School's back in session, which is always about the time of year I remember I'm an adult and have things to do. You know, things that don't involve playing with Sam. Because for the summer, I pretty much just play with Sam. Particularly this summer - he's 12, and sometime around mid May it hit me that the summers when he thinks it's fun to hang with his mom may be limited. That meant that for the past few months, no matter what the question was, the answer was yes. "Do you want to play tennis?" yes. "Do you want to go run in the woods?" yes. "Do you want to watch me do baseball drills?" yes. "Do you want to learn to play Call of Duty with me?" yes. (full disclosure - that one started as "do you want to learn to play Madden?" and I tried a yes, but it turned out that game sucked. So I moved on to throwing C4 and firing fake artillery, and created my own Call of Duty avatar (named Beastly), and discovered that I'm way more Call of Duty than Madden.) So with all of those yeses, this was very high on my all-time list of favorite summers. Maybe my favorite one ever.
Photographic proof of the summer of fun:
But all good things eventually transition a bit, and school started, and I'm back in adult land. Well, sort of, since I still tend to have a lot of the aforementioned fun. But it also includes making jewelry, which is also high on my list of fun things.
I made quite a bit of jewelry over the summer, I just didn't actually do anything about letting anyone else *know* I was making new jewelry. Until now, when I listed the new rings on Etsy.
I wore these all summer, and people would ask where to get them and I would say "ummmm….." So it feels a little less loserish to now have a real answer. "In my Etsy shop."
The last few days have been rather adventuresome in the world of resin. For years I've used a basic epoxy resin - and I've gotten very familiar with it. We're like old friends, or possibly a quarrelsome but basically content married couple. Resin is quirky - that's the nicest way to put it. If I'm not feeling so generous, I'd say it's maddening - just when you think you have it totally figured out it'll turn on you. Teeny little weird bubbles. Giant obnoxious obvious bubbles. Strangely inexplicably halfway full of bubbles. Basically, lots of bubbles.
To combat this, I control everything that's possible to control - temperature, curing time, mixing time etc. In other words, I parsed the resin directions like I was getting ready for a law school exam. And then I did actual experiments and took notes and tried a zillion different combinations until I had a fairly predictable system. (Yes, after all of that, the resin is still only *fairly* predictable.)
So it would kind of make you think that I'd *never* change the type of resin I use, right? That seems reasonable.
But… I keep hearing about bio-resins. And their attributes sound pretty compelling. I mean, look at this:
Who wouldn't want to reduce environmental impact and significantly reduce carbon footprint? I know, I do too.
So I ordered a bunch of it and have started experimenting. Experiment being the optimal word - because does it behave exactly like the other epoxy resin I have studied in such minute detail? Of course not. After all, it's resin - and resin doesn't make anything easy. So now I'm back to the beginning - keeping notes, running experiments, controlling all of the variables. Which also means that about 30 new pieces I meant to have up in my Etsy shop are not in my Etsy shop at all - they're sitting in a box marked "oops". But I think I'm gaining on it, because the last batch looked beautiful. So I'm soldiering forth with this bio-resin idea, and will report back once it's fully operational.
I did it. This morning I set my alarm for the ungodly hour of 5:05 am, and then woke up at 3:30, 4:15, 4:20 and 4:50 in anticipation of having to get up so freaking early. And then I slunk out to my freezing cold car (10 degrees according to the thermometer those reliable Swedes put in my old Volvo), and drove to the Y and forced my somewhat sleepy/somewhat disbelieving body into the swimming pool. And then, for the first time in a couple of years, I actually did a masters swim workout. And it was good - I liked the coach, I made it through a couple thousand yards, I felt super accomplished for having finished some exercise by 6:30 in the morning. Of course later in the morning I felt like a zombie, I kept desperately sucking down coffee, and at one point I was so out if I almost took a header down the stairs. But still, I'm sure in the long run I'm going to be happy to be back in the pool, so I'm going to keep it up at least a couple times a week.
And when I got back and sat down at my computer, I found an exciting message in my Etsy convos. A message from a magazine editor interested in one of my necklaces for a story on bridesmaid gifts. Perfect! Except that he needed a hi-res copy of the picture. Not perfect! Because the camera I take my product shots with is not hi-res. In fact, to be honest, I'm not even exactly sure what hi-res means, even after spending some quality time on google. But fortunately I have a neighbor (and friend of 23 years - seriously we met on the first day of college) that I thought might be able to help.
