I was digging through one of my many button jars and discovered these coppery buttons, which matched the glaze on this new pendant design.  I also have a large ball of ribbon that I picked up at a thrift shop that is varigated with fall colors and is slightly metallic.  Yummy!

I originally intended to use the pinwheels for rings, but then I was playing around with brass blanks and epoxy and ended up with these earrings.  I think I have some small leaves that will “suffer” a similar fate….

Both are available in my Etsy shop.

I just wanted to thank MaryAnn at Backwoods Creations for featuring me as the Etsy Maine Team Monday Shop of the Week.   It was an honor and a thrill to have my work recognized.  You can read the interview here.

Very few losses in these loads (4 to be precise). I was able to fire twice yesterday; I spent Saturday night (late) stringing the pieces onto wires, then first thing Sunday I did my first firing. Turned the kiln off before we headed off to a party, then did the next load in the evening. I have necklaces and rings heading off for consignment, so I needed to get this firing done. I’ll be epoxying (is that a word?) the ceramic pieces onto the adjustable ring bands this afternoon, and hopefully shipping tomorrow.

When I first took pictures I had all the pieces together and wasn’t really sure how I felt about this load. I then decided that comparing white clay with terracotta is pretty much apples and oranges, so I separated them out. Much better.

I’ve already listed some buttons in my Etsy shop, with more to come later.

I apologize for some of the funky formatting here lately. I’m trying to get used to the new WordPress dashboard and I haven’t quite got the hang of it yet.

Today I had a little run-away day. No toddler to cut short my browsing. First stop, Barnes & Noble. I think I’ve said before how much I love books. I try to browse the titles I’m interested in,then I look for them used.

I then hit the magazine section to get my hands on the new issue of Creative Jewelry. I looked and looked for my ad. No ad. Hmmm…what happened there? Never got a message saying there was a problem with the file, never received a bill (but I’ve advertised in magazines before and didn’t get a bill till publication, so I didn’t think anything about it). Well, isn’t that special. It did get me to add the shopping cart to the site, but it has put a kink in my marketing plans for the fall and winter. I can’t say that I’m not hugely disappointed, as I really wanted to get my name out there. I chose this magazine rather than a monthly because I felt that with all the projects people would be more inclined to save it and refer back to it later.

Ah well, for the money I would have spent on the ad I can add about a bajillion listings to Etsy, so I think I’ll concentrate on expanding the shop. I’ll be doing a bisque firing tomorrow, so I’ll have some new listings soon.

I ended up hitting Michaels afterwards and got some new scrapbook papers which I thought would complement my pendants. I love the look of the slate, but I don’t want my pictures looking too similar to Round Rabbit’s pictures (I love ALL her stuff!), so I’m hoping to reshoot this week. I also got some teeny tiny clay cutter to use for earrings and rings. Something funny: I didn’t realize that the paper I got was 2-sided till I got in the car and flopped the bag on the seat. I spent so much time looking for very subtle papers that it never occurred to me to turn it over. Duh! Obviously I do NOT scrapbook!

Onward and upward!

Thank you, inmyheadstudios, for including me in this lovely treasury.   And don’t forget to check out the article on this week’s shop of the week, A Cagey Bee.

Be Still My Beating Hearts

This has been one of those non-productive weeks. Night before last Isaac was up 4 times in the night–turns out he was working on a cold.  I didn’t get anything done yesterday.  I did manage to get some listings done in my etsy shop the day before.  I’m working on converting all my listings to pendants on chain; if someone wants to use them for their own jewelry they can contact me and I’ll do a reserved listing.  Hopefully this afternoon I can take new pictures of my old pendants hanging on the ball chain and get those updated tomorrow.

I did manage to get some small pendants cut the other day for glaze samples.  Since they’re for my reference (and for pictures on the website) I don’t have to do all that edge smoothing that ends up killing my hands.  This afternoon, during naptime, I’ll cut out the terra cotta samples so I can glaze them at the same time.

