1 inch badges, so orders are coming in fast and furious!

The biggest sellers, by far, have been my KEEP BRIGHTON WEIRD line -- including the Brighton PAVILION and WEST PIER designs. Now I'm not sure why I waited so long to put them up in my etsy shop, but they're there now, so order away! (Mix and match 3 for $2.50 + shipping.) You can also contact me if you're interested in wholesale pricing to carry them in your store.

The other great sellers have been my illustrated high top badges. What a bargain -- 4 buttons for $3.30 + shipping! And, as ever, my fond fare thee well to RESIDENT Bush have been selling off the shelves. Get yours today so you're proudly wearing one when he finally vacates the White House and OBAMA strides in! (3 for $2.50 + shipping)

And finally . . . last, but not least, I send a shout out to my main mama -- FRIDA KAHLO!!! the lil' frida LIMITED EDITION DOLL is now available! She comes complete with a full-color, handmade takeaway box, lil' frida doll 1" badge and collector card -- all for $22.00 + shipping.

All my dolls are ON SALE right now in my etsy shop. Have a little gander!

Happy New Year! =(V)

red mutha fashion fair in brighton

Guess what I've been busy doing the past few weeks? That's right! Getting ready for the RED MUTHA FASHION FAIR at FABRICA GALLERY on Duke Street, Brighton! In fact, I'm just packing up ye olde Corsa, as ver sprechen, and getting ready to drive down to set up.

In addition to all my original designer badges (buttons), which are selling like hotcakes at purple-heart.com and red mutha, I'm introducing the new lil'Frida doll, who will be sharing center stage with the mamey beergarden doll. If I sell out, don't worry, I'll be taking orders and can get them to you within just a few days!

Original paintings, ACEOs, crumz bottlecap clips, necklaces, brooches, postcard packs, one-of-a-kind art toyz and the all new 4-colour crumzine . . . all original, handmade creations by moi, Ramey Holsman. It's cookie chang's TAKEAWAY ART!

If you're in Brighton this weekend, pop down to Fabrica Gallery and get a head start on your holiday shopping! It runs Saturday, 22 November from 10am-7pm (happy birthday, mert!); and Sunday, 23 November from 11am-5pm. 50 designers, DJs, FREE ENTRY and a bar!

And if you can't make it to Brighton (for obvious geographical reasons), visit cookiechang.etsy.com to get'cher cookie on!

mamey beergarden opens in brighton

kissmekwik! the mamey beergarden doll cloned herself overnight and a whole gaggle of them hopped off the stage and are now roaming the streets of brighton's kemptown! OK, maybe not the streets, but they're definitely wreaking havoc in one uber hip gift shop known as kissmekwik.


Perched amongst quirky, kitschy, queeny cards, badges, notebooks, mugs and a plethora of brilliant gifts, mamey and her beehive are in their element and ready to jump off the shelf and into your christmas stocking.

Each doll is made by hand, signed, numbered (limited edition 300) and packaged in a full-colour "takeaway" art box with a collector card and 1" mamey button (badge).

If you're not able to make it to brighton, pick one up from my etsy shop.

And if you can make it to brighton, kissmekwik is located at:
4 george street • brighton • bn2 1rh
phone: 01273 571 757
www.kissmekwik.co.uk
they're open mon-fri and saturdays when they feel like it!

cookie chang in brighton & lewes

cookie chang is now in 5 shops -- 3 in Brighton and 2 in Lewes! In BRIGHTON the crumz, "keep brighton weird" and various other original designer 1" badges (buttons) are in red mutha and purple-heart.com in the North Laines. Both are open 7 days a week, so you can get your cookie chang on whenever you're in town.

kolkata, brighton's fair trade gift shop, features cookie badges Sundays from 12-4pm during their Lazy Sunday Market.

And now the crumz are running around LEWES, getting all excited for the 5th of November -- bonfire night! may's general stores and the lewes tourist information centre are both carrying the brand new bonfire crumz badge pack, which includes a full-colour postcard, 7 full-colour bonfire crumz badges, a crumzine and free magnet -- retailing for £4.50. Whatta bargain!

These are the only two retail shops in the world where you can buy this product! But never fear, if you can't get to Lewes, East Sussex, UK and can't live without the bonfire crumz, you can purchase them at my etsy shop. Get them while they last!

=(V) <-- click the fortune cookie to buy yours today! BRIGHTON:
red mutha • 92 trafalgar street (north laines) BN1 2ER
01273 603 976 • redmutha.com
purple-heart.com • 22 gardener street (north laines) BN1 1UP
01273 696 935 • purple-heart.com
kolkata • 8 grantham road (5 ways) BN1 6EE
01273 565 105 • kolkatafairtrade.co.uk

LEWES:
may's general stores • 49 cliffe high street • BN7 2AN
01273 473 787 • maysgeneralstores.co.uk
lewes tourist information centre • 187 high street • BN7 2DE
01273 483 448 • lewes.gov.uk/leisure/1497.asp

FARE THEE WELL DIPSH*T!