So I called and woke her up, and then went over to her house where she is currently trying to integrate her new fiancé's house full of stuff into her house full of stuff, and we dug through boxes and bags and the hooks in her mudroom, and a few kitchen drawers, and finally found all of the components to her extremely fancy camera. That's a good friend. And at the last minute she also gave me her point and shoot that she thought might work. And thank god for the last minute addition of the point and shoot, because it turns out I have No Idea how to operate the fancy camera, and I couldn't make myself go back over there and ask her for a lesson when she's trying to dig out from all of that stuff and hadn't had any coffee yet. But the point and shoot did much higher resolution pictures than my camera, so I just ran with it and hoped for the best.
Here's what I ended up with. Hopefully it works? I sent them off to the editor, and fingers are crossed I hear something back in the positive. Or even the negative if it's just about the quality of the pictures, because I'm not above bothering Leslie on another day for a tutorial on the super fancy camera.
Soooo, let's hope for the best on the magazine. Seriously, bridesmaids love ferns!
This is a repost from my Facebook Page today. With all of the post-holiday flurry I have had one (ONE!!!) actual workday since December 20 - between Christmas break and snow days, Sam has been home every day but one since then. Now I LOVE having him around, but it is not exactly a productivity enhancer. So I've been feeling behind on work and a little on the stressed side, which meant this was such nice reminder of one of the coolest parts of what I do:
Pretty great Saturday around here. Started with. . . Chisel. I'm a creature of habit, and my Saturdays almost always start with Chisel. I was smart this time, though, and swore off anything that made my SI joint open up (at least that's how I think of it.) So, no fire hydrant-ish stuff, no hurdleish stuff. But still a lot of other stuff. Here we are in all of our sweaty glory.
Want a fun workout in AVL? That will leave you unable to sit the first 2 or 14 times you do it? I'll hook you up.
And then while I walked home I took some pictures of street art in downtown Asheville.
And then I was all, "oh right, I have a ton of work to do!" And I sanded a bunch of bangles I poured yesterday - in fact here's the group right before I poured:
But then, instead of continuing my diligent work-ish ways, we picked Sam up from a friend's house where he spent the night, and then I played with my Facebook Ads (which I seriously think I'm about to figure out! Joy! Or at least satisfaction!), and then I went to the mall (I know, WTF?), and then I went and picked up Moose from *his* play date, and then it was 7 pm and we ate dinner and watched Breaking Bad, and now it's now and I never got any more work done. Oops. But it is Saturday, so I guess I'll let it go.
I'll leave you with Moose and his sister (host of his play date.)
Moose (L) and his sister Betty Grable (R.) They're from the same litter, and Betty lives with my Dad. They meet up for play dates on a regular basis, and carouse around like maniacs. They love each other.
It's a New Year, and I'm ready to get going with it. We've had the loveliest of holidays, but I'm beginning to get that itch to be back in my routine. Clark and Sam go back to work and school tomorrow, and I'll very quietly whisper aloud that it's kind of ok with me. Not because I don't like having them home - I do! - it's just that they're too tempting when they're here. If there's a pool tournament going on downstairs I don't want to miss it! If there's a Walking Dead marathon - ok, I don't mind missing that one.
But I thrive in a routine, and that requires an absence of fun distractions to really put into play. I'm also excited about a lot of new ideas for my business in 2014, and have a (dauntingly long) list of articles I want to read, and new designs to try, and analysis to compile from last year. I suppose the downtime is good, because without it I'd still be feeling a bit sleep deprived and bedraggled, but now I'm ready to go!
Among the many ideas floating around in my head for the new year is this one - it's a big (2"?) round disc set onto a channel bead so that it slides on the wire. I've been wearing it for a few weeks and am excited to add it to my Etsy collection in 2014.
One other idea I've got for the new year is to add some Etsy "How To's". I get lots of questions about how to sell on Etsy, so I'm going to start covering a few of the topics and posting them on here. If you've got any specific questions let me know, and I'll move them to the top of my list.
I'm wishing everyone a happy and joyful New Year, filled with people you love and work that inspires you. This is your life - make the most of it!
I totally stopped and asked some very nice, unsuspecting biker to take this picture. I couldn't quite bring myself to tell her it was for a blog, so I told her it was for a friend. It's not a total lie, we're friendly, right?
All this talk of the uni was making my one true love feel neglected. Well, that and the fact that he's been hanging in the bathroom untouched for the last. . . month?? Eek, how did the holiday order crunch do that to us? Never fear Flash, I still love you.
Look! I'm actually wearing a full bike kit! For the first time in weeks!
To prove my love, Flash and I headed out for a quick ride today. You know it's 60 degrees in December when the parking lot at Bent Creek is full at 2:00 on a Tuesday.
