1. The picture is so blurry/dark/busy that I can’t tell what you’re selling.  I want to see the details!  The photo doesn’t have to be artsy or staged like a pro, but if it’s blurry I can’t be sure I’ll like it when I get it.  In the next few days I’m going to post my photographing and editing process, so you can see the steps I take and adapt them to your own use.
2. The devil is in the details: What is your item made from?  How large is it?  Your descriptions don’t have to be pretty; clear and concise will do it for me. On items like bead caps and other such supplies, I love to see a scale reference. I can’t always visualize how large those bead caps are, or how long the linkage in that chain is.  If you don’t want to use a penny, that’s fine, but use a ruler in one of your pictures so I can see for myself.
3. Profiting from shipping charges.  I’ve done my fair share of shipping, so I have a pretty good idea of what it costs to ship items.  I don’t mind if you pocket some change from my shipping charges, and I also don’t mind paying for packing materials and such; however, I feel that the charge of packaging and the time it takes you to create a pretty package should be factored into your item cost, and not into the shipping charges.  That also goes for the cost of taking the stuff to the PO–that’s part of overhead, and should be factored into your pricing structure.  It’s not as much of an issue on Etsy as it is on Fee-bay (and yes, eBay sellers, I know you’re dodging fees by inflating the shipping charges: I’m not a dunce, I feel it’s a cheap trick, and I won’t fall for it).  It’s irritating to get the package in the mail that you paid $4 shipping for and to discover it cost $1.76 to mail.
4. You haven’t filled ANYTHING out in your shop policies, profile,  or your shop intro. Etsy is a community. It’s also a business.  If you don’t want to deal with the hassle of returns, that’s fine, but let me know (BTW not allowing returns on items purchased, unless they’re custom or final sale items, just costs you customers). I’m not into guessing games. If you only ship once or twice a week, state it clearly in your policies.  You don’t have to fill out every section, but pick one and be concise. Show that you care about your shop and your customers.
5. Gross grammatical or spelling errors.  Copy and paste your description into a word processing program and run spell check.  It won’t always catch usage errors (like when to use less vs. fewer, the difference between you’re and your, etc.), but it can remove the glaring errors.  And along a similar note: I CaN’t ReAd tHe TiTle WhEN YoU TRy tO MAkE iT CuTe!  It makes my head hurt.

These are just a few of the reasons that I came up with, and I’m sure plenty of you might disagree, especially with the shipping charges. What are your pet peeves?

If these pieces aren’t in the shop already, they’ll be there before the end of the day.  We’re having a very snowy day today, so I won’t be getting any more pictures taken till the sun makes an appearance (if it ever does again). In the meantime I’ll just get some more glazing done and maybe play in the clay a little bit.  Hope it’s sunny where you are!

Now that we’ve had the birthday party, it’s safe for me to show the necklace I created for my sister.  If you know her at all, then you could guess that I made this for her, since booger green is her “signature color.”  I used 80 zillion seed beads (I believe they are 11^, but they could be smaller),  6^ seeds,cultured pearls, lemon jasper rondelles (I LOVE these!), an assortment of glass beads, and sterling silver components.  The pendant was created from a button from my grandmother’s buttons stash: chosen because they were particularly close.

My swap beads are gone, as is my Bead Soup mix.  Tomorrow I’ll be listing some hearts on Etsy, along with some spacer beads that came out of the kiln today.  I used a new glaze on them and now I think I have a new favorite!  They’re delish!

I had planned on glazing tonight but I’m afraid that I have a migraine on the way–my little internal barometer started warning me of a storm earlier today, but now I’m teetering at the brink….

While browsing through my Analytics, I discovered that this ornament was featured on Weddingbee. Quite a treat reading all the kind comments about it.  This pattern and color combination will be making an appearance soon in an Etsy shop near you.

Here are some greenware hearts that I made last night.  I still need to prep the edges. For the larger hearts I used some plastic cookie cutters from Wilton; the upside is that the shape is symmetrical, the downside being that the cut isn’t as clean as it would be with a metal cutter.   I’ll be making more pieces this afternoon.  I need to make some of my “X’s and O’s” pendants, along with some more charms.  I also had a brainstorm this morning about some new pieces for people who aren’t  fans of hearts. They will still scream “Love,”  though!

