Artistful.com

So my main place of sale is Etsy, but I also had stuff up for sale on a new site called Artistful.com. It's a pretty neat site where you can have your portfolio, network, and sell your items. Sign up is free. I even made 2 sales there recently. And then I found out why Etsy rocks so much. I love Artistful for it's networking, but for selling jewelry? Not so much. They take 20 percent of your sale AND from shipping because you have to include shipping in the cost of anything you sell there. And then, once you make a sale, the buy pays Artistful and Artistful holds the money for 2 weeks or until the customer receives their items, whichever comes first. Honestly, it's such a hassle. There's really no reason for it. Etsy doesn't do it that way and they're free. Artistful claims they take that much because they offer a free service. Clearly none of them belong to Etsy.

Therefore, after the two sales I made at Artistful, I moved everything I was selling into my portfolio (i.e. not for sale). But just 5 minutes ago, I was commissioned to make another pair of earrings just like the ones I had already sold on there. Go me! The funny thing is that the second I finished making the first pair (see left), I put them in the pile of "to sell if I can" because I didn't like the way they looked. Not one bit. Now here I am, about to make another pair! I guess we are our own worst critics.

30 minute earrings, part deux

Although I may not know if it actually took me 30 minutes to make these earrings, I am pleased to say that someone found them pretty enough to buy! So now I'm making more of them. I have four more in the making: two silver, one copper, and one brass. I'll also be making one white, silver and crystal pair that I may or may not sell. It depends on how much I love them. Then again, I can always make more if I sell them, right?

I think I will be submitting the instructions for this type of earring to the book contest and perhaps to the Baltimore by Hand blog. We'll see. :-)

Oh, and just in case you're wondering, these earrings go for $30 to $40, depending on the materials used.

Featured Etsymom: Kirsten Skiles

I was going through the members of the Etsy team I just joined (Etsymom) and didn't get very far before I fell in love with one of them. So I've paused in my browsing to bring you Kirsten from Knitsteel. Being an aspiring metalsmith myself, my mouth dropped open at the pure gorgeousness of her work. I have no chasing or repousse tools in my shop, but someday I hope to remedy that. In the meantime, here's an interview with Kirsten.
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Who are you?
I’m an Artist specializing in Custom Bronze and Ironwork. I make nature themed jewelry, home décor, artwork and sculpture.

What is your Etsy Shop Name/link?
http://knitsteel.etsy.com

What tag categories do you specialize in?
Art, Jewelry, Handmade Supplies, and Housewares (home décor)

Do you create for children or adults, women or men?
I create for adult men and women, but my work often appeals to teens and young adults.

What do you like about Etsy?
The opportunity to list whatever I want, when I want. I can list something whether I’ve got 1 or 10 available, whether it’s $10 or $100. It’s also wonderful to be selling directly to the customer and to develop personal relationships with buyers and other Etsy members.

What do you like about creating?
I get to use the talents God has given me and to work toward the visions that fill my mind. It’s also very rewarding when someone writes and lets me know how my work has enriched their life.

What do you love about your business?
1.Making money with my talent.
2. Getting to meet and work with all sorts of highly skilled and creative people.

What is your favorite product right now?
It’s hard to pick just one. I always love the single leaf wallpieces.

What makes you unique at Etsy?
I’m a highly skilled and experienced metalsmith. I work on large scale commissions outside of Etsy. I exhibit work in art shows. I specialize in the techniques of Chasing & Repoussé and teach workshops regularly. I make and sell my own chasing tools.

What makes you unique as a woman?
I’m a blacksmith.

What do you love about kids?
My kids have been the greatest joy and the greatest responsibility of my life. They’ve helped to focus all of my energy, in my art and in every day life. They teach me new things all the time.

What are some other sites to find out more about you and what you love to create?
My blog is probably the most informative http://knitsteel.blogspot.com
For more information on blacksmithing, start with http://www.abana.org . Then visit their affiliates page to find a group near you. In Minnesota start with http://www.metalsmith.org . In Wisconsin go to http://www.umbaonline.org

Tip of the Day: instantly make your space look less cluttered

Do you have a bookshelf packed full of books or papers or cds or a combination of the above? Go to your local fabric store and visit the remnants bin in the upholstery fabric section. For a few dollars you can grab a remnant large enough to turn into a curtain. Sew across the top, slip a tension rod into it and stick it in the top shelf to hide your mess. Or, if your shelf is old and you don't care if there are holes in it, screw in some hooks and use a dowel rod to hang it.

