Rose, Mauve, Amethyst AB and Gray

I really have enjoyed creating items in Vintage Rose, Mauve Pearls, Czech Amethyst AB, and light pearlized gray and wanted to use the items for jury photos. My husband convinced me that they are not artsy enough and the colors are too subtle to photograph well. I determined he had a point, (he is sometimes right) and will use the photos of the Noreena Jasper items for the juries. I determined I didn't have enough items in those colors, so will need to add to the collection. In the meantime, please enjoy what the juries will miss!





These items are or will be listed in my etsy shop. I am playing with a couple new projects and working on bead embroideries featuring porcelain jasper and a stone with purple, white and grey/black, both purchased from tradewinds studio on etsy.

Indoor Show Jury Photos

I have selected items in cream/ivory/eggshell in a range of prices for my applications to shows held indoors. These items can be created in any color, but I thought I would bring light colored items which would show up better in darker, indoor situations. I'm not sure how much light will be available in the space, assuming I am accepted.

Art Fair Jury Photos

Applications for Art Fair season are due well before most people expect. The larger ones that are run by professional promoters are due in January in my area, with a few run by Art Leagues etc. accepted in the spring months. Amdur Productions has a January 3 deadline, so the holidays are a busy time to create new work, photograph the chosen items and then describe them using the specified number of keystrokes. I want to try to get into the best events that suit me, where my ideal customer will likely be.

I wanted to create items that appear to be in a collection, so I chose beads in a color family. Since I was inspired by Noreena Jasper which has grays, maroon reds and orange golds, I collected beads in those colors. I also try to create items which have a variety of price points to appeal to all pocketbooks, which can be a challenge in this economy. The jury will be viewing items in winter which my customers will see in the summer to early fall, so I chose neutral darker colors over pastels which may not appeal to the jury. There is no metal on any of the items.

My lowest price point is an all seed bead bracelet made in ladder stitch which is embellished with seed beads with a toggle closure.



My second item is a bracelet in tubular right angle weave which is embellished with Czech glass rounds, again with a toggle closure.



Using a Noreena Jasper bead as a pendant, I created a necklace with a spiral weave chain and toggle closure, using free form brick stitch around the jasper bead, attaching the pendant to the chain with loops of seed beads and ending with an asymmetrical fringe.



Using the Noreena Jasper, I created a bracelet around a large flat bead in free form brick stitch with a button and loop closure. It has lots of embellishment.



In case you are wondering where the Swarovski is, the maroon pearls are made by Swarovski and the button is Swarovski crystal.

Since I display my jewelry in shadow box cases by color, I will be adding earrings, more bracelets, and maybe a necklace or pins to the collection before show time. The jasper red has fire energy and is grounding. It is mined in western Australia.

Statistics and Shop Views

I set up google analytics early in my etsy shop history, but despite being an analytical person, I found only confusion and not answers on how to increase sales.

A relatively new feature (mid July as far as I can tell) at etsy.com for shopkeepers is etsy stats. It is a fairly straightforward listing for the current date and "yesterday" (there are other time period choices as well) by hour the number of shop views, listing views,and additions to the shop such as renewals or new items. It also lists where the views are coming from, key words used, and items by name of what was viewed. I have two other applications which gather this data which I am keeping until 12/31/11 because of the history going back to when I opened my shop.

I have been tracking the time of day my viewers are likely to be looking at my shop. I am somewhat surprised at what they are looking at which is mostly my unique designs with high price points. The key words used also tell me that my viewers are knowledgeable about beadweaving because they use technical search terms. When I talk to visitors at my Art Fairs, I use technical language such as stitch names which causes confusion and I need to explain what I mean. This makes me wonder if most of my viewers on etsy really are potential customers. I started my etsy shop by joining the etsy beadweavers team where I made some friends who do the same/similar things that I do but none are customers and I am not theirs either. I have not been a member of this team for at least 6 months.

I set up a facebook page as well as my personal page. I have transferred all of my promotions to KRDesigns11 on FB so as not to spam family and friends on my personal page. I have been having a SEASON OF GIVING promotion on my facebook KRDesigns11 page which is not being viewed. So my reality is not the same as the movie Field of Dreams because I built the page, but they are not coming.... Just sharing my personal observations so you, dear reader, can learn from my mistakes. I do have one loyal friend who almost without exception, likes my entries; I do the same for her as a way of returning the favor and encouraging her to keep on trying.

I plan to focus more efforts on learning about Google ad words. I know that I need to bring people in from outside etsy to purchase my items. I will also be creating more elaborate peyote pattern bracelets, dutch spiral necklaces and listing more of my cellini spiral bracelets which are a great source of repetitive stress and boredom to me to create (they take at least 16 hours of one bead at a time). A lot of my Swarovski crystal and pearl items were made for the Illinois Artisan Shop market which has changed significantly under new shop management and the economic situation in Chicago and Illinois government.

I also plan to do in process progress photos of my designs. Sorry there are no pictures in this one, but I'm off to take some cellini spiral ones and my current project photos for next time.

Team Support - All for a Few

I am a former member of the etsy beadweavers team. Tonight I removed the link to the Etsy Beadweavers blog which facilitated voting in their monthly challenges. After an absence of a few months, I visited at the beginning of the voting (the 9th) only to find someone had 45% of the vote--they currently have about a third of the votes--while most of the entries have only a few or no votes. While the entry with the most votes may be the best one based on a tiny thumbnail photo, it doesn't seem fair to the other entries whose creators did their best and spent hours on their entries. Google searches on those beaders will reveal their name with a "0" votes entry, probably for every month they entered. This result does not help the career or ego of the majority of the members.

I plan to add to my favorite links list. I also have a facebook business page, KRDesigns11, which has room for more "liked" pages. Let me know if you would like to be considered for some free publicity.

Personal Service

Learning about myself has revealed that I like personal service when I purchase things and I want to give this to my customers. I don't mean to be best friends or trade personal stories, although sometimes issues with how something fits/wears can get personal.

In trying to figure out why consignment shop relationships and on line sales leave me missing something, I determined that I want to feel that my customer has purchased the best item I can create for them.

It can go beyond the fit of a bracelet to a flattering color that works with the woman's characteristics, mostly coloring. I know I appreciate when someone tells me I am wearing my colors, and they change as we age or dye our hair, or lose weight. Well, not so much as we would like on the weight loss. Growing up, the girls in my era all wore black because it was slimming and never wore white because it made us look fat.

Fashion changes the shade of a color we love to one that may not work well for us. I'm thinking of the pink that is in the stores today called "makeup". It is a very pale, beige pink that so washes out on a northern hemisphere Caucasian.

Today I am sharing photos of earrings created for the Southern Illinois Artisan Shop. I hope the women near Whittington, Illinois will like them. I wish I knew some of them personally, at least to know what they look like, their favorite style of dress. I want to meet my ideal customer.

EARRINGS!!! HOLIDAY GLAM!!!

My last post had no pictures, so I promised pics on my next post. Now I'm promising to post more frequently.

The photos are of earrings on consignment through the Illinois Artisan Program. They are made with gold filled or sterling silver, Swarovski crystals and pearls, cobalt blue Czech glass round beads, copper, hematite stone beads, and love, passion, patience and holiday cheer! We all deserve Happy Holidays! Let the parties begin.