Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Benefits Of Etsy and Snagging a Treasury

I think the comraderie on Etsy is one of the best reasons to sell there. I have made so many new friends and business networking connections. The friendships are the immediate pay offs and I do believe that that if you work hard, link up with good hardworking people and make a good product that eventually you will get noticed. I have joined a number of groups on Etsy and each has brought good people into my world.. Although many of us are in competition, I find the willingness to help teammates is surprising but wonderful. I recently became a member of a group called the Etsy Twitter Team. They snag Treasuries and put each other's products in. They list the Treasury on their blog and then ask everyone to tweet it. Everyone gets a chance to be Shop of the Week and again it is promoted by all, knowing you will get your chance. I love this group.

Does snagging a treasury have an immediate payoff ? Yes. It feels good when everyone thanks you for including them. Of course it doesn't seem to often lead to sales. If anyone has a study on that I would love to see it.

I hope in that in the end, after all the articles, blogs, the hours promoting on twitter etc. That someone out there will see your product or recognize your talent and you wake up one morning and all that work had paid off financially. In a perfect world, tomorrow after my article is printed by http://handmademarketing.org and appears on blogs across the blogoshpere, I will have hundreds of new followers and they will be bidding the price up on my artisan jewelry. Hope your day will be as great as I plan on mine being.



Joyce Richards (author and artist)

If you like this article, please follow my blog.... http://wildorchidpotteryandart.blogspot.com

Check out my lampwork, fine silver jewelry and artisan findings http://beadsofglass.etsy.com

Follow me on Twitter for instant sales and notices http://twitter.com/wildorchidbeads

My newest shop Visit http://beadsofglass.artfire.com


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Ivory Bridal Pearls Lampwork Necklace Set by beadsofglass on Etsy


Just Listed
I do custom bridal jewelry. Choose your style. Choose your color. For the bride or the entire bridal party.

Announcing EtsyTwitter Team Shop of the Week

Evelyn Palazzin, of SumikoShop.etsy.com, creates gorgeous jewelry and accessories for women. Her shop is filled with lovely items and the photographs are beautiful, enticing all who stop by to take a look and make a purchase. Evelyn lives in a tourist town by the sea in Italy. Her creations have an old-world charm about them.

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Etsy Twitter Team Goes Green and So Do I

Our July event is called "Go Green with the Etsy Twitter Team"! It will take place July 21-27. It will focus on organic, herbal, upcycled, recycled, and eco-friendly products from our team. More on this to come as our event nears.

I create artisan jewelry using imported Italian glass and PMC or Art Clay Silver. I also create one of a kind silver jewelry supplies and findings for the jewelry designers of the world.  I was curious as to  the process of making fine silver clay. I started to research and found much to my surprise that I was really a green artist and didn't know it.

Did you know that PMC or Art Clay Silver is a totally recycled product? Photographic film has silver in it. This silver is collected and repurposed into silver clay. The silver particles are combined with a binder which makes the silver pliable like clay. I can then shape it anyway I want, and combine it with other materials, from glass to semi-precious and precious stones. I can paint it, I can enamel it. It is a a wonder product for a jewelry designer. I the end you have fine jewelry. The silver that is left after firing the clay in a kiln is 99.9 silver unlike sterling silver which is 92.5 silver. The result is a sparkling silver product that is much more resistant to tarnish than sterling.

Attn Jewelry designers:  If you want to go green just add my art clay silver findings to your jewelry creations. Handmade artisan fine silver Leaf Toggle

Attn Jewelry lovers: If you want to go green just add my art clay silver jewelry to your jewelry wardrobe.PMC handmade fine silver artisan earrings with black onyx beads and swarovski crystals

Please visit my websites

http://beadsofglass.etsy.com
http://beadsofglass.artfire.com
http://wildorchidpotteryandart.blogspot.com
http://twitter.com/wildorchidbeads

 

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Michael Jackson Forever Ours Billie Jean

Michael, Thank you for all the hours of happiness and joy you brought to my life. I will never forget you and neither will the whole world. Rest in Peace.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Just Listed Patches Lampwork Silver Blue Onyx Bracelet and Earrings Set


This stunning lampwork bracelet is adorned with imported Bali sterling silver beads, spacers and elegant silver cones. Onyx beads and Bali silver clasp. Blue black and silver lampwork, onyx and Bali silver and swarovski crystals.
The lampwork beads are handmade by the artist(me). The bracelet measures 7 1/4". This is for the bracelet and earrings.These lovely earrings have imported Bali sterling silver beads, blue black and silver lampwork, onyx and and jet black swarovski crystals.
The earrings measures 3" from top of sterling earwires. These lampwork beads are very special. They are infused with an imported Italian glass that has real silver in it and gives off a shimmering effect. Your friends will ask where you found such a one-of-a-kind treasure.

