I <3 Etsy
If you’ve somehow not checked out Etsy and you have any interest in crafts and handmade goods… you’re missing a treat.
Like Ebay it offers small business and SRA’s a chance to sell their work but the overall atmosphere is very different. The format is all fixed price, the focus is on handmade crafts, the interface is clean, modern and friendly.
Basically, I’m in love.
As far as traffic goes - Etsy is much smaller than Ebay but this is balanced by the fact that I sell in a niche category on both sites. My items on Ebay don’t get many views when I don’t do active, external advertising and the same goes on Etsy.
Polymer clay is a pretty small part of Etsy so far but growing - there’s a street team (what they call their community groups) for clayers called the Polymer Clay Artists Guild of Etsy though.
And some of my friends have found their way to Etsy!
Kathi Gose has listed some of her Very Awesome canes in http://dragonsglass.etsy.com. Pat Stevenson has dipped her toe in at http://creationsbypat.etsy.com and Lisa Clarke of the amazing PolkadotCreations (all things printed and filmed about CLAY!) is at http://polkadotcreations.etsy.com
Claychicks Weekly - May 9
The ‘chicks have a stack of stuff on ebay this week: The last set of Carolyn’s pansies for the season, a crayon box of pastel roses and, my favourite, Fred Chases Bees:
I think I like it because in his younger years my cat was the mighty hunter of whatever bug dared tresspass into our house.
Year of Clay - Plant a Cane Garden
Valerie Hollis is a smart lady. On her site she has a project that I recommend for everyone who clays - actually, in some form for everyone, period. She calls it her cane garden.
I had started keeping slices from my canes before she published this page but mostly just out of habit - coming from a technical background, I’m a recorder and list keeper. I kept my old canes to see what worked, what didn’t. The physical slices live in a shoebox. My daughter plays with them. I scan them and add them to a folder by year before passing them over. The picture to the left is just a small sampling of a garden that’s been thriving the last 3 years.
Looking at it, I can see one of my first black and white canes and then one I did just this winter. Some canes from a 7 colour blend tutorial that Stargazer demo’d to us 2 years ago on PCC. A sample of what I made (the blue rose with no background) to show that yes, you could make good canes from the freshest Sculpey 3. An example of what to make from really awful canes (the bright red and yellow striped flower) where each stripe is a squished failed cane. Canes I made in response to challenges, to need, to requests.
Claychicks Weekly - May 3
Somewhere in the hectic last few weeks I sent new stuff to Claychicks USA branch, put up the bloggy page for the chix at www.claychicks.com, stuff arrived at Claychicks USA, I accidentally deleted 6 months of email while backing up folders and other catastrophes.
There’s good news though - I have new stuff up! A couple ebay auctions and new offerings in Etsy over the last and next few days.
Year of Clay - Bangle
I’ve always admired the clay bangles I’ve seen. Sarah Shriver makes wonderful bangles. Keith Brown applies his spectacular finishing to his bangles.
For me, it was a matter of construction. I wanted something fast and easy. That could go together in one simple session, if need be. And that was solid core with no moving parts. I have broken more prototypes than I care to think of.
So here’s one that is solid core, didn’t break, sanded and finished up. It’ll be a gift for my Mom so I’ve snapped a picture before it goes to it’s new (and more appreciative) home.
The bangle also showcases some of my recent canework and uses a brown base since the current fashion trend (probably ending since I noticed it) seems to call for browns and turquoises and creams.
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