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!

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.

Showpieces

I've been throwing myself into making some larger and time consuming necklaces, made from hefty amounts of sterling silver.

I love chain, but I don't like wimpy chain. That said, I also don't like signing my life away for a foot of chain. The silver market is scary. Luckily I found something I like in a good weight that doesn't hurt too much at a local store. It was on sale. I think I'm going to have to hunt down something similar in larger quantities.





















I've also taken a JOB at my local bead store. I like this place and it seems they're short so this may be mutually beneficial. It's an odd thing, though. I haven't had to show up to work beyond rolling out of bed and hitting the computer or the bench in well over 2 years, not including the year I was laid up. This will be interesting. Discount is good though, basically wholesale pricing.