Unwired - Stumbling Up the Road to Success in My Small Business

I Never Travel Empty-Handed.

2012-01-26T14:03:00.000-08:00

"Love me... Love my satchel." My friends know that traveling with me includes my satchel full of tools & bead projects. But hey, it's easier than a pet, right? So here's a visual log of my recent, 5some girlfriend trip - an annual event of non-stop gabbing, laughing, & games covering 800+ miles driving around the SW. Each jewelry creation comes with a story & lots of happy memories-- NO EXTRA CHARGE:)

While flying Seattle, WA to Phoenix, AZ:

While driving Phoenix, AZ to Laughlin, NV:

While driving Laughlin, NV to Indio, CA:

While driving Indio, CA to Phoenix, AZ:

While flying Phoenix, AZ to Seattle, Wa:

As an added bonus, I always leave a few extra beads on the floor of planes & rented vans as a tip.

Finding a Unique Niche

2012-01-08T12:29:00.000-08:00

If you're a jewelry artist marketing online, welcome to the Online World of Crafty Anonymity. It's tough out there in the OWCA, unless Oprah discovers us. I'm still waiting...

Pierre the Pelican

Until then, what can we do to stand out from the crowd? For me an idea strikes literally in dreams or unpredictably when I'm just living my life. It rarely comes because I want it to. I find ZERO satisfaction in putting a new spin on someone else's unique niche. That's HER creative idea, not mine. For that reason I never graze through websites for design ideas or inspiration. My latest unique niche came, thanks to my friend Sheila from New Orleans (where I lived my first 27 years). She asked me to create 13 pendants depicting one "symbol" of either New Orleans or Louisiana. The medium & design brainstorms were left to me. My birthplace immediately inspired at least 4 unique designs (not counting Crooked Louisiana Politician), but Sheila quickly selected my sketch of a pelican in silver & gold wire outline.

And so Artsy Doodads was born -- a collection of wire-art critters & objects, custom made to depict each customer's "favorite thing." Doodads can be charms, pendants, earrings, bookmarks, knickknacks (on wire stands) for shelves, or Christmas tree ornaments! I've since created many Artsy Doodads-- including playing card symbols, pets, stylized crosses, flowers, birds, fish, trees. My favorites so far are the crab pendant & the surgically-separated lion earrings:) Oprah has many "favorite things." If you know Oprah, please tell her I'm sitting here with wire & pliers waiting for her call.

Le-oh!

The Pincher

"Handmade" Links Buyer & Seller

2011-12-04T14:03:00.000-08:00

I admit that I'm a little weird. The more time & effort I put into a jewelry creation, the harder it is for me to part with it... even for good money. That's why Challenging Path & Our Town, requiring 30 hours of labor each, are very special to me. So with mixed feelings I set them on my display table at the wonderful Renton Hassle Free Holiday Bazaar recently. They both attracted A LOT of attention from shoppers, but the price tag was too high for most, though my goal in life is to some day make WA State's minimum wage. (My prices are far from it.!) But the appreciative comments were very satisfying, and amazingly I felt a sense of relief when buyers left without my special treasures. (That's weird, right?)

Challenging Path

Our Town

Then a middle-age woman with a very gentle demeanor & a British accent focused on Challenging Path. She picked up the necklace like a fragile treasure & asked me about its name. Clearly the symbolism of life's winding path, full of gaps & obstacles, but beautiful in the Big Picture meant as much to her life as to mine.

She really wanted my creation! The price tag didn't push her away, though it was obvious that she was not wealthy. But this was her birthday, & she "deserved something special & this was it." I felt very honored that this jewelry meant so much to her. As she left with my creation, she promised to come back next year wearing Challenging Path, and gave me a huge hug. We definitely bonded over this necklace! This is weirdness I enjoy.

The next day, a repeat customer stopped by with eyes riveted on Our Town. She was fascinated by its 3-D engineering & unusual architectural design. She wanted it for her niece, but said she'd "test drive" it herself before Christmas:) She was impressed by the weight of the fine/pure silver in the piece. But when she saw the price tag, she knew she must think about it. Two hours later, she was back to see it again. Then off to think about it. That night after the show closed, the phone rang. Mary wondered if I had sold it yet. I told her it probably wouldn't sell quickly because it was so unique & I "wasn't giving it away." (I obviously need Marketing lessons!) But I felt that if she really had reservations, then I preferred to keep it. (Yes, more weirdness!) A week passed. Mary called again to say that she couldn't get it out of her mind & must have it! She "might" give it to her niece... "or not." She's a great repeat-customer who looks for me each year to buy the most unique items on my table of unique items. I was proud to release Our Town to her when she couldn't get it out of her mind.

It's amazing how an object created by hand & turned over to another's hands can create a bond. I LOVE seeing my repeat customers who seek me out at the few fairs I do each year. It's difficult for me to part with my most special pieces, but the appreciation in the buyer's eyes is just as important to me as the money they spend.

I look forward to seeing these 2 customers wearing "our" treasures next year in Renton:)

Holiday Craft Shows -- Y'all Come!

2011-11-10T10:08:00.000-08:00

This is a Shoulda-Woulda-Coulda post, with my apologies for not posting my craft show schedule sooner. I only do 2-3 a year, usually during the holiday season, so I hope it's not too late to get on your calendar! I'm "Classic Beadwear" locally & have dozens & dozens of original jewelry designs in metal, wire, beads & stones. I've recently added Artsy Doodads to my repertoire. If you wonder what that means, good! Come see my shows:)

1) RENTON HASSLE FREE HOLIDAY BAZAAR- Time/Location on picture. This is a well-run, well-established show with over 100 vendors, plus refreshments & lots of parking. My "Classic Beadwear" booth is usually near the large garage door in the back corner. It's a great spot, diagonally across from delicious artisan breads. YUM! If I'm not in that spot, please ask for Classic Beadwear.

2) CRAFTY BRIDGE HOLIDAY BAZAAR- For Duplicate Bridge player customers only- at Eastside Bridge Center, Redmond, WA. Dec. 9 (9:30 am to 2:30) and Dec. 10 (9:00 - 5:30). What fun to combine a good game of Duplicate Bridge with a chance to snatch some high quality crafts, handmade by your Bridge pals!

ALSO, my shows are a great place to custom order your own Doodad or jewelry creation! We can work out the design together during slack times. Well, maybe I'd better explain DOODADS, ya think? Stay tuned:)

How RED HOT STUDS Got Their Name

2011-10-16T12:23:00.000-07:00

For the past 3 weeks, I've worked intently on my latest brainstorm for a niche market-- the hundreds of avid Duplicate Bridge players from many countries converging on Seattle for our National Championships in November. It's a big deal for all of us addicted to competitive Bridge. I designed a line of wire-art & metal-art jewelry & bookmarks to commemorate this Big Event. After days of Designing, it was finally time to Create:)

I stacked my charcoal block atop the fire brick on my torch table & sat down on the tall bar stool. Satisfied with the 4 card symbol shapes I had cut by hand from copper sheet & already prepped for soldering, I carefully dabbed tiny snippets of silver solder near the Diamond's edge, & with upmost care placed the Club overlapping the Diamond, "just so." Everything was ready for the torch. The room was already hot & the torch made it hotter. The Club & Diamond began to glow red as I moved the Blazer's flame over their surfaces. I carefully positioned the titanium pick onto the top of my glowing-hot copper stack to assure the Club was absolutely horizontal & flat as the solder melted, sealing the 2 surfaces in the "just so" position. Then I sneezed. The pick jerked, sliding the double-wide, firmly soldered, red-hot copper off its "tower" of bricks. Before I could grasp the situation, it had bounced, onto the table, then onto my thigh. I looked down amazed at the smoke coming off my new Bermudas. But piercing heat shocked me back to a scream, a quick stand-up, & a final bounce of glowing redness onto the vinyl floor. Dilemma: Should I save the floor or my thigh?

I saved the floor, but not before yet another burn-freckle left my husband a reminder of my favorite work. Finally, ice wrapped in a wet cloth cooled down my burning thigh....

That was about 8 days ago. My thigh has survived. The new Bermudas got demoted to the gardening-only clothes pile. I finished the copper stud earrings... very carefully, BUT decided their name must commemorate my latest lesson learned, so "Red Hot Studs" was born.

I just received the new US Forge welding apron I ordered the next day from Amazon. I LOVE it. I'm 5'8" tall &, as you can see, it covers almost all body parts. (Actually, it's more like a suede "gown":) In addition, I will take a suggestion from a colleague & put a metal plate on the table & on the floor to protect those surfaces from more freckles. But most of all, I hope I have a line of eager females fighting over RED HOT STUDS.

Salvaging a Mistake

2011-09-22T15:40:00.000-07:00

Our Town- Version 1

Do you believe in re-incarnation? When it comes to salvaging failed jewelry brainstorms to give them new life, I do. I keep reminding myself that the time & labor "wasted" have taught me some technical or design lessons that are worthwhile. BUT wasting expensive silver, gold, or other metals? NO WAY!!! I'm the woman who returns a cut lemon to the fridge until every last drop is squeezed.

Two years ago I imagined a pendant celebrating the beautiful Seattle skyline as representative of any city we cherish. I wanted the metal art to have a 3-D effect against a gold-toned silver disk background. Engineering this 3-D vision I had was a technical challenge. Getting the golden colors I wanted from the copper buildings & the silver disk was another. Handling & smoothing the beautiful silver disk without scratching it was another. I spent countless hours on Our Town, but was very proud of the result....

Except for one problem ... It was too big!

It was more like a medallion than a pendant. Should I frame it for sale as a wall-hanging? What else can one do with "a medallion"? Paperweight? UGH!!

Our Town- Version 2

For the last 18 months, I've been thinking about how to re-invent Our Town as the wearable art creation I'd intended, without ruining the components. It was emotionally painful to clip the rivets away, separate all the components, cut them smaller, then carefully replace the handmade rivets in the holes left by previous rivets! I tossed the bits of cut away metal to my treasured can of metal scraps$$, which I'll recycle when full. Finally, I decided that I liked the silver disk looking silver:)

While I miss the "medallion," the re-incarnated Our Town can now be worn with pride by a normal-sized woman:)

Time To Think About Holiday Shoppers... Already!

2011-09-12T17:42:00.000-07:00

Where has the year gone? Holiday Shows are booking artists/crafters now, & my fingers are busy creating wearable art jewelry for holiday shoppers. October through December we've got our Arts-and-Crafts ON ... full steam ahead. By mid-October in this blog ("Unwired") I'll post my Seattle-area Craft Show Schedule. Please check back regularly for my holiday show calendar & plan to visit my booth:)

Madness begins for online shops as well. I'll post inventory into my Zibbet store regularly during Sept-- several pieces a week. My other stores will follow. I'll be fully stocked in all 3 stores when holiday shoppers get serious:)

Want a sneak peek at the most varied, original, imaginative jewelry designs around?

Copper Circles, Silver Dot

Crystal Snake

30 Hours of Labor! Do You Love the Baby More?

2011-09-01T14:02:00.000-07:00

YES!!

Do you qualify to adopt this baby? (sniff)

CHALLENGING PATH- Metal Art @ zibbet.com/seattlechic

50%-OFF SALE TO FB "FANS"

2011-08-27T14:50:00.000-07:00

I've begun to appreciate the importance of Social Media tools to market my creations online!

So I'm now on Twitter & Facebook in addition to 3 online stores- Zibbet, Etsy, & my main store ClassicBeadwear.

MY IMMEDIATE GOAL is to push Fan count on Facebook over 100. I'm almost there! Want to help out & get a big Thank You from me? Just click HERE to see my Fan Page, then click LIKE at the top. You'll benefit in 2 ways--

1. You'll always get a sneak peek at my latest, original jewelry designs.
2. You'll participate in Seattle Chic's 1st sale ever-- 50% OFF SALE on over 70 wonderful items when my Fan Count reaches 100. SALE ENDS 9/16/11, so bump Fan count over 100 soon & enjoy more time to shop! U.S. SHIPPING ONLY.

What Drives YOUR Designs?

2011-08-21T09:37:00.000-07:00

I'm very lucky that jewelry design is not my family's meal ticket or bill-paying resource. With those burdens, I'd be a very different designer than I am now. I cheer on artists in that position & applaud their courage & success. However, I like to make what I like to make-- what pleases me. Savvy marketeers must cringe at that statement. But jewelry design is not my career. It's my passion. I'm just lucky that what pleases me also pleases some women within my target market -- a subset of women 25-50 years young -- women who want something "different," yet pretty... maybe even quirky or funny. When a shopper at a craft show says, "Wow! Your work is so different with a variety of 'looks,' " I'm in heaven! Mission Accomplished:)

Here are some creations that drew those comments, PLUS a sneak peek at new designs for my holiday shows:

Quirky, Funny Designs

Every-day, Classy, Elegant Designs

Artsy Designs

WHAT DRIVES YOUR DESIGNS? That's both a personal & business decision for each of us, but I'd love to know. Feel free to "Comment" below this post.

Illusion Jewelry - Creating Magic

2011-07-13T00:30:00.000-07:00

It was the BJ time in my life-- Before Jewelry-- when I was not yet an artisan/seller, but a retiree/shopper. I saw a woman at a distance with the most stunning stones floating around her neck. My eyes were fixed on the magic involved. As I approached, I saw the delicate silver snake chain responsible for the magic. A few years later, when I discovered the passion that would surprise & consume me for the next 6 years & counting, I couldn't wait to create some magic of my own.

Since then, I've strung delicate snake chain & fine beading wire through my favorite stones many times. Spacing them equally with a pinched, tiny crimp is a tricky, tedious business-- & hard on the eyes. Stringing multiple strands, with beads placed so they appear "balanced," is much easier. Illusion (aka "floating") jewelry remains a big favorite of mine and my customers. I suspect we all need a little Magic in our lives...

Happy Birthday USA!

2011-07-04T03:22:00.000-07:00

It's been a week of frustrations==> printer broke, my Facebook got corrupted, Hotmail quit listing all my email addresses on 1 page, Windows 7 failed THREE times to reboot (Where did I put those Rescue Disks?!), and my beautiful lawn got "mud freckles" wherever I burned it with fertilizer. I missed a lot of sleep this week trying to fix these problems. I was not a Happy Camper & my husband steered clear.

Last night while fretting over computer mysteries as approaching-midnight made my sour mood worse, I heard a series of loud booms. It was the first fireworks for July 4th. It shocked me out of my narrow, fretful focus. Oh, July 4th! Could I put the list of frustrations aside for 24 hours, long enough to be grateful for my life in this country? Could I focus on how blessed we Americans are?

An honorable President- whether I agree with his policies or not
Enough food to eat or places to get help
Competent medical care & free public schools
A wide choice of religions... OR... no religion
Jobs, though more scarce. Again, there's help for the needy
Laws enforced without bombs aimed at a population
People that generally respect the law & justice system.
Freedom to say, read, & write what we want
No major earthquakes, tsunamis, revolutions, crazy dictator/killers, nuclear melt-downs.

This seemed like a good time for Cheryl to stop whining long enough to be grateful for her life. So I compiled a few creations from fellow artists on http://www.zibbet.com/ & on http://www.etsy.com/, who obviously thought about July 4th long before I did! Hope you enjoy my selections. I'm feeling better now, ready to go to bed fret-free:)

Happy Birthday to Us All

P.S. Just after the Big Booms, Windows booted successfully on the FOURTH attempt. Phew!

Creating One-of-a-Kind Versus Multiples

2011-06-22T23:08:00.000-07:00

AS AN ARTIST/CRAFTER, WOULD YOU RATHER MAKE...

One-of-a-Kind (OOAK) Items

Multiples of Your Popular Items?

I've experienced the pros & cons of both approaches. Here are some things I've learned:

Owning the Only-- Few customers love an OOAK creation enough to pay significantly more for it.
Creative Flexibility-- The artist's imagination has total control when creating OOAK inventory. It's fun!
Balancing the Challenge-- ...BUT if the joy of creating OOAK isn't balanced by marketability, prepare to be another Starving Artist:) Also, creating multiples of one's most popular designs is a great Plan B when the creative well runs dry.
Wholesale-- Shops & pricey boutiques may buy a selection from OOAK artists initially. But they'll often followup with requests for multiples of the best selling ones, perhaps in different sizes & colors. To support such a market, consider removing the OOAK label.
Creating Multiples-- Each iteration of the item becomes easier to make. Hopefully that results in more profit as labor becomes more efficient. However, the process gets boring & might feel like the opposite of creativity.

