New kittens

So it’s been a crazy summer. I’ve been studying for the LSATs trying to get two businesses up and on their feet, working the 9-5, pampering well loved a sick old kitty… then getting new kittens adjusted to the house. But now, after my hiatus I’m back and with new impediments - just try to make jewelry with these little monsters around.

Sierra, Abbi, and Tatoosh in a rare moment of stillness.

It’s been a while since I’ve had time to make jewelry but I’ve been busy this week working on big bijoux rings. Here are two custom pieces I’ve done.

I’m in loooove with these beads, they are from my newest supplier. They are dyed moonstone and the color is absolutely amazing, like a ripe raspberry and there are flashes of blue fire crazy. I’ll be listing some of the stones on www.modernmetals.etsy .com soon.


This is a long overdue custom order for a great lady I met at my first craft show. It’s for a wedding she’s going to be in… maybe the rest of the wedding party will want one too ;)


I’m thinking of doing a ring making tutorial. What do you think? I find them pretty simple to make does everyone else agree or would you like to see a tutorial?

Eye Candy

Back from the Gem Shows.....
It's hard to describe how happy these beads make me. I don't even want to cut into the strands. They are sooooo beautiful, I just want to leave them on my coffee table, facets glimmering, tassels cheering up the room. I'll probably be selling some strands off on modernmetals.etsy.com and using the others in my designs. If you see any you absolutly have to have let me know and I'll reserve a listing for you... As soon as I work up the courage to cut into their cute little tasseled strands.

I lucked out and scored a bunch of juicy neon colored Chalcedony. Including some amazing microfaceted natural Peruvian Blue briolettes (they are on the far left) and some great hot pink briolettes. Here’s the Chalcedony group…

Some great colors that remind me of autumn...
And here’s the eye candy…

Look at these tassels!!

Treasury AGAIN! :)

What a great week!!

Another of my items was put in a treasury! I am praying that it will make it to the front page, that would be an amazing break through for me and I'd be forever grateful!

It was my cotton candy necklace, I put a red box around it...


Thanks to MermaidTreasures, she really did a beautify job of selecting items within the same soothing color scheme.

I love the treasuries but I’ve never had any luck making one. I can’t seem to figure out how to time it so that I can get my foot in the door. Maybe one day it will finally happen. In the mean time I’ll just have to feature my favorite Etsy finds here on the blog.

I’ve been busy making tutorials to list in my supplies shop, listed the first today. It for the fun funky little pair of earrings seen below. I’m still going to have free tutorials up on the blog, but if you are looking for a wider range then check my supplies shop http://www.modernmetals.etsy.com/.

Treasury!

One of my creations has been selected to be in a treasury!! This is the first treasury that I’ve been in and I am hoping with all my energy that the item makes it to the front page! Here is the treasury: http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=57373 Big thanks to Denise who created the treasury. She obviously put a lot of time into picking all of the great items in it. I’m very honored to have been chosen. There is a great feeling of “They like me, they REALLY like” me that comes from being in a treasury. Imagine the feeling you get every time you see a new heart for your store. Now, multiply by about 20.



Here's the cute little necklace she picked. As a note to anyone trying to make their way into the treasury she told me that she picked it because of it's color. Take it to heart Etsians: colorful, clear photos, and good lighting of your item in the photo will help you get into a treasury. Etsy is all about eye candy. I've been working on my photo skills for over a year and this really makes me feel like I've finally gotten to a proffessional look.

I’m getting some great responses from the almond ear wire tutorial. I’m going to try to include more in the future. I’m going to focus on creating, selling, and the ins and outs of etsy. I’ve also decided to add a new feature to the blog. I’ll be doing a monthly “Etsian of the Month” post. It will include an interview from the artist behind a carefully selected Etsy store as well as a sampling of their beautiful creations. I’m talking to someone now about the June EofM (Etsian of the Month). She makes beautiful one of a kind jewelry.

Ear Wire Tutorial

Finals are over, I feel like I have my LIFE back!! I love college, love learning and discussing and debating things... but I hate finals. I’ve been working on the tutorial and I finally have something I think is worthy of posting. Please, please, try it out and give me comments. Tell me where it’s not clear! Tell me if I’m losing you somewhere. Most of all ENJOY!


Almond Ear Wire Tutorial:
Step 1: Assemble your tools. Here is what you’ll need.
20 ga wire (I’m using copper here, but you can use sterling silver, gold-fill, pure gold, fine silver, platinum… basically any wire you want!)
Wire cutters
Round nose pliers
Flat pliers
Burr cup (to file end of ear wires smooth)
Ball-peen hammer
Plastic, rubber, or rawhide hammer
Round form (I’m using an old prescription bottle)
Steel hammering plate

Step 2: Cut two lengths of wire the same length. The length should be about the same length as your bottle is in diameter. In this example I used about 2 inches. Depending on how long you want your earring to be you will need to cut the wire longer or shorter. Once both pieces are cut and are the same length use the bottle to shape the wire into a circle. It’s ok if the ends don’t meet up.

Step 3: Using the round nose pliers create a loop at one end of the ear wire. Repeat for the second wire. Leave one end flat and one end looped, don’t put loops everywhere! Look at the pic that is how the ear wire should look.

Step 4: Using flat pliers grip the ear wire towards the middle and bend into a more triangular shape. Repeat for other wire. Make sure that you bend each wire in the same spot.

