News: the new things

A couple of things. Spring break was fantastic...I got not nearly as much work done as I planned, which is probably as it should be considering my schedule lately...unfortunately, I got hammered with schoolwork immediately afterward, and I have not been able to go to bed before 3:30 am since break ended last Sunday. So forgive my silence, and here's some news and some pretty pictures to compensate.

I joined a project called the Year of Jewelry - it's a yearly project in which participants make a piece of jewelry every week for a year...obviously no promises, since the only free time I really have weekly is on Wednesday nights, and jehttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifwelry-making inspiration is not something one can turn on on cue...but I managed my first week, at least. This is week 12, because the sign-up goes by quarters of the year, so I'm not starting at the beginning...I wonder if I should restart at week one next year or just go until week 12 again...then again, I guess it doesn't matter. The Project is a really neat forum full of people like myself, but people who know more than I do and are better at what we both do than I am. They are friendly and like sharing what they know, and I'm really excited to be in a community with them where I can make friends. If you want to see some really spectacular pieces (as well as some pretty normal pieces from people just starting out, like me) go visit http://www.bleilysgems.com/YearofJewelry2011/.

Anyway, here's my first post for Year of Jewelry:

This pair has been floating around in my head for a while like a blossom on the breeze. I wanted it to be extremely light and open like the first spring breezes that have been sifting through my hair lately...but knowing me, it had to be something small and subtle. I don't go for gaudy. So here's the result; they go very well with dark hair. I like the organized but somewhat chaotic wrapping of the wire and the contrast between the dark and light oxidization.

By the way, the peach head pins in the middle are exclusive to livewirejewelry and I have no idea how she makes them! A really interesting effect and the contrasts are perfect for flowers, looking like nature herself built them.

And, some more pictures! I went on a roll recently and then got a chance to take pictures over break.

These are in no particular order: celtic knot copper and sunstone earrings, copper and multi-gemstone earrings (that's lapis lazuli, chrysocolla, moss agate and sodalite), earrings of moonstone and sunstone, a mandala-style necklace of copper and carnelian tentatively titled "spokes of the sun", and some tribal-looking fishy earrings I think I'll call "Fossil".

Can you tell I've been having fun with copper?
The glow of sunstone is really hard to capture on camera, by the way...the problem with selling chatoyant gems online. Moonstone also glows, making those peach and orange earrings the most awesome piece of subtle work I've ever done.


The mandala necklace, by contrast, is big and not subtle at all. The bail is one of my better ideas, though I still might modify it - the wire is wrapped tighter in some places than others so that part of it seems to float off the chain. It looks really neat on...that was actually the necklace I was wearing when the man complimented me and asked me what my website was.


Those last ones weren't even meant to be fish. They just turned out that way. This is rhyolite - rainforest jasper, jungle jasper, basically these are amazon piranhas in a hammered-copper-ancient sort of look.































Edit: Due to a lot of comments on my Year of Jewelry post (the project, by the way, has already gotten me more feedback than I expected, I'm very happy about it) that said that the headpins in the earrings looked like "clean copper...just out of the pickle [solution]" I'm posting a couple of pictures of the other head pins that livewirejewelry makes, just as an example to prove that it's a mysterious process and they're not just shiny copper. My camera's not the best, so it's kind of difficult to tell.


The peach-colored ones are the ones in the project. The others are aqua and red, and I don't have those, these pictures are used with permission from Lisa at livewirejewelry.

Momentum

I sold a pair of earrings recently and that customer today emailed me to say, could I make her four more pairs? I got another email timestamped a few minutes afterward to say, oops, make that five pairs. !!!!!!!!!

I think that if I could just get the word out, a lot of people would really like what I make. But I'm not active enough and I don't make enough examples for it to be easy for people to find them. I need to make a new shop with a new name, and honestly it's just a stupid excuse for me, that I don't know what to name it...I keep telling myself as soon as I come up with a good name, I'll make a new shop for my origami pieces. I should just DO it. Names, names, names! I just need to pick one, the name doesn't really matter as long as Letterbox Lion is still fine for the other one and has a domain name and everything.

But time seems so lacking recently...I will have about a half-hour of downtime after class today before I go out of town for two days...and I didn't finish making the copper piece I started yesterday. Midterm season is almost over...I just have to power through it. Oh, man, the kanji part of my Japanese midterm...that was not pretty. Let's hope that doesn't affect my grade too much. Oh well, things should be looking up soon!

On that note, looking for an apartment in Boston...man, everything is so expensive here. My friend lives in Troy, New York, and he has an apartment that I could AFFORD, on my 15-hour a week dining hall job...but getting an apartment around here is six times the rent, I'll need help to afford it even with a roommate.

