Monday Miscellany - Some New Photos for Art Fire Store

Before I get into the Miscellany, Blanche from Sha-sha Handcrafted Jewelry got the "One Lovely Blog" award and passed it along to 10 other crafty bloggers, and one of them was me! You should click over to her blog and visit all her nominees, too!

The rules are:

• Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award, and his or her blog link.
• Pass the award to 10 or more other blogs that you love. Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

My nominees (and you don't have to accept, just know that I think you've got lovely blogs!) are :

ABeadADay
Baubles and Babbles
Bead Origami
ErtheFae
JustATish
Kell's Creations
NiftyKnits
SmuTopia
WillowWalker
WireMySoul

I worked on photography Sunday and re-listed one piece and put up one new listing. While I have a number of new pictures ready to go, I'm going to space out my listings to try and get some front page views.

Anyway, here's the old vs. new main view pictures of one of my pieces:

old

new (and you can see the rest of the "poses" by clicking the link)

(click to enlarge any picture)

And here's the new listing

I'm not sure if I'll add the props to this necklace's listing - it's a very busy necklace as it is, but I kind of like the idea of the jewelry posed as if on one's dressing table just before getting gussied up for the evening, which is why I thought I'd try those props.

This one will probably go up today:

I didn't get around to cleaning up and re-organizing the workroom. Ended up working right at my computer desk with one of my shoebox lid DIY lap beading trays. I showed off one of those pieces late on Saturday, but I'm so fond of it, I'm going to share it again.

(click to enlarge)

It deserves a great name, too, but I can't seem to come up with one. What would you call it? I'm very doubtful that I will ever try to sell this, I just like it too much to give it up!

Also am working on another piece with Lucite floral bits from The Beadin' Path, a light pink rose (like this one but not such a bright pink) and two large leaves (like these but in a light olive) - I thought I was finished, then got a wild hair and tried something different, it's not working out exactly as I want, so I'll be playing with it more.

I've added a little slideshow to the very bottom of the blog (you'll have to scroll all the way down to the footer) where I've put pictures of myself through various ages and stages in my life that I've stored in Photobucket for one reason or another. If you want to know a bit more about Dawno, please take a peek.

Hope you come back tomorrow for Tuesday Tidbits. Also, want an easy way to read my past Sunday Wanderings or Thursday Interview and Review features? Here's the link!

Debut of Thursday Feature: Reviews and Interviews - Presenting John A. Jacobs, CEO of Art Fire

Today I debut a weekly reviews and interviews segment and have the honor of presenting an interview with John A. Jacobs, CEO of ArtFire.

ArtFire, in its own words, is "...the premier online marketplace for handmade products designed by artisans around the globe. Our free community is designed for artisans to buy and sell their works, while celebrating unique handmade items and designs. It is always free for buyers of handmade products to search through our listed artisans, buy, or request for items to be specially made. No matter if you are looking for local handmade crafts, or handmade products from artisans around the world, Artfire.com is the marketplace for you."




You'll want to visit their "About" section to learn more about the people and history of ArtFire - it's a great story.

images courtesy of ArtFire.com

Dawno: The love and respect you have for your mother is very obvious - if you are comfortable about it, would you talk a bit more about what kind of jewelry she created, if she is still active in crafts and what does she think about Art Fire?

John: My mother is very active in many different handmade genres and very much enjoys making custom jewelry with semi-precious gemstones and sterling silver. She is one of our biggest fans here at ArtFire and certainly one of our earliest fans! I recall when we were just getting going with ArtFire, my mother, Kay offered to start making handmade items for EVERY category and sub category of ArtFire so we could start filling all the categories!

That still makes me chuckle a bit as we now have over 200,000 items in thousands of categories and expect many millions of items to pour in over the next year! My mother taught me balance and though I find myself in the office six days a week, I always remember that family must come first! She really is the glue that helps hold our family together and has certainly guided my course over the years.

