I finally finished the first bridal necklace from a few weeks back. I’m still not 100% satisfied with the way the photos are turning out, but I’m getting closer to what I want. I’ve been calling this one “Winter Lace.” I was hesitant to use the winter theme, but I think it fits.

The second bridal necklace would have been finished yesterday except there was a weird bead mixed in my bunch that shouldn’t have been there. Once I replace that last bead, it’ll just take a minute or two to complete the second necklace. I’m not sure I like it. I’m thinking there are too many crystals, but I need to think about it some more.

The boys go back to camp next week. Yay! I have some new supplies coming soon, so I’ll have at least one new project to work on while they’re gone. I may even try to finish the book I started reading during their first week at camp. Since they’ve been home, I just haven’t found time to pick it up.

Lately, my jewelry designs seem to be either very simple, or very complex. Yesterday, I made a bracelet as a birthday gift for the girl next door. It was just a simple stretchy bracelet of large, brightly colored Austrian crystals. It’s beautiful, but it took me less thanf 5 minutes to make. Today, I’m working on a crystal and pearl bridal necklace. Yes, another bridal necklace. I don’t know what my deal is with these lately. Like the first bridal necklace, this one is Austrian crystals and freshwater pearls all wire wrapped with fine silver wire. The first one took me almost two hours to make. I expect this one will be near the same.

I need to find a nice middle ground between the simple designs I like for everyday wear, and the complex and challenging designs I really enjoy making. Maybe once I’m finished with this one last bridal necklace…

Because I can’t make jewelry as often as I’d like, I spend a lot of time working on the other parts of Whimsy Chick. That is, the parts that don’t require me to spend money. Lately, I’ve been focusing on fine-tuning the visual and written things I’ll be using. Unfortunately, I’m much better at the visual stuff than the written stuff, so the written stuff isn’t getting done. I know what I want to say. I just don’t know how I want to say it. As I get older, I’m finding that I have more and more trouble with words getting in my way. I’m pretty sure that by the time I’m 60, I won’t be able to use language to communicate at all.

My pearl order finally arrived today. Yay! The earrings are finished and the necklace is nearly finished. It’s currently 18″ long with a clasp that I don’t like much. I want to reduce it to 16″ and add a much nicer clasp. I’m very pleased with the results of the necklace so far, though working with all that wire has really chewed up my fingertips.

In other news, I’m meeting my sister tomorrow for her engagement photograph. The guy taking the photos works with her full-time during the week, but photographs weddings on weekends. Apparently, he needs someone to help him touch-up his digital photos and my sister offered me up as a solution. The deal sounds just a little too good to be true. Sis says he’s talking about somewhere around 10 hours per week, and he’s willing to pay $20 per hour. All that to sit at home playing on my computer. Which I already do. Everyday. For free. Like I said, seems a little too good to be true. But I’m going to meet with him and probably get my sister’s photos for touch-up, if nothing else.

I received one of my bead shipments today. This shipment included materials for two new projects. One project is a bridal necklace (yet to be named) made from Austrian crystals, fresh water pearls, and silver. The other project is a pair of earrings (also yet to be named) made from peridot and pearls. Anyone who has seen my online store can probably tell that these designs represent a different type of jewelry from what I was previously making. That means different price points, of course, and probably a new target audience. I’m okay with that though. This feels more like where I want to be.

I’m still waffling about my new website design. It uses the same color palette seen here on my blog, but the design is a bit more youthful. I’m thinking it may be a bit too youtfhful for the new designs I’m making. Unfortunately, I’ve already approved the other design, so making a change now would mean spending money that I’d rather spend on supplies. I hope living with the design here on the blog will help me decide one way or another.

My glamorous life has been so full of glamorous things, that I just haven’t had time to update. Riiiight. So here’s the real deal.

Website Redesign
I decided to go with a professional for my website redesign rather than muddling through it myself. Right now she’s just waiting on me to get the darn photos. My problem is that I don’t have enough inventory to get her enough photos to make the site anymore useful than it is now. But hey, it’s a start, right?