Also, I got my packages...I've been floating around with fire agate and carnelian and garnets and sunstones in my head. Sunstones! I splurged and bought some GORGEOUS little rondelles with fantastic chatoyance, I'm so happy...the only problem is that the holes are very small and I don't have a bead awl, so I need to figure out how to show them off best using small-gauge wire...and I'd like to have the wide part forward in some cases (some of them are just so pretty it would be a shame to only see the sides)so I need to figure out how to do that when I can only fit one wire through the hole. I'll do it though! I've already started.

A Glimpse Into My Mind

I have this weird habit where whenever someone talks to me unexpectedly, or goes out of his way to communicate with me, I assume I did something wrong. For instance, a friend of mine sent me a message over Facebook the other day and all it said was, "Are you going to be at practice on Tuesday?" I had no idea why she was sending a message to me, but I assumed, as I always assume, that she wanted to take me to task on something...and I couldn't imagine what I'd done to offend her, and it made me very nervous. All she wanted was to ask if I could give something to someone for her, and my reaction was completely irrational...as is probably obvious to anyone who's not me.

The other day, I was at work in the dining hall, and I was the last of the student employees to leave because I volunteered to stay and help with something. After I finished, I went back to wash my shoe-covers off, only to discover that three other people at some point during the day had failed to wash theirs, simply leaving them in the stairwell where they hoped nobody would see. I take my job pretty seriously, I want to be good at it, and I want the higher-ups to like me. So I picked them up and washed four pairs of shoes instead of one, but I was still on the clock, so I didn't really mind. However I did feel kind of guilty staying so late - I'm technically supposed to get off at 9:45, but it almost always goes until 9:55 at least...still, by the time I was done it was 10:05, so I felt a little like I was taking advantage of something, milking it for all the hours I could get, when really I was just doing work that other people had failed to do. As I passed by my manager's boss's office on the way to clock out, my manager's boss, Adam, called out to me, "Hey, Leo."

This is what happened in my mind:

Adam: Hey, Leo.
Leo: Hey, yeah?
Adam: Why are you still here? *shakes finger at me* I can't give you hours just for not leaving early enough, you know.
Leo: Oh, I'm sorry, I was just washing some shoe-covers.
Adam: We'll need you to sign this waiver form saying that you just didn't clock out in time, you didn't actually earn any money, you're a horrible person, you're trying to extort the company by doing extra work, and I would berate you for ten minutes if I didn't have better things to do.
Leo: D: D: D:


This is what actually happened:
Adam: Hey, Leo.
Leo: Hey, yeah?
Adam: Thank you. For washing those. I appreciate it.
Leo: Oh, uhh... I don't mind. I mean, I'm still on the clock...
Adam: Oh, that's okay, *waves hand dismissively* I don't mind. When are you working next?
Leo: Tomorrow at 11.
Adam: Okay, see you then! *smile*
Leo: See you then!

I mean, enough said. I don't know why I do it to myself...at least it means I'm pleasantly surprised a lot, but it also causes me a lot of unnecessary stress.

Pet Peeves from a Bead Buyer

Dear Bead Suppliers:

After a long few hours of scouring the internet for gemstones I want, I'd like to provide a few helpful hints that will keep you from annoying the heck out of your potential customers and scaring or pissing them off.

JUST A NOTE: These are pet peeves...as in, they are things that make me mad when bead-shopping. Therefore, they are a little "peeved" sounding. I recognize that most of the people who do these things probably actually don't realize it, mean it, or have in mind how it comes across, but I wanted to write down what goes through a customer's mind in case a bead supplier found it helpful to know...you never know, you might look back at one of your posts and realize that it looks a lot like you're trying to take advantage of your customers, even when that had never crossed your mind. That is the purpose of this post...to help you figure it out so you can fix it, and help you and help me.

So:

1) Put what it is in the title. ALL OF IT. "Carnelian chips" is better than "gemstone beads" but the best is "Deep orange natural carnelian chip beads 36" strand." Even "half strand" isn't enough, because that could be anywhere from 4 to 18 inches. If someone told you that people don't want to read a long title like that, that person didn't realize that many people are looking for something specific! I was looking for a lot of tiny, deep orange carnelian chips...I didn't want to waste my time clicking on "carnelian chips" only to find out they are 10mm long and light brown and I only get 4 of them. You see?

2) PLEASE, PLEASE, at least SOMEWHERE in your post, put how many beads there are. I know it's a big hassle to - *GASP* - COUNT them all, and I could *theoretically* calculate it (most of the time; see #4) using math, but let's be honest here: I just DID that and it didn't work. I came up with something like 98 beads of some size per some inch strand, and a post I read directly after that said, for the SAME STRAND AND SIZE, "approx. 66 beads." As you can see, that method really doesn't work... however, while it *might* make me think I'm going to get more than I actually am, and thus get you business...what's more likely is that it will just annoy me so much that I don't want to go through the hassle of doing the math, when I know that I will probably receive the beads and find out I was wrong...and therefore, the hassle of buying from YOU is just too much, compared to someone who puts a succinct "approx. 66 beads" on his post. I'm much more likely to buy something when I actually know what I'm getting, and if I only get 40 beads, I can call that guy out on it, whereas if I got a long strand of very loosely packed beads and didn't get nearly as many as my math said I would, I have no recourse, I wasted my money. I know that, you know that, and I know you know that, so just put the darn number in and there wouldn't be a problem.