Oops. I didn't want to, I HAD to. This is my latest listing in my etsy shop -- 1" metal button/badges telling you how I really feel. If you REALLY feel the same way, why not get some of your very own? You get 3 for $2.50 (US Dollars) + $2.40 shipping to the US or $1.00 shipping to the UK. I know that sounds like a lot, but with the exchange rate, it actually costs a little more than that to send them. To make the deal a little sweeter, if you order 2 sets (a total of 6), I won't charge for the extra postage!

Come on, you know you've been looking for a button ("badge" as they're called in the UK) that says this very thing. Wear one and share the rest with your friends. They even come on individual 4-color cards . . . and they're selling like hotcakes in Brighton! If you're in the Brighton area, visit RED MUTHA on Trafalgar in the North Laines, or KOLKATA at 8 Grantham Road (BN1 6EE) on Sundays from 12-4pm. I might even be there chatting with Mariana or Maria or Siobhan!

=(V) <-- click the fortune cookie to view this item in my etsy shop!

cookie in kolkata!

There's a wonderful gift store nestled in a cute little neighborhood a few streets north of the London Road Railway Station in Brighton. Located at 8 Grantham Road, BN1 6EE, Kolkata features handmade, fair-trade products including: clothing, jewelry, embroidered cards and tiny key chain bags, hats, toys and paintings from Kolkata India.

And now, on Sundays from 12-4pm, Kolkata is welcoming a handful of artists and craftspeople from the surrounding Brighton area (many from etsy) to sell their handmade wares in the Lazy Sunday Market – and that, mes amis, will include cookie chang!

At the moment I'll be displaying my 1" crumz and "keep brighton weird" badges (pin back buttons), as well as my zine, meet the crumz – a B&W, 16 page story of cookie chang, featuring each crumz' profile. But soon I hope to include a few more items – postcards, aceos, crumz bottlecap clips and dolls!

If you're in the neighborhood, stop by and say, "Hey!" to owner Siobhan and the ever-charming Mariana and Maria. And If you can't make it to Brighton, visit my etsy shop and check out the goods for yourself!
=(V)

Viva Frida! (and Shrinky Dinks!)

In May, mel.e sent me a packet of Shrinky Dinks for my birthday. (I'd requested them because my stash was left behind when I moved from the US to the UK almost three years ago.) So this week, while kpie was away on biz, I indulged in a few late nights with a pile 'o art supplies spread out over the coffee table and reacquainted myself with Shrinky Dinks.

"Viva Frida!" is my ode to my favorite grrl artist ever -- Frida Kahlo. I drew her with a fine line Sharpie on the glossy side, then had to think "backwards" when shading and coloring on the sanded side with colored pencils. I'm quite pleased with the outcome! Frida's mounted on two wooden dominoes which I've glued together. I used wood filler on the sides, then sanded and painted acrylics and gel pens (another gift from mel.e).

I ordered a good handful of milagros from elsol.etsy.com in San Antonio and included the little silver flaming heart, so when you wear this necklace, Frida's heart beats next to yours . . . ahhhh.

Up next will be "Fighting Basquiat," my tribute to Jean Michel Basquiat -- hands down, my favorite boy artist ever. The Shrinky Dink part is done, but the rest is still rattling around in my noggin. Inspiration . . . .

NEW! crumfiti uk POSTCARD & BADGE pack!

check it out! cookiechang.etsy.com
Includes: all 7 crumfiti postcards, 1 crumz badge (pin-back button)
and FREE MAGNET in a glossy, 4-color pack ...are you kidding?
Get yours today!

cookie chang MAGNETS join the BRIGHTON FESTIVAL!!!

I got up early this morning to drive down to Brighton. My mission? To disperse FREE cookie chang MAGNETS!! The Brighton Festival is happening through May, so it only seemed fitting that free magnets advertising my handmade art be an unofficial part of this amazing month-long festival devoted to visual and performing arts!

So did you find one? I left them on magnetic friendly surfaces all over the North Laines. In fact I'm here right now, drinking a faaabulous cup o' joe, looking down Kensington Street, where this photo was taken.

If you found one in your shop and would like to carry my products or artwork, leave me a comment and I will gladly contact you.

If you're not a shop owner and found one on the street, please leave a comment as well. I'd love to know where you found yours.

And please don't forget to visit my etsy shop: cookiechang.etsy.com. Don't be put off by the US dollar pricing. Paypal will convert it for you. Besides, the dollar sucks right now, so you can basically halve the price ($8.00 = £4.00). That means REALLY GOOD DEALS on ORIGINAL HANDMADE ART and art byproducts.  

OK, now on to the seafront to leave the rest of my magnets . . . . Maybe I'll see you down there? 

Could it have been any more gorgeous today? mel.e took in some sites:

Prickly Prunella grabbed some rays:

Mamey Beergarden checked out the Royal Pavilion:

. . . and hit an all-time low in the loo. Oh Mamey, ya gotta stop cheatin' yourself!

moooooooo!