Inventory
The plan was to buy $100 worth of supplies each month and create a new design every week. Unfortunately, several unexpected expenses at the beginning of the month (adding up to over $1200!) prevented me from reaching my goal for June.

Marketing Ideas
Oh my gosh! I’m having so much fun coming up with marketing and packaging ideas for my jewelry. I’m struggling a bit with some of the written materials though. I have what I think is a very good idea for hang tags, but I’m afraid the written stuff may sound a little too arrogant or something. I’m trying to find that balance between bragging and begging.

Busobby (more than a hobby, not quite a real business)
Not a day goes by that I’m not working on some aspect of my new busobby. I’m constantly researching, designing, ordering, organizing, or just brainstorming ideas. Of course I’d love for things to be able to move along faster than they are, but I’m content just knowing it’s moving at all. I can’t help but wonder if everyone is having a good laugh about “Kerrie’s new little hobby” though. I’ve used this blog many times to express my desire to be taken seriously by friends and family. I’d like to put together a timeline type thingy with dates and goals for my busobby, but I don’t know how to determine realistic goals. For now, I’m just gonna keep on making stuff and see what happens.

Still…
trying to get pregnant
growing my hair out
graduating in December

No longer…
working part-time
taking a class during the summer
feeling great about my progress in ceramics

I had an interview for a position as a studio assistant yesterday. The woman was freakishly introverted. Why are so many successfully self-employed people socially awkward? She’s not the first person I’ve met who fits that description, and I’m sure she won’t be the last.

The freakishly introverted woman works mostly in metal. She makes those metal thingies with little glass bits that look great in a garden or on a patio. I was disappointed to learn that she didn’t make everything herself though. One of the responsibilities of her assistant would be to glue magnets on the backs of pre-fabricated metal pieces. I was uncomfortable with the idea of her selling work that was not truely her own creation.

Part of the reason my jewelry ideas have stalled is because I don’t feel original enough. I made a lot of new pieces this past weekend, but I’m not happy with them. They’re just not special enough. If it’s easy for me to make something, why would anyone buy it when they can just as easily make it themselves? But when I look around me at the CRAP some people are making and SELLING, I wonder if I’m overestimating the individual person’s willingness to make things themselves. I’ve always been a do-it-yourself girl. The process is just as important as the product. Sometimes, its more important than the product. I guess that’s why it’s hard for me to accept that some people don’t want to learn to make things themselves.

I think I need to compromise with myself. I’m not willing to budge on things like craftmanship and original designs. I am willing to forgive myself if my ideas are not totally unique or if the process is easy. I’m working on a new plan for myself. Not a business plan exactly, but an outline of my goals for my “business.” That list may even include plans for me to take the quotes off the word “business” eventually! Right now I’m just going to forgive myself for writing this entry in the same messy way my brain thinks things through.

I spent a large part of my day yesterday working on photos of my jewelry. Yes, I’m finally getting off my butt and working on it. I’m having a very difficult time getting them the way I want though. When I posted the first pictures of my earrings, I took a quick picture with the digital camera, cropped, resized the image, fiddled with the brightness and contrast a bit, and published the image to my blog. With the exception of an unsightly shadow, the background disappeared and I was left with the earrings sorta floating on the page. I’ve removed the shadow since then and I used the image on my test page. I’m fairly happy with the results.

The new images that I worked on yesterday are not to my satisfaction. No matter what I try, I can’t seem to get the background to disappear like I did with the first earrings. It’s either some weird shade of white (meaning grey, brown, or blue) or it’s true white, but with the jewelry faded. As far as I can tell, I’m doing everything exactly the same as I did the first time, only now I’m trying to make the images look good, whereas before, I didn’t really care that much. There’s one last thing I can think of that might make a difference. I looked up the time and date stamp from when I transferred the original earrings. It was loaded at approximately 10:30 a.m., which leads me to believe the picture was taken with 10:00 a.m. lighting. If the sun cooperates tomorrow, I will be trying the morning sun for the pictures. If that doesn’t work, I don’t know what else to try.