3) A good picture is worth as much as everyone says. Get a camera with a macro setting, they're pretty cheap now. Get some nice colors in the picture, and no blurriness and don't let the shadows make them look like they're dirty. Also, dust them off before taking close-ups. I am not going to click on something that looks that unprofessional, and even if it's just an off day or you were in a rush, it stays up there for months or more - it's worthwhile to go back and get a better picture. I'm buying beads that I haven't actually seen...I want ones that look GOOD, so make yours look GOOD.

4) Don't switch out measurement units from one post to another. 48 beads in one post, "half strand" in another, then "14 inches" in one, and 13 GRAMS in another. How on EARTH am I supposed to know how many beads I'm getting by the GRAM? And there's no way I can calculate that given the irregularity of gemstone mass. Seriously, it may SEEM to work out advantageously for you to kinda-sorta-just-barely-mislead your customers, but some of us are wise to it and find it REALLY annoying.

5) Rondelles have two dimensions worth talking about. A 4mm rondelle and an 8mm rondelle look exactly the same? No, people just don't bother to name which dimension they're talking about and only bother with one of them...news: it makes a difference. One of them I want, and the other I don't...and if I can't tell if yours is what I want, I'll go with certainty for a few cents more.

6) Microfacets are tiny. ITTY-BITTY. Kind-of-faceted-just-to-make-them-look-better is a look I really like, and it is NOT the same as microfaceted. I am not LOOKING for microfaceted. Be accurate or risk losing the business of people who want what you're selling and are accurate when searching for it. People who search for microfacets are going to find your items, which are not microfaceted, and they won't buy them...and I will search for faceted nuggets or faceted chips, and I WILL NOT FIND YOUR ITEM because you thought it was fancier to say it was microfaceted. Fancier is not what you're selling. You're selling rough faceted nuggets.

6.5) BE DESCRIPTIVE. PLEASE. We're here to buy things that are important to us, and we want to know about them. Be as helpful as you can. Kudos to the people who write "smooth" on rondelles and rounds and such that aren't faceted (and are smooth). Some rondelles and rounds that aren't faceted are also not smooth, so the extra descriptor gets important.

7) By the same token, be enthusiastic. Obviously this is not required, and not as essential as having a good name, but if you say something about the luscious color that you just can't take your eyes off, I'm willing enough to be marketed to (after all, I'm on your site as a buyer, not a cynic) that I will take a second look at the color specifically, to see what you like so much about it...if it didn't strike me the first time, you've just earned another chance for me to get hooked on your lovely beads and just HAVE to "add to cart." Compare them to a lot of things that are inspiring in themselves..."rhyolite rondelles" vs. "rainforest jasper rondelles in shades from gold to forest green" - they are the same thing, but which is more picturesque? I can't believe that some people just don't consider that.

7.5) Also, if your product description is only one little line - basically, the essentials of the product: 36" strand carnelian chips deep orange. NOT ONLY have you lost any potential chances to make me look at your product again to see if it's what I want, to see it for what is good about it...NOT ONLY THAT, but it basically sounds like you just don't have the time or patience, and you just don't CARE about your products enough, to write a decent description. Personally, I write ridiculously long descriptions for my work because every piece is IMPORTANT to me...every time I mail one off, I feel like I'm sending a baby off to college...so to me, it's really repugnant not to care. That's not artistic or inspiring, it doesn't make me want to use YOUR items to make MINE, because they are so devoid of love, I'm afraid it will rub off. If I buy them, it will probably be because I want to give them a better home than yours. You know, no offense or anything. And you might like to know that many of my customers have commented that my "overly-long" descriptions made them laugh, had a lot of personality...that makes them willing to spend time on my site. Your descriptions depress me, and that makes me not want to buy from you.

8) If it says "natural" in the name, I expect natural color, not just "natural because it's a stone and it came from the ground at one point." "Natural dyed agate" does not make sense to me...and if you say "natural blue agate," that had better be a natural BLUE, not just a "natural" agate.

