Well I buckled down and posted my latest tutorial for covering round glass ornaments. It assumes you have some understanding of how to make sheets of patterned clay (an instruction I still need to write a tutorial for, ack!).
If you see a spelling or other error or can think of some small improvement please let me know either via my contact page or in the comments. I’d also love to see what people make with the instructions if they get a chance!
With Canada Post’s recommended cut-off date for international packages now past I’m working on the little projects I’d been neglecting.
First up was the tearing down and updating of my web shop on the site here. The software had stopped talking to my server and to PayPal a while ago but with everything else so busy and my work available easily on Etsy and ArtFire I’d neglected to do the housekeeping and just fix it.
I’ve fixed it and begun reloading it. The prices are all in Canadian $ which is a little under the US $ so American customers could enjoy a bit of a discount by purchasing here rather than Etsy. I will offer a larger variety of work here than on Etsy – though I will likely offer the same variety on ArtFire which has less painful listing options than Etsy. The prices also have a small increase – there’s no discount at the 6 bead stage anymore but still a buy 11, get the 12th free – and that will roll out to my Etsy and ArtFire shops as well in the coming days.
What else? I have a tutorial for covering round glass ornaments I will post this week. It’s nothing Earth shattering but it made my life simpler this season and made some cute ornaments to boot. Much less sanding than the method I had been using.
For 2010, I intend to offer my beads as buttons and I’m going to send out some batches to testers for free to start. If you are a fiber or fabric artist and either sell or blog regularly and would like some buttons to play with drop me a line and I will let you know at the end of the month what I’m giving away.
It seems like each show teaches me something new. This weekend I did my favourite little show in my old neighbourhood – Marlborough in Calgary, Alberta.
I borrowed a friends little foam cones that she’d whipped up to showcase her jewelry sets and put my bracelets out on those. The result? I sold bracelets. Since they’re usually lumped on a fairly unstable t-bar they don’t usually sell well but I bring them because they’re quite pretty. The instructions to make the cones are right here, along with a wealth of other information and you can bet I’ll be making some of my own!
Of course, last year at the same show I learned you sell earrings if you raise the display high enough so people do not have to bend over. Did I do that this year? No. Oops.
On a plus note, I now have several new display fixtures including proper, stable earring and necklace stands. I have to wait for the spring to USE them of course but hey, I can’t wait now!