SPECIAL CHALLENGE: Creating Custom Multiples for ONE Customer
Given ONE well-made custom item that meets specs, the customer will likely LOVE it. BUT delivering well-made custom MULTIPLES to a customer is riskier. Because each handmade item will be slightly different, she'll probably prefer ONE & wish all of them looked "exactly" like that one! The more particular the customer is up front, the more likely she'll find a Pick of the Litter & love the others less. It's human nature, even though the artist explains the certainty of differences before taking the job. Hopefully the customer can become happy with the unique beauty of each multiple:)

I have as many questions as answers about these practical aspects of creating art & hope you'll Comment with your own experiences. I'm learning the ropes in the School of Trial and Error. "T & E" is a tough school!

Mentors Are Priceless

2011-06-14T17:15:00.000-07:00

I'm in awe of the internet expertise that's essential for making a business successful online! It's a steep learning curve & I'm slowly moving up 1 clumsy step at a time. I just want to give a public THANK YOU to Kay of A Crafty Arab for holding my hand. With her busy life, I don't know how she does it, BUT I AM GRATEFUL! With luck I'll be tweeting about my jewelry soon:)

Care & Feeding of Young Artists

2011-06-06T00:16:00.000-07:00

When I was a child, the measure of our artistic abilities was how well we colored inside the lines that someone else drew in a coloring book. I was proud that I could stay inside those lines, as this impressed my parents & teachers. I also lived my life "inside the lines." I'm not apologizing for this. Our parents, despite having very little money, worked hard & raised 2 good kids in the days of "Leave It to Beaver" & "Father Knows Best." As a result, I lived as I was expected to live, picked "teacher" among my 3 choices of professions (nurse, teacher, housewife) & was mostly happy. Only in retirement from several great careers did I discover Art & the joy & freedom of coloring outside the lines! And who needs someone else's lines?! The New Me is enjoying a surprising talent for jewelry design that no one suspected, especially me!

Vivi is another story altogether:) I'm thrilled to see artistic freedom encouraged in kids today & nurtured by Vivi's teachers & our daughter. When Vivi spends the night with us, her body's alarm clock rings at 7:30 am, no matter what. One to two hours later when I stumble out of bed, I'm amazed to see her creations on the dining room table & how many of them she produced in 2 hours!

I'm so proud of Vivi & happy that she's discovered her freedom of self-expression at such a young age. Her world is full of open doors, and I couldn't be happier for her!

Multiple Online Shops- How to Handle?

2011-05-31T14:30:00.000-07:00

I now have THREE online shops! My main shop- called Classic Beadwear, plus my Etsy shop & my NEW Zibbet shop -- both called Seattle Chic. It's challenging to "be found" online when you make jewelry. It seems that everybody makes jewelry! I'm so grateful for my loyal, local market. They sustain me & my business. It's gratifying to hear from them over & over how much they love my work because they actually SEE it:) Thanks to them, I know that if/when shoppers find me online, they also love my work.

BUT HOW TO GET "FOUND"?

Should I advertise my 2 other sales venues on each of my 3 shopping sites? I'm thinking NO. Why confuse a buyer who's already found me?
Who is the audience for each of my sites? I'm known as Classic Beadwear locally- my customer base. They use my CB website. The Etsy & new Zibbet sites are strickly for online shoppers who find me through Searches. I am Seattle Chic to them.
Since 2 Seattle Chic stores seek the same online shoppers, should I post the same items on each site? I don't know! As a practical matter, I don't have time to post a lot of items on either site. So far, my Etsy & Zibbet sites carry different inventories, but I don't know if that's wise. However, I decided long ago to post all inventory on the Classic Beadwear website. Since I started my business in 2006, I've been about 85% successful meeting this goal:)
In this blog & on Facebook, which of my 3 store/s should I market???
This blog "Unwired" is about my journey as an artist, but mostly as a newbie small business owner. Here I bare my soul, warts & all. In Facebook, my Product Page is to publicize my work. The audience is presumably beyond local, so which store's posts will I show in my RSS feed- Zibbet's or Etsy's? Suggestions welcome!

When I named this blog "Unwired- Watch As I Stumble Up the Learning Curve," I wasn't kidding! I would really appreciate your opinions as a crafter, marketing guru, OR a potential buyer. Feel free to Comment below. Many Thanks!

Business Cards -- Maximum Use; Minimal Cost!

2011-04-27T03:34:00.000-07:00

I bet you like to save money as much as I do. So I watch for online specials before ordering my business cards in various shapes & sizes. My skinny cards (like Moo cards) are double-sided & colorful. They're unique as business cards & pretty as hanging price tags for my necklaces. I have 3 other cards featuring my brand "look" & logo, including a standard business card for handouts, a square card to hold & display my earrings, and a small card to string as price tags for small objects like pendants & bracelets. To create all these cards, I watch for specials on standard POSTCARD product! The high resolution image file I create in Photoshop Elements & upload to the online print business is exactly the postcard's size & includes graphics & cut-lines for 3 of the 4 cards I need. Note that I added the orange margin so I wouldn't need to be so careful submitting my "bleed measurements." (I don't like math:) I chop off the orange.

My skinny "Moo-like" cards require 2 postcard-sized images with matching cut-lines. I've lined up multiples of colorful jewelry pics on one side & my logo & contact info on the other side. The extra time spent aligning the back & front cut-lines exactly is worth the effort!

When my postcards arrive, I'm busy with the paper cutter until I've cut enough for the current project, but I can cut through 2 postcards at a time. As I chop, chop, I remind myself that I got THREE TIMES the product for 1/3 the price, & I did it all myself:)

What online print shop do you use? I usually use Vista Print because of their frequent "free" product specials, where I pay only a reasonable shipping fee, plus a one-time fee to upload a particular image. I wish I could find bargains on matte-finished cards on high quality stock. I'd even pay a little more. Suggestions welcome!

Special Gifts for Mother's Day

2011-04-16T14:34:00.000-07:00

Mother's Day is a big deal in our culture, and I hope to foster this tradition. (Ok, I'm a proud mother & feel I earned the Big Deal:)

Q: How could I combine my favorite passion with Mother's Day?
A: By making Wire-Art jewelry, personalized with 0-3 children!

See full descriptions in my Etsy Shop!

International Sales -- Yes or No?

2011-04-13T15:42:00.000-07:00

Shortly after opening my Etsy shop, I did major research before opting to include international buyers. It seemed complicated, & I wondered if it was worth the hassle. For example, I learned that "jewelry" on a Customs form might cause problems, as many destination countries exclude fine jewelry, gemstones, etc. Though all these issues seemed overwhelming, the allure of opening my market to the rest of the world won me over in the end.

My "Plan for International Sales":

Shipping -- U.S. Postal Service's "First Class International- Small Package"- the lowest cost method for my small, light-weight items.
Insurance -- U-Pic.com - 800-955-4623- 3rd party insurer, reasonably priced, excellent customer service. NOTE: They won't insure certain destination countries.
Customs Form -- Depends on how shipped, item's size, & value. For me, Customs Form 2976 was right. Here's a chart outlining which form to use & another helpful "how-to" website.
Product Category for Customs form -- This is a tricky business if you make quality jewelry. I chose the "Fashion Accessory" category to label my jewelry, a tip from a USPS postal worker. BUT I had my fingers crossed for its success.
Beware of "Gift" category -- It's tempting to help out the buyer by tagging your product as a "Gift" on the Customs form, BUT this is illegal and you likely will get caught & fined. Certainly not worth it!
Transit time -- Depends on the destination, but generally from 1 wk to 1 month.
Tracking -- Another tricky business. It's really all about insurability, right? If the item is lost, with or without tracking, will you lose your item & your money reimbursing the buyer? I only considered low-price shipping==> USPS. (Who would pay $35 for expensive, tracked shipping on a $35-$90 item?) Besides, when using USPS in any form, the package is released to the local mail service of the destination country, so what good is USPS tracking at that point? U-Pic.com will insure un-tracked USPS shipping.
If Lost or Damaged - I'd ask the buyer to wait 3-4 weeks for it, then credit my buyer myself, while I filed my claim with U-Pic.com to reimburse me. If damaged, I'd get pictures from the buyer, reimburse her myself, & file a claim. I've been lucky so far.
Disclaimer About Customs Fees- I posted a note in my Policies page that Customs & other taxes are the buyer's responsibility.
Sales Receipt- Pack it with the item to confirm for Customs what buyer paid.

THE RESULTS--
Unfortunately online sales remain insignificant, compared to loyal local fans of my work. BUT I never anticipated one possibility ==> That one international buyer would think my Shipping Fee included her Customs fee. (She didn't read my Policy statement?) If she accepted the delivery, the base Customs fee in the U.K. for this item would be about 50% of her purchase price...an outrageous tax! I felt terrible. She felt terrible.

I made TWO important decisions: I offered to reimburse her total purchase price if she chose to refuse the item, which her postal service would return-to-sender free (by international agreement)... eventurally, OR I'd split her Customs fee with her. She opted to pay the fee & keep her earrings.

My 2nd decision was to quit selling internationally. If I worked even harder to have an online presence, I might walk the risky international path with my jewelry, but so far, international business for me has not been worth the trouble. I'm certain that many other kinds of products aren't slapped with such penalty fees abroad, but sellers of quality jewelry will face hassles, & buyers in many countries will likely pay dearly. Luckily most buyers abroad are well aware of their country's fees before they buy from us.

Don't Forget to Pack Your Passion

2011-02-21T15:08:00.000-08:00

I confess. I really don't need an excuse to pack my jewelry paraphernalia when I travel. So here I go again, loaded with the beading tools allowed in carry-on baggage & the disallowed in my checked bag. I've got about 5 hours sitting each way at airports or on plane PLUS about 15 hours driving around the SW laughing & gabbing with 3 girlfriends of 30 years PLUS about 15 hours of downtime when I'm not with my 3 "sisters." That adds up to a lot of new beaded jewelry to include in my 2011 Spring Collection. The biggest challenge before leaving is to package each beading project in ziplocks, while remembering to bring all the wire, crimps, & legal tools required. Oh, and my clothes! Off I go again:)

Cruising with Beads

2011-02-18T10:44:00.000-08:00

I was supposed to be fully recovered from major surgery by the time the Caribbean cruise on NCL's Epic was scheduled. But Mother Nature has her own ideas, right? The doctor said I could do the cruise, but without any of the water fun around me -- no ocean, no hot tubs or pools, & worst of all NO WILD WATER SLIDES!

SO...

I packed up an extra large supply of new beads, all my tools that TSA approves for flights & cruises, & sat where I could SEE the water slides. It might not have been the most fun I could have on a cruise, but it was the most productive:) PLUS several cruisers talked me out of some of my creations for money. Not bad!

MORAL: Clouds might have silver linings after all!

2011- The Year to Invest in Equipment

2011-01-17T00:56:00.000-08:00

Have you been keeping a Wish List of Goodies to buy for your business? A new sewing machine? Maybe a kiln? A dapping block? Mannequins? Expensive tools? Thanks to "Tax Relief Act of 2010" recently passed by Congress, this is my year to BUY!

The GOAL of the provision is to encourage business, especially small business, to invest in itself in 2011 to stimulate the economy.

The BENEFIT is that a business can fully deduct the cost of qualifying equipment bought in 2011 instead of depreciating it over several years.

Be sure to discuss with your tax advisor the benefits & restrictions on this "Section 179 Deduction" for 2011. By purchasing business equipment & taking this deduction, you'll reduce your taxable business income for the year as well as your income tax liability. If your 179 deduction exceeds your business income for 2011, then you might qualify to carry the loss forward to future years under revised Bonus Depreciation rules. Presumably the requirement to make a profit 3 out of 5 years still applies, however, which might affect how extravagant you can be with your purchases in 2011. I trust Basic Turbo Tax to get me through the tax maze again this year. At any rate, small business owners with a growing Wish List won't need to count on the whims of Santa in 2011:)

Here are some items on my Wish List :

Growing Up To Excel

2011-01-05T14:21:00.000-08:00

Making jewelry is not just about making jewelry. By January 31, I must pay WA the sales tax I collected on their behalf during 2010. This process is not nearly as much fun as making jewelry!

I'm only marginally proficient at Excel spreadsheets, so for 5 years I've maintained a table for each year's sales data using Word. Word has been barely adequate for this purpose. SO...

I'm bracing to stumble up another learning curve- Excel! The syntax of formulas that make Excel such a powerful tool is my biggest challenge at the moment. I must say, I was rather proud of my first sophisticated Excel formula==>

=(IFERROR(F2/(1+H2),"Verify calc")

It determines the base price of an item sold, given (F2) its gross price including sales tax & (H2) the sales tax rate. Excel puts the result in the single cell I highlight (G2). If Excel encounters a problem, IFERRORS places my "Verify" string in cell (G2)instead. I "drag" the G2 cell down the column to perform the same operation on the matching F & H cells.

I think I might be "in like" with Excel, especially if next year, this is a whole lot easier!!

Exploring a Motif or Style

2010-12-26T20:33:00.000-08:00

I strive for variety in jewelry design. Apparently this variety is unusual enough that customers comment on it often at craft shows & on my website albums. To tie such variety together, I've chosen a rich, black background for both my craft booth & my website albums. Variety keeps my artsy passion alive & challenging for me.

But sometimes a little design motif fascinates me so much that I can't let it go, which explains the recurring appearance of the "dot on a stem," for example. And, of course, this clean, spare motif requires a clean, spare design. So far, it has represented a decorative feature among wire curves, a moon near a mountain, flowers in a garden, & sprigs in a bouquet. It even appeared without the dot as cactus in my pendant High Desert. My imagination is working overtime, so I suspect you'll see the dot again. Stay tuned:)

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T14:45:00.000-08:00

A Big Thank You to all the friends of Classic Beadwear (aka Seattle Chic Jewelry) for making 2010 a good year, despite the lousy economy. I am humbled & truly grateful.

I wish all of you a Merry Christmas & a New Year filled with Love, Family, Friends, & Imagination -- what makes life worth living:)

Fondly, Cherylz

Fresh Look for a Fresh Start

2010-12-21T09:27:00.000-08:00

H.A.P.P.Y...H.O.L.I.D.A.Y.S!

I hope you're all surviving another hectic holiday season still smiling & feeling that "your glass is at least half full":)

It's been a strange month for me. As I was gearing up for my last holiday craft show, I learned that I needed major surgery & was lucky to schedule it on Dec. 14, thankfully a week after the show. (I'm trying to view that as a glass-half-full idea:) On the good side, let's just say that surgery gives me a legit excuse to bypass ALL the holiday hubbub -- a good thing, right? But the glass-half-empty news is that my little gremlins (aged 7, 4, 8 weeks) & our daughter have taken turns being sick, so they've been off-limits to me since I learned I needed surgery. What's Christmas without kids buried under wrapping paper & bow ribbons! I'm hoping we're all well by Christmas Day for my first visit with them in a month.

Since I can't see my kids, the next best medicine is jewelry making, & I've had LOTS of time to take my "medicine." All of these pieces should be named "Recovery Therapy" & are the first entries in my 2011 Spring/Summer Collection.

For variety, I've been working on this fresh look for my blog. What do you think? Suggestions & comments always welcome. I love the concept of Fresh Starts:)

I wish for you all a Merry Christmas & a New Year full of smiles, good health, love, & optimism:) CHEERS!

In Search of Uniqueness

2010-10-26T15:04:00.000-07:00

Perhaps the nicest compliment I receive when shoppers view my jewelry is this one: "Your work is so unusual." It's hard to be unique in a market as saturated as jewelry design!

The single trigger to whatever creativity I've discovered in myself is AGE! Yes! At this point in my life, I've developed a level of shamelessness! So what if a creation is flawed? That's what recycle bins are for. Who cares if a brainstorm doesn't sell? I know I learned something from these "failures" that has enhanced my skills. I view them now as learning exercises. When I was younger, a total lack of confidence & fear of failure stiffled any urge to experiment & whatever artsy brain cell might have been lurking! Now I am entirely open to brainstorms -- The Unusual Design -- even if I haven't yet formally acquired the skill to create it. Such brainstorms are as much fun for me as producing a near-flawless piece.

Sometimes the unusual design is a simple one. My favorite example of this is the safety pin closure of Versatile Sail, allowing the wearer to swap-out beads or stones to match her outfit.

Some brainstorms are funny & quirky. The serious Cherylz is much too proper to claim them, so they are blamed on Crazy Cheryl, who escapes from the attic occasionally. The Spuds Family, Zany Ladies, & Naughty Nelly are a few of CC's offspring. CZ is NOT responsible for their misbehavior!