Proof - 2:00 on a Tuesday and the parking lot's full. Doesn't anybody work in this town?
The weather was dreamy. The trails. . . not quite so much. They've been frozen, so when you add 60 degrees to frozen trails you get that lovely trail condition known as grease. Eeps. So after trying one trail, Flash and I stuck mainly to the fire roads. Still totally lovely.
Lake Powhatan.
The thing about Bent Creek is, the views are beautiful, but not cleared out enough to be conducive to pictures that would provide proof. But if you'll just trust me, the mountains are lovely, and there's a tiny white speck in this picture that is actually The Biltmore House. Fun.
So what'd I do with the rest of my day? Mainly lots of this:
Playing Santa and packing lots of orders. And if you've had the kind of November and December that I've had, then this makes you very, very happy:
Yes! More Priority Mail envelopes delivered from the post office! My level of excitement over these reminded me that December is not exactly an average month. But it's still a really fun one.
In the midst of the holiday season, and all of the fun and excitement and other commitments (and if you're in the business of selling jewelry, all of the holiday orders), the one thing that would make it all more fun would be. . . a complete overhaul of one's Etsy shop. Am I right?
Right. You're probably thinking maybe that wasn't the first thing that came to mind.
But here's the thing. The shop had gotten kind our of control. Like an octopus that kept growing more arms. Because every time I made a new design that I liked I took a picture and added it to the options. But then eventually it occurred to me that making everything to order was fun and all (and allowed for a LOT of options), but it wasn't terrifically practical for gift givers. And since LOTS of the people who shop on Etsy are looking for gifts, that meant my shop was of no use to a lot of buyers. So then I started a "Ready to Ship" section and kept a few pieces around for people in a hurry. But then I got a little more serious and started keeping a lot of Ready to Ship pieces in stock. Which meant I had a jumble of over 100 bracelets and necklaces and earrings and rings all in one section. And all of which were duplicates of the made to order listings. Frankly I don't know how anyone was finding anything to order. (But people did, and for that I am grateful!)
This is what my Etsy shop felt like - a giant jumble of fun in the middle of studio. Fun, but not so efficient.
So when I hit the end of the ordering period for made-to-order Christmas gifts I decided something had to give. And that something was all of these insane duplicate listings, and also possibly the whole "made to order" concept. Especially for the rest of December. So I spent all day Saturday (literally, all day), revamping things. I took down all of Ready to Ship stuff, because now everything in my shop was going to be ready to ship. Clever, right? And then I redid all of the regular listings to reflect what I actually have in stock. Which is surprisingly a lot of stuff - I've been a lot more disciplined this fall about staying on top of production when things aren't frantically busy, rather than just riding my mountain bike more, which had been my past practice. In fact I've kind of gotten my shit together in general on the the organizational and business front, which would probably be a good topic for another post.
So anyway, after a whole day at the computer (urp), and way-too-many episodes of The Closer (which I love, but have now memorized due to repetition), I present to you. . . the new and improved Spotted Dog Asheville on Etsy. In which everything is ready to ship. And my life not nearly so crazy. And hopefully your experience in the shop is much less like fighting a 14-legged octopus. And with my new, streamlined shopping experience (and my new shipping intern! Also known as my husband!) I'm also going to be shipping right up until December 20 for orders in the USA. So all in all I think spending Saturday on the overhaul was a good idea. But if you find yourself looking for something that is no longer to be found, just send me a convo and I'll help you track it down.
So usually I talk about my own jewelry on this blog. Because, let's face it, that's the jewelry I'm usually thinking about. But earlier this week I met up with a friend, Sarah-Lambert, who makes amazing jewelry. It's amazing both because it's unique - I've never really seen anything else like it - and because it's so beautifully crafted. I still can't exactly figure out how she does it - I'm pretty sure transmogrification and/or Harry Potter's wand must be involved, because surely no one could paint such beautiful, clever, personal watercolors on such a tiny surface. So, you can tell I'm smitten.
The thing is, she doesn't just make great jewelry, she also runs a great Etsy shop - called Tuckoo & MooCow (which, for those of you as literarily-challenged as I am, is a reference to James Joyce.) As most of you know, I decided to put some energy into my Etsy shop this fall, and it totally worked! People bought things! I shipped things! Joy ruled throughout the holiday season! And now. . . I want to keep the joy going. So when I met Sarah-Lambert I asked her if she'd mind giving me some shop advice - critique the good and the bad and the (hopefully not much) ugly.
Fortuitously enough, she also was in need of something, and a trade was arranged. What she needed didn't require nearly as much expertise as what I needed - she just needed someone to wear her jewelry so she could take some action shots of the jewelry in its native habitat - that is, on a person.