I think I have to finally break down and update my Word Press–this old version has been doing some seriously wonky things lately.  I hate the thought of doing it,  since I had such a hard time in the first place.  I guess that’s the disadvantage of hosting it on your own servers.  Wish me luck–I might be gone for awhile….

So what goals did I meet in April?  Sadly, not many.  After tax season was over I was fried so I pretty much took a week off and did bare-bones minimum.  I did get one of my wholesale orders completed and in the mail; with the second order I had a number of firing/glazing issues, so many that I wonder if I’ll ever get the darn thing done.

Goal 2 was to submit the bus to the Maine Products Program.  Towards that goal I had some postcards created that I am thrilled with. I have to create a wholesale pricelist, then that will be ready to go in the mail.

Goal 3: retake photos for the shop.  OK, I took a bunch of photos, but they need to be edited, and I’m still having issues with my laptop (plus our DSL STILL isn’t hooked up, so I’m not that anxious to try uploading a bunch of photos via dial-up).

Goal 4.  Prep 2 pieces for articles.  Instead of this, I ended up submitting a piece for the Bead Star Competition

Goal 5.  Blog 3 times a week.  That has happened.  I had intended to blog about the maine team on mondays and twitter team on tuesdays, but I usually miss the boat on that one b/c of the whole computer thing.  Shrug.  Maybe when Isaac and I get settled back into our “home” routine I’ll be a little better at it.

MAY GOALS:

1. Create wholesale pricelist.  Not only will this go towards the Maine products program, but I’ll also be able to send out some mailings to bead shops.

2.  Create new glaze sample tiles to photograph for the website in preparation for adding a shopping cart to the site.

3.  Get studio functional!  I need to get my workspace functional so that I can work when Isaac naps and not have to pick up everything each time.  (see my last blog post).

4.  Develop a streamlined production.  Naptime is getting shorter and I need to make the most of what little time I have.

5. Convert all my etsy listings to finished necklaces.  (with the option to order the pendant separately).  After speaking at length with my sister, I think this is the way to go.  Of course, this means more pictures….

6. Take at least 10 minutes before bed each night to sketch out new designs.

7.  Submit 4  earring designs to publications.

I just have enough time for a quick post, showing off my new adjustable rings.  These rings are silver plated, but sterling silver can be special ordered.  Hopefully I’ll be able to start adding them to my Etsy shop in the next few days.

My last few pieces of my custom orders will be coming out of the kiln in a few minutes, then I’ll be taking a short hiatus from custom work to let my hands heal up from tax season.  They’re quite achy right now, but with a week’s rest they should be as good as…well as good as they can be. 

 Jena over at Modish Biz Tips had a great idea this week for setting realistic goals for ourselves and our businesses (here is the link to the post).  We share our goals with the group, which gives us a certain level of accountability (things are more likely to get done if I’m accountable to someone besides myself).  I thought about it last night, and here’s what I came up with for April:

1.  Complete my two outstanding wholesale orders.
2.  Submit my business to the Maine Products Marketing Program
3.  Retake some product photos; use the slate background for shop consistency.
4.  Blog at least 3 times a week.
5.  Prepare two pieces for article submissions.

April will actually be a short month for me, as I’m in the final stretch of tax season, but things will pick up again in May.  Just because items haven’t appeared in the shop doesn’t mean that my little brain hasn’t been working overtime on planning new projects.  I have new glazes, new clays, new stamps, new tools….

Each Monday I hope to feature some articles from my fellow Etsy Maine Team members’ shops.  Enjoy these picks!

 Topsy Turvy Reversible Hat by anabelfuzz

 Wild Rose Fairy Flower Pin by burntmeadowbeads

  Robin Greeting Card by barnfirestudio

 Blue and Green Ceramic Bowly Bowl by kreatus

 Chocolate Pomegranate Goat Milk Cold Process Soap by longwinterfarm