My mother's struggle to establish herself as a successful artisan has always been very frustrating for our family. ArtFire has really become an answer for all those artisan who, like my mother, are trying to get a foothold but just can't afford the fees and cost of starting a new business or stepping up to the next level with their businesses. There are not many venues or companies that are willing to help a starving artist and we think that's a shame. ArtFire was built for my mother and all the mothers (and fathers), sisters, and brothers out there that just need a hand up and deserve a chance at being successful.

Dawno: As an Air Force brat, it was rewarding to read about your service. You mention that you "worked hard to both fulfill my service to the country and attend college full time. I graduated from Louisiana Tech University and then returned to Tucson after an honorable discharge from the Air Force." Just to clarify, you went to college full time during your time in the Air Force or was it afterward? If during, when did you find time to sleep?

We worked very hard in the Air Force in fact most typical days at Barksdale AFB were 12 hour shifts, and we worked six days a week. Of course there were TDY assignments, training, etc on top of staying proficient at my duties and volunteering for the local SWAT and Emergency Services Teams.

Just making it to class was a challenge every day. Most days I was late to class or had to pull the undesirable posts to earn the right to go to school. I often say the Bachelor's degree that I earned while serving on active duty was substantially harder than the Master's degree I earned as a civilian.

That being said, I wouldn't have it any other way. Much like what I learned in the USAF, we pride ourselves on speed of execution of projects here at ArtFire, and our team understands that to be successful and to truly serve the ArtFire community, we must work harder than we are comfortable with, and accomplish our goals each and every day.


Dawno:What would you say was the most important thing you learned during your time in the Air Force that you apply to your current role?

John: I learned the meaning of discipline in the Air Force and decided that I would carry that with me in life. Not just in work though, but in my personal relationship with my family and my wife, with physical fitness, and in with the way in which I allow myself to think. Discipline to me means pushing yourself to do the right thing even when it is not the easy thing to do.

I think that most of us can point to dozens of missed opportunities each day that if we would properly motivate ourselves to do, could change our lives. I find that to live a disciplined life, the first step is to never make an excuse when a solution or action could be substituted (even if the action does not yield the perfect result), inaction can often be the worse course.

Dawno: It's no surprise, after reading "About our Founder", that you are passionate about supporting the independent craft artisan, and the Art Fire business model certainly proves that. Were there nay-sayers in that regard? If so, what did they tell you that you've,so far, proven wrong and what challenges are still left to overcome?

John: Sure there are always challenges to success and naysayers along the way. To build any business takes an overwhelming belief that no matter what the challenge, you can and will find a solution to it and push through. With every business I have ever built, we have been undercapitalized, understaffed, under experienced or just plain not as qualified as our competitors.

Here's the good news; in most situations, none of this matters. Success has nothing to do with money or experience, success is a choice that we each make every day. Make a list of what you can and will accomplish today and don't allow yourself to fail. If you are working on a large project, then break it down to daily tasks. If you do this with your business, with your relationships, or with anything in your life that you want to complete; there is nothing you can't accomplish.

Dawno: Other than it being your home town, what are the business advantages to being headquartered in Tucson?

John: Tucson has a strong history of technology and is the home of the University of Arizona which produces world class talent that we are fortunate enough to be able to draw on. We are not too far from California either and have seen an influx of technical talent in the past several years, which has really turned Tucson into a hidden technology gem than many companies such as Intuit, AOL, Ratheon, Reliasoft, and even IBM have greatly benefited from!

We have a burgeoning arts and music scene here and a relatively low cost of living as compared nationally. By being based in Tucson we can effectively compete through substantially lower operating costs as compared to companies based on the east and west coast. This allows us to keep our overhead and ultimately our rates lower for our members.

Dawno: How important do you think social networking, web 2.0, etc., are to Art Fire's success now and in the future - any thoughts about what that future might look like?

John: The reality is that social networking is how business will be done as we move forward and technology evolves. As many as 80-90% of fortune 500 companies are increasing their investment in social networking and online channels or virtual contact points with their base. If a company wants to lower costs, become more efficient and sustain growth it is now more important than ever to use social tools to connect with their customers.