So we met one day this week, and she gave me a *ton* of good advice (which I'm going to go into in a lot more detail in a later post), and then I made faces at the camera and hopped around and tried to pretend like I knew what I was doing while she took pictures. I'll admit I wasn't expecting a whole lot - so when she put them on the Tuckoo & MooCow Facebook page I couldn't believe it. I kind of look like I know what I'm doing. She must have gotten rid of the super-awkward and dorky shots. My hair is big (my hair is always big), but not exactly finger-in-a-light-socket big. And I'm pretty sure that if there's anything Sarah-Lambert is better at than making jewelry, it must be Photoshop, because my skin didn't look that dewy when I actually *was* in my 20s! But, more to the point, her jewelry looks great. Here's a sneak peek of her shots - and you can head on over to Facebook for the real deal.
Ok, wait, speaking of dorky though - this one makes me laugh:
She did her usual great photography job, and her compact (which, it turns out, is actually quite useful if one is applying lipstick in public, or more likely for me, trying to do a quick check of whether there's something in their teeth) looks great. But I almost never wear lipstick, and if I do I'm definitely not organized enough to have an actual compact to use to apply it. And, plus, I've just never really seen a picture of myself like that, which makes me laugh. I look so intent on making sure that lipstick is really on properly.
But - now here's the truly tragic part. It turns out, after she processed these pics and put them up on Facebook, her computer crashed and ate them all. Before she had a chance to put most of them up in her Etsy shop, or back them up, or do anything else useful with them. I got these for the blog off of Facebook - but that's not exactly adequate for using them as product photography. So, I volunteered to go do it again.
But here's the thing - there's no way my hair's going to cooperate, or I'm going to remember how to look like I'm happy-but-not-manic, or she's going to be as successful at recapturing my youth. It's just not possible. So instead, these next ones will reveal me in the dorky, blotchy, crazy-haired true light of day. And I'll figure that's just the universe evening things out - some days you're the Louisville slugger, some days you're the ball. *
*I might have been reliving the 90s this week by listening to the CD collection I rediscovered during the studio overhaul. And that collection might include Mary Chapin Carpenter.
Remember my molds? So they turned out rather well, but a couple did require a little bit of first aid. What is that you say? How does one apply first aid for silicone? No doubt there's tons of demand for this tip (is there *any* demand for this tip?), so here you go:
First unwrap the mold. Congratulate yourself - success!
Look closer. Curse under your breath (not out loud only because your son is in the other room.) See a thin spot on the inside that means the mold will definitely break when you try to use it.
That dark spot in the middle? That's actually the bracelet itself showing through the mold. Not good.
Remember the cure-all of mold problems - silicone putty!
Roll some silicone putty up like you're playing with play-doh, patch it over the mold, and voila! Problem solved! I won't tell you how long it took me to figure that out.
In other news, something somewhat interesting happened the other night. (Although, come to think of it, this post is mainly interesting only if you either make silicone molds or sell something on Etsy. Or have an odd, latent curiosity about either topic. I promise, back to the mainstream next post.)
So, anyway, I'm sitting around quasi-watching American Idol the other night (don't judge, ok? It was totally Clark's idea), and answering Etsy convos on the iPad, and something unusual happened. When you're looking at your Etsy shop the activity for the shop shows up in a little box at the top. And being that January is kind of slow, and I was refreshing pretty often as I went through the convos, the number was 5, or 8, or 13 to show activity from the last time I refreshed. And then all of the sudden the number was 248. And I thought - huh? And then I figured out that something must have shown up on Etsy's front page. Indeed it had, this ring to be exact:
And here's what happens to the views for your shop when an item is featured on the front page:
Yep, traffic increases by some exponential number. While the graph looks like no one had looked at my shop before 9pm, actually it had been holding steady around 50 or 100 views every hour. Which is not so bad for a slow January day, unless you compare it to this:
Yes, that would be 2,532 total views in a one hour period. Nice.
Remember when I learned to make silicone molds? And I was so proud of myself? Well, that's how I've been occupying the last few days. Because I found a *bunch* of bangles just crying out to be turned into molds, but I kept thinking "oh, I don't have time for that, I'm in the holiday rush. And the post-holiday rush. And the studio overhaul. And the inventory and accounting overhaul." And finally, I wasn't in any kind of rush or overhaul and had to face the fact that the time is now.
So, I pulled out the trusty duck tape and poster board and glue gun - because believe it or not those are the crucial ingredients to making a good silicone mold - and got to work. People, this is where the magic happens:
I know, hard to believe right? And also, it's possible that the real professional mold makers have a different system, but this is the one (after much trial and error) that has given me the best results. It's not all glamour, here, ok?