What the hell? I feel like a cow drifting down a never- ending stream of molasses- consciousness and honey-bunches-of-freudian-oats . . . or something weird like that. Just when I thought blogspot was the last networky, bloggy, shoppy, websitey thing I was going to do to promote my art, etsy goes and sends me an email saying that there's this etsylove.ning.com site. mooooooo . . . gotta git me some a dem oats . . . .

Hey, but you know what? I dig me some etsy folk! And are there some talented peeps out there, or what? I even made friends with some of them. (Awww.)

OK, so I did spend the entire day messing around with my profile format instead of cutting out magnets and signing ACEOs, but as you can see, I was able to fit in an hour+ walk with little ms. poppy pants -- who can't be more tuckered out!

So, go check out the site and my profile! And, um, if you're reading this at blogspot first, just pretend you didn't notice that I'm plagiarizing myself by running this in both places.

street magnets! a kinda "how-to"

I lied when I said that I haven't done ANYTHING to market my cookie chang products. Last fall I had this idea to do what the crumz were already doing -- graffiti. But, being a 42 year old woman in a new country, I thought it might not be too smart to get busted drawing on public buildings . . . and anyway, what the crumz are doing is "virtual crumfiti" not "actual graffiti."

So I said to myself, "Self, what if you could leave your mark around town without actually defacing property?" And what magically popped into my head? MAGNETS!

Being a natural cheapo-minded artist, I fit a bunch of 1" circular designs on an A4 page, printed it out on my inkjet printer, painstakingly cut out little "www.cookiechang.com" labels to affix to the back of each, laminated the page, cut each out with my 1" circle punch and stuck a little magnet to the backs. Fantastic idea, right? Uh, not in rainy olde England is wasn't!



One beautiful sunny day kpie and I put them up all over Lewes and Brighton. I skipped home, certain that the next day I would check my web stats and find thousands of new hits! Well, I did get a few extra from my efforts . . . until it rained . . . and rained and rained. When it finally let up I scoured the places we'd put them, only to find soggy, smeared paper and peeling lamination.

POOP!

Now, several months later, I've discovered a better way . . . and I want to share it! I've been getting postcards and ACEOs printed online at vistaprint.com (or vistaprint.co.uk) for several months now. They're all over the world and well-known for their free business cards. You can get 250 for free, but apparently they have vistaprint info on the back. Smart marketing on their part! But if you're like me, you want the thrill of seeing ONLY your designs on printed material.

So I got on their mailing list. They send one promo a day -- all advertising FREE products. Now if I've learned one thing in this lifetime, it's that nothing is FREE. But sometimes you can get a damn good deal if you pay attention!

Get on vistaprint's mailing list and take the time to look at the promos when you need something printed. Some of the postcard offers give you free uploads, free B&W printing on the backs and free glossy finishes. If you're willing to wait 21 days, you'll only end up paying £3.70 + VAT for 100 standard postcards.

I digress. We're talking about MAGNETS, not postcards. But the idea is the same. Vistaprint's magnets are 4-colour process on vinyl magnet sheets and don't fall to bits when it rains! I spent considerably more than £3.70 + VAT, but did some work to make sure I got 6 different designs on the large size (same size as the standard postcard), and cut them out with an x-acto knife. Voila! 100 sheets magically became 600 bright, colourful magnets which advertise my etsy site and my website! Easy peasy! The whole thing cost me £65.00 . . . but are FREE to you if you find one.

Now all you have to do is look for them on the streets! The crumz are busy putting them up from Seattle to Portland to Brighton to Lewes . . . to a metallic urban surface near you! Let me know where you found yours.

cookie do whatcha make of it. (heh?)

It's a rainy, dreary day in Southeast England and my youngest sister (mert) is no doubt tucked up safe and sound in her bed in Seattle after her long flight home yesterday. For the two faaabulous weeks she was here with us, I did very little work on cookie . . . so today I followed my other little sister's (mel.e) lead and got me a spot on blogspot.

Since I launched my website (cookiechang.com) and opened my etsy shop (cookiechang.etsy.com) last May, I have admittedly done little to promote them. And how stupid! I spend so much time creating things: making dolls, painting, illustrating, writing, yada yada yada . . . how is anyone going to know they exist and are available to purchase if I don't actively tell them? Duh.

Joining the UKTeam on etsy has been really helpful and I'm learning about the importance of networking sites, etc. Talk about time consuming though! It's hard to divide my time between creating and producing art and promoting it -- but, as I'm learning, there ain't one without t'other.

So I'll end this entry with a couple pictures of my recent work.

This is my Mamey Beergarden doll. Look familiar? Like someone else we might know? You can have her for your very own by clicking on my etsy link on the right!


I've also had limited edition ACEOs of some of my paintings printed. In case you don't know what an ACEO is, it stands for Art Cards, Editions and Originals and must always be 2.5" by 3.5" -- the same size as baseball and other trading cards. They're meant to be an affordable way to collect art. And at just $8.00 for 4 signed edition prints on etsy, I'd say that's pretty affordable!


You can also visit cookiechang.com and learn about cookie's "crumz" -- the naughty little characters who like to do their virtual crumfiti on various landmarks in the UK. You can even hear their voices (god knows I do).