Featured

I'm so thrilled. Pravina Studio (who makes lovely bags, BTW) has picked me for a feature on her lovely, sophisticated, dream of a blog Heartland.

It's always nice to be featured, but it's *especially* nice to be featured on one of the few blogs you were following the feed of pretty religiously. If you haven't checked her out, do - not simply because I'm there, it's got tons of its own merit.

It's basically a serious answer to anyone who thinks that flyover land is, well, flyover.

Since it's inspiring to try and stay on top of culture instead of just being a beading shut-in, I've got to get to the Richard Prince show at the Walker before it's over. I'd hate to miss this one.

I've been doing a lot of non-wovens lately, they're kind of freeing and spontaneous. But I've got a great woven piece in the works today, glass and pearl, too!

Silver Pinch

Live Spot Silver

Ouch. I just wanted to say that. Just got some wire and 1000 new little seamless sterling rounds.

I also wanted to complain, in public, about the difficulty in finding seamless 2mm 14/20 gf. I won't bother with 12/20, and all the 14/20 I find, just about, other than one place in Canada (argh!) has "nearly undetectable seams"

well that's great, except the wirework I do tends to bear down on them enough to squish them into little donuts that slide off the beadwork. One can imagine how pleased I am if this happens not at the start of a row of weaving, but as I'm wrapping one up.

Also 30ga DS wire in 14/20 gf. Nonexistant. The Yeti of wire. And I'm a pretty savvy shopper.

That said, it's almost Music Friday again. Comments or no comments I'm pressing on!

Sweeney Bracelet

It's so hard to "get" garnets in a photo - I'm not sure this does, really.

Fully woven, plus size (8.5in) bracelet in sterling and amazing smooth garnet drops.

I have the most amazing strand of pearls to play with - they're "druzy" pearls, very round with a blistered, druzy-like texture - they look kind of like sugar beads, but they're pearls. I have no idea what will become of them - frankly I bought them with the intent of making very demure simple earrings on blackened sterling with these little 8 mm dangles. They're SO pretty.

Music Friday

Ok, time for a new blog feature here - there's only so much staring at my jewelry I can do. I'm a huge music dork and I find these little playlist tools insane amounts of fun. I'm pleased that there's some non-crappy songs to pick from. Some people shoot lots of pics of their work space to get you to know a little more about them - picture a messy desk and you've got mine. If you really want to know more about what my work environment is like, I invite you to hang out in my auditory environment on Fridays.

Trivia extra - can anyone else find the MIS LABELED track here? Hint: it's one of the older songs. Find it, comment here with some way of emailing you, and I'll email you a fifteen percent off code for EITHER of my etsy shops (enso.etsy.com or bombalurina.etsy.com)

The Blame Game - and new earrings.

steely2
Originally uploaded by ensojewelry

I love using these vintage lucite beads as a base rather than the customary painted wood - where there is some show-through you can really get interesting color effects.

I'm getting testy about the tendency of people on etsy to be so much more worried about what everyone else is doing and trying to find some locus for blame whenever they're not selling.

If I'm not selling it's because there's so much vintage and supplies, or because someone has a lower price point, or because of foreign resellers, or batman, or bananas or the government --- enough already.

Take a look at your own shop and do something about it. Put a tenth of that energy into refining your work, your marketing, your promotion, and you won't have to blame anyone but yourself.

That's a good theme, actually. I did a craft fair where I really tanked lately - I did not do what I expected.

I could easily have blamed the fact that I was next to someone with lower priced merch and blame the shoppers, but no - I wasn't prepared, my stuff was not presented NEARLY as nicely as the seller next to me, I didn't go in with as much stock as I should have . It was me, all me, and an object lesson rather than something to beat myself up over! When I told my mother her first instinct was to ask "oh what was her work like" about the person next to me who was rocking - I told her no, that's not the issue, it was nice and it was all beautifully carded and displayed - I had fallen down on my job of making my stuff look its best and I was paying for it.

That's the only blame game I'm interested in, the one which makes me do better next time.

Ohm charm and chalcedony

ohm cu
Originally uploaded by ensojewelry

Looks like I made the etsy FP again today! (thanks for your vigilance, Carol Dean!) Orders have been coming in fairly consistently on top of the madness in my other shop. I think I'm going to shift focus to this line - I'm just enjoying making it more lately. I love old things and kitsch, but I feel like I'm just getting saturated on that.

I'm really excited for the next etsy beadweavers' challenge, which is basically just to show off as much as we're capable of doing. :) I have a whole mess of smooth garnet drops coming in, which weren't specifically for that, but I think they're going to be used in that capacity.

Re-photography pays off

I see a ton of "why am I not selling" posts on Etsy, and I have to say that 9 times in 10 the answer is clear. When you look at the shop, there's nothing compelling about the photos that says "buy me! buy me now! you MUST"

think about it. Every car ad, every fashion spread, every ad for frozen pizza - makes the product look sexy, huge, in-your-face and triggers desire. Are your photos triggering desire?

Here's a re-shoot of the ring from two posts down. Which would you want?

Notice it's not centered. You get a tiny tiny thumbnail on Etsy - if you can't make that thumbnail say "click me" you are wasting valuable opportunity. Centering is sometimes, not always, but sometimes, a visual snooze - where off-centering is dynamic and can create a sense of curiosity.

It doesn't have to be accurate representation of the whole - that's what the next photos are for, they add up to give the buyer a sense of the product. The first photo has one job and one only

"click me!"

I've been re-photographing everything and it's been paying off. Here's a photo of a pair of wrapped chalcedony earrings I've already sold out of and had to get more stones for, to make more. It's partly pricing, they're 24 bucks, it's partly simplicity and wearability - but I'd say MOSTLY it's this photo:



It's very backlit - it's kind of mysterious, and it hooks you in. Honestly they're pretty, but they're not the most exciting earrings I've ever made, however they are selling like they are. I think the photo really is the reason.

So, I guess if you're having a standstill, I'd say diversifying prices and promoting are good, compelling photos are better - retaking them every so often to combat visual fatigue is a really helpful selling tool, and cheap!

here is an update to "re photography pays off" - proof as I typed the entry - top line, right side.



synchronicity, indeed, but had I not changed my shots to something more compelling, I doubt it would have been there.