Other designs are based on a unique concept, where specific variations on the concept are endless. These are the best brainstorms! I'll create more instances soon of my U-adjust-art concept, like Floating Feathers. (Wearer can change the pendant's shape, since the copper feathers are connected by rivets.)

Many of my best (& worst!) ideas come while I'm dreaming, where self-imposed constraints are apparently set free. Other ideas come as I'm sitting around waiting for an appointment. Why not get creative instead of wasting that time? To document ideas from dreams & creative waiting times, I whip out my small Idea Notebook (always in my purse) because the memory brain cell expired long ago.

Unfortunately The Creative Switch in me is fickle & can't be flipped on & off at will. But when it's on, I try to draw & document as many ideas as I can. When The Switch is stubbornly off, I grab my notebook & make some of these designs.

Artsy types have blessed the world with countless unique concepts & designs. Since I find NO personal satisfaction in making sales on their creativity, I hope to keep my own creative brain cell well exercised, alive & brave.

Northgate Festival 2010 - "Special Sale!"

2010-09-05T19:32:00.000-07:00

I've been as busy as I wanted to be so far this year, making & selling jewelry for a wonderful, mostly-local customer following. But as Fall approaches, it's time to THINK CRAFT SHOWS. I don't do many, but the first for me in 2010 will be the Northgate Festival on Saturday September 11, 11:00 am -- 7:00 pm, in Seattle, WA on 103rd between Northgate Mall & the new Thornton Place. I've not been to this show before, but it looks like a good venue for sellers & buyers alike, with lots of interesting "side events" & attractions very close by-- Northgate Mall, classic Mustang car show, & 2 stages of live music!... in addition to our craft booths, featuring original, all-handmade artisan work, food booths, etc. There's ample parking & a Park n Ride nearby. Lots to keep us all busy having fun! For a sneak-peek at the latest jewelry originals from my shop, check the links at Classic Beadwear. Then to make sure I bring to the show the specific items you want to see, just post a Comment below. SAY THE MAGIC WORDS FOR SPECIAL SALE PRICING==> "I'm a Classic Beadwear Fan." As a special "Thank You" to my local following, ALL online prices have been reduced & include tax! In addition, IF YOU SAY THE MAGIC WORDS & buy 2 items from me, you'll save another 30% on the cheaper item!

PLUS I'll be sharing a booth with my talented friend Roz of Scarf City. She's debuting her 2010 line of fashion-forward knitwear... FINALLY Seattle has cooled down enough to think knits:) You'll love her sense of style... and her sense of fun:)

Please look for our Classic Beadwear & Scarf City booth, near the Northgate Mall-end of the craft booth lineup. Hope to see you this Saturday!

Finding My "Signature Look"

2010-07-28T14:28:00.001-07:00

I'm a work in progress. In my 5th year as an aspiring jewelry artist, I still find every medium I try a compelling challenge, full of surprises. Frankly, these are the experiences that motivate me to continue experimenting. When I'm really "in the zone," I go to bed reluctantly, obsessing over ways to solve some technical challenge to implement a design. Often the solution appears in a dream... really! Many brainstorms, sending me off in a completely new direction, were born in my sleep.

At this point in my evolution as an artist, I might work seriously one week with stones, another with metalsmithing, another with wire-art. How can I develop one signature look about my art? Do CUSTOMERS want variety OR one signature "look" from a Jewelry Artist? I do sense that the ART COMMUNITY wants a signature look...

Furthermore, my art really reflects who I've been all my life -- seeking, learning, branching out, evolving. This is my 4th "career," & I've loved them all with passion.

ONE look? It's not who I am...

Samples of Evolution...
2006 2007

2008

2009

2010

Assuring Product Safety for Kids

2010-05-10T17:19:00.000-07:00

Today I read that another dangerous product had been recalled-- the Best Friends charm bracelet, marketed to children in the U.S. As a consumer, an artisan, & a grandmother, I'm always shocked when a manufacturer anywhere knowingly exposes children to toxic products.

What preventive action is the U.S. taking to protect our kids? CPSIA -- nightmare legislation.

Since 2008, I've heard about CPSIA. It mandates that most raw materials & end-products obviously designed for "children" -- anyone under 13 -- be tested & certified as lead-free & phthalates-free. Presumably CPSIA will expand its list of banned materials periodically. Too bad that I don't have a law degree because without one, understanding the regs will be a challenge for any small business owner, however conscientious. This flowchart (not intended as legal advice) by the Handmade Toy Alliance makes some sense of dense pages of CPSIA legalese.

To understand what's terrible about the implementation of CPSIA regs, let's look at an example of the processing sequence from manufacturing to purchasing by the parent for a child. Assume I make & sell handmade jewelry for children. (Thankfully I don't & I won't! I created Ladybugs below, using copper wire, as a gift for my granddaughter.) Assume I want to buy a batch of mystery metal wire with a silver finish because it's cheap. Because that mystery wire is not obviously intended for children, all producers & sellers of that wire are exempt from testing it under CPSIA regs. I also buy a batch of generic-looking inexpensive clasps, spools of coated beading wire, and dozens of red ladybug resin beads. Except for the ladybug beads (clearly intended for children), all are exempt from testing like the mystery metal wire. BUT if I combine these components to create necklaces designed for children, I must certify that ALL the components are free of lead & specified chemicals. Assuming I received written certification when I bought the ladybug beads that they tested safe (since they were made for children), I must have 3 of my 4 components tested at roughly $100 per test so I can document the safety of this batch of ladybug necklaces. When I purchase a new batch of raw materials, I must re-test & re-certify my next batch of ladybug necklaces. Note that all businesses that buy the untested metal, beading wire, & clasps I described to create their own products designed for children must repeat the same expensive tests I did to comply with existing CPSIA. The goal of the law is spot-on, but the procedures are redundant, wasteful, & will either bankrupt small businesses & artisans OR drive them underground.

THE POLITICALLY-INCORRECT REALITY: We all know the source of most dangerous raw materials & finished products we import. But in our Country of Political Correctness, we pretend we don't! Instead of burdening our small businesses with testing, why not spot-check ANY cargo ships of any nation arriving with goods from China? Stop the dangerous goods at its points of entry into the U.S., as we successfully did with the Best Friends bracelets? Levy heavy fines, with a 3 Strikes You're Banned policy for any exporter in China who violates our regulations. Honestly, except for children's products exempt from CPSIA regs, I don't know why any small manufacturer or artisan would make products for children. They should seriously consider opening product-safety testing labs instead...

How to Flyfish -- NOT!

2010-05-01T01:34:00.000-07:00

Besides my family & friends, I'm passionate about 3 things-- making jewelry, duplicate bridge, & fly fishing. But stuck with only 24 hour days, I haven't seen my fly rod in 2 years. So yesterday was The Day... an opportunity for creative renewal surrounded by Mother Nature in all her glory. That was the plan...

Parked by my favorite lake 2 hours out of town, I stuffed body & layers of clothes into tight waterproof waders (How did they shrink so much in just 2 years?!), blew up the float tube, grabbed my equipment, fly rod, lunch, life jacket, flippers & lucky hat, & launched myself into the cool, serene water. WHAT A GLORIOUS ESCAPE --tall evergreens surrounding the small, glistening lake, the occasional bald eagle, but especially the water rings all around me as large rainbows sipped bugs off the surface. Finally! A day to watch fish take my visible fly! What luck!

But the next 4 hours were a slap-stick comedy of my errors--

I discovered that I'd left my fishing reel at home.
The reel I then borrowed from a kind local fisherman fell apart when my first rainbow struck the fly.
I held the reel together to land the 2nd rainbow. YEAAA:)
As I was whining to my husband, who was fishing another part of the lake, about all my dumb mishaps, I forgot to hold the borrowed reel together. So its spool with 200' of fly line fell out of the reel, bounced off my float tube into the lake.
Luckily I retrieved the spool by pulling all 200' of its line into a rats nest onto my lap.
I spent the next 90 minutes unknotting the mess of line to wind it back on its spool-- all of this while sitting in my float tube in the lake.
I finally got the borrowed reel back together, kicked back into shore to return it to the kind man who lent it to me.
By then it was time for us to quit fishing & go home.

From a fishing standpoint, I've definitely had better days:)! However, it's hard to describe the beauty of fly fishing from a float tube, half in & half out of the the fish's world. Landing the fish & gently releasing it unharmed are a very personal & intimate experience for me. Although my special day was full of mishaps & frustrations, it was still magical.

Life with a Man from Mars

2010-04-13T13:52:00.001-07:00

Last night, flush with excitement that at last(!) she had finally wrapped 3 perfect silver wire bubbles into her new round earrings, she entered the bedroom. He sat glued to the chair staring at the History Channel. "Rattattattattattattat" blared through the speakers. She started to speak, but the Man-Brain was honed in on the fire power of the Gatling machine gun. She was invisible, standing 6" away from his chair. On & on the gun blasted -- first at a lineup of large watermelons (heads?), then at a perfectly good 1980 car, transformed within 1 minute into a shriveled blob of metal, smoking. With a tap on the shoulder of Man-Brain, she screamed, "Greg" to compete with the Gatling."What!" he yelled back............. "rattattattat"............... Realizing she couldn't possibly explain the asthetic of the beautiful sterling bubbles on the earrings or the 3 hours of frustration curving those circles just so to achieve Victory Over Metal. It was all too beautiful for Gatling guns. She quietly left the room & returned to the comforting clutter of Her Shop.

Planes, Ships, Trains & Jewelry Tools

2010-03-18T14:28:00.000-07:00

It's a strange, new world since Nine-Eleven, with inconveniences we've learned to expect... on planes. I always travel with "project baggies" -- ziplocks with all the components to make each jewelry creation I envision, PLUS a ton of the jewelry tools allowed by TSA. I've learned the hard way what's allowed. But a recent cruise taught me new lessons about carrying my tools on cruise ships... at least my NCL cruise ship.

Here are some tips I've learned:

ON PLANES:

Read my detailed post about tools in carry-on. You'll enjoy the surprises!
It helps to warn the x-ray screener that your carry-on contains tools for your jewelry projects.
Always keep a printout of the TSA rules in your carry-on, just in case.
Hammers of any length are not allowed in carry-ons. Pack hammer & oversized tools in your checked bags.

ON CRUISE SHIPS (at least NCL's Spirit):

Suspicious tools in ALL baggage (checked or carry-on) will be flagged.
Checked bag: Porters take everyone's checked baggage to a screening area &, if ok, will deliver to your room hours later. If not ok, checked bag will be flagged, & you'll get a notice to wait in a long line to personally go through your bag with a screener. You'll miss a pingpong tournament & welcome-aboard cocktails. My long-handled, round-tipped metal scissors triggered the notice, but were approved when we examined the baggage together.
Carry-on bag: Examined in your presence & tools discussed immediately when boarding ship. Tools deemed unsafe will be removed, tagged, & returned at end of cruise.
SUGGESTION: Before boarding ship, re-pack baggage from your plane trip this way==> Put ALL jewelry tools in your carry-on so they can be discussed as you're screened to board the ship. Saves hours of precious fun-time.

ON TRAINS: To be determined:) I hope to make such a trip one day.

By the way, I sold TWO necklaces while creating them in the sunshine on deck, gliding through teal waters of the Caribbean & singing to myself as the band played Marley's "One Love. One World."

Happy travels!

Can a Real Woman Compete with Monique?

2010-02-19T00:21:00.000-08:00

Proud of my latest metalwork creation (Triquetra), I couldn't wait to wear it to my favorite card club, where I see many loyal local customers each week & sometimes sell jewelry right off my body. (Marketing takes many forms:) I received 3 eye-popping Wowzas from 3 new admirers at the game. The next morning an email arrived from 1 of the women, wanting to buy Triquetra for her daughter's birthday.

So as I now wrap & kiss goodbye my newest favorite creation, I question again the most effective way to market my jewelry online==> with pictures of Monique the Mannequin OR pictures of the human variety. Monique's figure is beyond reproach, and she never complains about holding a pose. The potential human model can't seem to stay still, can't get her body under the daylight lamps while snapping the picture, and can't hold up a strapless dress. However, she does work cheap. Plus in Real Life, ordinary women do seem to enjoy the jewelry her 5'7" imperfect body wears...

I vote for Monique. As the photographer, I've finally learned to position the 2 light cones with daylight bulbs focused just about right on Monique as she poses 24/7 on her table. Besides, I think all of us mortal woman enjoy fantasizing that the svelte, (plaster) model wearing my jewelry in the website could be her, with just a little dietary tweaking.

More Travel = More Jewelry

2010-02-15T21:50:00.000-08:00

I recently returned from my annual adventures through the SW with 3 "sisters" of 30 years.

We gab, eat, drive, laugh, play games for money, eat, gab, eat. Did I mention gab & eat? BUT I always lug my jewelry tools, beading board, & packets of "project components" I've prepared ahead of time. Driving in a car at least 20 hours in 10 days leaves much time to make jewelry while gabbing, laughing, & munching in the back seat with my pillow table in my lap.

So I've officially begun the Spring-Summer Collection of 2010, and if some creations have a SW "feel," now you know why.

Soon it's time to travel with my husband. In the next few days, I'll be preparing some jewelry projects in little ziplock baggies to take on our trip to the South & on a cruise from N.O. Once again, I'll be gabbing & eating, while keeping my hands busy with jewelry in whatever lag times exist. I wonder what Southern Influence will be seen in my next creations?

BUT even more, I wonder what I did with travel lag times before I caught the Jewelry-Making Bug?

Imagine "One Perfect Day"

2010-01-21T22:10:00.000-08:00

If you could design One Perfect Day lasting as long as necessary, what would you do?

My day would be about 48 hours long, I'd be A LOT YOUNGER with the energy to relive a few amazing events in my life:

1) FLY FISHING: The day was warm but the water still cool, the sky overcast, & a light ripple on the small lake. No one on the lake but me. I quietly kicked toward the shore in my float tube with lightweight fly rod rigged with my very own rendition of a dragonfly. The real ones were flying low over the bubbly scum near the shore. I decided to false-cast my fly low over the water, too. Suddenly a fat 20" rainbow jumped 12" out of the water & snapped my dragonfly! I'd love to say I landed him, thanked him, & let him go. But I was so startled, I jerked the line, broke it, & kissed away the fish & my Magic Fly. BUT on my imaginary Perfect Day, I'd catch that Big One!

2) RACING: We were racing our 19' open sailboat (a Lightning) on a windy day in English Bay, Vancouver, B.C. Suddenly Greg at the helm steered onto a wave approaching from behind & the boat lurched forward like a racehorse at the starting gun. We surfed the wave as the 3 of us arched backwards over the side to keep the boat flat. I held on tight to the spinnaker line, letting the huge sail fill with each gust, wrapping my legs tighter around the strap. Our 3 heads nearly touched the water as the boat skimmed the surface. I remember feeling The PERFECT BALANCE OF POWER between Nature & Human Skill==> the Lightning literally surfed each following wave, then flew over the water's surface until the next wave. A thrill impossible to describe.

3) DUPLICATE BRIDGE: In a tournament near Tacoma, our 4some team had beaten the first 2 teams we'd played! Now we feared the Peter Principle, as we'd no doubt risen to the level of our incompetence. We greeted our new opponents as they sat at our table to play , Fred Fred Gittleman (a nationally renowned duplicate bridge player) and The Bill... yes, Bill Gates! Fortunately partner & I did not embarrass ourselves & really enjoyed playing against these polite, charming opponents! But we couldn't see who Bill's teammates were across the room playing against our 2 teammates. At the end of the round, all of us rejoined our own teammates to compare scores, but our teammates were green from defeat. They were shocked to learn WE had just played against The Fred & The Bill!! But we were all shocked to learn that the mystery opponents that skunked our teammates were Warren Buffet & Sharon Osberg (both fantastic players)! That will always be the highlight of my bridge life.

4) GREMLINS: At the end of my One Perfect Day, having energy to spare (Yes, this must be fiction!), I'd return home to await a visit from Vivi & Miles. The door bell would ring & ring & ring along with some persistent, lightweight knocking. I'd open the door & 2 pairs of open arms would embrace me.... "Grandma! Grandma!" The best words in the English language.

WHAT PERFECT DAY WOULD YOU RELIVE? We'd love to read it:)!

