Website questions.. Advice?

[Fullmoon]

Hi, I really hope this is in the right area... If it isn't please feel free to move it :s

So, apparently I'm even more rusty at web design than I thought. I'm also a bit slow on doing chainmaille or art or anything lately due to my school schedule constantly changing and lately most of my art is work related (I worked as an artist assistant briefly and was involved in a large gallery showing that was fun but a very sleep deprived experience that my doctor has banned me from repeating for various reasons, and right now I'm doing various illustration things for a dentist... )

But despite all this craziness (Which should calm down some between March and April I presume) I've been wanting to have a website or something thrown together that would work better than just relying on my Facebook fan page... A portfolio more or less, y'know? Maybe add in a web shop type thing? Or one of those nifty things that shows your Etsy or Store Envy or ArtFire(?) store?

Now here's where the questions and things come in.... So I have someone who has a great price on websites and I've seen his work. He's fabulous... But I'm wondering if I should have one site, or two, or one big site that branches off into two separate things more or less?

Area one: Luna Estrella

Luna Estrella (Or Luna Estrella Chainmaille Designs) is for my chainmaille. I make chainmaille jewelry, dreamcatchers, floggers, etc. I keep this separate from everything else I do. However, I'm going to be taking up casting and silversmithing soon... When I start expanding further, should I have it all just be into Luna Estrella Designs? Or branch off any other type of jewelry making and oddities into it's own thing?

Area two: Myself and my art

I'm an artist and I want to display this. I want to show off the art I do, what I can do, things I've done on commission, maybe even what we did when I worked as an artist assistant.... It doesn't tie into Luna Estrella really... Well, I guess it does since chainmaille is definitely an art, but I want to divide the two because they are different. For this, website especially, but also in general, what am I to do name wise? In high school I always signed things 'A Mack 'xx ' (xx being the year), in college most things you see will either be Alison Mack or Alison Renee Mack. My student email for one college is amack@xxxxxxxxx.edu (I don't want to throw my student email out there), my student email for my other school is alisonrenee@student.xxxxxxx.edu I've always lightly considered doing a legal name change (or just adapting it for things like this) to have my name as Alison Christian-Mack, as Christian was my last name prior to my adoption, but I feel like that's too much of a mouthful AND I worry about upsetting anyone in my family by taking my old last name on along with my true blue last name, y'know? I also worry about if I get married. I like my name, I don't know if I want to take on someone else's name (I could always be like my biological mother and take on my last name alongside my husbands) but I thought that maybe for art stuff, I could just use "Alison Renee", my first and middle name. Then I don't have to worry about my last name, if it changes, if I need a new identity, etc. I noticed the guy (I go to school with him, he's a junior I think) who I will probably have do my website(s) doesn't full on use his name on his stuff. It's a different, cooler sounding, last name that seems somehow so perfect for what he does.

Would it be strange to just use Alison Renee for art? or would I also have to start signing every piece as "AR" or "ARM" or "A Renee" or even "AR Mack" ?

Then, when it comes down to domain, one website, two, etc. how do I go about this?

Do I just use like one big domain, like say, alisonrenee.com for example, and then have it branch off? Like a splash page, and then it has one side where it goes to maybe lunaestrella.alison renee.com and then maybe I don't know, designs.alisonrenee .com? Should I just do two separate sites, like lunaestrelladesign. com and alisonrenee.com (alisonreneedesigns. com? alisonmack.org? ETC ETC) ?

Now I'm worried that I'm not making any sense in this post :s If you understand what I mean, can you please send me in the right direction about how to go about this? Please give me all your knowledge on this topic!

Thanks!

[CraftyChef]

I think you're making this more complicated than it actually is. Your art and the chain are related by being created by you, plus any other talent that comes out and wants to make money. If you go by a name, use it. Why be known as a different name if you never use it in your life normally? If you don't want to upset your family, then don't. Can't be any simpler than that.

If you've barely got time to put create anything due to your class schedule, how do you expect to keep 2 websites updated?

[Fullmoon]

I'm sorry I probably am over complicating things, I do that with a lot of things. Well, although I may not be able to do lots of updating right now, my schedule is going to calm down soon (and by soon I mean May or June at the latest but hopefully by March or April, once I'm down to attending one college and am hopefully accepted into a different school so I can make it my one college)

[Painted Sparrow]

Don't apologize for over-complicating it! I did the exact same thing just a couple months ago before I completely rebuilt my website, in a very similar situation. My degree is in theatrical design, but I'm also a crafter & artist. Since the theatrical community wants to focus on theatrical works & I already have so much theatrical areas going on, I wanted to keep them separate. My solution was to separate it into two portfolios, my Theatrical Design Portfolio & my Creative Design Portfolio. From any page on my site you can link to the portfolio you are not in & any areas that cross over between portfolios (like Costume Construction & Sewing) have their own separate pages within each portfolio. Obviously, this is just one approach, but feel free to check out my website to understand what I mean.
MRDes, my site

As far as the name, if you want to use first & middle there's nothing wrong with that. When I got married I took my husband's name, but to be perfectly honest, it's kind of a common last name & I think it takes the edge off of how cool my first & middle names sound as they are. So I always use just Mariya Rose, adding on the Designs on my site to help represent what I do & because I think it's a fair medium between operating completely under an assumed name as some craftspeople do & my real name as many artists & theatrical designers do. When putting my name to my art, I use a designed "MR" in visible locations (like on the front of the canvas) but will always add "Mariya Rose (Bxxxx)" in a less visible location if I can (like on the back of a canvas).

That's just my 2¢, though. Hopefully it helps you think about some of it, though!

[Fullmoon]

That's actually a really great idea! I love your website, I peeked through some of your portfolios, you're super talented!

This helps a lot I really appreciate it! Thank you ^_^