Cost: $15 or less
Time: 15 minutes

Holiday Heap

This year I went to the Holiday Heap for the first time. For those of you who don't know, the Holiday Heap was a juried craft show in Baltimore this past weekend. It was great to see so many gorgeous handmade things all in one place and I had a lot of fun even though I was carrying around a 6 month-old strapped to my front. I didn't buy anything, because I'm past my spending quota for the month, but I came away with some cards and have bookmarked some items to purchase when I have money later.

My favorite vendor was Little Flower Designs. They sell pottery with pretty little flowers or birds on them. The photo above is the one I'm going to buy when I have a little extra laying around. Love it.

And now I'm sufficiently diverted from the thirty minute earring project. I've put together my idea for a 30 minute earring and the prototype is for sale on Etsy right now. The problem is I don't know for SURE if it took me 30 minutes to make. Why? Because I'm a stay-at-home, first-time mom with a 6 month old who is on a "mommy-only" kick. So even when the hubby gets home, I still can't sit and try to make them in one go. I THINK they only take 30 minutes, but I'm not sure. I guess I can always submit my entry and see what happens.

And now I have to go stop her from rolling into the corner of the stone chess board.

thirty minute earrings

Here I am, sitting at the desk next to my workshop, trying to figure out what kind of earrings I could possibly make in 30 minutes that. Why? Because there's a contest, or rather, a challenge to make an awesome pair of earrings in 30 minutes. The winners will have their earrings and how-to published in a book. And I can enter as many as I want. I have one pair of earrings I'm already working on (see previous post), but can I get the time down to 30 minutes or less? I don't know. If I can, not only will I have an entry for this challenge, but I'll have something I can sit and make over and over to sell. The more I have to sell, the more money I could potentially make.

I have another idea in my head, one not in my sketchbook. The parts are sitting here beside my elbow as I type. This pair, I'm fairly certain, will take less than 30 minutes, but will they be pretty? Will anyone want to put them up by their faces and say, "Look at these awesome earrings! I bought them on Etsy, what a steal!"

I'm a perfectionist. Almost everything I make, I don't like after I'm done. The things I've sold so far, I'm amazed that anyone would buy them. My most recent sales were on Artistful.com. I haven't received any feedback yet, but I'm hoping the customer liked them as much in person as they did when she saw them on her computer screen.

Well, here I go. I need to make some earrings and see how they turn out.

evolution of jewelry

So I’m working on jewelries again. Yep. I have a sketchbook full of ideas. I just finished one ring and have another started, and yet I find myself stalling to push through a new wall. My flex shaft needs to be lubed.

:: I am giving you all The Look for sniggering at that. ::

My flex shaft is what I sand, grind (stop laughing), polish, drill (no really, I said stop), and cut with. It’s a wonderful time saving tool. And mine needs lube. Which means I have to get out the screw driver, unplug the *cough* shaft, and take it apart, then grease it up and put it back together. All of my projects that I’ve started are at the point where I need this tool.

And yet I’m completely unmotivated to do it. Mainly because I’ve never had to do it before. It’s new territory. Like taking Julia out to a store for the first time. I have to pop the proverbial flex shaft maintenance cherry.

I’ll have to do it tomorrow after I vote. Until then, I’ve decided that I’ll write to you all about my thought processes on (one of) my current projects. It helps me put off that whole messy lube incident.

I have no name for this project. That usually comes at the end. And they’re usually either very stupid or very dry names. Originally, I was going to make a necklace out of those copper and ribbon bits (for which there is a different sketch in my book. Then it was going to be a different style necklace. Then it was going to be a bracelet… back to necklace 2… and now they’ll be a pair of earrings shown in the sketch above. It’s not that I don’t WANT to make a necklace, that’s not it at all. The whole project kept changing and evolving in my head as I was putting the copper ends on the ribbon.

Then, last night as I was falling asleep, this sketch popped into my head. The ribbons will now be part of some middle eastern-inspired earrings. I’ve gotten the ribbons capped on both ends now and to a point where I can’t really turn back. Luckily, my mind seems to agree and has also settled on this idea. Now I understand how a story can write itself. I never really got that before.

So now, here I am. Ready to embark on the next step and I need my flex shaft.

Ok, maybe not QUITE yet, because I could start on the dome part first. Don’t even get me started on what could go wrong there. Damn torch. It’s moody. At least it doesn’t have a sexual name.

So keep your fingers crossed for me. I feel like I’ll need a little luck with my shaft and/or my torch.