ArtFire could be compared to a traditional Gem or Craft show like CHA, G&LW, GLDA, etc. in which a 10x10 booth might cost thousands of dollars for a weekend, or a brick and mortar collectables shop that might run thousands of dollars in overhead to operate each month. ArtFire utilizes emerging technology to connect member artisans to an enormous pool of buyers, which never would have been possible for many artisans because of the cost barriers.

We take it even further than that with ArtFire though. As costs continue to fall on bandwidth, servers, storage and with an aggressive system of management and a focus on ease of use for our members, we can deliver the absolute lowest cost solution for sellers available on the Internet. Our objective is to be substantially less expensive than even building your own Web site and thus far we have easily pulled this off. On ArtFire there are no listing, final, or hidden fees. Just $12 a month for unlimited listings in your full custom Fusion Studio with integrated features and functionality that help artisans and business owners easily utilize social media sites to promote unique handmade items.

Best of all, we do all the hard work for our member, with just the click of a button, items can be posted to sites like Twitter and VoteHandmade.com or members can promote themselves by writing for sister sites like HandMadeNews.org.

ArtFire is young and the future is bright! We have shown amazing month over month growth numbers in traffic, members' sales, and market penetration that we expect will continue and accelerate. We have plans for many more facets of the community and even more sites and our commitment is to never stop innovating and executing ideas quickly. In fact some of the most innovative US companies are now following the lead of ArtFire and attempting to match our business model and features.

Dawno: You briefly mention your mother's and your experiences with eBay - where do you think they most went in the wrong direction for the independent artisan? Are they still the web's 800lb gorilla and if so, any thoughts on why that is?

John: I remember when eBay used to go around to gem shows and almost beg sellers to sign up and sell on eBay. Yep, an actual person would shake your hand and explain what eBay could do to help support your business. Over the years eBay changed and appears to have forgotten that their site was built on the backs of its members.

There was a time that you could find many independent artisans on eBay but changes to eBay which put substantial pressure on artisans and businesses to lower prices and offer free shipping just to get seen, have since driven many great artists and businesses away from eBay.

Several years ago we saw Etsy step up as a solution for many handmade artisans and most of us hoped that this would be a new approach and a potentially a venue that could support the true needs of artisans. Unfortunately I think that where a venue goes wrong is when they bring in Venture Capital and profits become more important than service. It may seem noble to go "public" with a venue, however when this happens the fiduciary duty of management by law must shift to protect the interests of the investors or shareholders, even at the expense of the members.

Yes, eBay for all intents and purposes is still the 800lb gorilla, they were one of the first to market and they do have momentum, however there has been a drastic shift in where the internet is headed and being the gorilla is not the necessarily the best strategy for survival anymore. Micro segmentation and customer service is making a comeback as companies like ArtFire can be built and serve communities better for far less expense, overhead, and operate with a flat management hierarchy that connects management with members.

We now see a thousand, one hundred pound gorillas that are fast and flexible taking market share from sites like eBay, and we think this is an exciting change that will prove to empower the seller/user/member/buyer and we will be a part of this change!

Dawno: What are the two or three most important things you thing an Art Fire artisan needs to do to get the most out of Art Fire - and not necessarily become the biggest seller or make the most money, but the whole package - community, collegiality, and yes, sales, too.

John:

1. I mentioned this technique already but I think it is in fact one of the most important things you can do for your business. Commit to your business and your success and make a list every day of things you can do today to improve your business; then check those items off as you accomplish them each day. We make ArtFire as easy to understand and use as possible, but there is still alot to learn. The Internet is far easier to use and grow a business on now which means that every day there is an increasing amount of competition that you have to consider. It is simply not good enough to put up a Web site and wait anymore. You have to have a plan to promote and we want to be your partner in this endeavor.