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Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Etsy Twitter Team Shop of the Week: Jewelry Supplies



I belong to a great Team on Etsy "The EtsyTwitter Team We are a group of artists and crafters who love both mediums. These girls are very loyal and support each other in a way I've never seen. They blog and tweet and promote each others stores to success. Each week they choose another store to be the Shop of the Week....and TA DA to this week's great shop

Shop of the Week: Rocki

Shared via AddThis

She has a special offer this week I thought my followers would love.. you can mention you found her here. Let me tell you this girl can make sterling findings. Check it out.

Special Offer for this week only: For any purchase made during the week of this blog feature, she will include a small free sample, one per customer. All you have to do is mention you found her via the "Twitter Blog Feature" in "Message to Seller" at time of purchase.

Follow her on Twitter: @RockisMetalwork
Read more on her blog: RockisRocknBeads.blogspot.com




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Saturday, June 20, 2009

Hot Tip Get Into Every Etsy Treasury You Want

This was a great find for me so I'm passing it on to my followers. You can check the treasury clock at www.craftopolis.com You can also find out which treasuries your featured in or if your an alternate. I found this a big timesaver. You can also check if you made it into a gift guide. Hope this helps.
For followers only......Please email me any tips you have. I will be happy to include them occasionally with a link back to you. So come on and follow.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

My new Membership In Etsy Twitter Team

I am very happy to have been accepted into EtstTwitter Team. The Etsy Twitter Team's mission is to bring Etsy sellers together who use Twitter to become the authority on Twitter for all things handmade. Since I love both I thought it was a good fit. http://etsytwitter.blogspot.com/
I will try to support my team and bring you glimpses and interviews of the talented creative people on this team.
This weeks
Shop of The Week is Rose Bush Designs

She makes handmade cards, journals, note holders, tile coasters

She has a sweet soft and clever style. You can see one of my favs here.
You can follow her blog here. http://RoseBushDesigns.blogspot.com
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Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Marketing Your Handmade Art Jewelry Crafts Through Social Link Ups

Social Bookmarking

Use social bookmarking to give your readers the ability to tag, describe, and organize links to your content in their own online bookmarking accounts.

The ability to add social bookmarking to your site is really easy thanks to the widgets available at AddThis. By installing AddThis, your users can add your content to their bookmark list with a single click.

Social Networking

Create Social Networks Fast I Recommended these programs as they helped me start fast.

Use Twitter Automatic Cash at will as seen on Entrepreneur.com Click

Blog Commenting And Finder For Related Themed Link Click

Mafia War Secrets Teaches The Tips, Tricks, And Cheats Of Getting Ahead In The Popular Social Networking Game. Converts Very Well On Myspace And Facebook Click
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Monday, June 08, 2009

Marketing Your Handmade Jewelry Through Press Releases

We may be on Etsy, Artfire, have our own website and spend lots of time trying to get people to link to us. Getting customers seems to be a full time job so do something extra to get an edge. We often forget that we(meaning small handmade jewelry artists and designers) are just as entitled to writing Press Releases as any large company. I found a website I thought was very helpful in learning how to write a Press Release.Click Check out Send your press release to a syndication site such as PR.com. Here's a list of free PR Release websites.
An added benefit to sending out press releases is that it gets you link backs all over the web and that's a good thing.
If you would like to make this entire process really easy I recommend this program. It really made the whole process a breeze and it was cheap.
Click Here!

Friday, June 05, 2009

Making Lampwork Trees For Beginners

glass lampwork aged tree bead pendant
glass lampwork tree bead pendant

I have been working on getting the gnarled look of the tree bark The first problem I had was pulling stringers. They would be fat in one place and then thick in the next inch. I guess it's just going to take practice. What I have learned is to pull at a steady pace. I put a glob of glass at the end of my mandrel. I flatten it into a pancake about the size of a quarter. I then add a fat stripe on all four sides using different colors. I like using shades of brown, black,ivory,yellows and reds. The colors can be as wild as your imagination. I melt the glass until it's starting to sag, then take a tweezers and pull and twist at the same time fairly quickly but at an even pace. It definately gets better as you practice.

glass lampwork dream tree bead pendant

Tuesday, June 02, 2009

Using Silver Clay and Glass

Yesterday I promised to show you the results of trying to fire silver clay and glass. Trying to insert 104 coe glass on a prefired silver bead did not work well. Parts of the silver turned a yellowish color which was impossible to remove. Also the silver appears to have fumed the glass which means the glass now has tiny pieces of silver. This was tried at a temp of 1230 F. I had better luck when I added the silver to a prefired lampwork bead as I did on the red heart within a heart Etsy Please feel free to ask questions in comments. I will try to answer. You can contact me through a convo on http://beadsofglass.etsy.com If you found this helpful please sign up to receive this feed by email or feedburner (links on right)
http://wildorchidpotteryandart.blogspot.com/
http://lampworkbeadcreations.com
http://beadsofglass.etsy.com
@wildorchidbeads on twitter