Step 5: Place the ear wire on the steel hammering plate and hammer thoroughly with the rubber hammer. This is to harden the wire, you will not see any change in the wire but it should become more sturdy. Be sure the shape the ear wire as you hammer, the shapes it’s in while you hammer will be the shape it stays. Repeat for other ear wire.

Step 6: Using the ball-peen hammer slightly flatten the long end of the ear wire. Don’t go overboard! Just a little flat. Watch out for your fingers (and don’t mind my chipped nail polish). This is to help maintain the shape. The hammering helps to sort of “freeze” the wire in place. You can see in the comparison photo that the hammered wire looks flatter on the long end and is better shaped. You can skip this step but you would have a very flimsy form. Repeat this for second wire.

Before and after hammering:

Step 7: Using the burr cup file the ends of the ear wire round and smooth. This step is very important and can’t be skipped! When you cut wire you leave jagged little pieces behind. If you don’t file your finished wires then you will create micro-tears in the flesh of your ear when you put the earring on. This can lead to irritation and doesn’t feel good!

Step 8: Hang some beads on your beautiful new ear wires and enjoy! Make different sizes, make the back wire longer or shorter, and experiment. Share your results!

Tutorial... STILL COMMING!

I haven’t forgotten the tutorial! I’m having a few technical difficulties getting it assembled. Originally I had planned to do a video but I might have to switch to photos and text. I'm also burried in papers, ahhh finals. When I reminisce about my college days I hope I repress this memory.

I’m hoping that it will be up sometime during this week! (Cross your fingers that the electronic gremlins don’t strike twice).

In the mean time if you’d like to get you supplies gathered you’ll need:
Rubber or rawhide hammer
Steel hammering plate (or other hard surface)
A few inches of 20 gauge sterling silver wire.
If you don’t want to go buy a bunch of feet of sterling silver check out http://www.modernmetals.etsy.com/ You can purchase wire by the foot!

Using Google Analytics for Etsy

I’m a little geeky sometimes… rumor has it my job title is “Economist”. I’ve got Google Analytics set up for both this blog as well as my Etsy page. Although I’m still learning how to interpret the statistics it gives and I’m relatively sure I’m not using it to it’s full potential, I am finding out some interesting things.

Interesting things about this blog: I’ve had visits from people in United States, Canada, Venezuela, Ireland, Belgium, Germany, and Australia. Wow! The internet really is the Global highway.

If you aren’t using Analytics I suggest you start! It’s free and gives some good info. For example it can tell you when the ideal time to list or renew items in your Etsy store. How you ask? Easy:

1. From your Analytics page click “view report” for your Etsy site. (Click here for info on how to create Analytics for your Etsy page.)
2. Click “visitors” on the left hand menu.
3. Click “visitor trending” from the submenu left.
4. Click “Visits” from the sub-submenu on the left.
5. Above the graph there is a little “Graph by” thingie – click the watch face next to those words, this will switch your view to see what the views per hour are. (Note you can specify a specific day or range of days by adjusting the date range in the upper right corner.)

For this excersize I recommend using data from the past month, look at the time slots that you have the most views. This means that your store traffic is high during that hour (averaged over the range of days you selected). It is best if you list new items during times when your view counts are high since that is when people are browsing your store.

Please post any questions in the comment section! If you are looking for some more info on how to use Google Analytics check out these links.
Creative Techs
Official Blogger Blog

Upcoming tutorial

The residual affect of the showcase is an increase in views for all items in my store. I'm not sure what is causing it, since the showcase is over (and it's nifty link directly to my store is gone). I am happy about it, but I'd love to know what is causing the increase.


In later news… Like these earrings?

Thought you might. I’m gong to be doing a tutorial of how to make them, so check back!

Etsy Showcase Results

Results!! The item I listed had 60 views during the showcase.Other items in my store were also viewed (though nowhere near as often as the item in the showcase) total views for *all other* items in my store was 47. So as you can see 60 views for the item in the showcase compared to only 47 views for other items in my store. I'd say it was successful, I received about 4 new hearts, but no sales :( I'd try it again. It def generated a lot of interest in the store, and I think the more people who see the store the more it will get around the Etsyvers and the more likely to get in a treasury (which I think is a great marketing tool).All told I payed about 7 cents for every view. Not to horrible.

For anyone who didn't check out the showcase here is the item I had up:

The Showcase spot is generating an increase in view so far but no sales! I did have a sale last night, unexpected – right when I listed the item it went. Very exciting. I’ll post a full rundown of the stats tomorrow.

I’ve stocked up on some beautiful cherry quartz briolette. These beauties are huge. I’m trying to find some really interesting unique beads. I want to find things that aren’t the standard for my summer collection, bright tropical colors, huge nuggets, druzys.

Here’s a taste of my newest finds. Huge black tourmaline nuggets, I'm thinking rings... shiny
bijoux rings!

I’m always full of opinions and advice, and now, thanks to Blogger, I get to share them with the world! Wheeeee.

I’ll try to stay focused – focused on what you ask? Crafting hand made goodies, designing accessories and jewelry, etsy, selling, and a minimum amount of other interesting things.

First things first, this is an Etsy post. I’ve booked a spot in the accessories showcase on April 23rd. I’d like to make this a follow along, interactive type experience. Check out my Etsy store now, http://www.anastassiadesigns.etsy.com/ and also after the showcase. You can see how it worked for me and hopefully that will help other Etsians to decide if they want to spring for a spot in the showcase as well.