2. Put a schedule on paper that plans for one hour a day to promote your business using social medial sites, writing a blog, submitting an article to HandmadeNews.org and building Karma on sites like VoteHandmade.com. As a business owner you have many tasks on your plate. Stay focused on what needs to get done and how you will accomplish critical tasks like customers service, shipping, making listings, creating new product and budget time for each of these tasks. A venue or a web site does not sell your items for you. Your efforts are necessary to drive your success. Planning and managing your time effectively is critical to your success.

3. Embrace change and adapt quickly. If you see that one of your items is getting more views than others, what do you do? You should figure out why this item is getting more attention. Does it have a better picture or title or is it an item that is more in demand? Change the rest of your items to follow the lead of your successful items and look around you at your competitors for suggestions. Sometimes the items that you don't enjoy making, sell the best... You might have to make more of what the market wants. This can be hard for artisans, my mother and my sister have taught me this very well, but a balance can be found if you are willing to embrace change and adapt.

Many, many thanks to John for his time and wonderful answers. If you want to thank him personally, follow him on Twitter @ArtFireJohn and let him know you read about him here.

I've Been So Busy Today, So Why Don't I Feel Like I Did Enough?

Did some new listings on Art Fire and made a new banner - I liked it a lot, so I've changed my blog banner to use it here - what do you think? I also really like the Rapid Cart widget - wish Etsy had one like it. I'm just not sure where the best place to put 'em is.

This blog is about sharing my thoughts, attempts, failures and successes, as well as for making new online friends, not selling. Thing is, I'd also like to have someplace where people who might be interested in buying can come to shop. I've got a domain and hope eventually to find the time to figure out how to put up a store-front site, but no telling when that will happen.

So, until then, hope you'll forgive the occasional plug for something I've made, which I'll always put down at the bottom so we'll have the conversation before the advertising.

The answer to the question above is that so much of my busy day was wrapped up in photography and organizing and making the new banner - time consuming stuff that doesn't seem to add up to a lot being done, even though it really is.

Well, the day's not over yet - will get back to some beading and feel more productive.

Dawno

Buy Handmade

Comments from Visitors to My Display and Other Musings About Potlatch SF Convention

One of the interesting (well, at least to me) things about doing the convention last weekend were the comments from buyers and browsers. There was a great deal of interest in the vintage look pieces and I even sold the gunmetal and pearl necklace I showed (and Dave of Rings & Things shared on their blog) awhile back.

Another comment was that many of the con participants might prefer bigger and bolder necklaces. One of the ones I sold (along with a custom matching bracelet and earrings - wish I had thought to photograph the set!) I'd almost convinced myself not to make as I thought it was "too much". When I saw it on the customer, I was so thrilled - it really looked great on her.

My copper and mother of pearl necklace also sold early. I didn't sell any earrings (other than the custom order for the set above), though. And none of the green pieces sold, even with St. Patrick's day coming up.

Many of the con participants are already avid beaders and crafters, too. I received more than one suggestion to check out local gem shows - something I do want to do, just need to figure out how to schedule (and budget) one into my calendar.

One customer liked my yellow turquoise and green lace lanyard but wanted it in silver. So I took it home and re-strung it with tiny sterling silver beads instead of the gold plated ones already on it. She was quite happy with the new look and I made a sale.

One of the other dealers in the room (booksales) does jewelry and felt I'd underpriced my work. I understand what she was saying and know I still haven't figured out my pricing. However, I like getting my work out there, so part of my "profit-margin" is satisfaction. I know I'd feel much differently if I was more dependent on the money from sales, so thank goodness for the day job that supports my fledgling side-business!

Day 2, Potlatch 18

Have had a great time, getting to know the other sellers in the dealer's room. Picked up a couple new books, too. If I hadn't sold one thing, I would have been sad about that, but still would feel the weekend was well spent.

Well, there I am in my little spot, taken by my neighbor, Michael Rightor of Re[a]d Ink Books.

The room closed at 6pm tonight - and I have a couple custom requests to work on tonight, so it's time to get to work on them.

