The experiments with my new jewelry line are going well. I’d show the first group here, except they had an unfortunate accident during the final step, and consequently, were ruined. We’re calling it a learning experience. A somewhat costly learning experience, but a learning experience nonetheless.

Practice group two is nearly finished. I doubt I’ll have time to post any pictures before I take them to Florida with me for testing, but if things go well, there will be pictures in a couple weeks. And hopefully, I’ll be ready to start production of the real thing by then.

I’m hoping for an official site re-launch of June 1. There. I’ve said it. Hopefully, that will give me enough time to get the new line ready, as well as give my site guru time to tie up all the loose ends with the site functionality. I’m a little nervous about the launch, especially since the new design hasn’t been fully tested yet and I’m hopeful that it will soon replace my current stuff. Yeah, no pressure there.

It’s all very exciting and nervewracking at the same time. I’m trying not to put all my eggs in one basket, but I want THIS to be the thing for which I’ve been searching, and the focus of my business. Yes, I know. Eggs in a basket. I told Rob my plans for the June 1 launch, and my goals to make this thing successful, at least in my eyes. My top priority is to find My Art. I want it to be something that I not only enjoy doing, but something of which I am very proud to call mine. It’s too early to say whether or not this new thing is it.

It’s probably a bit early to even mention my intentions publicly (if you want to call this little corner of the blogging world public.) Forcing myself to have a date for the re-launch is scary, but necessary, I think. Of course, there’s always the possibility that I’ll end up hating my new technique by mid-week, and I’ll come back here and delete this entry and pretend I never wrote it.

If anyone feels like sending out good creative vibes this week, I’ll have my antenna up.

During the exploration for My Art, I’ve revisited some of the types of art I enjoyed making in the past. The trip down Memory Lane led me to my first meaningful encounters with found objects and collage. Several years ago, I took a class in three-dimensional art. I previously had little appreciation for non-representation art, but by the end of the class, I had found extreme joy in creating non-representational sculpture in a medium I like to call “collage in the round.” It was in this class that I learned I had a preference for the process over the product, though it wasn’t until much later that I learned to verbalize that preference.

Some years later, in a metals/jewerly making class, I was reacquainted with found object art. Much like the other class, I was initially unenthusiastic about the project. Once I started brainstorming ideas, however, I again found extreme joy in the process of this type of art. But I could never reconcile the happiness I found with the impracticality of the medium. Who wants to wear jewelry made of plastic drinking straws?

Armed with the knowledge that I’ve loved collage for a very long time, I’ve taken another look at my current art and realized that a lot of what I do is influenced by collage and found object art. I don’t think in terms of collage when I create. I think in terms of layers. But really, layering is collage. And it’s collage type projects that always excite and inspire me the most.

I have a new idea for collage that I’ll be working on over the next few weeks. This may or may not be the thing for which I’m searching, but at the very least, it’s worth investigating further.

The site is progressing nicely. I spent the better part of the evening writing product descriptions for several of my designs. I have six finished, though I may go back and rework a few words when I read them again tomorrow.

The name and description for my newest necklace came to me pretty easily. I wish I could say the same for some of the other designs that are still stumping me. I’ve been calling a certain pair of earrings Earring7 for so long, that I can’t get that name out of my head. And really, it’s not a good name.

Always searching for the silver lining, I’ve added “Name This Design” to my list of ways to promote my site.

And now I’m suddenly so tired, I can’t finish any other thoughts I had about this entry.

Every day I find I’m challenged with some new aspect of launching my jewelry website. Anyone who reads my blog regularly knows it’s been a long and slow journey. This past February, I took a deep breath and promised myself that I would finally get serious about it. And I did.

When I look at my list of things to do, I feel pretty satisfied with my progress so far. Each time I move down the list, I think the next thing will hold me back. Then I surprise myself and manage to do just fine.

Website design? Check.
Website coding? Check.
Hangtag redesign and rewrite? Check.
Photos and editing? Check.
Product descriptions? In progress.

The one thing on my list in big capital letters is MAKE MORE JEWELRY. A few weeks ago, this one had me in a panic. Here I am, having a site built, and I have three pairs of earrings and three necklaces. I was a little afraid this step, this most important step of all, would be the one to hold me back. Oh, I’ve made a few new pieces these past few weeks, but it is still pathetically low. Or so I thought. I rechecked my inventory and I am pleased to find that I have TEN earrings designs, and SEVEN necklaces. How that happened, I do not know. I also have a killer bracelet in the works. My product line is still much smaller than I want to be of course, but I think it’s a respectable beginning.

I took ten pairs of earrings to the bridal shower yesterday. They were among the prizes we were giving away to the guests. We had more prizes than we needed, so there were some left over, but I’m happy that all the earrings were taken. Only, I don’t know who got which pair. I can only account for four pairs. I don’t really need to know where the other earrings are, I guess. I just really wish I knew where my babies went. I know it sounds stupid, but I want to know that they’re being treated well.

I feel the same way about the dolphin pin that was auctioned off at the school fundraiser. I just want to know where it is. Is that asking too much?

I think I need to add some verbage to my site to entice people to let me know they have my jewelry. I already offer incentives like birthday coupons, replacement anti-tarnish strips every six months, and polishing cloths as gifts for my customers. Now I just need a way to encourage people who haven’t gotten jewelry from the site to visit the site and sign up. I need like a… jewelry registration or something. I need to let this idea brew in my head for a bit, I think.