I’m heading down to North Berwick tomorrow, weather permitting (the weather has been biting me in the backside, lately).  The kiln is down there, so my firing schedule will depend on which days my mother can take Isaac. Soon I’ll be down there six days a week doing taxes, so if I have the stamina I’ll be getting lots of firings in.  So much nicer loading the kiln in 68 degrees, rather than 20.  I can’t wear gloves or a bulky coat loading the little kiln, so the garage was getting a bit unpleasant to work in.

Lori Anderson picked out swap partners for her Bead Soup party, and I’ll be swapping with Eileen Snyder of Dorset Hill Beads.  She makes amazing lampwork beads–be sure to check her work out!

The clear tackle boxes were no longer working–every time I had an order to pack I’d have to go through them three or four times,.  I got this idea from Lisa Peter’s Flickr photostream.  There are also pockets on the backside of this piece, and I think I’ll probably store terracotta pieces on one side and earthenware on the other.   A vast improvement.

I still have a number of pieces to put in there, and judging by all the bisque I have to glaze, I’ll probably have to order another one shortly.

Is it any wonder I can’t get much done?

Remember how yesterday I told you I was off to Explore?  Well, I thought I’d start the year on the right foot by participating in Lori Anderson’s Bead Soup Party. Each participant will send a focal bead, some coordinating beads, and a lovely clasp to their swap partner.  If you would like to participate you still have time to sign up–deadline is this Sunday.

And speaking of Lori–just before Christmas I was the lucky winner of her $25 Artbeads.com gift certificate drawing at her Pretty Things blog.  Sweet!   Of course, I’ve already blown through it, but I was well behaved and only spent a little extra.  Thanks Lori!

Off to glaze!

Erin at Tesori Trovati recently posed the question, “What is your word for 2010?”   I’ve been mulling it over for a couple of weeks, and I’ve decided that my word is “explore.”   There are so many techniques that I want to explore with clay and also with jewelry-making.  I have a pottery wheel sitting in the garage that I never really got a chance to use this past summer that I’m looking forward to playing with this year.

I received some mid-fire glazes at Christmas, so I’ll be able to play with the stoneware and porcelain clays that have been sitting, waiting patiently, for my my attention.

I’m participating in the  Beads-of Clay winter swap this year, and I can’t tell you how excited I am to get my goodies.

I’ll be particpating in Round Rabbit’s book club, hopefully drawing inspiration from my readings to create a new body of work.

Submitting to magazines, participating in challenges, new designs…so much possibility!

For those of you who make “stuff,”  I’m sure you’re doing the last minute hustle to get all the Holiday presents finished.  I think I have one more kiln firing then I’ll be ready.

The ornament above was part of a custom order for members of the local Morgan Horse Youth Group.  It was sort of a problem order; first round, the ornaments warped.  I cut out some new ones, no problem.  THEN during the glaze firing, every single one of them had glaze flaws.  So I touched them up and put them through again.  All the pieces made it out of the decal firing, which was nothing less than a miracle (not hot enough and the decal rubs off: too hot, it burns off).

I have the other problem of the stuff coming out of the kiln in this weather.  It was -3 this morning up on the hill.  I discovered that the trick is to wrap all the pieces in a dishtowel when I bring them up to the house.  Then, no peeking for hours!  They need to warm up slowly or else the glaze crazes.   Incidently, I’m also not that interested in unloading the kiln with bare hands in this weather.  As soon as tax season starts the little kiln will come back down to the office so I can fire and do taxes at the same time.

I’ll be participating in the Beads-of-Clay winter swap this year, so I need to get those pieces finished.  I CANNOT wait to get that package in the mail.  It will be a late x-mas/early b-day present. Other than that I’m taking a break from custom orders till January.  I need to get some planning done for the upcoming year.  I have a notebook full of ideas to play with and new techniques to implement.

Thank you for all your support over the last year, and I hope you all have a wonderful holiday!