Day One Potlatch SF Convention 2009

What a day! Dealer's room opened for set up at noon, but I didn't get there until after 3 - wasn't a problem as I had everything set up at home, wrapped it snug and just had to unwrap and put on the tables. Great neighbors, too. Will probably write more about them tomorrow, but thought I'd post some pics tonight before bed.

Kind of hard to see the necklaces on the mirrors - used shells and stones and glass vases to add interest to the display of my pearl based work, folk have been quite complimentary.



I hung some of my past con badges on lanyards to show how they work...



Necklace displays on acrylic risers - the little sign says "Dawno's" and has the tax notice.
Someone asked for a mirror, I left one of the mirror 'trivets' out without any necklaces on it for that use. Maybe I should bring a hand mirror instead?




I have a lot of lanyards - so to display as many as possible I multi-tasked the easel that holds the smaller pieces, using the crossbar to hold them and drape them over the side of the table. Seems to work ok.



Showing two of my new chokers, too.

Glad to be home, but I had a good time today. Selling at a SF con is fun for me because I'm a fan and get to see other fans I've met at prior cons, and some authors of my favorite books too.

Copper, Cost and Catalogs

I really like designs made with copper. It's a relatively inexpensive metal to work with and the color compliments almost any outfit. The necklace I made tonight was inspired by a one I saw in a catalog, made with white cultured freshwater coin pearls, gold beads and gold tubes, priced at $145 (on sale from $195). I liked the look and wondered what I had that I could use to make something similar and came up with this, 18" long, made from copper beads, tubes and decorated copper disks with steel blue/gray mother of pearl coin beads (click picture to enlarge):

The reason I mention where my inspiration for this came from, is that Dave posted on the Rings & Things blog today about a lapis necklace he saw in the Smithsonian catalog and the huge difference between what it would cost to make it and the catalog price. I found his post an interesting coincidence worth mentioning.

The necklace above, uses $1.80 in copper disks (retail price at local independent bead store), $.80 in copper tubes (wholesale price at Rings & Things), about $1.25 for the copper beads (wholesale price at Rings & Things) and perhaps $3.00 for the mother of pearl coins (purchased retail at Michael's). The lobster claw, Scrimps and wire guardians and about 25" of copper colored Beadalon wire, come to about a dollar (also wholesale cost, various suppliers). Total materials cost, $7.85. Time to complete, around 20 minutes, maybe less if you're not watching TV at the same time, like I was.

My sales price would vary depending on where/how the sale is completed - there are different costs involved in using, say, Etsy vs. selling at a convention or making a face to face sale to a friend or referral. Needless to say, with these materials, etc., it's considerably less than $145.

More Photo Background Ideas

Pulled out a couple new background ideas, shown at thumbnail size - these have texture but because they're white and beige, would they be better than using color or pattern?

Here's a set showing the different uses, but flat instead of on a bust like the ones shown in my previous post.

Here's another idea I had, in 3 versions - does adding the bag (just for the teaser shot) detract?

Comments appreciated!

More Thoughts About Getting Exposure and Sales

A colleague of mine said in passing that she thought at lanyard would make a nice gift for her boss and that her boss liked purple. I'm going to take a couple purple designs into the office tomorrow and see if I can make a sale. Here's one I just finished with the boss in mind:

As I've mentioned before, people who see me wearing the lanyard are more likely to buy one. I know of a couple people who have bought them for gifts after seeing one on me they liked. I've considered the possibility that using a 'live' model would be helpful for online sales, but in reality the picture size you get online is too limiting.

Another suggestion is to try and sell them through our company store. I waver on that idea, as I'm a handcrafter, not a commercial manufacturer and I'm not sure that I want to get involved with the challenges of selling to a retail outlet. The unique value of my items is the fact that they're jewelry not a utilitarian item and my pricing is based on that premise.