I have to admit that I am pretty pleased with my level of productivity these past few days. I finally just made myself tackle the projects I didn’t want to do, and for the most part, it’s been smooth sailing. The bridal shower stuff is mostly done. I have a few last minute details to tackle, but they’re easy things.

My website progress is coming along nicely too. I’ve FINALLY gotten photos for some of my pieces and I have about a dozen or so uploaded to the new site already. I still really dislike taking the photos, but editing them has proven to be more enjoyable than I imagined. I also took some time to build a few spreadsheets to help me better manage my inventory and pricing structure.

I still have to price a few of my more labor-intensive pieces. That’s proving to be a bit difficult. Since I usually create as I go rather than working from a plan, I often spend a lot more time on the prototype than I would on subsequent pieces. I’ll have to recreate these pieces to get an accurate cost, and right now, I just don’t have the time. I may just work on some of my newer ideas that aren’t as labor-intensive and get them up on the site before I tackle recreating the others.

In case you’re trying to view the new site, it’s been moved to a separate directory for testing. Hopefully, it’ll be functional again within a week or two.

Recently, I found someone to take my website and make all the shop stuff work. I’ve hesitated to talk about the fabulous work she’s doing for me because the last company I hired started out great and soured toward the end. But a certain event today has left me amazed at her thoroughness once again, and I really feel I should brag about finding such a dedicated professional.

Janeth of PolarDuality has been amazing. For starters, she spent some time learning about a shopping cart I wanted to use, but with which she had no experience. Once she figured it out, she jumped right in. Not only is she an expert with all this stupid geeky code, but she’s been incredibly patient answering my dumb questions.

But today’s event takes the cake. After a couple weeks of work, the site was nearing completion. There were only a few minor adjustments to be made, but the big stuff was done. Today, Janeth learned there was a new version of my software available. Without a thought, she installed the new software and once again began the process of making the modifications. She told me this should resolve one of the issues I was having with the software.

Simply amazing.

I’ve been doing a lot of research for my website today. Actually, the past few days. I can’t help but wonder if having my pin sold at the auction has something to do with my inability to stop obsessing about business stuff. Probably.

I’ve spent the past two days concentrating on SEO (search engine optimization), press kits, and press releases. I’ve also read a couple fashion mags this past week to make sure I’m on track with the latest trends. Looks like I am.

It doesn’t look like the site will be ready as soon as I had hoped, though I haven’t exactly communicated that wish to the woman working on my site. Mother’s Day is coming soon, so I should probably work on some ideas for that. I’m guessing it will be the first big jewelry holiday once the site is up and running for real. Not that I have any grandiose visions of the site immediately generating traffic, but it’s fun pretending.

It seems like I’ve been making improvements to the site forever. And yet, the whole time I’ve been improving it, it’s never been fully functional. How dumb. But I really think this time will be it.

Though I’ve technically been doing this for two years, it’s only now becoming real, and quite frankly, I’m feeling a little nervous about it. Excited, but nervous. Until now, it was just this thing I was dabbling in and planning to make a serious endeavor eventually. Well, eventually has arrived, and it’s time to take the next step.

I’ve taken another look at the business plan I wrote last summer. I don’t know if business plan it the right term. It’s basically a list of goals broken into phases detailing the things I hope to accomplish as the business grows. I decided to use phases rather than a timeline to allow myself some laziness flexibility. Afterall, this whole business thing IS cutting into my sitting-on-my-ass time. Because of that, there was a moment of disbelief when I realized I have just about completed Phase I (as soon as the site is functional), and I am already moving into Phase II.

Things have been moving at this sort of slow and steady pace for so long, I wonder if it will ever feel real. You know? Like, will I ever have that TA DA moment? I imagine myself some years from now moving along at this same slow and steady pace and missing the point at which I could call myself a success. I don’t necessarily expect to be successful, nor do I think getting there and missing it would be such a terrible thing. But it does make me wonder…

Would I be able to recognize my own success?

This week has been fun. Last weekend, my mom and I went out to get stuff for my sister’s upcoming bridal shower to be hosted by moi. It probably comes as no surprise to anyone that I’ve decided to make, not only the invitations, but many of the prizes and favors as well. Unfortunately, I can’t talk too much about it now since my sister happens to read my blog, and it’s supposed to be a surprise and all that.

Besides working on shower stuff, I’ve been spending the past few days rebuilding my website. At first, one might wonder why I chose this time to rebuild the website, with so much to do for the shower. Simply put, the dolphin pin I donated to the school fundraiser includes my contact information, which includes the website. And I just know someone from the school is going to check out the website.

My plan was to put together only the basic structure, the contact page, and the bio page. I ended up doing a bit more than that though. The big thing that isn’t finished is the online store, mostly because I really hate the picture taking part of the process. I figure I’ll get to it eventually. Or not. We’ll see. I also learned that I have very few pictures of myself, hence the use of the same extreme close-up I use for my blog.

So, yeah, it’s kinda stupid that I’ve built a site that can’t serve its main purpose. But I feel better knowing some of the information is out there now. And I feel hugely successful for figuring out how to write the code. (Which, by the way, has not been fully tested yet, so if it looks goofy, that’s why.)

So if you feel like checking out my online jewelry store that’s not really an online jewelry store because the online jewelry store part of it doesn’t work yet, here you go. Whimsy Chick