BUT, in a few days I should have several new bangles, which I'm pretty excited about. Will post pics here first for the sneak preview!
And - I'm going to put together a post on Stitch Labs in a few weeks too - that's the "inventory and accounting overhaul" I mentioned above. I think it might be the coolest thing ever for small artisan businesses. After being the bane of my existence while trying to figure it out. Will post the full report once I've totally got it under control. Fair and balanced coverage - that's what this blog is all about. That, and glue guns.
Check it out - my ring was included in the Etsy Fashion email that went out today!
Yep, that red resin ring in the corner above the bow tie - that's mine! If I was smarter I could figure out how to embed the whole thing. But I'm not - so you'll just have to click here to see it.
So there's a new idea I've been playing with for a while - resin cubes with flowers inside. Not just any cubes - a few different kinds. The kinds that require you to saw up your kid's Jenga blocks (sorry Sam!) and troll industrial acrylic websites looking for perfect shiny cubes to use for molds. There's the one I made out of the wood block, so it has a matte wood texture on the sides so you see hazy shape and color, with a shiny transparent window in the front to see in - I actually really like this one. And then the one that's shiny and transparent all around so you can see the flowers from all of the different angles - that's Clark's favorite. And then the smaller version of the transparent one for earrings.
They should've been finished a while ago, but as usual life kind of intervenes. Both in the lure of the woods, and also the fact that the candles and lanterns have been selling well, so then I have to. . . make more of them. Which is hardly a hardship, except I tend to get focused on one thing (resin cubes) and then feel slightly resentful when something else (lanterns and candles) needs some attention. Especially since I figured out how to make the lanterns and candles years ago - I'm the kind of personality that likes new, shiny things. Lanterns?? That's so last year! Unless you're trying to sustain a business, in which case that's so "get yourself up to the studio and make a batch right now."
But - it finally fell into place, and in conjunction with a never-ending World Series game I had plenty of time to play with my new toy. So - here are a few pictures of the new resin blocks. It's kind of hard to get a good feel for how they're going to look once they're totally finished and actually on a person, but here's a teaser anyway. And at some point (soon???) I'll have them photographed for real and an actual finished product.
If you're wondering what the strange blue background is - it's a silicone mat. Word to the wise - if you like playing with resin (and really, who doesn't?), silicone is your friend. Because resin, even when it's not-quite-cured won't stick to it. And why would I be fooling with resin before it's all the way cured? Because it's a LOT easier to screw in little, tiny screw eyes when the resin's still a little soft. There - for all of you out there occupying yourself with resin hobbies, there's my tip of the day. Oh - and one more - just be careful you don't put your fingerprints in it.
Along with the resin blocks, I also finally got my molds for a larger (size 9) ring. I've been waiting for this mold for ever. Seriously, it took it something like 7 weeks to get here from an Etsy supplies seller in Canada. I'm pretty sure she used the mule train method of package transport. Or that someone in customs wanted several size 9 resin rings and just borrowed the mold for a few weeks.
I'm pretty taken with the shape - it's a lovely rounded dome, and these guys should be up on my Etsy site in the very near future. And why don't you see it on my hands? Because, as my mother informed me, I have old lady hands that aren't really appropriate for photography.
I'll admit I was a little taken aback with that pronouncement, but upon closer examination I had to concede that she's correct. Which is a problem because in the Etsy listings it's nice to see a ring on someone's hand so you can see the proportions. And the only other hands in this house belong to a 9 year old boy and a 40 year old man - not much better (worse?!) for showing off a ring. So I hadn't quite figured out what to do about this problem, until I stumbled upon a brilliant feature in iPhoto - edge blur!
It turns out, if I blur the edges - a lot, like as much as it will let me - I can induce a nice soft focus effect that somewhat hides the true state of my hands. Not that I mind my hands - they're sort of proof that I've actually *done* stuff. I'm always slightly suspicious of people who look untouched after the very first blush of youth should have worn off. I wonder what exactly they've been doing with themselves, and I suspect the answer is not much.
But - that still doesn't mean these hands make anyone want to buy jewelry. They probably make people want to buy alpha hydroxy products. Thus - soft focus! It allows me to go from this:
To this:
I think that's an improvement. Or at least a good disguise. And in the meantime I'm still on the lookout for some fresh-handed teenager that would like to moonlight as an amateur hand model. Except that sounds kind of weird, and also where am I going to find one of those every time I want to photograph a ring? So for the time being it looks like I'm sticking with edge blur.