Jewelry Pics Made Wanda Wimpy

2010-01-09T16:04:00.000-08:00

In my 3 short years as a jewelry artisan, how could I possibly take enough jewelry pictures to bring my computer to its knees? But I did! After all, my favorite geeky toy arrived in 2005 with the latest 74 gig harddrive- I was sooo proud of that:) In 2006 I started shooting away at my first jewelry creations... probably 5-10 RAW images for each handmade item, never dreaming how quickly those large files would eat up my C drive. But things were still humming along fine... until about 6 months ago. Over time, everything I wanted to do began taking forever, from opening Internet Explorer to check email to working in Photoshop Elements. Occasionally Windows complained that "my virtual memory was too low." Windows' auto-adjustment would help for a few days. But how much value was my high-speed, high-priced DSL connection if my computer could barely limp along?

I plan to buy a much beefier computer later this year, but I needed a bandaid in the meantime. By today there was very little storage left on the C drive, & computer performance was beyond intolerable. UGH! So I moved all 50 gigs of jewelry pictures (YES, 50 GIGS!) for my little business onto Tarzan, my name for the external drive I bought a year ago at Costco simply to store backup copies of our files, emails, favorites, outlook calendar, & contacts. With its 465 gigs of storage, Western Digital's "iBook" was a bargain.

The Copy/Paste of my 50 gigs from Wimpy Wanda to Tarzan took 2 hours 15 minutes! BUT my computer is once again humming along. Tarzan is so cool:)

There's Help & UN-help!

2010-01-03T01:26:00.000-08:00

When you own a small business, you certainly must be grateful for any & all help. There aren't enough hours in a day for 1 person to do everything--designing, purchasing, marketing, online site development & maintenance, craft shows, bookkeeping, tax filing, making the jewelry, OH and saying hello to spouse, family, friends, PLUS SLEEPING! So I'm incredibly grateful for advice on marketing, photography, online sites, fashion trends, etc. One of my most persistent advisors even draws some designs for me! (Picture Grandma with a big, warm smile right now!) Vivian is only 6, but presents her ideas in GREAT detail, as you can see.

Then there's Miles, my 3-yr-old Weapon of Mass Destruction. He represents UN-help. Too bad he is fascinated with tools, especially MY tools. I thought he was taking a nice loooong nap next to my jeweler's bench... until I heard some small clunking sounds. The awful vision that popped into my mind's eye proved true: He had removed ALL my tools (half of them had just arrived as a Christmas present from me to me) & had lined them up in various places all around the room. Some places were so small that Grandma could no longer fit to get them!

Let me say 2 things about that "help" -- 1) Miles heard a tone in my voice he'd never heard before (suspect the neighbors heard it, too, AND 2) I still haven't found my favorite file or my sweet 2-in-1 rouge cloth. UGH!!!!!!!!

"Artist" VS "Crafter"

2009-12-29T00:12:00.000-08:00

I've always been a practical, logical, Type A person, but after "retirement," discovered one surprising brain cell that was artsy. Since then my world has changed. I am now an old dog learning & loving new tricks! But am I an "artist"? Frankly I've spent little time philosophizing about the definition of an "artist." I'd rather just make my jewelry as well as I can. I certainly would love that title & will work hard to earn it one day.

But tonight as I was saying good-bye to friends invited to my party, I received a beautifully wrapped item from my new & instant friend Sue "to open later." Over the year I've known her, I've witnessed her passion for "crafting" (her term) & admired her creations... products of a life-long love for every form of creativity ==> photography, knitting, quilting, felting, writing... you-name-it! I am in awe of such people. When I later opened this stunning silk-felting neck scarf from Sue, I realized that she is not a "crafter," but an "Artist." Does she Sell? Market? Do Craft Shows? Have an Art Degree? Work As An Artist In Her Past? NO to all these questions. But she's an Artist.

Too bad she hasn't shared the beauty of her work with the world, but I'm honored & overjoyed that she shared it with me! If you know as little about silk felting as I know, click this helpful blog.

Jewelry Supplies -- Take Them or Leave Them?

2009-12-19T18:55:00.000-08:00

I've got a husband of 41 years, a dear daughter & son-in-law, & their 2 special gremlins- ages 6 & 3. Greg & I are heading to the Methow Valley to spend Christmas with them. En route, we will celebrate our 41st anniversary in 2 lovely B & B's, nestled in tall evergreens & snow-covered mountains...

So how sick am I to want to bring along my jewelry-making supplies for those "down times"? What will I do when my hands aren't busy creating something for 6 days?

What did I do with mind & hands 3 years ago BEFORE I adopted this obsession?

Wish me luck, as I have no idea which decision I'll make tomorrow. HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO YOU ALL:)

"Letting Go" of a Treasure

2009-12-18T23:15:00.000-08:00

When I've spent 25+ hours creating a piece of jewelry I'm VERY proud of, I get an attack of Maternal Instinct. I reluctantly offer it for sale... I mean, I'm not totally nuts... but I do wish I could check the worthiness of any unseen buyer before releasing it for adoption!

So when A FRIEND is shopping to buy something & wants to spend "some money," I quickly gravitate to My Special Jewelry Babies. PLEASE TELL ME I'M NOT THE ONLY ARTSY 'NUT' OUT THERE WITH SUCH ISSUES!

Today I feel joyous that a friend bought Artistic, my wire-art special treasure. Maybe she'll wear the necklace & earrings when we meet so I can visit them:)

Bringing the Holiday Look Online

2009-12-13T00:29:00.000-08:00

I may have had trouble cleaning & decorating my house for the holidays, but right after Thanksgiving I couldn't wait to decorate my online Etsy store==> SeattleChic.etsy.com. I spent a lot of time creating Holiday versions of my shop's banner & avatar. (Well, maybe if I hadn't spent so much time fiddling with my online stores, I'd have fixed up the house sooner! But that's another story:)

So here's my avatar with its Standard vs Holiday Looks:

And here's my store banner -- Standard vs Holiday Looks:

Cooooooollll!

SeattleChic's on Facebook- Another Learning Curve

2009-12-11T22:59:00.000-08:00

I'm really proud of my new online store, SeattleChic.etsy.com. So I decided to add a Product/Fan page to my Facebook, also called SeattleChic.etsy.com. I admit that Facebook baffles me. I'm comfortable with a lot of techie things, but on FB I'm lost in a crazy maze! Please check out my new FB Fan page by clicking on the BECOME A FAN link to the right. I'D LOVE SOME TIPS FROM FB GURUS:) For ex, how can I get ALL the pics in my album to appear on that page... not just 3 pics. I'm a babe in the woods! HELP:)

Copper + Torch = Surprises

2009-10-31T19:04:00.000-07:00

Torching copper is like a nail-biting adventure story where the heroine (me, of course) can either conquer or go down in blazing defeat & frustration. I've found no magic formula to guarantee victory over the copper. But what the stubborn copper doesn't know is that I am just as stubborn! I'll torch, then re-sand, then torch & re-sand as many times as it takes to have that AH HA moment of victory & sweet satisfaction.

Here are my latest 2 examples, where I sanded/torched no less than 10 different times before AH HA:) I think it was worth it. PLUS my niece Courtenay (necklace- recent visit here) & daughter Laurie (pendant-Big birthday), who received these as gifts, really loved them.

Cheryl Z's online stores: Seattle Chic and Classic Beadwear

The Dilemma of Being a Fancy Button

2009-10-31T13:58:00.000-07:00

QUESTION #1: If you wanted to revitalize your well-loved lady's coat or jacket, OR you wanted to create a knit capelet, OR close the flap on a knit purse with a STUNNING BUTTON, what Search terms would you write in your favorite search engine?

When I posted my first 2 Buttons in my online Etsy jewelry store, I had to categorize them as "Supplies" or "Jewelry." But which???

NOTE: The only differnce between these items as supplies/buttons vs jewlery/pendants is the location of the loop! I felt like I had created Jewelry, but which word would a shopper use to Search? I learned that on Etsy a shopper would look under Supplies, not Jewelry, for even a fancy button. So I tossed my gut feeling that I had created Jewelry & labeled them Supplies for Etsy.

Which brings up...

QUESTION #2: Would you pay $32 & $38, respectively, for these "Supplies/Buttons"? If not, what would you pay if the loop were on the top edge, making them "Jewelry/Pendants"?

Which brings up...

QUESTION #3: Why not move the loop from the back to the upper rim & sell them as "Pendants"? Check Search results for "handmade designer buttons" vs "handmade designer pendants" to see why.

MY REVISED STRATEGY is to post maybe 3-4 wonderful jewelry-quality button designs in my shop among the handmade jewelry items, hoping that shopper Searches on "buttons" will find my shop. Searches on jewelry words certainly haven't. Thank God for loyal, local fans & 4 boutiques. The online market is a major challenge for jewelry artists unless Oprah discovers us.

So it's not easy being a fancy button, trapped between 2 worlds! Plus I feel I'm in uncharted waters by adding my new product line& I can't swim.

Cheryl Z's online stores: Seattle Chic and Classic Beadwear

Photography- Frustrations

2009-10-18T14:39:00.000-07:00

HELP! I've been taking hundreds of new pics for my new Etsy shop with its New Black Look. I re-take & edit pics until the (1) item & its colors look as realistic as possible & (2) the item "pops" against the black background.
BUT
Last night, when seeking comments in the Etsy forum, someone said that "my pics were too dark & hard to see"...
...which brings me back to my tenuous relationship with my favorite geeky toy VS what YOU see on your computer?

PLEASE HELP save me by clicking the "Comments" link below & answer these questions:
1. Are ALL the pics clear & easy to see in Gallery mode? (HINT: On Seattle Chic's home page, click "gallery" in the small link "view:gallery/link")
2. If not, which specific pics have problems?
3. Viewing on Mac or PC?
4. What operating system?
5. What Browser?
6. Do you know your screen resolution? (In Windows: Rgt click on screen, then Properties, then Settings for "screen resolution".)
6. Any insights on how I can produce pics that look good on BOTH OUR SCREENS?

I have a PC, Windows XP Pro, and use Internet Explorer. My screen resolution is very high==> 1280x1024 pixels.
To edit I use either Photoshop Elements (very old version) OR Picasa. Thanks for your help!!!

Cheryl Z's online stores: Seattle Chic and Classic Beadwear

I'm Baa-ack for a Fresh Start

2009-10-18T00:00:00.000-07:00

Since my June post to say goodbye to online activities, my physical health is back & I'm so grateful!! I'm ready to dip my toe into online waters again, hoping I can resist the urge to jump in. So "Unwired" is back in business, tracking my path as a sole proprietor & jewelry artist.

The other good news is that I've replaced my original Etsy store with a new one that better reflects where my busy hands have taken me while I was getting well. Seattle Bead Creations, as in BEAD, was a suitable name until I took my first wire-wrapping class. It became even less suitable when I took my first metalsmithing class! As my passion for all 3 skills took over my life & my house, BEAD barely described what I did all day.

The Old Me==> The New Me==>

Too bad Etsy won't let us change our shop name... That would have been so easy. But I've made a fresh start with a new shop, new name, new banner, & new icon. Let's not forget The New BLACK Look for Seattle Chic, decided with the help of folks who voted in the blog poll to the right.

These last many months have been a busy time of healing, creating, & renewal... in all regards. So check out the Old Me VS the New Me. I hope you like what you see:)

Cheryl Z's online stores: Seattle Chic and Classic Beadwear

And the Winner Is...

2009-08-31T11:25:00.000-07:00

BLACK by a mile. I'm so grateful that a few friends kept nudging me towards black, despite my dusty house, as Black is a dust-magnet. Interestingly the White & Color background options have remained tied throughout. So I'm excited that Black won with more votes than White & Color combined. PHEW!

So guess what I'll be doing for the next few weeks??? My New Black Look will debut mid-October, just in time for holiday shoppers. Will keep y'all posted so you can attend The Grand Opening. haha:) Thanks to all who voted!!

Cheryl Z's online stores: Seattle Chic and Classic Beadwear

I Need Your Opinion:)

2009-08-27T15:40:00.000-07:00

NOTE: After writing the original post below, I just discovered a black background that doesn't collect dust. So I've added a 3rd mockup with a slightly different banner for your consideration:) Because I can't edit the original Poll, I've added a 2nd Poll, below the 1st. Please vote in only ONE Poll. So here's the original Post with the 3rd mockup added.

=============== ORIGINAL POST ===============
I'm ready to give my online Etsy jewelry store a facelift for holiday shoppers. In mid-October I'll add a New Look & begin posting dozens of new creations & great new pics. HOWEVER, I can't decide between The Look with Colors & The Look with White. Both Looks include a new banner across the top. MY GOAL: The New Look must be so inviting & attractive that folks will want to click to enlarge the jewelry.

YOUR OPINION MATTERS TO ME. Please complete the POLL on the right about the 2 mockups below. SUGGESTION: Just click to enlarge the mockups to compare side-by-side.
I'm so grateful for your time. To leave suggestions or feedback, please click "Comments" below. THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU:)

Cheryl Z's online stores: Seattle Chic and Classic Beadwear

Update- Jewelry Exposed :)

2008-11-12T21:06:00.000-08:00

By cutting back my online activities (see post below), I have more time to make jewelry, which is my joy. LOTS OF JEWELRY! And more opportunities to take classes. It's been a period of discovery & growth. Beading has evolved into wire-art and metal-art jewelry. So I'm finding a happier life-balance where there's time for creating because I'm trading most online marketing for face-to-face wholesaling to boutiques, plus selling at local craft shows when they fit into my schedule. Despite the economic downturn, I'm very grateful & honored by the opportunities that have opened up for me. So besides my 2 websites (Classic Beadwear and Seattle Bead Creations, my Etsy site), look for me locally at upcoming craft shows and stores carrying my jewelry.

AT CRAFT SHOWS, you'll notice Monique, my tireless, uncomplaining, and very coooool employee pictured below. Everyone knows Monique :) Though I have TWO BUSINESS NAMES ==> Classic Beadwear ... Seattle Bead Creations, both offer the same high quality metalwork, wirework, and beaded jewelry. I'll maintain a list of my shows on the right.

MY BOUTIQUES-- I'm proud to recommend these wonderful merchants who sell a selection of my one-of-a-kind jewelry:

a) PW Kerr's -- 612 W. McGraw St., Queen Anne Hill in Seattle, 206-285-2467. Penn carries a gorgeous, eclectic collection of hand-picked objets d'art, including handmade purses, wonderful table centerpieces, lamps, mirrors, paintings, jewelry, & much more! It's a welcoming, lovely store, exquisitely arranged.

b) Avenue Arts -- 1621 Queen Anne Avenue N., Queen Anne Hill in Seattle, 206-281-0054. Joan's gift store is part of Queen Anne Frame. She sells a nice assortment of medium-priced gifts, including attractive paper products, candles, jewelry and more.

c) Laura Bee Designs -- 6418 20th Avenue NW, Ballard area in Seattle, 206-789-4044. Laura's shop specializes in custom-made purses & satchels. Our daughter ordered one with pictures of the grandchildren on the fabric! Laura sells modestly-priced accessories as well, including jewelry.

d) Salon Pecoaro -- 722 Market St, Kirkland, WA, 425-828-4959. A terrific hair salon. Ask for Nancy Wessman, my favorite hair stylist ever. Beautiful haircuts, reasonably priced! You'll find a selection of accessories as well, including purses & jewelry.

And THANK YOU to the incredibly loyal folks who've continued to support my efforts down the path of jewelry design.

Fondly,
Cherylz

Life Intervenes...

2008-06-02T12:56:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,
Sometimes, despite the best of plans, life intervenes like an unexpected Stop sign. So I must vastly reduce my online efforts -- orders from 'above.' As timid as I was about starting this blog, I have come to enjoy it, & I will miss its almost-therapeutic value & the friends I've made!

BUT

My jewelry business continues, as making jewelry is not a job, but a joy. I hope you will take a peep at my latest creations from time to time. Where? How? (Thank you for asking :)

MY BUSINESS PLANS --

o Craft Shows -- Sell at a few well-run shows in the Seattle metro area. I will update my Scheduled Craft Shows on the right periodically.
o Wholesale, Consignment, Custom orders -- Yes, let's talk! These will all be one-of-a-kind creations, even if wholesale.
o Primary Online Store -- Classic Beadwear. Just click its link to my Maxi-Slideshow to see the entire collection, including the latest & greatest. I'll update the collection frequently. Please view that slideshow before you buy! To purchase any item, just click the site's contact link.
o Secondary Online Store -- Seattle Bead Creations, my Etsy store. This is THE place to complete your purchase! When you pick your favorites from the Maxi-Slideshow (see previous), just email - convo me. I'll immediately list your selections in my SBC store for you to put them in your shopping cart & charge your purchase via PayPal, even without a PayPal account. It's easy & I'll help you if you get stuck :)
o Email me -- Use the contact link at either store to reach me. I'd love to hear from you! Also, if you don't want to purchase with a credit card, email me :)

I'm optimistic that I will one day re-join my blogging friends. But until then, I wish you all the best!

