Critique?

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revjerry
Posts: 28
Joined: Fri Dec 05, 2003 12:29 pm
Location: Coastal Maine
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Critique?

Post by revjerry »

From time to time I ask for critique from this board, in spite of the obvious risks, because I have come to trust kiln crafters and value their opinion. Well, this is one of those requests.

I have a new web site at http://www.angelantics.net which I've worker really hard on and would appreciate your comments on the site as well as any of the products you see there. Some of them I've had in the "photo" section of this board, others not. Anyway, I'd really like to hear what you have to say about the structure of the site as well as the stuff in it.

Thanks in advance,
Jerry
SWalsh
Posts: 25
Joined: Tue Feb 10, 2004 11:06 am
Location: Bucksport Maine

Post by SWalsh »

Hi Jerry-- It's Sue Walsh in Bucksport! It's been a while since I've seen you and Ann. That clay rooster Ann helped Dianna with is wonderful! Sue
The past is history,
The future is a mystery
And the present is a gift
rodney
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Post by rodney »

excellent work,,,,,

one thing,,,, on the ICE PRINCESS,,,i think it would have come off better if the eyes had a little difinition,,,just a tiny bit of carving, to make the princess look like she has eyes,,,,the way it is now, its more like a blind, blank stare, but its still wonderful,,,,maybe you can check out the ancient greek and roman sculptures to see how they worked it

thanks for sharing the site,,
rodney
Katia T.
Posts: 33
Joined: Sun Mar 23, 2003 4:35 pm
Location: Rio de Janeiro / Brazil

Post by Katia T. »

I´m just beginning, but I loved your work, very nice colors!
The site is very good to navigate, and that is really very important.
Congratulations
Katia
dee
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Re: Critique?

Post by dee »

Revjerry wrote:From time to time I ask for critique from this board, in spite of the obvious risks, because I have come to trust kiln crafters and value their opinion. Well, this is one of those requests.

I have a new web site at http://www.angelantics.net which I've worker really hard on and would appreciate your comments on the site as well as any of the products you see there. Some of them I've had in the "photo" section of this board, others not. Anyway, I'd really like to hear what you have to say about the structure of the site as well as the stuff in it.

Thanks in advance,
Jerry
- very nice index page, just have someone with a dialup connection check load time for you with all the graphics

- with the graphics for each category on the index page, perhaps no purple border around them, just the thin black line, less distraction from the work

- in each category, again, have someone with a dialup connection check your load times, may need to have multiple pages for categories with larger # of items - ie more than 5, depending on graphic size - to assure fast load time

just my $.02 ;) i like the layout, clean, good navigation around the site.
D
Dee Janssen
Unicorn's Creations Studio
http://ucjewelry.com
dee@ucjewelry.com
revjerry
Posts: 28
Joined: Fri Dec 05, 2003 12:29 pm
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Critique

Post by revjerry »

Thanks folks, I appreciate the comments. I've spent a lot of time and money getting this thing running and I needed to hear from pros about how it looks.

Thanks again,
Jerry
lohman
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Post by lohman »

I think I hear Dee saying the glass is colorfull all by itself that maybe the backgrounds and graphics could be more subdued.

Your crucible poured plates and rondels are quite interesting as are the doilie stencils. I wanted to click on some of your work to get a larger view but couldn't.

All in all your website is excellent as is your work (if I could just see it closer up)

Love your wire work.
The Hobbyist
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Post by The Hobbyist »

I agree with lohman. The work is excellent but I can't envision anyone buying something in that price range based on such a small image. It would seem necessary to have links to larger versions as well as detail shots if possible.

Jim
"With or without religion, good people can behave well and bad people can do evil; but for good people to do evil—that takes religion. " Steven Weinberg
Lynn g
Posts: 91
Joined: Sun Nov 02, 2003 1:36 am
Location: Clovis, CA

Post by Lynn g »

Jerry -

Wow! Nice site and impressive work!

I agree with the pther people who have said it could be improved by being able to get a closer look at these wonderful pieces. I wished I could peer closely, pick them up, turn them over, watch the play of light over the surface...

As an English major who recently enjoyed reading a book entitled "Woe Is I" about grammar, I just have a few picky (I may be one of a small minority who cares about these this!) little things which might be improved. The word "it's" is a contraction of "it is", not the possessive form meaning "belonging to it" On Opening, Northern Lights, Dark Moon and Triangle Angle Flake, you should use "its" (no apostrophe) Note: In Emerging, "it's" is correct because it stands for "it is".

On Yellow Abstract, it should read either "kiln formed art glass" (eliminate "a") OR "a kiln formed art glass (something)". As it stands, if you take out the adjectives "kiln formed" and "art", you are left with "a glass", which sounds incomplete.

The word "manipulated" is used quite often; maybe in some of the descriptions you could substitute another word to describe your technique.

From a shopper's point of view, I would like to know something about the bead on the Anstract Triangle...fused? Lamp-worked?
On the Rose Scope, I would want to know if the stand is included, and how it was made. The Butterfly Bowls are lovely, but I didn't know what the "fluted edge" looked like until I got to the end of that section; maybe you could add a picture of a Butterfly Bowl with a fluted edge at the beginning.