I could use very inexpensive crow beads and make the lanyards very simple and sell them for $12 to $16, like many I've seen. But I have to make what I like, and I don't like that look - it's what got me into making my own lanyards in the first place. I purchased a couple lanyards at a crafts fair made from the larger crow beads with some fancier accent beads near the ends where the badge loop was attached. They were ok, but still really didn't look nearly nice enough with dressy clothes or business-style suits - they were fine for business casual, but I give enough presentations and go to conferences where I want to make an impression that business casual doesn't make. I may try to see if I can get some advertising in the program at one of those conferences some day.

Giving Handcrafted Items for Gifts This Year

The current economic troubles mean hard times for a lot of people. I am going to be frugal with my Christmas spending this year, not because I'm in a crisis financially right now, but because I feel it's important to have a larger financial cushion, just in case.

That said, I'm planning to make more gifts this year for my family and friends. I've already invested in the supplies for my crafts, so no new money will be spent. I also feel much more confident about the look and quality of my work, so giving a handcrafted piece of jewelry won't seem cheap or chintzy of me. (I hope!) The big challenge is what to give the guys on the list - I'm pretty sure they won't get much use out of a beaded necklace...but maybe I can use some of the vintage look supplies to make something for them, too, that's masculine.

Do you have any plans or ideas about holiday gifts that you'll craft rather than buy - or maybe decorations? Do leave a comment, if so!

I did finally get some beading done - here's the latest piece, made with non-magnetic hematite beads, vermeil spacers and light sapphire blue Jablonex faceted Czech glass beads. The beads are approximately 3mm, so while hematite is a dense stone, this isn't all that heavy. It's 32" in length. I'm in the process of making another one just like it, using smoky-gray Jablonex faceted beads, in place of the blue ones pictured (click image to enlarge).

In other news, I finally broke down and listed some items on eBay. It was much easier than I thought it would be. So far no views. I can only hope! And, if you ever see anything you like here in my WIP posts, email me and I'll give you a good bargain!

A Surprise Sale!

No beading tonight - I just finished with my 'day job' for the day and just don't have the energy. However, I did want to post about the sale I made today.

I had a number of meetings today and after one of them, I stopped by the desk of someone at work I hadn't seen in a while. She was wearing a very striking, chunky bead lanyard with her badge and I complimented her on it. We got to talking about lanyards and she had some complaints about the ones she'd owned and admired the one I was wearing. In fact, she liked it so much that she wanted to buy it, so I sold it right off my neck to her then and there.

I should start bringing a few in with me every time I know I'll have to go to a meeting - you never know when you'll make a sale.

New Names for My Necklace Lanyards

For the most part I've been giving my pieces names descriptive of the stones or colors in them. I've lately seen a number of bead artists giving evocative names to their pieces, either from quotes or, perhaps, lovely sentiments they've created themselves. I am charmed by and enjoy the thought that goes into the naming.

My pieces sold pretty well at BayCon, so I'm (as mentioned on this blog) hoping to be approved as a dealer at LosCon and am going to look into other cons I can attend. Since most of the people at the cons are SF and Fantasy fans, using SF inspired naming seems like a fun idea, and it represents something I enjoy personally, not just a gimmick. So I was pondering where to get my inspiration for the names of my pieces.

Flash forward to a post about day lilies I clicked on yesterday. There are varieties of day lilies that have been given Star Trek names. I'm a fan, and I got a kick out of looking at the beautiful Borg Technology and Cloaking Device flowers. I've named my most recent pieces with a Star Trek theme, with many thanks to Memory Alpha Wiki to help me find information and quotes.

Here's Tears of Elaan, a short-ish piece at 24" in frosted Czech glass druk beads and iridescent glass seed beads with a larger iridescent Czech glass bead at the ends, best suited for an eyeglass leash. I'm going to also pick a quote from the episode that inspired the name, for each piece. This one comes with the quote from Spock to McCoy at the end of the episode:

"The Enterprise captured his heart long before the Dohlman did"

And almost finished (still need to attach the hardware) this morning, is a longer badge lanyard necklace - approx. 30 - 32", with two sizes of clear glass bicone (diamond) Czech pressed glass beads, separated by silver glass and iridescent glass seed beads. I've named it Treasure of Rigel XII, and the quote, from a conversation between Kirk and Harry Mudd:

"You either believe in yourself or you don't."