Fondly,
Cherylz

Countdown to Edmonds PSIA Craft Show

2008-05-03T23:40:00.000-07:00

As the countdown begins, all of us PSIA vendors (Puget Sound Indie Arts)are busy finalizing preparations for our spring Craft Show in Edmonds, WA this Saturday, May 10. What perfect timing... the day before Mother's Day! Check the official notice on the right with all the details because if you're anywhere near Seattle, it's a great opportunity to shop! You'll meet a fantastic group of local artists proud to show off their exciting handmade creations. I'll be there with my favorite one-of-a-kind jewelry pieces, including the new line of all-metal jewelry -- copper, Sterling, and gold-fill. I promise to leave the propane torch at home :)

There's something for everyone at the event, and I'm proud to highlight just a few of the artists you'll meet. For the complete list, check "Edmonds PSIA Vendors" on the right & click on any name to view their online stores!

World of Whimm -- KC's world is all about kids. She is a mother with an imagination children love and sewing skills anyone would envy. Her costumes, crowns, & tiaras can transform your little gremlins from princesses to Robin Hoods, Indians, and even pigs -- adorable pigs :) Need a baby shower gift? Her handmade blankets, cuddly crib dolls, and even burp rags would make you proud. Be sure to bring your kids to enjoy KC & the imaginary World of Whimm she'll create for them!

Maluhia Designs -- Well-made with an eye for color & design in fabrics, Jonah's handmade handbags, checkbook covers, cell phone carriers, wallets ("classyfieds":), and more are a must-see for any woman OR anyone shopping for a Mother's Day gift! (I hope my family reads this post!) Yes, she makes stuff for kids, too!

I will try to highlight more vendors before the May 10 event, so please check my blog again this week. See also KC's terrific World of Whimm blog for vendors I did not cover! And stop by my Seattle Bead Creations booth to say Hello & meet my hard-working employee Monique. She'd like to model our one-of-a-kind, handmade jewelry, especially the new line of metal-crafted art jewelry :)

Too Beautiful To Bear -- Again!

2008-04-29T20:36:00.000-07:00

Do you remember Paul Potts from the British version of American Idol (Britain's Got Talent)? The very same Paul Potts whose unlikely voice consistently fills me with such emotion that I had to blog about him? In fact, I frequently call up this blog just to click on his permanent link to the right, listed under Inspirational Links! Well, here is the next Paul Potts. And here I am again overwhelmed with emotions I don't understand by the angelic voice of this child. Have a listen & enjoy Andrew Johnston, age 13. I hope his voice doesn't change.

Evolution -- The Artistic Kind

2008-04-28T13:27:00.000-07:00

I'm still evolving. In my 5th year as an aspiring jewelry artist, I still find every medium I've tried a compelling challenge, full of surprises. Frankly, these are the experiences that motivate me to continue experimenting. When I'm really "in the zone," I go to bed reluctantly, obsessing over ways to solve some technical challenge with implimenting my design. Often the solultion appears in a dream... really! Many brainstorms, sending me off in a completely new direction, were born in my sleep.

SO

At this point in my evolution as an artist, I might work seriously one week with stones, another with metalsmithing, another with wire-art. How can I develop one signature look about my art? Do CUSTOMERS want variety OR one signature "look" from a Jewelry Artist? I sense that the ART COMMUNITY wants a signature look.

Furthermore, my art really reflects who I've been all my life -- seeking, learning, branching out, evolving. This is my 4th "career" & I've loved them all with passion.

ONE look? It's not who I am...

A look back follows...

2006 2007

2008

2009

2010

Are You Ready for May 11?

2008-04-25T01:04:00.000-07:00

Just in case May 11 isn't ringing alarm bells in your head, it's Mother's Day. Maybe you are the mother in question. If you're in the Seattle area, mark your calendars now for a unique opportunity ON MAY 10 to buy a special treat for yourself, a mother figure in your life, and even your kids (You wouldn't be a mother without them :) Puget Sound Indie Arts, the group of Seattle independent artists to which I belong, is hosting its Spring Arts & Crafts Show in Edmonds, WA. Not only will you see a fine selection of handmade products by local artists, but the 50 earliest arrivals will receive free, valuable gift bags! One additional gift bag per hour will also be awarded. These are not bags of plastic trinkets, but beautiful handmade fabric bags filled with our artist's handmade products!

Please find a copy of the official announcement. Feel free to share it with friends, but be sure you arrive before they do!

Beader's Nightmare -- Calculating the Cost of Your Beaded Creation

2008-03-31T22:59:00.000-07:00

Our least favorite uncle makes his annual visit on April 15. Since my husband and I must surely be the Adam & Eve of all things DIY including tax returns, my stress level rises as the clock ticks toward the deadline.

All crafters know that inventory (what you paid for raw materials waiting to become "creations" AND already in "creations" ready to sell) is either a jumble of "stuff" stored in dozens of little compartments in numerous drawers or hundreds of little baggies in numerous drawers. In my case, I've got thousands of beads. And don't forget the coils of sterling, gold-fill & copper wire, all in various gauges.

Finally, imagine that you bought some of the same components like beads & gauges of wire several times from multiple sources at different costs. Given the hundreds & hundreds of tiny beads & yards of different wire purchased at different costs, trying to determine the cost of the components in finished items was a nightmare!

Remembering that nightmare of 2006, my first year as a business, I began fine-tuning a plan in 2007 with some success. (The picture above is the GOOD mess. You should have seen the 2006 mess!) Any crafters can use this method, provided they determine the cost paid for 1 "unit" of each material purchased. EXAMPLE: Whenever I arrive home with a stash of new beads, I whip out those receipts, calculator, some squares of scrap paper, and little baggies. I determine the cost of each bead on a strand, note that cost on a square of paper, & seal all like-strands with the cost note in a little ziplock. For new wire, I calculate the cost per inch of each coiled purchase & tape that cost onto the coil. Then whenever I make a piece of jewelry, I get a bigger square of paper to itemize the number & kinds of beads used, their per-bead cost, & the cost of x inches of each gauge of wire used in the piece. I calculate the total cost on that paper & label it with my creation's name, sealing my creation & the paper in a new baggie.

When I've made a few items, I head for the computer to add more entries into the a grid I created in Excel or Word for that tax year. For each item, I enter its ID, a thumbnail pic, the materials used, the total cost of materials used, item's measurements, and the base price, sales tax, & net price I'll charge. When my creation sells, I enter its date of sale & purchaser. (NOTE: In 2008 I added a column for city & zipcode where buyer received the item.)
(Click any image in the blog for a close up:)

I like this method because I can easily add new items at the bottom of the grid, then have Excel or Word sort the list on the ID OR on the DATE SOLD. Not only is the list wonderful documentation at tax time, but essential at craft shows when the price tag on an item disappears or your helper needs details about the stones in a piece.

I hope this concept helps another newbie out there, regardless of the craft. I'm no tax guru or accountant, but this grid each year, supported by hundreds of humble little scraps of paper, is the basis for the toughest part of my bookkeeping -- Inventory & Cost of Goods Sold.

OR

You can dump the ziplocks on your accountant's desk & go home to a good book... which sounds really sweet to me right now!

Security Checks & Flying with Jewelry Tools

2008-03-21T20:58:00.000-07:00

Have you ever tried to take your jewelry-making tools on a plane trip? Did TSA confiscate any during the carry-on luggage check? I answer YES to both questions for 2 separate trips this year. Here's what I just took to Florida & the Bahamas. Due to my own carelessness, I returned home with 1 less tool, however.

Fortunately TSA allows some tools in carry-ons now. I arrived in Florida with my carry-on inspected & approved. But in my last minute toss-&-zip packing to return home to Seattle, I didn't pay enough attention. Look what I stupidly crammed into the zippered toolkit.

TEST YOURSELF: Do you know which of these items is/are prohibited from carry-ons?

I was so scatter-brained that I even tossed in an unopened tub of hummus for munchies. Honestly, I know better. Plus the tool TSA confiscated was the same kind of tool removed in my February trip! Does that qualify as a "Duh"? Or maybe too much sun really can fry a brain cell???

CHECK YOUR GUESSES on the TSA link or keep reading below. Click here for the current TSA list of items prohibited.

If you think I was lucky to lose only 1 tool, you're right. I should have lost the chasing hammer & mallet instead of just the chasing hammer. I believe all my other items are legal because they qualify in the rules as "Tools" & are =< 7". I even considered sawing short the handles on the hammer & mallet, before noticing that hammers have their own special rules, are not governed by "Tools," & are not allowed in carry-ons. Luckily my pointy scissor blades are < 4" long. I keep a printout of the page of TSA rules in the toolkit just in case. Despite kicking myself for losing another chasing hammer, I really enjoyed the flight home to Seattle, as I managed to make some items inspired by the sunny skies & warm weather of Florida & the Bahamas. The severe thunderstorms that stranded us & thousands of others in Dallas for 6 hrs on 3/18/08 made television news, but just gave me more time to make jewelry. So what's not to like? "Colors Bright" and "Sheba" are 2 of the projects I completed during that very long day. Plus the stewardess really liked Sheba :)

I know with absolute certainty that my carry-on with tools will always be flagged for a manual check by TSA & my carelessness will cost me an occasional goodie. Yet I'm hopeful that one day I'll save enough time to THINK while I'm packing! Regardless, the creative possibilities, especially when we're stranded somewhere, are definitely worth the hassle of lugging those tools.

It's nice to be home with my family & 2 little gremlins. To those of you who celebrate this special holiday, HAPPY EASTER :)

Fun with Photography

2008-02-27T11:57:00.000-08:00

If you've read my blog posts before, you know how many challenges photography pose to my micro-jewelry business. However, you can't begin to imagine how much TIME I spend at this task. Photographing my grandkids is no longer the toughest pics I must take!! Capturing the sparkle, color, and essence of jewelry in a way that engages online Etsy customers who see rows of pictures little more than 1" square -- well, that's a challenge!! My mission for the last many, many months has been to establish my own unique look to my page of pictures, another level of challenge. So my look is evolving. But I did have FUN FUN FUN with the latest earring creations because they lend themselves to unique staging.

They can stand up on their own! They can even roll over:)

I call these earrings Frosty Popsicles. The colors bring back such a strong memory of my childhood in New Orleans ... playing outside with the neighborhood kids in 90 degree heat!... hearing the approaching bells of the ice cream man... hoping my mom could spare a few cents for a popsicle. I can almost taste those popsicles. They came in all the colors of these earrings.

Hopefully my evolving photographic skills & techniques will help the viewer see & feel my art as I do.

Blog Survives Major Surgery By Novice

2008-02-24T18:26:00.000-08:00

You've got the right blog. Please stick around. Here's how it happened...

I felt SPRING coming on. And that put a smile on my face as I remembered 2 big events that occurred 35 years ago as Seattle newcomers on our first sunny day after 5 months of Seattle rain. (1) My first major traffic snarl, which I learned was know as "a sunshine slowdown." (2) With an unimpressed grunt, I waited in that snarl. Finally I looked around & for the first time saw glorious mountains in all directions! Yes, "the mountains were out! Sunshine slowdown... Ah Ha!" That made total sense. I had become a Seattleite in that very instant.

So now that we've had 7 days of beautiful weather, sunshine slowdowns, mountains out on all sides, PLUS clean, crisp, cool air & sky, I'm inspired to clean up. No, I don't mean my house, Silly! But I did give this blog a make-over. I even copied the new banner from 1 of my online stores, Seattle Bead Creations, to brighten up this blog. I hope you like it.

WARNING: I might even fiddle with html, hoping to expand the width of the post area. I hate all the wasted margin space. HELP: If anyone can tell me what specific code to change to cut both side margins in half so the post area is wider, I'm more than willing. I really don't know much about html code, but having reached the Age of Wisdom, I'm fearless.

Have You Seen This Man?

2008-02-18T23:31:00.000-08:00

A fellow Seattle-Etsy artist hasn't seen her husband since Wednesday when he didn't return home from work. His young family (2 youngsters & pregnant wife Christine) is frantic, as this is totally out of character. His car was found yesterday. Though this has been widely publicized in all Seattle area papers & local TV, here is an opportunity for individuals like you & me to spread the word & pray & support in every possible way his young family. Here are a few ideas: Please post his picture on your website, send a message of support to Christine & kids on the Frapper map, & pray for the safe return of this fine young man. Click on this link to a site supporting the search efforts -- http://mailpen.net/ The family will be grateful for whatever you can do to help!

Please Vote: White vs Color Background

2008-02-05T20:28:00.000-08:00

I really need your help! After 7 months selling my jewelry creations online in my Etsy store, I've evolved from colored backdrops for my jewelry to all white. During this evolution, I've spent literally hundreds & hundreds of hours taking pictures, re-taking pictures, loading them into my PC, & cleaning them up using Photoshop Elements. Yet it's unclear to me which background strategy is more effective in drawing a shopper into my store for closer looks. I would really appreciate your help. Please view page 1 of my Etsy listings VS page 2 & take 1 of 2 Photo Surveys on the right. NOTE: If you're viewing my pictures on a Mac, take the Mac survey. PC users take the PC survey. Why? On PCs images appear more vivid than on a Mac. This fact is the wild card. I hate wild cards :)If you have any specific suggestions or comments re my white vs color strategies, please click on the "Comment" below this post & talk to me. I'd be so grateful for the help.

TODAY'S HOT LINKS:
"Etsy Teams" are groups of local Etsy artisans who encourage & support each other. Teams from around the globe can choose to receive a sister team. Please enjoy the beautiful printed card stock by Modern Printed Matter, from our sister team in Rhode Island. Sleek & sophisticated, beautifully packaged & photographed!

The Magic of Online Links & "Networking"

2008-01-31T18:18:00.000-08:00

Thank God for my loyal local customers! Despite 7 months of hard work trying to build a base of new customers online, it's been a disappointment. My online Etsy store (seattlebeadcreations.etsy.com)
competes with thousands of other Etsy jewelry artisans -- many, many more than any single craft selling there. How in the world would any NEW buyer find me there or anywhere online, really? So how can I SELL online if I don't get found online? The online effort has been very frustrating.

But there is good news ==> I'm finally confident in the quality of my jewelry, having been blessed with steady, enthusiastic purchases by locals who know my work. I'm so thankful for their encouragement & loyalty, as self-confidence in new crafters is in short supply. I do know that the secret to success online in the jewelry craft is to find a niche that is "different" -- but how? I don't ever want to give up making jewelry that most women would love to wear...

In search of "the different," I took a big risk a few weeks ago & gave birth to the Zany Lady collection, a major departure from my normal artistic inclinations! (See my post below dated 1/6/08 :) So Lady Bella & Lady Laura are now listed in my Etsy store as well as my online store local customers use, classicbeadwear.com.

BINGO! Thanks to 2 local Etsy-ites, a few hundred new viewers checked out Lady Laura overnight! One Etsy-ite wrote about the Zanies in her blog. Another created an Etsy Treasury of her 12 "most hilarious product descriptions" on Etsy. Treasuries get lots of visibility from Etsy-ites, and overnight my view-count went way up for Lady Laura. Views don't necessarily result in sales, but it's certain that no view = no sales.

As a result, a lightbulb went off in my non-marketing head: Networking with other online sellers is just as important as networking to get that desk job. Plus, the number of other websites linking to mine bumps my site closer to the top when Google, MSN, Yahoo & other search engines list the results of a search on jewelry.

Therefore, in the spirit of online networking, I will frequently highlight 1-2 websites per post that I'm proud to recommend. My links to them can only help folks whose work deserves recognition!

TODAY'S HOT LINKS:

a) Sweet Pea Cards & Gifts -- sweetpeacardsgifts.etsy.com -- handmade greeting cards, holiday cards, soy candles, knitting, & other handmade gifts. Well-made & attractively presented by a talented crafter. I especially like her Pop Up Christmas Tree card, a beautiful piece of engineering :)
b) Ugly Baby Shower Art -- uglybaby.etsy.com -- handmade shower art. Can you tell the artist is a part time comedienne? I mean, who'd celebrate ugly babies & create waterproof art for your shower wall?? Her shower art is as quirky as her sense of humor. If you want a gift for someone who has everything, I bet she won't have this!
c)Shameless self-promotion ==> seattlebeadcreations.etsy.com -- Something quirky & fun for Valentines Day. Read about Angelina (aka "Lips")!