The jewelry business is taking off, and I’m still a little surprised by it. I’m surprised mostly because I’ve done so little to help it along. Basically, my business is coming in the form of advertising done through word of mouth. People like my creations! I have no website, no business cards… heck, I’m still iffy on the business name. And yet I’m getting business. I’ve decided to test my ability at photographing my work and making it available here. This is a picture of a pair of earrings for which I’ve had several orders. Several! Eep! If this test goes well, I may have to get to work on that gallery page, since my last excuse will have run out.

I visited a local craft fair today. I didn’t expect to find anything truly spectacular, and I seldom do at these small shows made up of hobbyists. There were only about twenty exhibitors. One was exhibiting stained glass. Another had wooden wall hangings. Still another was selling what seemed to be batik linen garments, which were clearly the highlight of the show. There was the token musician selling her CDs. There were the non-craft exhibits that alway rent booths for these types of things when they’re really more interested in home parties for their own business. And, of course, there were the booths of assorted junk. This particular craft fair had so many of these junky booths, that I can’t recall a single one. Not a one stood out as the best of the worst.

Then there was the beaded jewelry. This show had three exhibitors of handmade beaded jewelry. I always take notice of these booths since I do this professionally myself, and besides that, jewelry is just fun.

Booth #1 was run by someone’s grandmother. I don’t have anything against grandmothers making beaded jewelry. I did, however, find it a little strange that the business was advertised as “Grandma’s Happy Place.” (Note: I’ve changed the name slightly, but you get the idea.) I could maybe see using the grandmother image if her wares were vintage pieces, or heirloom pieces, or… something. But this wasn’t the case. The small table was scattered with unimaginative pieces that could have been designed by a six year old. I don’t mean to sound overly cruel, but the designs were no more complex than a basic five item repeating pattern. The chosen materials were low quality (which isn’t always a bad thing) and the pieces lacked the finishing touches that one would expect from a more professional piece. The price range for her items was between $5 and $10. She was clearly a hobbyist. Which, again, isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Booth #2 was a hodgepodge of things. Amidst the beaded jewelry, were loose beads and hair ribbons. The proprietor offered a service of wrapping hair in colored thread and weaving beads throughout. Hair wrapping, I think it’s called. The table was a mess. Items were haphazardly tossed about with no clear reasoning behind their placement. I couldn’t find prices on any of the items I picked up, but I did find a few with a business card attached. The cash box was a cigar box that they pulled out and laid on top of their products whenever they made a transaction. The booth seemed to be run by a group of young girls. They seemed to be in their late teens to early 20’s and had a lack of good common sense when it came to business.

Booth #3 was well organized, though lacked any definition of different lines. The pieces were only slightly more original than Grandma’s pieces, though this girl used high quality materials and finished her pieces off professionally. Her price range was a bit higher too, averaging between $20 and $35. I would guess that she won’t sell many pieces this weekend for a couple of reasons. First, the location of the craft show doesn’t attract people looking for high quality items. This area is very charming and quaint, but tends to lack in culture. Second, her pieces don’t look that much different than Grandma’s pieces, yet they cost twice as much. And last, Grandma was over there talking up a storm, while this girl just sat in her corner, eyes downcast, while potential customers mingled in her booth.

I initially came away from this show feeling a little discouraged. Everyone and their grandma (literally!) can and do make beaded jewelry. Why would they buy my designs, when they can make their own? Plus, there’s no way I can sell my designs at Grandma’s prices and expect to make a living as an artist.

Now that I’ve written my thoughts here, I actually feel a bit better. I’ve realized that I can’t compare myself to these crafters because what we do is very different. We have different goals. Our target consumer is different. We use different materials and offer a different quality of product. We sell in different areas. We have different marketing strategies. (Not a single one of these booths, by the way, had any literature about the artist, or the product, or the materials, or… anything!)

I apologize if this entry comes off sounding a bit self-righteous. I don’t begrudge the hobbyists who want to make a few bucks to support their hobby. Really. In fact, I encourage them to continue to pursue happiness through art and design. It’s what WhimsyChick.com is all about. I guess I just needed to reassure myself that my plan is a good one.