Are you lost or incomplete?

So my Etsy shop has been in existence for nearly a year. When I started, I wasn't sure if anyone would actually want to buy anything I made. I was lucky to be rewarded with a couple of sales right away, which in Etsyland is pretty rare - some people wait months for that exciting first sale.

Depending on how active I've been each month - making new jewelry and magnets, renewing items so they pop up higher in search results, re-taking photos until I'm happy with them, I've had varying levels of success. There are a few months where I sold nothing at all, and a few months where I've had 2-3 sales. Given that this is a serious hobby, and not my actual source of income, I've been fine with that. My goal is to consistently get one sale per week.

In July, that didn't quite happen. I sold one pair of earrings the entire month. Kind of disappointing, but my crazy work schedule prevented me from dwelling on it too much.

In the meantime, because we ditched our home phone and I got a new cell phone (yay iPhone!), I realized both Spike and Peanut needed new ID tags for their collars. So armed with my metal stamping skillz, I made a couple of tags for the pups.

I was quite pleased with how they turned out, so I posted a new listing in my shop for a custom pet ID tag last weekend:



Of course, I'm always excited when I add new stuff to my shop, but the reality is that the world doesn't flock there to buy tons of them right away.

The Etsy message boards are filled with people lamenting about their lack of sales, and there are tons of posts about being very slow. So I wasn't expecting much for August.

And then suddenly my shop exploded in a flurry of activity. I've sold several magnet sets and I've sold three of those pet tags in the past week. For me, that's total craziness. And to top it all off, my friend Alice bought four pieces of jewelry from me today (yay Alice!).

I am thrilled! It means I have even more reason to make new items! It also brings me precariously close to averaging 1 sale per week for the past year. Way, way closer than I thought I'd be. Woot!

So a big THANK YOU to all of my lovely customers, whether you're a stranger, friend or family. Thanks for all of your encouragement and validation (you like me! you really like me!) because I really *love* this low-tech, making stuff with my own two hands, kinda thing. It keeps me sane and gets me to do something else besides work all the time. Yay for all of you.

Wrapped in metal, wrapped in ivy

OK, I know my male readers (or should I say, readeR) are probably sick of all the jewelry talk and pictures. Sorry guys.

But I wanted to post what I made in my Metalsmithing class this weekend since I'm quite proud of it. This week we learned about sawing and drilling (YEAH!). We got to use the Flexshaft which is kind of a like a Dremel tool with a footpedal. It takes all sorts of attachments so you can use it for drilling and a bunch of other stuff as well. I expect to learn about that other stuff in the coming weeks.

Anyway, here are the earrings I made from a 3x3 square of flat copper sheet metal:

First I drew the shape on paper, photocopied it and pasted them onto the metal. Then I used a punch to "start" the holes, and then drilled them out with various sized drill bits. Finally, I used the saw to saw out the square shapes, then used a needle file to file all the uneven bits.

Class was awesome. I did learn that big drill bits don't work well with the Flexshaft. I also learned that it's going to take a lot of practice for me to properly load the teeny tiny blades into the saw frame, so that I don't snap them every 2 seconds. I went through about 6 blades because they snap if you don't load them with enough tension. I mean, you are sawing through metal with a tiny flexible blade that's only a few mm thick.

I'm now starting to consider buying some of the equipment to start a small home studio. The acetylene torch might be out (since my studio space is actually one of our guest rooms) but I could definitely saw, hammer and drill in there. And solder too. We'll see how it goes.

I've ordered my copy of Tim McCreight's book called "The Complete Metalsmith" which is supposedly the bible. I can't wait for it to show up.

You know what we mean

As promised, here are some pics of my weekend projects. To prove that I really was busy. Apologies to those whose calls I didn't return :(. You can click on any of the pics to get a closeup look.

Project One: Revamped coral necklace that I got from my mom. The coral part is 37 years old!




Project Two: Antique charm bracelet plus modern charms from etsy. I'm guessing this bracelet's backstory is probably not so happy given that it ended up in a New Hampshire antique shop rather than passed down through the family. But I love it - someone took the time to get their kids' (or grandkids') birthdates engraved on the charms. And the names are so classic 1950s America: Sally, Dick, Susan. I added some cute colorful charms I found on etsy to perk it up.



Project Three: Copper bracelet annealed and hand-forged by Yours Truly. It started out as a 6 inch piece of 6 gauge copper wire, the kind you get at a hardware store. Yes, it looks like a kindergartner's art project. But it's metal. And I used a torch! And got to hammer! On an anvil! Woo hoo!

I'm marking it down to learning

Woot! Just got back from my Jewelry/Metalsmithing I class session at Pratt Fine Arts Center in Seattle.

So cool! We just learned about annealing metal (ie heating it till it glows with an acetylene torch, then dropping it in water to quench it, and putting it in sodium bisulfate to remove the oxides), forging it (hammering!), and filing it.

I made a copper cuff bracelet out of a piece of 6 gauge wire. It's kind of lopsided and imperfect, but I'm pretty darn proud of my first attempt with metal. I'll post a picture sometime this week.

Been a busy but fun weekend. I did a "jewelry extreme makeover" on a coral necklace from my mom, that I plan to keep for myself, made 3 bracelets to sell in my etsy shop, repaired the clasp on another bracelet, and spiffied up a very cool charm bracelet I bought on ebay. Pictures of all projects to follow in a later post - one thing I didn't get to was photography.

I got a request from a family friend for two sets of mother-daughter necklaces. Woo hoo! Now I just need to figure out what to make. Being a techie at heart, it's hard to start a project like this without detailed specs. I guess that's where the arty side of me kicks in, right? I sure hope it does. But I'm just thinking about ideas and have had a few already, so I think it'll be fun.

Everyone, please think happy thoughts for my parents' dog, Mona. She has been diagnosed with lymphoma, poor thing. They've started treatment for it so hopefully she will get better soon. Hugs to her, and to my parents.