TAX PROCEDURES - Killer of Micro-Business

2008-01-13T23:21:00.000-08:00

I should clarify. It's not the taxes themselves. The services we expect from our government aren't free. It's the Process Created To Pay the Taxes that's the killer. I've worked all my life as an employee, where various accounting departments dealt with "all that stuff." But as a micro-business of ONE, I'm getting a crash course in needless, confusing tax procedures that will surely produce one of these results for many like me: 1) It will force otherwise honest people to work "under the table." 2) It will force the business to hire professional help it really can't afford at all. 3) It will force business to turn out the lights on a dream rather than deal with this.

Clumsy tax procedures at every level are a killer for micro-business. But the most recent paperwork arrivals get the full brunt of this rant. I live in Bellevue, WA but sold 1 necklace for $43 in Seattle. In advance of that craft show in Seattle, I bought a Seattle business license (in addition to the State business license purchased already). Apparently the license triggered 2 sets of forms from Seattle: 2 forms about employees tax and 2 forms for the Business License Tax! After my initial dismay & frustration subsided and after wading through 4 pages of legalese, I learned that I owe nothing, but MUST still file those forms by 1/31. Total time spent ==> 2 hours.

But that's not all. We know that as sellers we are tax-collectors for the state. I understand that I'm to collect 8.9% sales tax from local WA buyers for each item sold & must turn that over to the state's coffers by 1/31 each year. But I was adventurous enough in 2007 to sell a few items in 4 different cities. So by 1/31 the state's "Combined Excise Tax Return" requires that I total up the sales in each of these cities separately so that each city gets its fair share of the sales tax I collected on WA's behalf. (I must have added each of these figures 10 times on my tiny little calculator before I got the same total twice!) Since each of these cities changed its own tax rate during the year, I had to get a total per city before 4/1 and after 4/1 -- sub-totals within sub-totals! Then wade through a complexity of topics on the tax form that I only hope don't apply to me. Honestly, it was a nightmare, and compared to most folks, I've got a little comfort with taxes & some accounting! Total time spent ==> 8 hours.

Unfortunately tax procedures will get worse in WA as of 7/1/08. New legislation is aimed at online WA state sellers who sell to WA state residents. WA state bill SSB 5089 is part of the national SSTA movement. (Ironically that stands for "The Streamlined Sales Tax Act"!) The ultimate goal of the national movement is to collect sales tax for all online sales ... even to out-of-state buyers on the Internet. The new WA state law takes the first baby step toward this national goal when its "destination sales tax" takes effect. Beginning July 1, the online seller in WA will no longer charge the sales tax rate based on his own location, but on the location where the buyer receives the merchandise! (Brick & mortar stores already do this by charging at the rate where the buyer receives the merchandise ==> the seller's store.) So online WA state sellers must know in what county & city their buyers live! However, most online sellers transact the actual payment using transaction services like PayPal or Google. When I last checked, these services were not prepared to "know" what tax rate applies to each buyer. I can only imagine that the seller will somehow need to feed the appropriate tax rates into such programs.

At this time, I confess that at least 80% of my time is spent doing overhead tasks for my micro-business, leaving 20% or less for actually making jewelry, quite a risky statistic! Do I need more paperwork or more complex tax procedures? There are 3 things that might save me as the tax situation gets worse --

1. I'm very lucky that I don't need to work. If the hassle takes the joys out of jewelry-making, I will do something else.
2. I am honest to a fault.
3. I am the most hard-headed human God ever created, especially when I must follow useless, tedious procedures.

For these reasons, I will continue to meticulously follow the law, while raising my very shrill voice to the bureaucrats so they know the impact of their policies on folks who work.

Okay, let me take a deep breath & remind myself why I started Seattle Bead Creations!

Help! The Other Cheryl Escaped From the Attic

2008-01-06T01:34:00.000-08:00

I don't know what caused the disruption in the world space where I live -- maybe the new year? a weird alignment of the stars & planets? a case of the crud that's had me house-bound for 9 days & counting? But there's someone impersonating me today. I'm certain. She picked up my needle-nose pliers & expensive Lindstrom cutters, just as I do. She took beads & wire from my very own roll-around storage drawers. She turned on my recordings of the Monk re-runs that I love (I've seen them all 3 times). Then her hands started working just like mine. What resulted is certainly a mystery to me.

This is Bella, the first in a series of Zany Ladies, which will appear in my 2 shops (seattlebeadcreations.etsy.com and classicbeadwear.com) whenever the Cheryl impersonator escapes from the attic. (Who let her out, anyway?!) Each Lady comes complete with a name, personality, and a set of features, more or less, and an Official Letter of Introduction. One might even identify with the personality described OR consider it the personality she'd like to be OR the personality she is afraid of becoming! I'll have a don't ask, don't tell policy on the motive for buying any of the Ladies! Meanwhile I've had fun watching the Cheryl impersonator escape for awhile.

QUESTIONS: Is is wise to let the locked up Cheryl run loose with this brainstorm? If so, should this new product line be part of the real Cheryl's online stores? or a new, separate store? I don't know the answers to these question, but I expect to learn this lesson the hard way. I hope it works!

Both Cheryls hope your New Year is off to a great start.

Tick Tock and It's Christmas

2007-12-18T01:20:00.000-08:00

Observations about many women I know ==>> We LOVE to receive jewelry as a gift. We enjoy buying jewelry as gifts for others. BUT many of us feel guilty about buying jewelry for ourselves! Why is that?!!

So in case you're still stuck for the perfect gift, I can help you out through Dec. 22. (That's when I join my family to search for snow.) In fact I've really enjoyed making a collection with Christmas in mind, though most designs are suitable for year-round pizazz. You'll find these at classicbeadwear.com & can email your order using its "Email us" link.

Please remember that my last mailing will be 12/22, & beginning today through 12/22, postage will cost a little extra to assure Santa's delivery by Christmas.

Meanwhile, HAPPY HOLIDAYS, everyone!!

Snow, Craft Fair, Flood...

2007-12-12T04:57:00.000-08:00

Can plague & pestilence be far behind? As luck would have it, the fair I'd been most optimistic about, the 1st ever Redmond, WA Holiday Arts Fair, was a 1.5 day event, and to greet the big event was a forecast for the Seattle area's first real snow of the winter. Panic! Raised in New Orleans, I do floods; I don't do snow, even after 34 years here!!

I'd been gearing up for my 2 back-to-back juried craft shows (Renton & Redmond, WA), working hard each night with little sleep. The Renton Hassle Free Fair in mid-November (see blog 11/19/07) missed all the crazy weather. Rain, drizzle, showers, rain, rain, and drizzle we can handle. The very next weekend was the Redmond Fair. Day 1 was a Friday night from 5pm-9pm, & the weather was typical-Seattle winter stuff -- cool with showers -- no problem. Except that after 7pm the only folks still around were the vendors. Either any craft show on a Friday night should shut down by 7pm, or the customers had heard the warnings about snow -- warnings that were definite about its arrival, but vague about exactly when & exactly how much. Maybe Friday night, but definitely by sometime Saturday, maybe 1 inch, but possibly 3-4 inches. And sure enough, on the fair's big day (day 2) I awoke to see big fat snowflakes falling & sticking, with 1" already turning my car white. Could I drive through slick suburban streets safely? What if I risked life & limb & noone came? Or would we all arrive, but get stuck with our wheels spinning in the fair's parking lot after hours of the big, fat snow?

To my great relief, I didn't kill anyone during the drive & customers did show up! Even before the snow disappeared & the sun came out awhile. And a few dear friends braved the snow & came for moral support. Plus my friend & jewelry-phile Linda arrived to help me, as promised! What a joy to have their support and good company. Despite the fact that 3 of us jewelry vendors were located right next to each other & a few other minor glitches, whenever customers show up with wallets, it's a good show.

Monique donned 4 looks during the show, which was fun.
Friday night she started out wearing a black silky scarf knotted on the side. Saturday she wore a white faux-fur band around her head in the spirit of the holiday. When someone jokingly commented about her bald head (I prefer to think that her baldness was edgy), I covered her head with my Mom's sheared black turban hat, circa 1970. Finally, a neighboring vendor (Silk from the Hartz) who makes gorgeous hand painted silk scarves, practiced tying one on Monique's head to find new looks for women undergoing chemotherapy. It was easy to agree to this experiment for such a cause during the show, especially since these scarves were gorgeous. I ended up buying Monique (and me) this striking red/pink one, which I do believe helped draw folks to the table.

From the Redmond experience I hope to discover how much table decor is enough to attract customers without overwhelming the jewelry, which must be the focus. Maybe you can help me by voting in TWO POLLS on the right. I do enjoy introducing potential customers to "my new employee, Monique," which serves as an easy ice-breaker to build rapport. So Monique is a keeper, but how much Monique is too much? Please feel free to Comment. I need feedback.

Another problem I'd like to solve is how to re-do my jewelry set up so that it's quickly displayed & quickly removed. The neighboring vendor sold very nice earrings... only earrings. Each pair was mounted to attractive card stock printed with her logo & contact into. The earrings & attached cards filled each velvet compartment in trays removed from her product case. She laid out the pre-filled trays in 2 neat rows across her table that was covered with attractive cloth. With minimal other display apparatus added to the layout, she could pack up everything on her table and head for the door easily within 20-30 min. Meanwhile I was still removing & packing Monique's arms!! I hadn't even started on the jewelry yet.

One obvious difference between our needs is that I sell necklaces, bracelets, and earrings, requiring different kinds of displays. I have a product case similar to my neighbor's, & I display some necklaces & some earrings in its velvet-lined trays.
I hang other earrings around the lip of a tall glass goblet. Some necklaces hang from Monique's arms. I drape others over a 3-tiered velvet-lined display racks, and I arrange crystal necklaces flat on a 12" glass tile on the table. If I'm alone it takes me 80-90 minutes to set up & 80-90 minutes to remove! Too complex & perhaps too distracting for the customer.
What I do know is that my arrangement looks much better in a 10'x10' booth, where I can place 2 tables in an L configuration. Butting the length of 1 table into the side of the other increases the rectangular space I want from 6'x2.5' to 8.5'x2.5'. I believe that additional 2.5' of length removes any sense of clutter. At the Renton fair, a very sophisticated younger woman who frequents these fairs really liked my table's look with the L configuration. However, the Redmond booth space was only 6'x10'. No room at all for an L, and barely enough room for Linda & me to sit behind my 1 table.

I also learned that 2 small lights focused on the jewelry draw customers. Venues large enough for a craft fair usually have inadequate lighting because it's too far away from the jewelry. Somewhere on the small table I must position 2 clamp-on lights with daylight bulbs. At the very least, it adds warmth & makes the table look more welcoming. Most importantly it brings out the beauty in the gemstones & precious metals of my jewelry.

Despite the technical issues I'd like to resolve, this fair produced more sales than any other for me. Furthermore, I learned that when shoppers are beginning to panic about Christmas, they will brave snow, but they won't stay out late. I'm hoping that next year I can try Redmond again in just the boring old rainy stuff, and that I've got my set up issues resolved.

Epilogue: 3 days after the snow came The Great Flood That Closed I-5. Luckily we were soaking up the sun in Cabo & catching marlin. (See post 12/11/07) Dumb luck is appreciated & always welcomed.

Life's Top 10

2007-12-11T11:10:00.000-08:00

Now that I've reached the Age of Wisdom & Social Security Checks, I periodically look back at life to assess its top 10 events. I'm grateful that it's not an easy task. But I've just experienced another event in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico that made the list, & I'm so excited about it, I had to write. Since I'm all about my new passion in life, jewelry making, one might think the new entry in my top 10 relates to that. NO! I'm reserving "jewelry-making" as number 10 for some milestone lightning-bolt achievement, like creating something so very special that I love it just as much 3 years after creation OR Nordstrom decides to sell my jewelry OR a very exclusive "juried" craft show picks me as a vendor. Of course, I must first find the courage & confidence to ask for their consideration! Hopefully, one day...

I've had a good life filled with a wide variety of passions, so the Top 10 includes a surprising assortment. Here's my list in chronological order, NOT in order of importance to me --
1. Winning a 6 wk cruise for 2 from New Orleans (hometown) on a cargo ship, across the Gulf of Mexico, through the Panama Canal, and down the west coast of So. America, almost to the southern-most tip of Chile. As a 16 yr. old with no money who thought a trip to Mississippi was a big deal, this was HUGE!

2. Marrying GZ, my unique, opinionated, exasperating, lovable, & gentle husband of almost 39 years.

3. Giving birth to our daughter, my greatest accomplishment, my pride & joy.

4. Experiencing killer whales -- unexpected, up close & personal, in the misty silence of dawn on glassy calm waters of Puget Sound. The loud & profound sounds this huge pod made very close to our little boat as they plunged back into the water from repeated full-body leaps or spewed gallons of water from their blow holes still give me chills of awe...

5. Catching huge steelhead (5 a day!) on my #8 flyrod. Disappointed at missing the silver salmon run we had timed our Alaska trip for, we lucked into an amazing run of steelhead. For readers who don't fish, that's the icing on the cake PLUS the cake!! I'm not too proud to welcome dumb luck.

6. Becoming a grandma to 2 adorable little critters 4 & 1 years young. Grandma-hood is a very special club, where the secret handshake is the wide-open arms of an overjoyed, smudged-faced child, running toward you yelling, "Grandma, Grandma!" Absolutely nothing compares to that...

7 & 8. Two Personal Family Losses -- sad & of great significance to me.

9. Fighting the good fight last week in Cabo San Lucas -- See picture sequence below, showing 1 of 3 marlin I caught on The Sport Fishing Event of My Life, surpassing even the steelhead. GZ & I caught 5 total, with another 2 breaking the lines. By my 3rd marlin, my lazy left arm was trembling with so much exhaustion & pain that it's still recovering 5 days later. We released all the marlin back to the Pacific. But even without a huge 6' marlin mounted on the wall, I will never forget the physical fight of my life! There were moments when I wondered if the fish would pull me & our fearless skipper Milo overboard. And how did Milo escape the sharp, bony 18" bills usually aimed at his gut? And how did Cheryl pull in 80 -- 100 lbs of resistant, leaping fish muscle? Here's the action for just 1 of my 3 catches.

10. Reserved for that thunderbolt moment in my jewelry making. The excitement I feel while creating a new design
almost equals most of my fishing thrills & chills even without yet reaching the grand, lightning bolt creative achievement. Until that occurs, it's hard to imagine what could bump the #10 spot I've reserved for jewelry!

Assessment of a Sleep-Deprived Brainstormer

2007-11-19T02:09:00.000-08:00

I admit to being passionate about EVERYTHING I adopt as a project, career, cause, or business in retirement. In fact friends might say I'm dogged. Because I don't know how to turn it off, brainstorms about my passions keep on coming -- some good, some not so good. (See post in October.)

The latest brainstorms focused on Renton, WA's Hassle Free Holiday Bazaar this past Friday & Saturday. The fair was VERY, VERY well run, and without doubt the best fair I've been in so far -- juried, the most vendors (~100), the most shoppers, ample carts to haul our setup around, girls pushing a goodie wagon past thirsty vendors both afternoons, abundant publicity in the newspapers & good signage throughout neighboring communities. Bravo & thanks to Shirley, the organizer of many years.

