I took the plunge into the video media world.  It was fun to experiment with some of the options in editing. I know there's much more that I'm missing but you got to start somewhere.  AVS Video Editor was the program of choice. Just did a little compare and contrasting with other software and read reviews. Free isn't too bad but to produce your file without the AVS watermark, you will have to pay for that.  I'm overall pleased with the result. Take a look see and leave a comment. Thanks. http://youtu.be/elmeiTTe8E4

The Model LG is for the dog that likes to inhale their food. The dog pictured is one of those kind of dogs. His name is Emmit.  If he has taste buds, I don't think he has too much use for them.  The obstacle in the middle of the bowl doesn't allow for a direct route to the food.  They must work around the hollow addition and this slows them down.  I included a photo in the slideshow above to show you that even with a flat face like Emmits, he is still able to get his mug into the bowl. This bowl is basically the Model L with a hump in the middle.  Fast eating patterns can lead to megaesophagus from trying to eat large amounts of food quickly.  This stretches the esophagus and is why dogs choke and gag on food when their intake isn't controlled.  Smaller bites reduces stretching and insures better digestion with less stress on the gastrointestinal tract.

It would have helped to upload the images that I needed to in the previous post. Der? Here they go...

In putting together the Pet Bowl page, I had to make the difficult decisions in which photos got cut for the various Models.  Here are some of those images that didn't make it and some of Emmit and Vyvy after the shoot and a few more of our excursion to the neighborhood park on this beautiful 60 + degree day, 5 days into the new year.

A few of months ago Jennifer Woodall, a producer from local TV "Show Me St. Louis" saw my first efforts at the pet bowl business on Etsy.  I had made those listings inactive before Jennifer contacted me about using those as a segment on the show.  The format offered by Etsy didn't allow me a way to offer all the options in a cohesive way, so I ventured into the DIY website realm.  However, I was "discovered" by Jennifer there.  The show is about local businesses and what they offer.  There's a little background discussed and the process that goes into their product or service. So it's an awesome way to promote locally.  So after I commited to doing the show, Jennifer gave me an assignment of creating a couple more types of bowls for pets to show a variety within the discussion.  I did a little homework and added two new models ( with a third coming soon) to my original model.  One is for long eared dogs that keeps their ears out of the bowls and the other is for dogs that inhale their food.  These can be seen here. I would like to thank Jennifer for the opportunity to promote my business and I'm going to drop a link to her personalized sterling silver jewelry business that she does during her free time here. Thanks Jennifer!

So my sales for the holidays weren't where I needed them to be but on Christmas Eve, I checked my email to see that I'd gotten a PayPal payment and it was one of my trompe l'oeil teapots that had sold. Awesome! I then looked to see who purchased it and it was The Kamm Teapot Foundation.  I thought that was pretty cool until I Googled the name and found out they had the worlds largest teapot collection.  I was and still am floored that my work will mingle with work that is centuries older than me. Too cool!  This surely motivates me to create more and gives me belief in working hard pays off.  Thanks Mr. Sonny Kamm, you took some of the scrooge out of my holiday.

I've recently finished shooting images of my work with my new camera.  It sure helps to have the right equipment for the job.  Thanks to Dan Barnett for hooking me up with a place to get the job done.

So I didn't realize how much time and effort went into making an online business work.  It's challenging enough to produce the work for sales but then there's the whole marketing aspect of it, which I'm not too comfortable with yet.  I'm confident in my work but it's my presentation that needs some polish.  I recently bought a new camera, so that means I have to go back and shoot all my work over again because the previous shooter is not up to snuff. Yay !  It's necessary though.