First commenter to tell me the name of the Star Trek episodes the necklace names come from, can claim these earrings (Enterprise-A not included), if they'd like:

More Moss Agate and Ceramic Beads

I liked the lanyard I made the other day so much, I'm making another one. This time I'm alternating the ceramic bead with seamless round silver beads and moss agate. There will be a matching bracelet and earrings, too. Then I'm going to make a moss agate eyeglass leash. The greens are just too compelling to let go!

I've completed a dealer's room form for LosCon - the Los Angeles science fiction convention that occurs over Thanksgiving Weekend. Now I just have to get up the nerve to commit and send it in.

Why am I hesitating? Display and payment methods, specifically credit card acceptance. I think coming up with an attractive display is probably not the hardest part. I have a few things I'm going to have to make and buy, but I'm confident I can figure out how to make an attractive display. The table length is 6' - not sure how wide nor how much room I'll have behind the table. I think I need some easels so I can put up some standing displays behind the table.

I have a mannequin and quite a few silk covered standing necklace displays in multiple colors. Signage, drape(s) for the table and the standing displays (I have seen a lot of really nice ones made of large picture frames and I think I may go that direction) will finish off what I need for now. Oh, and get business cards printed up. I make my own, but I think it's time to invest in those.

As for payments, it's a bit of an investment to get set up to accept credit cards and I'm not 100% sure I want to deal with it.

The last thing is I really should do is make more bracelets and earrings. I probably have done about a dozen earring sets and about as many bracelets. I don't enjoy making those as much as making the lanyards, unfortunately.

Back a little later - here's the finished lanyard, 32" long:

And I'm Back!

After a long break from blogging, (but not from beading) I'm back. I've done a lot of new stuff but since my "photo studio" is my daughter's bedroom and she was visiting from college, I didn't have a way to take pictures of the new stuff...well, enough with the excuses, I didn't post, now I am.

I did a display at my company's Juneteenth crafts fair, sales were disappointing but I learned things. I'm going to have to invest in some better signage, drapes, displays, etc., if I'm going to compete with people who are regular vendors at shows and fairs. I had thought there would be more employees showing who wouldn't have the fancy set ups - but I'd say a majority of the vendors were not employees and very practiced at display. My product is the right niche for selling at a venue like that, but my location was towards the back and right at the door was a huge (lovely) display of jewelry that included badge lanyards. By the time they reached me, anyone who wanted one had bought one. The best thing about doing that event was that I finally got my state seller's permit so I could participate. It was easy to do, filled out the form online, got there early and was done in under an hour.

I'm probably going to play catch up with some of the stuff that's been made since early June, but here's a brand new piece I just finished, in howlite. I've got another one just like it, nearly done, in snowflake obsidian.

.

One Last Bit of Convention Business

Patti (and I hope I'm remembering the right name) you dropped one of your earrings at my table on Monday when you were showing me some of your lovely beaded work - please email me (see contact info in sidebar to the right) so I can mail it to you!

I'm still not organized in my beading workspace but I do want to work on something new tonight. I often have to get everything just so before I start work, but I'm too tired (still) to tackle that task. I haven't even gotten all the stuff out of the trunk of the car yet. Fortunately it's just two of the smaller totes in there, so I'm not missing a lot of beads.

My beading wire arrived today, so I finally have plenty of the right size wire to work with. I'll finish a piece I worked on yesterday as I sat at my table and then ponder what to do next. There wasn't any real pattern to what sold, although the genuine stone pieces did well. I think just continuing to make stuff I like and would wear is a good plan.

BayCon - Final Day, Final Hours

I was going to live blog one more time from the convention, but after the previous post my 24 hr subscription to the internet service at the hotel must have expired (and early, I think). I just couldn't see paying another $13. So here's the final chapter of Dawno's BayCon Artist's Alley Adventure.