As an aspiring artist, I have to tell you I found your site to be very IN-spiring! I loved your work (my favorites: Dark Moon, Dancers, Emerging, Vortex, Rice Bowl (I thought this one had a particularly good description, too) and the piece shown on the "How'd We Do That" page. I'm going to bookmark it so I can go back and enjoy it again in the future.

I think your hard work on creating the site is very worthwhile, and I think the site should bring you both great success.
Lynn g
"Patriotism is not enough, I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone." - Dame Edith Cavell
Lynn g
Posts: 91
Joined: Sun Nov 02, 2003 1:36 am
Location: Clovis, CA

Post by Lynn g »

P.S. I have dial-up (and am not the most patient person) and I thought the time it took to load was quite acceptable. I've been to sites which took so long I gave up, but I was able to go from page to page (and see the whole page clearly...some of them get there but then seem to load pixel by pixel!) very quickly on yours.
Lynn g
"Patriotism is not enough, I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone." - Dame Edith Cavell
Peg
Posts: 74
Joined: Tue Apr 08, 2003 7:50 am
Location: Bristol, UK

Post by Peg »

I agree with the comment on image size - I instinctively clicked on them to get a larger view.

Also, I'd prefer a sans-serif typeface, it would look more modern.

Can't fault the glass though!

Peg
Andrew
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Remarks

Post by Andrew »

I second what Peggy says. I too clicked on the images to try and get a larger image.

I thought the navigation was good, although there was some hesitation loading the home page (I have high speed cable).

Andy
shesjustalittletwisted
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Post by shesjustalittletwisted »

Your glass work is wonderful....I would not even begin to try to critique so I will address the site.

First ~ I agree that the purple (tho my fav color) distracts from the art.
A thin black line would look a bit better. I also noticed that on some of your larger pieces the box is almost too small for the piece, I think some more white space between the lines and the piece would make it stand out a bit.

Ditto on seeing each piece larger and on the font you have chosen for the description. I feel it is too common and business letter like. I personally like Tahoma , Lucinda Console or Verana ~they have clean lines, are easy to read and are modern. The also would match the title of the piece a bit better.

I like the site layout but was not able to open some of the links...just thought I would mention, but you also might still be working on those.

I personally would like to see the "about us" or "the Artist" located at the top. When surfing sites I usually go to this first or just after looking at a few pieces. I get really curious about the artist, what they are like, back ground, some personal info etc but with it at the bottom I had to hunt for it. (This was also a section that came up with an " Action cancelled page not located" thing so I was not able to read about you.)

Overall great job ~ you can tell you have spent a lot of time and effort on this. Hope it is a success for you!
8)
revjerry
Posts: 28
Joined: Fri Dec 05, 2003 12:29 pm
Location: Coastal Maine
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Critique

Post by revjerry »

Wow! I never expected this much response or the in depth thinking. Folks, I really do appreciate it. Enough of you said I should have larger pictures and I'm going to take that to my site designer today; thank you.

And to those of you with nice things to say about my work, my ego appreciates it as well. I've done a lot of work, testing, experimenting and messing around with this stuff and have been able to produce pieces I'm happy with, but you never know until you hear it from someone else.

Thanks again,
Jerry
BobB

Post by BobB »

I clicked a couple of items into the shopping cart. Once in the shopping cart the navigation bar at the top doesn't work (says can't find links to the pages). The continue shopping button works, but having those dead links at the top might confuse someone.

Very nice site. Very clean and simple to use. Best of luck with that.
BobB
rowanberry
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Mar 27, 2004 5:35 pm

Post by rowanberry »

Nice site! Beautiful pieces - Love the blending colors. Also - I have a plain old dial up connection, not a brand new super fast computer - and your site loaded very quickly. It is so annoying to go on a site and wait forever for graphics to download, sometimes I skip the sites because I just can't stand waiting 3-4 minutes per picture. Great job!
Nikki ONeill
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Post by Nikki ONeill »

Jerry: Your site is really colorful, with a big variety of interesting art glass pieces. I'll echo the sentiment that it would be useful to be able to see enlarged photos, especially in the casting section. Ice Princess is pretty amazing, especially at life size. I'd really want to see that rose up close; was it cast along with the head? It looks like there's a lot of delicate detail there. Congratulations on getting your site up and running.
Nikki
Kelly Burke Makuch
Posts: 37
Joined: Tue Mar 11, 2003 10:42 pm
Location: Connecticut

Post by Kelly Burke Makuch »

You have a great site ---I was drawn right away to the butterfly --since it is a common creature in my own work. The critique I wish to offer --if you refer to Fused Glass Tableware --the sentence "each piece is made entirely of fused glass so the surface can't be scratched.....
My thought was - are you trying to express that the detail cannot be scratched off or are you giving some kind of guarantee that a fused glass plates surface cannot be scratched.....you may wish to clarify this. I wouldn't want yu to get any returns if someone scratched the surface....or I could just be too "fanny"
KellyBMakuch
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