Anonymous

Two blogs in a day? How can that be?? Well, I had a great day at the torch, five-and-a-half hours, to be precise. The result is a full kiln (sometimes, making sculptural stuff can be problematic - if I only made spacers, my kiln wouldn't fill up so fast!)

...and now I'm scared!

....what am I going to call them all???

You see, every week, I have 'special' names. There were the funny sounding names in America (Muddlety springs to mind :o), the Chinese proverbs, the Vulcan words (oh yes!), the Crowded House song titles.....whatever next?

And then there's all the roses and butterflies - they have 'real' names, first names, because they're, well, they're individuals, aren't they??? Some of them, I know immediately what they're called, but others can be harder. And this week, there's one very, very special bead that'll need a female first name. It's blue and teal, and related to water, and that's all I'm saying.

Sooooooo..........what shall all the beadies this week be named after? OH suggested the periodic table...any more for any more? And what about tht very, very special bead?? Which shall remain anonymous for now :o)

Decisions, decisions

I'm still looking for the holy grail, so I thought I'd blog about it and see whether anybody has found it. Here's the problem. I love making beads. And I love making jewellery. And I love all these outlets that are available for them. The question is - what do you put where? I mean, as a buyer, do you really want to flip from etsy to website to folksy to artfire, checking out and paying via a couple of different sites, then get one parcel in the post? Or do prefer having just one place to go, with everything under one roof?

I've pretty much given up on Folksy (nothing at all against folksy, but my day has limited hours!), but I'm trying to persevere with etsy. My clever idea was that I would move jewellery from the site and onto etsy, plus the beads made to order. And yes, I've had a sale - hurrah!! A pair of my earrings is now winging its way to California!

The trouble is, since the jewellery moved to etsy, I've sold far less than I normally would, because people *don't* move from my site to etsy. They also aren't doing what they were doing before, picking beads and asking to have them made up into jewellery. I don't know why, but it's been two months now that my jewellery has been on etsy.

So what to do? Do you split it? Having bits of jewellery as well as beads in both locations? Doesn't that mean the double-shopping again? Do you just accept that your work will get exposure in both places, just *different* exposure? I love the community spirit on etsy, the street teams, the treasuries, the buzz. I love that 'convo' is both a verb and a noun. I just don't know where the holy grail is.

360 degrees

Whoa!

Here it is, my second torch anniversary! So much happened since the last one....mainly me going sculptural big time. It's funny that the torching anniversary matters so much - well, not *so* much (since I can't remember the exact date of my first lesson ;o), but it's a great opportunity to take stock and reflect.

Here are some of the beads I liked most this past year, and thank you to everybody who has shared their knowledge and kindness with me over these past two years, and to the lovely bead collectors and jewellery makers who keep me in glass.

To celebrate, there's a little mailing list competition - join my mailing list by emailing me at mail@littlecastledesigns.co.uk, and everybody on my mailing list by end of August will go in the draw for one set of 5 made-to-order lace beads - winner chooses the colour. :o)

Leaving the comfort zone...

Following on from the last post, I have been - well...busy! Nothing focuses the mind like pending unemployment. So, in addition to launching a full bridal business at www.nowforevermore.com, I have been stocking my derelict etsy store (http://littlecastledesigns.etsy.com), and tried to keep a steady flow both there and on the 'normal' online shop at www.littlecastledesigns.co.uk. If this looks like a long list of links as part of a desperate flogging attempt...well, I guess it is :-) I've noticed a few things, and I don't know what they mean. I know that some beadmakers appear to be working in the shadows, generating a steady stream of income based mainly on commissions which never see the light of day on the general beading circuit. Others twitter and tweet and blog everything they sell. I'm not saying any which way is better or worse than the other, just that there appears to be more than one way to...stuff a mushroom (never liked skinning cats). And so I thought I'd post all links conveniently together :-)

Here's another:

http://bit.ly/FUZbP

It's the URL to an ebay auction finishing a week from today, for a lampwork bead based on Edvard Munch's The Scream. Another funny thing. It looks a bit grubby, but that was entirely deliberate. Should I have tried to 'prettify' it by sticking less closely to the original? I don't know. As it is, I've promised myself to try one 'art bead' based on a famous painting per month, for auction. Let's see what happens, eh?

Crossroads

You know the number of times you contemplate whether this is something you might do full-time? Head for the garage in the morning, bead for a few hours, clean beads, photograph, make jewellery, etc.? I'm at one of those crossroads at the moment. Me being methodical within the chaos, let's evaluate:

pro-hobby approach:

- safe and secure income from day job

- in the current climate, difficult to find job if you change your mind

- if you don't fancy beading for a couple of weeks, the world will not come to an end

- if equipment breaks down, the world will not come to an end

- you can experiment, even if it turns out rubbish, it doesn't matter, you don't *have* to sell

- you can price however you want (interesting one, this, see below!)

pro-pro approach:

- you do what you love, every day (but see point 3 above!)

- LOTS more time behind the torch = more ppp = better beads

- more time to build up customer base

- working from home, flexible hours

- time to do teaching, fairs, etc.

Concerns:

Flexible hours = lots of hours - but more than working full-time plus making beads and selling them as a hobby?

Pricing: interesting...I try not to underprice professional bead makers, but if I *was* a professional bead maker, wouldn't I have to lower prices, simply to sell more? A constant conundrum.

This is a rather convoluted ramble - which is, in fact, rather representative of the twists and turns inside my mind.

What's in a name?

I like naming things differently each week. Call it a hangover from being a linguist, but I know most bead makers think names are important. In my search for ever new ideas for names, I don't always get it right. Sayings, for example, seem to evoke a more direct response than, say, place names or ...(I know!!!) Vulcan words (I was particularly stuck that week). So, something is definitely in a name. I already picked the category of names for this week, although this week won't be particularly productive. So meet: "Into Temptation". Question is: What will it be next week?

Patience, grasshopper

Am I the only one who always wants to make beads way beyond my skills? It didn't take me long after my first lesson to decide that round doughnut beads would not be the be-all-and-end-all. I still have the first bicone I was happy with. It's maybe an inch long. When I got into sculptural beads, my first roses looked like something the sugarplum fairy might have left behind...from *her* behind. And you've already seen Cyril the dragon. So why can't I settle in a comfort zone? And why do I always want to know more than I do?

Have you noticed? It's not just me. It seems to be a trait inherent in bead makers, no matter their level of skill or experience. If you can fume, you want to paint with enamel, if your dot placement is perfect, you want to sandblast, electroform and engrave. Is it just me, or is this hobby salvation for the easily bored, those always striving to push themselves somewhere new? Here's that first bicone. Lest we forget how far we all have come :-).