Expansion

Over the winter, I've experimented with some new things. I'm taking what I know and like, and trying them out in other ways. I'm also going back to some of the first styles of jewelry I ever made. :)


One of the things I'm experimenting with is hemp necklaces. Hemp jewelry is easy and fun, and I learned how to make it years ago. I thought I'd give it a shot again and see if anyone is interested.


However, I want to take my skills to the next level. This summer, I'll be trying to go beyond the basics flat and spiral weave and seeing what other kinds of things I can learn. I think continually learning new ways to stretch yourself is important to staying interested!

Does anyone else out there make hemp jewelry? If so, feel free to post a link in the comments sections!

Pottery Class

I thought I'd finally take the chance to let you know how Pottery Class turned out! My husband and I signed up to take a community education class for throwing pottery. I have to say, it was something we both enjoyed a lot! The class was about 3 weeks long, one evening a week, and then we went back to pick up the completed pots after they had been fired. Once we had thrown several pots and were satisfied, we let them dry to leather-hard, and then cleaned up some of the edges. At this stage, we also were able to draw on the pots with a special type of glaze (I'm sorry, I don't remember what it was called). The pots were then bisque dried, and we went back to glaze the whole thing. After they had been fired again, we could pick up our brand new pottery! The picture shown is my first attempt; frankly, I think it may also have been my best! Due to unforeseen circumstances, this pot was accidentally bisque-fired before it could could be drawn on. The other pot that does have drawing on it is still waiting to be fired, so I'll post a picture of that when I get it back. In the mean time - keep learning and have fun!

Choices

Has it really been that long since my last post?? Ouch! Anyway, I wanted to make a quick note on choices. As you know, I make wine glass charms. I usually make complete sets to sell, but something I tried over the summer was the "make your own set" concept. I thought for a long time about how to make it translate from a Market situation where customers can handle and really see the charms, to Etsy, where they can only see what I show them.

Ideally, I would offer two types of make your sets. I'd like to offer one page of all the different charms offered, and one page of the types of rings (different colors/beads on the rings). While I'd still like to try this eventually, it's a bit more organization than want, plus I don't keep every charm I have in stock; I often just buy what looks neat at that time, which usually means one or two of lots of different charms.

What I've come up with looks amateurish, and I dislike that part of it, but it ultimately gets my point across. I've created lots of singular charms, and numbered them. When a set sells, I replace those numbers with something the same or different, depending what I have available. Here's an example of it looks like:

I don't like the way it looks with the handwritten numbers, but I'm willing to use the format until I know whether people are even interested in this concept.

Has anyone else offered this type of choice for products? The downfall is that buyers may not remember to list the numbers they want to buy, but the upside is there might be more buyers because they can choose. I guess I'll have to wait and see what happens! Let me know what's worked for you.

Freebies

There has been some talk in the forums recently about including a "freebie" in with the purchase a buyer has made. I thought I'd include my 2 cents!

I think free gifts are tricky. I've received several with things I've ordered, both on Etsy and through other sites, and here's what I know as a buyer: There's always a nice little "aw...!" moment when I find a free gift, but then I think, what am I going to do with this? Often the gift is not related to my order at all, but something in the same selling genre, and while it is neat, it doesn't serve much purpose. This is especially true in my genre of Jewelry. Unless the gift is for a repeat buyer you know, or surprise matching earrings for a necklace ordered, you don't really know the buyer's style. Perhaps he/she is buying a gift and so the item is not indicative of what he/she would ever actually wear.

Also keep in mind never to send food or something overly scented (i.e. something that makes everything in the package smell like that) as a gift. In today's world, there are so many allergies that it's not worth the risk. Even if someone ordered food from you, that doesn't mean he/she can eat everything in your shop.

The best free gift I've received was when I ordered one item in several different colors/patterns/etc. and my gift was an additional item of what I had ordered but in a color/pattern that I hadn't.

My closing thought? If you want to give a free gift, that's great, but make it directly related to what the person actually ordered, or it may end up in the trash or Goodwill bin.

Quick Note!

Hi! I just thought I'd share a quick "yay" moment! I'm featured in a blog this morning by Girl in Gear Studio! You can read the article HERE. While you're there, check out some of her other features; Girl in Gear has completely redone her website and has a great mix of Etsy shop owner features in addition to her own beautiful work.

Earring Display at a Market

I think I've mentioned that I've done a Saturday Market locally. It's a small affair, but then, I don't have a huge inventory! I wanted to make a lot of simple earrings to take, but I didn't want to invest in fancy earring holders, yet. Some of the earrings are on Etsy, but some aren't photographing well and may never make it online.

To display the earrings at Market, I decided to make my own display case. I went to a big name sporting goods store and bought a box meant to hold fishing tackle. Then I bought some pretty felt, cut to size, glued in, and BOOM! A display case I can close! The earrings will stay in their individual boxes, and if a pair is purchased, I have mini-plastic jewelry zip bags. I tape the price of the earrings into the lid, so when it's open people can easily see how much everything is without having to ask; it also saves me the time of tagging each pair!

I got the idea from a mini-tackle box jewelry travel case I've had for years. Once the felting square bug hit me, though, there was no turning back! I also made some jewelry travel cases similar to what I already owned and put them in my Etsy shop. Now you know!

Give your buyer a reason

You can put lots of different kinds of information in your Item Description. The first sentence or two should of course be descriptive, as in color, size, components, etc. After all that, however, is an important paragraph many people neglect.

Use

That's right. Sometimes people buy things with no obvious purpose for absolutely no reason, but unless you are in that kind of specialized market (gag gifts for instance?) don't risk not telling potential buyers all the awesome things to do with your product. When I list something like wine glass charms, such as the one to the left in one of my Eclectic Wine Charm sets, I spell it out. This seems obvious, but a reaction I get frequently is, "Oh, how cute, but I don't drink wine."

So, I spell out the uses. "These look great on coffee mugs if you're having friends over for a brunch or tea!" or "Even if you're only having water or sparkling cider, these charms will make it a party!" and "Kids love choosing a charm that will be 'theirs'! In the bustle of changing places at the dinner table, don't lose your glass!"

Now think about what you sell. Do you make little dodads out of clay? Turn them into charms and encourage people to go beyond necklaces to make cell phone fobs or cute zipper pulls. Use the Comments to post what you make, and I'll try to come up with an alternative use!