9) On that note, that crazy fuchsia? That ridiculous neon blue? That is not a color of natural stone...and I know a few tricks, like the dye stuck in the cracks? Yeah, even an ameteur can tell...and people who don't know "tricks" can still figure it out just by comparison shopping from more honest merchants...it's obvious if it looks the same all over but yours is the only one that doesn't mention dye. So why doesn't your post mention that it has been dyed? Are you trying to mislead people who can't tell into thinking it IS a natural color? I think so...and when you actually SAY that it's natural, then there's a problem. I will never buy anything from you if I notice you doing that, and I spend enough on beads just by myself that I and my demographic of people-who-can-tell are probably worth your time to woo. Just put it in the post. If I think it's pretty (and I never do about the crazy fuchsia ones, but it's because they're crazy fuchsia, not because they're dyed) I will buy it, so worry more about being seen as a liar than as someone who sells dyed agates like everybody else does. After all, if I can't trust you on something as simple as that, how can I trust you with my money?


Long story short:
Accuracy, Helpfulness and Honesty. These things should be on your mind.


Love,
Leo
Just having spent too much on beads again, but expecting a couple really amazing packages.

Developments!

Well, I had my first example of a MAN asking me where I got my necklace...especially special, since he actually asked me for a link to my site. I really need to be more aggressive, to be honest, when he said he liked my necklace I just thanked him, and didn't tell him I had made it until he actually asked where I had gotten it. I feel strange tooting my own horn to people I don't know. I wonder why he asked, actually, but tomorrow is Valentine's day, so that might explain it.

I've been reading a blog by a guy named Zach Wienersmith (fantastic name), who is a successful webcomic artist. He's also pretty much the person he wants to be - spends all his time reading, thinking and making comics, because he wanted it that way. And his blog has a lot of good advice on it. Mainly, what I took away from reading the archives was "if you really want something, you have to be willing to suffer for it. If you're not willing to suffer for it, you don't want it as much as you think you do."
I'm taking this to heart. I need to be MORE willing to suffer for my craft and my business, spend more time on it, do more of the gross stuff like sealing cranes...my business will get bigger if I just work on it more, and if I want it to take off, that's what I have to do. If you asked me if I wanted it to take off, I would say yes...but if I'm not willing to suffer for it, how much do I really want it? We'll see.

I also learned lately that if you plan to do something, it's better not to tell people about it. They give you the fulfillment that you're looking for by saying "oh, that's cool" and then you don't feel like you need to do it anymore...you get the same level of fulfillment with much less work. Therefore, I'm not going to make lists of things I need to do anymore...I don't even do them until I would have done them anyway. Goodness knows what I'm going to blog about if it won't be wild predictions of how much more awesome I'm going to be in the near future, but I guess we'll find out.

And as to that, I'm struggling right now with finding a place to take good pictures. Historically, the ONLY good pictures I've been able to take have been at my boyfriend's parents house, on the back step. Obviously, I don't go there with any regularity, and I have no place around here to photograph my new (and awesome) stuff. I assure you that I HAVE been having fun with copper! But I have no photographic evidence of it. :( Anyone around Boston know where I can find some simple slate-tiled floors?

Prospects

So.......

I'm considering the prospect of opening another shop. I know, I'm already managing three-ish, considering my different sites, and opening another on Etsy would mean another on ArtFire and Zibbet, too. But I think it might be worth the time investment...I want to separate my two lines. I think that seeing jewelry made of paper right next to jewelry made of gemstones might put off potential customers, and then, pricing such things relative to each other is rather screwy - the origami pieces take me much longer but cost much less to make. I don't think I want to put them next to my newer work anymore, because they probably seem too expensive when compared. They are difficult pieces and I really can't charge less for them, but I charge relatively little for my gemstone pieces, (I should probably work on that, actually, since pricing affects perceived value) and when things like my Thunderhead earrings are only a little bit higher-priced than Starburst wrapper earrings...well, it's incongruous.

I know not many people are following me yet, but I'd appreciate opinions. And also potential names! I'd like to connect it to LetterboxLion in some way - I've considered TheGreenLion as a username but apparently it's taken on Etsy already...and for some reason, LetterboxGolden keeps popping into my head. Any thoughts?


Also,
Earth Drops - chrysocolla on oxidized copper, like water beading down a string, if the water were a tiny little earth.

Silence On My Part

Eating my words, combined with things that speak for themselves makes this a blog post full of silence.

Eating my words:

ArtFire not only has a free basic account, it has the most fantastic free basic account of anything anywhere ever, with unlimited listings and no commission fees or listing fees! It's so beyond worth it for me to post there, since all it costs me is time, and the interface rivals Etsy's even without the pro features. Once I get good at this, maybe Etsy will be even more expensive than ArtFire, who knows...I've made some friends lately who spend more like $50 on Etsy monthly, and are grateful for the $10/month pro plan on ArtFire. So anyway, it costs me less to sell on ArtFire, so I guess I'll redirect my traffic there to what extent I can. Go check out my ArtFire shop!


Things that speak for themselves:
































More later! Lots of rigamarole to go yet, getting the photos into posting shape. But the first two are up, on Etsy and ArtFire.