Most of the traffic was to the Art Show room where people were picking up their items from winning bids or the Art Auction. There was a good sized line for a while but by about 1:00 it was down to a trickle of onsies and twosies.

I had a new neighbor today, a seller of 'nerf-y' swords:

I believe I overheard that he does other things - I think he made the chainmail vest he has on and I think he was doing classes and demos at the con, too.

I swung by the dealer's room one more time and bought a lovely rutilated quartz pendant and a new book.

I made two sales today as well. Haven't tallied up the weekend's earnings, but I do believe I'll be quite happy with the outcome.

When I'm less tired and more coherent, I'll post some additional thoughts about the experience.

More Live Blogging from Bay Con

Wow - the last 3 hours have flown by. Here are some of the folk that have passed by:

The Jetson ladies


Lovely Pirate Lady (dig that hat!)



Her Pirate Fellah



Three Jolly Pirates



My Table Mate, Carlos the artist



Elegant couple



A tough customer (my husband, actually).


Made more sales! This has been a very fun day.

Packing for Tomorrow

I've been putting together my stuff to take tomorrow. I've got five plastic divided bins with beads and one more with all the other pieces and parts like clasps, Scrimps, wire guardians, etc. Seed bead tubes in the side pockets and tools in the lid. Two hard plastic cases with fold down drawers with more beads - those are all strapped into my old folding luggage roll-along thing.

I've put two ziplock baggies of miscellaneous beads in my backpack and it will also have to carry my laptop. Upstairs in the "photo studio" aka daughter's bedroom, computer networking equipment room and exercycle room, I've got the stuff I'll use when I sell something - bags and little boxes, tissue, pouches, that sort of thing. I'll need to figure out how to transport that - probably in a tote bag. I will also need one more rolling carrier to bring my beading lap desk, my finished bead lanyard necklaces, and their displays - guess I'll use a piece of luggage. This is undoubtedly way too much stuff - but I won't know for sure until I get there.

Patriotic Theme and Selling at a Local SF Convention - Maybe...

With Memorial Day and the 4th of July coming up, I thought I'd do some red, white and blue badge lanyard necklaces. The first above uses 4mm faceted Czech crystal beads (had to use clear instead of white, but it works) and the second one features seed beads and some ovals in blue and red. Yes, that's another phone camera shot - I'm seriously thinking about getting a second camera so I don't have to either go upstairs to my "photo studio" (which reverts to my daughter's bedroom when she visits) or bring the camera down here to my work room, which, either way, means at this hour of the night, I'm bound to disturb the husband who's trying to get to sleep.

In other news, I'm seriously considering setting up at an "Artist's Alley" table at BayCon on Memorial Day weekend.

The Artists' Alley is a place for artists to create and sell their work while interacting with convention attendees. It is open to all artists, however you must actively work on your art at the alley tables (these are not dealer's tables).

So I'd take lots of beads and my tools and sit and work on new lanyards at the convention, as well as display some for sale. I think it would be a fun time. If I decide to go ahead, I'll just have to work my butt off to make sure I have enough variety of stuff to show. I'll probably work up some more matching bracelets and earrings, too. The main thing I'm worried about is that I'm not set up to accept anything but cash - I have used PayPal for my Etsy payments, so I haven't had to worry about getting a merchant credit card account. Maybe I'll visit the bank and see what that entails. Otherwise I guess I can hand out my business card and encourage people who want to use credit cards to contact me online so they can pay thru PayPal. hmmm. Gotta make up more business cards...

I have been to a couple of cons so far, and I enjoy the social aspects as well as the panels, so I'd miss out on some of that - but it's a good opportunity to see if what I'm doing has a market with con-goers, who generally seem to be supportive of artisans and hand-crafters. I'm thinking, since one has to wear a membership badge at cons - perhaps one would like a nice necklace lanyard for it? If not, the table isn't expensive to rent and the convention hotel is about 10 minutes from home, so it's not a huge investment to risk.

Yeah, I've pretty much talked myself into it. *grin*