Having minimal prior experience selling at fairs, I'm determined to learn quickly from my mistakes. So here's what I learned at the Renton fair --

o Focus on one price point appropriate for that venue. I'll know next time that Renton's is about $25 on average for jewelry. Though my jewelry ranged from $10 earrings to $255 necklace/earring set, my average piece cost about $50. I had several items over $80 & 2 over $200. One woman fell in love with Serenity, but at $250 it was out of her reach.
However, she wanted my website name so she could view Serenity "whenever she needed to" :) Of course, the over-supply of jewelry crafters makes finding the right price point even more important.

o Ask if there are restrictions on booth side walls. A customer advised me that she couldn't see my booth until she'd almost passed it. Why? Because my neighbor ahead of me in the traffic flow had 10' high wire walls on 3 sides of her booth, completely covered with her attractive aprons. Since folks could not see through her covered wire walls, many buyers passed me by looking in the other direction. If 2 shoppers hadn't mentioned this issue, I never would have thought of it, & I'm sure the very nice vendor in question didn't either. Interestingly, my next venue prohibits displays that block the neighbor's visibility.

o Don't over-crowd the table. On day 2 I arrived with my own 6' table, butted its end perpendicular to the existing table to form an "L" & gained another 30" or so. Spreading out the jewelry another 30" really made each piece easier to see. Wish I had taken a picture of the expanded version.

o Plan the look of price tags for jewelry carefully. With only a 6' table & lots of jewelry on the first day, the tags I'd brainstormed that week working 2 full days & 1 overnight were a disaster! Especially the items with tags that I placed in the velvet-lined trays from my product case. Honestly, it was hard to find the earring hiding next to or under its pretty price tag! After watching droves of customers pass by in 2 hours barely glancing at my table, I madly began unknotting over 100 ties to remove my beautiful tags. What a difference that made. There really was some pretty jewelry under all that paper! At home Friday night I implemented a new price tag plan -- small, white, rectangular, peel-off labels folded around a clasp or earwire so that the sticky ends & edges could stick to each other. There was just enough room to write the price in ink -- not pretty, but neat & barely noticeable. Saturday my table looked fine, the price tags were unobtrusive, but easy to find, and there were no disasters :)

o Have a Plan B when (not if) a major brainstorm goes haywire. Fortunately I'd made an 8-page price list "just in case." After I had to remove all my price tags, that document saved the day!

o Bring a helper. I can't begin to thank Mary Lou & Joyce enough for their help. Beyond the moral support & watching over the booth, they gave me precious time each day to scout the competition & learn what I'm doing well & not so well.

o But here's the most important lesson for me: Seriously question any brainstorm devised when normal people are sleeping.

Despite the painful lessons learned, I'm making progress -- more sales to more customers & more confidence in my work & in the "look" of my table. I hope to do this show again next year.

A Before & After Miracle :)

2007-11-12T05:05:00.000-08:00

For me the toughest part of selling my handcrafted jewelry online has been taking attractive pictures that appear only 1" square in our Etsy stores. Yesterday another local Etsy crafter gave me a gift that will significantly improve my photographs in those 1" squares! I took Marlo's hands-on class in Photographing Jewelry & Small Objects. We practiced 3 specific settings using our own cameras & jewelry under Marlo's guidance -- setting White Balance, Aperture, and Shutter Speed & learning how they work together to create clear, well lit pictures. She taught us how to shoot from almost eye level, giving pictures an interesting perspective. I wish I had time to re-shoot all the items in my store, but that won't happen with 2 craft fairs, a trip and the holidays galloping toward me. However, I did stay up all night re-shooting a few of the worst offenders. Besides, I wanted to play with my new skills! You'll see a few Before & After shots above & below this post, & I hope you can tell which is which! (If you can't tell the difference, should you tell me? Oh, okay! I really do want to get better, so feel free to Comment if you can't see improvement. And as a special Thank You to Marlo, I encourage you to shop her Etsy store, I Make Cute Stuff!
href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_I1lVUjaKF7g/RzjE-8vsHKI/AAAAAAAAAQo/dk3udnmIpS4/s1600-h/Magic+Blue+Eye-+jpg.jpg">

UPDATES- Mystery Stones & Craft Fair

2007-11-01T01:29:00.000-07:00

Oh my, it's been a busy time. Before I retired, I got a lot more done after working 10 hour days. Now I feel overworked & at day's end, I'm not quite sure what I accomplished!

BUT

since the last post, I have accomplished 2 things I can remember! Hoping to identify the mystery stones in the Oct. 13 post, I found a huge annual rock show barely 1 mile from my house! With necklace & an extra broken stone in hand, I faced the rock hounds behind their booths & wondered where to start. Fortunately for me most of them were eager to identify my olive green stones. Unfortunately all of their ideas were as varied as the previous best guesses. Clearly this was not the exact science I had hoped! Certainly not without a laboratory. Finally I found the grad student assigned the task of identifying mystery stones. She was equipped with a thick book on rocks & their specs, a fancy microscope, and a refractometer. But she was baffled until I mentioned the suggestion I received that it might be idocrase (aka vesuvianite). She looked it up in the fat book & with both of her instruments determined that the stones matched the specs in all regards. So hopefully the mystery is solved. IDOCRASE/VESUVIANITE!

My other accomplishment was applying for my first juried craft show & being accepted! So I'll be at the Renton, WA Hassle Free Holiday Fair in the Renton Community Center, Nov. 16 & 17. I hope all my local friends will "shop homemade" from the 100 vendors on site. It should be fun! So Monique & I will be busy :)

Not All Brainstorms Are Good...

2007-10-22T23:25:00.000-07:00

At my 2nd craft fair ever, I learned that a single prop can draw customers to a craft table. But the good decision to go with the perfect prop can be trumped by 1 dumb decision that cost me customers.

Two days before The Fall Thing at Phinney Ridge Community Center, I braved the terrible traffic from Bellevue into downtown Seattle to reach a large, high-end dept. store, offering the mystery props for $35 each (originally $1000!) It didn't take me long to select perhaps the only item left that could actually sit on my table & wouldn't take much room to store. Exactly what I wanted -- in fact, PERFECT!

Let me introduce Monique, formerly known as Mira. Monique was special because her arms & hands were both above her waist, allowing me to remove her bottom half, a huge advantage over other mannequins whose arms below the waist required them to stand, possible only after building a brace. Furthermore, I could store Monique's extra body parts in the attic. And look at the pose of her hands. Perfect for displaying jewelry! Even her makeup was perfect. (Did you know that if you first apply concealer, you can add human makeup to Monique?) And Monique looked great in tiger fabric from my first fair! (I'm trying hard not to think this discussion is creepy...)

As I played with my craft show table arrangement the night before, I had another brainstorm. I store my jewelry in the black velveteen trays from my new product case described in the Aug. 28 blog post. Those trays would display the jewelry beautifully if tilted up on blocks!

Oh, I was so very proud of myself! I was definitely on a brainstorming roll.
That's when I should have quit & gone to bed. Instead I stayed up all night typing pages & pages of text into a grid, where each cell in the grid contained the description & price of one item for sale. Because I didn't have time to cut the grid into cards & place them near the item described as I'd planned, I couldn't quickly answer the simplest customer questions, like "How much is this?" At least 5 very enthusiastic customers came by to look closely at my jewelry & ask a few questions, but scanning pages of grid cells under pressure isn't easy -- especially after no sleep. So many lessons to learn; so little time!

Despite my own major misstep, I really enjoyed this show. My table was 2nd just inside the entry door, so folks definitely got to pass my booth this time. And Monique drew many of them over for a closer look. I hope the new layout is more sophisticated & effective than the Fremont fair table. What do you think?
The feedback from shoppers was extremely positive. I sold Steely Blue despite wasting this wonderful woman's time to search for the price & description. In fact, she came back 3 times to bring 3 more people to see the jewelry during my frustrating search for the price! Even shoppers that didn't wait for my fumbling searches asked to be put on my mailing list. Another big plus about this show was the opportunity to meet more EtsyRain sellers. Participating in the online forum together for months now, I feel I know them since our brief face-to-face at the craft show. I left the fair exhauted, but smiling inside about the new friendships, the enthusiam of potential buyers, and my satisfaction with the 'look' of my table. But the top 2 items on my To-Do list are ==> match up the description cards with the items AND remove Monique's lower half from the hallway floor. Or at least turn on the light so the unexpected sight isn't so scary!

Would You Buy a Nameless Bead?

2007-10-13T01:45:00.000-07:00

Back in July I was browsing through one of my favorite bead haunts telling myself over & over to get home while I still had some money. But on my way out, I saw some strands of gemstones I hadn't noticed before. I have no self control about beads, so I began looking through the hanging strands. Wow! This strand of wonderful rich olive green dazzling with pearlescence caught my eye. The beads were each uniquely & irregularly shaped... and I guess the new phrase is "organic looking," yet beautifully faceted & highly polished. But the flashes of color that bounced off the surfaces as I turned the stones are impossible to describe. And they were expensive! And they were unlabeled! And even the owner didn't know what these unusual gemstones were. Feel free to guess!! Any gemologists out there? Because computer monitors show colors differently, let me emphasize that the main color in the stones is olive green. The only other color is black in lines through the stones. Also, the expensive strand had 2 broken stones. The unpolished mineral inside the break had many tiny specks of sparkle, which I think would polish up beautifully when faceted, accounting for the pearlescence, in my opinion. The stones range from very dark olive (almost black) to medium-light olive. They are completely opaque.

Nameless or not, I fell in love with these stones & couldn't wait to wrap them in herringbone weave of antiqued Sterling silver wire.
Then I made these earrings with olive green crystals, also wrapped in herringbone -- a really nice match, I think. Obviously I was in a very herringbone mood.

I will learn from this experience IF BEAUTY HAS VALUE. Or maybe it only has value if it has a well-respected label. Since I spent significant money on nameless beautiful stones with no hesitation, my opinion is obvious. I hope I was right :) Take an anonymous poll on the right & tell us what you think.

Time to Be Creative!

2007-10-03T11:59:00.000-07:00

Time for change, like the dramatic change from green to orange & maroon leaves on NW trees. Time for me to get busy with what I most love to do. The last 2 weeks have been a total creativity marathon. With apologies to my blog readers, I let many routine things slide to immerse myself in the creative process. It was not entirely emotional self-indulgence, as THE FAST-APPROACHING HOLIDAYS added motivation. Ok, panic! Pre-holiday time is particularly busy for crafters.
Panic increased when I decided to try 1-2 more craft shows in Oct/Nov, hoping to tempt early Christmas shoppers. Besides, with its gorgeous colors, fall deserves its own colorful array of designer jewelry. So I've been enjoying myself. Here's a small sample of the fun I've had & the artistic inspiration found all around us in the Seattle area (when it quits raining :)
For Autumn Berries, I've been saving A-grade citrine, garnet, & topaz (2 shades) teardrop gem-stones for just the right design. Then on a clear day in late Sept, we drove through Stevens Pass & saw these beautiful colors. (photo by Don Paulson) Instant inspiration for Autumn Berries & Autumn Leaves! I'll add other new inspirations to my Etsy store every day or 2 through Oct/Nov. Life is good :)

Risk-Taking in The Age of Wisdom

2007-09-17T00:18:00.000-07:00

I confess -- I have reached The Age of Wisdom. That's the age when little critters with jelly-smeared lips call you Grandma, the government deposits a monthly check in your bank account, and you get discount prices at the cinema & some restaurants. (Let me note that discounts only feel good if I ask for them, not if some kid with pimples offers!)

Last night our dear friend of 30+ years, who only recently reached the Age of Wisdom, came to dinner. In just 10 days he'll fly to Kathmandu, Nepal to join with 4 other Seattle strangers & 9 Sherpas to hike/trek through the Himalayas. (Photo by Alfred Molon, www.molon.de)
That's 27 days without a bath, 27 days pushing the bounds of physical & emotional endurance, and 27 days eating Dal & rice cakes while praying his bouts of kidney stones pick another time to attempt
an escape. I'm a little worried for him, though he had been a mountaineer and in preparation for this trip had spent all last month hiking seriously. He joked that he'd want the group to leave him by the trail rather than ruin the trek for them. In the next breath he added he hoped others were in good enough shape not to ruin his trip either. Right! Everyone is sharing a group risk in a very real sense, when they're roped together at freezing altitudes & exhausted. I'm in awe & continue to wonder at our friend's motivation to test himself in this trip of a lifetime at the age of 60.

What am I willing to risk, having attained the Age of Wisdom? No way does the trip to Nepal appeal to me! 27 days without a bath is cruel & unusual punishment. I have never been a risk taker. When our daughter was old enough for me to go back to school for a career change from Latin teacher to programmer, I took a programmer's aptitude test for a job-placement agency. I had answered every question correctly on the test, BUT I had only answered 2/3 of the questions. That's me! Whenever my ego was on the line, I always worked hard enough to be successful ... whatever time & effort was required. If that test had no time limit, I'd have answered all the questions, even if it took all year :)

But at the Age of Wisdom, I discover a strange brain cell with a yen for making jewelry -- an aberrant brain cell operating 180 degrees from the world of technical academics where the answer was either right or wrong. In my new world, personal taste judges the result right or wrong; the rules are nebulous, baffling, & subjective. I can't predict what my buyer will like. Yet this pushy brain cell wants me to create -- a very personal act! -- then come out of happy retirement to put my creations out there -- PUBLICLY, hoping for someone's favorable judgement & money. Like our friend on his big trek, I could fall flat on my face, because new businesses fail all the time.

Yet here I am taking this big risk with my ego on the line because of that 1 strange brain cell. It's not exactly a life-threatening trek, but the rest of my brain thinks I'm as nutty as my trekking friend! In fact the rest of my brain doesn't recognize this new Cheryl at all...???

Inspired by Sleep & a Friendly Nudge

2007-09-07T01:58:00.000-07:00

On Labor Day, my internal clock began ticking with the alarm set. I must now find a way to put aside peripheral tasks & focus again on the jewelry creation process. AND I must complete the process soon, so I have ample time to photograph & market the 2007 Fall-Winter Collection! With a feeling somewhere between exhilaration & panic, I went to bed on Sept. 3, having officially set my internal alarm clock for the jewelry-making deadline.

It's unusual that I fell asleep with my mind so full of panic, but I did. Sometime during the night I began dreaming about jewelry designs -- a wonderful dream, full of clear mental pictures of a new product line my friend Joyce had been nudging me toward for many weeks without results... until tonight. But the more I dreamed, the more excited I felt, & the closer I came to consciousness. I didn't want the dream to end. Still buried in the pillow, I remember fearing that what seemed brilliant in sleep was total nonsense in reality. I've had many such brainstorms fizzle like that through the years. But as I re-examined that night's dream, I was still excited. So I got out of bed, checked the clock (5 am -- Good Grief! I Am Crazy...), walked into my work room, found my Brainstorm Book, & drew out 4 designs for the new product line. I had even dreamed up the name of the new line!

I've had fun since that dream, turning brainstorms into reality. (Notice the absence of blog entries :) These creations are a total departure for me. The new branch in my collection will include clasps for silk scarves & pins for knits, though I've have never been a knitter. The name I literally dreamed up for the new line is KnitKnacks. Tonight I learned that unfortunately it's already a registered domain name. Can you believe that?! But I will call my new product line KnitKnacks anyway.
Here's a sneak peek at my knit pins. I envision them adding pizazz to knit mufflers, purses, belts, hats, & dresses or coats -- any item with a looser weave.
I plan to make 3-4 scarf clasps as well, then re-focus on the remaining collection -- fun designs for necklaces, bracelets, & earrings.

So, from top to bottom, let me introduce you to "Mother," "Playfully Yours," "The 4th Dimension," and "Your Lucky Horseshoe." Joyce already claimed The 4th Dimension pin :)

I'll begin adding items from the new collection to my 2 website stores during October. Finally the hardcore MAKING of jewelry. That's so exciting! Can't wait to get up in the mornings & can't make myself go to bed at night :)

A Physical Response to Beauty

2007-08-30T13:36:00.000-07:00

Breathing, heart beating, blushing -- all beyond our control. We don't make them happen. They just happen.

Sometimes I see or hear something so beautiful that a physical response just happens -- also, beyond my control & always a "wonder" to me. Warmth in my gut spreads quickly upward to my face, which gets hot. I suspect I'm beet red. Then tears spill out, impossible to block. I wish I understood the sensory-physical-chemical inter-relationships that enable this feeling, which is profound.

I absolutely remember the first time I experienced this "severe appreciation of art"! In 1974 we crossed the country in 2 cars to move from flat Louisiana to dramatically beautiful Pacific Northwest. We spent a month along the way tenting in national parks whenever possible. I will never forget the morning when I came out of our tent into the glorious sunshine & saw the Grand Tetons, snow-capped, & framed by the park's huge evergreens & lake.
(Photo by Jackson Hole Photos). I had really never seen mountains or majestic, tall evergreens. It was breathtaking. Also, after 33 years, I still get that feeling whenever I'm driving around a curve in Seattle & see Mt. Rainier looming high above the horizon!

But let me hear certain segments of music & the feeling is even more profound. The bad news is that I simply can't get that musical phrase out of my head. For a day or 2, I'll mentally play it over and over, which can really disrupt any serious attempt to work.

Last night a friend sent me an audio/video clip, which is stuck in my brain today. I've probably played the actual clip 5 times total, & each time this same feeling of almost-aching pleasure overtakes me. (And whatever you might be relating this feeling to, I'd say -- Yeah, almost as good as that!) Then the tears come -- each time! I wasted many tissues over this piece. Today's blog post was supposed to be Part 2 of Photography, the Agony of Defeat. But why fight it? My brain just wants to hum this music & write about the utter joy I feel every time I see/hear the clip!

PROPOSAL FOR YOU: Please watch the clip with the volume turned up & your Kleenex handy. (Click the website link in the column on the right, "Too Beautiful to Bear..." It takes about 3 minutes.) It would be fun to know what "art" (in the broadest sense) you've encountered that gives you this pleasure. Please 'COMMENT' back!. (Just click the blue "Comments" link below this post & write in the box. Then decide if you want to be anonymous, sign your initials, name, or login to Google. No problem, regardless. Your comments will appear after I read them & weed-out the spam & the ultra-weird.) I hope you enjoy the clip! HERE'S A PROMISE: I'll get back on track in my next post :)

My New Product Case!

2007-08-28T00:53:00.000-07:00

I'm always amazed at how random encounters or events start their own chain reaction, resulting in decisions & actions I didn't foresee in my life. This particular chain reaction began with The Tan Lady, a shopper who visited my table at my first craft fair. In fact, unquestionably the brightest spot in my day as a seller at the Fremont Craft Market. (But to really appreciate the importance of The Tan Lady, you must read my first 2 posts dated August 8 & August 12. She's worth the read :)

Several friends have asked me if I followed up on the boutique lead The Tan Lady gave me. I'll leave you in suspense for now. But I will say that I began the process. I Googled everything I could find about how to pitch my jewelry to a shop owner. Of course, every article mentioned the need to look professional. With years of experience dealing with professionals, I think I've learned how to be professional, even if I know absolutely nothing about sales & marketing. I mean NOTHING! I can even adopt a casual-chic facade, if I must, but I still planned to pull my beautiful jewelry out of ziplock baggies, stacked in a plastic file box. Did I mention they would be stacked neatly? But Google resources said ABSOLUTELY NOT!

A few Googles later, I found what's called a Product Carrying Case, which comes in all shapes, sizes, materials, & prices. My only strong preference was that it needed wheels! The fabric case I bought was surprisingly inexpensive, BUT all the trays -- 17 of them -- would be pricey. Everything from plastic, to wood. Then you buy liners to fit inside each tray, sized for specialty items -- rings, necklaces, or earrings, for ex. Then decide how plush you want the velvet surface of the liners? It's just money.

So here's my new jewelry image -- case unzipped to show some of the trays in their stack & case closed with 1 tray still out.

What's the verdict? Would you buy jewelry from The Woman with the
Black Case? To be continued...

Excuse me. Did I ping you?

2007-08-23T23:54:00.000-07:00

I bet there's a question about blogging analogous to this old standard: "If a tree falls in the forest and there is nobody around, does it make a sound?"

I know I'll continue to make blogging noise whether or not anyone is listening because I'm beginning to enjoy it! It's fun to document this rollercoaster ride through my new jewelry-making business. But a little help getting readership never hurts. So now I'm educating my poor brain cell about Technorati & other blog search engines, PLUS the concept of pings. (Remember, I'm still proud of handling TWO (!) TV remotes:) So if I successfully ping Technorati, I'm going to run from the cops, hoping it's not illegal. Then I'm going to reward myself with some jewelry making. And that is cause for celebration.

Photographing Jewelry - The Agony of Defeat, part 1

2007-08-23T00:26:00.000-07:00

I've always known photography was not my strong suit. I bought myself a big treat 3 years ago, before I even discovered the brain cell that can make jewelry. After quite a bit of research, I chose a Canon PowerShot S50, a lightweight 5MP digital camera. "Surely I could learn to use all the manual adjustments," I said to myself, overly confident. I can fiddle with my PC pretty well, set my digital watch, & even handle TWO remote controls for the TV & all the goodies attached to it! However, taking a picture of my 2 grandchildren or granddogs as they squirm like eels or strike like lightning continues to elude me, whether the setting is Auto or manual! Hopeless. But jewelry doesn't move. That should be easy.

WRONG! In fact, when I decided to expand my jewelry-making passion into a business, the first huge challenge almost sent me packing. Photographing jewelry was even harder that wiggling eels! Lighting, clarity, close-ups... I mean reeeaaalll close-ups, with a camera I could barely use & no tripod. But impossible tasks trigger the hard-headed gene from my mother. No exaggeration ==> I took 400-500 pictures of just 20 sets of jewelry that comprised my first official Collection in 2006. I checked each of those jpg files in PhotoShop Elements, spending a month or more trying to substitute realistic colors for the dingy yellow cast over everything. I had much to learn about my camera & lighting, as you can see from the 'before' & 'after' hours with PhotoShop.

My only consolation was that I really liked the 3 minute wedding dress I made for this picture. Can you tell it's a tablecloth? (Please don't say YES!) It's tricky aiming a hand-held camera at yourself without raising your arms so high that the folded tablecloth falls off. But simulating clothing you don't really have in order to photograph your jewelry is subject matter for another blog or two! (To be continued...)

Glad this monitor only sees 1 way...

2007-08-20T00:35:00.000-07:00

Dear Readers,

I'm blushing with embarrassment & glad you can't see it. Maybe you've noticed my ever-increasing encouragement to visitors to write Comments under a post. Today I discovered that you have been commenting all along. I'm horrified to think that you've probably been wondering why I didn't post your Comments! Because I'm once again humbled by my ignorance of technology. Shortly after my first post ever, I read some forums advising bloggers to "enable comment moderation" in the Settings tab to keep spam & the ultra-weird off my blog. But I never stopped to wonder into what twilight zone Blogger would send Comments awaiting my approval. Instead I assumed no one was commenting. (So forgive me, but I do mean to "yell" the following...) BIG APOLOGIES TO ==> DOROTHY, BETH, MARLO, & DAWN for the very delayed publication of their lovely posts! An hour ago, I finally had a light-bulb moment & discovered the twilight zone containing the missing Comments, right under the "Posting" tab. Thank you all sincerely for reading my blog & especially for taking the time to Comment. OK, I won't make that mistake again. There are so many others awaiting their turn... The next post will be back on track :)

The Missing Piece...

2007-08-16T21:26:00.000-07:00

(Title with apologies to Shel Silverstein)

I'm lucky. I'm "retired." I do what I do because I love it, thankfully not because I must. I tell people that I make jewelry. Here is how I've spent this typical week, Monday through Thursday so far (Please hang in there with me. There really is a point to all this :) --

1) 30 hours -- computer work involving jewelry business ==> updating blog, changing & managing my Etsy site, changing & managing my Classic Beadwear site,
re-editing 15-20 pictures of jewelry for Etsy site, reading & contributing to Etsy forums & my team's Meet Up blog, fiddling around with new software gizmos to make my websites & blog more visually entertaining, researching the mysteries of pixels vs resolution vs picture size to get clear pictures (Does anyone really understand this!), browsing to find interesting blogs & websites.
2) 10 hours -- more computer "stuff" -- non-business related -- composing & replying to countless emails in 6 email accounts.
3) 10 hours -- activities with family & friends
3) 2 hours -- housework & cooking
4) 4 hours -- household business - paying bills, etc.
5) 15 hours -- sleeping
6) 4 hours -- walking for exercise
7) 6 hours -- personal needs -- showers, eating, etc.
8) 1 hour -- making jewelry!
9) 18 mystery hours -- Where did I squander this time?? I can't remember, but suspect that much of it was work related.

This analysis is an eye-opener to me ... disconcerting, like admitting I'm getting fat. I don't like the pattern & don't like what I see. I know I'm working hard at "the business of jewelry-making" ... 31 hours in 4 days, not counting a fair share of the 18 "mystery hours," no doubt.

My only question is -- Where is the Making part of jewelry-making? After all, that was & still is the passion that drove the creation of my micro-business! I've got so many design ideas in my head, but lately I've left no time to see their creation.

The reality is that to make a business successful, I've got to make it visible to others beyond friends & family. I've decided to tackle online visibility first, which explains the time spent at the computer. I hope all the effort pays off, as I certainly enjoy the Etsy community, which is international.

But today, I had the pleasure of reading a local Etsy artisan's blog that truly touched my heart. Sherrie most eloquently expressed what her craft meant to her life as a youngster, as a young mother, and now. It so grounded me to read her words that I've listed her Sweetest Peas blog in my favorites. I intend to read it whenever I have another week as skewed away from the Making process as this week as been. Hopefully between my zeal to succeed at the business & my passion for the art, I will find that fine line & learn to walk it.

The Surprise Phone Call

2007-08-12T17:00:00.000-07:00

ANGELS AMONG US: The phone rang as I was working on my Etsy website, and a woman said, "This is Carol from the Fremont Fair. Remember me?" OMG, it was THE TAN LADY, my hero on that sad day. (See my first post.) She had done me another unbelievable kindness. Living across The Pond in Seattle, she roams the hub of activity all the time & found a really nice store of local artisan-only craft items. She touted me to the sales lady & called to say that my jewelry would compete favorably with any other in the store. I now have the name & phone number of the owner. There were even customers in the store when Carol was there- & hopefully some sales. Carol also travels quite a bit & promised to remember me as she scouts various stores along the way. SCOUTS ARE GOOD :) Now, if only THE PHOTOGRAPHER would email me....

Isn't life amazing? We impact each other's lives in ways beyond imagining...

Please don't forget to vote on my 2 business cards, on the bottom-right. Poor Perky Bead seems to be behind in the polls.

Jumping into the Deep End ==> Craft Fair

2007-08-08T14:42:00.000-07:00

EXCUSES: I'm not going to start this blog with the beginning of my jewelry-making obsession 18 months ago (see Intro above), but with my first attempt to "be discovered" ==> My First Craft Fair. It was last weekend, The Fremont Sunday Market.
To be perfectly honest, several personal friends had suggested doing craft shows as essential for finding a market beyond these loyal friends & family. But I had & still have a ton of excuses for nixing that suggestion. And some excuses are real, especially this one: I have NO ROOM AT ALL to store "fair stuff" like the required 10x10 canopy & large tables! But recently an opportunity came out of the blue, & I said YES, before I could open my bag of excuses.

HOW IT CAME TO PASS: I belong to a group of Seattle-area crafters called the ETSYRAIN Team, a supportive, local selling "family" and part of the national group of ETSY artisans. Marlo had a brainstorm ==> share a booth at the August 5 Fremont Sunday Market! Wow... SHARE!! She & Jenny even offered two 10x10 canopies, plus Marlo's expertise & encouragement as a life-long professional crafter. Yikes! My jewelry was ready. My Aug. 5 calendar was empty. I had no excuse at all to pass this up. So I RSVP'd & my fate was sealed.

CONFIGURATION: I arrived with my trunk full of "stuff" at 7:45 am. Already all the cafeteria-type tables were lined up inside our rectangular 3-sided store. Since there was no room in the table line-up for my card table, I put it in the mid-point of the store's open side & barely under the canopy roof. Marlo's clothing rack of handmade satchels was just outside the canopy roof & right behind my table. So I made my jewelry set-up face the long row of tables forming the back wall of the store.

MY TIGRESS TABLE: I was really proud of the "look" of the table, though I'm not so impressed when I look at the picture! I chose a tigress theme because Wild Roar was about the most popular jewelry set in my latest Spring-Summer Collection.
Besides, have you noticed all the orange & black animal prints in the stores lately -- shoes, coats, purses, blouses? Didn't check underwear or socks, but wouldn't be surprised. Here's a Tiger tank by Fashionista at Nordstrom's.

The only unresolved display issue was how to label each sale-able entity with a price tag, a requirement. I definitely didn't like the ugly white tag on a 3" string. Any ideas on this???

THE WARES OF ETSYRAIN TEAMMATES: Eleven of us showed up to sell, crafting everything from knits & greeting cards; cotton fold-up satchels; decorative cotton letters of the alphabet, funny waterproof shower-art ("Never marry ugly"), knit accessories & bottle cap belts, to at least 3 other displays of jewelry, which is a typical ratio of jewelry sellers to all others. I have lots of tough competition out there. A special thanks to Ambika for giving me the final push into blogging, another challenge. My boothmates are a great group of folks, some with years of craft show experience, but most of us with none.

WAITIN' FOR BIDNESS -- We were all set by the 10 am opening, but where were the customers? Finally about 1pm, great hordes of bodies began entering the fair at the other end of the 2 block street.
Folks finally did make it all the way down the street & walked through the U of our store, but most with their eyes focused on the tables lining the sides & back. Many didn't even turn their heads to notice that tigress growling for attention in the middle! Unfortunately our store had very few sales. The most positive thing we say about our sales is that every seller had at least one. Too bad my only sale was to my daughter, who came down with the baby for moral support, (and because she's had her eye on Coppertones for a long time :)

It was a tough day, if selling was the goal.

A FEW GOLDEN MEMORIES --

a) THE PHOTOGRAPHER -- What do you say when someone with a fancy camera & close-up lens is taking pictures of your unique designs? Another dilemma. But we ended up talking for an hour -- very nice psychiatric nurse, taking a beginner photography class for his own sanity & doing an assignment to shoot one of the local fairs that weekend. He liked my jewelry a lot. I gave him my new "hip" business card (Is "hip" still a word?) & brochure with a request that he email me. I'd love a chance to ask him to snail-mail prints of his shots!

b) THE TAN LADY -- Along came a serious looker with a copper tan. She was examining Wild Roar, no surprise, as it was perfect for her copper-colored strapless bandeau. She said she loved my pieces -- "all of them." Her parents had owned a jewelry store, where she worked for years. She volunteered the suggestion that I approach exclusive clothing boutiques in Kirkland or Redmond to sell my jewelry! And Nordstrom!!! I was speechless as she went on and on. Why would I want to interrupt? She made my day! I gave her a hip business card, brochure, & a little gold-fill earring promo made for this event.

I'M TAKING A POLL: Which business card do you like better? Does either qualify as hip- lol? You can vote anonymously ... no hard feelings :) See VOTE below this writeup.

LESSONS FROM THE SCHOOL OF HARD KNOCKS -- When I got all my "stuff" back home again, I didn't know whether to cry, box up my beads & pliers forever, or sleep. After all that effort, so little interest & just one sale -- to my daughter. The bruise on my fragile confidence needed strong medicine. But I went to bed instead.

A glorious 7 hours later, I could easily list in my head all the valuable lessons I had learned during those hours at the fair. Here they are, in no particular order --

A. LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION -- Really true. Get a space near the start of the buyer's route. By the end of the route, they've spent their budget, a reality especially painful to sellers with expensive items like mine.

B. LOCATION WITHIN A GROUP STORE -- Get a table surface within the line-of-sight of the traffic flow. I would have done better to squeeze into the cafeteria tables lining the sides & back wall in the |_| configuration, so my items could be facing buyers as they entered the booth. I can only sell if a buyer sees me.

C. SIT NEAR YOUR SET-UP -- Having a table out in the middle means there's no place to sit at the table without blocking the safe flow of people through the store. When I got tired of standing in the street, I'd go out behind the back wall of tables & their sellers. Often I couldn't even see my table from there, but I had to sit down.

D. STANDING AROUND -- Because of (C) I stood around a lot. How? Where? What should I do with my hands? When do you offer to help someone looking at your wares? I felt awkward, as I knew NONE of these answers. Thankfully Marlo, our organizer & probably as experienced at this business as anyone anywhere gave me some amazing tips --

(1) BODY LANGUAGE: Don't stand out in the street near the booth entry like a sentry with arms folded or behind the back. It's off-putting. Standing like that at an angle is slightly better. But standing with a clipboard that gives you something to write on or something to do is the best.

(2) LOOKER VS BUYER: A Looker eyes your wares with her body angled away from the table or with hands behind back or in pockets. A Buyer stands parallel to the table examining carefully. If her hand comes up to her chin in thought, it's time to approach to help with a decision or to answer a question. She's almost ready.

ALL CHILLED OUT: Looking at this experience with some perspective now, I must admit I still feel frustrated. I'm working hard to gain confidence in my new art, and Aug. 5 (except for The Tan Lady & Photographer) shook my confidence. But I'm very hard-headed. Some would say DOGGED! Plus the lessons I've learned are valuable. The only way to test them is to do this again. I can see in Meet-Up's Online Forum that the Etsyrainers are getting serious about sharing other booths before the holidays. But I have no idea when I'll be ready to jump into the deep end again...